Sagebrush at the mouth of the Stein
Taxpayers to subsidize destruction of a priceless wilderness heritage
Logging the Stein Valley has never made good economic sense. That's why it has remained unlogged. For B.C. Forest Products (BCFP), the company that has the logging quota, the problem is one of access. A new crossing over the Fraser River must be built in the vicinity of Lytton and a costly road blasted through ten miles of the lower Stein Canyon just to reach merchantable timber.
At existing lumber price levels, BCFP's own cost figures indicate that logging the Stein will actually result in company losses. Still, pressure is mounting to access the Stein's timber. BCFP appears ready to enter the Stein Wilderness in the hope that lumber markets will return to price levels which were last attained in the boom times of the late '70's. In today's marketplace, logging the Stein will result in financial disaster. To compensate for low lumber prices BCFP will be forced to cut corners whenever and wherever possible. In fact, a quick "high grade" operation removing only the best timber may be all that can be justified to company shareholders.
Given the dismal economic prospects, the obvious question is: "Why log the Stein Wilderness at all?" A clue is provided by company Vice-president Gerry Burch, in a recent article in the Vancouver Province;
Alpine meadowland of Stein headwaters
"In effect the government is telling us what to do...to log the area or have our quota cut back. They (the B.C. Forest Service) don't care if we lose money or not, they're telling us to get on with it." Mr. Burch's statement provides the only possible explanation of the situation a political decision by forests minister Tom Waterland to keep the wood flowing to BCFP's Boston Bar mill, the largest forest employer in what is Waterland's personal riding. The irony of the situation is that the taxpayers of British Columbia will be subsidizing the destruction of the Stein Wilderness. By all accounts, the stumpage revenues the government would receive through logging activity in the Stein will be insufficient to cover the basic cost of access road building and reforestation. It is estimated that an additional 14 million dollars of taxpayers money will be required to log the Stein.
What this means is that monies which should otherwise go into reforesting already cut-over lands will be spent instead to subsidize an uneconomic logging operation. We in British Columbia will lose twice: public funds will be spent to booster an uneconomic logging scheme and a priceless wilderness heritage will be lost forever.
