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Pause on forestry program makes no sense

That will all be lost with “The Pause”.
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Pause on forestry program makes no sense

On Dec. 19 North Cowichan honoured Tom Walker and dealt with a proposed “pause” a.k.a. termination of its forestry program.

Tom’s remarks centred on his involvement 40 years ago in the rebirth of the forestry program at North Cowichan. The emphasis shifted from pure revenue to reforestation, recreation as well as logging. Its “profit” has varied over the years but the revenue from log sales have covered the costs of all aspects of the program before that “profit” goes into reserve funds and general revenue. In 2017 log sales generated $1.15 million,with reserves getting $75,000 and general revenue $32,000.

One million dollars went to fund the program. In 2018 the budget has log sales at $1.8 million with “profit” allocation of $260,000 to reserves and $90,000 to general revenue. That means about $1.4 million spent funding the program.

That will all be lost with “The Pause”. The funding for the newly named “Tom Walker” scholarship will be lost. The jobs will be lost. Or, funded with higher property taxes.

I understand that during the “pause” we are to hear from experts. Who are the “experts”? An expert was once defined as a person from out of town. It’s now defined as a person from out of town (or anywhere else for that matter) who agrees with you.

G. Glen Ridgway

Duncan