Lanky, clean cut Cec Robinson is pretty sure the RCMP has been following him on Cortes Island. What danger does this quiet oyster farmer and family man pose? He intends to defend his island from industrial logging by Island Timberlands because he thinks it is the right thing to do for his community and for the planet.
Here are his words:
I am 62 years old, and for the last 23 years, a full time resident of Cortes Island, where my wife and I raised our daughter and son. This truly rare place is still a tapestry of diverse, healthy ecosystems, and I will peacefully block any industrial style logging on Cortes.
As a self-employed shellfish grower, I appreciate free enterprise. I say yes to modest sustainable timber harvest that protects sensitive areas and keeps most of the economic benefit within our community.
I also know that we must all be subject to reasonable constraints in order to protect society from carelessness and greed. In the case of corporately owned forest lands in BC, there are no such constraints. Our government ignores its responsibility, and instead allows these multi-national corporations, such as ‘Brookfield Asset Management’, to self-regulate.
Brookfieldwants to take our environment and convert it into cash for their distant shareholders. They want only to take! To take far too much and far too fast, and when will they give back? Back to the living earth that provided their excessive wealth, and back to my home, Cortes Island. With the last truckload of raw logs exported to China, what would Cortes Islanders be left with? A divided community with a degraded environment, reduced natural resources, tourism dollars lost. All this when climate change is bringing our children a greater need than ever for their environment to be as healthy, productive and abundant as possible.
It may be legal, but it is highly unjust for a corporation to do this to our community and environment. We’ve written the letters and we’ve had the meetings. The corporation responded poorly, and the government, even less so. That leaves only you and me, until we have new legislation which determines that logging be more sustainable.
I love this earth, and I love our children, and I will fight to defend what I love. I will stand in the way, peacefully, 100 per cent, arrest or not. I will not be alone, and we will be there until we have achieved something wonderful.
Who is this sincere, upstanding citizen pitting himself against? Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Most recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves and has $410 billion in assets, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island timberlands.
These institutional owners first extract profits from forest liquidation and then from conversion of forests to residential development, known in corporate vernacular as a “higher and better use.” At its current rate of logging, Island Timberlands will destroy all its Douglas fir forest holdings within 25 years.
Cec is not the only islander to think that Cortes is caught up in a larger trend of destruction that serves no one who depends on the Earth for healthy existence. More immediately, dozens of island business owners have made it clear that Island Timberland’s industrial logging will occur at the expense of their livelihoods.
Cortes Islanders have historically advocated truly sustainable forest management for high end wood working markets. In contrast, Island Timberlands uses the discredited “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” certification, an industry scheme that bears no relation to the more stringent and credible “Forest Stewardship Certification.”
Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition asking Island Timberlands to stand down from industrial logging on Cortes Island. That petition resulted in a delay of Island Timberlands’ logging plans for 10 months of negotiations and a temporary commitment to not cut some of the old growth. But IT ultimately refused to meet the substance of the petition which sought permanent protection for old growth, water sheds, listed species and sustainable selective logging.
Please send an email for the forests of Cortes:
IT CEO Dashan Sihota: dsihota@islandtimberlands.com
IT Operations Planner Wayne French: wfrench@islandtimberlands.com
IT Director of Forest Operations Bill Waugh: BillWaugh@islandtimberlands.com
IT Public Relations Morgan Kennah: MKennah@islandtimberlands.com
bcIMC contact:
CEO/CIO, bcIMC: doug.pearce@bcimc.com
Brookfield Asset Management contact:
BAM CEO Bruce Flatt: bflatt@brookfield.com and kvyse@brookfield.com
Read more: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/cortes-island-citizens-prepare-logging-protests
Echo Lake Ancient Forest – Follow-Up Letters Needed! Please WRITE!
/in Take ActionRecently, over a thousand of you wrote letters to the BC government asking for the full protection of the Echo Lake Ancient Forest near Mission (see www.ProtectEchoLake.com), an extremely rare, lowland old-growth rainforest that is also the world’s largest night-roosting site for bald eagles. The BC government is proposing to protect about 45 hectares, or about half, of the old-growth forests around Echo Lake as an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA). Unfortunately, the government’s proposal excludes spectacular stands of old-growth redcedars and Douglas firs on the west and north sides of the lake.
