Th e wood chips fly as Edward Bl ak e , a Birch]' B ay ar ea sewmttler, sends the saw whining through a stick. In this issue Introduction Front section ; I n~ ·ihis: issue. Decks Awash ' looks "'01.the troubled sawmill industry. We talk with Fogo Island sawmillers about the problems they fac e. and take a look at a couple of groups who are trying fisheries conference 2 to solve some of those difficulties. We talk to civil Green Bay fisheries servants about the state of the forest resource, committee reorganized 3 and review the thinking for the future. We spend Always a Whelan 4 some time with the Department of forestry and agriculture's field staff. finding out what they do and what they think about things. In our back and front section we visit Fogo again, plan for spring gardening and bottle a few moose. In our April Issue. Decks Awash will be visiting the area of Bonavista. Special section

The history 9 The sawmill operators Decks Awash is a bi-monthly magazine for and planers 18 people in Newfoundland and Labrador, about The lumber dealers 23 rural Newfoundland and rural Newfoun­ The organizations 26 dlanders. Information rather than news orien­ ted, Dedt. AWalh is based on th e principal that The provincial departme nt information is vital to the development of people offorestry 32 and communities. Each issue contains a The federal Department "Special Section" which alternatively concerns offorestry 46 itself with geographical areas and resources of Education 47 the province. The " F ront and Back Section" contains information about the fisheries, The future 48 agriculture. consumer items, crafts, historical Editorial. 50 events and interesting people.

Editor: Susan Sherk Researcher Writer: Rick Hayes Researcher: Sally Lou LeMessurier Production Supervisor: Janet Oliver Subscription and Circulation: Hazel Harris Back section Photography: Susan Sherk, Rick Hayes, ETV Photography Artwork: Carmen Von Richthofen and Ian Stewart The Mysterious Adventures Layout and Printing: Robinson Blackmore of Anthony Murphy 51 Printing and Publishing Company, St. John's. Botulism and Nfld. home canning 54 How to bottle a moose 56 For a free SUbscription if you live in Eating more fish 57 Newfoundland and Labrador, please write to Cuddles and her codpeace 59 Deeo Awash magazine, Memorial University Extension Service. St. John's, A1C 5S7. The arguin' ground 61 Telephone (709) 753-1200. Ext. 3484. For those Readership survey . . : 62 living on the Mainland and abroad, a sub ­ The last word 63 scription at $6.00 per year is available from the above address. Cheques should be made payable to Memorial University of Newfoundland, Ex ­ tension Service: Attention: Susan Sherk. 2-Decks Awash

Fogo Island Fisheries Conference " Conferences like th ese are all species in th e past three wa s grim, a me eting was held . promoted by the gr ass roots years have been about 18 million Six hund red dollars was people to look at problems which pounds," stated Eugene, " with a collected and with this se ed are often created by the ones landed value of $2 million and an money residen ts were a ble to who make policies," said Stan average annual payroll of over develop a shipyard a nd a Kinden, the chairman of one half a million dollars." He thrivin g co-op . The rest is session at the Fogo Island e m pha sized th at the quality wa s his tory. Fisheries Conference which was th e fin est with over 90% of th e held January 11 and 18 on Fogo product bein g gra ded as number A littl e more than a year ag o, Island. "The resource people one . As fa r as sa lt fish th e Board of Directors of Fo go who ar e at this me eting control production wen t, no one coul d faced a noth er pro ble m ; th e th e lives of the fish ermen and beat F ogo Island's rec ord, but quality of their landed fr esh fish. thus it is important that the unfortunatel y, the ir fr esh The director s went to S1. J ohn's fishermen have a chance to talk production was ca using a nd met with th e government with them and the resource problems. who s aid " how mu ch ca n you put people have an opportunity to In addition to turbot bruising into it?" Th e di rector s went listen to the people of Fogo ." easily, the fish suffered by being ba ck to Fogo and asked "for $200 To further illustrate this pOlnt; trucked to Fog o, onto a ferry a hea d." So far this yea r," Mr. Kinden told a story to the and then over to the Fishery sta tes a proud Pie rce Wells , "we conference participants about Products Twillingate plant. Said ha ve collected $100,000 in share the Senate Committee on Eugene." During the last 10 capit al on th a t $200. A few week s Poverty which met on Fogo years. the Fogo Island Co-op ha s a go th e loa n for $600,000 was Island several years ago. The lost at least a million dollars approved. We had a grant fro m residents submitted a proposal worth of fish in direct dumpage DREE of $120,000, rural to the committee for a $2 million or quality deterioration." Ac­ dev elop ment for $160.000 and multi-purpose fresh fish facility. cording to Eugene. a fresh fish ­ Ca na da Works for $200,000." But The people of Fogo told the freezing plant was a necessity. it was Pierce 's next poi nt which committee that they could Pierce Wells , the president of was the importa nt one. " F ish guarantee that su ch a facility the co-op , took over from there compan ies th roughout would help the island over come and explained just how much Newfoun dl a nd get gr ants and more poverty than Come by Fogo Islanders had put into the Fogo Isl an d ge ts th ei r grants . Chance with all its millions. Stan development of Fogo them­ but what is put on Fogo Isl and is concluded his story by saying selves. Ten years ago when the not for pr ivate ente rprise, it is "Fogo Island didn't get its fish island had little and its future for th e people of Fog o Isl and. plant, but it still managed to survive and thrive and Come by Chance has gone under." His story illustrated perhaps best of all the underlying point of the Fogo conference wbich was sponsored by the Fogo Island Imprpvement Committee. the Co-op , Memorial's Extension Service and Secretary of State. While it was important to discuss the many problems in the fisberies. it was also a chance for people outside of Fogo to fully understand just what this small island has ac ­ complished in the face of in­ credible odds. At the conference, Eugene Collins. manager at the Fogo Island Co-op explained how it was set up and talked about just how much the co-op meant to the Fred Earle introduces provinci al fis hery panelist s at th e F ogo island." The average landings of Conference. Deck s A w ash ~3

They own their share in it." very thankful for the co­ Pierce made another very Pierce concluded by saying, "I operation of government and the important point before sitting am proud to stand here today people of Fogo Island because down. "You will find a lot of new and sa y that our freezing facility they are the ones who made buildings erected on Fogo Island ha s reached stage one . 1 am things happen." for the fishery and you may ask where they came from . Most of it came from Canada Works, LIP and FLIP programs. However, don 't forget th at every other com m unity in Newfoun­ dland gets the same opportunity as we did . The difference is what we have done with ours. Most communitie s in Newfoundland had their money for recreation and playgrounds, etc . We want our playgrounds and recreation centres, but we have a more urgent need. We need dev elopment in our fisheries fir st. " Although Fogo Island has had its share of problems and con­ flicts over the years, it is the overall belief in the island's future th at has gotten them through the problem times. Never wa s thi s belief more Sandy Well, president of t he Fogo Island Development evident than at the Fogo con­ Association, speaks at the Conference Dinner . ference. Green Bay Fisheries Committee re-organized Blood is thicker than water, munity. But the office work , community. the saying goes, but in Wilfred long hours and problems with " I think we represent roughly Bartlett's cas e, it is the opposite. lab or began to get him down and 100 fishermen," says this very "The water is in my blood," he yearned for the days when he articulate, tall, thin fisherman says this former Lushes Bight could get back to the water and with the twinkly eyes and broad resident. " I fished when I was be more or less on his own. grin. " The re are all kinds of young, but I left Lushes Bight A couple of years ago, when boats here and mostly the boats when lobsters were selling for his children had pretty much fish 2-5 miles from shore in 12t and codfish were fetching grown up, Wilfred abandoned Notre Dame Bay," and then he only $12.00 a quintal. There was his bus iness, moved to Brighton quickly adds that most of them no way a man could make and began fishing. Despite som e have fished on the Labrador at anything at the fishery back in bad luck and trouble with his 58 one time or another. the early 1950's." foot longliner, he's delighted When talking about the Being a true Newfoundlander, that he returned to the fisheries. problems of the area, Wilfred Wilfred was willing to try his Never a man to sit still, he gets very adamant. " Our hand at anything and in the hel ped re-organize a fisheries biggest problem last year was course of 23 years he has done it committee last year for this trying to sell our fish . We had no all .Alt hough he has spent the area. He is now the chairman of market. Fishery Products in majority of his time in Deer t he committee which takes in Twillingate used to collect the Lak e, it was his last six years five communities: Roberts fish but last winter they said th ere that he really shone. He Arm, Pilley's Island, Triton, they wouldn't be collecting it built up a construction business Brig hto n and Jim's Cove . th e any more because they had and was responsible for the first Board of Directors is made up of more than they could handle in CMH C houses in that com- three representatives from ea ch their own area. We contacted La 4-Decks Awash

La sere. but they refused problem m ay be solv ed with- th e of se al meat. According to be cause they were getting more building of a new pl ant in the Wilfred , most of the boats in his fish than the y could handle. The Triton area. A joint enterprise area are at least 3S miles fr om a pas t couple of years, the between Nicke rso n's of Nova marine centre a nd by the time provincial govern ment has been Scotia and Dorm Roberts of they got th eir boats to the La trying to get everyone into the Triton, it will hav e a lar ge Scie centre last fall , it wa s filled . fish ery . There is nothing wrong freezing capacit y and will be In additio n th ey ha ve no market with it to a point , but what able to handle herring, for th eir seal me at ." We had to happens when we have no place mackerel and squid. dump at lea st 90% of the meat to se ll our fish? " The oth er m ajor pr obl em for last winter," says a very However, according to the the fishermen in his ar ea is th e frustrated Wilfred Bartlett. gover nment, this is just not so. freeze on licences. Wilfred says "It's just not viable to go into the It 's the fishermen who have the boys don 't object to the seal fish ery anymore. It 's a sin been trying to get into the freeze, they und er st and the because th ere ar e people fish ery because it has been good necessity of it , but th ey do obj ect starving for meat all over the these past few years. The to the way in which the govern­ world." federal government, of course, ment is doin g it. " It has to be has recognized this problem and done on a regional basis, not an While there may be problems that is one reason why they have individual ba sis, " states for this are a, Wilfred is con­ put a fre eze on new entrants into Wilfred. fident tbat most of them can be th e inshor e fishery. Other problem s fa cin g the overcome, espe cia lly with the For Wilfred and the other fisbermen include th e la ck of a newly re -or gan ized Green Bay fishermen in the area, their marine centre a nd the dumping Fisberies Com mittee. Always a Whelan

How many women do you walking to St. John's once , but. " I spent four sum mer s on the know who've lived all their lives think she came back to Avon­ Labrador ," recalls Mrs . Whelan in th eir home community, dale on the train." remembering her experiences managed to marry but retain with th e fish ery that was a vital 'the ir maiden name, and are Describing her early life as part of th eir lives. " We 'd go spry enough at 92 to attend a " ha rd in some way s, but good ." down each ' spring and live dinner and dance, stay to Mrs. Whelan recalls liking ashore for the summer. While midnight . and enjoy every school, but says she "didn't get a we were there, my job was to chance to go very much." Like minute of it? take care of th e men . I'd cook One such lady... Mrs . many Newfoundlanders of that . and wash for them. We were era, she found herself working Margaret A. Wbelan ... lives in a paid for our work , but it wasn't large squ are bouse beside the at an early age. " I was 11 when I very much. One year. got 118.00 Conception Bay higbway in went to Conception Harbour, for the summer." Colliers. " I' m happy here with three or four miles up the shore, After the sc hooner s returned Gerald and Gert," Mrs. Wbelan to babysit for a family," she hom e in th e faU, preparations beams, speaking of her son and said. After a few years, she for the winter started. " Supplies bis wife . " I' m still living in tbe decided to return home to came in during the fall," she house my husband and I bad, Colliers, but first went to recalls." E veryth ing came in and I'm in tbe same bedroom Summerville by boat to vis it great big bags or barrels. We'd I've had all my life. " with her mother 's peopl e. " Then get flour, molasses and things Born in 1886, Mrs . Whelan has I came back to Colliers." she like that, in amounts to last the lived most of her life in ber home said with a note of satisfa ction in winter. There was a merchant community. "There weren't her voice. here in the Harbour who had a that many families living in While she was to remain a general store a nd we could get Colliers when I was growing lifelong resident of Collier s, everything we needed there, dry up," sh e notes, going on to list Mrs. Whelan wasn't quite goods or groceries." Whelans, Ryans, and other through with travelling yet. Sitting in her comfortable names still associated with the Each spring people from the living room, Mrs . Whelan keeps community today." There were Conception Bay-Trinity Bay a sharp eye on the window. op­ no ro ads around then, although areas migrated north to their posite her chair. She watches carriages were used close to fishing stations on the Labrador the passing traffic, while home. People used to walk to St . coast, and youn g Margaret reminiscing about the days John's, as my father did many Whelan often ac companied her when there were no roads as we times. • remember my mother father on the annual exodus. know them today: Most older Decks Awash-5

Newfoundlanders remember the Whela n att racted her atte ntio n. whom a re st ill livin g : four boys fir st car they saw, and Mrs. "A lthough he live d in the har­ and four girls. All four boys ... Whela n is no exception. But her bour, I didn't know him muc h at Gerald, Larry, Jim and Dav e . most vivid memory of changmg all before I me t him in th e still live in th e Colliers area. Her tr a nsportation methods doesn't store." The young co uple large family has present ed her involve the automobile at all. started co urting, attending the with a steady string of new "I r eme m ber running into the dan ces in th e a rea and finally family members for insp ection house, shouting that I'd just seen decided to get m arried. over the years, till she now a man on wheels," she laughs. " I got m arried her e in boasts of having " 30 grand­ "That was the first bicycle 1 Collie rs," states Mrs . Whel an . children and at least 40 gr ea t­ ever saw; it was just like the "The wedding was the usual grandchildren." ones we have now, but it looked a ffair ... a ceremony, followed " E very home was your own so st range to me then. I'll never by the traditio nal crowd coming home when I was growing up, " forget that." to the house for a me al and a she explains. "Everyone wa s Having lived her early life dance." The coincidence of her alike in th e old days and we'd be a round Colliers, it doesn't seem new husband's last na me being back and forth to people's hom es at all strange that Mrs. Whelan Whelan allo ws her to boast that all the lime. There wer e parti es should marry a local man. While " I was always a Whelan." too, not too many, but we e n­ she was working in Hea r n's Settl ing down in Collier s, the joyed them and the dances we 'd st ore, a ma n nam ed Jim couple had 10 children, eight of have, expecially a round Christmas. We had th e mum­ mers here, and some of the women used to dress up and go out with them, although I ne ver did . There'd be music at the dances, mostly fiddl e s a nd accordians and we used to ha ve good times." While thin gs have cha nged over the years, this 92-year-old still enjoys a good tim e, and gets out to the odd affair. During Christmas, she went to a dinner and da nce in Bay Roberts with her sons. The oldest among the 300 peop le present, she didn't just put in an appearance, but stayed till past midnight, en­ joying every minute of it. Tips for winter

lee FlJhIna One layer of ice is the only thing between you and the fish . It 's also the fine line between you and possible death. Cold water can kill . The Can adian Red Cross Society urges you to measure the ice to ensure it 's a Mrs. M aragret A . Whel an of Colliers, 92 y ear s y oun g , sits in her safe 10 centimetres thick. And spe cial cha ir as she ch ats with Decks Awash . She spent several take a warm change of clothing seasons on th e L abrador, r em embers th e d ay s when there were no an d a rope . Just in case. It 's ro ads around Colliers, and clearly r ecalls the first bi cycle sh e ever your winter, use it wisely. sa w . 6-Decks Awash

Special Section

What do we plunt when we plant II tree? What do we plant when we plant a tree? We plant the ship which will cross the sea ; We plant the mast to carry th e sails; We plant the planks to withstand th e ga les . The keel, the keelson, the beam and kn ee ; We plant the ship when we plant th e tree.

What do we plant when we plant a tree ? We plant the house for you and me, We plant the rafter, the shingles, th e floors, We plant the studding, the laths, the doors, The beams and siding, all parts that be ; We plant the house when we plant the tr ee.

Whatdo we plant when we plant a tr ee ? A thousand things we daily see: We plant the tower that out-towers the crag, We plant the staff of our country's n a g, We plant the shade, from the hot sun fre e : We plant all these when we plant the tree.

- Henry A. Abbey

When Deeks Awas h explores a resource. such as In researching this issue we discovered tha t fishing or farming, we generally look at all there was a communications gap between the aspects of that particular industry. In this issue on government and sawmillers. Decks Awash hopes sawmilling, we take a slightly different approach. that by writing about the provincial department of We have concentrated rather heavily on one forestry, some of the misunderstandings ca n be particular m an agement unit within the provincial cleared up and the sawmillers will bett er un­ department of forestry. derstand just what role the government plays in sawmilling. Decks Awash-7

The tree The life of a balsam fir

decided that a thumb nail sketch of one good old abies balsamea (L) Mill.. . better known in these parts as the balsam fir ... might help make the forest a tittle more understandable. Seed Large crops of balsam fir are produced every two to four the winter and most gel years. m ination occurs from late Ma y During the summer, up to 4000 to early July. Humus, mineral male flowers and 80 female soil or rotting logs provide cones containing 100-200flowers suitable seed beds providing are formed. When pollen from there is sufficient moisture. the male flower reaches the However, frost and high surface female flowers inside the cone, temperatures in winter and fertilization takes place and by drought in summer take a heavy late August the seeds begin to toll. Of the 300,000- 400,000seeds Cone fall . A single tree can produce per acre produced, only about All of us, at times, are guilty of about 1500 good seeds. however, 30,000 - 40,000 germinate and " not being able to see the forest this may vary considerably. su rvive the first year. for the trees". So Deeo Awash Seedfall continues throughout The first year seedlings a-Decks Awash

resemble small twigs with just represent the biggest trees. two needles, but they usually After 60 years fir trees will ha ve long roots which penetrate reach a height of 40 - 50 ft. with a the humus and gain nutrients corresponding diameter at from the underlying topsoil. breast height of 6-8 in. On good After this stage, growth is sites they may reach 50-60 ft. largely controlled by overhead with a breast height of 8-10 in . at shading from such bushes and the same age . trees as raspberries, cherries and birches. Beyond 60 years the fir Afte r ten years or so, a few of displays little growth. It loses its these trees will overtake the vigor and becomes very ot hers and the remainder will susceptible to attack by insects die or remain stunted until the and disease. Event ually it blows a rea is cut again or a big tree down or new trees take its pl ace. blows down. In m a ture stands, there are Te chnical informaUon only 2000- 3000 fir trees per acre courtesy of the Newfoundland and less than 25 percent of these Fore.t Research Centre).

Seed ling

Thicket Beanpole Decks Awash-9

The History History of sawmilling alive hut not well Feast follow ed by famine is and domestic cutter s. near the sea for firewood, boat perhaps the best way to describe As is the case with building materials and lumber sawmilling in Newfoundland. Newfoundland's history in for houses. stages and wharves. Forest resources once con­ general, the early story of forest In fact, the coastal forest, for at sidered inexhau stible ar e hard exploitation is tightly link ed to least three miles inland, was pressed today to meet the the sea. The first users of our reserved by government · to demands being placed on them woodland r esource s were serve the needs of those engaged by paper com pa nies. sa wm ille r s fishermen, who soug ht wood in the inshore fishery . With little or no control. the resource was considered common property, available to anyone. Newfoundland's first sawmiller was John Guy, who established a colony at Cupids in 1610. By 1612, his mill was operating and soon men in other communities began to follow his example. The first mills. driven by water power, produced materials for use in local buildings. While few had any great commercial significance. these first mills were an integral part of the economy of developing communities, and that pattern still holds true today for the vast bulk of the push -bench mills dotted around the island. This pattern of cutting and sawing for local consumption continued until the closing years of the 18OOs. One of the key elements in changing the pat­ tern was the building of the cross island railway in 1881. By 1900, the interior of the island. with its vast forest resources. was accessible for the first time and sawmilling on a commercial scale experienced its first boom . About 1900 a man named Lewis Miller bought some 60 Swedish families to the province to exploit the white pine forests of the interior. Promised a wage of 33 Kroner ($1.00) a day, these The log drive is one of the more romantic aspects of logging in immigrants worked side by side Newfoundland. With the increase in road transport, scenes like this with Newfoundlanders in one on Cooks Brook are disappearing slowly, but it's unlikely that feeding the mills established the log drive will ever completely disappear. along the railway at Terra 10-Decks Awash

Nova. Glenwood. Botwood. in 1900. with a cap acit y of 45.000 limited . Much of the whit e pine Gambo. Norris Point and feet of pine lumber a day. When sawlog m at er ial was over­ Millertown. The Swedes proved the other mills got into full mature, and conta ined a high to be exemplary citizens and the production, the a nnua l lumber proportion of defect s. Soon the excitement of those times can be exports peaked at som e 40 to 50 large mills becam e unprofitable imagined ... a booming new million board feet a ye ar . the and the indus try started to industry, a crown of bulk of it going to th e En glish decline. Th e fir st big boom " fore igners" who added a touch market. But there wa s a flaw in petered out within 20years. of the exotic. and high wages. the setup and it's likely th at The Swedes. findin g the White pine lumber production today's sawmillers will find a resource to be insufficient. and flourished for a number of familiar ring to the tale. feeling th ey had been misled by years. The potential of th e white pin e exaggerated promises. soon stands had been overestimated emigrated to the United States. The first of these mills along and the operators soon found the But Miller is still with us today the railway opened at Botwood supply of useable timber to be in the name of two communities _ Lewisporte and Millertown. At the turn of the century. the saw milling industry was getting its first real taste of com­ petition. A pulp and paper operation was established at Black River. Placentia Bay in 1897 but it lasted a scant six years. A second attempt at pulp and paper involved a fascinating figure. H.J . Cro we. a self-made man who beli eved Newfoun­ dland's for ests were better suited to pulp and paper than sawmilling. He approa ched the Harm­ sworth interests in Great Britain with his ideas and caught their eye. Prior to this, Crowe had consolidated a large timber Moving timber around in the woods is far from an easy job. In the limit in the Central Newfoun­ top photo, the traditional horse and sled approach the yard. where dland area. He sold this to the wood is stacked prior to being taken to the mill. In the bottom shot. Harmsworth group who used the mechanization appears, as a "log train." consisting of a tractor and wood supply to establish a mill several sleds, takes overfrom the horse and sled. at Grand Falls in 1909. This operation gre w over the years. until it became the outfit we now know as Price. Corner Brook became the second pulp and paper centre in the province in 1925. and over the years has made the name of Bowater a hous ehold word . In developing a pulp and paper industry. these two giants acquired control of the vast majority of the timbered lands in the interior of the island. Since they were interested in pulp and paper production only. the saw milling industry found that the bulk of the inland resource was effectively closed to th em . Sawlog m aterial was cut and used for pulp . while the Decks Awash-11

sawmills re treated to the coastal preserve in search of suitable m at erial for their op er a tion s. But they didn't enjoy fr ee re in th er e, either; the common re sour ce approach to manageme nt meant that do mestic cu tt ers had the right to seek their wood in th e three mile strip too. The expanding dem an d for wood brought in­ credible pressures to bear on th e wood supply , and th e coastal for e st s in so me ar ea s took a be ating. While sa wmilling may have had its .problem s during this pe r iod, the industry did grow with an e ve r-incre asing number of small push bench operations .""Ii pro ducing for local markets. Despite th e increase in the Steam boilers used to be as common as simon sa ws - Today, the number of mills, total produc­ - only remains ofthose earlieryears are abandoned rusty boilers. tion st ayed relatively constant. Figures for 1910 show that some 347 mills produced ap­ 1,200 and 1,400 mill s were in province now imports about 60 proximately 45.2 million board existence. This is a far cry from per cent of its requirements. feet, with output dropping the 350 mills in 1910 which Two factors appear to be in­ sharply in the next 10 years to 30 produced the same a mount. volved in this changing picture. million board feet. This figure It is also int eresting to note Competition from the pulp and remained constant until the that Newfoundland's growing paper industry has restricted fifties when it reached 60 million population has become more the resource available for feet per year. It dropped again and more dependent on im­ sawmill use and this has led to a in the 1960s and 1970s to less than ported lumber. From being shortage of suitable wood to 40 million board feet a year, close to self sufficient at the end meet the growing demand. In despite the fact that between of the nineteenth century, th e addition, our Union with Canada in 1949 put the large lumber producers on the Mainland in a strong competitive position, because tariff barriers that had protected the relatively inef­ ficient Newfoundland producers came tumbling down. For all the hard times it has faced, the Newfoundland sawmill industry has managed to survive. Most rural com­ munities still have a push bench or two, despite numerous government reports saying they aren't really viable. Rotary carriage operations are still turning out rough or finished products, and a few promoters and developers still have faith that the super mill can be made a viable Glovertown, seen at the height of the first great sawmilling boom proposition. While the was one of a number of communities involved in the first serious Newfoundland lumber industry exploitation ofNewfoundland's sawmill potential. Export peaked at may not enjoy good health, it's some 40 to 50 million board feet a year during the first decade of the century. still a long way from dead. 12-Decks Awash

