Why a Tribal Park?
On April 21, 1984 the Clayoquot Indian Band prods - Meares Island a Tribal Park. It isn't the first Tribal Park to be declared. On a Reserve larger than all the Indian Reserves in B.C. put together the Navaho in New Mexico have their Tribal Park. It was established to preserve their culture, is run by the tribe and allows the general public to recreationally use the area.
The Clayoquot Declaration asserts a similar kind of park. In the Meares Island Tribal Park, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth continue to carry on traditional "low impact"activities such as cutting of an occasional giant cedar for the construction of a canoe, the stripping of bark for baskets, and harvesting of seafoods and plants for food and medicinal purposes. Hunting is allowed for subsistence and shared by both native and non-native local residents but conforms to the "Laws of their Forefathers" which prohibited overharvesting. Everyone is permitted to camp and hike on the Island but may knot take away resources when leaving. The watershed for the greater Tofino area is protected, water being the only resource exported in quantity from Meares.
To secure the Meares Island Tribal Park it must be entrenched in law as part of a Land Claims settlement. In its natural state, administered as a Tribal Park, Meares provides a healthy economic base for growing native and non-native local cultures.
World Famous Forest Authority for Meares
In an affidavit to the B.C. Supreme Court Vladamir Karjina, a world renowned forest ecology expert and former University of British Columbia professor, spoke out for the protection of Meares Island. He testified that if Meares is logged its "unique ecosystem" will be "irreparably harmed and irretrievably lost."
After 40 years of involvement in the field .of forest ecology, numerous awards and honorary appointments, and two N.F.B. films about him, Karjina has the experience and knowledge to back his Meares testimonial. He swore under oath that it will take "a minimum of 500 years" to return the island to its natural state after logging damage. He also stated that "the water on Meares Island is exceptionally pure and is purer than that of Vancouver. "This water is the drinking supply for the village of Tofino.
In his affidavit Karjina included the little known fact that one of the largest cedar trees known to man grows on Meares. Some of the trees are over a thousand years old.
Karjina concluded that with its immense trees, pure watershed, and island ecology, Meares is a complete self-supporting ecosystem. In British Columbia few such unspoiled areas remain. The expert testimonial of Vladmir Karjina will play an important role in the Court’s decision on the fate of Meares Island.
