NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release 2009CD0045-000639 November 19, 2009

Ministry of Community and Rural Development

 

PROVINCE SUPPORTS WORKERS IN VANDERHOOF AREA

 

VICTORIA – Workers in the Vanderhoof area are benefiting from over $153,000 through the Job Opportunities Program for a hazard tree assessment and falling project in Finger-Tatuk Provincial Park announced Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad.

 

“This funding is helping to preserve an important part of the region’s outdoor recreation infrastructure, and giving unemployed resource workers a chance to maintain or upgrade their skills,” said Rustad.

 

No Jackpot Falling is overseeing hazard tree assessment and falling in the Finger-Tatuk Provincial Park campsite, as well as on the five-km roadway leading into the site. Up to six workers on the project are falling, limbing and bucking trees that might impact use of the area, as well as reducing fire hazards.

 

“The Job Opportunities Program has created employment, recreation, forest health and fuel management improvements throughout British Columbia,” said Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell. “The program maintains skilled workforces in communities across the North, and positions them to benefit from value-added exports to Asia and emerging bioenergy opportunities.”

 

“Finger-Tatuk Provincial Park is one of the area’s most popular attractions for residents and tourists taking advantage of the region’s outdoor lifestyle,” said Bulkley-Nechako Regional District chair Eileen Benedict. “This project is giving us the means keep this campsite and roadway safe, and providing jobs to unemployed resource workers who have been impacted by the economic downturn.”

 

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 toward the program, which the federal government is matching on a project-by-project basis through the Community Adjustment Fund.

 

The Province of British Columbia’s contribution to the Job Opportunities Program is part of its commitment to provide stability for workers and communities, maintain the workforce during the economic downturn and help British Columbians gain new skills to be successful in the future.

 

 

For more information about the Job Opportunities Program, go to www.cd.gov.bc.ca/cdt/.

 

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Media Contact:

Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Community and Rural Development 250 387-4089

 

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