logging in clayoquot sound

tara

Hey kids, thought i'd use the board to try and help stop logging in clayoquot sound. for those of you who don't know it, it's one of the last remaining patches of old growth rainforest in canada, and is located on vancouver island (think of it as just north of seattle). anyway, i'm from toronto, and took a trip out there a few years back, it was one of the most beautiful places i've ever been (and i've been around, so this isn't a baseless comment), so back in sept the B.C. government decided that they wanted to make a few extra dollars, and decided to open up this beautiful sanctuary to the logging companies, but only the interior, that way it would still LOOK pretty. as an ecologist this made me do a double take, the interior? that's where all the actual forest habitat is, that's where native species flourish. anyway, here's a link to an online petition

http://www.wcwcvictoria.org/vipetition/
scroll down and follow the links (those maps of the shrinking forests makes me think that there's not much hope)
and a video about the sound

http://www.focs.ca/videos/RockinTourLarge.asp

if you want more info, check out http://www.focs.ca/

hopefully there's enough of us in this community to do something about it, thanks

surferdude

I had the understanding that the opening up of Clayquot Sound was not a government decision but one taken by the Indian band that was given decision making responsibility for that area. As much as I'm not happy about the logging I think the more important principal of not interferring with Indian governing is what should rule the day.

tara

really? sorry that i'm misinformed, happy though to hear that someone else has been following the issue. i'm all for native rights, and allowing native groups special land use priviledges, but sometimes they don't have the land's best intentions at heart, just as we don't, so should they be allowed to hurt the earth just because once upon a time they knew how to live sustainably? (i'm not trying to be argumentative, i'm intersted to hear your opinion) here's another link to an article

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20060802.wxbcclayo02%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome&ord=1165255880444&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

surferdude

I don't think there's a good solution to this problem. Somehow Native Canadians have been bestowed this inherent land stewardship authority and ability that may very well be unfounded. Control of some natural resources were given to these Natives and good luck trying to take this control away from them. In Canada, a Native Affairs issue will always trump an environmental issue.