Dispute brewing as B.C. area cleared for logging
AP
CTV.CA
Victoria - B.C.'s Green Party is warning of a renewed War in the Woods after learning the province has approved plans that could lead to some logging in previously untouched valleys in Clayoquot Sound. "To my mind, that re-ignites the war in Clayoquot Sound,'' said party Leader Adrian Carr, who took part in anti-logging protests in the early 1990s.
Hundreds were arrested trying to prevent clearcut logging in the breathtakingly beautiful area on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Celebrities such as Robert Kennedy Jr. arrived to lend their star power to the so-called War in the Woods.
Carr said on Tuesday it took five years to negotiate a settlement that led to the designation of much of the area _ known as "the last temperate rainforest'' _ as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
"Everyone lauded that agreement,'' Carr said. "The world believes that Clayoquot Sound and its pristine valleys were saved through that agreement, and now that agreement has been reneged upon.''
A spokesman for the board of government and aboriginal appointees which oversees the area said if any logging takes place, it won't be until forestry companies have submitted protection plans for public consultation.
Jim Lornie said he expects that will take many months, if not years.
"Nothing has, at this point, reached the stage where roads are going to be put in and the trees harvested,'' he said.
"I know that the old growth forest in this region is going to be well protected.''
The announcement of the potential logging plans was made Friday by the Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board.
It issued a news release endorsing eight new watershed plans.
The board is made up of representatives of the five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in the area and delegates appointed by the provincial government,
The word "logging'' doesn't appear until the second page of the release.
The approved plans include commitments to sound sustainable management practices and the enhancement of social and economic conditions for all communities in the area.
Besides the Greens, a coalition of B.C. environmental groups is also angry over the proposal, though spokeswoman Tzeporah Berman said the groups want to avoid a clash.
"For those of us who fought long and hard to protect these forests, this is really our worst nightmare,'' said the former Greenpeace campaigner who is now a B.C.-based director of ForestEthics.
Berman and representatives from five other environmental groups, including Greenpeace, the B.C. chapter of The Sierra Club of Canada and The Friends of Clayoquot Sound, are urging the First Nations and the provincial government not to proceed any further toward removing old growth trees from the area.
"I truly don't believe that they will continue with these plans to log in the region,'' Berman said.
"In terms of the War in the Woods, we hope it's not going to come to that and we think there is still time to ensure the protection of Clayoquot Sound.''
She said neither the environmental groups nor the public will ever support opening up the last Clayoquot valleys to logging.
Lornie, co-chair of the board, said the eight watershed plans, plus three management plans approved in 2003, are the result of 10 years of significant work and consultation.
He said the outcome should be celebrated rather than criticized and cautioned that they are merely a first step.
Lornie said nearly two-thirds of Clayoquot Sound is currently under some form of protection. The watershed plans cover the remaining 34 per cent, or 90,158 hectares.
Lornie also said the five First Nations in the region have worked very diligently on the plans with the B.C. government.
Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell, who is responsible for land-use planning in the province, said if any logging were to occur, it would only be on a "single tree extraction'' basis.
He said even that is unlikely.
"Clayoquot is safe from clear-cut logging,'' insisted Bell.
Bob Simpson, the NDP's forestry critic, said Clayoquot's watershed planning process is one to be applauded.
The problem, he said, is that there's not a similar process in the rest of the province.
"The fortunate thing that we have in that area is that we have a process, we have a table, we have room for public (and) First Nations input, and it's something we no longer have throughout the remainder of the province,'' said Simpson from his Williams Lake office.
He said he respects the concerns of the environmental community, but he said the board's endorsements of the watershed plans do not amount to approval for logging.
