Rationale for watershed logging discredited
Jamieson Creek mudslide covered by new snow, Dec. 6, 1990.
Logging triggers massive mudslide in Seymour watershed
Sometime around Nov. 23, 1990, a massive new mudslide originating in a clearcut roared out of a UBC research area in the Seymour watershed. This slide may prove to be the final blow to the "scientific" arguments for continuing clearcut logging in the three valleys that supply the greater Vancouver area with its drinking water.
The new mudslide, photographed and videotaped from a helicopter on Dec. 6, 1990 by wilderness committee staff, occurred in the Jamieson Creek experimental watershed, the very valley which the GVWD has been using as "proof" that continued logging above our water supply reservoirs causes no harm.
Research in the Jamieson Creek watershed carried out by Prof. Doug Golding of UBC has, at least until now, satisfied the Greater Vancouver Regional District that clearcutting in the watershed should continue. An Aug. 18, 1989 report to the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) Administration Board, from the Water and Waste Management Committee of the Regional District, quotes Dr. Golding as follows: "Only 19 percent of the Jamieson Creek watershed (Seymour) was logged, a much smaller percentage than is normally taken in coastal areas. The results of the post-logging study (1984-88) show no significant hydrological changes resulting from the harvest. The GVWD can be fairly confident that their forest management creates no deleterious effects."
Dr. Golding also said, in an article in the Vancouver Sun of Dec. 3, 1990, that he would like to see Jamieson Creek logged a lot more, up to 39 percent of the watershed area, "to determine what fraction of a watershed can be cut without causing deleterious effects to water and the stream environment."
It appears that no further clearcutting will be necessary to prove that Jamieson Creek has suffered massive damage to its water and stream environments. Dr. Golding's statements quoted in the August 18, 1989 GVRD report were premature and, in hindsight, totally incorrect. WCWC has no doubt that the massive new mudslide observed on Dec. 6th was a major source of the chocolate brown, muddy water observed in the lower half of the Seymour reservoir.
The Vancouver region's drinking water ran a murky brown for more than two weeks last fall and a $500 million filtration system has been proposed to correct this problem. WCWC believes that we should suspend logging and road building for five years to see if the horrendous expense of water filtration can be avoided.
