Objectives Location Introduction 1997 Project Summary		1998 Project Summary Equipment and Labour Comments

Introduction
Campbell Island is within the traditional territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation, and is home to the Heiltsuk Band Council. A number of WFP forest operations in the Central Coast of British Columbia are also found within these traditional territories. The Heiltsuk have received training to conduct stream assessments, fish inventories, hydroseeding, planting and archeological inventory work at WFP operations. In addition, a Heiltsuk logging crew has been trained by the company and has been logging successfully on Yeo Island for the past three years.

FRBC work on Campbell Island began with a watershed restoration project in 1995. A new road had to be engineered and constructed in order to access cut-blocks that were harvested in the early 1980's under the Ministry of Forests Small Business Forest Enterprise Program. The old road was not suitable to use for current access due to water quality concerns within the watershed. Twelve Heiltsuk workers were trained in heavy equipment operation for this project and several of these trainees have since been hired by Wade Contracting to work on regular road construction programs on Yeo Island.

Early in 1997 training of a Heiltsuk silviculture crew began with: Power saw use, maintenance and safety; Survival First Aid; Spacing and brushing theory, practices and procedures; and S-130 Fundamentals of Fire Fighting.

1997 Project Summary
20.9 hectares of immature forests were spaced from tree densities of over 10,000 stems per hectare to a target density of 800 stems per hectare. Production averaged 0.33 hectares/crew-day with 58 crew-days worked. The crew size averaged eight workers, and the work ran for three months beginning in September 1997.

1998 Project Summary
32 hectares of immature forests were spaced from tree densities of over 7,000 stems per hectare to a target density of 800 stems per hectare. Production averaged 0.50 hectares/crew-day with 73 crew-days worked. The crew size averaged eight workers, and the work ran from August to December 1998. The overall quality of work was excellent. 18 Heiltsuk workers were hired over the course of the project.

Equipment and Labour
A suburban was rented from Big Bird Silviculture Ltd. for the duration of the project. Radios, first aid equipment and fire pumps and tools were rented from Brinkman & Associates Ltd. Chainsaws were purchased in 1997 for the crew and were bought out by the workers over the course of the project. Due to the turnover of some crew-members, two new saws were purchased in 1998.

Heiltsuk workers were initially hired through the Heiltsuk Band Council in 1997. In 1998, the regular crew and several new trainees were hired through New Forest Opportunities (NFO). The spacing supervisor, was contracted through Brinkman & Associates in 1997. In 1998, he acted as both the NFO supervisor and the WFP supervisor.

Comments
The objectives of the project were met in 1998 with a 67% increase in person-days of employment, and a 50% increase in productivity, compared to 1997. Previously unskilled workers have received training and employment opportunities were created where before there were none.

The silviculture crew maintained an excellent safety record with only two accidents recorded over the course of the year (483 person-days).

Other forest licensees and the Ministry of Forests can now draw upon this trained, local silviculture crew for work in their areas. The Heiltsuk community, in partnership with Western Forest Products Limited and the Ministry of Forests, is taking an active role in the enhancement of the forest landbase.

In 1999, the Heiltsuk crew will finish spacing and brushing on Campbell Island and begin spacing on Yeo Island. The next FRBC funded project will be pruning of the spaced blocks on Campbell Island. The FRBC projects, combined with WFP's tree planting and brushing projects on Yeo Island, should provide the eight person Heiltsuk crew with work from March to December 1999.