I think that I shall never see …

Local resident shares concern at the growing number and area of clear cuts on the North Island.

Dear editor,

I’m getting excited! Are we getting a new line up of shopping options, a convention centre, a youth centre, a movie theatre, a low income housing project, a treatment centre or all of the above?

Just curious, because there’s an awful lot of trees being sliced down in the North Island, creating a lot of bare, clear cut spaces to build something on. Whether one takes a little cruise to Port McNeill, Coal Harbour, to the Airport or even around town, I see areas of forest destruction. We live in the forest by choice, some of us, and we like to show it off to our friends, family and tourists who come here for that wilderness adventure.

Now what? No trees for the bears to live in, the cougars and wolves are running homeless and rampant on our streets, and we’re shooting them because of it!

My grandson asked, “Where are the squirrels going to live?” What do I say that makes sense? My sad answer is “I don’t know”.

Whether it’s planned destruction or not, or for whatever reason, we must take the time to discuss, together, as lovers of the land, what to do and how to do it. Yeah, we all use paper, but it’s the way that the greed is taking over our society without a conscience and what we’re not doing about it that makes a difference.

We are all a part of this Island, and we must all be the protectors of the land. Where are the die-hard environmentalists when we need them? I’m saddened every time I go down Island to see the great gaps of empty land where was once a thriving forest teeming with life. We are not doing it the “North Island way” any more. Tsk, tsk.

Betty-Jean Dziekan

Port Hardy

 

North Island Gazette