Houston Today, April 25, 2012

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012

NEWS: High praise for Houston’s finest

PROFILE: Pollock’s golden green thumb

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Pine beetle may cost 12,000 jobs in Lakes, Cariboo By Andrew Hudson Houston Today

Andrew Hudson/Houston Today

PITCHING In

Trinity Stoelwinder, Rebecca Verbeek, and Cindy Verbeek join a spring clean-up along Buck Creek on April 19. Schools, businesses, and clubs will all take part in the annual Pitch In, which is run all this week by the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

Timber and job loss estimates found in a confidential ministry report are sharpening the debate on whether Victoria should relax forestry rules to ease the impact of the mountain pine beetle. Houston’s timbersupply area was left out of the report, which focuses on four timber areas with a higher share of pine trees: the Lakes, Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake. It estimates that without opening up protected areas and harvesting low-volume stands, up to 12,000 forestry jobs will disappear from the region. Changing forestry rules could save up to 3,500 jobs, the report says, but that job-saving potential is much lower in the Lakes and Quesnel areas than

“ “I don’t think they have it all figured out.”

- Bill Holmberg

in Prince George and Williams Lake. Mayor Bill Holmberg says he’s so far unimpressed by the rules change proposed by the B.C. government. “It just seems a little heavy-handed right now,” he said. “And it’s become very political.” Since the Burns Lake sawmill was destroyed by fire in January, a provincial recovery team led by B.C. “beetle boss” Bob Clark has been working on a forestry plan that will secure enough timber for a rebuild. See BEETLE on Page 3

New Work BC office offers job seekers a one-stop shop By Andrew Hudson Houston Today

Job seekers can get a wider range of services at Work BC’s new satellite office in Houston. Since the beginning of April, 72 new Work BC offices opened the province to offer a

suite of provincial and federal employment programs that had previously been run by a number of different service providers. “What they’ve tried to do is make it a onestop shop,” says Cheryl Ann Stahel, director of the local Work BC office, based in Smithers.

Stahel said case mangers will visit Houston’s satellite office at the Community Futures building every Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Case managers can help people on employment insurance, income assistance, disability services, and

several other government programs, as well as people who are simply out of work. Stahel said staff are preparing workshops tailored to meet the labour needs of Houston, Granisle and Topley. Stahel also said the new Work BC model

will also allow staff to help people in remote rural areas who can’t always make it into town. “We can set up information sessions over the phone,” she said. “Basically, if you have a land-line, we can do this.” The satellite office

also has job-search computers every weekday. “Those are really self-serve,” Stahel said, adding that first-time users might want to book a Tuesday appointment first. Stahel said she is aware that with its lowcost housing, Houston

has many people who are unemployed or under-employed, and demand will be high. “It’s a reality,” she said. “As we get into week five and six, we’ll be making those links with Houston to see if our one-day service might turn into two.”