Wilderness Committee's activity highlights 1997-1999
Joe Foy takes photo of massive Douglas fir in the Lower Seymour - September 1998. A WCWC campaign lead to this area's land use status being changed from "Demonstration Forest" to "Conservation Reserve."
Stump of an ancient Douglas fir left by Interior loggers who cut the tree down In the upper Elaho Valley of the proposed Stoltmann National Park in July, 1997.
Dr. Neville Winchester climbs Douglas fir in the Stoltmann to sample canopy insect life - September 1998. Results pending.
WCWC volunteers pack in bridge-building timbers, Stoltmann Wilderness Hiking Trail in the Upper Elaho Valley - August 1998.
Tony Briggs, WCWC volunteer, using a floor sander, begins preparing slab for display - September 1998.
WCWC activists display slab during Stoltmann protest at Interfor's shareholders' meeting - April 1999.
WCWC's "Millennial Tree Camp", Upper Elaho Valley, Stoltmann Wilderness - August 1999.
With permission from the B.C. Forest Service, a WCWC volunteer chainsaws off the stump's top 10 cm. Volunteers number and carry the pieces to a waiting pick-up truck, driving them to WCWC's Vancouver headquarters in December, 1997 where "slabbie" is reassembled.
World-renowned wilderness educator, John Seed, conducts "Council of All Beings" In the Stoltmann - June 1999. Thirty people attend and experience "deep ecology."
Happy WCWC "tree-hugging" volunteer assists in Millennial Tree Camp research in the threatened Elaho Valley of the proposed Stoltmann National Park - September 1999.
WCWC charters the Rose Bay, skippered by long time volunteer Craig Delahunt, to protest the ecologically destructive roe herring fishery in Georgia Strait - March 1999. WCWC believes there should be a 5 year moratorium to let herring stock, especially resident stock, rebuild. Present biomass is half of what it was before commercial fisheries.
Director Mike Glidersleeve welcomes members to WCWC's Annual General Meeting - September 1999.
Pieces of stump's slab are reassembled at WCWC office and allowed to slowly dry out in an unheated room from December, 1997 until September 1998. The slab was then sliced in half with a band saw, producing two thinner slabs.
In June,1999 over a thousand concerned citizens said NO to privatizing B.C.'s public forests. The government listened and in September gave cash instead of land to compensate MacBlo for logging rights given up to make new parks.
Siska First Nation people rally on B.C. Supreme Court steps to try to save their valley from J.S. Jones Timber Co. chainsaws - October 1999.
WCWC educational reports stacked in our new 341 Water St. office, waiting to be packaged by volunteers for public distribution - April 1999.
Paul George, WCWC founder, protests the Makah Whale hunt - May 1999. WCWC believes that killing these sentient beings is unnecessary and morally wrong, and that this hunt could set a precedent leading to the opening up of commercial whaling elsewhere.
Volunteer counts stump's growth rings in 1997, estimating it at 1,060 years old. In October, 1999 a UBC dendrochronogist officially dates tree at 1,158 years old!
WCWC Director and regular daytime volunteer for many years, Alice Eaton is honored with "Outstanding Volunteer" award at WCWC AGM - September 1998.
