The province is using $1.2 million from a job-creation fund to reduce the fire risk and remove beetle-killed trees in several communities in the Cariboo region.
The money comes from a federal fund, later augmented by the province, to help offset the impacts of the forestry downturn in hard-hit forest-based communities.
The funding for five projects is expected to create about 75 jobs and treat hundreds of hectares.
The projects will take place in the Williams Lake area.
"Communities will be safer during next year's fire season as a result of these projects," said Minister of Forests and Range Pat Bell. "In addition, the projects improve overall forest health and help 75 families with employment and income."
The Job Opportunities Program was first announced in May 2008 as one component of the federally funded $129-million Community Development Trust. In July 2009, the provincial government committed an additional $30 million towards the program, which the federal government is matching on a project-by-project basis through the Community Adjustment
Fund.
- The province is also putting up $50,000 for a pilot project to help workers, who lost their jobs at the recently-closed Canfor sawmill in Quesnel, to upgrade their skills.
For the complete "smart-version" of the Prince George Citizen visit our Digital Edition
