2011 may have been the Year of the Forest, but as with the Year of the Child or the Year of the Soil, unless it is implemented, it is a pretty worthless concept, except for the stamps it evokes.
Likewise it may be time to change the B.C. “Forests Forever” chant, or the “Splendour Without Diminishment” slogan.
A walk in one of the next three watersheds targeted here in the Grand Forks area (Lynch, Miller and Hornet Creek) illuminates just this. Up in that silence, in the snow-laden mystery of the still young forest, in the community of creatures, trees and plants, one wonders: is raping this watershed for chips worth the dollar? Can a forest thus laid to waste be even brought back in times of uncertain climate?
Can we afford to take the water-holding capacity that are trees from the mountains with summers like last year’s? It takes all those trees, not just 15 feet of protective barrier to bring the water together in the creek.
What God-forsaken dollar business have we got, invading watersheds that life depends on? Creating jobs in a community is one thing, enriching shareholders somewhere else is unacceptable.
– Angelica Herlihy, Grand Forks