Chronicles of a Bayman By VICTOR BUTLER would say 'enough for today, on the shaft near the coupling, 1 must explain that I have enjoy yourself the rest of the with a belt on the shaft coupling never operated or owned a afternoon.' and on a pully on the mandrel sawmill. Therefore some In later years, I was thankful (saw shaft) of the saw. They put readers may get a laugh from for his upbringing - it was good a barrel full of water by the my description of one sawmill I exercise and it toughened up my engine with a hose from the saw erected and used more than muscles - and all my long life I barrel to the engine and a return 50years ago. was not afraid of hard work. hose to keep the engine cool. A When the communities on the The first sawmill operated in man in Clattice Harbour turned southwest coast were first Placentia Bay was operated by out the rollers for their sa w inhabited. the pitsaw was the William Coffin, a resident ot table. only type of sa w used for Haystack. He operated using a They were now ready to building boats and houses. For water wheel for power. operate and that's when the fun those who have never seen a In 1924. I married a girl from began. George was to operate pitsaw I shall explain what it Merasheen Island and lived the engine and stand by the looks like and does. It is seven there for some time afterwards throttle to slow and speed up the feet long. 16 inches wide at one operating a small business. In engine. His brother was to do the end and six at the other with a the winter of 1925 two brothers, sawing. The first stick they tried handle attached to both ends. George and Paul. residents of to saw was a stick that took Two stands are erected seven little Merasheen, decided to three days to cut and haul out of feet high and the stick to "be construct a sawmill. They the woods. sawn is placed on those stands One of the brothers wanted it owned a large. two storey store. and one man stands on the stick However, they did not un­ for planks for his dory so they while another man is un­ derstand that the foundations of set it up on their saw bench to de rneath. In order to saw a sawmill should be perfectly saw into 3/4" lumber. George properly both men need to work solid so that the sawbench would started the old hubbard engine. well together. They sawed about two feet of the be perfect in line and true. When I was 13 my father stick but because the saw was taught me how to use a pitsaw on They erected the structure of close and out of line it turned red Saturdays and holidays. He their bench on the loft of the hot. Paul said, "Stop her taught me to saw on top, while store which did not prove to be George. boy. I'll soon fix that." he sawed beneath. He was an very satisfactory. The power Paul got the blade of a scythe expert sawer, I, myself, was not they used was a five horsepower and fastened it on the bench in in love with using a pttsaw since hubbard marine engine. They front of the saw to act as a other boys my age would be fastened the stuffing box of the wedge to keep the saw cut open. skating or engaged in other engine to the side of a puncheon Paul said, "Start 'er George, playful activities. We would with the propeller in the pun­ boy." work until three o'clock in the cheon and filled the puncheon The scythe began to flick from afternoon and then my father with water. They put a bearing side to side, and everything started to vibrate, even the store. The loft rose and fell as much as six inches and as they did not have an exhaust pipe to reach through the side of the store, the place filled up with smoke. The first board was 3/4 inches thick in the first end and two inches in the last end, all humps and hollows. After all their efforts they obtained only two boards from the stick. Finally Bill had to chop the board to the desired thickness with an axe. All their efforts were a failure. The traditional push bench mill may seem small potatoes next to This is true because I was an the modern super mills, but push benches still supply a lot of lumber eye witness to this incredible to rural communities around the island. contraption. Decks Awash-13

Wheels of fortune It 's somewhat ironic that the Solomon, moved there fr om St. was to becom e a key element in most successful sawmilling John's . By 1900, Samuel had the operation. Th e mills weren't bu siness ever to operate in the m a rried a nd moved to Halifax, a the biggest industry in the area St. George's ar ea was really port he had consider-able but figures sh ow sawmilling was sta rted by two seamen. Both the dealings with while m aster of a even then a growing contributor Butt brothers ... Nathanial who government-operated boat to the local economy . The started the business and Samuel which transported goods fr om herring fish ery in 1911 ac ­ who took over a few years the mainland to the St. George's counted for som e $70,000 and all la ter... were schooner c aptains. area. fisheries som e $327.000 while Sam uel also had a fine While Sa muel wa s away. hi. mills turned out $22.500 worth of reputa tion as a schooner builder brother Nat so me how became products. an d some sources att r ibute his interested in sa wmi lling. By the The mill wa s powered by a 25 int erest in sawmilling to his time Samuel moved back to St. to 30 horsepower steam en gine, bo atbuilding background. Geo rge's in 1910. th e mill was in and could sa w a nd plane Ium - Th e full story of the Butt operation. Sa mue l bought the . bel'. as well as sa w barrel ope ration is conta ined in equipment fr om his brother and st aves. Logs for the operation "Wheels of For tu ne" a n in­ opened his own mill . which was came from areas near St. teresting. socio -economic to operate until Samuel's death George's and Shallop Cove . e va luation of a small town in 1947. At th at time, Fred Butt, They were haul ed to the mill by sa wm ill written by a Memoria l Sa m ue l's so n too k over until 1963 horse and cart or horse and Univ er sity engineering student, whe n Alto n. Fred's son took over sleigh. depending on th e season. Larry Kryski, in 1977. In his a nd continued the sawmilling Fred, who head ed the repo rt , Kryski traces the early busine ss on a small er scale. operation in its heyd ay duri ng dev elopment of the business, Sa mu el is supposed to have the war boo m of the HMOs went co vers its periods of growth and paid $14.000 for th e bus ine ss to work in the mill as a n 18 year decline and offers the re ader a whe n he bou ght it, a high price old in 1910. During th e First fascinating glance at the to pay for an enter pri se in the World War. th e ope ration character of Samuel Butt, a area at that time. In 1911, the produced close to a qua rter of staunch Methodist whose ope ra ti on cut 10.000 logs and the area's total lumber outp ut. humanitarian te nde ncies sa wed 275,000 feet of lumber. In Growth continued for the sometimes overcame his additi on to producing lumber for operation and for sawmilling as bu siness se nse. sa le, the Butt oper ation over the a whole in the a rea into the Th e Butt family fir st ca me to ye ar s added another string to its 192Os. By 1921, five operations St. Geor ge 's during the 1890s bow ; the production of staves were booming th er e a nd the when Samuel and Nat 's father , and making of barrels, which total value of sa wm illin g had outstripped th e valu e of the fishery; the fish er y net te d 124,275 that yea r , while sawmilUng earned $29,700. Samuel's operat ion rem a ined the largest area pr odu cer an d was the only mill producing barrels and sta ves as well as lumber. Disaster wa s narrowly averted that year, as fire struck the Butt mill .Alert workers managed to rescue th e equip-­ ment and the operation was able to continue with lit tle disruption. By ISt2.5. the barrel- ma king end of the ope ra tion had grown to the point wher e a separate c:oopering shop was constructed at Shallop Cove . The high demand for fish ba rrels and the This old boiler generated stea m whic h was the main powersource like kept things on th e upswing to run the m iIls eq uipment. and the Butt operatio n started 14-Decks Awash

branching out. By 1930. they had prove the turning point [or the The Butt ope ra tion was never opened three small genera l Butt operation. Dem a nd to be the eco nomic mainstay of grocery stores, two in St. dropped and prices de clin ed [or the community ag a in, but Alto n Georges and one in Deer Lak e. both bar rels and lumber and the Butt still ope rates a mill near St. As th e twenties closed, are m ust resumption of trade in Europe George's. ha ve looked pretty good to brought the Butt operation into In his report, Kr yski points out Samuel Butt. close competition with Swedi sh that Samuel's m ill is virtually Th e 1930's earned the na m e ba rrel-m aker s. the only successful industrial the " dirty thirties," as a world­ With production costs hitting enterprise to be established in wide depression swept $3.50 to $4.00 a barrel in St. the St. George's are a by a local businesses before it. The stores Geo rge's, even nearby person. proved to be a problem for the customers in the Corner Br ook Butts and Samuel's easy credit area preferred to deal with th e It is also int eresting to note policies soon found him holding Swedes, who mass-produced that the busi ness outlived at unpaid credit worth $50.000. The ba rrels at $2.00 each. Lum ­ least two other m ajor initiatives mill was mortgaged to cover bering, already hurting [r om th e in forestry in the area: a m ajor this and the stores closed down. drop in demand, soon foun d it mill at Stephenv ille lasted only During the depression , th e difficult to get a good log supply, two years, while the mu lti ­ mill was the only so urce of a jo b as the pulp mills used sawlogs in million dollar Unerboard and ready cash in St. Geo rge's. their operations and the operation ma na ged to kee p the but the mortgage for ced its available crown land was doors open only four yea rs the temporary clos ure in 1937. A limited . fir st time around. relaxation of the mortgage as ---- the people were "in such a state for work," let Sa m uel breathe a little more easily in the late 1930's. The creditors pr obably figured tha t if the mill opened again. they would ge t the ir money back. With World War II just starting, bu siness in general boo me d a nd th e Butt operation was no exce ption. Newfoundland's close link s with Britain provid ed an im ­ mediate and continuous dem and for lumber and bar re ls a nd th e 51. George's ope ra tio n soo n found itself expanding to meet the demand. The Sha llop Cove The old mill at i ts hey d ay . mill couldn't fill it , so add iti on al mills were set up at Barach ois Brook and Middle Brook . Th ey ran 24 hours a day, with th e output [rom all three hittin g th e 25,000 to 30,000 foot a day m ark. Th e cooper shop was doing well too . Eight coope rs worked away at the Sha llop Cove Cooperage, with each man averaging six ba rre ls a da y. During the boom , e mploy me nt with the business hit an all-ti me high of 130, and so me authorities estimate the mill em ployed about 35% of the available manpower in the area. The end of the wa r , which bought rejoicing th rough out th e Empire and E urope, was to The new mill located of f the Trans Canada. Decks Awash-15

T.J. French and Sons

"I guess I was actually in­ heyday, though , T.J. Frenc h Point, in som e ways, was a volved in the lumber business was one of th e biggest difficult place from which to from day one ," muses Ray businesses in th e area. Alon g operate. There is really no French, as he fed another load of with the Horw ood Lum be r harbour and no water to help in wood into the potbellied sto ve in Com pa ny, operating at Horwood getting the wood out. " That lack his Main Point store." Our and A.T. Woolfr ey in Car­ of a good harbour led to lumber family operated a sawmill her e menville , the Fren ch operation being barged to schooners off· for 63 consecutive years, and the at Main Point soon found itself a shore, for shipment to markets business rubbed off on me . I major lumber producer. in different parts of the island. grew up with the lumber " T.J. French and Sons wa s the In any lumber business, the business and liked it. " sixth largest lumber producer basic ingredient Is' a good supply The French mill , th e second on the island," claims Ray of timber and fortunately T.J. major operation to open in the French." We maint ained that French and Sons had little Lewisporte area , clos ed its st anding for a good number of problem in that regard. doors some 18 years ago . In it 's years, despite the fa ct that Main "We cut right around the

Ray French and Harry Thompson enjoy a chat by the potbellied stove, while a friend discreetly suggests it's time for a tea. 16--DecksAwash

whole Bay," Ray French men like Harry Thompson for started wit h us when the m ill r em em ber s, saying that they the su ccess of the lumber opened, and were sti ll th ere covered a 30 or 40 mile radius. busines s . when we closed down," Ra y " We bu ilt dams and operated in "W e had very competent men French points out proudly. Ber ry's Brook area for 15 or 20 working in the woods ," he says. The te ch nology used in the years. Around Salt Pond Brook, " It was a hard life , but people days when the French mill was we used to buy the timber from enjoyed it , and it was a way of operating was a far cry from th e seashore ... people would cut life for us . The lumber business today's sk idd ers and chain it an d pull it to the seashore in was th e main industry, directly saws." The whole ope ration was th e winter, and we towed it back and indirectly, around here for geared to the hor se an d sled," hom e in the summer. In the years. I'd say that 75 per cent of Mr . French rem e mber s. He winter, we'd have anywhere the people had to go away to recalls th e da ys when the simon fr om 150 to 200 men cutting for make a living . saw wa s the main woods tool. our m ill on contract." " During the Depression The replac ement of the six One of those men who cut on years, I c an remember one foot long , fou r inch wid e two co nt ract for the French winter when we had 500,000 feet man simon saw was the far ope ra tio n was Harry Thompson. of lumber stored and couldn't lighter a nd less la bor ious Lik e Ray French, Mr. Tbomp­ get a sale for it. We bought bucksaw.This was as big a son rec alls the days when a another million feet the next revolution in its day as the cha in con tract fro m the company year, just to keep the mill going saw was many years later . m ean t a cha nce to earn a dollar and peopl e employed. That The technology of the older wh en money was hard to come situation slowly sor ted itself out days was un complicated, but the by . as time went on and things got forest resource wa s just as "Once we had a co ntract, we 'd better, and we did eventually complex as it is tod ay . While go in and buil d a camp," Mr. sell all the lumber we prod uced. there was little for m al a ut hor ity Tho mp son ex plains. "We'd be The business was almost a to enforce for est m an agement work in g three or four miles back nightmare in spots, whe n you pla ns , the for es t resour ce was in the wood s and we'd stay there think of some of the things we protected, to some ex tent, by for ab out a week at a time. had to do to keep it going. But those involved in th e tr ade . Tops Th er e wer en 't any access roads , overall, it was successful." left in th e woods m ay have been or an ything lik e that. We'd cut The business, over the years, larger, but Ray Fren ch feels th e wood , saw it up, and yard it produced a n average of a bout that the fa ct th at the mill up till the snow came. Then we 'd 800,000 feet a year, wit h the mill managed to operate for 63 years start to haul the wood out to the starting operation in May and shows something abo ut the care river ban ks, and get re ady for ending the the fir st wee k in the forest re ceiv ed . Asked if the drive. " October. The staff at the mill th ey ever got int o cutti ng second Ra y Fen ch is qu ick to credit averaged 23 men during the growth, he replied. m ill ing season, wit h most of "Indeed we did, th at 's one them work ing there season after thing I believe ... the axe, or season. "We had men who even the skidder, will never

Schooners were used to transport lumber from the French mill. \ seen on the left. Decks Awash-17

r e all y outwit nature whe n it comes to re -stoc king the for est. We were also fortunate around he r e, in th at we nev er had a m ajor fire." While a lot of the wor k In­ valved in the bucksaw and horse da ys wa s hard by today's standa r ds , ther e wer e a lso elem ents of the job that we re a lot of fu n. Notable among th ese Was th e a nnua l log drive . " Th er e wa s no trouble ge tting lab or ," Ra y re c alls with a c huckle . "Everyone enj oyed it, and it wa s consider ed a ple asure to do it. We 'd wa it for the spr ing, an d wh en th e ponds th a wed, we 'd use th e big flow of water to drive the logs down to the ri ver m ou th." " I worked on one of those during th e wa r years as bein g on e m ight wonder why the T.J. d ri ve s ," interjects Harry " alm ost limitless " Fogo and F r ench operation isn't running Thompson . " It took us nine days Twillingate isl ands a lso bou ght no w. to driv e th e logs do wn a bout lumber from th e mill , in sizes " We gave it up for a simple th ree mil es . We had a bout ranging from th e stan dard 2 by r e a son ... our delapidated, worn· 250 ,000 feet of lumber tha t time, 4, all th e way up to 2 by 14. out m a chinery," Ray explains. and there were nine men with One interesting side lig ht of th e Hav in g run th e mill himself for m e. " French mill was th e so urce of som e 15 years aft er his father Once out to the sa lt wa te r, th e fu el for their boil er s . St eam retired, he felt that the cost of lo gs were boomed, a nd later driven, the mill burned its own modernizing couldn't be towed to th e mill . There th ey sl abs for th e m ain source of ju stified. And there were other were pl a ced in the ya r d to await power, and thus a voided a omens on the horizon that boded sawing . Onc e throug h the mill problem ... slab disp osal ... tha t ill for the operation's future. proces s , whi ch too k it to the haunts some mills tod ay . Given " It was too expe nsive to finishe d lumber stage, the mill's a good supply of m at eria l ... an d m odernize," Ra y points out. producti on went to the yard to Ray French claims tha t there is " We co uld see the handwriting await ship ment. Th e mill sup­ about 80% as much tim ber on th e wall. There were more plied a lot of timber to th e St. available in the a rea tod a y as forestr y laws coming in , and John's area, and Ra y describes there was on the da y the fir st log there was talk of unions. We felt the a mount of orders a va ilable was sawed ... and good markets , tha t if we kept on , our whole life 's work could go down the drain in a single ba d year." Alt ho ug h th e mill is shut down, Ray Fren ch continues to ope rate a sm all store at Main P oint. His potbellied stove throws out a warm glow and a good supp ly of dry wood keeps he r cr a ckling. Between cu st om er s, Ra y dr eams outloud about clo sing th e store, and setting up what he calls " a little wor kshop". And he has the scattere d cha t with Harry Thomps on a nd r eminisces a bout the da ys when Thompson cut for the mill on co ntract, and T .J . F rench and Son s wa s th e sixth biggest lum ber producer on the Ea rly years at the French mill. island . t8-Oecks Awash

The' sawmill operators and planers Integrated oper ation is the difference b etween success and failure

"Our total production last to pla gue sa wmill ope ra tio ns aU co me in exc hange for chips year was 2,300,000 board feel," ove r the provin ce ... a shortage made fro m wood a nd mill said Lloyd Stu ckl ess , who ha s of suita ble m at er ial. " Tha t was wa st age and the remainder spent close to 20 years in the my diffi culty until the last th ree irom his cro wn block . lumber business. " And we're years," Lloyd ad mits, " but Th e deb arker will also make hoping to see it go to three since we got th e new block, th e mill opera te mor e efficientl y million feet thi s coming sum­ we'v e been o.k . The re was th an it has in the nast. Lloyd mer." supposed to be 45 mill ion feet on tell s of one rain y, muddy day Lloyd grew up sur rounde d by it, at the r ate of 3 million fee t a whe n he had to stop to sh arpen lumber. His father was a con- ye ar for 15 yea rs . Now we 've th e head saw 11 ti mes be cau se tractor with the Anglo- found tha t there isn't that m uch the logs co mi ng fr om th e yard Newfoundland Development wood ." He rec kons th e ac tual had a liber al coating of mud and (A.N. D.) Company, an outfit supply is about one-third of th e stones on th em and sa w blades Lloyd joined after leaving school origina l estima te . are n't equipped to deal with in 1940. Four years later, he Thi s sor t of tangle has a good stuff like th at. Clean logs to decided to join his father's number of sawmillers te aring work with should mean less operation. th eir hair, but inste ad of downtime, and better produc­ " I was second hand with m y dispairing, Lloyd sat down and tion . In an indu st r y where the father for about five years," he did so me har d fig uri ng . Now he profit m ar gins a re n't fa t to revealed in the cours e of a thinks he has the ans wer . be gin with , every bit help s . telephone interview . " One day, father said,' let' s sell our houses " I' m in the pr ocess of ge tt ing In the yea rs he has been in the and buy a sa wmill '. After a chipper and barker ," he bu siness, Lloyd de sc ribe s his thinking it over, I decided to do confided . To cover the shortfall relationship with th e provincial it . A few years later, we decided he hop es to chip th e wood whi ch department of forestry as being I'd stay hom e and run the is now going to waste. " I' m good. " I seem to get alon g with sawmill, while my father went hop ing to tr ad e off ch ips for th em , a nd I find th em pretty to the camps. I' ve been in th e saw logs fr om th e co mpa ny good to deal with ," th e veteran business ever sinc e." limits. If eve rything works out , ope ra tor notes. " If I have a The operation that started th a t should give us an additio nal probl em I go to th em and state with two men selling th eir 1 m illion feet in exc hange for m y case and th ey'll sit down and houses to raise capital employed waste th at really is only a list e n to me. I don 't go asking for some 55 men last year during nui san ce to me now. som ething I don 't want and don't the August to Christmas season need . Th er e's a lot of In­ "Last year we shipped 3,000 formation I need that's when cutting is at its height. cords of pulpwood to Bowater -, ' About 17 men work in the mill av ailable through th em too ." he continued." We' re hopin g to Whil e e verything looks to be and planer, and Lloyd sa\,s there ge t an exch an ge pro gr am goi ng are six members of th e family, boom ing with th e oper ation, one with th em on a co rd for cord dark cloud han gs over things. including him self , working in ba si s, and we hope to ge t the business. Lloyd 's operation is sla te d for a another mill ion feet th ere. That move, an d he 's concer ned about The Stuckless operation is way , I won't ha ve to use as mu ch situated near Glenwood, an area when a nd wher e his oper atio n is of th e wood fr om the cro wn going . that first caught their att ention block as we'd pl anned on using in 1957. "There was a lot of birch and it should last the 15 years ." " We' re ri ght between Glen­ her e," Lloyd remembers. " I wood and the Gander River and ca me with the intention of The above process , of course, we've expanded a lot since we staying one year, and then goin g is almost a te xtboo k exa m ple of came here. The department of back home. But I got to know the the potential benefits of in­ e nvi ro nme nt told us last year Bowater people and I decided to tegrated wood cu tting a nd full that we ca n't stay here. I asked have a try at it here." utiliza tion . If it all works out , th em for another yea r, whil e we While the business has be en Lloyd will get about one third of tried to figure out where we profitable from the first, it did his s aw ing m ate ri al in exchang e could shift. I later asked about a encounter a problem that seems for pulpwood, one third will site ne ar Salmon Pond, but they Decks Awash-19

said ' no' since th ey felt I might th e town council : we ca n't sta y see a good future in th e busines s interfer e with the sa lmon. her e indefinitely , es pec ially and I guess we 'll get th e There's a chance we might get a since we want to expa nd and ge t pr oblems sor ted out whe n the little br ook above Sal mon Pond. new equ ip me nt, but the move is tim e come s ." I agree with envi ronment and going to cos t a fa ir bit. Still, I do Labrador cuts big and small

