Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 20/98) - Fire has caused little economic damage to the North's timber resources so far this season, a Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development forest standards co-ordinator said.

"The fires we have now are not causing a big economic loss. On wood fibre, there is a loss but it is not a huge loss," explained Dave Purchase, with RWED's forest management division's Fort Smith office.

By comparison, the minimal loss of timber in the NWT is dwarfed by the losses around Swan Hills, Alberta.

At Swan Hills, located about 200 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, fire has trimmed the allowable cut by about a third, Purchase said.

That means big reductions for timber companies operating there.

Purchase said that is not the case in the NWT.

As of last Wednesday, 286 fires have burned 220,152 hectares of the NWT's forests. In 1997, there were 105 fires which burned 126,531 hectares of forest.

Forest fires do have a beneficial side. Not only are they a natural force, they also create fuelwood. They leave behind trees that have been burned but not consumed. This material makes for good fuelwood because the heat of the fire has dried the wood.

Forests which have burned around Yellowknife are often used for fuelwood.

Purchase also said that though there has been no significant economic loss of forest, there is an aesthetic loss.

But, he added, "forest fires are an example of mother-nature at work. After a fire goes through, we take a look at what has burned and see what is accessible."

Accessibility is a factor when determining if a certain forest area is a fuelwood or timber resource.

Price fluctuations obviously play a role in the value as well. Timber prices fluctuate monthly and seasonally based on housing starts.

Lumber product prices are down significantly - 30 per cent and more - from a year ago, RWED extension forester Ken Caine said. The drop has been tied to US and Asian declines in housing starts.

Lumber traded at $393 per thousand board feet July 10.

On property loss, fire destroyed one cabin on Hidden Lake along the Ingraham Trail. A fire crew flying overhead spotted the blaze, set down to action the fire and likely saved two other nearby buildings.

Among other fires crews have actioned is fire 42, located about 35 kilometres north of Yellowknife at Discovery Lake. The fire, one of 76 so far this year in the North Slave region, threatened Mon gold mine equipment and buildings.

Albert Eggenberger, a partner in Ger-mac Contracting, the company that owns the Mon mine, said he has not been at the site. But RWED has informed him about the situation.

Mon, a small gold mine which operates over the summer months, has not been put in production this year.

Eggenberger said the price of gold is too low to justify running the mine at this time. He said gold has to be in the $350 US range for the mine to operate.

London's Thursday afternoon gold fix was $294.35 US, up from 293.15 Wednesday afternoon.