These unprotected forests are within a Woodlot License, a smaller logging tenure on Crown lands, which the BC government states is not subject to the creation of new Old-Growth Management Areas. However, it is within the government’s power to shift the Woodlot License boundaries to another second-growth forest area among the thousands of hectares of Crown lands in the region.
PLEASE write a follow-up letter asking the BC Liberal government to:
*** Be sure to include your home mailing address so they know you are a real person.
Write to:
Steve Thomson, BC Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations
FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
And CC your letter to:
Enrique Sanchez, Chilliwack District Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s) – Public Review Coordinator
Enrique.Sanchez@gov.bc.ca
Terry Lake, BC Minister of the Environment
ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Christy Clark, Premier of BC
Premier@gov.bc.ca
Norm MacDonald, BC Opposition Forests Critic
Norm.MacDonald.mla@leg.bc.ca
Will logging of ancient forest be halted before it can begin?
/in News CoverageResidents of Cortes Island have formed a blockade to stop the BC based timber company, Island Timberlands (I.T.), from beginning logging operations in one of BC’s last stands of old growth coastal Douglas-fir forest. For over four years, community members have attempted to work with the company to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry. As road-building equipment moves in, the community is now left with no choice but to stand in it’s path to defend these ecologically significant forests.
Yesterday, Island Timberlands trucks were stopped at a logging road gate by two protesters lying on the ground. Company personnel filmed the protesters, likely in preparation for an application for a civil injunction. The protesters did not respond to their questions and community members remained on the site until the end of the day.
Adjacent landowners were among the community members present. One couple explained that they have a water license on Basil Creek which runs through Island Timberlands’ property. I.T. plans to log in the riparian area and within 30 feet of the wetland that feeds the salmon-bearing creek. They wrote to Morgan Kennah, Island Timberland’s Manager for Community Affairs, stating their concerns about water supply and contamination. “I thought I would get a letter from Morgan assuring me that my water supply would be safe,” the landowner stated, “but that never happened. I got no response.” Another community member showed up with Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree to lighten the protesters’ spirits.
Leah Seltzer explained the situation in this way, “People are here because they want to make it known that the industrial forestry model doesn’t work for local communities and it doesn’t work for the province. Island Timberlands will destroy ecologically sensitive ecosystems and leave nothing beneficial in its wake. We will be left with devastated ecosystems, a contaminated water supply and no long-term jobs. All the benefit is going to people who live far away and who aren’t aware of the cost of their profits to our community and our province.”
The threatened lands contain some of the last 1% of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir forests, and, according to Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), are some of the most extensive stands remaining in the endangered “Dry Maritime” forests along BC’s southern coast. The forests also contain a number of documented threatened species and sensitive ecosystems.
At this time, I.T. has contracted several local workers but these jobs will only provide short-term employment. More than 60% of I.T.’s raw logs are shipped out of the province to be processed overseas. Standing exclusively to profit are I.T.’s corporate shareholders, which include Brookfield Asset Management and the BC Investment Management Corporation, the pension fund for provincial employees.
While I.T. claims to use sustainable forestry practices, long-time forest activist and Cortes Island land-owner, Tzeporah Berman, warns us not to be fooled: “The majority of their logging is traditional clearcut logging with devastating ecological implications that result in either a change of land use or a dramatically weakened and simplified ecosystem. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) that Island Timberlands touts does not ensure strong environmental standards and has little support from First Nations or environmental organizations.”
Cortes resident and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler agrees. “There’s no excuse for industrial-scale logging in these times,” he says. “Forward-looking and economically-viable alternatives exist that are based on community health and ecosystem health. Island Timberlands’ plans are a step backwards. Cortes Island is moving forward.” Residents have sought Island Timberland’s participation in this kind of forestry model but have been met with disregard.
Community members hope that the situation will not escalate, and that I.T. will recognize that Cortes holds a rare opportunity to work with a willing community to create a forestry model that benefits everyone. Until then, islanders will be standing in the way of the equipment, and keeping a close eye on any further signs of I.T. activity on the island.
Read more: https://wildstands.wordpress.com/
Wildstands – A Cortes Community Alliance
/in AnnouncementsAs Island Timberlands’ incursions on to Cortes Island heats up the battle to protect its old-growth forests heat up, please follow their campaign by going to their website:com/
https://wildstands.wordpress.