Labrador ha s alw ays been is loca te d on 30 acres of la nd world a nd it seems tha t thought to be a 'garden of Eden' a bout five miles fro m Goose Ba y dev eloping countries are mo re when it com es to fine st ands of on the site of the old sla sher log ready to open up areas of e m­ timber bu t, in fact, the ac­ ya rd of Ca nadian Javelin. ployment for people. Th ere is cessible st and s of black spruce The Happy valley - Goose Ba y not so mu ch re d tap e."Whe re and balsam fir are very limited. Developme nt Corpora tion, a n loc al participation is co nce rn ed. Most of it is found along Grand organiza tion designe d to br ing Mr . Eadie is more enthusiasti c. Lake and th e shoreline of Lake industry into the a rea, co n­ He adds, " We have a lot of loc a l Melville. ceived the idea of th e mill . They co-oper a tion. People are really Nonetheless , ther e are abo ut were already into fish er ies exci ted about th e mill . J us t half a dozen sawmills in the programs, furnitu re ope ra tions tod ay I asked som eone where I Goose Bay area th at tak e ad­ and tr an sportation and were could get som e sand and that vantage of what is accessible. able to obtai n 30 inve stors who person said they would arrange While most of them are small are now the owners of the mill . it right away." local ope r ati ons, there is one Locally co ntrolled, th e mill is According to Mr . Eadie. the which should have major im­ fun ded by DREE, the ba si c moti vation beh ind the plic ati ons for the future. The Ne wfoundla nd and Labrador setting up of the mill wa s to use Happy Valley - Goose Bay Dev elopment Corporation. the up all the wood that was left Developm ent Corporation bank an d priv at e Inve sto rs. The be hind when Lab rador Line r­ promoted th e Goose Bay Timber president of th e mill is Dav id bo ard closed down in 1971. " We Corporation to undertake the Eadie. Ori ginally fr om Toronto hav e purch ased a ll the Labr ad or project. When it goes into he has sp ent the last 2S yea r s in Lin erboard woods ," sa id Mr . ope ration it should produce Africa. Asia and the South E adi e, "rough ly 64,000 cun its. close to 10 mill ion board feet a Pacific se tting up similar types We will be sawin g th at init ia lly year for the Mediterranean of sa wm ills . Says a so me what a nd then going int o the har­ market and should employ a frustrated David E adie. " I ha ve vesting of wood. The govern­ maximum of 30 peo ple. The mill worked on mills all ove r th e ment ha s given us the cutting righ ts for 32,000 cords of wood a ye ar." Mr . E ad ie says th at the mill will not compete at all with a ny of the oth er loc al mill s because its markets are in th e eastern Mediterranean . Sinc e mo st of the Europe an white wood comes fr om Norway and Swed en which is almost the same distance from Europe as Labr ador is by sea, this m ill shou ld be ve ry com pe titi ve with the Sca n­ dina vian m ills. However, the ma jor pro ble m facing th e mill is transportatio n. " We are hopin g for thr ee to four shipm ents in the open shipping season, but th e inven tory carr -y­ over will be a burden ," states Mr. Eadie." Right now we are trying to get the motor vessel Arctic to come in here to de mo nstrate th at wintertime Debarkers are beginn ing to be a common sight in the sawmill in­ ope ration is pos sible. 1 hope dustry. fr om this th at a couple of yea r s 20-Decks Awash

down the road comme rci al of Ha ppy Va lley-Goose Bay, his April and he close s it down bu siness will see th at we can mm produces l SO,OOO to 200 ,000 around t he middle or end of have boa ts operate here during board feet a year. November. Th at 's when he goes the winter." Built in th e 1960's , the mill wa s into the woods at the mouth of bou gh t by Mr , Amero in 1974. The mill is si milar to mor e the Churchill r ive r . It's ca pable of producing one than SO mills t ha t have be en Almost all of his wood is sold and one half million to two built in Canada dur ing th e last locally whi ch is also true of million board feet a year, but two years. It is high ly other mills, although there isn't Mr . Am ero has had trouble mechanized wit h a four saw too much building construction securing financing and so has qua d, a double harbour bull going on right now . A little of th e de cid ed to cut on a small scale. gang edger an d an automatic wood goes up the coast, but " If we happened to go into it big, trim li ne. according to Amero it is just as whic h I don't plan to right no w," cheap to ship wood from Mr. Eadie a nd his men ha ve states Mr. Ame ro, "we would Newfoundland up the coast as to been working ve ry cl osely with probably ha ve to move into the buy it from Happy Valley ­ t he department of for estry to bu sh be cause getting rid of the Goo se Bay . determine jus t how mu ch wood waste would be a proble m ." Mr . is available in t he a re a. They Am ero has a planer, a ca rriage Thus it a ppea r s that the also have do ne a hardwood and an edger and runs the whol e smaller mills in the Goose Bay survey an d are look ing clo se ly ope ra tio n on diesel. "I have area will continue to supply the at uti lizi ng t he birc h in th e ar e a . ne ver ha d any t rouble with th e immediate local demand and On the other en d of the sca le Oxfo rd eq uip ment since it was the new large mill will continue fr om the Developme nt Cor­ all here when I bought the mill," to seek markets in Europe. It's a pora tion' s m ill is Roger Amero's he sa ys. fairly bright future (or operation. Loc ated on the edge The mill usu ally starts up in Labrador. The business that never was intended to be " We will se ll to a private in­ timber purchase s and wages, a become a full-time business. di vidu al if he wants lumber," figure which m akes the planer a Their own sawmi11ing activities said Baxte r Blake, a Gayside key cog in the loc al ec onomy. went by the boa rd . as they r es ide nt who operates on e of the It's a little ironic th at this simply didn't have ti me to ge t in biggest pla ning opera tions in the successful ope ra tio n is one t he woods to cut and haul ti m be r Gander Bay are a. " Most in­ which was never int ended to be . a ny mo re. Today, with t he dividual s ha ve the money for For years, th e Bl ak e fa mil y planner's output approaching what th ey wa nt in their pockets operated a sawmi11 , much like the mi11ion foot a year m ar k. wh en t he y come for something, the mi11s which curren tly sell M r . Blake sees advantages in wh ile co m me rcial customers rough lumber to th e m . Some having one central plane r m a y take mo nths ~fore they years ago, a planer wa s pu r­ serving a number of smaller pa y us. We cha rge th e private chased, with the idea of being m ills . custome r a little more, because able to produce a finished he is buying in su ch small product which could be sold at a " I don 't know about anyone amounts," better price. Th en , one day. a else, but it's a good system for The Bla ke opera tion, em­ sawmiller m entioned that he me " the veteran lumberm an ploy ing Mr. Blake, a couple of wanted to sell som e rough says. "We're looking at his sons and sever al other men, lumber. Baxter offe re d to buy producing about a million feet of d ressed in excess of 900,000 feet it and that casual offe r started dressed lu mber a year . If we of lu m ber la st yea r . In addition the ball ro11ing. were cutting and sawing all our to giving small area mills a own materials, we'd only be able market for th eir rough lumber. " I didn't think it would to manage about 200,000 feet a the planer operatio n also gives prosper that qui ckl y," Baxter year. It would take us five years area wholesale r s a reliable marvelled, sitting in the little or more to get the m illion feet supply of loc al timber and local CUbbyhole office of his Gayside we can handle each year wit h residents a supply of lumber at a retail store and g as station. With the planer. So we buy from eig ht r eson able price. Baxter Blake the word spread ing th at th e or nin e mills around here and figu re s that his oper a tion over Blakes were bu ying rough truck the rough lumber to our th e years has pa id out better lumber, th e pl an er operation operation. The handiest mill we t han th ree million dollar. in took off , and qu ickly grew to buy from is a bout nine to ten Decks Awash-21

miles up the road, and we truck Gayside, Mr . Blake wasn't " Ther e isn't a horse to be seen in some from Gander Ba y, which is ready to give up on the licence the woods these days," he notes. 25 or 30 miles a way. We usually just yet. He was expecting a " It's all timberjacks and make two trips a day and we visit from someone with the tractors. and they tear up the deliver the fini shed lumber to department of forestry 's Gander woods." the wholesalers." office in the ne ar future and he hoped to convince them to He 's also seen changes in the The fast growth of the planing style of cutting and he isn't change their minds. With end of things had one un ex­ happy with some of it. pected result Mr . Blake several sons involved in the stopped using th e sawmill business, he feels the licence "In the past, we didn't want it licence he had for some 22 years, would go a long way toward destroyed. If we left the young being too busy with the planer to making sure there's lots of work stuff, we could come back over spend the time in the woods. for everyone. the same road in 10 or 15 years When he wanted to start up and cut again. That isn't the way Mr . Blake has been involved again, he found he couldn't get things work now ; timber that in various aspects of the woods ' should be left standing is being his licence back. trade over the years and has torn down. I'd like to see the While the wor d was still " no" seen vast changes in the forest taken care of, so that when Decks Awash visited methods of operation used. there'd be young growth left for the future." Down the road, Mr . Blake sees problems for the sawmilling industry. no matter what the size of the operation. "It looks like bigger mills haven't got . what it takes," he observes. "I don 't think I would ever be able to run a big mill. The way I'm operating r ight now , I know just what I'm doing. In addition, I don't think Newfoundland is ever going to be able to supply all the lumber it needs, because there's too much timber used up now . I don't see any great boom for sawmilling in the future. You might still do it with the old fashioned operations, but you'd have a hard time of it." As is the case with many other sectors of the forest industry in the province, the Blake operation depends on a steady supply of wood to keep things going full tilt. There's been talk of small mill operations getting planers of their own, in an effort to get higher prices for their products, but Mr . Blake doesn't see that AS the solution to their problems. He points out that the time a small mill spent planing would cut into their actual mill production time, and hence cut down on the amount they cou ld Mr. Baxter Blake, a Gayside businessman, has more than one produce. They could find iron in the fir e. He runs a general store, oper ates a planer that themselves getting a better serves the needs of several small sawmills. and is still trying to price for less material, and convince the Department of Forestry and Agriculture that he come out no further ahead in the deserves a sa wmilllicence. end. 22-Decks Awash

A typical saw mill

WOODS OPERA TION - LOGS CUT AND STACKED TO AWAIT TRANSPORTATION <, rTRUCKS - DAILY T AK E WOOD l TO MILL. TO MIL L. .-

\

I!OGS UNLOADED ON I RAMP - THE N PLACED I ~~~~~ I AG E FOR I

GANG EDGER - LUMB ER I SAWN TO SIZES WAN TED

MA IN OR HEAD SAW - TWO SLABS <, I TAKEN OFf BY SAWY ER .

I BAND SAW - USED f OR RIPPI NG. lit

I PLANER - ROUGH lUMBER I DRESSED : PRODUCE S FIN ISHED PRODUCT . I t I

YARD - LUMBER STAC K ED IWHOL ESA LE AND AWAI T ING SHIPM ENT. RET AI L LUMB ER IDEALERS. I

CONSUMERS . <;: Decks Awash-23

Th e lumber delller s Supplying the demand "I think Newfoundland has the lumber business, " but th ere " Most of the stu ff we bring in come a long way in lumber," isn't near enough loca l lumber is in th e lar ger sizes," he noted . sa id Ron Casey, a lumber dealer available." " We t ak e a ll we ca n ge t loc a lly ; in th e St. John's area. "We don't There seem to be two ga ps we just call th e mill th a t usually get complaints about the quality between local consump tion a nd supplies us and as k for the of Newfoundland lumber local production. F irst, the a mo unt we want a nd th ey truck anymore. Last year we bought matter of total su pply and it to us . We buy a lot of 1 x 1, 1 x locall y about 50% of what we second. the matter of availa ble 2, 2 x 4 a nd 2 x 6." We're happy so ld." sizes. with th e supply we a re getting." Mr . Sam Major, a Pasadena "If we started to pr oduce buildin g supply dealer, also sees lum ber properly, we could Major. on th e ot her ha nd, sees a good future for the supply most of the local pos sibilitie s for ex pansion in New found la nd lumber industry. market," Major stated. "I wis h local lumber produ cti on . "If but now he depends on Mainland there were mo re loc al any one sta r te d a stud mill, I so urces for close to 90% of his production. I' d certainly be th ink the y'd do well with it," he req uir em ents. "The grade of willing to buy it if I cou ld get it. " said. "There's a big dem an d for Mainl an d lumber we buy from While Ron Casey meets th e that plu s lumber pri ces ha ve Weste rn Canada, Nova Scotia bulk of his de ma nds for th e risen twi ce in th e las t yea r . With and Que bec isn't any better or smaller sizes with loca l pr odu ct , prices as the y a re now, the chea per than the local product." he finds the la rger siz es just sawmill er s shou ld be a ble to sa id the ve te ran of 25 years in aren't produced here. make a good doll ar ." Retailer faces pr oblem s

"There's supposed to be lots of October, mos t of the mills th ousand for it. You , as a pe rson loca l lumber around." George a ro und her e have sold th ei r building a house, ma y pa y $10.00 Aucoin , a Lewisporte business­ production, an d they're happy." a thousand more th an I do; yet it m a n notes wryly, "but I've been will cost th e sa wm ille r money in With demand outstri pping to four yards looking for some 16 terms of the tim e he loses in foot lengths of 2 x 4 and I haven't production, local retailers are foun d a piece yet." forced to buy fro m Mainland serving you . A reta iler m ay sources. Aucoin says that he ha ve to charge $90.00 a th ousan d ove r the sawm ill price to meet prefers local lum ber, which he his ove rhead. Som etim es , I Th at little incident is typ ica l of feels is usually of bett er qu ality , think thi s is on e of th e th ing! the probl e m s which plague and often more reasonably lumber dealers, the people priced. which drives whol esalers to the respons ible for getting the Mainland for th eir supplies s awmiller s' product to the "I've tried to get local 2 x 3 From th e whol esa ler s ' point a ge ne ra l public. Those trying to and 2 x 4 stockp iled for th e view, we need a syst em tha de al with loca l sources find winter," he recalls, " but by cons tant frustrations in ge tting ens ure s th er e 's a big differ -ence a su pply of the proper sizes of December. I had to hire a truck in the price for th e wholesaler: lumber when they need it. to go to Nova Sco tia a nd bring and consumers at th e saw mill." back a load of poorer qu ality Aucoin tells of having his truck In dealing with both loc al ant material at a higher price." m ake three trips to a mill to look Mainland m arkets, Aucoin find for so me long lengths of 2 x 4; th e best he could manage to get While those factors co m­ some differen ces . For example wa s 12 feetlong . plicate his business, Aucoin Mainland lumber prices go U! sometimes finds himself facing and down, depending on th another problem: co mpetition state of th e m arket. alt houg h h Since he set up in business in from the sawm ills he de pen ds on note s that pri ces ha ve ri sen i Lewisporte in 1971. Aucoin has for his lumbe r supply . th e la st two or thr ee years wit ye t to ha ve a sawmiller ap ­ no drop-off. Newf oundl an proa ch him to ask what sizes "It's a funny situa tio n," he mills. on the other hand. te nd t and quantity of lumber he needs remarks. "I'll buy a half m illi on have a fixed pri ce for th for the coming season. "It's a feet, or a million fee t as a season, exc ept in ca ses of a glu seller's market," he says. "By wholesaler and pay 'X' dollars a wh en individual ope ra tors rna 24-Decks Awash

drop their prices to get rid of th emsel ve s, and get paid for it. " soon," he pr ed icts . " If nothing is excess lumber. He th en envi sions the co­ done, there won 't be that many operativel y owned central operations left to wor ry about in As a lumber seller, George facility pl aning and gr a ding th e a few years . Even if the setup Aucoin feels that a centralized lumber an d possibly having only broke even, it would still be marketing system is needed if salesmen on the road to keep worthwhile ; pro duce r s could the Newfoundland lumber in­ check on the needs of customers. make a bett er living and stores dustry is to reach its full Trucks fr om th e ce ntr al facility would ha ve a st eady supply potential. " I don't know who could deli ver the orders right to available at a reasona ble price. should start it ," he admits, "but the de ale r , m aking sure he can Despite wh at people say about someone has to centralize it , for get what he wants wh en he the econom y bein g so slow , the benefit of both the ne ed s it. Any profi ts a vailable there's more disposable income wholesalers and the sawmillers. after money was se t as ide for around than ever befo re . To I' d like to see a system where improve m ents or e xpansion keep pac e wit h tha t, the lumber the sawmiller could bring his could be retur ned to the industry should be incr easing its rough lumber to a central shareh old ing pr odu cers. production, but it is n't. " facility owned by the sawmillers " It 's got to start somewhere

While sawmilling doesn't approach p ulp and paper making as a source of em p loy m en t, men like these earn their living producing the lumber we need. - Here, two hands are ge tting logs ready to go to the sa w. Decks Awash-25

Lumber prices

RANGE IN PRICE MOST COMM ON PRICE SIZE (per thousa nd ) (per thousand) Paat Summer Now Past Summer Now

'X4 $320-1355 $350-1390 $330 $390 'X. S335-m $350-$460 sass $40S 'X. $J.4G.S425 S380-S480 $397 $4llO 2X1O $420-$495 $490-$560 $490 $540 8ft. studs $1 .75-$1 .85 $1 .90-$2 .10 S1.76 $1.92 T &G Lumber $330-$390 $38O-S42() $390 $420 Square Edge 5350-5390 $380-$420 S360 $420 Lumber

In answer to the question whether there was a price difference between local and im port lumber, two companies could no t answer, two companies said a small differ ence. one said they didn't have a 101ot import lumber and one said th er e was no diflerence. 26-Decks Awash

The OrK'l1I;:::at;o1ls Sawmillers organization A shaky past It's a misnomer to spea k. as Once anything is tried and solid provincial association to Deckl Awalb does throug hout does n't work. the 'do ubti ng cover the whole provi nce which thi s iss ue. of the New foundla nd Thomases' have the perfect could engage people to travel sa wm illing indu st r y. The word we ap on to use the next time around. We don 't have th e ti me ind us try implies a gro up whic h so meone suggests that an to do things on a volunta ry has some direction, so me organization could help solve basis." cohes ion. so me sense of Iden ­ so me pr oble ms. "We tried that Others would disagree tha t the tity, and the vast majority of before and it doesn't work," organization must be provi nce ­ sa wmillers in the province don't becomes a millstone around the wide. They claim the diversity have a ny of these. Some 1200 to necks of those trying to organize of the industry, both in terms of 1400 operators, depending on a nother association. Th at may the size a nd the probl em s, whose figur e s you accept, exist account for the fact that it took m akes a provincial group prone as isolated individuals. Many 15 years after the fa ilure of the to inner squabbling and friction. don 't know what's happening to Newfoundland Sawmillers They see sma ll local groups. set th e ir neighbor, let alone what's Association before another up to cope with the local dif­ ha ppe ning ac ross the province attempt was made. ficulties. as more likely to a nd th e nation. If a sawmiller Mr. Pelly wasn't personally represent the members vie ws ha s problem s with governme nt involved in the second effort. but accurately. Organization at th e or a co mpany. he most often one of his sons was. " F rom what arg ue s his case alone. loc a l level must come fir st . they I rem e mb e r, there was a chap maintain; later, these loc al " We've got the sa me out in Botwood who started it ," bodies might be able to for m a pr obl e ms in sawmilling now as Mr. P elly said. "My son went provincial association to we 've a lways ha d," beefs Cyril ove r to Bot wood for a cou ple of repr esent their com mo n In­ P elly. a Spri ngdale contractor meetings, and I believe the y had terests. who says he 's into sawmilling in th e sa me basic purpose as we a sm all way. He's also into did orig inally. It was meant to A third initiative in getti ng th e or gani zation . seen by ma ny as be a provi nce-wide group, but I fragmented industry together the answer to many of the don 't th ink they ever did much took place in February of last proble ms that have long crip­ with it. " year, when sawmillers con­ pled th e growth of Newtcun­ The group was called the vened at a two day conference in dl and 's lum be r industry. Mr . Ne wfoundland Lumber Gander to look at their plight. Pelly was organizing sawmillers Producers Association and it, About two dozen saw millers so me 20 years ago. too, seems to have faded away, attended, and the disc ussions "M yself and Ford Hewlett although the group may still centered around the sa me sort of started the thing," exist officially. Both these at­ pr oble ms that had prompte d th e recalls Mr . Pelly. "We thought te mpts at organization shared first go at organization so me 20 th at sawmillers, by banding one co mmon feature ... they years ago . Wood su pply. together , might be able to get ai med to get thi ngs going on a governmental indifference, go ve rnme nt to take a more province-w ide scale, with one over-regulation, marketing a nd ac ti ve interest in our problems. group representing all hands. poor woods industry int egr a tion Th e grou p was called the Mr . P ell y st ill believes that's the wer e thrashed about. The up sh ot Newfoundland Sawmllle rs be st wa y to go. was a resolution calling for th e Associ ati on and we had a n office " The sa wmillers aren't like a establishment of a tempor ary in St . Joh n's . It lasted less than a lot of other associations." he association to further rese ar ch year; we just did n't ge t th e notes , poin tin g out that the re are th e possibility of forming a more support we needed to keep com paratively few sawmillers perm anent group of saw m ille rs th ings going . We managed to when co mpared to fishermen. and other woodharvesters. Cyr il collect a $10 me mbe rsh ip fee "If you don' t have it province­ Pelly was asked to act as the fr om 15 or 20 operators . but you wid e, you won't have that many main contact person for the can't operate on that kind of m em bers. Right now , there's fledging association, bu t he money. Th e group just faded not enough saw mille rs in th e doesn't sound over joyed with out; everyon e went ba ck to district ... I'm in Green Bay ... to what's hap pened to date. be ing on their on ." form an association. We need a "For one thing, we got off on Decks Awash-27

the wrong track with th e th e pap er co mpanies a nd some change in attitude and further government and the depart­ sa wm ill operators. They ignored a ctio n by MUN's Extension ment of forestry," states th e our committee. If the com mittee Service which promised to help veteran sawmill er . " I belie ve is going to be able to do any the organization. If neither is certain bureaucrats wer e a bit good, someone in aut hori ty is forthcom ing, this third attempt browned-off be cause they hadn't goi ng to have to change the at organization may well go the bee n invited to th e orig ina l atti tu de of so me senior same way as both of its meeti ng in Gander. Shortly afte r bureau cr ats in the de partment pred ece ssor s and the th at meeting, gov ernmen t went of forestry." Ne wfound land sawmill industry ahead and called a conf er en ce Fo r now, the co m mi tt ee wUl co nti nue to struggle for the m selves in Gander, inviting seems to be dorman t, wailin g a survi val alone. Stoneville sawmillers The horse isn't dead yet

