Stop Them From Logging your Watersheds
Douglas fir log from approximately 800 year-old tree cut in Capilano watershed, 1993.
In late 1993 Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) logging included cutting extremely rare stands of very tall and large old-growth Douglas fir trees in the Coquitlam watershed. The cutting was passed off as part of a stream bank stabilization programme. These trees are some of the most spectacular left of their species in the world. They are healthy trees in their prime, not prone to disease or insect infestation.
These trees are also extremely valuable as premium-grade lumber and veneer. In one of its own reports, the GVWD concedes that the huge revenue potential of logging these old-growth trees (some are individually worth more than $40,000) enticed officials into expanding logging criteria. GVWD's 1991 Final Summary Report states, "A gradual shift has occurred from programs driven by salvaging...diseased timber towards a sustained-yield, production-oriented forest." The report ominously notes that this pro-logging policy risked lowering water quality while raising revenues.
The GVWD's nearly-completed ecological inventory of the three watersheds is a sham, prejudiced in favour of the pro-logging policy. It was supposed to inventory flora and fauna and identify risks to water quality, but has dropped all wildlife studies and is identifying areas which could be targetted for logging within the watersheds.
GVWD log sort, 1993.
Just before this inventory was commissioned, former provincial Chief Forester, John Cuthbert, bluntly reminded the GVWD not to let environmental studies obscure the ultimate goal of sustained-yield logging in the watersheds. His letter warned that any new restrictions on harvesting would be "unwarranted" and set a dangerous precedent.
Environmentalists working to protect the watersheds say that GVWD bureaucrats have not been honest with the public about their logging agenda. These bureaucrats have resisted attempts by groups like SPEC and WCWC to evaluate the situation by denying their scientists' access to the watersheds and making their own studies hard to get.
But the efforts of citizens and groups across the Lower Mainland have had an effect. Logging was greatly diminished in 1994. This lull in logging could, however, be temporary, unless the B.C. government rescinds the 1967 Amending Indenture that makes logging mandatory!
Three big whoppers
Whopper #1:
Logging our watersheds is only done to improve water quality,
Truth:
Logging increases erosion, run-off and silt in our reservoirs which inevitably degrades water quality. Logging is done because the bureaucrats in charge of it want to keep their jobs.
Whopper #2:
Logging reduces fire hazard.
Truth:
Logging leaves cut-over areas with slash open to the direct sun which dry out and increase fire hazard.
Whopper #3:
Oldgrowth rainforests are full of sick, diseased and decadent trees. A young forest is more healthy.
Truth:
Old growth rainforests are healthy ecosystems which have evolved over thousand of years to be more resistant to insects and disease. They are naturally regenerating, with trees of all different ages. Decaying wood retains water and supports new life. The needles of big, old trees filter water and their roots hold soils in place. A young even-aged forest which follows clearcutting is more prone to fire, insects, diseases and erosion.
