Undercutting forest fire budget hurting tourism economy
August 5, 2010 (HAZELTON, BC) – The Liberal government’s inability to responsibly budget for forest firefighting is causing problems for the tourism economy in the northwest, said Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson today.
“As Official Opposition we told the forest minister his decision to lowball the firefighting budget for this year could have a number of negative consequences, yet he decided to go ahead with a figure that was at least $20 million under a responsible average based on the last seven years,” said Donaldson. “Now I am hearing from tourism sector operators that business is down and that it is a direct result of not fighting forest fires.”
Donaldson is referring to calls and e-mails received by his office from tourist facilities that depend on visitor traffic, especially along Hwy 37. Smoke from a forest fire near the junction of Hwy 37 and the Alaska Highway in Stikine has closed the road for long periods, choking off seasonal tourism traffic.
“My understanding from tourist operators is that the fire in question was relatively small at first, but was left to spread to thousands of hectares,” said Donaldson. “What concerns me is that the unrealistic fire budget set by the forest minister really constrained decisions about how to spend resources and on which fires. As a result, the tourism economy in the northwest, where operators depend on a very short, intensive season, has taken a terrible hit.”
The Stikine MLA said he understands forest fire managers primarily base their decisions about which fires to fight on protecting lives and structures. But he questions the overall direction that filters down to Ministry of Forests staff from the Liberal government.
“This irresponsible budget management shows the government once again has little understanding of the northern economy,” added Donaldson. “If this fire was burning in merchantable timber I would bet the government would direct managers to fight it when it was containable because of the potential economic impact to the forest industry. And that reasoning is fine. Unfortunately, this government does not seem to be able to transfer that same logic to the effects of smoke and fire on the tourism sector in the northwest. It demonstrates an ignorance for how people in north are trying to diversify the economy so we can remain living in rural areas.”
Donaldson will be directly visiting impacted tourism operators during a trip up Hwy 37 this week.
Contact: Doug Donaldson (250) 505-7785