Forest Service Not Much Help
On March 25, 1988 a meeting was held in Squamish between Forest Service and Pocket Wilderness Coalition representatives. The PWC came to the meeting with two requests: to protect the Cougar and Rainbow areas under the Forest Act's new wilderness designation and to place a moratorium on ogging, road building and other forestry development in the two proposed wilderness areas. Don Kinnear, the local Forest Service Operations Manager, refused both requests.
The explanation he offered was that "Ministry policy for wilderness management within Provincial Forests has not yet been finalized." A Forest Service Wilderness Area was, however, designated more than six months ago at Height of the Rockies in eastern B.C.
Kinnear informed the PWC that logging permits and cut block boundary approvals have already been issued to A&R Logging for about one-third of Cougar Mountain, including the ancient tree grove. Logging could legally begin as soon as weather permits.
A quick phone call to Norm Halvorson, the owner of A&R Logging confirmed the company plans to begin road construction into the wilderness area this year, with logging planned for next year. Halvorson indicated, however, that he would be happy to cancel plans to log Cougar Mountain if the Forest Service would provide him an alternative timber supply.
According to Mr. Kinnear, there are no current logging plans for the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness. He pointed out, however, that C I P Forest Products has the right to submit logging plans for this area at any time. In fact, if the company is "on the ball" they could be road building in Rainbow Mountain Wilderness this summer.
PWC representatives suggested that logging companies sometimes speed up plans to log an area under consideration for wilderness preservation, as one company did last year in the Greendrop Lake area near Chiliwack. Mr. Kinnear was asked if the PWC could be notified if new logging plans for Rainbow Wilderness are submitted to the Forest Service. Kinnear refused. So much for public involvement.
