COMMUNITY TRUST IMPROVES THOMPSON VALLEYS RECREATION

KAMLOOPS – Multiple recreation sites, trails and view points in the Thompson Valleys are being revitalized by forest workers as a result of $806,652 from the Community Development Trust’s Job Opportunities program, Community Development Minister and Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger and Kamloops MLA Claude Richmond announced.

“The Community Development Trust is one of our key tools to assist forest workers and their families through this difficult economic time. I am pleased to see so many projects get underway in the Thompson Valleys,” said Krueger. “This funding will help keep 32 workers employed while improving recreation and safety for all residents and assisting local communities to deal with the impact of the mountain pine beetle.”

Around the Thompson Valleys region, $225,000 in funding will employ seven workers to conduct fuel management work and improve the infrastructure at recreation sites at Dardanells, Dairy, Rossmoore and Saul lakes, as well as the Isobel recreation site. An additional four forest workers will be employed restoring trails in the Thompson Valleys that have been blocked, covered or disrupted by the harvesting of beetle wood. Approximately 45 kilometres of trails, including portions of the Hudson’s Bay Company Brigade Trail and Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association recreation trails, will be cleared and restored so they can be used by area residents and visitors safely.

“The Job Opportunities program is proving of great benefit to residents of the Thompson Valleys,” said Richmond. “It is creating employment, reducing the risk of forest fires, improving recreation areas and trails, and ensuring the area maintains a diverse and well-trained workforce.”

Around the communities of Kamloops, Barriere and Clearwater, $270,000 in funding will allow five forest workers to manually clear and map 200 kilometres of existing trails within provincial parks. This work will include trails in Bonaparte Park, Taweel, Dunn Peak Park, Lac DuBois Grasslands, Highlakes Basin and Porcupine Ridge.

“The skills and efforts of these forest workers will be appreciated and enjoyed well into the future by hikers, mountain and motor bike riders, and ranchers moving cattle,” said Pat Bell, Minister of Forests and Range. “The Job Opportunities program is keeping people working in the forests of the Thompson Valleys and enabling forest fire prevention work and recreation improvements to take place there.”

“This funding will help improve recreation sites and trails that are already used by a wide variety of British Columbians and visitors,” said Bill Bennett, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts. “These sites and trails are important to the social and economic well-being of the local communities and contribute to the diversity of our province’s tourism offerings.”

A further $250,000 in funding will help 13 unemployed forest workers to remove dead pine trees from selected fencelines in the Kamloops area and another $61,652 will employ three forest workers to fall and buck 1,500 mountain pine beetle-damaged trees in provincial parks around Lac le Jeune.

“These projects provide forest workers in Kamloops with jobs and their families with incomes,” said Peter Milobar, Thompson-Nicola Regional District chair and Kamloops mayor. “They also offer residents and visitors improved access and facilities to enjoy the many activities at the recreation sites of the Thompson Valleys.”

The $26.25-million Job Opportunities Program is reducing the impact of current layoffs on workers employed in the forest industry, retaining skilled forest workers for the anticipated future upturn, and preserving the characteristics of the labour force in forest-dependent communities.

A forest-dependent community or organization and forest licensees or forest contractors working in cooperation with a forest-dependent community, are eligible to submit a project proposal to the Job Opportunities program. To date, the program has approved $12.4 million to support 73 projects which will employ up to 580 forest workers in communities across the province.

The Job Opportunities program is one component of the Community Development Trust, which was announced last spring. B.C.’s share of the federal trust is $129 million over three years, with funds also directed to a Tuition Assistance program and Transition Assistance for older workers program.

In the 2009/2010 budget, the Province has committed an additional $30 million in funding to allow for further programs similar to those offered under the Community Development Trust.

For more information about the Community Development Trust and Job Opportunities program, go to www.cd.gov.bc.ca/cdt/.

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Media

Contacts:

Jennifer McLarty

Public Affairs Officer

Ministry of Forests and Range

250 387-4592

Peter Milobar

TNRD Chair and Mayor of Kamloops

250 828-3494

Leanne Ritchie

Public Affairs Officer

Ministry of Community Development

250 387-4089




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