The Americans are correct about the Softwood Lumber Agreement. They say that giving vast tracts of crown land to the timber corporations with almost carte blanche management restrictions is an unfair trade advantage.
The way we manage the forest is unfair for the forest. We are cutting way too much wood and the only management tool seems to be the clear cut. At present the feller-buncher and the chip-n-saw represent the Canadian approach to forest management — capital intensive with very little labour involved.
The great spirit gave the forest to the people who live upon the land. They in turn must learn to manage the forest wisely. But the people here now are mostly immigrants from some other place and they do not see the forest. They only see each other.
Wake up, cancel the Softwood Lumber Agreement. Decrease the annual cut. Join with the Americans and work toward a future that will see healthy forests across Canada. Let us put the forest back into our lives and focus the local Kootenay talent on the wood that surrounds us. Any new deals made must be good for the forest.
The forest and oceans of the world are being decimated. Let us start the healing in our backyard.
Dick Murphy
Nelson
