NEWS FROM WCWC BRANCHES
MID-ISLAND BRANCH
Carmanah Valley day tours will be back by popular demand this spring and summer, giving WCWC members and friends a chance to get out on weekends and to get into this ancient rainforest. West coast wilderness overnighters and local outings to places of historical, cultural and natural significance will also be featured in this year's expanded tours hosted by the Mid-Island Branch!
Our concerns about inner coastal waters continue to be expressed through our ongoing activities with the Save Georgia Strait Alliance. A highlight of 1990 was our participation in last summer's swim/canoe marathon to help save the strait.
The Mid-Island Branch has begun a major campaign to protect wilderness in three of the six remaining unlogged watersheds on Vancouver Island. The Klashkish, Nasparti and East Creek watersheds will be featured in upcoming public talks. An expedition to the Brooks Peninsula in early spring will investigate the possibility of establishing a research camp there. For more information, call 753-9453 or drop by our Nanaimo storefront office at 140B Terminal Avenue.
OKANAGAN BRANCH
In November the Ministry of Forests presented its Okanagan Options Report (a planning programme for the next five years). Wilderness Committee members from all over the Okanagan attended the meetings. Our Branch is unified in its call for a decrease in the area's annual allowable cut and for the creation of the Upper Shushwap wilderness area under the Ministry of Forests wilderness classification.
Kelowna Wilderness Committee members are studying the ramifications of Pulpwood Agreement #9 which covers the Okanagan, Kootenay, Shushwap and Thompson areas. Research so far indicates that the logging plans are a far cry from sustainable forestry.
Penticton members are concerned with logging and grazing in the Penticton watershed. The development of a garnet mine in the nearby Apex Recreation Area is still proceeding despite long-standing and growing public opposition.
Our up-coming events include several slide shows about B.C.'s wildest river, the Tatshenshini:
- Feb. 11 at Okanagan College in Vernon
- Feb. 14 at Okanagan College in Kelowna
- Feb. 15 at the Summerland Theatre in Summerland
Give us a call in Vernon at 545-9292 or drop by our storefront/office at 104-2908 30th Avenue. Our volunteer crew would love to see you!
ALBERTA BRANCH-IN-FORMATION
We are the Wilderness Committee's newest branch-in-formation, and the first one outside of the province of British Columbia. A recent questionnaire sent to our local members has shown that overwhelmingly the number-one issue here is boreal forest logging and pulpmill expansion. This is bound to become one of the key Alberta Branch campaigns. The Oldman Dam, the OSLO tar sands project and Wood Buffalo Park were also recommended by our members as issues needing more attention.
We have compiled a list of possible locations for a storefront office although no location has been chosen to date. Perhaps someone in Edmonton would like to donate a space?
We are planning our first educational newspaper on Alberta forest development. If you would like to get involved please phone Brian Toole in Edmonton, 430-8310.
VICTORIA BRANCH
Over the past few months the Victoria Branch has been bustling with activity, as we work to protect some of Vancouver Island's few remaining natural forest habitats.
Recently the Lower Tsitika Valley has received lots of attention. Our branch has published several educational reports about this watershed and the adjacent whale habitat in Robson Bight, including "A Case For Preservation: A Report and Critique to the Tsitika Follow-Up Committee", and our branch's first book, "Beyond the Gate: Artists' Journeys to Save the Tsitika Valley and Robson Bight."
The Tsitika art show "Wilderness Treasures of Land and Sea", mounted by our Branch in November and December of 1990, was a great success and we are currently in the final stages of delivering the art pieces to the lucky high-bidders. A big thanks to all the participating artists, volunteers and people who came out to see the show.
Several branch planning meetings have resulted in a very ambitious programme of projects and goals for the Victoria Branch for '91. We are now putting our plans into action. Stay tuned!
When you are in Victoria be sure to drop by to join our wild and crazy volunteers or to say hi! Reach us at 388-9292 or at #19-Bastion Square.
INTERNATIONAL WILD CAMPAIGN
WCWC's WILD (Wilderness is the Last Dream) Campaign continues to work closely with groups in Canada and abroad to save global wilderness.
WILD has been working on WCWC's campaigns to protect wild rivers, co-publishing a newspaper on the Tatshenshini River with Tatshenshini Wild and a paper about the James Bay II and Kemano Completion hydro-electric mega-projects with the Steelhead Society of B.C.
WILD's most intensive campaign has been to help the indigenous peoples of Sarawak, especially the nomadic Penan, protect their ancient rainforest home.
The mapping and collection of information about all of the world's remaining natural ecosystems continues to be WILD's primary focus.
A grant from CIDA is enabling WILD to work with two prominent conservation groups, Fundacion Neotropica and SOS Mata Atlantica, to mount a Latin America mapping conference and produce information essential for protection of natural ecosystems and the planning of sustainable communities in Latin America.
To get involved in WCWC's international WILD work, call 604-669-WILD(669-9453).
WHITE ROCK BRANCH-IN-FORMATION
The main focus of the White Rock BIF continues to be the preservation of Boundary Bay's critical wetlands bird and wildlife habitat. The White Rock BIF holds a Nature Watch hike every month to introduce people to the wonders of the bay's wildlife. Our co-operation with the White Rock and South Surrey Naturalists has been beneficial as the Naturalists graciously provide viewing scopes and information packages for our hikers.
The White Rock BIF does not have a store or office, however the Naturalists have donated space for us to post information at Beecher Place in Crescent Beach. WCWC's marketing team is investigating a White Rock location for a kiosk, to be built this spring by the committee and ready for summer sales of WCWC merchandise. Our monthly meetings are held in Crescent Beach with a regular attendance of 70 people.
If you live in the White Rock-Surrey-Delta area why not join us? For more information please call Terry Chilibeck at 538-4747.
VANCOUVER
Plans are underway by some WCWC members to propose the establishment of a Vancouver Branch. Meanwhile Committee Forester Mark Wareing is working hard gathering information for the campaign to stop clearcut logging in the watersheds that provide Greater Vancouverites with their drinking water. Every Vancouver area member should be on the lookout for a canvasser with a watershed newspaper and a petition coming to their door soon.
