Timber will likely trump tourism in the scramble for enough wood to reopen the Babine Forests Products sawmill.
Responding to a call by the B.C. Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) to steer clear of stands set aside to meet visual quality objectives, provincial cabinet minister and local MLA Pat Bell hinted strongly that the measure remains on the table.
"I'm respectful of the Wilderness Tourism Association and as we work through the issues in Burns Lake, we're going to factor into the account the implications of any decision that are made and we'll make sure that we're connected to people," Bell said.
"But at the same time, let's be clear, we are looking to try and find a way to get that mill reopened and if it is just status quo that will not happen. If we don't make any changes, that mill will not reopen."
In a letter to Bell and Forests Minister Steven Thompson, the WTA said that turning to so-called VQOs (visual quality objectives) will yield only 10,000 cubic metres per year in the Lakes timber supply area and a similar amount in the neighbouring Morice timber supply area.
But Bell said the figure is more like 100,000 cubic metres per year for the Lakes timber supply area.
If constraints were completely removed on stands between 100 Mile House and Burns Lake, about four million cubic metres per year in northern B.C. would be opened up, according to Bell.
"That's four fairly large sawmills, each employing about 500 people between people that work in the bush and the people in the mill, so about 2,000 direct very high paying jobs," Bell said.
It's estimated Hampton Affiliates, the owners of the sawmill destroyed in a Jan. 20 explosion and fire, will need about one million cubic metres a year to make rebuilding worth the effort. The disaster knocked out the main employer for Burns Lake, 226 kilometres west of Prince George.
"I think most people realized that there are visual quality objectives that are important and there are others that are less important," Bell said. "There are old growth management areas that are important, there are others that are less important.
"What we are trying to do right now is understand from a biological perspective, from an ecological perspective what the most important areas are and take those factors into account as we consider what potential changes could be made."
Like Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, Bell made reference to a motion from Vanderhoof council unanimously endorsed by local politicians at the 2010 Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention asking the province to consider changing the constraints on access to timber.
Bell added the six first nations in the Burns Lake area have "also been very clear in their views on this issue."
In comments to The Citizen, WTA executive director Evan Loveless stressed the motion only called for a comprehensive cost benefit analysis along with a cumulative impact assessment.
He also noted that Highway 16 is a major like on one of the province's heavily-promoted Great Circle Routes that tourists use each summer and warned against compromising scenic areas.
