t reer NEWS photo Noll Lucente “LIBERAL LEADER Gordon Wilson speaks to North Vancouver party members shortly betore dumping Judi Tyabji (in background, left) as house leader and replacing her with West Van- ‘ couver-Capilano MLA Jeremy Dalton (centre). ‘Liberals name WV MLA Dalton new house leader WEST VANCOUVER-Capilano Liberal MLA Jeremy Dalton, the newly appointed Liberal house leader, said Monday that the embattled Liberal caucus must now unite to take on the New Democratic government in the spring session of the legislature. Dalton was named house Jeader on Saturday following a “. storm of controversy involving Liberal leader’ Gordon Wilson and. former house leader. Judi “Tyabji. Several Liberal caucus members told Wilson to dump -Tyabji.as his top lieutenant after reports that the pair had devel- _ oped a persona! relationship, a charge denied by both Wilson and Tyabji. ' Dalton admitted that Wilson had told Liberal members at a. North Vancouver breakfast meeting on Saturday that he -would not be pressured into dropping Tyabji as house leader. By Chery! Ziola Contributing Writer THE GREATER Van- couver Regional District’s (GVRD) | newly appointed water committee has voted f against a proposal to test ") new aerial logging methods in the North Shore’s Seymour Demonstration Forest. . “-Both the Seymour Demonstra- tion Forest and the North Shore watersheds are managed by the -GVRD, its staff and the water committee. ~ Last October, the old 1992 water committee heard an aerial! 1 logging presentation from a North Shore logging cor:pany that pro- “posed a kinder, gentler means of logging environmentally sensitive old-growth forest in local water- Sheds. . The method involved hauling logs along steel cables high above the forest floor using cable cars assisted by attached helium balloons. ; Alton and McFarlane Logging By Surj Rattan News Reporter But Wilson did just that sev- eral hours later. at a caucus meeting. “That's (not being pressured) the way he (Wilson) described it. But | don’t think he was really pressured, He had received some recommendations from caucus,”’ said Dalton. He added that he knew there would be several caucus changes made at the meeting and that his name was submitted by other MLAs to take over the job of Liberal house leader. Wilson had earlier come under “attack by caucus members who charged that he, Tyabji and former party whip Gary Far- rell-Collins were asking most of the questions in the legislature during question period and that others were being silenced. Dalton said he will make sure all Liberal MLAs have a chance to ask questions, especially in their critic portfolios. “They shouldn't feel there are any restrictions: on them to ask questions. They will be’ en- couraged to make themselves more visible. “Why shouldn’t we kick some butt? I’m prepared to kick some butt,’’ said Dalton. As house leader, Dalton said his main responsibility will be to organize the day-to-day agenda for the Liberal caucus while the legislature is sitting. Wednesday, February 17, 1993 - North Shore News — Capabilities of local environmental firms impress Cashore tour Pacific Rim opportunities abound NORTH SHORE-based environmental industries have a g00d opportunity to tap into the Pacific Rim market, B.C. Environment Minister John Cashore said Monday. Cashore was in North Van- couver to tour six environmental industries and recycling facilities. The minister added that the North Shore is home to several of B.C.’s leading environmental and recycling companies, “IT was very impressed. I think that North Vancouver is an enclave of some very progressive environmental industry and activi- ty that I find worthwhile in many ways,"’ said Cashore. He added that the North Shore companies will be able to sell their products and services to Pacific Rim markets at a ‘time when the world is becoming ‘increasingly in- volved in environmental protec- tion. “Considering our position on the Pacific Rim, considering the work that is happening interna- tionally, such as the Earth Suminit in Rio, all that will result in an increased need for monitoring and enforcement, technology and training for countrics throughout By Susj Rattan _ News Reporter the world,’’ the minister said. Cashore added that it was in the best interests of everyone ‘“‘that jungles not be burned.’”* “For industries such as the in- dustries you have on the North Shore, they have a very natural outreach into the Pacific market,’’ said Cashore. ; : North Shore industries visited by Cashore included: @ Mohawk Lubricants, recycling plant; ® International Paper Industries Ltd., a recycled materials depot; © Sea-Hornet Marine industries, an oil which does work with vessel monitoring systems; @ Chemex Labs, a laboratory testing facility; @ Morris Industries, an oil ‘pollu. tion recovery equipment plant; o EVS Consultants, an vironmental consulting firm. cn- NEWS photo Mike Wakolleld MATT WALONER, right, plant manager tor Mowhawk Lubricants, shows B.C. Environment Minister John Cashore, left, and North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA David Schreck, centre, a sample | of recycled oil at the company’s North Vancouver plant. committee votes against aerial logging Vetoes use of helium balloons in Seymour Demonstration Forest Ltd. co-owner Paul Alton said his sysiein was a ‘‘better mousetrap”’ than the current system that re- . quires more road building and the dragging of fallen logs across the forest floor, disrupting soil and leftover trees. Alton’s method was also en- dorsed by both pro-logging groups such as the International Woodworkers of America (IWA-Canada) and an en- vironmental group, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC). But Alton’s logging company needed a test site within a GVRD forest to prove his method. Impressed with Alton’s pres- entation, North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman last year suggested a Seymour Demonstration Forest test site because its forest consisted of mainly second-growth trees and was not located within the sen- sitive watersheds. The 1992 water committee en- dorsed his recommendation pro- vided that the test site be subject to an ecological -evaluation by GVRD staff. But last Thursday the 1993 water committee vetoed the two proposed Seymour Demonstration Forest test sites because harvesting logs in the area would run counter to the GVRD’s own logging poli- cy. GVRD policy was changed [ast October from a low-level, pro- active to a reactive logging ap: proach. Low-level, pro-active logging involves the harvesting of trees that are currently healthy but con- sidered to be susceptible to disease, pestilence or fire. Reactive logging confines harvesting to stands that are actu- ally afflicted with disease and pestilence or contain a_ high amount of snags left over by fire. Because the two sites proposed in the Seymour Demonstration Forest do not fall under the reac- tive policy, the new committee vetoed them. Instead, the new water commit- tee has recommended three other test sites that are in the Capilano ‘and Seymour watershed but fall under a “‘reactive’’ category. The sites identified in a staff report are currently infected by disease and cluttered with snags. But the recommended test sites are still subject to an ecological consultant’s assessment and GVRD board and_ provincial forest ministry approval before they can be harvested. But the new water committee’s recommendation has now = run afoul of environmental groups, such as the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), which is opposed to any logging in the watershed without further information on the selected sites. A fetter circulated by SPEC during the meeting asked for a chance to tour the proposed test sites before any decision is made. “Virtually no information is provided on these cutblocks or the specific justification for cutting them. There is not even a map showing where they are. We are completely opposed to this type of reckless approval -process,’’. wrote SPEC vice-president Paul Hundal. Water. committee member and West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager also recommended the alternative sites be opened to public viewing, which was later endorsed by the committee. But Dykeman, who originally suggested the Seymour Demonstration Forest last year, disagreed with choosing tue other sites to conform with new board policy. “Isn't the thrust of the recom- mendation an exemption for a test? Instead of changing a policy, why don’t we allow an exemp- tion?”’ Replied new committee chair- man and New Westminster Mayor Betty Toporowski: ‘‘I don’t see us as being that interested in aerial harvesting to go into pro-active managenient,’” She said an aeria! logging test could be done just as easily in one of the three reactive sites Over the two pro-active ones in the Seymour Demonstration Forest. “{ don’t know why we need five tests to see if aerial harvesting works.”’