Recent news from the BC Government:
Communities in the Cariboo-Chilcotin will benefit from another $900,000 to help address the economic impacts of the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The Province is working closely with communities affected by the mountain pine beetle infestation to help them deal with the short-term effects of the infestation and encourage long-term economic stability.
The Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition will receive $900,000 to support economic diversification efforts. The Coalition received $1.6 million in 2005. Since then, the Coalition has worked to develop a comprehensive package of background reports and strategies to manage the beetle’s environmental, economic and social impacts. Most recently, the Coalition has developed a Secondary Wood Products Strategy, which aims to double the size of the sector by 2017.
The additional funding will allow the Coalition to complete its comprehensive Regional Community Economic Diversification Strategy for the Cariboo-Chilcotin region.
“The CCBAC is determined that our communities will not only survive the mountain pine beetle infestation but that we will prosper,” said 100 Mile House Mayor Donna Barnett, also the chair of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition. “This support and funding from the Province strengthens our ability to meet that challenge.”
The Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition includes representatives from the municipalities of 100 Mile House, Quesnel, Williams Lake, the Cariboo Regional District, and First Nations, and from the forest industry and conservation sectors.
The Province’s comprehensive Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan is designed to mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of the infestation. For more information, or to download a copy, visit www.gov.bc.ca/pinebeetle online.
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It's great to see provincial and local governments thinking in the medium to long term. Many interior BC communities will start to feel pressure on their economies when the mountain pine beetle threat has passed, and lodgepole pine stands are depleted. Forestry drives the economic engine of many interior BC communities through mill jobs and logging jobs, and all the spinoff employment for companies that serve the forest industry. These communities should be working now to diversify their economies into non-forestry related industries, so the impact won't be so great from the expected downturn in forestry.
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