Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:07:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [KCUTS] Pine beetle funding: Communities in the Interior have a lot to
From: meadow@netidea.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Monday, November 13, 2006
Pine beetle funding: Communities in the Interior have a lot to worry about
PRINCE GEORGE, BC - Serious concerns have arisen about the amount of
funding pledged
by the provincial government to address the impact of the pine beetle
devastation of
Interior forests. The Stand Up for the North Committee, which held a
regional
conference on November 4th and 5th, has released figures that show provincial
funding is, in the words of spokesperson Peter Ewart, "woefully
inadequate" and
"alarming" and not consistent with the "colossal sums of revenue the Interior
contributes every year to the Provincial Government."
The impact of the pine beetle is expected by many to cost in the billions of
dollars, and has been called the greatest natural disaster in recorded North
American history. Yet, according to Ewart, the Provincial Government's
"Mountain
Pine Beetle Action Plan 2006-2011", promises only $500 million to address
massive
reforestation and environmental reclamation needs, as well as looming
economic
dislocation problems in many communities.
Ewart comments that $135 million (from the Northern Development Initiative
Trust
funding) of the $500 million came out of the sale of BC Rail, a sum which
many
people feel was "taken out of the hide of the Interior anyways " and
"cannot count
as new money." A further $70 million of the Province's $500 million
actually came
from the federal government, and "has no legitimate place" being passed
off as part
of the Province's Action Plan.
How to utilize the millions of hectares of beetle killed wood is a key
issue for
Interior communities. In this regard, the Action Plan pledges a total of
$6.3
million towards "product development." Ewart charges that this amount is
not much
more than the amount the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has spent on
computers for its staff and far less than the $8.5 spent for the "move to,
fitting
out and furnishing of the VANOC campus office space" and other expenses,
over the
previous year, to do with "ongoing growth in staff" (see VANOC Annual Report,
October 26, 2006).
The $161 million the Action Plan has set aside for reforestation is
"worrisome",
according to Ewart, especially when even government officials feel the
cost could
run into the billions. So far, about 8.6 million hectares of pine in the
Interior
and North have been killed or damaged by the pine beetle. Ewart says that
when the
8.6 million hectares is divided into $161 million and then averaged over
the 5 years
of the Action Plan, the figure works out to be about $3.60 a hectare.
"Not much
more than the price of a cup of coffee," he says.
The amount of beetle money the Interior is getting back from the Province
is "not at
all fair when compared to what it contributes." Ewart quotes Jock Finlayson,
executive vice-president of the BC Business Council, who estimates that the
Provincial Government's revenues from the forest industry (stumpage,
taxes, etc.)
amounted to $5.4 billion in the year 2004-2005. If that amount is
extended over the
same 5 years of the Action Plan, the Provincial Government could be
"raking in as
much as $27 billion or more." Yet the funding for the pine beetle in the
Action
Plan, Ewart says, is just $500 million, about 1.8% of the estimated revenues
produced by the forest industry and forest communities of BC during that
time. If
the $135 million arising from the sale of BC Rail is deducted from the
Action Plan,
along with the $70 million of federal funds, the percentage is even less -
about 1%.
According to Ewart, analysts based in the Lower Mainland of the province
are already
speculating that some communities in the Interior will be written off and
"marked
for exit" in the future. He comments that the Provincial Government's
Action Plan
reveals that the region is, in fact, being written off at this very
moment, and says
that the time for community leaders to speak out about this "inadequate
level of
funding," is now, and not "when the mills begin to close and communities
start to
crumble."
-30-
For further information, contact: Peter Ewart, Spokesperson, Stand Up for
the North
Committee, at (250) 962-6792 or peter.ewart@shaw.ca
BACKGROUNDER
a.. To access the Provincial Government's Mountain Pine Beetle Action
Plan -
2006-2011, go to the Ministry of Forests and Range website; click on
"Learn more
about mountain pine beetles"; go to the section titled "Action Plan
Snapshots" and
click on "Funding."
a.. $135 million of the $185 million Northern Development Initiative
Trust that is
mentioned as the first item in the Action Plan came about as a direct
result of
the sale of BC Rail in 2003. In 2005, a further $50 million was added to
the NDI
"to help communities prepare for the long-term challenges of the pine beetle,
strengthening and diversifying local economies" (Prince George Citizen,
April 15,
2005).
a.. According to the Northern Development Initiative Trust "Annual
Report of
2005", $30 million of the abovementioned $50 million in additional funds are
earmarked "to assist communities to diversify their economies and deal
with the
devastating impacts of the Pine Beetle epidemic." If the funds allocated
for the
Beetle Action Committees are added to this $30 million, the amount set
aside for
communities to deal with the impact of the pine beetle comes to about $33
million.
However, the beetle infested areas of the province extend now from the Peace
River country to the Southern Okanagan and Kootenay regions, with around 1
million
people and many dozens of communities directly affected. Thus, per capita
spending for the beetle's impact on communities is about $33. For a
forestry town
like Fort St. James, this adds up to about $66,000.
a.. The "Canada-B.C. emergency response strategy" funding which is
mentioned in
the funding of 8 projects in the Provincial Government's Action Plan
(amounting to
about $70 million so far) is actually funding from the Federal Government,
not the
Provincial Government.
a.. The Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan 2006-2011 creates the
impression that the
project funding listed will be forthcoming in the next five years.
However, this
could be misleading in that much of the funding was pledged in previous
years.
For example, the Northern Initiative Development Trust funding should not
even be
included in the Action Plan as it was pledged in 2004 and 2005. The same
is true
of the funding for the Beetle Action Coalition's and the First Nations
Leadership
Council.
a.. The $5.4 billion figure from Jock Finlayson, regarding the yearly
contribution
of the forest industry to provincial revenues, is quoted from a
presentation he
delivered at the UBC / UNBC "Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic and the Future of
Communities and Ecosystems Workshops" in Vancouver on November 7, 2005.
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