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Infrastructure spending to help mitigate beetle losses |
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Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Friday, 28 November 2008 |
The Omineca Beetle Action Coalition unveiled a strategy Friday aimed at bolstering the forest sector and boosting transportation, communication and energy infrastructure in the North.
It's an effort to help diversify the economy in north-central B.C. in the face of the coming fallout from the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
The two strategies are among a dozen the coalition -- funded by the provincial government -- is expected to launch by next year. The group represents municipalities along the Highway 16 corridor from Prince George to Smithers, and also includes Mackenzie, north of Prince George.
The infrastructure strategy is meant, in part, to help the region take advantage of its strategic location as an efficient transportation route between North American and Asia.
On the list of actions identified in the 45-page plan are improving Highway 97 and 16 to increase safety and traffic flows, developing a small-airport strategy and continuing to develop Prince George as a transportation hub. Port expansion at Prince Rupert is also on the list, as is pushing power up Highway 37 where a number of mines are proposed.
The 50-page forestry strategy determined that mountain pine beetle-killed timber needs to be recognized as a valuable asset, which should be used to its full commercial potential. The strategy also called for communities in the region to have a more direct role in forest management and the benefits from the region's forests.
"The idea is to attract new business, and retain what's there," said Omineca Beetle Action Coalition chairman Don Bassermann.
No dollar figure has been put on the action items, which could be expensive for the 12 actions items identified under the infrastructure strategy. That plan also calls for maintaining key resource roads, examining the feasibility of a rail link to Yukon or Alaska and expanding broadband Internet.
Omineca Beetle Action Coalition general manager Elizabeth Anderson next the next step will be figuring out which actions are a priority and how much they will cost. Those discussions will include the province, she said.
The plan, unlike one created by the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition, has not put a price tag on diversification. The Cariboo-Chilcotin group, representing communities south of Prince George, has said $500 million will be needed to diversify that area's economy.
One of the new challenges is the emergence of a global financial crisis, which means that communities are going to have to find creative ways to make sure they are well serviced, said Anderson. She acknowledged that some of the items are big ticket items.
The thrust of the diversification strategy is aimed at senior levels of government.
Forests Minister Pat Bell, who attended the launch of the latest two strategies, said the plans nicely align with provincial government strategy. " There's something that the government can dig into, and really work with," said Bell, MLA for Prince George North.
Bell said he was encouraged by the fact the forestry report stressed that steps taken to help diversify the forest sector should not compromise the existing industry, including lumber and pulp. He also liked that the strategy highlights maximizing the value out trees killed by the pine beetle over a longer period of time.
The province will also not shrink from the price of items in the infrastructure strategy, said Bell. He noted the province is a big proponent of the second phase of the container-handling facility at Prince Rupert, which is priced at $500 million.
The mid-term timber supply is expected to drop 33 to 45 per cent in the vast northern and Interior regions hit by the beetle epidemic, with communities like Burns Lake estimated to take an even harder hit, in the most recent analysis from the forests ministry.
The decline in mid-term timber supply -- up to 60 years -- is expected to begin in four or five years in some areas.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 28 November 2008 )
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