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NEWS RELEASE
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For Immediate Release November 27, 2009 |
Ministry of Community and Rural Development
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PROVINCE CREATES JOBS FOR DISPLACED RESOURCE WORKERS
VICTORIA – Workers in communities throughout British Columbia are benefiting from short-term employment as a result of more than $6.5 million in funding for 38 Job Opportunities Program (JOP) projects, announced Community Development Minister Bill Bennett.
“We’re doing everything we can at the provincial level to support resource-dependent communities that have been particularly hard-hit by the economic downturn,” said Bennett. “Creating jobs is our number one priority in the short term, as we help these communities diversify their economies in preparation for longer-term sustainability.”
Projects being announced range from fuel abatement and danger tree removal to trail development and range boundary fence construction and repair.
“The Job Opportunities Program creates employment as well as 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 bio-energy opportunities.”
Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Kevin Krueger said, “B.C.’s trail system is a vital part of this province’s tourism infrastructure. Several of these JOP projects are helping maintain our trails, which will ensure tourists are able to enjoy the province’s natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities.”
The Job Opportunities Program is one component of the federally-funded, $129-million Community Development Trust established in May 2008. In July 2009, the provincial government committed an additional $30 million towards the program, which the federal government is matching on a project-by-project basis through the Community Adjustment Fund.
The Province’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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A backgrounder follows.
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Media Contact:
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Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Community and Rural Development 250 387-4089 |
For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.
BACKGROUNDER
November 27, 2009 Ministry of Community and Rural Development
WORKERS EMPLOYED THROUGH JOB OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM
North Coast
Hazelton: Gitanmaax Band Council is felling, stemming, pruning and brushing trees; constructing benches and picnic tables from pine beetle-killed wood, developing a two-metre walking trail and installing signage over 32 km. Nine displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $292,752
New Aiyansh: Nisga’a Lisims Government is undertaking juvenile spacing of approximately 300 hectares, while maintaining habitat features such as the variety and quality of the animal and plant life in the area. Workers are also conducting stand level management. Fifteen displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $470,000
Kispiox: Anspayaxw Developments Ltd. is conducting juvenile spacing of stands previously declared free growing. Work activities are taking place on approximately 85.6 hectares of land in two blocks. Twenty-four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $106,536
Northeast
Dawson Creek: Tembec is removing garbage from the Dawson Creek and its banks; conducting slash removal, grass seeding, and planting 120 shrubs on approximately seven kilometres along the creek banks. Five displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $21,031
Cariboo
Prince George region: Seneca Enterprises Ltd. is collecting cones from three different species of trees in nine seed zones. The seeds will be used for reforestation of Crown land in the Northern Interior forest region. Twenty displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $399,210
Mackenzie: 4D Warner Enterprises Ltd. is maintaining recreation sites and trails. Sites include Kitma Creek, Six Mile Bay, Usilika Lake, Pack River, Tudyah Lake, Robinson Lake, Lower Nation Falls, Weston Bay, Manson Lake, Wolverine Lake, Selwyn Creek, Clearwater River and Point Creek Bay. Trails include Kitma Trail, Canty Lake Trail, Scott Creek, a section of Trail I-9 on Hwy 39, Lower Nation Falls, Red Mountain, Teapot Trail and Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail. Eleven displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $595,352
Mackenzie: The District of Mackenzie is conducting wildfire protection treatment on 7.4 hectares along sections of Fraser Boulevard, Centennial Drive, Mackenzie Boulevard, on the school grounds of Morfee elementary, and an area north of the Mackenzie Golf and Country Club extending west of Highway 39. Twenty displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $93,454
Mackenzie: The District of Mackenzie is conducting wildfire protection treatment on 98 hectares of forest land. Trees are being cut into firewood where possible and conifer stems are being thinned to increase intra-crown spacing distance. Twenty-five displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $275,375
Mackenzie: The District of Mackenzie is developing a larger gathering area at a snowboard park that was established in 2007. The area at the start of the hill and toboggan runs is being widened and the drop zone is being reformatted to ensure a safe landing zone. Six displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $20,071