There are peopl e who'll tell that economics dictates modern Stoneville sawmillers on you that th e hor se is fin ished : equipment in the woods. For the Newfoundland's northeast coast, the exact opposite is true; the horse is ideal and economics dict ate s that a skidder would be suicide. " I wouldn't think of having truck s and skidders for my ope ration," says Stoneville sawmiller , Ken Hodde r . " Where we 'r e wor king, we cut our timber with a hor se or a J5 just as well as with a skidder. We a lso can clean up everything and there 's nothi ng broken when we ' re fin ish ed. In addition, there's no way 1 could make a skidder pay. I' m using a J 5 my self , but I cou ld just not eve n afford a new J5 these days. I pa id $6,300 for mine four yea rs ago. The same machine is now about $17,000. That's a big dif­ feren ce in four years," he adds, sh akin g his head. "It isn't the right kind of place for a machine," continues Ken, sh outing a little to make himself he a rd ove r the sna rl of his neigh­ bot's ch ainsa w." We have a lot of boggy ground and that's no good for skidders. A horse is re a lly the chea pest th ing we can use with th e amount of wood we cut , since it only costs about $300 a year to kee p one." If you can judge by ap­ pe ar an ces , horses may be used in th e Sto neville area for so me ti me to come. The other three S toneville sawmWer Ken Hodder ... he prefers a horse to a operators in the fledgling sk idd er , and sees value in getting saw millers toge ther to tackle Stone ville sawmillers assoc ­ common problem s. iation still depend on th e 28-Decks A wash

horse and Ken beamed with at in th e ne ar future is the price seems out ; that leaves price as pride when he told us that he'd they ge t for their wood which the only variable. just purchased a pony lor his currently ru ns abo ut $140dollars A quiet, straight-forward son . per thous an d for rough lumber. man, Ken says that he has had The dark-haired logg er has Whil e it does keep bre ad and no proble m with the department be en in the business for 12 years butter on the ta ble for the four of forestry in the decade he 's and feels that the stand he 's operator s and the men they bee n in sawmtlling. " As far as currently working is " good lor a employ , it doesn't le a ve any I' m concerned, I find them nice while yet ". He recognizes capita l to purchase new pe rfect," he says. That's a however, that the forest isn't equipment or do other im­ statement a lot of sawmillers inexhaustible. When asked what provem en ts . around the province wou ld be he lelt would happen if all four " We' ll e ither have to get more gla d to be able to make. mills in the area upped their cut money or look for so mething When Decks Awash spo ke considerably, Ken replied, else to do," Ken states blun tly. with Ken , he was hoping to ge t " We' d just ruin ourselves. "I did as well th is year as I ever back in the woods in the next fe w Within three or lour years we 'd did, but I just broke even. days. An unseasonable spell of cut out everything in there and There's no mo ney to buy new mil d weather had me ited the have to shut down." gear. We ha ven 't gotten a rise in snow, keeping the woods men Recently, the Stoneville lumber pr ice s for th ree or four around home. He'd kept busy, operators, as in the case with years, bu t th e price of making a new sled for a their more highly mechanized everything we buy ha s gone snowmobile and doing a few odd counterparts in the Birchy Bay crazy." Give n the adm itted c hores, bu t he wondered aloud if area, formed an association to shortage of timbe r in the a rea, the re 'd be snow that night. seek needed improvements. The incre a sin g the ope ra tions Hom e is no place for a sa wmiller key concern when they started earnings by upp ing the cut in th e m iddl e of the winter. was the state of the dams needed for log drives. "I'd say we 'v e been working hard on that problem for five or six years ," Ken said." We wrote letters, but we couldn't seem to get anywhere with it. Then we formed the association to work on the problem. We videotaped our point of view , showed it to the forestry people and suddenly there was some progress. We 're pretty happy. Now we 're going to stay together to deal with other problems as they come up . We're not going to just get the dam, and then let the group fall apart." While Ston e vjJ}esa wmillers still use the tra ditional methods. they One thing they may be looking are not a verse to using som e m odern tools. Chain sa ws m ake work a lot easier

THE COLD KILLER The end result is ofte n death. movemen t means more he at There are two things you can But hyp oth ermia is not los s and possibly fatal furth er do about winter; go south or use hopeless. If you think someone drops in body core tem pe r ature. it wisely. you're with is suffering fr om While the former may be more hypothermia. th ere are things • run a hot bath -- hotter tha n fun, the latter is a lot safer. you can do . 38 degr ees C, but not as hot as 46 A wise winter means knowing The Canadian Red Cross degree s C. all about the cold killer-­ Society r ec ommend s th e • apply hot wet towels (same ­ hypothermia - and how to fight following proc ed ures: te mpe ra tu re ra nge as the bath) . it . bl ankets or other cloth ing to th e Hypothermia means the • if there's a warm she lter an d he ad, nec k, tr unk an d gro in. lowering of the temperature of blankets, re move th e wet • or app ly body warmth by .hternal body organs, lower clothing. If not , keep th e cloth es dir ect body contact with a blood pressure, low and usually on . Wet clothes a re better than m em ber of the rescue team. irregular pulse shivering or no clothing. watch the respiration close ly. muscle rigidity, and iften • don't ove r exe rt th e victi m Rem ove an y restrictive clothing altered levels of consciousness. while r escuing. Excessive a rticles. Decks Awash-29

Birchy bay boys band together It was a cold night in January, All hands kept their coats on, with things as individuals made and the temperature wasn't waiting for the heating system the cold insignificant. much warmer inside the to come alive. The saw millers " The way the dep artment of Gayside Community Hall, around the table didn't seem to forestry is set up , we figured where eight sawmillers, an mind the cold at all. They were we'd never do anything as in­ Extension Service field worker there to tell Decks Awash why dividuals," one man explains, and a reporter sat around a they had form ed an association while others silently nod in table in the hall's tiny kitchen. and their tales of trying to cope agreement, "so we set up the Association. Then we had a lot of meetings among outselves to talk things over be fore we had our meeting with forestry. When we had that meeting, we had everything pretty well in a nutshell. We were all of one mind on the things we wanted to discuss with them. Forestry wa s pretty co-operative when th ey saw we were all of the sam e mind." The Birchy Bay - Gayside operators depend on the Bay of Exploits unit staff for their llvelihood because the unit distributes the available wood supply in the area. Forestry isn't seen by the group as a villain but rather as an organization that can't meet all Art Quinlan, Eli Canning, Wilfred Canning, Wallace Canning, the needs of every man. Dalton Blake, Jack Hewett, Edward Blake, Thomas Lewis. "Before we got together and talked out what was best for all the operators. forestry nev er really had a way of knowing what we wanted," one operator declares. " There was no way they could talk to each in­ dividual about everything, but they still had to make decisions. It 's a lot easier for forestry to talk with the Association than to have to talk with eight or 10 different people, aU with dif­ ferent views." In talking with the staff of the Bay of Exploits unit, Decks Awash found them to be as enthusiastic about the Association as the members are. The operators, on the other hand, have found the unit more approachable since they got together. "The forestry people have Rotary carriage mills like this Birchy Bay operation are the next been talking with us about the step up the line from the push bench. This shot shows the truck plans for access roads for next W1loading logs on the right side, while the mill's output of rough year," one member says , in lumber is seen to the left. illustration of how co-operation 3D-Decks Awash

between th e re source managers homework before com mitti ng ac tion as being beneficial in the and resource user s is grow ing. th e m sel ves publicly to a nything. lon g run to both the individuals " In the very nea r future, they're For example, the group is now in th e group and those they deal going to meet with the putting a constitutio n together. with . Getting information Associ ation again to show us They looked over a dr aft , as ked movin g will be the focus of the wh at th ey have in mind . and see so me questio ns a nd decid ed it group's work in the immediate how it compa res with our was better to let the con sti tution future. thoug hts on access roads. The wait till they had just wha t the y " We don't know it all. and Associ ati on is in a position to wanted. The matter wa s tabl ed, neither does forestry, " a m eet with them on things like and me mb ers agreed that member comments, in ex­ that before th e decisions are several meetings would plaining how he sees the two made. Before we organized, probably be nee ded before ele me nts working together. there wa s no way for for estry to anything co uld be fin ali zed . "But I know we have a better get our opinions." ch an ce of getting things done The Associatio n is work ing on Th e saw mill er s who make up right if th e Association an d several projects the y didn 't forestry can pu ll together." the Association a re living in a n want to discuss publicly at this a re a tha t's now exceeding its The meetin g ended an d time; they felt th ey 'd r ath er allowa ble cut, an d it's ha rdly everyone drifted toward the wait until they were sure in th ei r surprisin g tha t they feel wood front door, chatting casually own minds abo ut just whe re about wh o shou ld check specific supply to be a cr itical pr oblem . they were going. Ca utio n lik e points to be disc ussed at the next The Association hop es to sit this makes for slow pro gr ess ; meeting. Eig ht operators, each down with th e forestry people to but the things ac hieved arc solid look at th e pr oblem an d are now with his own problems, accepted achievement, not likely to fall resea rchin g th e facts prior to assignments to call this one. or victim to future bickerin g within doing so. Throughout their drop that one a line. There was a the group. meeting with Decks Awash the feeling of ca rna derte in the air, a Association laid he a vy emphasis Looking to the future, the fee ling th at each man no longe r on the importance of doing their Association sees their uni ted faced his problem s alone. Nothing but praise for the Sawmfllers Association While research ing this issue of potential benefits in th e "You know th at when the Decks Awash, a staff member movement towa rd or ganization president or cha irman of the spent several days in th e Birchy among sawmillers in the Bir chy association mentions a problem, Bay area, tr a velling wit h a Bay and Stonevill e a re as. The says Clare nce, "it's generally a MUN Extension field wor ker . frustration Decks Awash ex­ problem (or a ll the members of One afternoon, we de cid ed to perienced that afte rnoon is th e group. You don't have six or chase down a man we wa nted to almost a way of life for some of seven peopl e coming in with six have a word with, a m an who the forestry un it' s staff, or seven diff er en t views." was "up in the wood s" . especially th ose whose jobs Garfield Collins, another Was he ev er! We spe nt the involve the m in da y-to-da y ranger, feel s the groups have best part of th at afternoon contact with woods operators. the potential to relie ve some of dashing around the maze of Explaining so mething to each the ranger day-to-day 'police' access roads in the Birchy Bay ind ividual oper ator gets really work. "They a re in the woods all area. With our car threatening complex when you start to the time," he states, but quickly to pound apart on the rough consider the logistics of finding adds th at "we'll have to con ­ road, and with mud slashing up each man. tinue to be th ere too." on th e undercarriage sound ing "The best thing about the new Unit forester , Jim Taylor, the like waves sweeping th e cabin of Sawmiller's Association is that top man at th e station, has had a boa t, we da shed here and th er e we don't have to ta lk to as many first·hand dealin gs with the looking for our quarry. The net people," says Ches West, a unit association and he's very im ­ result no luck, one mud ranger. And we don 't ha ve to be pressed with what he has seen. coated Asp en and tw o frustrated out chasing people around all "I recognize th at the sawmillers would-be int er viewer s. day." have knowled ge we could use," That little incident illustr ates Clarence Fudge, a fore st Jim says, "but we can't afford one reason why some of the ra nger supe rvisor , sees th e th e tim e to speak to each in­ per sonnel at the Bay of Exploits association as a way to sa ve dividual operator. I've attended forestry m anage ment unit see time for his hard pre ssed staff. a couple of meetings with the Decks A wash - 31

associat ion. and I'm pleased "Often. I get the feeling that John Gates, the ac cess ro ad with wha t I' ve heard. There a re th e operators don 't know why technician, doesn't hav e a great only a bout a dozen of th e 140 we 're telling th em to do thin gs a deal to do with th e new mil1s in the area involved in the certain way ,"Cla re nce Fudge associati on so far , but he, too, associ ati on so far, but tho se 12 points out. " A lot of th is is just a feels th ey a re on th e ri ght tr ack. ha ve pro ven they ' re abl e to misunderstanding, and we work e ffectively with us." generally don 't ha ve the op­ " These sawmillers Ca lvin Sm art, a junior portunity to expl ain the rea son associations have been tri ed techn ic ian with the unit, does n't for each dec ision to e ach down through the years," sa ys de al with the sa wmille rs on a operator. That's where the the veteran forester, " but they da y-to-day basi s , but he says association c an save us a lot of could never seem to get it to he's willin g to co-ope ra te wit h time." work. I think the local th e association in any way associations like the ones While the unit is. in general, started here would probably be possible. " We'd be willing to enthused about the association's a lot better than the pr ovin cial tak e th em along with us whe n showing to date, Clarence Fudge we' re working and show the m ones that hav e failed in th e feels that time will tell a gre at past." wh at we do and how we do it," deal about how things will go. sa ys the young m an whose jo b " We haven't been involved with keeps him busy feed ing in­ the association long enough yet And how , you may ask, do the formation fro m the field to the to see a gr eat de al of di f­ sawmiller s see relations with decision-m akers in th e office. ference," he says . "It was th e the department of for estry He feels this mig ht lead to a middle of th e cutting season changing sin ce th ey formed better und erstand ing of his role when they or ganiz ed and we will their associations? " It's better , among the operators. be able to teU you more about 100% better than it was bef or e," In for m ation is a two-way how it's going if you ask us th e one sawmiller comment ed , with street, a nd for est ry ad mi ts that same questions next year. But if a smile on his fa ce that really th e re have been pr oblems in people get together in an said it all . both dir ections in the past. Th e association, talk about their as sociation is seen as a tool that problems, and come up with could be useful in gett ing mor e solutions for their own benefit, I info rm ation from th e office to think you 'U see a lot more Tips for winter th e operator s. logic." SnowmobUe If you own a snowmobile, you already know that snowmobiling is exciting. But it can also be dangerous. The Canadian Red Cross reminds you that prolonged exposure to cold means the lowering of your internal body temperature. And that can mean death. Do what common sense and the Red Cross tell you: please dress warmly. It 's your winter, use it wisely.

Car Sometimes there's a lot of miles between you and th e slopes. Should a storm blow up or a radiator freeze before you get ther e, the Canadian Red Cross Soci ety urges you to pull over, sit tight and bundle up . Carry a warm sleeping bag and The trim white an d green headquarters buIlding of the Bay of a candle in the trunk for such Exploit s forestry ma nagem en t unit is typical of the 19 units emergencies because the winter throughout the p ro vin ce . In rec ent years, more and m ore author i ty cold can kill. It 's your winter, h as been deleg ated to th e unit level and the staff see sawmillers' use it wise ly . g ro ups as ha vin g a lot of potential . 32-Decks Awash

Th e P rovincial Dsnsssmsus of Forestry'

The major responsibility Maynard. Under Mr. I t is at this level ... the unit ... for management and Maynard, various deputy that the general public has regulation of Newfoundland's ministers assume respon­ the bulk of its contacts with forest resources falls to the sibility for special areas of the department. pr ovinci al department of concern. Authority is further forestry and agriculture. In delegated through other civil In the following series of the f ollowing series of ar­ servants situated in the articles Dee D Awash looks at ticles, DecbAw.sh outlines department's St. John 's of­ the setup, and talks about the structure of the depart­ fices. sa wmilling and forestry with me nt, and then details the The province is divided into people at all levels. We in­ ro les play ed by men at four regions, three on the terview the deputy minister, various l evels within the island and one in Labrador. then travel to the central department around the In each region, a regional region's Gander office to talk pro vince. director assumes control of with an area supervisor. Then The activities of the the operations, and through it 's on to Lewtsporte, where department as a whole are his staff, directs the dey-to­ the men who run the Bay of the responsibility of the day details of each of the 19 Exploits' unit tell us minister of forestry and forestry units (18 on the something of the jobs they do agric ulture, Mr. Ed island and one in Labrador). and the views they hold.

The Provincial Government . Coping with complex problems

"The re are a lot of problem s simplistic to say that pulp and operations would ensure that with our sawmill ing industry," paper companies cause the pulpwood went to the pulp mills, admits Her b Clarke, the deputy wood shortage, the fact remains while sawlogs would be saved minister of fore stry. " In some that some 60 percent of the for lumber. That easy answer, areas the supply of sawlogs is a province's most productive however, starts to look a little problem; in other areas, it's forests are considered company more complicated when you getting the available wood to the territory. The companies may begin to consider the dollar and m ills a t an economic cost. Still permit some sawloggtng in their cent angle. other mills ca n't dispose of their territory, but close to 90 percent "If you talk about fully in­ by-products, and this cuts into of all wood cut on the island is tegrated logging, you have to po tential profi ts ." destined for the pulp machines ask the following question Sawmilling in Newfoundland at Price and Bowater. Of the ' Wha t's the cost of doing this has had a difficult time. Starting 800,000 to 900,000 cords cut last going to be?', .. Herb Clarke with the collapse of the initial year, no more than 85,000 cords points out. "There's an ad­ boom in the first decade of the went to sawmills. Not all , of ditional cost involved in sorting 20th century, the industry has course, was sawlog material to and transporting the logs to been hard-pressed to maintain start with; the nature of sawmills. Who's going to pay its level of production, let alone Newfoundland's forest is such that cost? Then there's the union increase it. Over the years, that most of it is better suited to interest. They have agreements solutions ha ve been attempted, pulpwood. But few would argue negotiated with companies that but to date, success has been with the statement that sawlog essentially say that all wood cut limited and it doesn't appear material does end up as pulp and on company limits will be cut by that there are any easy answers. sawmillers short of suitable union members. This factor has The problem of supply is supply are quick to point this to be considered in any in­ undoubtedly, in part, a function out. tegrated logging. It isn't just a of the nature of the re sour ce ; At first glance, the solution to simple matter of saying, 'lets go the r e is more pulpwood 'than that dilemma se em s sim ple. a he ad and do this'." sawlcgs in Newfoundland Many claim that proper in­ Mohammed Naair, the forests. While it would be tegration of all logging recently appointed assistant Decks Awash-33

de puty minister of forestry, wiTI golden eggs. " U we were to cut selectively, be watching the operation of a "If there we re a n organiza tion pl anning to go back in 10 or 15 pilot project in integrated representing sawm ille rs , th er e ye ar s to cut aga in , we'd find tha t logging with considerable in­ wou ld obviously be so me a d­ th ese roads would have to be terest. The project is attempting va ntages," said Dr. Na zir, a r ebuilt. To make th e cost of to investigate the physical and m em ber of a co m mi tte e on those roads reasonable, we have fin an cial problems integrated sawm illin g a nd wood products to ta ke out all we can get the loggin g migh t bring. which is looking int o va rious fir st tim e around. " We ha ve to research all the aspects of the busines s. Such a " Ano ther factor favoring factor s affecting profitability of group would be a ble to suggest clearc utttng is the nature of the suc h ope rations," he points out, possible solutio ns, drawing on species we grow; both fir and "to make sure we find the most the fu nd of kn owl ed ge th e spr uce demand a lot of light, and efficient way to implement any sawmillers possess. Th ey'd also th e talle r trees will shade ou t futur e policy on integrated be available to co m me nt on new the younger ones, killing them logging . There are a lot of ide a s a nd review plans for off. So the stands tend to grow in ques ti ons we must answer fu ture sawmill ac tiv ity. uniform crops, all about the be fore such a policy can be Getting infor m ation to and same age. It makes sense to imp le mented. For example. the from the fie ld ofte n presents harvest them at the same time companies now have their problems to bot h sides. a nd create a good amount of equipment geared to handling Sawmillers, for ex a m ple , hav e space and light to romote faster pulpwood . which is eight feet questioned th e poli cy of clear­ growth in the young trees.,. long, whil e the sawmill needs cutting now be ing followed on Herb Clarke definitel y fee ls longe r lengths . The companies some manageme nt units . They the gover nment is supportive to woul d ha ve to change their are upset a bout having to clea n sawm illing. " There are a lot of equip me nt at considerable cost, their allocate d blo cks , saying people working in sawmilling in a nd retra in the ir me n to get into tha t they are, in e ffect, forc ed to th e provin ce, either full -time or integrate d logging. How would cut logs for pulpwood that pa rt-ti me," the deputy minister th at a ffec t th eir profitability?" might, if left sta nding be sawl og states, "and the ind ustry ha s So the si mp le answer to the material in 10 or 15 years. soci a l implications and benefits sa wlog supply problem ... in­ While Dr . Na zir se es their bey ond the economics involved. tegrat e ... might pro ve fatal to point , he feel s that economics You ha ve to r em em ber that we the pulp and paper indu str y that and so und management prac­ us e ab out 100 million board feet has long bee n an economic tices both m ak e clea rc utting of lumber in New foundland each m ainst ay. Newsprint is a hig hly pr ef er abl e in so me cases. ye ar, with about half that being co m pe titive market, and any " We 've spent about $16 million produced locally. Every 100 m ove that drives Newfoundland co ns tructing ac ce ss roads," the board feet produced here means prod uction costs too high m ight doctor of economics who 's also a 1000 board feet less to be im­ well kill the goose that lays the professi on al foreste r point s out. ported a nd that's significant." The Provincial Government ­ A new system of management " We have to be realistic about fis heries, whi ch is tightly con ­ for th e future is the main co n­ our forest in ta lking about tr olled by the fed eral govern­ cern of the department of sawm ills," cautions Herb m en t, forestry is purely and forest ry and agriculture. It is a Clarke, the deputy minister of si mp ly a pr ovincial ballgame. concern that has been growing forestry and ag riculture. "It's The Newfoundla nd government a cross Canada in the la st not primarily a sawlog forest, be ars th e res pon sibility for dec ad e, as forest ma nagers but a pulpwood forest. The very pl anning, managin g, and realized that the resource long nature of the forest resource protecting this resource . It cons idered to be ine xhaustible di ct ates that the pu lp and paper decides who will cut what, does. in fa ct , ha ving a breaking indu st ry has to be in the where they will work. and what point. Once primarily concerned le ader ship role ." regulations the y will obey. And with utili za tion ... the art of As th e deputy mi nister, Clarke if wood should be in sh ort supply making th e best possible he ads the civil service team in 30 years, it 's the Newfoun­ "econom ic use of the for est ... charged with the responsibility dland governme nt who will ha ve m an ager s are now looking at of caring for the most valuable to a nswer th e inevitable our forests in a different light. nat ural resource under ques tion 'w hy' ? The ne w thinking runs like this pr ovincia l con trol. Unlike : Mak ing sure th er e 's a for est ... if we want to keep t aking ------34-Decks Awash /

