by Robert Freeman, Black Press • Friday July 28, 2006

    The Western Canada Wilderness Committee fears a spotted owl nest was destroyed during a logging operation near Hope by a Chilliwack logging company.

A Chilliwack forest district official and a Cattermole Timber spokesman both deny the allegation.

But the fate of the nest would not be in doubt if the federal government had prepared recovery plans as required under the Species At Risk Act, according to the WCWC, a failure the environmental group attributes to the B.C. government’s reluctance to identify critical habitat.

WCWC director Gwen Barlee says 80 per cent of Canada’s endangered species are at risk because of habitat loss, but B.C. has not made recovery plans for 18 endangered species, the most of any province.

With a federal recovery plan under SARA in place, Barlee said, “you wouldn’t be logging in critical spotted owl habitat (like the Anderson River Valley) because the habitat would be protected.”

But Kevin Jardine at the Species At Risk Coordination Office (SARCO) in Victoria said logging has been suspended in nine new wildlife habitat areas announced recently by the province that total about 23,000 hectares, including the Anderson Valley area.

SARCO asked Cattermole Timber in April to voluntarily suspend logging in the area, in return for logging rights in other timber stands, he said.

Two years ago a B.C. appeal court ruled in favour of the Chilliwack-based company’s plan to log the Anderson Valley, and ordered WCWC to pay court costs for launching the appeal of an earlier court decision that also favoured the company.

Cattermole Timber spokesman Ted Holtby accused the WCWC with spreading “misinformation” about the spotted owl nest, but agreed the government’s request coming after all the court hearings and the $60,000 cost of preparing the site leaves the company in a pinch.

He said B.C. Agriculture Minister Pat Bell asked the company to suspend logging “because we don’t want to get basically into a tiff with the federal government over this” spotted owl issue.

“We understand all of (the government’s reasons), Holtby added, “but we’re the meat in the sandwich. There’s no way to recoup that money and the government isn’t going to cut us a cheque.”

Adding to the company’s frustration, there are more government surveys being conducted to see if there is actually any spotted owls nesting in the area, Holtby said, and the company can’t collect the logs it has already cut down until they are finished.

Both Holtby and Grozier denied any owl nesting site was destroyed by the logging.

Last week, WCWC spotted owl biologist Andy Miller said he found timber fallen in a series of “mini-clearcuts” in the Anderson Valley north of Hope that were still lying on the ground despite four helicopter landing pads in the area.