News Release

December 16, 2005: Poll Confirms: Pine Beetle is Cariboo's Biggest Issue

B.C.

Attention News Editors:

Poll Confirms: Pine Beetle is Cariboo's Biggest Issue

100 MILE HOUSE, BC, Dec. 16 /CNW/ - It's no secret - not that it ever was- the Mountain Pine Beetle is the top economic issue facing B.C. according to people in the Cariboo-Chilcotin - it's the No. 1 issue with 19% of Cariboo- Chilcotin residents surveyed. However, the pine beetle ranks No. 6, with the B.C. public in general, behind healthcare, softwood, unemployment, education and labour issues. An even larger sample of Cariboo-Chilcotin residents (32%) named the pine beetle as the greatest economic issue facing their region. But overall, the vast majority of the B.C. public sees the pine beetle as a very serious issue.

The poll, conducted for the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition

(CCBAC) - a citizen's coalition of local mayor and representatives from First Nations, forestry and environment - was done in mid-November, 2005. The Mustel Group surveyed the province and oversampled the Cariboo-Chilcotin region to determine the public's awareness and interest in the impacts of the pine beetle. (500 telephone interviews were conducted with B.C. adults, with an oversample of another 300 interviews conducted with adults in the 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Quesnel areas. The margin of error at 95% level of confidence is +/- 4.5% for the B.C. sample, and +/-5.7% for the Cariboo- Chilcotin oversample.)

"We needed the poll to give us a benchmark of what people's interests, concerns and suggestions were regarding the pine beetle," said CCBAC Vice- Chair Donna Barnett, who is also Mayor of 100 Mile House. "We want to ensure we do everything possible to deal with people's concerns as we look at new economic solutions to the impacts of the pine beetle."

Of those people who knew a lot or a little about the pine beetle, 68% of the B.C. sample said they were extremely or very concerned about the current pine beetle situation in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. In the Cariboo-Chilcotin sample, 86% were extremely or very concerned. In terms of impacting B.C., 77% of the provincial sample and 83% of the Cariboo-Chilcotin sample who knew a little or a lot about the pine beetle said it would have a major or significant impact on the province. A whopping 92% of the Cariboo-Chilcotin sample said the pine beetle would have a major or significant impact on their community.

Barnett said the poll also measured what sectors had the most and least potential for growth. Mining (19%), forestry (19%) and tourism (14%) were noted by Cariboo-Chilcotin residents as having the greatest growth potential. Interestingly, a large number (24%) of Cariboo-Chilcotin residents also listed forestry as having the least growth potential - indicating some uncertainty about the future of forestry in the region.

"It's up to us - the people of the Cariboo-Chilcotin - to capitalize on the forestry situation to make it work for us in the short and long term," said Barnett. "That's why CCBAC is bringing together a number of economic development experts from around our area - to develop solutions."

Suggested actions for addressing the pine beetle situation ranged from "research solutions" and "harvesting trees", to "find and promote alternative uses for affected wood".

The public as well as the residents of the Cariboo-Chilcotin are the most likely to give responsibility to the B.C. government for dealing with the pine beetle. Approximately 40% believe the B.C. government should have the most responsibility, followed by nearly 20% citing the Federal government. Another 25% or so believe that all levels of government should share the responsibility.

Regarding what the B.C. government should be doing, Cariboo-Chilcotin respondents said the B.C. government should provide resources and money to find a solution, and should develop research solutions and bring in experts and scientists to help out. B.C. respondents said the B.C. government should develop research solutions and bring in experts.

Barnett was pleased with the results of the poll. "It helps us quantify people's concerns in our region and in B.C.," she said. "It's important that people know that the pine beetle is a provincial and federal problem because its impacts are being felt across the province. We will be taking the input from the poll into account with all of our communications and economic development initiatives."

To obtain Mustel CCBAC Poll Report & PowerPoint Overview, you can download it from: http://www.c-cbac.com/index.php?mod=ccbac_press

Topic(s): Forestry News, Government News Releases, Industry News Releases

Posted By EcoBC

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