Valerie Langer of FOCS overlooks new road and clearcut in Bulson Valley
LOOK WHO'S WATCHING THE FORESTS NOW!
By Garth Lenz - Friends of Clayoquot Sound
On March 30th, 1994 I sat with Valerie Langer, also a campaigner for the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, in a London boardroom with representatives of Greenpeace U.K., the B.C. government, B.C. forest industry giant MacMillan Bloedel (MB), major U.K. publishers and the press. We explained why clearcut logging is not a sustainable forest practice in the ancient temperate rainforests of B.C.
MB representatives and B.C.'s Chief Forester, John Cuthbert (flown in especially for the meeting) chanted their familiar mantra - all the problems in B.C. forestry are past history. It's all changed. Now we have world-class "performance-based" logging.
Spring 1994 Bulson clearcut
Ms. Langer beside fallen cedar giants in the Bulson.
"These changes you speak of, are they being undertaken due to the work of the environmentalists?", asks one of the paper buyers. "Yes," answers Mr. Cuthbert, as numerous journalists recorded his honest response. Then he noticed "looks that could kill" directed at him from B.C. industry reps. Cowering like an animal caught in the head-lights of an oncoming vehicle, Cuthbert recants, "If this is for the record, then my answer is no."
As our Chief Forester spoke in London, MB's chainsaws were ripping though ancient hemlock, cedar, and spruce in Clayoquot Sound's Bulson Valley, creating clearcuts in this 8,000 hectare watershed, which is still 97 percent pristine. We also knew that there is no "performance-based logging in B.C."; that there are no laws to stop clearcutting. The 40 hectare clearcuts proposed under the new Forest Practices Code (which won't be fully implemented for two-and-a-half years!) are no cure for the eco-destruction going on. It's simply window dressing.
This summer the Friends of Clayoquot Sound are establishing a Forestwatch Programme. It will address the need for effective monitoring of logging activities in Clayoquot Sound. A team of trained activists will examine and document current and proposed cutblocks in the region and alert the public and the government to the reality of current forest practices. The so-called "World Class logging" will not stand up to the world class scrutiny we will give it.
- The Friends, who last year ran the Peace Camp and helped organize logging road blockades where more than 850 people were arrested, are also continuing to campaign to gain protection for the large areas of ancient forest still remaining in Clayoquot Sound.
