BUSINESS “i ' March 16, 1986 81 WIRING AIRPORT .. . Electrician wires facade on front of newly-expanded Castlegar Airport terminal. Work on the expansion, which will nearly triple the size of the terminal building, will continue through the spring and summer. CasNewsPhoto by Ron Norman TIMBER SUPPLY IGUR z BE ALL WRONG Traditional methods of predicting timber yield may hot be as accurate as they seem, according to a UBC computerized forest man- agement program. The program, which simu. lates future forest growth, says the methods currently used to calculate timber yield in Canada and other coun- tries may be erroneous. “It adds to our concern that global demands for timber may surpass the global supply early in the next century,” said forestry professor Hamish Kimmins who developed the computer program. The world population,” FORCYTE can predict fu- ture growth of a particular forest more than 200 years into the future. It ean inte- grate hundreds of pieces of information to produce # variety of possible scenarios. One piece of information it can integrate is what will happen 30 years from now when the global population ig expected to have increased by 67 per cent. “Population is the single most important factor. It affects every aspect of fores- try,” Kimmins said. Increased pppulation means more demand for wood, but probably less land model is called FORCYTE (Forest nutrient Cycling and Yield Trend Evaluator) and what makes it different from traditional methods of pre dicting forest growth is that it incorporates a number of ecological factors. It can combine factors such as changing soil conditions, changing climate, and changes that result from man's impact on his environ ment such as acid rain. “The past record of growth on a forest site becomes a questionable basis on which to predict future growth if conditions on that site have been altered,” Kimmins said “Current predictions fail to take in to account altered conditions that will affect forest growth in the future. One of these factors is the inevitable result of a growing to draw it from as more forests are cleared for agri- culture and set aside for recreation. Other factors that will sig- nificantly alter future forest growth are the greenhouse effect — a gradual increase in the earth's from Visit Pharmasoave this St. Patrick's Day.. .. We have a Whole Selection of St. Patrick's Day Gift Ideas! Ask about our RRSP planner. ° Ziggy Dolls © Sparkling Green Hats © Bow Ties © Napkins, Tablecloths etc. for your party! air pollution — and changing soil conditions, from acid rain, for example. WANTED Clean Cotton Rags Castlegar News 197 Columbia Ave. ATTENTION Pass Creek & Area Residents Pass Creek USCC Cemetery will be undergoing major renovations this the work will involve ti Anyone wishing to, contact the cemete! 6907 or 365-7191. # up tombstones, please board at 365-6938, 365- ring in April. Some of @ levelling of graves. ONE DAY ONLY! Thursday, March 17 Senior's Celebration 15% MOST EVERYTHING IN THE STORE* SEE DETAILS IN STORES Remember ot cate roerssora set be in before March 31, 1968. Forma et : 2 TRIPS TO BE DRAWN T “tea 7 DRAW. DATE MAY 2, 1988 Sa ‘a a “In the Heart of Downtown Castlegar” CLOSED THIS SUNDAY 365-7813 Coal thermal plant planned FERNIE (CP) — Two thermal electricity generating plants have been proposed for the Elk Valley near this southeastern B.C. community by local coal producers. The project feasibility studies show the plants could provide as many as 850 direct and indirect jobs for the region. The smaller of the two is a 100-megawatt, $100 million plant proposed by Fording Coal Ltd. of Calgary, whose mine is at Elkford The other plant has been proposed by Westar Mining, which has plans for a plant of up to 600 mega watts. While Westar wouldn't disclose construction costs, it is expected they could run in the range of $700 million. Jim Gardiner, vice-president of operations and development for Fording, said his company's project “looks very promising” and he will submit the plan to provincial officials next month “The project is a question of timing,” he said. “It’s a very competitive project and there is a very good possibility for marketing the power to the United States.” Fording officials say the plant will use freshly mined coal that is highly combustible and environmentally safe. The coke has a low sulphur content and will not cause acid, says a feasibility study. Westar would build its plant at the Balmer mine near Sparwood. PB etnies verry tome MA crete AUTOMOTIVE DIRECTORY Dealer No. 7724 = DEALERSHIPS Kootenay Honda (across from Waneta Plaza) 368-3377 CASTLE TIRE (1977) LTD. al SALES & SERVICE 365-7145 ~~ 1050 Columbia, Castlegar = K & A TIRES LTD. For all your tire needs! Also specializing in brakes and shocks. 1507 Columbie Ave. ZBMIDGESTONE co 365-2955 20% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE! Boy’s & Girls’ to Size 18. “= \ BOUTIQUE 644 Baker St., Nelson 352-6811 TH BIRTHDAY SALE Begins March 14, Ends March 19 — GROCERY SPECIALS — Enter Our Draw $25.00 Gift Certificate fora OPEN: Mon. - Set.: 9:30 - 5:30 p.m. Fri: 9:30 - 7:00 p.m. Baker St., Netson APPLE JUICE Sun-Rype. I Litre........ MOHAWK CASTLEGAR 1415 Columbia Ave. ¢ ¢ ¢ Valid Until EGGS AND BACON $3 99 1 Doz. Large. 250 g. Pkg. . 