wealth from the forest. we're don 't hav e as mu ch co m petition forester responsible for forestry going to have to invest time and for light a nd nutrients. activities in his unit,"Herb money now to ensure prosperity " The dep ar tm en t has spent Clarke explains. pointing out th e in the future. about $16 m illion doll a r s on changes from the days whe n th e "In 1973, the government access roa ds, m ak ing areas with vast majority of decisions we re appointed a task force to study good tim be r accessible to the made in St. John's. "Obviously, all aspects of forestry," Dr . industry. When you' re full y there has to be very clos e co­ Mohammed Nazir, the assistant utilizing th e forest you can't ordination and co-operation deputy minister points out. afford to lose trees to fir e and betwe en the people in the field "That exhaustive study insects, so th e depar tm ent has a nd those designing a nd produced no less than 11 acquired a lot of equipment to developing programs at volumes and its recom­ take ca re of this. Seven Ca nso hea dq uarte rs . but the unit mendations form the base of water bombers we re recentl y for este r is responsible for ac­ today's forestry policy." overhauled , so we ca n respond tivities that are specific to his To Implement those recom­ quickly to fir es and co ntrol th em unit ; issuing culling permits, mendations, the provincial before th ey spre ad . A good planning and proposing access government did some hard communication system .ha s roads . and things like tha t. thinking, a lot of planning, and been built up to get information There are 18 management units th en approached Ottawa for on problem s very qui ckl y. And on the island, and one in funds. The result was the 1974 we've put togeth er a Labrador." DREE agreement which ea r­ management plan for each unit Top policy people suc h as marked $54 million dollars for that sp ecifies wha t wood is Clarke and Nazir have to sa tisfy forestry. there, what conse rvation routes a diversity of interests in " Out of this, government re­ should be taken , and so on . Th is allocating the forest resource. organized the whole forestry is one step th at is of tr em endous They must look at the pulp and system," Nazir explains. "The im port ance for the futu re ." pa per companies which pump province was divided into units, close to $ 200 million throug h the a system which can be used to Just prior to the signing of th e economy each year. Sa wmills, implement government policies 1974 ag reement th e departmen t while producing only a fraction and- projects. Over the last four underwent a major re­ of that wealth. are none-the- les s . years, we've organized a new organization. The sha ke up saw a an integral part of our lifest yle system of management. We thin considerable a mount of and must remain a priority and·cut back some of the young responsibility delegated to the when resources are being trees, letting the remainder units." E a ch unit, fr om a allocated. forestry point of view, has a un it grow better and faster . so they Finally, the re's an incre asing awareness of the rec reationa l potential of our forests in a province which is becoming more urban all the time. There have been already conflic ts between recreational and in­ d ustrial groups over what use should be made of ce rtain tracts of forest. The Sa lmo nier Wilderness Protection Associa tion managed to give government the larges t petition it ever received when their battle to preserve a sta nd in the Colinet area was at its height. While some may call that an isolated case, it does point out the increasing concern of some Newfoundlanders that part of ou r forest heritage should be preserved. If everything goes according Easily identified by it's high overhead wings, th e Canso water ­ bomber is a welcome sight for hardpr essed firefighters. The seven to plan , we can expect more twin engined workhorses in Newfoundland's firelig hting arsenal effort and money goi ng into have just been reconditioned, and gi ve lire fighters the s bili ty to forest management in th e contain fires before they spread. future. Forests, lik e any other Decks Awash -35

living resource, need care if resources, " Moha m med Naz tr things, it soon becom es obvious th ey are to remain healthy and sums up . "A t one ti me, we had that such silvicult ur al measures productive. Programs, such as more for est th an we cou ld use, won't come cheap. If a stand thinning to increase growth and there wa s little em phas is needs thinning someone must be rates, the planting or seeding of placed on silviculture. We' ve paid to do it. The sa me is tru e of cut and burned areas, the been using the resour ce as if it a nursery. Can the government development of a major were inexh au stible; tha t' s afford management on this pr ovincial nursery program, changed now, a nd you' ll find scale? and the like should go a long way that more and more sc ienti sts to ensuring that the day never are working on resear ch aim ed " You should re all y ask if we comes when we'll simply have at finding ways to improve the can afford not to do it," replied nothing left to cut. quality of th e fore st Dr . Nazir. " If we don 't spe nd the " All governments in Canada regeneration and thinning money on these thin gs now , a re becoming aware of the need programs." what kind of situ ation will we to re-invest in our forest In thi s cha ng ing sc he me of face 10 years from now ?"

" The crown land unit foresters deal with all ac tivity on crown lands," explains Ed. "That involves a wide range of activities : cutting firewood, sawmill licensin g, for est fire­ fighting, ac cess roads, and so on . The two company units foresters basically look after company operations. We're responsible for monitoring the spruce bud worm program, all the fire-fighting in the central region, and sc aling; in essence, our role is to provide service to everyone who uses th e forest. "

Ed Blackmore inspecting white spruce trees plant ed by him for federal forestry in 1962. North Pond Gambo. 36-Decks Awa~h

th e rota tion tim e of , ound- last ye ar. Th at 's led to hard-lin e m ak e. It 's am azin g how many lan d's notor iously 10..... ma nagement decisions in th e people will ac cep t a ' no' answer. grow ing tim ber . Even mp re un it, as forestry str ugg les to on th e basis that we're saying things, lik e thin ning ut the re a ch an ecologic ally sa fe 'no' to everyone and not being thickets of yvun ro ... h tha t fig ure. selective." c row d cut over s. can c lJ tc r .. It 's a very tough job to try Given the best rorest th an 10 year-s he if and cu t back, " Ed ad m its . " If management and planning do ne proper ty we 're flex ible with one ope r ator , expertise ar ound , there's still Forests get into re a l tro uble we'll be pressured to be flexible always th e threat of ins ect and whe n they' re cut fast er tha n with every one, and we just ca n' t fire damage to keep the they can grow, and tha t' s a fford to do that. Howe ver. we professional planners casting pr ecisely what's happening 10 do co nsider ea ch case on its worried looks over their som e a reas 01 the central merits, and a lot of the time shoulders. r egion. Th e allowable cut for the we 're not as hard as we should To harvest forest. Ba y of Exploits Managt.'ment be . I haven't come across sawmillers need special tools. Unit is pe gged at 35,000 cords a anyone who has gotte n angry at and special knowledge. The ye ar, but 41.000cords got the axe me over a decision I've had to professional foresters need

. Getti ng ...-ooa to tne ml115 has never been a sim ple ta"sk . At Deer Lake. boomed logs pass through a specially constructed chute to a void damage to the turbines in the Dee r Lake powerstation." Decks Awostl- 37

special knowledge, too. the com munication gap owns and what the company "When I finished Grade 11, separating the central office and owns , and they can see what and didn't really know what 1 individual mill ope rators is the we ' re up against. A lot of wanted to do, " said Ed, rubbing fledging mov ement tow ards operators don't know what in­ the short dark stubble of a beard organization among the formation we have available, or that's still in the regeneration sawmillers."If more sawmillers how to get it , and that's our own stage, "I didn't have the money were organized it would be fault to some extent. We 'r e here to go to university, so 1 took a better for both sides ... them and to provide a public serv ice and commercial course in typing us," the outs poken fore ster making information available is and stuff like that. When I 20t emphasizes. "I think a lot of part of that. Things have a long some money together, 1 applied sawmillers and pulp cutters saw way to go in Birchy Bay yet . but to Memorial to do their forestry us as a bunch that were trying to h.!s coming along. If they hadn't progra m and was accepted. It put them out of business. We ~ ~en organized, we couldn't was a two-year course, but like had a meeting with a new ~~lve gotten to the point we 've most of the guys who did it. 1 sawmiller's association in reached." needed three years. We had 14 Lewlsporte, and later did a tape courses which is a heavy with MUN 's Extension Service If there have been changes on workload. Then I went to the to react to points th e association the sawmillers' side of the fence, University of New Brunswick raised. Once we got a chance to the same applies to the depart­ a nd finished my degree. I got sit down and e xpl ain why we 're ment itself. Ed has seen more my first position with the doing what we 're doin g, they and more authority giv en to the regional offices and the dep art ment in Gander in 1970, seemed to accept it. and I've been working here ever "The root of the problem management unit stations in the since. Over the years, I have proved to be a misun­ eight years he's been tr a velled most of the crown derstanding. In Birchy Bay the professionally involved in for e sts in the region, and that's a sawmillers felt there was lots of forestry, and he's also seen re al he lp to me today." wood available; they felt the changes in the personnel. E d gives the impression of a department was holding them " We 're going through a lot of ma n who's deeply involved in back," said Ed, who feels that growing pains," the likable his work. He knows every sawmills are vital to the forester sta tes, " but we have a sawmiller and most of the province "But this wood was on pretty good organization going cou ntry pretty well, but he does land, and the company owned it; in the region these days. The wis h that sawmillers, and others it was n't ours to give them. The ave rage age of our fellows right who work in the forest, would point I'm making is that once here is young. around 25 to 30. m ak e more use of the depart­ the group came to us with their but it see ms th at the ope rators ment than they do now . information, we could sit down accept this; there aren't as One thing that may help solve an d show them what the crown many arguments as in the past. Keeping.tr ack of the largest block of crown land

"Over the years, we've gotten description makes him the long run, despite the more responsibility and responsible for all forest problems it m ay be ca using authority at the unit level." management activities within now . re m a rked Jim Taylor, the unit the unit's defined boundaries, "We can rarely afford to say forester for the Bay of Exploits and that. at times, can be a 'yes' to requests for more forestry management unit. tough row to hoe 'in a unit which wood," he notes, "and that's "That's a good trend, because is the only crown unit in the frustrating, but we have to think we're in the middle of the province to exceed its allowable of the future. Some conflict and problems, dealing with them cut. friction is created but 1 think 1 every day; and we should be in In the area some 42,000 cords a .can go out and talk with those the best position to make the year are cut , 7,000 cords more involved. Sometimes I'm not decision." than should be. If that situation sure whether they understand A lot of people connected with were to continue indefinitely, the department's point of view . the forest and saw milling in­ the end result would be a badly But on the whole, the relation­ du stries wouldn't envy Jim's depleted forest resource . The ship is pretty good ." ro le as forestry's top man in the unit's efforts to limit CUlling are Besides bein g in the position of Lewtsporte area. His job designed to benefit everyone in just not having enough wood to 38-Dccks Aw ash

go around, Jim faces two other planning for the forest's future. hurdles in trying to gain ac­ the staff of the unit has the nitty ceptance for his ideas. He is a gritty day to day details to very young man who comes manage. While Decks Awash from a wa y. was visiting the station, a " E ven if you were a ranger arrived with a pickup Newfoundlander, some of the load of illegally cut wood and a older peopl e would think you too couple of men scooted out to young," the New Brunswick unload it. A couple of people native says with a sigh. " When I seeking permits to cut stopped first came here as the by, the radio hookup chattered management forester, in May of incessantly. and a member of 1915 , I could n' t understand what the staff took a truck to a garage people meant when they said I for servicing. was a 'foreigner' but some of the people who were around in the .. In a way, it 's the 10,000 day to pre-confederation days think of Unit forester Jim Taylor day details that keep Jim Taylor you that wa y. I guess the worst heads the Bay of Exploits Unit. and his staff from spending thing a Newfoundlander can say Young and articulate. he ap­ more time on a major problem about you is that you 're a proves ofsa wmillers groups and ... communication. When asked foreigner, and the best thing is would like to spend more time if an extension staff member .,. that he thought you were a talking to woods workers than someone who could devote his his office duties permit. Newfoundlander. I' ve had both time to talking to woods users to comments . around the island, the duties explain the reasoning behind the Jim's ba ckground in forestry differ. Jim Taylor explains. various policies and regulations started with an e arl y love of the " We have the largest single ... would help, Jim replied, " I woods. Afte r fini shing high block of crown land of any unit," think it would be ideal. In fact, if a job like that came open here, I school, he decided that forestry he says, in detailing why his think I'd probably apply for it. would be a natural profession staff of a dozen are always on In the past, there's been some for him . the go. "Under me, there's the lack of communication between senior support technician, " I en rolled in th e forestry the men working in the woods Clarence Fudge, who is my program a t the University of and our staff, but that's Im­ right-hand man. He takes care New Br unsw ick in 1970," he proving now . It's impossible for of all the paperwork and the notes , sitt ing in his small office. our staff to spend much time money end of things, as well as "I graduated five years later. with each and every operator, being responsible for the five Actuall y th at was a bad time to because of all the other things to forest rangers. Then there's be looking for a job , as forestry do." was experiencing a decline, but Wilson Stuckless, the access I was fortunate enough to get a road technician. He's respon­ One recent trend which has couple of job offers. The sible for building all the access Jim somewhat relieved and management unit ranger roads, making sure they are excited is the formation in his position here in Lewisporte maintained and upgraded, and area of two small sawmill seemed to be the best to me . I'm kept clear of snow in the winter. associations, While it's still quite pleased with that choice." He's probably our busiest man, early in the game to be dogmatic If J im has one regret about his because he takes care of all about the benefits of job , it 's pr obably the amount of access roads for the region, as organizations such as the Birchy time he finds himself spending well as the unit. Alvin Boyd, our Bay-Gayside and Stoneville in the uni t's white and green inventory technician, takes care associations, Jim sees a real of all the facts and figures we buildings. role in the future for suc h need to make decisions. Right "I try to get out in the woods groups. He noted with approval now, one position is vacant, our as much as 1 can," he said that relations between the unit forest management position, wistfully," at least two days a and the groups have already and that's being covered by week to keep in touch with produced a better working at­ myself and Calvin Smart. That things, but there 's always mosphere. someone looking for something puts some extra strain on both of and I have to make myself us. The forest rangers are the Jim says, "I'd like to see a little available to them. men who take care of the en ­ more control coming from our Keeping in touch is a full tim e forcement work. so they spend office. That applies especially to job for th e Ba y of Exploits most of their time out in the the issuing of sawmill licences m an agem ent uni t. Whil e they field." which is cur re ntly handled from are sim ilar to the oth er 18 units Besid es doing the long-range St. John's . Onc e we had the Decks Awash-39

power to ma ke those decisions , for th e shorthanded workforce. th e forest would have enough of we could let a n individ ua l know When J im isn't wor ry ing the woods during working hours, whe ther he 'll be able to get a about these things , he spends a but th at 's not the case. "I spend licence in a m atter of days: lot of tim e with his wife and quite .. bit of my spare time out r ight now it ca n tak e up to a newly arrived so n in his Ga nde r of doors, " this likeable, co uple of months to get a home. You might think th at a str a ightfo rward young man decision."Tha t at tim e s can be m an who sp end s his wor kin g sa ys. " I enjoy fis hing and something of a pain in th e neck tim e puz zlin g over the sta te of hunting and I'm trying to train a new dog to hunt right now ." Unitwork ers - A lot more than enfor cing regulations

Cla re nce Fudge's days w ith on a fulJ.time basis with the fore stry management unit was th e pro vin c ial department (If department in Gander as a se t up in 1~75. fore stry date bac k to 1967, when management ra nger. Later that As a member of one of 10 he joined th e for est fire patrol on year the Lewis porte native m an agem ent units in the a temporar y ba sis. Two years returned to his hom e a rea and pr o vin ce, Clarence's position is lat er , he att ended forest runner wor ked in the position of dist ric t pun' civ il service jargon, sc hool, a nd in 1970 went to work ran ger unti l the Bay of Ex ploits "senior technician" in support services. Clarence today holds a key administrative position and he is glad hl' came up through uie ranks. " I think that kind of ex pe rience gives you the knowledge you need. For example, I worked on the fire patrol for a numb e r of yea rs. Now th at I' m supervising the patrol, ha ving wor-ked there mys elf rea lly helps me un­ derst and what has to be done." Wilson Stuckless , the Access Road s technician, is another m an who can't be accused of ha ving gathered his knowledge of for estry and woods operation fr om lectu res and boOks. His inv olvem ent with the province's forests goes back to the days of the buck sa w, a tool wit h which Wilson has had many persona l dealings . " I wor ked for Bcwater for 21 years as a co ntractor," says the man who is today responsible for a ll the access roads in the Centr al Region. "I worked up around Ga nder Lake (or a long tim e in the 19-1 0'5, and I've seen a lot or changes in the way things a re done. All we used in the 19505 were bucksaws and horses. 1 worked for the com­ Access roads technielsn, wilson Stuckless, is responsible for the pany in Labrador, too. before pla nning , building and maintenance of the access road s so vit al to th e war. On thal job. we st ar-ted modern forest harvesting. " We se ldom have a sla ck time" he notes. cutting for 90c a cord. If you 40 -Decks Awash

di dn' t m ake bett er th an $25 a regular mon thl y wo rk month the com pa ny would just reports, and things like th at . de scrib es as 'probably th e gi ve up on you . The first time t he year's work even s out fairly busi est man here.' " From th en shee t I ev er got was made out in well ." till the e nd of Octo ber, we 're re d pencil, and I Iigured I was While Cla rence keep s busy really busy, although so me jobs fini shed. But I had made more just weeding through the paper go through to the end of the year . t ha n $24 a nd they figured t ha t work, Wilson is kept on the go by We ha ve to t ry and get t he roads was OK, si nce it was my fir st t he shee r size of th e opc rution he done be for e th e wint er snow t ry. The nex t mont h, I made $26. run s. Responsible for a ll aCCf..'S5 co mes. Once th at hap pens you By t he lime I left the Port Hop e road s wit hin the ren ton as welt have to ta ke ca rl' of snow Sim pson area, th e pr ice had as the unit , the 'I'willingatc clearing and the like . gone up to abo ut $2.10 a cord. native is , in effect. a walking " We also do the cutting for " I used to be a way from home min iat ure department of high­ any new roads we are planning an aw ful lot. There was a dif­ ways, caring for the det ail s of for the next yea r. You ha ve to terence in the way of working planning, buil din g, clea r ing a nd find the best area for the road, of too; a cont ra ctor for the com­ maintaining bcuer th an 120 course, before you can do pan y is on his own , and it' s m iles of access roa ds . anything . You'll want to know if si m ply a matter of no wood - no " Our construction work whi ch there 's gravel in the area, a nd pay, no matter what kind of is do ne on a cont rac t basis, we tr y to keep clear of bogs a nd pr oblems you run into. The way usu all y gets underway in late hills . With the big t r actor­ I work now, you get your regular June or early J uly," says the tr ail ers usin g th e access roads salary, a nd you' re not by man unit forester Jim Taylor th ese days, you have got to yo urself all the time, Everyone co me up with a ro ad as st r ai ght wants to ge t the job done, and that's a real help ." The se two men both play sha rply different roles. While Claren ce gener ally sees that t hings run smoothly, wilson co nce ntra tes his efforts on making sure that the forest re sourc e is made as accessible as sta ff and money pe r mit. But both agree on one point th ere's very seldo m a slac k time on the nay of Ex ploits Unit. " Hight now, the permits keep me busy," notes Cla rence, sitt ing in the unit's kitchen with his morning coffee. " I'U be issuing 1000 to 1200permits bet wee n now and the end of Fe brua ry or ~I a rc h . The peo ple co me in to make out their- ap- pli cations, and the unit r an gers issue the permits . The y then have to be m ailed out, reco rded. and the money for th e permits se nt in to the Confederation Bu ild ing. From March to July t he stu m page from last year's cut is reported and we ha ve the fire season on top of that. Fi re s don 't keep any particular hours, so we can' t plan on keeping office hours either. In the Iatt. cutting starts again on a bigger scale, and I have some dealings with that. The regulations are Senior techn ician Cla re nce Fudg e looks a little pensive. as he enforced by th e forest ra ngers , talks things ove r wit h witt Berry. He tries to spend a couple of d ays and part of my jo b is super vis ing a week in th e field , but finds th e office routine tak es most of his their work. When yo u add th e time. Decks Awash-41

as possibl e. Those big u-ucks a certain a mount of money a nd a man who 's not logical. and the require good roads," ad mi ts the m anpower , a nd ca n only do so man who 's reasonable in his veteran woods man, mu sin g th at much with it. Our roads are approach to tiS with his he didn't really exp ect to sec a better now than th ey were a few problems is more likely to get day whe n woods operutots years ago ." satisfaction." would be demanding access Both Wilson a nd Clar en ce find One of the most fru st r ating roads to be open all year round . that th e approac h used in clements of the job for Clar enc e Wilson . like ma ny civ il ser­ bringin g a problem to their and Wilson as well as other me n vants, find s th at he 's frequently attention can aff ect how they at the unit, involves the ima ge of on the re ce iving end of cr itica l deal with it. forestry personnel that goes phone call s from people pointing " If a guy comes in her e or back to the days when the onl y out that a ro ad is in ba d shape; ca lls us and is blowin g his top real role for forestry wa s th e but thi s sort of thing doesn't a bout something," says Wilson, enfor ce ment of regul ations. seem to bothe r him . " you' re not going to feel the While that continues to be a pa rt "I can see it," he ad mits, same toward him as you do of their duties, the work tod ay is "because of the co nd itions of the toward a man who takes a tar more wide-ranging than it roads at times , es pecially in the reasonable approach. used to be . Forest management , Birchy Bay a rea. But 1 find the " You have to deal with th e two forest improvement and oth er people I dea l with ar e very differently,"Clarence in­ comparatively new trends in th e reasonable. They know we ha ve terjects. "You can't talk logic to field are making the role of government agents less of the policeman and more of th e provider for the future. "We realize the problem s woodsmen have in making a living," Slates Clarence, "and we keep that in mind when we 'r e working with them. Som etimes it 's impossible to keep everyone happy, especially since sawlogs are scarce, but sometimes I don't think the operators reali ze that we're here not only to en­ force regulations, but to help them with any problems th ey have." "The resources must be protected," Wilson add s . "People might think that thin gs will be good for everyone years down the road." Sitting in the unit, drinking coffee and talking about th eir jobs. one thing soon became obvious about both Wilson Stuckless and Clarence Fudge. Despite having spent years working in the woods . they aren't bored with it and both men hold strong views on forestry, views based on a real love of the woods. Wilson summed it up well when we asked him what he did with his spare time. "I have a home in Twilllngat e Island and I go down there just about every weekend in the A crippled tractor, experiencing steering problems. weaves its way out the Birchy Bay access road for repairs. While these roads summer. My wife says I come are expensive to build and maintain. they are essential to operators out of the woods after work depending on a resource that's otherwise inaccessible. Friday evening so I can go back I in the woods forthe week end." I 42 -Decks Awash

The forest ranger s Front line m en "I guess we're what you 'd call resentment of some rangers by control them. We don't even supervisors, a nd we act as a go­ operators , the foresters felt the know where th ey are." between for the office and the professional operators they While the rangers can keep an operators in the field," said dealt with had few if any eye op en during the week, the Ga rfield Colli ns. A 20 year resentments. forest c a n really ca tch it on the vetera n with the provincial "I don't think there's any real weekends." Whe n we're forestry service he is now a gap," states Ches West. " In my working," states Ches, "they go for est ra nge r with th e Bay of area, they've been really right to it, because they know Exploits Un it. " The re has to be co-operative." Garfield Collins we 're not going to interrupt someone to en force the laws, and a third ranger, John Gates them. You can even see people and that's wha t we' re here for. agreed, but all three men did cutting right on the side of the If an operator wants in­ complain of problems in one Trans-Canada." formation, we' ll come back to type of wood harvesting ... the offic e, a nd tr y to get the domestic cutting. With Garfield ha ving close to facts he needs ." " The domestic fellows give us 1000 domestic cutting permits Of all the personnel connected the most problems, especially issued in his area alone, it 's little with the prov inci al department along the access roads," says wonder that control of cutting of forestry, no one has closer John in frustration. "You've becomes a tricky and contact with forest users than got to watch out for them; some frustrating matter . And there's the forest r an ger. In the will come in and cut, an d they'll another group of people who get Lewisporte ar ea , five rangers leave the tops and all. That kind upset with domestic cutters look after a host of duties, many of thing is a real headache." from time to time; the com­ of them involving the checking "They sure are," Ches agrees, mercial ope rators, who may and e nfo rceme nt of the myriad "unless you can get them a ll on find that someone seeking regulations that gove rn woods an access road, but when they're fire wood has invaded their operations. Ches West, with 13 all over the place and not using block, and taken trees suitable years of service including forest the roads, there's no way to for lum be r. fire patrols in 1965, spoke about some of those duties. "We have to ins pe ct cutover's. check on sa wm ill operations, do roadside pat rols , collect royalties, and ge ner ally see that the regulations are followed," poi nts out Ches. " I gue ss there's a lot of regulatio ns th at some operators don' t like, but they are the law." The task of enforcing the regulations is one th at , in the past, often led to for est operators seeing the r an ger as a sort of forest cop. Ma ny felt that the appearance of th e ranger generally me an t th at problems were on the way. Tod ay, there's a shift in em pha sis. " We try to help out th e Skidoos and J5s operators as be st we c an ," are familiar m odes Garfield states. "For example , of transportation if a sawmiller is out of timber in in the woods. his area, we'll try to place him in an area where he can get wh at he needs. While there's talk about Decks Awash-43

" I think that an effort to these days," John adds. " With woods back ground to their jobs, educate people abo ut what there being so many per mits, having work ed as contractors they're doing would help in the there's not much we ca n do for the paper compan ies before long run ," Ches says. " In the about it; people will cut joining the forest service. case of domestic users cutting everyhow ." All three ag re ed They've seen vast changes in on co mmercial blocks, they that much of the pro blem could logging, from the bucksaw and shou ld be made to realize that be eliminated if dome stic horse to toda y' s modern chain they, in effect, are reall y taking cutters were given res erved saw and skidder opera tions. away a part of anot her man's areas for domestic cutt ing With clearcutting the current liv ing." which would be removed from practice, all agr eed th ey can "The way things are, commercial stands. understand why sawmillers are everyone is looki ng for firewood All three ra nge rs bring a reluctant to clear a block ; they realize th at takin g the smaller trees for pulp appears wrong to a sawmiller who know s he could take the same tr ee in 10 or 15 years as a sawlog. But they can't see any real altern ati ve, if skidders are used in modern woods operations. When asked how oper at ors could make life easier for the rangers, Ches repli ed , "if everyone carried out the regulations, that would be fine. We wouldn't have to be out chasing people all day , which would leave us with more ti me to do things that can pr ove useful in the long run ."

