Recent Successes!
BOUNDARY BAY - GOOD NEWS!
The voters of Delta, B.C. coloured the map green at the fall, 1990 municipal elections. The development-minded mayor and like-minded councillors were swept out of municipal hall by green revolution. Preservation of Boundary Bay wildlife habitat was the key issue for local citizens.
One developer expressed his determination to fight the green tide by tearing up a piece of prime farmland in preparation for golf course construction. The new council at first seemed powerless to stop him, but the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee, a coalition of many local environmental groups including WCWC, went to court with support of the West Coast Environmental Law Association in a bid to prevent golf course development and preserve the farm land...and we won!
Our success marks the first step in the big campaign to fully protect the internationally-significant Boundary Bay wetlands.
PHOENIX PROJECT UNDERWAY
In October 1990 the WCWC research camp in the upper Carmanah Valley was severely damaged by vandals. Over $30,000 worth of materials and construction costs and an incredible 8,000 hours of volunteer time were lost. WCWC's response to the vandalism is the Phoenix Project--a campaign to build an even better and more extensive research facility than before.
Response to the Phoenix Project from WCWC members has been terrific! They have contributed everything from electric generators to spotting scopes to video cameras. American Fabricators Ltd. has donated a new research shelter while Extreme Mountaineering Ltd. has donated new climbing equipment for canopy research. A tree planting co-op has donated a whole set of trail building tools, cook stoves and tents. Lynn Wallace and her team of volunteers from the Mid-Island WCWC Branch have rebuilt the Carmanah bridge using wood from Gogo's cedar mill and Merv Wilkinson's wood lot. The Phoenix Project will go into high gear in mid-March when a massive work party will reconstruct and enlarge the research station. For more info contact Joe Foy at WCWC's main office, 683-8220.
NEMAIAH - CHILCOTIN COUNTRY
On December 17, 1990 the Nemaiah Valley Indian Band, who live in the Chilcotin country near Chilko Lake, secured an important legal victory in defence of their tradition "Aboriginal Wilderness Preserve."
Carrier Lumber Ltd., which has a forest licence covering a portion of the Nemaiah Valley Band's trap line, agreed not to log within the band's trap line areas until the band's aboriginal rights issue had been settled at trial. In addition, the company agreed to close off the logging road which it recently constructed into the northern portion of the trap line.
This out-of-court settlement just before the issue was to go before the supreme court of B.C. represents the largest geographical area ever protected from logging by an aboriginal legal claim of any type. It is also the first time that industrial activity in the Chilcotin area of British Columbia has ever been frustrated by any type of environmental aboriginal claim.
Over the last few years, your Wilderness Committee has provided funds for the legal research into aboriginal trapping rights which formed the backbone of this case. In December, we published a beautiful full-coloured panoramic poster of the Tchaikazan Valley located in the heart of Nemaiah's Chilcotin country. Send in $10 and get yourself a copy!
WCWC RECYCLING DEPOT OPENS!
On January 2, 1991 the WCWC Mid-Island Branch opened its much needed drop-off recycling depot in Nanaimo. We overcame floods, snow and a very modest budget to achieve success.
Thanks to the strong support of our local members, non-profit groups, schools, businesses and government we are now offering a credible and intelligent alternative to landfilling.
We hope to divert 500 tonnes of paper, 90 tonnes of glass, 60 tonnes of tin and aluminum cans, 30 tonnes of plastic and 20 tonnes of other materials in 1991 alone.
Just the recycling of paper will save 8,500 average sized trees, 3.5 million gallons of water, 2 million kwh of energy (enough to power 3,000 homes for six months) and 1,500 cubic yards of landfill space. Imagine what our entire project will accomplish!
If you live in the Nanaimo area please come on in with your recyclables. You will find us at 2214 McCullough Road, Nanaimo. Phone: 758-0018. See you soon!
FOREST WATCH PROGRAM
As a result of WCWC's Forest Watch program, community groups interested in sustainable forestry practices and local wilderness are springing up all over B.C. A dozen workshops have already been offered in communities such as Port Alberni, Bella Coola, 100 Mile House and Fernie. Active groups are well established in Salmon Arm, 100 Mile House, Vernon and on the Sunshine Coast.
The Sunshine Coast Forest Watch group (SCFW), fresh from its successful campaign to stop herbicide spraying in logging blocks near its members homes, is now mounting a campaign to stop clear-cutting of healthy young stands of Douglas fir. Members are proposing that these stands be partially cut (thinned) and allowed to mature. These 80-year-old forests will then grow in value for another 100 years while still providing on-going local jobs. In addition, these forests will continue to provide pure local drinking water and improved fish and wildlife habitat. Sunshine Coast forest-watchers have no doubt that tourism revenues will be greatly enhanced by pursuing the partial cutting option.
For more details about the Forest Watch Program contact WCWC staff forester Mark Wareing, RPF, at 683-8220.
CYPRESS SUCCESS
In the fall of 1990, WCWC joined forces with a local group, the Friends of Cypress, in a campaign to save an ancient cedar-hemlock forest adjacent to Cypress Provincial Park. A private developer, backed by West Vancouver council, planned to turn a grove of 700-year-old western red cedars and adjacent recreational lands into a semi-private golf course, despite its location high on the flanks of Hollyburn Ridge where heavy snow covers the ground for half the year. WCWC produced an educational newspaper and mailed it to all West Vancouver residents. As a result of public outcry, the golf course plan was squashed in the subsequent municipal referendum. Local residents and visitors will now enjoy the ancient forest in a new municipal park!
DEEP ROOTS TARGETS DONATIONS
In December of 1990 all members and supporters of the Wilderness Committee were mailed a Deep Roots brochure that gave them the opportunity to direct their donations to specific WCWC projects such as rainforest canopy research, book production, trail building and global wilderness mapping.
Deep Roots has been a success, with over 1,000 people having responded to date. It has raised more than $50,000 after expenses. About 40% of donors did not specify a particular project for their donation, allowing us to choose the one we felt was most urgent. The most popular project selected by our contributors was trail building, which had about 15% of the support. A close runner-up was the publication of WCWC's new expanded version of "Hiking Guide to the Big Trees of Southwestern British Columbia". Third was the international mapping work being undertaken by our WILD campaign.
Through Deep Roots, WCWC supporters are charting the course of effective wilderness preservation and ensuring our success.