Mackenzie: Noostel Keyoh Development Ltd. is maintaining and developing recreation sites in Omineca Provincial Park. Workers are brushing 8.5 km of an old road that provides access to three campsites at Germansen Lake. Three displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $22,103
McLeod Lake: Summit Contracting is removing hazard trees that are currently posing a danger risk on the roadways leading into Carp Lake Park. Workers are felling danger trees, burning limbs and debris, re-cutting stumps to be flush with the ground and salvaging firewood for use by campers. Three displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $120,000
Prince George: DWB Consulting Services Ltd. is continuing a previous Job Opportunities Program project involving Douglas fir bark beetle trap monitoring. Workers are summarizing data and calculations and counting collections of samples trapped over the summer. Beetle capture rates are being assessed and recorded. Two displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $38,013
Tatla Lake: Tatla Lake Ranch is rebuilding the range boundary fence between Tatla Lake Ranch, ½ Way Ranch and Butler Mountain Ranch. Work activities include clearing 2 km of fence right of way, pounding posts, building corner braces, stretching and stapling four strands of barb wire. Three displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $20,000
Tatla Lake: Tatla Lake Ranch is maintaining 22 km of fenceline, which includes cleaning up the fence right of way, and falling and removing trees that will impact fencing. Two displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $10,500
Alexis Creek: Yunesit’in Development Enterprises is manually brushing, slashing, pruning and conducting pullback on approximately 100 hectares of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir. The project also includes making the slash areas ready for prescribed burning by clearing 10m firebreaks and limbing mature trees. The identified sites are encroaching onto endangered grasslands and rangeland. Twelve displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $68,666
Alexis Creek: C & S Ventures Ltd. is surveying and marking of over 3,800 hectares of land. The work activities that result from the surveying will be implemented through Forests for Tomorrow, a provincial program established to respond to catastrophic wildfires and the mountain pine beetle epidemic. Three displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $86,100
Dog Creek: Stswecem’c Xgat’tem Development Ltd. Partnership is brushing and removing pine, fir and spruce stems as part of an eradication treatment across 1,633 hectares. Work is taking place in the following areas: Green Lake, Raphael Road/70 Mile House, Island Lake, Augustine Flats/FoxTail Flats, and Big Bar Mountain. Ten displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $161,005
Anahim Lake: Six Mile Ranch is constructing and repairing fences on over 13 km of land, which will improve livestock management on the Cahoose and Holtry Range units. Habitat for wetland and riparian-dependent species is also being enhanced, and forage for wildlife and livestock is being improved. Eight displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $217,252
Redstone: Alexis Creek Indian Band is manually brushing, bucking and clearing 140 km of trail. Work is taking place from Redstone to Puntzi Lake; on the Punti Lake trail; on the Redbrush trail; on the Bidwell trail; and from the Chezacut to the Chilcotin Lake trail. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $99,960
Interlakes: Larson’s Woodchipping and Tree Removal is brushing and chipping approximately 27 km of road allowances to prevent urban-rural interface forest fires. Nine displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $95,030
Germansen Landing: Noostel Keyoh Development Ltd. is improving access routes in the Omineca Provincial Park area. Workers are repairing and maintaining two culverts, removing hazard trees, clearing 8.5 km of trail, brushing, slashing alder and cutting back willow to expose ditches. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $22,550
Grassy Plains: LCR Holdings Ltd. is brushing and weeding, juvenile spacing and pruning within the Robson Valley Timber Supply Area. Ten displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $431,639
Kootenay
Castlegar: Red Shutter Inn Ltd. and Big Red Cats are completing block spacing, thinning and brushing within up to 120 hectares of stands to improve safety and create backcountry ski opportunities for winter recreation. The spacing is helping to return these areas to a more natural free growing forest. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $40,478
Cranbrook, Kimberley: Tembec is slashing all undersized stems less than 30 cm in height to complete ecosystem restoration in a project area of approximately 650 hectares. All undesired stems greater than 30 cm in height are also being removed to improve the aesthetic value and speed the process of native grass ingress. Fourteen displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $140,810
Cranbrook: Purcell Resources Inc. is conducting mountain pine beetle ground detection surveys, as well as falling and burning identified stems in the Cranbrook Timber Supply Area. Locations include Yahk River, Bloom/Caven Creek, Teepee, Cranbrook Watershed and Fording River. Eight displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $400,000