Island Timberlands road crews were on the island today (Nov 27), with security and police presence. Cortes community members have begun to block the road. Peaceful protest is underway. Please stay tuned for more info, and hold off on making travel plans – we will let you know when your presence is needed.
Elphinstone Logging Focus – Wilson Creek forest under threat
/in AnnouncementsCitizens on the Sunshine Coast in Roberts Creek are fighting against
imminent logging in the Wilson Creek Forest – please visit the website
of Elphinstone Logging Focus for more details at: https://www.loggingfocus.org/
The Wilson Creek Forest is a key forest area providing connectivity across the lower slopes of the Mt. Elphinstone area. This never-before-logged area is just a 10 minute drive from Roberts Creek and has a wonderful community trail that winds down to the pristine and untouched forest edges of Wilson Creek. It is the key western forest within the Elphinstone Park Expansion boundaries – NOW SCCA supported. Among its many important features, are a number of groves of the threatened Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem which the government states are threatened province wide. THIS FOREST IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF BEING LOGGED- WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Cortes Island citizens prepare for logging protests
/in News CoverageLanky, clean cut Cec Robinson is pretty sure the RCMP has been following him on Cortes Island. What danger does this quiet oyster farmer and family man pose? He intends to defend his island from industrial logging by Island Timberlands because he thinks it is the right thing to do for his community and for the planet.
Here are his words:
I am 62 years old, and for the last 23 years, a full time resident of Cortes Island, where my wife and I raised our daughter and son. This truly rare place is still a tapestry of diverse, healthy ecosystems, and I will peacefully block any industrial style logging on Cortes.
As a self-employed shellfish grower, I appreciate free enterprise. I say yes to modest sustainable timber harvest that protects sensitive areas and keeps most of the economic benefit within our community.
I also know that we must all be subject to reasonable constraints in order to protect society from carelessness and greed. In the case of corporately owned forest lands in BC, there are no such constraints. Our government ignores its responsibility, and instead allows these multi-national corporations, such as ‘Brookfield Asset Management’, to self-regulate.
Brookfieldwants to take our environment and convert it into cash for their distant shareholders. They want only to take! To take far too much and far too fast, and when will they give back? Back to the living earth that provided their excessive wealth, and back to my home, Cortes Island. With the last truckload of raw logs exported to China, what would Cortes Islanders be left with? A divided community with a degraded environment, reduced natural resources, tourism dollars lost. All this when climate change is bringing our children a greater need than ever for their environment to be as healthy, productive and abundant as possible.
It may be legal, but it is highly unjust for a corporation to do this to our community and environment. We’ve written the letters and we’ve had the meetings. The corporation responded poorly, and the government, even less so. That leaves only you and me, until we have new legislation which determines that logging be more sustainable.
I love this earth, and I love our children, and I will fight to defend what I love. I will stand in the way, peacefully, 100 per cent, arrest or not. I will not be alone, and we will be there until we have achieved something wonderful.
Who is this sincere, upstanding citizen pitting himself against? Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Most recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves and has $410 billion in assets, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island timberlands.
These institutional owners first extract profits from forest liquidation and then from conversion of forests to residential development, known in corporate vernacular as a “higher and better use.” At its current rate of logging, Island Timberlands will destroy all its Douglas fir forest holdings within 25 years.
Cec is not the only islander to think that Cortes is caught up in a larger trend of destruction that serves no one who depends on the Earth for healthy existence. More immediately, dozens of island business owners have made it clear that Island Timberland’s industrial logging will occur at the expense of their livelihoods.
Cortes Islanders have historically advocated truly sustainable forest management for high end wood working markets. In contrast, Island Timberlands uses the discredited “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” certification, an industry scheme that bears no relation to the more stringent and credible “Forest Stewardship Certification.”
Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition asking Island Timberlands to stand down from industrial logging on Cortes Island. That petition resulted in a delay of Island Timberlands’ logging plans for 10 months of negotiations and a temporary commitment to not cut some of the old growth. But IT ultimately refused to meet the substance of the petition which sought permanent protection for old growth, water sheds, listed species and sustainable selective logging.
