ANTI-PARK PROPAGANDA VS. PRO-PRESERVATION TRUTH
Anti-park propaganda: The B.C. Government has already protected 14% of the Lower Mainland Region in provincial parks. In the Squamish Forest District 27% of the land area is protected. This is higher than the provincial 12% goal and therefore is more than enough.
Pro-preservation truth: The current Lower Mainland park system does not adequately protect biodiversity. This system, including portions within the Squamish Forest District, is mostly high-elevation scrub forest, alpine meadows, rock, and ice. While beautiful, these parks encompass only about 8 percent of the Lower Mainland's low and mid elevation forests. To conserve biodiversity and thousand-year-old trees for future generations we must preserve now-rare forested wilderness including the Upper Elaho Valley and other remnants of original forest in the Stoltmann Wilderness.
EXTORTION TACTICS WORK IN B.C.
Interfor demands and gets raw log export permit in exchange for re-opening its Squamish sawmill
In July 1999 the B.C. government got a reluctant Interfor to reopen its Squamish lumber mill for one shift a day. This mill had been closed for over a year due to "market conditions". It took millions of taxpayer dollars to get 70 Squamish mill workers back on the job sawing up some of TFL 38's oldgrowth forest.
Interfor demanded major concessions. The B.C. government caved in, giving this company the right to export 300,000 cubic meters of raw logs from TFL 38 to foreign mills. That's 10,000 logging truck loads!
These same logs would have employed at least 150 B.C. mill workers full time for a whole year. These wage earners and their spending in the B.C. economy would have generated several million dollars in income and sales tax revenues for the government while stimulating the local economy. But instead, Interfor ended up with increased profits taking full advantage of the fact that foreign mill owners who pay lower wages to mill workers can pay a higher price for oldgrowth r logs. B.C. taxpayers and forest-dependent communities pay a high price, too, for oldgrowth liquidation for raw log exports!
Anti-park propaganda: In 1996 the B.C. Government chaired a land use planning table in the Lower Mainland Region. It unanimously decided not to protect all of the Stoltmann Wilderness. The Wilderness Committee chose not to participate so they shouldn't complain now.
Pro-preservation truth: This NDP government "public" land use planning process was a sham. The planning table was hand-picked by the government and WCWC was not invited to participate. Interfor and other logging companies were allowed to continue logging in proposed park areas during the process. The public was not allowed to observe the planning team's meetings. No open house public meetings were ever held to gather the public's input. Economic and biological studies were not done to determine the best options and amount of land base that should be protected to sustain the region's economies and biodiversity. The amount of protection was predetermined based on politics not ecology or economics.
Anti-park propaganda: Two wonderful parks, Clendenning Valley and the Upper Lillooet Valley, were created as a result of the Lower Mainland Planning Process. These two areas do an adequate job of protecting wilderness and wildlife.
Pro-preservation truth: While the Clendenning and Upper Lillooet Valleys are important additions to B.C.'s Provincial Park system, they encompass only 10 percent of the Stoltmann Wilderness and are made up of mostly high elevation or steep-slope non-forested areas. These two parks alone will not sustain the area's threatened grizzly bears or the region's complex ecosystems.
Anti-park propaganda: Careful logging under B.C.'s Forest Practices Code, which is the toughest in the world, will succeed in protecting wildlife, tourism and recreation values in the Stoltmann Wilderness.
Pro-preservation truth: The B.C. Forest Practices Code is extremely weak; much weaker than logging rules for National Forests in the U.S. The vast majority of logging since the B.C. code's inception five years ago is clearcut logging of oldgrowth. Nearly identical to earlier logging, it cannot be termed "careful logging". A growing list of endangered species, damaged salmon rivers, landslides, and the increasing scarcity of low-elevation ancient forests attest to its failure. We must save the few high biodiversity places that remain – including the 500,000 hectare Stoltmann Wilderness.
Anti-park propaganda: The loggers, their families and the economy will suffer if a park is created. We can not afford to save any more wilderness in the region.
Pro-preservation truth: According to a recent Tourism Whistler economic study, continued logging of the Stoltmann Wilderness could sustain up to 220 timber industry jobs. As a protected area it would sustain up to 730 tourism industry jobs. Halting Interfor's raw log exports to foreign mills and establishing an ecoforestry-based/labour intensive Squamish Community Forest on lands currently in Interfor's TFL 38 lands would more than make up the shortfall of timber jobs caused by preservation. Preserving the Stoltmann will result in more employment for local families... not less.
Anti-park propaganda: The B.C. government can not re-visit its land use decisions or there would be chaos. We must all move on and compromise.
Pro-preservation response: There is chaos in the Elaho now because of the bad land use decision. People are being jailed for peacefully trying to protect the Stoltmann's ancient forests. Endangered species and their habitat are being destroyed. New information since the decision was made---a grizzly bear habitat study, a B.C. Forest Service Report on the uniqueness of the area's groves of thousand year old trees, and the One Whistler Tourism Study---all demonstrate the shortcomings of the original decision. The B.C. government must reconsider its Lower Mainland land use decision now and take action to protect wildlife, preserve thousand year-old-trees and create tourism jobs. The Stoltmann Wilderness, including the entire Upper Elaho Valley, must be granted park protection now.
