Logging Planned for Hard-Won Vancouver Island Biosphere Reserve

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, August 2, 2006 (ENS) - The British Columbia government and Clayoquot Sound First Nations have decided to allow logging in untouched Clayoquot Sound watersheds that environmental groups fought for more than 15 years to protect.

The Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board announced Thursday that the five central region First Nations and the province have agreed on eight watershed plans for Clayoquot Sound. The eight watersheds are the largest and last cluster of valleys left unlogged on Vancouver Island and they are surrounded by clearcuts.

Environmental groups say they are shocked that the old growth forests of Clayoquot Sound - designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve - are once again under threat.

"For many of us who fought long and hard to ensure the protection of these forests, this is our worst nightmare," said Tzeporah Berman, program director of ForestEthics and a coordinator of the Clayoquot protests of the early 1990s. "We urge governments to reconsider this devastating move."

A MacMillan Bloedel representative reads a court injunction to protesters blocking the Kennedy River Bridge entrance to logging operations on Clayoquot Sound. Summer 1993. (Photo courtesy Peace and Environment News)

More than 10,000 people stood in logging blockades and nearly 900 people were arrested before a 1999 agreement was signed by environmental groups, First Nations and the logging company McMillan Bloedel.

A leader of the opposition to Clayoquot Sound logging was Adriene Carr, then head of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. Now leader of the British Columbia Green Party, Carr says she is angry about plans to log the untouched valleys.

"Recent approval to log these areas is tantamount to ripping up a peace treaty and re-declaring war," Carr said Tuesday. "People all over the world believe that the forests in Clayoquot Sound are protected. They will not stand quietly by as chainsaws rip through the heart of Clayoquot Sound."

Seven years ago environmental groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the First Nations logging company, Iisaak Forest Resources, preserving the remaining wild forested areas in Clayoquot Sound for cultural, ecological, non-timber and ecotourism values.

Old-growth forest on Meares Island, Clayoquot Sound (Photo by Mark Hobson courtesy Friends of Clayoquot Sound)

The agreement brought peace in the woods and enabled Clayoquot Sound to be designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve. The forest around Clayoquot Sound is one of the largest remaining stands of old growth forest in North America.

"These new plans break the promise that brought an end to the conflict in Clayoquot and they allow logging in the unspoiled valleys that the world was told were safe from destruction," said Carr.

"The problem is that the forest lobby is stronger and more well-established than the tourism lobby, and the government has not put in place laws halting the logging of old growth in B.C.," said Carr. Sixty percent of the old-growth forest in each area is now open to logging.

"Recent satellite photo analysis shows that 89 percent of the productive, valley-bottom ancient forests on Vancouver Island have already been logged," said Ken Wu of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. "This Island-wide context must factor into any scientific assessment on whether it is acceptable to allow logging in the pristine valleys of Clayoquot Sound. Clearly, this wasn't done in devising the new watershed plans."

In May, the Province provided C$600,000 for the Central Region Chiefs’ Administration and the Central Region Board, a joint British Columbia - First Nations body, to manage the lands and resources of Clayoquot Sound. The agreement is part of the new relationship the provincial government is implementing to address the long-standing grievances of First Nations.

Unspoiled Ursus Valley in Clayoquot Sound is on the Central Region Board's list for logging. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace)

"Clayoquot Sound is an internationally recognized biosphere reserve," provincial Minister of Agriculture and Lands Pat Bell said on May 26. "The interim measures extension agreement demonstrates the longstanding commitment we have made to the First Nations and British Columbians to build certainty over lands and resources for Clayoquot Sound."

"The Nuu-chah-nulth Central Region Chiefs welcome the new relationship document and the Premier’s commitment to respect, recognition and reconciliation," said A-in-chut (Shawn Atleo), regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations and Ahousaht Hereditary Chief.

Despite watershed plan approvals that open up the potential for logging, environmental groups will continue to seek permanent protection of the targeted valleys.

"Clayoquot Sound's pristine valleys should be saved forever, but these new plans undermine years of protests, good faith negotiations and the will of the international community," said Stephanie Goodwin, Greenpeace forest campaigner. "Any long-term solution for Clayoquot Sound must incorporate the protection of these valleys."