Please send an email for the forests of Cortes:
IT CEO Dashan Sihota: dsihota@islandtimberlands.com
IT Operations Planner Wayne French: wfrench@islandtimberlands.com
IT Director of Forest Operations Bill Waugh: BillWaugh@islandtimberlands.com
IT Public Relations Morgan Kennah: MKennah@islandtimberlands.com
bcIMC contact:
CEO/CIO, bcIMC: doug.pearce@bcimc.com
Brookfield Asset Management contact:
BAM CEO Bruce Flatt: bflatt@brookfield.com and kvyse@brookfield.com
Read more: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/cortes-island-citizens-prepare-logging-protests
Alberni groups protest McLaughlin logging
/in News CoverageMore than 80 people gathered at Echo Centre Monday for a meeting hosted by the Watershed-Forest Alliance in its quest to protect an old-growth forest at McLaughlin Ridge and in the China Creek Watershed.
Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser and retired government scientist Doug Janz were guest speakers at the event.
The pair were resolute: that the forest range needs to be protected with enhanced regulations.
“McLaughlin Ridge is critical winter range for deer and elk. Weyerhaeuser and Mac Blo saw this and left it untouched,” Fraser said. “The area is a unique system for many different species.”
Fraser retraced the history of the issue.
McLaughlin Ridge was removed from a tree farm licence in 2004 by then-owners Weyerhaeuser and is now considered privately managed forest land.
Provincial officials wanted critical winter habitat protected for two years and a committee would subsequently decide the form of protection.
The province and Island Timberlands disagreed on critical issues and the company ceased meeting in 2009. Harvesting plans were not science-based, government biologists said. “We asked Island Timberlands not to go into McLaughlin but at the end of the day it was their land,” Fraser said.
Groups have a bit of breathing room as logging has thus far occurred only in the lower areas and not on the upper ridge. And logging isn’t expected to start again until next spring, Watershed-Forest Alliance chair Jane Morden said.
The group will continue talks with Island Timberlands about stalling logging in the area.
The group doesn’t have a beef with the company, Morden said. “Island Timberlands has the legal right to do what it’s doing,” Morden said. “But the government erred in not following through with its intent to pursue winter ungulate ranges.”
Original article no longer available: https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/180526621.html
VICTORIA: Monday, Nov.26th – EAGLES, ANCIENT FORESTS, and ELECTIONS!
/in Announcements*By donation (suggested $5 to $20)
Snacks, drinks, hob-nobbing, silent auction fundraiser!
Presentations include:
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/BCAncientForest
Sing Tao Daily
/in News Coverageå‘è©©çœå¤æ¨¹è¯ç›Ÿï¼ˆAncient Forest Alliance）20個支æŒè€…，周å…下åˆ1時在çœé•·ç°¡è•™èŠï¼ˆChristy Clarkï¼‰æ–¼æº«è¥¿æ ¼é›·å²¬ï¼ˆPoint Grey）é¸å€è¾¦å…¬å®¤å¤–示å¨ï¼Œè¦æ±‚çœåºœæˆç«‹ä¸€å€‹å‘è©©å¤è€æ£®æž—ä¿è·è¨ˆåŠƒï¼Œé˜»æ¢ç ä¼æº«å“¥è¯å³¶åŠä½Žé™¸å¹³åŽŸç‰åœ°å€çš„çè²´å¤æ¨¹ã€‚王露æ”
Read more: https://news.singtao.ca/toronto/realtimenews/details.php?IndexID=2853014
TODAY Old-Growth Forest Rally and Riding Outreach Campaign aims to reach thousands of constituents in Premier Christy Clark’s Point Grey riding
/in AnnouncementsVANCOUVER: Friday, Nov. 23 – UBC Ancient Forest Slideshow
/in AnnouncementsWhen: Friday November 23, 3:30pm
Where: UBC Forest Sciences Centre, Room 1221 (at the corner of Main Mall and Agronomy Rd)
Join the UBC Ancient Forest Committee and Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance for a spectacular slideshow on the ecology, wildlife, biggest trees, and politics surrounding BC’s old-growth forests including at Echo Lake east of Vancouver, and the Upper Walbran Valley, Avatar Grove, Mossy Maple Grove (Fangorn Forest), and Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island.
Find out how YOU can help to ensure the protection of our ancient forests and a sustainable second-growth forest industry.