2% MILK $] 89 2 Litre. Weekends only SOUP ......1. COOKIES o.1.cn ines 99 WITH $10.00 GAS PURCHASE Ce AA come GRAHAM RETIRES . . . Laurie Graham (left) chats with Canadian teammate Kerrin Lee following Saturday's World Cup downhill race. Graham of- ficially announced her retirement trom World Cup alpine skiing today. CosNews photo TORONTO (CP) — After ten years on the tough World Cup circuit, veteran Canadian skier Laurie Graham plans to race one more time and call it quits. At a news conference this morning Graham announced she will retire from competitive skiing after the final World Cup downhill of the season on March 23 in Saalbach, Austria. The decision was no surprise because Graham, who turns 28 later this month, previously indicated this would be her last season on the World Cup tour. Graham, a six-time winner on the World Cup circuit who failed to win a medal in three Olympics, told reporters that she regarded her amateur skiing career as an education. “And this is my graduation,” she said. “TI also have found I just don't have the desire to take it another year,” said a smiling Graham. “I just need to spend some time to get my priorities in order.” Graham, a resident of Inglewood, Ont., said she will be busy once her skiing career ends. Career flashes by By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer For long-time Canadian alpine ski racer Laurie Graham the past 10 years of World Cup alpine ski competition have been a blur. “It’s really sped by,” Graham said after Friday's training run on Red Mountain. “I never set out to have a 10-year career: just sort of kept going and the results kept coming in. For at least the last five years on the circuit, Graham has led the charge of the Canadian team, and had her best year in 1985-86 when she finished third in the World Cup standings. She has carried the weight of being the number one Canadian skier gracefully and it shows in her experience when dealing with crowds of fans and media. Graham admits_the World Cup circuit isn’t all fun and games, and this season in particular has presented some hard going. “It's been a tough season,” said the Inglewood, Ont., native. “If there's ever anything that can go wrong it sort of has (this season),” she said. The Olympics were the focal point for the racers this year — and Graham said they were exciting. But she adds the latter part of this season has been more enjoyable. “The Olympics, of course, were the paramount of the season and that was exciting. The whole year was exciting because it was always geared towards that and it She plans to marry Clarke Flynn, a member of the Canadian bobsled team, in the spring of 1989. She wants to promote skiing in Canada and would like to be involved with the Canadian Olympic Association in some capacity. The veteran skier also plans a career in sports broadcasting and wants to launch her own line of sports clothing. Graham, third in World Cup downhill rankings going into the 1987-88 season, was one of Canada’s top medal hopes in Calgary last month, her third Winter Olympic Games. She finished fifth in the downhill as Karen Perey of Banff, Alta., Graham's heir apparent on the Canadian team, took the bronze medal and won another bronze in the super giant slalom. Graham, named The Canadian Press female athlete of the year in 1986, earned her first World Cup downhill victory March 5, 1983, at Mont-Tremblant, Que. She also won two downhill races in each of 1985 and 1986 and won a World Cup super giant slalom race at Puy St. Vincent, France, in 1984. was really fun and really an experience that I really thought I couldn't miss,” Graham said. “After the Olympics now it's more mellow, for sure. Everyone's relaxed. The hype is over and the main focal point of the year is over and these last few races have been sunny and well run.” Going back over her 10-year career, Graham says Val d'Isere, France is her preferred run mainly because she carded her first top three finish back in 1979. She also won two events in Val d‘Isere, and said it’s been her “most successful area.” She said she likes the Granite Mountain course. “It was my first big downhill. When I was 13 I came out here and raced a Can Am and it was the first mountain I ever saw.” Fifteen years later the hill is not as intimidating for Graham, but it still presents a challenge. “It’s not easy because no course is easy,” she said. Graham said the Canadian team has a good group of young skiers who can compete with the world’s best. “Well it’s pretty obvious resylts wise that it’s Karet Percy (who'll take over from Graham),” she said. “She could take over.” Graham also added Kerrin Lee is coming on strong and without the added pressure of being in the media spotlight can “benefit from being a little bit in the shadow.” Figini triumphs again By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer It was Michela Figini’s week on the World Cup alpine ski circuit as she won her second of two events held on Granite Mountain over the weekend. After winning Saturday's downhill event convincingly, the effervescent Swiss speed merchant captured Sunday's super giant slalom event and the season title in the World Cup discipline. Her time of one minute, 16.43 seconds beat out Austrian skier Ulrike Maier’s time of one minute, 16.74 seconds by the blink of any eyelash. Anita Wachter of Austria was third in Sunday's race. With Sunday’s victory, Figini — or “Michi” as she's known to fellow competitors — secured the World Cup title in the super G for the season with a total of 65 points. “Tm really happy right now,” said Figini following the race. “I think it is again a great result for me.” Figini said she liked the course and admitted the back-to-back victories were “like a dream” following her weak performance in the previous World Cup alpine event in Aspen. “It was good for me,” she said of the course which was a little soft in places. “It