A 2009 provincial land use order said that timber company Western Forest Products would be allowed to cut 27,000…
A 2009 provincial land use order said that timber company Western Forest Products would be allowed to cut 27,000 cubic meters annually from the Kwiakah’s core territory in Phillips Arm. But under the Great Bear Rainforest agreement, B.C. Chief Forester Diane Nicholls gave Western permission to cut 41,600 cubic meters annually — 54 per cent more — in the area.
Then things turned even darker for the Kwiakah. #bcpoli
2 comments
Those bastards!
Our Gift to the World
The Great Bear Rainforest is a global treasure that covers 6.4 million hectares on British Columbia’s north and central coast – equivalent in size to Ireland. All British Columbians have a stake in protecting it.
The historic agreement that secures the future of the Great Bear Rainforest means more old- and second-growth forest will be protected, while still ensuring opportunities for economic development and jobs for local First Nations.
find-out-more
https://greatbearrainforest.gov.bc.ca/
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On Vancouver Island:
1) Mount Waddington C
2) Mount Waddington D
3) Comox-Strathcona H
4) Comox-Strathcona D
5) Comox-Strathcona C
6) Comox-Strathcona B
7) Comox-Strathcona A
8) Nanaimo G
9) Nanaimo F
10) Nanaimo H
In the Strait of Georgia:
11) Powell River D
12) Comox-Strathcona I
Straddling the Strait of Georgia and the Mainland:
13) Comox-Strathcona J
14) Mount Waddington A
On the Mainland:
15) Powell River A
.. and various municipalities in the region, on both sides of the Strait, and on Islands in the Strait of Georgia
(I may have overlooked a spot or two, as it is a huge area)
https://goo.gl/maps/wLu2xJgpzdE2
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“It’s the most messed up watershed I’ve ever seen,” said McCrory. Part of the Great Bear Rainforest order calls for identifying watersheds that need recovery and doing restoration.
“In order to do that, you don’t keep clear cutting,” he said. “For a watershed that’s been so — pardon my language — fucked over by the timber industry, they should just leave it alone for 20, 25 years and let it recover and do some restoration.”
In an April letter, Western assured Mildon, the Kwiakah’s lawyer, that, until 2026 when the province adjusts annual allowable cuts, it would not take more than the 41,600 cubic meters annually designated for its Tree Farm Licence that includes Phillips Arm.
Despite the assurances, the Kwiakah have little trust in Western Forest Products.
And there’s reason for those misgivings: starting in 2013, Western was negotiating with the Kwiakah to reduce cut levels in the Phillips to 15,000 cubic meters a year and drafted a letter to the province, proposing this solution.
(…. it seems like there’s a fork in a fjord ….)
But in an overlapping time period from 2011 to 2014, the forest industry as a whole was negotiating with environmental non-profits. As of 2014, negotiations included a proposal to lift restrictions on logging in the Phillips in exchange for reduced logging in the Great Bear Rainforest as a whole, said Holmes of Rainforest Solutions Project.
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Define Tree Farm for me. Does this indicate that new saplings will replace timber removed by clear-cutting? Is second growth forest equivalent to old growth forest, in as far as bears and salmon are concerned?
How many cubic meters of wood is removed per hectare of land, on your typical Tree Farm in a clear-cut operation?
How are environmental non-profits and the Kwiakah related?
Is 25 years the turn-around time from clear-cut to the mature forest? How many bear lifetimes is that? How many salmon spawning streams will be disturbed? How many Southern resident orcas will that kill? How many is too many? By now you should be able to smell the smoke pouring out of my ears.
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Southern resident killer whales
The southern resident killer whales represent the smallest of four resident communities within the Northeastern portion of North America Pacific Ocean.
On July 24, 2018 the first calf born in three years died after being alive for only half an hour. The mother, J35 Tahlequah, carried the lifeless body on her back for over 2 weeks, a period of mourning never before seen. She traveled more than 1,000 miles, off the coast of Canada and the northwestern U.S., with the body which had begun to decompose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_resident_killer_whales
Center for Whale Research – orcas
https://www.whaleresearch.com/orca-population
The Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), or Orcas, are actually a large extended family, or clan, comprised of three pods: J, K, and L pods. … The calls used by the Southern Resident community are unlike the calls used by any other community of killer whales.
greatbearrainforest.gov.bc.ca – Great Bear Rainforest | Government of British Columbia