OBAC Looking for Dollars

By 250 News

 The Omineca Beetle Action Coalition will be going to the Province to request more money. “We have developed a business plan, and the budget is about $1.4 million dollars” says Omineca Beetle Action Coalition Manager Elizabeth Anderson. That means OBAC will need to ask the Province to come up with about $1 million.

Anderson says OBAC has spent the last year consulting with the community to develop the list of priorities for exploration as ideas for economic diversification. Here are the top five:

1. Mineral exploration
2. Alternative energy, in particular bio-energy
3. Integrated Regional Transportation in particular the airport cargo expansion and how that might tie in with smaller communities
4. Strategies to attract and retain qualified personnel
5. Regional Community based discussions on what we expect from the forests of the future.

   There are 6 other areas which have also been identified as priorities with the communities, they are:

   6. Conventional energy sources

   7. Social Community services to support communities through change

   8. Destination Tourism Strategy

   9. Agriculture

   10. Regional Cohesion

   11. Regional emergency response. ( Anderson says people used to be concerned about wildfire, now its about flooding)

   And the 12^th point is simply listed as “others” “We are sure there will be other ideas that come forward that haven’t been thought about yet” says Anderson.

   Anderson knows the Omineca Beetle Action Coalition has taken heat for spending its first year in trying to identify community priorities “It would have been ridiculous to come out with guns a-blazin’ without a clear set of priorities and a business plan.” That ground work has been done and it is time to move forward “ Now we are ready, we have the priorities, we have the plan, and we have built the relationships to start working on taking action.”

   But it all takes money.

   The Omineca Beetle Action Coalition was initially given $800 thousand dollars to work with. It has spent some of that money and has committed some as well, so there is about $500 thousand left.   That leaves  a $900 thousand dollar gap between what they have and what they need.

   The Federal Budget delivered on Monday left mountain pine beetle action coalitions wondering if there is still funding available. When the Harper government was elected, the first budget promised $100 million a year for ten years to help battle the beetle. The budget this past week made no mention of that previous commitment. Anderson says she is waiting for a call back from Natural Resources Canada to see if that funding is still available. The Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition has put out calls as well.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us