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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0258.025 1996-1998 Cotmty Council Please tip-~;.~ra~r~ to aU members 7 ~z~(g7 On 7/22/97, the Human Servi~,:~.. L-_ Gconornic Development Comrnittee had an infomtational tneetutg on the Oji Pap,,: ~.rc,posal. Witlt about 50 people speaking, there were many issues zaised. But, the o'-~~ ~_'~-~_r. issue is jobs. The number ofjobs created increases up to 25 thnes as productiu:, .:~r: e~~ $~om wood chips for export, to products such as fine furniture and wood craft-. ::°k>, if' we can expect to get 100 jobs from Oji's wood chip farm, we could expect to ~ X00 jobs from a high value hardwood plantation and the woodworkutg jobs that it ~.v, ~,c ~ ; t7port. T don't t}tink the Council will have much trouble figuruag out which is best fbr `,'.aid! You do have many controversial projects come before vou, but this is not oz:~ . ~ ~ ~ -n~. The foregoing is really all y..' o know to reject the Oji lease. I would like to clarify a few other issues that were ~ ~.o. It is not eucalyptus trees that _i . t;.e problem. (Although they are an invasive weed.) The problem is growing any ; ; ' i•ist ro be ground up for wood chips. Why grow a low value item like wood chips, w the same effort you could grow a high value hardwood that would support a whoi- ,b •e,~dworking industry? (With the 10,000 acres of state and county ]arid, we can grow ! ~if% value hardwoods, and food, and still have room for a native forest park,) 7'he question was raised: are ;~~od for the land? If trees are in a forest, they are good for the soil. A forest bas t~ zua] tree cover of many types of trees. And, it has understory plants, along with an a :neat of animals and insects and other organisms. The life processes in a t.: ~~;.;~ta top soil. The plants hold the soil in place. A few trees can be removed from ti; ~ - ~ . ~;~«e without doing a great amount of harru to the forest. This is sustainable forestr . What Oji is proposing is not ! ~:?:r~ . It is a wood chip farm. They will plane one type ofuee. There will be no uncles: ~ plarrts and little wildlife. By clear cutting every few years, they will be constantly renx; e4rag nutrients from the soil that will need to be replaced with chemical fertilizers. Th~. i,+cl: of understory plains, and the frequent clear cuttnz£; will result in more soil erosi%~: from a forest but. less than we had with sugarcane. A forest is a thing of be;.r.-~< <a~t a tree farm is not. And, beauty translates into money in a state that is dependent orc <<~ uri5ts. The bottom line is that this is l~urd, anti should be used for our benefit, not the enrichment of one politician and on~r tgn corporation. David A. Caecia Honokaa _ \ ~ 4~ J t r ~ ~ L v G U U.rmrn. Mo. T<"le Ito. ~E S 2 4 1997 Pat. IAzts Sd bJb'iS:B© cE6T r~ '(ni S~0" 5_~ ~ `.-~li 3JOHd h~~~y~ : WO~d