was a tough and difficult race.” The victory also vaulted Figini to the top of the World Cup overall points standings for the season and accompanied with Saturday's downhill victory make her a favorite to capture both the downhill and overall points titles for the season. The Canadian skiers weren't as fortunate as the Euro- peans in Sunday's super G event, where none of the Canadian women placed in the top 10. Karen Percy was top Canadian finisher in 13th place and was close to not finishing at all when she brushed a safety net while on the course. The disappointed Percy said she wasn't thinking about how badly she might have injured herself if she'd hit the fence a little harder. She said she was just concentrating on getting out of the softer snow. “The turn that I went in on I was carrying a lot of speed,” the dejected Percy said after the race. “It was really, really soft and heavy. If you didn’t have a good, high line you couldn't pull yourself out of it, you just sunk and it took me right into the fence.” She said the course might have been a little better with more attention and preparation. “If you go off line, you shouldn't have to sink in a foot of stuff like this,” she said. Kerrin Lee said it was her skiing — not the course — which gave her a disappointing 20th place finish on Sunday. “T'm not happy at all today,” Lee said after the race. “I skied the course really poorly.” Despite the soft snow in sections and the difficult turns insisted the course was skiable. “It's good,” she said. “You just have to really be on it, it’s bumpy on the pitch and there's really important turns and if you don't hit those well then you're not going to get anything out of it and that’s what I did wrong.” Laurie Graham finished 19th and said the course was a little rough for the racers starting later in the order. She started in 25th spot. “It was broken up,” she said. “The course wasn't holding up very well and with super G there’s more turns and so there’s even more ruts and with the later start numbers it's pretty tough to come in with a top time.” Graham was quick to blame the “gorgeous spring weather” for the condition of the course, not the officials who set the gates. BASKETBALL TOURNEY By CasNews Staff The B.C. single A girls basketball tournament started today at Stanley Humphries secondary school. Sixteen teams are taking part in the tournament which will decide the B.C. single A girls basketball champions. There are eight games a day through Saturday.: Agassiz plays Port Hardy tonight at 6:20 p.m. Notre Dame from Vancouver plays Summerland at 7 p,m. The big game in the tournament's first day goes at 9 p.m. tonight when Stanley Humphries plays St. Ann's from Kamloops in the Stanley Humphries gym. Thursday's games will be played at both Stanley Humphries and Selkirk College. There are two games at 9 ‘a.m. and 10:40 a.m. in both gyms. The rest of the games Top girls’ teams in Castlegar are at Stanley Humphries and begin at 12:20 p.m.; 2 p.m.; 3:40 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. There will also be a banquet at 7:30 p.m Friday's games will all be played at Stanley Humphries with games going at 9 a.m.; 10:40 a.m.; 12:20 p.m.; 2 p.m,; 3:40 p.m.; 5:20 p.m.; 7 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. The final day of tournament play goes Saturday at Selkirk and Stanley Humphries. The first game is at 9 a.m, at Stanley Humphries. At noon there will be a game at Selkirk and the high scl |. At 1:40 p.m. two more games will be played at both Byms. The rest of Saturday's games are at Stanley Humphries starting at 3:20 p.m.; 5 p.m.; 6:40 p.m. and the final game at 8:40 p.m. with the awards ceremonies commencing at 10 p.m. ANOTHER VICTORY . . . Michela Figini of Switzerland won the super giant slalom event on Granite Moun- tain over the weekend. Figini, who also won the downhill event Saturday, is flanked by Austrians Ulrike Maier (left) and Anita Wachter CasNews photo by Brenden Nag NHL playoff drive heats up By ALAN ADAMS Canadian Press A lot of battles remain to be won or lost as the NHL schedule winds down. Two wars are being waged in the six-team Patrick Division. Three teams are gunning for first place while the other three are vying for the fourth and final playoff spot. In the Adams Division, the Quebec Nordiques hope to harpoon the Hart ford Whalers’ playoff hopes. In the Norris Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota North Stars are fighting for fourth place. Three teams have locked up playoff spots in the Smythe Division but two are after the remaining one. Almost lost in the minefield is the distinction of finishing first place overall. Calgary and Montreal are the contenders. Besides the bragging rights, the winner gets $200,000 — $100,000 of which is to be split among the players — along with home ice throughout the playoffs. The Flames’ —86 victory Tuesday night over Hartford lifted them a point ahead of idle Montreal atop the 21-team league. No division is closer than the Patrick, where nobody has been able to break away from the pack. The Washington Capitals are first by a slim point over Philadelphia, which fell 3-1 to the Rangers on Tuesday for its sixth loss in its last seven games. “We control our own destiny,” says Dave Poile, the Capitals’ general manager whose team has 10 games left — eight against Patrick Division rivals “We know how important these eight games are.” Five of the nine games the Flyers have left are against teams in their division. The Islanders have an easier schedule, with only four of their niné so-called four-point games.