August/September Business View Magazine

216 217 business that runs ‘Super Bs’–flat-bed trailers loaded with lumber, joined together, and pulled by one truck.They drive down to the coast, where the lumber is put in containers, taken to the docks, and shipped overseas.” In 2017,massive forest fires devastated the Cariboo region, and floods and invasive pests are an ongoing threat.At times, the CRD seems controlled by the whim of nature.Wagner shares,“In the fires last year,we lost 2.5 million acres of forest.At one point,we had more than half our residents either under an evacuation order or on alert.The communities of Williams Lake and 100 Mile House were both evacuated and closed.Our emergency operations center was on the go for 77days.A huge percentage of the fires were started by dry lightning. If we could have felt the heat of the sun filtering through the smoke, it would have probably been the hottest summer for many years.And CARIBOO REGIONAL DISTRICT, BRITISH COLUMBIA Committed to the Cariboo www.tasekomines.com we didn’t get rain.” The region is currently in the throes of a Douglas fir bark beetle and spruce bud worm infestations. It’s a natural happening, controlled for many years by 40 belowzero winters that killed the insects. But the fact that the Cariboo doesn’t get those extended frigid temperatures anymore has exacerbated the problem.The forests are filled with dead pine trees that have blown over through the years–perfect fuel for a dry lightning hit. Wagner adds,“During the fires, businesses closed, people were uprooted, homes lost, and when ev- erything got back to as normal as it ever did that fall, a lot of people who were in rental accommo- dation had found other places to live and work and chose not to come back.Our businesses have really struggled to get employees back in their stores.We wouldn’t be as far along the road from recovery to resiliency without the Red Cross, the Samaritan’s Purse, the B.C.government,and other organizations that came through for us.Theyhelped residents with no insurance build a home,assistedwithmental health support; it was a traumatic time for everyone.” So,what’s the answer going forward? Darron Campbell,Manager of CRD Community Services believes,“Unfortunately,when you have a massive event like we had last year, it’s hard to rebound from. The media had us on fire until Christmas, and that wasn’t so.We need to use the press to demonstrate the opportunities that exist here.Our goal is to encourage people to come to the area and invest, by offering them affordability, an enjoyable lifestyle, competitive wages, climate–we often get linked to the cold north, but we’re in the central interior,