Creston: Lower Kootenay Band is implementing a community wildfire protection plan. Activities include falling, spacing, brushing, pruning and chipping on 28.5 hectares. Six displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $168,180
Yahk: Treespan Forestry Consultants Ltd. is seeding, planting, girdling, falling and burning approximately 1100 mountain pine beetle-infected lodgepole pine trees in landscape unit K3 in the Kootenay Lake Forest District. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $181,670
Thompson Okanagan
Barriere: Simpcw First Nation is brushing and weeding 96.7 hectares in order to increase the chance of survival and subsequent growth of planted stock. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $164,054
Golden: Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. is removing brush from and spacing coniferous trees on approximately 235 hectares of backlog openings (blocks of logged Crown land that do not meet the free to grow standard). Locations include Blackwater Ridge, Sue Fire, Beaver River, Beaverfoot, Succour Creek, and Susan Lake. Ten displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $228,204
Golden: Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. is conducting ground surveys of approximately 3500 hectares, and falling and burning on approximately 2,700 hectares in zones infested by the mountain pine beetle in the Golden Timber Supply Area. Locations include Blaeberry, West Bench, Moberly, Kicking Horse, Mount Seven, Kootenay, Blackwater Ridge, Ice/Moose, and Ventigo. Twelve displaced resource workers are being employed through the project.
Funding amount: $284,067
Clearwater: The District of Clearwater is spacing stems, pruning ladder fuel and removing residual fuel loading on approximately 111 hectares in the North Thompson Provincial Park to reduce the risk of interface fires. In addition, workers are upgrading existing trails in the park to allow for nordic ski grooming in the winter. Eighteen displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $138,750
Clearwater: The District of Clearwater is implementing fuel management treatments by spacing stems, pruning ladder fuels and removing residual fuel loading on approximately 14.6 hectares of land in the school district no. 73 area. Four displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $25,012
Vancouver Island/Coast
Quadra Island: Strategic Forest Management Inc. is removing danger trees and scotch broom from 1.6 hectares, conducting fire hazard abatement on approximately 4.3 hectares, and developing a fireguard around Blenkin Memorial Park. Firewood resulting from danger tree removal will be provided to the Community Firewood Shelter. Seven displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $114,312
Port McNeill: Regional District of Mount Waddington is expanding the existing landfill, as well as creating an equalization pond, sequence batch reactor, sedimentation pond and engineered wetland. Project funding is primarily for workers’ wages and some administrative costs. Additional operating costs are being covered through other funding sources. Ten displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $180,000
Qualicum: The Town of Qualicum Beach is improving community safety by falling, spacing and pruning trees along 54 km of road, including Laburnum Road, Rupert Road, Memorial Avenue Interchange to Rupert Road, Hwy 19A, Qualicum Road, Village Way and Hemsworth Road. Danger trees that approach the surface of the airport runway are also being removed. Five displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $262,386
Port Hardy: Western Forest Products Inc. is establishing trails at long-term research installations and examining fertilization treatments on transitional sites. This involves providing new tree tag numbers, road brushing and creating trail access. All trees in the 128 plots are being measured for total tree height and diameter, and the data is being recorded in provided data files. In addition, site identification of plots, including soils and vegetation, will be completed. Two displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $33,236
Campbell River: Strategic Forest Management Inc. is completing wildland-urban interface and fuel abatement in the Beaver Lodge Forest Lands. Workers are conducting fuel reduction and/or modification in a 30-metre wide zone where the forest lands abut residential and commercial development. Total treatment area of Priority 1 areas is 17 hectares. Ten displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $350,264
Woss: Strategic Forest Management Inc. is creating and improving fire breaks around the Hamlet of Woss by brushing, thinning and pruning adjacent forest stands. Approximately 12.5 hectares of fuel management work is being completed within 100 metres of community infrastructure to buffer it from the wildfire risks associated with the forested areas. Five displaced resource workers are being employed through this project.
Funding amount: $148,530
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Media Contact:
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Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Community and Rural Development 250 387-4089 |
For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.
