To the editor,
Re: City councils ask for pause on logging old-growth, April 7.
Forest policy decisions need to be made in the B.C. legislature. However, the legislature is not supposed to operate in a vacuum; municipal councils along with individual citizens have a right to be heard on such an important issue.
Old-growth forests are worth more standing than when they are logged. While they have an immediate economic impact in terms of tourism, they are even more important in terms of the environment: protecting side-hills from erosion, providing habitat for other forms of life and helping to ensure a safe water supply. Old-growth forests are part of the heritage that has been passed on to us and that we must pass on to future generations. Most important is their contribution to the struggle against global warming and climate catastrophe.
For decades we were told that B.C. practised ‘sustained yield’ forestry. Now we know that this was a lie. We have not managed the forests properly in terms of long-term jobs, protecting forest communities, or provincial revenue. Now we are in the final stages of a situation that Colin Cameron, MLA and later MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan, described during the Second World War: “British Columbia has been conducting her affairs like an exiled Russian grand duchess who sells her jewels bit by bit to get the more prosaic but more useful necessities of life. And like the grand duchess we are rapidly getting down to the last necklace.”
While we must be thankful to our councils for speaking up on this issue, we must be even more thankful to the steadfast volunteers who for the past eight months have maintained a blockade at Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew. On behalf of the people of B.C., the environment and a livable world for future generations, they are sending a strong message to our government: stop old-growth logging now.
Jim and Eva Manly, Nanaimo
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Government’s inaction has led to old-fashioned ‘war in the woods’
To the editor,
Re: City councils ask for pause on logging old-growth, April 7.
I asked for the City of Nanaimo’s definition of old-growth after the passing of a motion by your council to try and stop logging in places like Fairy Creek. The reply was the city did not have a definition of old-growth.
Given that kind of disregard for the companies and workers in the industry, it time for us to decide what cities deserve our patronage.
Arthur Duhame, Campbell River
READ ALSO: Nanaimo city council votes to oppose logging of at-risk old-growth forests
READ ALSO: Lantzville councillors add their voices in opposition to old-growth logging
GUEST COLUMN: A strategy for forests that benefits all British Columbians https://t.co/QfmGDEEOW1
— Nanaimo Bulletin (@NanaimoBulletin) April 15, 2021
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