....Here it is, summer. What ever happened
to spring! What happened to the nice non-controversial new Forest Act!!
What happened to the Expos! Ah – summer. . . .
....I had occasion recently to travel by
small float plane down the coast of B.C. on a beautiful calm day. We
followed what I call B.C.’s Salt Water Main Street. From Vancouver
to Alaska this magnificently protected waterway is alive at this time
of year with all types and manner of Ships, boats, barges, tug, debris,
and oil slicks. The latter one makes you wonder about these water-ways
25 years from now!
....This watercourse is possibly the longest,
most protected shipping route on the east or west coast of North or
South America. Its value can only grow as our northern areas open up
and Alaska develops.
....Flying over this great tree-lined passageway
I could see beautiful white cruise ships from distant lands. There were
train barges loaded with rail cars for the north. Log barges and flat
log booms were being towed by powerful tugs. Seine boats, in groups
of five, were speeding north for the fishing grounds.
....As we moved down closer to the Vancouver
area the sea was dotted with pleasure craft, sail boats and power launches.
And all these water-ways surrounded with a lush growth of coastal evergreens.
A breadbasket area if there ever was one.
....And I wondered, who would ever want
to promote a railroad from the United States to Alaska when this great
Main Street exists and requires no up-keep or railroad ties?
....Have you been reading Forestalk?
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This is a fine resource magazine put out by the forest service of
the B.C. government and for really well written and timely articles
on our industry cannot be overlooked. Just write the Forest Service
Information Division in Victoria if you want to go on the mailing list.
Try it – you’ll like it.
....If you have read this page from time
to time you may get the idea that I care for Loggers Sports. Yes, I
do. I find it really unfortunate that our big show at the Pacific National
Exhibition – for three weeks in August – will not be a contest
this year, but strictly an exhibition. Reason being that the prize money
needed for the contest is just not available this year.
....A group of us helped start this show
in 1966 and for several years our big problem was to hang on to the
novice category, because young loggers did not want to compete with
the few experienced chaps who were winning all the prizes. Well, we
hung on – and in recent years the young fellows have swamped the
PNE gates.
....I have noticed in my wanderings of
the camps that hardly a camp or small town is without a practice area
of logging sports. This means there will always be new novices coming
along – and it shows the great interest in logging sports at the
grass roots level.
....But unfortunately this year there will
be no great final attraction to go to such as the Big Show at the PNE.
And this happens in one of our industry’s best years in years.
It doesn’t make sense – for the few thousand dollars needed
to bring back the contest. If you feel strongly about the good that
Loggers Sports can do for our people, then talk to your people upstairs.
If you are upstairs – then you’re the chap we
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need to help
us restore this much needed contest. Thank you, kindly.
....Ah summer – remember the old saying:
“Trust everyone around you, but always cut the cards.”
....From time to time I hear remarks - as
we all do – about the faults of our industry. One of the faults
in the past has been the lack of real research time and dollars spent
to evaluate new approaches to the problems of the industry. The Forest
Research Institute of Canada (Feric) has certainly come on to dispel a
lot of those faults. Vern Welburn, the manager of the Western Division,
has gathered about him some really capable people and they are into some
truly gutsy programs that are going to help this industry.
....Feric is into the problems of streamside
logging and the need to protect both fish and tree. It carries on evaluations
of new methods of logging and road building. Helicopter logging is being
monitored as is the water transportation of logs on our coast. They are
also into the human problems of our industry – a long overlooked
evaluation of our top priority – our people and their needs.
....Our industry changes – and such
excellent changes as are being brought about by the Feric group need enthu-siasm
and encouragement from us. Watch their progress, it can help us all.
Say – do you know what Mark Twain told the young fellow who came
to him looking for advice as to where to invest his savings?
....“Buy land – they stopped
making it!”
....Ah – summer –
.........................Keep out of the
bight,
..........................................Bill
Moore |