Tips for winter A pickup load of confi scated wood arrives at the Bay of Exploits unit's headquarters; staff members call domestic cutting in­ HIkIng fractions "the biggest headache we have". Crisp wint er air. Bright sun. Forests and frozen lakes. Ta ke some advice from the Can adian Red Cross Society and take a survival kit , warm clothing and a compass on your round trip hike . Prolonged exposure to cold can mean the lowering of the internal bodu temperature. And that can mean a one way hike. It's your winter, use it wisely .

leefloh1Dg One layer of ice is the only thing between you and the fish . It's also the fine line bet ween you and possible dea th o Cold water can kill . The Ca nadian Red Cross Society ur ges you to measure the Ice to ensure it's a safe 10 centimetres thick. And take a warm change of clothing Skidders like this have revolutionized logging in ma ny areas. Big and a rope . Just in case. It's and expensive, a skiddercan handle a lot of timberin a hurry. your winter. use it wisely. 44 -Dccks Awash

The technician

In any or gani zation, there's a sa wm illing. knows exactly who 's cutt ing certa in sys tem to ensure that " If an operat or com es int o th e where in his section ." everything gets done . At the top office and says his block is cut To a la rge extent, the public level, policy planners layout th e out a nd he needs more timber, isn 't aware of the technicians' broad guidelines, which a rc we' ll go out and check his a re a. activities. The boys may be in he fu rt he r refined by th e Th en we come back, tell our woods all day, but Wilt point s manage ment of th e boss wher e a more suitable spo t out th a t they ha ve few cha nces organization. They, in tu rn , to cut is, and most like ly that to meet anyo ne . have their assistants who accept block will be pu t on the ma p," " If we 're on the road, a nd respons ibility for spec ific Ca lvin explains, pointing out meet someone , they may sto p to aspects of the operation. th at the unit rangers are the as k us wha t we're doi ng, " sta tes ones who actually issue the Wilt . and we have a chance to That's where Ca lvin Sm ar t pe rmits." That way, the ranger talk with the m, but a lot of them and Wilf Be rr y fit into the pic­ ture at th e Bay of Exploits management unit. Ca lled technician I, or ju nior technicians, both these young men a re responsible for e n­ suring th at people like Tim Taylor a nd Clarence Fudge have th e necessary facts an d fig ure s to make decisions. " We' re really support staff," says Ca lvin, sitting at his long drafting table." We give support to the senior technicia ns a nd th e unit for est er , mos tly in the form of infor ma tion and data. Most people see us wor king aro und the unit, doing things like unloading trucks, and they tend to have a so rt of negative at­ titude to wa rds us . 1don 't believe that ma ny people realize how many ot her thin gs we do." The two men who are in their mid lOs, find themselves in­ volved in a diverse range of activities, both in the office and in the field . " If anyone wants something done, they come to us," WilC points out. " This la st year, I'v e been spen ding abo ut two days a wee k on applications Calvin finds himse lf inv olv ed in another project, lookin g for a co m mod ity that's in short su pply ... suita ble timber for for crow n land grants. When anyone applies for a piece of crown land for a c abin or Technician Calv in Smart prepa res to dra w the profiles of a road something, I have to go out and that should be built next year. The technicians are responsible for a do an ins pec tion a nd make sure great deal of vital detail work like this . as well as the more everything is all ri ght. " traditional duties such as cruising timber. Decks AW

don't distinguish between us and weather days. In addition, staffed, we go out," Wilf says. the rangers. Th ey just class there's that perennial problem ­ "It's hard work. but it has to be everyone as being with forestry . the spruce budworm. done, and that's it. " Our job. really, is to gather "I've been involved with the While most of their duties information about th e r esource. involve the state of th e cur r ent while the rangers ensure that budwork spray program for the past two summers," says forest, two major projects they the rules are enforced by worked on last year involved the keeping a check on what's goin g Calvin. a native of Herring Neck who got into forestry forest of the future. Forest on ." because he likes the outdoor life . improvement projects in the In addition to surveying the " It was a really serious Glenwood and Norris Arm areas resource, both Cal vin a nd Wilf problem. but it seems to have saw close to $250,000 spent to have other duties. If an access improve the quality of the road has to be planned, Wilf may slowed down a bit in the last two years." woods. "Those projects are find himself doing the necessary important to the area," Wilf drawings and he and Wilson Both men are also involved in notes. "I'm working on the Stuckless check the terrain first another vital area of concern ­ proposed program for next year hand. Scaling and surveys take forest fire-fighting. right now ." up some time and there are "When there's a serious fire Both Calvin and Wilf say they always office tasks to do on bad- and we find that we're short- like the outdoor aspects of their work, especially in the fall and winter, when the flies are less potent. The outdoor life was a factor for both in deciding to make forestry a career, although Calvin now admits to having the scattered "second thought" about the fishery as a way to earn a livelihood. There is another enjoya ble aspect of the job that occupies comparatively little time but gives Calvin and Wilf a chance to work with the public ... something they both lik e doing. "About once a year. we get three or four forest conservation films from the National Film Board." Wilf, the Carmenville resident explains. "We go around to 15 or 20 schools showing the film. and then asking and answering questions. Kids today are really observant; it's amazing how much they learn from a film . We get a really good reception, especially from the teachers, as there aren't many things like this available to most schools. They also ask us about our jobs, and what it's like to work with forestry." While both men enjoy their work, they find it discouraging in some ways." Once you reach the last step in the salary scale. that's it, " Calvin notes. "but we Will Berry catches up on some of th e inevitable paper work in the can't see how going back to unit's office. Like m ost of the forest ry staff, he got into forestry university to do a de gree would because he loves the outdoors. be worthwhile: it' s too hard when you are married." 46-Decks Awash

Ntld' .: forest research centre No matter what business and pam phlets available on and th e provincial department. you're in, successful manage- · ge neral topics,"says Tony , " and "W e' r e a ware of the problem, ment depends to a great degree we ha ve a fair number of and always try to draw the on th e information available to national publications. We also distinction between the you . You have to know what have six soun d-scr ipt , slide provincial an d feder al govern­ happened in the past, present progr a ms available; eac h m ent." and future. Providing those covers sp ecific subjects a nd answers [or forest planners in th ey'r e designed to acquai nt To fully detail what's hap­ Newfoundland is a task that falls an yone watching wit h se lec te d pening these day s at the centre in large part to the Newfoun­ aspects of forest r y. would ta ke the bulk of this issue dland forest research centre of " One exam ple is a specia l 12­ of Decks Awash and several the Canadian for estry service. minute slide progra m on th e issues of professional journals as well. But the re are some key " Our mandate in Newfoun­ spruce bud worm. It explains a r eas of concentra tion. dland is to do research and what the budwor m is, how it consult ati on ," says Tony affects the forest and what ca n "The spruce budworm has Thom as, the centre's in­ be don e about it. Another show is be en one of our m ajor thrusts in for m a tion officer. " We work in call ed th e 'Forests of recent years ," explained Tony co-oper ation -with various user Newfoundlan d'. It looks a t the "becau se it has become such an ag encies; our information goes di stribution of the various typ es . importa nt pro ble m . Another to groups like the Newfoundland of tr ees , th e importance of ea ch aspect of our work is the en­ a nd Labrador Forest Service , to the for est industry, how each vironmen tal fiel d and we expect the paper companies or can be utili zed best and how to ke ep conce ntr ati ng on it. sa wrmller s. W~ don't have .any forest managem ent tec hniques Gen eti cs research is also im­ jurisdictional rights at alf . we can be applied. Another portan t. We' re studying how ca n' t tell the province how to program ' Peatla nd ' ex pla ins trees m igh t be made to grow m anage the forest, nor can we another lit tle known area of the faster and taller . We're also issue permits. We are only environmen t. " studyin g soils and nutrient advisors." In addition to providing ready conditions, with a view to im­ made, off-th e-sh elf , mater ial, proving the seed beds for trees. The spruce bud worm offers a Tony says the centre m ay be Another pr ogr a m involves good illustration of how the able to help individua ls or peatlands , we 're trying to find division of powers between the groups wan tin g infor m ation out why tr ee s don 't grow on provincial and federal depart­ that's now im me diate ly peatlands. We've brought in ments work. The Newfoundland available. A sa wm ille r, for different ty pe s of equipment to for est research centre collected example, mi ght want in­ drain th ese lands, then planted a nd assessed information about formation on regeneration times different types of seedlings to the problem, the extent of the for a specific area, or explore th e possibilities of fore st infested, and made suggestions as to which creating new sta nds. " That sort predictions as to what .might te chnology mig ht be the most of work m ay sound pretty happen if the bug was left un­ efficient for his ope ra tion. remote fr om the realities of day­ che cked . Decisions by the . The cent re got its sta r t soon to-d ay work in the woods, but it's pr ovincial a uthor iti es to spray after Confe de ra tio n. The an area of researc h that may las t sum m er wer e assisted by dom inion forest service ope ned pay dividends 10 or 20 years information provided by th e a n offic e in St. J ohn 's in 1950, down th e roa d. ce ntr e. and a forest biology lab or atory Providing technical in- was established in Corner Brook Anyone wishing further in­ formation to forest users and two years lat er. By 1966, th e two formation a bout the centre and managers is a focus for the had amalgamat ed and moved its work, or who might wish to centre, but the gen eral public into new pr em ises in St. John's. seek infor ma tion and advice can als o benefit from its work . The new title ... th e New foun­ from th e m, should contact the Through the centre's in­ dland Forest Research Centr e ... informati on officer at the for m a tion officer, the centre still leads to conf usion, a de cade Newfoundl and forest research tries to make relevant in­ after th e nam e was fir st use d. centre . The mailing address is formation in an und erstandable "I guess you could call it a n P.O . Box 6028, St. John's. The for m available to anyone who identity cr isis ," Tony jokes, in centre also publishes a bulletin needs it . ref erring to the con tinu al called 'Woody P oints ' which h. " We have various booklets confus ion between the cent r e availa ble upon re quest. Decks Awash-47

Education Committee trying to solve problems

" A couple of ye ars ago . the int erested himself in the history Larger mills have had their province. the Newfoundland of sawmilling in the province problems too. They need Forest Research Centre and and hopes sometime to be able markets for their by-products. Memorial University of to publish information on the They need to have markets for Newfoundland formed a com ­ de velopment of the industry. In their pulpwood and chips as well mittee to look at some of the reviewing the past performance as their lumber, if they are to problems facing the industry." of the industry, he sees certain make a go of it. The committee explains Dr. John Munro, a common problems that may is looking at problems like these, forest economist with th e cen­ affect the performance of and trying to come up with tre." It' s called the Sawmill and sawmills. solutions." Wood Products Development "Some studies that have been Committee, and it tries to co­ carried out for the committee Sawmill operators in outlying ordinate research and seem to indicate that some mills areas with technical problems development assistance on th e aren't as efficient as they might with their mills should bring it to government side of things for be ." Dr . Munro says, " in that the attention of local provincial the sawmill industry. I they don 't get maximum lumber forestry representatives in their represent the Research Centre, recovery from the available area. These problems could then Dr . Jim Church represents the sawlog. The key to the problem be brought to the attention of the University and Dr. Naztr, the is trying to improve the design sawmill and wood products assistant deputy minister of the of smaller mills to yield the development committee by the provincial department, is the maximum amount of lumber. forestry representatives. chairman. We have with us a woods product specialist from Halifax, Bill Calvert. as well as representatives of the depart­ Keeping the books straight ment of industrial development and rural development. Other A sawmill needs many things visiting his home to discuss people sit on the committee to survive and prosper. Good setting up a bookkeeping system from time to time, when we need supplies of logs , the essential and going on to teach how to their particularexpertise. to operator skills and markets for maintain it up to preparing The committee can advise the the finished product are im­ simple financial statements. government on sawmilling portant to success. So are Sawmillers should find the economics. technology. forest business skills. course helpful In several areas management and product Developing some key business of financial operation: ee altng utilization. but one problem is skills for sawmillers is the with banks who need business who uses their information. purpose of an experimental records before considering "One good thing that could program now being conducted loans; seeking government happen for sawmilling in the by MUN's Extension Service, assistance in the form of grants province would be the formation with the assistance of the or loans; keeping out of trouble" of a good strong sawmilling department of rural develop­ with government agencies, such association. One of the problems ment. Now involving some 15 as the income tax people, and the committee has is com­ operators around the province, seeing the financial health of munication with the industr y," the Bookkeeping for Sm all their operations. says Dr . Munro. "A committee Sawmill Operators program has or the government can't talk to so far met with what the This year'. program is ex­ 1200 individual producers. An organizers describe as " 100%" perimental in nature and no association could help in other interest from those par­ further participants can be areas as well . Some mill ticipating. accepted at this time. However, operators, for example, don 't Those participating learn any sawmill operator interested seem to know what price they basic accounting techniques in such a program in the future should be getting for lumber, over the course of a year, using should get in touch with the because they find it difficult to data from their own businesses Courses and Conferences Sec­ keep in touch with the state of to ensure that there's no gap tion of MUN's Extension Ser­ the market. A good association between the theory and prac­ vice. The address is Extension could go a long way in solving tice. The program sees specially Service, Memorial University of problems like that." selected instructors work in­ Newfoundland, St. John's. Nfld . Over the years, Dr . Munro has dividually with the saw miller, AICSS7. 48-Decks Awash

The f uture New technology Most people readily accept the round a spinning wheel, a nd it development in fed eral old cliche, 'there' s more than still chews its way thro ug h th e laboratories, a cts in the sa me one way to skin a cat' but how log . In the process , it cre a te s one principle as an axe . The main many would accept that there's of the more use less sa wmill problem is controllin g the more than one tool you can use byproducts .. sawdust. A th ick direction of the split which is to convert a log into lumber? blade adds further waste, in a n now being done by putting the Sa ws in one form or another industry that can affo rd to was te log in a vice-like device that have been around for a long very little. loc ks it firmly in position. Then time. The Egyptians used water­ If the log sp litt er and the las er a hydraulic ma chin e pushes th e driven stone saws to convert beam cutter come into bein g the log against a fixed blade, round logs into square or rec­ high pitched whin e of th e saw producing a nice clear cut or tangular building materials. biting its wa y through a log ma y split ... and no wasted sawdust. We, in essence, do the same someday disappear. In its place, A prototype is now under thing. A sharp, steel saw-blade one may hear logs splitting, or development and is being may be driven by diesel or the sizzling sound of a la ser tested; a working model may be electrical power, but it still beam trimming off slabs. available in as little as five requires a set of teeth wra pped The log splitter, und er years.

N e w techn iques may m esn better utilization of Newfoun dla n d 's forests. Cable logging, for ex ampl e, offers a chance to retrieve wood from slopes too steep for the ex isti ng m achines we use. Decks Awash-49

The laser beam cutter is probably farther down the road. The laser produces a hot, in­ tense beam which is able to c ut with lightning speed and current thinking is trying to apply this space age technology to sawmilling. If it ever co mes to the production stage. sawmillers could forget forever about sharpening their saws. We're living in an age when tec hnology is exploding so fast tha t even the technologists themselves are having problems keeping pace. Thi ngs we dream of today are operative tomorrow. and obsolete th e day after. With tools changing so quickly, industries must change too , lest they be left behind and become inefficient. We aren't suggesting that all mills should throwaway their saws, and get a splitter or laser tomorrow; just that they keep their eyes open .

Blades like this may be obsole te in the sa wm i1I ofthe future.

New tec hnology - cable used to transport logs . 50-Decks Awash

Editorial

Dis organized and fragmented, the Marketing iumber is another a rea that needs Newfoundland sawmilling industry is in tou gh attention. A wholesaler needs a regula r su pply of shape . Close to 1400 ope r atio ns exist, a handful de pendable quality lumber in suitable sizes, th e s uccessful. ma ny struggling, others closed or on supply bein g carefully match ed to the needs of t he brink of closln g. The industry supplies only the market at any given tim e and he often needs 40% of th e p ro vince 's requir emen ts for lumber. it in a hurry, too . How many Ne wfound la nd mills In a la nd where the nationa l anthem boasts of can make a firm commitment to meet those pine-elad hills. we build our ho uses and boats conditions? Would a central marketing agency, with wood we import. co-operatively owned by th e sawmillers them­ For centuries. Newfoundlanders. both se lves, help ? We don 't pr etend to know , but woodsma n and politician a like, have looked upon someone from the sawmilling industry should be our for ests as being inexhaus tible, but close to checking with the Newfoundland F ederation of 60% of our resource is ti ed up in long -term Agriculture to see how Vegetable Marketing agreeme nts wit h two m ammoth paper com ­ Associates Limited (VMAL) is working out. pan ies . The 40% balance is Cr own Lan d, but that figure is misleading; not all tha t crown la nd can An adequate supply of good sawlogs is another s upport a forest resource vigo ro us enough to proble m hindering some operators. Our forest is produ ce logs. When you take out the barrens, slow-growing and sawmills can't afford to count bogs, and scrub. the re 's not an awful lot left. on natural reg eneration to solve their wood We 're finding out today that the resource. no supply problems. The obvious answer is to matter who con trols it. is exha usti ble . Cutting, arrange, either by trade-offs or through in­ fire . and insects ba ve all taken their toll . In tegrated logging. for sawmills to get access to addition. poor or acn-existen t management in wood from company limits. Bow ater and Price the pa st ha s led to was tage; trees that could have are not overly concerned a bout what diameter fed sawmills were allowed to over-mature. What trees they use and they mi ght look at business­ could have be en our wealth rotted in the woods. like arrangements which would see sawlogs go to While poor for est m an agem ent pla gued the sawmills. as long as an equal supply of pulpwood ind us try on one hand. ine fficiency and was available at an economic price. But no disor ganization crucified it with the other. company is goi ng to lose mo ney on a deal, a nd no Una ble to co mm unicate amon g t hemselves, let company can afford the time and risk s involved alo ne with th e go ver nment and pa per companies in dealing wit h 1400individual operators. who control t he vast bulk of pr im e timberland, There are no easy answers for the Newfoun­ sawmillers have ne ve r be en able to mount an dland sawmilHng industry; the experience of the effective ca m paign to pr es s for the changes they last 70 years has shown that on e-shot solutions need. don 't work. Government has poured thousands of The re sult is an industry that essentially dollars into small mills. and millions into large operates without enoug h information. In a world ones: studies on sawm ills have been don e . and whe re lu m be r pric es are figu r ed on a global redone: ' and ar e still going on. But it's hard to scale, the Newfoundland sawm iller ofte n doesn't help 1400 individuals with 1400 complex sets of know the re tail pr ice of a 2 x 4. SOmile s down the problems. road. At a time when for estry m an agem ent is At least part of the ans we r lies in becoming a complex balance of eco logy and organization. The sceptics will scoff, and say econom ies, th ere' s no gro up th at can for ce th e that has been tried before, and failed ; they have provinc ial forestry authori ties to clear ly explain a point. But why did past attempts fail? They a nd justify the ir m ana ge me nt plans as they faUed because everyone wanted easy answers to re late to sawmills. You ca n be t the pulp and hard problems; because of int ernal bickering paper companies get a ns we rs to their questions: and because th ey had no money. SO might the sawmillers. if they asked with a co m mo n voi ce . Nothing of value grows with out a struggle; a A co m mittee OD sawmills and woods products struggle to learn. to understand, to hammer out development exuts. offering sawmillers the the compromises sawmillers mu st reach among ex pe rtise of the federa l an d pro vincial govern­ themselves it they are to offer a united front to me nts, the univers ity and outside experts. Its the government. the companies, and the biggest problem u getting infor mation from the marketplace . Without that united front, the sa wm llle rs and receiving re actions to suggested futu re for sawmills looks bleak; they m ay su r­ ide as. vive, but they'll never prosper. Decks Awash- 51

Adverttur~~:. <;t: . j{ The Mysterious ML of An th ony Murphy .,,;,r:, < '., ,

ByCHARLESCALLANAN phy , He is at his uncle's . I'm Hopedale and Nain with som e Down North keeping my eye on him ... my special mail deliveries. He had to Labrador good eye. " said Goldie grinning promised Billie Murphy a ride Our Story: On an E.P .A. flight and fla shin g his teeth. when his cousin Anthony visited to Goose Bay, Anthony Murphy "Not funn y," said the man in Goose Bay . Helicopters can land is approached by a strange the hard hat. " This Anthony anywhere anytime if the looki ng man with an eye patch Murphy is one smart kid. He weather closes in. They can fly and a mouthful of gold teeth. caught the Russi ans off guard on close to the land and get around Th e m a n asks him to deliver a a big fishin g rap last summer. in 'down' times when Labrador letter to a Mr. Lew Barnes at a You pick ed a dandy ." Airways pilots are grounded. ha r dwa re store in Goose Bay. " So ...?" said Goldie. Stretch Dillon was tall an d When Anthony vis its the hard­ " So we get th e env elop e back lanky and wore a baseball cap. ware store he learns that Lew and quick." He was very relaxed at all Barnes has mysteriously times. He was also "the best di sappe ar ed on the Labrador According to the Goose Bay helicopter pilot in Labrador . He coa st somewhere near weather office th e weather was flew for ; GLOBAL and his Makkovik. Anthony does not 'down' on th e coast. Labrador helicopter' looked like a large re aliz e it but he is being watched Airways' planes sat idly by at yellow mosquito with a glass in Goose Bay by th e man with Goos e Bay , Nain, and belly. It was into this glass belly th e gold teeth. Now read on ..... Makkovik. These red and white that the Murphy boys settled in Cha pter Two Otters and Bea vers with their anticipation of ta ke-off. pilots and passengers were "Well, we' ll give it a try." said Bl1I:zard waiting for a break in the Stretch Dillon. his eyes squin­ "The envelope, what did you weather. Nothing was moving. ting in the morning whiteness. do with the envelope ?" asked a It had be gun to snow again as The helicopter blade began to tall man wearing a construction Anthony and Billie Murphy wh irl. It was a strange and worker 's hard hat. He was turned the ir skidoo in the exciting experience for the boys sitting at a long table in the back direction of the airport. Both and Anthony noticed that once in boys were excited at the the air there was nothing prospect of getting an helicopter separating them from th e ride to th e coast with Stretch outside but a glass bubble. Dillon , the American helicopter The man with gold teeth ac e. Stretch was going to watched the helicopter ' disap­ Makkovik. Davis Inlet. pear in the overcast sky . Then, " , , of th e Blue Skidoo night club in Goose Bay. Th e m an with the eye patch / and the gold teeth kept staring a t him with a glint in his good eye. " I gave it to a kid on the pl ane ... to deliver to Lew Barnes. I had to . It was a stall. Th e Mounties searched me at the a irport." " Ge tting smart, Goldie , you 'r e gelling smart. Now ... who is this kid and where is he now ?" " His na me is Anthony Mur- 52-Decks Awash

he and the tall man in the hard hat walk ed ac ross the a ir strip toward a small single engine a ircra ft. "It's a risk. the visibility is just about zero." sa id Goldie nervously. The ta ll man in th e hard hat did not bother to respond. He took th(' controls o( the small plan e and began to wa rm up the motc-, Minutes . later they tax ied down the ai rstrip and lifted off into a dangerously strong "..dnd . In order to keep below the wind. Stret ch Dillon dr opped the helicopter down to the height of a three story house . The ba rren landscape m ade this possible. About 25 mil es short of Ma kk ovik the wind ca rne up and th ey entered into a sea of blin­ ding snow. " We 'll have to go They sat around th e tabl e blood run cold." down and wait awhile ." said eating tinned beans that Stretch "You mean ," sa id Anthony, Stretch. found in the cupboard. Anthony "that he has a glass eye? " He put the helicopter down look ed thoughUul for a mom ent. "No, a black eye- patc h," said ge ntly after checking his Then he turned to Stretch and Str etch , "and the craz iest loc ation on a canvas map. He as ked, " Did you ever hear of a mouthful of gold teeth you eve r kept looking at the map till the m a n called Lew Barnes?" saw ." heli cop te r blade carne to a sto p. "Everybody knows about Lew "Listen," ca utioned Billie, "I " We're on a trap lin e," he told Barnes and his crazy ide a of hear the motor of a plane." They th e boys . "If my calculations fin ding gold on the Labrador sat very quietly and sure enough are correct we are rig ht coast," said Stretch. "He is they all he ard the motor of a a longside a hunter's cabin. supposed to have disappeared small plane ... suddenly the Walk close to me al\d we'll hea d two yea rs ago . But some people motor seemed to fan or shut off for th e cabin." Ant ho ny saw th e cl aim they saw him recently in and the re wa s no sound, only the form of the cabin th ro ug h the Goos e Bay. He is a strange howling of the wind. The trio sat drifti ng snow. Stretch smashed cha racter. Nobody seems to in silence as the storm whipped the lock with th e back of a small kn ow mu ch abo ut him . 1 saw snow against the windows of th e a xe a nd within min\.ttes they had him once before he disappeared. cabin. a wood fire going to warm He stared me down with his good To be continued ..... themselves. eye and just about made my

Hom e gardening- seeds for spring by Sharon Gray It's tim e to ordee seeds, and It's ce rt a inly one va riety I' m peas grow well here, but are th ere 's som e exctttng ne w going to try thi s year. tedious to shell. However, this varieties of veg etables available new ga rden pea, known as in seed catalo gues this year. 1 Zucchini a nd other sum mer 'Suga r Snap ' has both plump hope by now you have received squash grow well in our climate, edible pods and fat juicy edible at least one cataloQue (rom the and three or four plants are all peas - you just eat the whole seed companies 1 mentioned in you need to have plenty of thi s veg etable. the last issu e of Decks Awash. vegetable. It 's a very mild Deciding just what to order One 1 neglect ed to include was tasting fruit, good raw in sal ad s from seed ca ta logues can be Thompson &. Mor gan. 132James or cooked in a variety of wa ys pretty over whel mi ng, so before Ave . East, Winni pe g, Man itoba , fr om steaming to baking. you m ak e an or de r, sketch out a R3B ON8. Among the ir new ga rden plan to decide just what varieties is a sixty da y zucchini Anoth er exciting new you have the space to grow. called a pple squash that's vegetable that's offered in seed Vegetables I would ce rtainly reputed to have a bett er flavour catalogues for the first tim e this include in any garden (provided than oth er va rieti es of zucchini. yea r is the snap pea . Ordinary you like them of course! ) are Decks Awash- 53

peas, beans, lettuce. radish, as gold en hubb ard. and onions frame, hot bed . greenhouse or ca r ro ts. turnips, kholrabi (from sets). Also, if you have the just a good sunny window, grow (somewhat like very mild space, plant a perman ent bed of tomatoes, cucumber s. leek s. turnip), spinach (for early in the strawberries and as pa r agus. onions (from seed ) and the season), swiss chard (for a plus a few rhuba rb and chive brassicas (broccoli . brussel green that grows all summer ), plants. sp routs, cabbage and beets , zucchini, parsley and All th es e vegetables are easy cauliflower ). However , these sum mer savory. If you have the to grow and ca re for , a nd ca n be vegetables all need a longer space, certainly grow potatoes, started fr om seed right in the growing season and more care pum pkins , winter squash su ch garden. If you hav e a cold than the others, so don 't order ,-U-, ,-Q' ,-Q' tU' AAA ...... @@ +00 - •• ~ - @@ +0 0 •• ** - I - ••DO +0 0 - @@ DO +00 ••~ ** - ~~~ - @@ ~ ~ ~ +00

1**~.~~.~~.~~.~~*********.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~** * **.~*~.~*

~B roc c O Ii tU' *Strawberries o Carrot 4IjpRhubarb **Herbs O Spinach ...... Beet A Chives

• Cabbage + Beans O SquaSh ~ Ch a rd

i EarlY lettuce O peas 0Potatoes ~.~L a t e lettuce . TurniP . Onions ~.~ F l o wers ~ t ~ Asparagus One poss ible plan for a garden facing a south slope. Vegetable groups are r otat ed to a di ffe rent bed eac h year. Strawberries, chives. rh ubarb an d aspa ragus are in permanent bed s. If potatoes an d sq uas h are grown together the squash area will r equir e limeston e, bu t the potatoes don't. If you have the room, plant a separate squash bed as pumpkins. zucchinis an d other squash ta ke a lot ofspace. 54-Decks Awash

see ds for them unless you're ce ntral head comes off, and you down a hill as this encourages su re you can give th em the ca n ha rvest smaller heads in the soil erosion). I find this 'bed' con ditions and attention they fall . method has many advantages nee d. Kholr abi : I prefer white over plantin g in single Th is is by no means a com­ va rieties and a new introduction drills...you do n't trample the plete list of vegetables but this year called Grand Duke vegetables walking between they' re all ones I wouldn't want looks promising. beds as you do with rows, to leave out of' my garden. P otatoes : Like most gar­ manures and compost can be Gene r ally, when ordering seeds den er s I like the Blue Arran applied in a concentrated area, cho ose the ones with the shortest Vict ory but of the licen­ and as the vegetables ,~ grow gro wing season and wherever sed varieties resistant to wart they form a living mulch that pos sible get the ' bush' varieties dis ease Pink Pearl is my keeps down weeds. as they do better in our windy favorite. Netted Gems are not But whether you use wide beds clim ate than the climbing types. re co m m ended for Newfoun­ or single rows, for the sake of If your soil is stony, order ' half­ dland conditions, but I grew healthy soil and disease free long ' varieties of carrots. them successfully last year and vegetables, keep the four Here's a few seed varieties will plant them again this groupings separate and rotate I've had success with. It 's only a summer. them fro m year to year. Where br ief selection, and be sure to I could go on forever, but you you gre w ca bbages last year, as k ga rde ner s in your area will develop your own favorites. plant peas or beans this year, whic h ones they've had the best Alwa ys try at least one new root cro ps next year, and luc k with as experience is exper ime ntal vegetable or potatoes th e following year. usu ally the best guide. variety every year, just for fun. Lettuce an d other greens can be Lettuce: Buttercrunch gives a Now I want to talk a little interplanted with slower nice tender head, and for the full more a bout rotation planting growing vegetables, or on the leafy variety, Black-seeded according to the principles I edges of beds, and don't forget to Sim pson is great. outlined in the last issue of add a bit of colour to your Peas: Little Marvel for an Deck. Awash. This is really garden with some flowers. ea rly , cr op, Lincoln Late for a importan t as it keeps the soil particula rly nasturtiums and lat er crop. And try some of the healthy and diseases under marigolds whic h are reputed to new 'Suga r Snap'. control , Keeping in mind the have insect-repelli ng power. Toma toes: Sub-arctic Maxi four basic groupings... cabbage­ Hav e fun or dering seeds. and gro w well here. type vegetables (including drawing a ga rden plan. If you P umpkin: I've found Small turnip), peas and beans, root have a chance to get it, read Jim Sug a r gives nice compact fruit crops, an d potatoes, plan your Croc kett' . Victory Garden. tha t sto res well . garden on division into four Unfor tunately, we don't get the Swiss Chard: Rhubarb Chard basic se cti ons. TV show he re, but the book is has lovely red stems, and I organize my own garden into very clea r , with lots of pictures. Fordhook Giant is good for the beds three feet and eight feet It's $12.95 in pap er back or as k regula r white kind . long, ru nning horizontally your library to order it. Next Bro ccoli: Italian Sprouting across a southern slope (don't iss ue we'll ge t right doiwn to keeps on growing after the plant in rows running up and pla nti ng. Botulism and home canning In Cana da last year, four ha ve be en improperly preser­ for m of th e bacteria and are peo ple died aft er eating im­ ved, stored under anaerobic (in very resista nt to adverse con ­ prope rly pr epared marine the absence of oxygen) con­ ditions, such as heat and products. They were victims of ditions, and consumed without che mical treatment. that nor­ the deadliest form of food appropriat e heating. ma lly will destroy the actively pois oning known to man, WHAT IS BOTULISMT growing m icro-or -ganism . BOTULISM. Though it is ex ­ Botulism is a food-borne However, in low-acid tooc. trem ely rare, botulism strikes illness or food intoxication under anerobic conditio ns, the se ve r al Canadians every year. ca used by the spore-forming botulin um spores becom e ac­ The re have been a few cases of m icro-or ga nism, Clostridium tive, begin to grow, a nd produce botulism du e to inadequately botulinum. This bacteria and its a toxin or poiso nous subs tance. processed commercially spores are found everywhere; in If a food becom es contaminated prepa red foods , but most out­ the soil, on raw fruits and a nd is ea te n witho ut suffic ient breaks are asso ciated with ve getables , and on meat and heat treatment to destroy the ho me pr epared foods which fish . The spores are the inactive tox in. severe illness and, in Deck s A w ash r-

many c as es. de ath ca n occur. in speaking clear ly. dizziness. COD QUOTAS INCR E ASED Botu lism is a tr agic a nd headaches, abdomina l UNDER 111711 ATLANTIC poorly und ers tood dis eas e. It discomfort. vom itin g a nd GROUNDFISH FISHIN G PLA: diff ers fr om othe r ty pes of muscle paraly sis . Botulism is bacterial-c aused food poisonin g. difficult to diagn ose because of OTTA WA Reflect ing the in that it a ffects the ner vou s its rare occ ur re nce an d th e re sur gent state of the East coast system rather than the digestive similarity of its symptoms to fis he ry, the 1979 P lan for tht tract. many other illnesses . An an ­ Atlanti c Groun dfish F leet sets titoxin does exist, but it should th e ove rall Canadian HOW DOES ITOCCUR1 be given as soo n as possibl e a nd grou ndfish quota at 548.tK;l) Botulinum tox in ca n occur in is not alw ays completel y e f­ metri c tons - an incr e ase f low -acid ca nned or pr ocessed fective. 59.000 tons over 1978 a nd 121,( foods whenever inadequate PREVENTIVE MEAS UR ES tons mor e than 1977. heating or processing permits FOR CONSUMERS Total cod allocations for 1!l79 spore survival. Conditions which As a consumer, food safety in have been established at 270.0uo contribute to th e development of the home is YOUR respon­ m.t., com pa re d to 175,000 m .t. in toxin ar e : si bility. To gua rd against 1977 and 211.000 m.t. in 1978. In o lack of air, as in a seal ed bot ulism, follow th ese sim ple allocating the various cod can. jar, or plastic packa ge . preventive guid elin es : quotas, spec ial attention was o foods wh ich contain little or Commercially Prepared Foods give n to ensu re an econom icall y no added a cid: som e exa m ples o Never use or eve n ta st e viabl e fish er y for th e less mob ile a re meat. poul tr y, fis h, sea food. canned foods that sh ow a ny sign inshore vessels . mushrooms, eggs a nd most of spoilage. Bulgin g ca n ends vegetables; chili peppers, amd jar lids usu all y indica te cucumbers and ce rt ai n va rieties spoilage. When you open the of tomatoes hav e only a medium container. check for off odours, SEAL HUNT acid content a nd should be froth. foam or mold . QUOTAS- l l1711 treated with c are. When a com merci ally Th e total regula ted catch of o temperatures betw een 4°C prepared food is inv olved . a ha rp sea ls in 1979 rem a in un ­ (40°F) and 46°C(115° F) . large nu m ber of people ma y be changed from the 1978 quota at Growth of the spores is fastest at at risk; therefore. report any 170.000. about 38°C (lOOOF). sus pect food to your local public Cana da 's share of th is 170.000 If these conditions are present heal th authorities or the Health total in 1979 will be 150,000 sea ls. and adequate precautions are P rotectio n Branch. while Nor way's shar e in 1979 not taken, botulinum spores can Home Canned Food s will be 20,000 seals. a redu ction ge rm inate and produce a tox in o Always follow recommended of 15,000 from th eir 1978 quo ta. so potent that one cupful of the canning pr ocedures . Th e following tabl e ind ic ates pure toxin, it is estimated, could o All vegetables. meat. and th e 1979 Ca na dia n alloc ati ons :- kill the entire population of the fish m ust be processed in a world . pressure canner . Boilin g tem­ Area F1J.hlng Sector Allocation Sometimes ca ns or jars with peratures are insufficient to Front Large Vessels 57,000 food containing botulinum toxin destroy all the bacterial spores Front Landsmen 45,500 will bulge or have off odours, but in these foods . Meat and fish are Gulf Lar ge Vessels 20,000 this doesn't always happen. It is particularly sus ceptible to the Gulf NOd . La ndsmen 7,000 not uncommon for a botulinum­ growth of botulinum bacteria ; Gulf Maritimes/ 20.500 contaminated food to appear they are not rec ommend ed for Quebec and smell normal. home canning. Lan dsmen Frozen or dried foods and o Check containers and con ­ those with high concentrations tents before using the food . If of acid. salt or sugar do not there are a ny signs of spoilage. support the growth of botulinum do not taste it. THROW IT OUT . ba cter ia and are th erefore o Often there may be no signs usually quite safe to eat. of spoilage. As an extra measure SYM P TOMS OF of sa fety. it is a wise precaution BOTULISM POISONING to boil hom e ca nned vegetables The early signs of botulism ­ for 10 minutes before tasting. fatigue. weakness and blurred o A re minder: canned fruits. visio n - usually develop about 8 ja ms a nd jellies, a nd pickles and to 72 hours after eating food relish es do not cause botulism; containing botulinum toxin. high concentrations of a cid , salt These symptoms a re followed or sugar prevent the growth of by laboured breathing, difficulty botulinum bact eri a. 56-- Decks Awash

How to bottle a moose without messing up your kitchen

Your husband has just shot a heart. If yo u live in th e Gra nd Ca nar-ama. there are four large moose and while you know that Falls ar ea a com munity ca nning pre ssur e cookers, a sterilizer. a bottled moose meat would be ce ntre shou ld open thi s summer st ea m kettle. a 10 ga llon mighty tasty in the sum ­ whi ch will ena ble you to bottle boil er and a preparation ce ntre. mertime, you can't bear the not only your moose a nd Th er e is even an electric juicer thought of messing up your tom ato es but also your r abbit. pulper-, which makes sa uce s , ki tc he n right now . And then you patrtdge. cod. halibut. jams and jellies. You just put remember how your tomato blueberries. partrtd geb errte s, th e fruit in it and it spits out the plants went crazy last summer carrots, tur nips and all at one seeds. the peel and the core. a nd you didn't ha ve enough lime. There arc also ca nning books. roo m to bottle them. ja r s. sugar. spices an d vineg a r. Well. canning lovers. take In th e ne w centre kn own as

STAINLESS STEEL PREPARATION TABLE WITH SINK

20-GAL STAINLESS STEEl STEAM JACKETED KETILE

CAST ALUMINUM 16-OT PRESSURE COOKERS

BASE PAN WITH REMOVABLE STERILIZER COIL

"------JAR BASKET

..------~II-~------O U I C K COOLING SPRAY Decks Awash- 57

All this is available at 10( a pint a nd th ey can le arn to ca n through Canadian insp ecti ons. a nd 1St a quart. properly, qu ickly a nd sa fely." Everything is complet ed in the Located behind the Exploits new building. ex cept for the Valley Mall on Bailey Street. it Once the centre becomes steam boiler and th e ket tles. The is sponsored by the Exploits operational, Jocelyn will be interest is really mounting. We training a sta ff that will be on Valley Development are getting a lot of request s as to hand to help the public. She will Association. The proposal was whe n we will be open. It is dif ­ be approved on :\farch 15. 1978 and also doing workshops on food ficult to say when the hou rs will the grant for $83.557 is being safety, especially with regard to be, but I think Saturday will be financed by the department of botulism, of which the re have our big day." r ural development. Jocelyn been several recent cases in Acco rding to Jocelyn , more Wood. the home economist with Labrador due to improper and more people are int er e st ed th e de partment of rural canning. She will also be giving in st retching their food doll a r . "I development. has a keen in­ workshops on freezing and get letter s all the time now on terest in this project as she has ca nning in general. how to s moke this or that. For been both to India na and Ver­ "I wish I could tell you exactly veget ables, most people as k how m ont to see similar canning when we will be in operation." to freeze them, but with meat ce nt res and she declares . says a frustrated Exploits and fis h. they prefer ca nning "Right away I knew it would be Valley Development Association bec au se it is ready when they a good idea for Newfoundland Co-ordinator, Ca rl Budgell. "but wa nt it." because we have so mu ch food we are running into problems Th us the new canning ce ntre that could be canned. Peopl e ca n with inspections. The equipment should be a helpful additio n to use the centre for their born e use is American-m ad e and has to go th e central Newfoundland a rea. Eating more fish Seated in her kitchen which is pounds." fish burgers are outselling loc at ed in the new federal Not a dramatic increase, hamburge rs ," notes Cathy who fish eri es bu ilding on the out­ especially when compared with is New foundland's ans we r to ski rts of St. John's. Cathy Japan where they ea t, about 5 Brun o Ger ussi when it com es to O'Brien , th e feder al seafood times as much fish as wa co , but coo king dem onstr a tions . La st con sultant, st at es. " At long last at least the figu re is improving. November th e fed er al gov ern­ fish is on th e ri se in North But Ca nadians aren't eating tbe ment put on a big promotion for Am erica. In 1973, Ca nadians fish in their homes. They are fish and it received upwards wer e e ating 12 pounds of fish pe r eating it in restaurants. to 300,000 reque sts for the fish ye ar a nd now it has risen to 17 " In m an y fast-food ta ke outs re cip es. In Ne wfoundland a lone, Cathy received over 2.500 requ est s for fish recipes. " That's very encouragin g," st at es Cathy as she prepar es one of her fam ous fish dishes in her kitch en located at a building th at is st r a ight out of Battle Sta r Ga llactica. "People ar e eating mor e fish, thinking more fish ."

Ne wfoundlanders don 't have to be encouraged to eat fish . It ha s been the staple diet for yea rs, but we do have to be enco uraged to expe riment mor e with th e diff erent ways fish can be pr ep ar ed. It 's one of the most versatile foods around. On th e follow ing page are some fish recipes , m an y of which ar e Cathy' s fav our ites. In this issu e we are e mphasizing salt fish and fish chowder for the winter. A Cathy O 'B rien. f eder al fisheries ' consumer consultant, prepared wide va riety of fish relpes ar e one of her f avorit e fis h dishes for a visiting consumer. ava ilable free of 58-Decks Awesf

charge by writing to Fi sh about 20 minutes or until 2 tablespoons choppe d onion R ecipe s. P.O. Box 5661. St. casserole is heated th rough. 2 ta blespoons diced g ree n John's. Mak es 4-6 servings. peppe r Cheesy Fisb FISH CHOWD ER­ Soup (8 CUPS) 1·Y.:t cups thin white sa uce FRESH OR SMOKED Llb. fish fillet. fr esh or frozen 2 Tbsp. butter v.. cup chopped to matoes I pound fillet. fresh or smo ke d 2 tablespoons butter or ot her fat I,i cup fin ely chopped on ion 1 cup soft br e ad crumbs, but­ I me dium onion. thinly slice d 1 cup finel y chopped carrot tered v.,cup finel y ch opp ed ce le ry I,.';a cup diced celery Freshe n cod. (Soa k fist. 2 cu ps diced r aw potatoe s I,i cup flour Ih tsp. salt over nig ht in cold wat er to cove r. I,.';a cu p sliced ca rrots Dr ain and add fresh cold wa te r 2 cups boiling water Dash paprika 2 cups chicken bouillon to cove r. Bring to simmering I teaspoon salt 3 cups milk temper ature ove r low heat. '-il teaspoon pepper Jh cup cubed pro ces s cheese Dr ain . If fish seems too sa lty to 2cups milk th e ta ste. add fre sh cold wa te r Cut fille ts into btte-stae pieces. Thaw frozen fill ets jus t and again bring to simmering Me lt fat in la rge saucepa n and enough to ea se cutting, abo ut 30 temperature and dratn. ) Fl ak e cook onion and celery until minutes . Cut fish in 1 inch cubes. cod . Pl ace o/.r, cup of rice in ten der. Add potatoes. c ar rots. Melt butter and sa ute onio n, bollom of greased l -'h- quart water. salt and pe pper. Cove r carrot and ce lery until onio n is cassero le a nd cover with aU te and simmer 10 to 15 minutes transp arent. Blend in flou r . sa lt cod. Sprinkle with onions a nd until vegetables a re te nde r. Add and paprika . Gradually add g reen pe pper. Add o/.r, cup of fish and cook 10 min ute s longer. bouillon and milk. Cook. sti rring wh ite sauce and rem ainder of Add milk. Reheat but do not boil. constantly. until th ickened . Add coo ked rice. Pour rem a ind er of Makes 6 servings. fish and simmer until fish flakes wh ite sa uce ove r ric e an d easily with a fork . about 5 spri nkle with tomato . Top with minutes if fish is fresh and 10 bu tt e red crum bs. Bak e in SALT COD WITH minutes if frozen . Add cheese moderate ove n (350 degrees ) for 'SCRAMBLE D EGGS and stir until melt ed. 20 to 30 minutes or until bubbling hot and crum bs are br owned. I po und salt cod 1,. pound bacon . diced SALT COD AND NOTE: Salt turbot may be I green peppe r , dice d RICE CASSEROLE substituted for salt cod. Fresh en 1A te as poon black pe pper 2 cups (1 pound) salt cod and cook as salt cod . 4·5 scram bled eggs l·Jh cups cooked rice Mak es 6 servings. 1 large onio n. finel y chopped 4 to matoes. peel ed and finely diced Cover salt cod wit h water and Bulletin soak overnight. Dr ain. cov er with fresh water and brin g to Over the yea rs man y people a re now taking you up on your simmering poin t. Dr ain , taste living outside of Newf oundland offer. As of January 1. 1919, th e for saltiness and si mmer again & Labrador have been rec eiv ing cost of Decks Awa.h outs ide of if necessary. Whe n sufficient DeeklAw.sh_ Ne wfoundland & Lbrad or is salt has been removed. drain $6.00 per year. We have been ple as ed to and remove all ski n and bones provide this maga zine abo ut If you have any qu esti ons . fro m fish. Flake fish and place rural Newfoundland fr ee of ple as e feel fre e to write or ca ll in a I!y2or z-q ua rt ca sserole. Fry charge to all of you . but un ­ us Wri te : Decks Awash, Ex­ bacon until crisp. Remove bacon fortunately the ris e in postage tension Se rvice , Mem orial and in th e fat in the skillet, fry rates. printing costs and in our University of Newfoundland, onion. gree n pepper and circulation have surpassed our A1C 5$7 or Telephone : Are a to m atoes for 3 or 4 minutes. university bud get and have Code 709, Number 753-1200. Ext. Po ur half the fr ied vegetables surpassed our ability to secure 3484. ove r th e flak ed cod. combining outside funding. We are forced, ge ntly with a fork . Add th e Editor's Note: Decks Awub is therefore. to look at several sc r a m bled eggs in one layer and publish ed 6 times a year and alternatives. to p with re m aining vegetables. an yon e subscribing after th e Spoo n bacon ove r casserole a nd Because a number of you in publishing ye ar (J a n. 1979) sprinkle with bla ck pepper. the pa st have offered to help pay st arts will be required to pa y _Bake uncovered at 350°F for postage and printing costs. we onl y for th e remaining issues . Decks Awash- 59

Cuddles and her codpeace

It wa s a clear, blue-sky day. ac tio n had been taken because launched Codpeace. Since the n Th e kind of day that of Re solution 142which had been Ayre and his cod mandoes ha ve Ne wfoundlan d always has. The passed by the U.S. Congress las t been speaking out in favo ur of peopl e of St. J ohn's were busily yea r . This resolution con­ the cod , "The Voiceless ones". going abo ut their daily duties demned Canadians for being The loyal member s of Cod­ when all of a sudden, out of brutal murderers who were peace. who prefer to rem ain nowh er e. a bright yellow kill ing a species of seal claimed Incodnito. ha ve been work ing helicopt er descended from the by protest groups to be on the da y and night to get th eir he aven s and landed on the ball ve rge of extinction. Now every m essage across. Kiss-a-co d field of Bannerman Pa rk. Out Ca nadian knows. or should know contest s, movies showi ng poor fr om her helicodper, whic h by now. that this is just plain Cuddles bein g attacked by hard stron gly resembled a smiling nonsense and that this kind of ill­ hearted harps. and ballads cod. wit h bulging eyes. stepped researched resolution by a telling the plight of the lovers , non e other than Cudd les ! neighbor ing country can go Tommy and Conni e, have been Yes. it really was Cudd les the along way towards ca using r eleased. Sci entific infor m atio n cod. the giant perky. pink fish problem s not only bet ween also has been flowing in. Cos­ wh o has swum her way into the Canadians and Americans but stipated cods . cod liver oil slicks he a rts of millions in her single ­ also between the m any fish a nd cods bein g frig htened hand ed effort to save herself and species hunted by the harp seal. out of school so they grow up her fa m ily from the ravages of Th at is why Cuddles felt she stupid are just so me of the the vicious ha rp seal. had to do something. She con ­ proble m s the scientists are Cuddles' mission on land was tact ed Mill er Avre. a St. Jo hn 's trying to solve . to tell Ca nadians and Americans bu sinessm an. who decided to Where will it all end? " It th at th e Presidential Seal had hel p Cud dles out. On January 25 won't," says an ad am ant Ayr e, been stolen from the Ame rican at the week ly meeting of the St. " a s he ferries Cuddles in and out Consulate in St. Joh n's . This J ohn 's Rota ry Club , Mr . Ayre of shopping malls to promote 60- " D e t: k. ~ Awas h

her cause. - " We will pe rs ist un til Cuddles and her family no lon ge r ha ve continuou s tears in th eir eyes. In other words. until aU cocs have dr y eyes. " Atte...... a vlng good -bye to her fan s In Ba nner ma n Park, Cuddle s cl imbs int o he r very own whtrty-bird and takes off in to the blue. Th e sea gulls look su spi ciously a t th is 6 ' 4" figure of n ony flesh. b ut d ec id e she 's too b j ~ for Sunday d inn e r . Down be low. on the pl ayg round Cod pe a ces st ir ri ng theme song "Cod guard thee Newfoun­ dland" ca n be hea rd . For fur­ ther information on how to save Cud d les and for m em bership in Codpeace - which entitles yo u to a g x 10 gloss y signed by Cuddle s he rs elf. a ne wsl ett e r . pins a nd bumpe r st ickers, contact P .O. Box 5366. St. John's. Ne wfoundl and.

One of 'h e 1st entries in the klss-o-cod contest.

Cuddles in her heli copt er Decks Awash-51

The arguiri' ground of Trout River storehouse with a few steps women wou ld vis it ea ch other in By Madelyn Crowther leading down from the door their homes and fellows and On th e west coast of where the men used to lean girls wou ld walk bac k a nd forth Newfoundland there is a small against the building. The men the road but there was a sort of community known as Trout would usually go to this spot in contentment at the arguin' River. Un til the late fifties this the late afternoon just before ground. It was a place whe re th e community wa s completely supper on Sundays and directly work of the day was discussed, isolated. Wood y Poin t . the after supper on weekdays. and any new boa t desi gns or nearest community. was 18 These men were all older, repairs were tossed abo ut by the miles aw ay. At that time, the married fishermen; young boys menfolk. only reli able method of tran­ who fished with their fathers The women looked at th e sportation wa s by boat, except were never found there. Women, arguin' ground for the e vening when the ice was in. To get too, kept away from this par­ weather report a nd they a lway s anywher e by boat took from two ticular spot. It was, in fact, a knew where to find th eir men! to three hours . place of solitude. When the me n ca me home, if There wer e about 400 people in The arguin' ground was a very there were anything happening the communit y. The houses convenient spot for looking out in other households, they would generally were built ncar the tosea.lftherewere anything-on tell their wives abo ut it. water. For most people of Trout the horizon, the men on the Messages were also relayed River, as for an}' Newfoundland a rguin' ground would be the first back and forth in he sa me way . outport, th e task of maki ng a to see it. It was also the The old arguin' ground is still living was ac tua lly a me thod of "weather forecast station" there today but not frequented survival. Thi s method of sur­ Many times a young boy would nea rly as much. Tro ut River has vival came in the for m of fish. A run home and say, "It's gonna changed. The num ber of people man never kne w from one day to storm tonight, I heard the men in the community ha s gro wn; the next whether he would get on the argutn' ground say!" there are a cou ple of places enough fish to keep his family in Sure enough everyone ...... ould tie where beer can be bou ght, and food and clothes . down their few stacks of hay and another place to play pool. The While just a bout every m an in m ak e their boats more secure. fis hermen who once occupied the community fish ed for a T hose Iisherrnen were seldom the arguin' groun d now spend living. there were also several wrong in their weather their time else where. good boat builder s . A few others predictions . Everybody no longer knows did a little fa rm ing and logging. Since so much time was spent everybody else. In Trout River, as in most there, the arguin' ground must Things may change 'over the small outports. eve ryo ne knew ha ve had an overall effect on the years but it's th e fine memories everyone e lse. If so mething community and its people. In of the past th at put me aning into were to happen in the com­ fact, the place almost held the suc h places in community life as munity in th e afternoon. people together. There would be the arguin' ground of Trout everyone was sure to hear about 'times' and other socials. River. it by nightfall. There wa s one par ti cula r place in the com munity th at was traditionally called "the arguin' ground.II It is not known for sure why it was ca lled th at. Maybe it was beca use arguments did take place th er e at one ti me or another. Th e nam e a ppears to be contradictory because it always seemed to be a pea ceful place. It wa s ac tually a patch of ground at a central point in the community where all the menfolk fr om that pa rticular area, around the rive r a nd down the road, gathered. On th is patch of ground there was a 62- Decks Awash

Readership survey 1. I read Decks Awash: o edu cational o enti rely o entertaining o partly o int eresting o not at all o inadequ ate PARTS 2. The parts of Decks Awash I o other (plea se explain This questionnaire will be find more inte res ting ar e : confide ntial. We do not ask you (Please numb er in order of to fill in your na me or address so pre ference), e.g.. I, rst choice, you r iden tity is protected. 2. 2nd choice, etc .) 10. Please indicate the follo wing: o Anthony Murphy o Male o Stories about people. suc h as 6. What do you like about Decks o F em ale fishermen. loggers. old timers, Awash? age . etc . o Married o Stories abou t the past o Single o Issues about a region of o Dece ased spo use Newfoundland, such as the o Divorced Burin Peninsula. Fogo , Ba ie o Separ ated vene. etc . Occu pation . o Issues about resources. such 1. What do you dislike about as fishing , mi ning. hea lth , etc . Decks Awa sh ? o seasonal o Stories about publi c issues , o e mploye d such as the longliner debat e, 200­ o ye ar -round mile limit. Lab rador Linerboard o unemployed Mill sale. etc. Number of people in our home o .Front Section on resources such as fishing, forest r y. agriculture , etc . 11. I have.... copy (s) of Decks o Back Section on the pas t. 8. Is there a feature you would Awash se nt to my address; consumer int erest , cra fts, like to see that is not now in 12. I lend my copy (s) to others: recipes, etc . Decks Awash. o yes o Othe r (please exp la in) D on

If yes, how m an y people read th e m agaz ine?

13. 0 How man y people read your copy of Decks Awash. 9. P lease make other comments 14. If I had to pay $6.00 per year 3. Which descr ibes the wr iti ng you wish to about Declu Awash. for Deckl Awash. I would renew style of Decks Awash best : my subscri ptio n o too ' wordy' D yes o too complex D on o too simple o a bout righ t Please mail to: 4. I th ink photographs a nd drawings should be used: De cks Awash o mo re o less Memorial University o the same E xte nsion Service 5. I would best descri be Decks St. John's, Nfld. Awaah as : o infor ma tive AH JS S7 o well illustrated o easy to re ad o technical Decks Awash- 63

The last word . Dea r Editor, copy to ke ep . Hope you keep up its efforts to pr omulgate May I congratulate you on the good work on this m agazine. pr a cti cal information. you r re cen t editio n of . Deckl Elsie Barrett I a m an avid org ani c ga rde ne r Awash and . in particula r, the E m bre e and r ead with int er est the a r­ fe ature arti cles on Bay ticle by Sharon Gray in the d'Esp oir. Hav ing been co n­ Dear Sir or Mad am: Dec ember issue. nected with developments in the In your Deckl Awalh Keep up th e good work . ar ea in th e past I foun d it a Ma ga zine for Dece mber 1978 I Fr. P et er Golden valuab le and interesting was info rm ed of an ar ticle by Sacred Heart Parish , collection of opinions an d Harold House concerning a Marystown st ori es . Geor ge Cluett who was a sur­ It ce rtainly is a frustrating vivor of the fishing sc hooner Dear Ms. Sherk: and difficult period for the Caranza . I refer to your Dec ember 1978 people of th e Bay - people whom I wis h to adv ise you tha t I am issue of Deeo Awash Vol. 7, No . 1 kno w to be ind ustr ious, co m­ also a survivor of that disa ster. 6. The following statements petent and full of the in­ Alth ough I a m un able to read, I from page 35 were not m ad e by dividualisti c pride that m arks wa s ver y ple ased to have a me. many Newfoundl ander s. Your fr iend read it for me. It brought 'His comments ar e reflec ted in summari zation of the issues back m any me mo rie s. the words of Melvin MacDon ald , should assist people in focu sing I hav e been shipwrec ke d th ree accountant with th e Band on the variou s concer ns . tim es in my life but I a m no Council. "Our bigg est obsta cle Best wish es to you and the wor se for it. I will be 80 yea r s old ri ght now is the timber supply st af f for an ex ci tin g 1979 sea son. on the 29th of J anuary, 1979. and the Ralland mill ," he states. Yours truly, Onl y a few mor e days now . I " I don't usually rejoice over W.S. Rea d have had two operations but am anyone' s misfortune, but I'll be President and in good health now. I am still awfuUy gl ad when that mill is Ge neral Manager Operations able to go out a nd get wood and closed down because the re isn 't Churchill Falls (Labr ador ) do the usu al chore s ar ound the wood enough her e for two mills. Corporation Limited house. We have only one small lot and I liv e in th e sma ll com munity when that's used up, we're Dear :Madam : of Morrisvill e, Bay D'Espoir finished. But Ralland has a big A few days ago I hap pened to whe re I a m st ill able to get out area, and if they go, we may get com e across you r ma gazine, the and vis it all my friends. some of that land. That mill is December issu e. As it co ncer ned I enjoy the magazine Deeu bankrupt, but we don 't know yet Bay D' E spoir I fou nd it truly Awash. what government is going to do deli ghtful to read as that is my Alexand er Mullins with that land."• hom e, and it was so nice to see Milltown I sincerely hope that you that someone rea lized there are publish an apology to me in your hard-wor king people there. Editor' s Note : Bel ated Happy next issue of Decks Awa sh and 1 especially liked the story of Birthday, Mr. Mullins! set your facts straight, as these Simeon and Jean a nd the ir little statements have proven to be farm. I kn e w Sim eon in school, Dear Ms. Sherk, quite embarrassing to me . and I gu ess it's just nice to read I would lik e to th ank you for I am not opposed in any wa y to about peopl e you know. all the enjoym ent I hav e ga ined the Bay D'Espoir Development Th er e is one lit tle mi stake fr om th e re adin g of "DeeD Associalion re-opening the conc erning the second-olde st Awalh." I wish you every Rallands mill. If th ey c an house in Morrisville - my su ccess as you pr om ote th e succe ssfully turn that mill into a parents' hou se. Karl Kendell's cult ure an d th e resources of viable operation and cre ate sister does not own it as stated. Ne wfoundla nd . I wish you eve ry employment . in the Bay My fa ther bou ght the house success as you in your own quiet D'Espoir ar ea , then they about 28 year s ago an d we lived way pr e ach th e gos pel of self­ deserve to be praised for it. there all our lives and the y still help . Comi ng from Ir elan d Melvin McDonald liv e th ere. 1 just thought yo u wh er e mu ch su cc ess has been Conne River would appreciat e knowing it. brou ght about through the work Guess someone got mixed up. of suc h gro ups as Credit Unions , Editor's Note: We apologize. 1 would like to su bscribe to Young F armer s Clubs and Co­ The quote is accurate but was this m a gazine and if poss ible, I ope ra tive societie s, I· said by a member of the Indian would love to hav e a Decem ber cong r atulate your publication on Band Council. 54-Decks Awash

De ar Ms . Sherk : Ed. Note : " Mr . Wetzel claims, The Last Word , especially th e As Pre siden t of th e F ed eration bated on documented evidence one from Kenneth Rounsell, the of Newf oundl a nd Ind ians. I that they c a n trace the Mic m a c same thing happened to my would like to ex press to you the presence in Bay d'E sp oir back Father, " Thom a s Butt ," who feelings of myself and m y peopl e to the 1600's " would ha ve been a died last summer at the age of of th is P rovin ce. cle a rer report on his statement 95. We were fishing in northern Th is letter is concerni ng your and for this omission we Labrador in the Nain area, the editorial in the DeenAwash apolog ize . trap fishing was over, and like edition in December. F irs t. I How ever , our rep orter did find the Hou nsell's. we were jigging. would lik e to poin t out to you evidenc e afte r ha vin g talk ed to This morning in pa rticular fis h that we have documented res idents, that the re was con­ was fairly ple ntiful with the eviden ce that Mic Mac peo ple fusion in the m inds of some as to jigger, my Father pulled up a lived in Newfoundla nd ea r lie r the Question of la nd claims. We fairly large fish, just as he went th an th e 1600's and not as your are of th e opinion th at on the to lift it into th e boat, the jigger arti cle re ads. whol e, dev elopment in Con ne came out of the fish an d lan ded in my Father's nose , jus t like Also, on page 31 your a rti cle River ha s bee n pos itive but we did not feel our report ing would Mr . G. Hounsell. end hook inside reads that only min imal be accurate wer e we to exclude the fles h. Our schooner ," A.T . . education al efforts have been some of th e pr oblem a re as as Butt," was in September Hr ., accomplish ed with th e Conne expressed by resi dent s. some 5 or 6 miles away, the only Riv er r esiden ts. This stateme nt doctor in that area at that time is tota lly untrue. The MicMac was the Moravian Medic al people of th is province are fully Missionary, travelling the Coast aware of Land Cla ims a nd wh at by Mission Boa t. Like Ken neth Land Claims con sist of. (my uncle) Father's Brother F in all y, your a rticle reads. was wit h us , I was a boy of 14 "However, local leader ship still . years old . my uncl e took his seem s to be lacki ng as Wetz el poc ket knife which w...s always continues to occ upy two key fairly sharp, gave it a few rubs positions in th e com m unity, on a rock that was in the boat D irector of Lan d Cla ims and and cut the jigger from my Hea d of Con ne River Native De ar Ms. She rk : Fathe r 's nose, my Father tied Enterprises". It is true th at Mr . I am currently engaged in his han ker ch ief over the cut to Wetz el occ upies the important research on the life of Ca ptain th e back of his he ad and fis hed positions. but I as sure you that Peter Carter of Gre enspon d who on until it was ti me to go bac k to Mr . Wetzel does not take m at ­ passed away in 1959. the schooner. Another summer ters in his own hands . Mr. Captain Ca rter was a fa mous this same uncle who was in Wetz el is a part -tim e em ployee sealing captain who ' com­ sc hooner with us several ye a r s, of th e Fed erati on of Newfoun­ manded several st eamer s to the got the too thac he , dentists we re dland Indi ans a nd ta kes his ice . In 1933, in th e "S.S. unk nown those years in No r­ di r ecti on s from th e Fe de ra tion Ungaua" he brought in the thern Labrador, so my uncle of New fou nd la nd Indi an s a nd its heaviest load of fat on r ecord . took a pa ir of pliers put them in appropriate Board of Directors. If any of you r re ad er s have boili ng water, then with his As well , Mr. Wet zel is employed any information co nce r ning pock et knife cut his gum until he as Man a ger of the Conne River Captain Peter Ca rter, I would co uld get hold of the tooth wit h Native E nterprises.His ro le as greatly appreciat e hearing fro m the plier s and pulled the tooth Man ager of the Conne River them. out. No wonder we have often Native Enterprises is monitored My address is Sit e 11, Box 53, heard the phra se, "iron men." If and evalua te d by the Conne Torbay Road, St. J ohn 's A1C yo u would ca re to print this Riv er Band Counc il. sH4. m a yb e some of your readers As Presiden t of th e Federation Da vid L. Benson especially from the Bonavista of Newfoundl and Indi ans and on . Ba y area, might remember our behalf of all th e MicMac peopl e Schoo ne r which I' ve m en tioned, of th is pr ovince, I reque st that Dear Editor : a lso my Father, Dr . Geo rge the above men tioned sta te m ents I recently r ece ived m y first Hick m an , of your University be r etract ed and a n apo logy be cop y of Deeb Awasb. a nd en­ knew him very well, if you would written in your ne xt iss ue. joyed very much reading it from ca re to ask him . My sincere Tony J ohn , cover to cover, although an east thanks , and keep up the good President coast man myself , (tha t's work. Fed eration of origina lly ), ye t enjoye d the Garland Butt, (Jr.) Nfld. Indi ans article on Bay d'Espoir , also Channel

1+ :::-_=- /' Bulk Ennombnt third troisiMle class classe 69

CoverPhoto: In fifty years, this balsam fir seedling may provide the 2x4 you need to build a house, or decking for a boat. If may also put dollars in a sawmiller's pocket, ifthe forest is properly cared for. Photo courtesy ofNewfoundland Forest Research Centre.

Me-morial Vn;ve-n it y of Ne-wfoundland Ext e-nsion Service.