Citizens concerned about the logging on Lot 450 gathered at the gravel lot at Willingdon South for a rally Saturday, May 9.
About 100 people congregated for the mid-day event to hear speakers including local loggers, a former MLA and concerned citizens. Jenny Garden, an organizer for Save Lot 450, emceed the rally and talked about how private managed forest land is governed. She also said she would be taking a group of people into the logging area to look for birds’ nests.
On April 22 Island Timberlands announced its plans to log its private managed forest land and remove the timber from the PRSC Limited Partnership lands, all within Lot 450.
Jason Down, a logger with 17 years’ experience as a certified faller and dangerous trees assessor, was surprised by Island Timberlands’ activity. “This is not about anti-logging,” he said, acknowledging Powell River as a town supported by the logging industry. His concern rests in Island Timberlands cutting a slash in the centre of town and Powell River receiving nothing in return. It is “a complete embarrassment,” he said.
“Most of my experience is in silviculture, so I was not going to get involved in this whatsoever,” added Down.
Despite that, he decided to venture through the areas which the timber company had marked for falling and was “horrified” by what he saw, he said. He described one-tree wide buffers on major trails in Lot 450, which he said will be selectively logged for their fir. He added that those buffers will simply blow over when the first high wind storms hit the coast this fall and only alder trees are being left as seed trees to reforest the lot.
“The only regard for the creek I saw was to mark the centre of a creek with machine beware ribbon so they didn’t damage their machine by driving into the creek,” he said.
Down is concerned about the state the PRSC lands will be left in after Island Timberlands takes the trees it wants.
“I think they should finish what they are doing [on their private land], pay the contractor and get out.”
Former MLA and former City of Powell River councillor Judi Tyabji Wilson, president of Pebble in a Pond Environmental Society, explained that there were three parties which could potentially stop the logging: Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation, PRSC or the city. She, however, focused the bulk of her talk on what city councillors could do, explaining that sometimes local governments, particularly newly elected ones, do not realize the amount of power they have.
“This is not a Third World country,” she said. “We live in one of the best democracies on earth and in paradise. We should not be waking up on Earth Day and find out, with no public consultation, no cut plan, no studies, no wildlife protection, no riparian zones, no hydrology reports, that [Island Timberlands] can just come in and tell us that the city is going to be clear-cut in four months. It’s wrong. We need to make a lot of noise to make sure that city council stops the cut.”
Information workshops were set up for people to learn more about how to support the cause, make signs and be aware of security issues. Little Pharmer, Cam Twyford, also played to the crowd.
Lesley Thorsell addressed the rally to talk about Mothers United for Mother Earth, a social media project to highlight the interconnection of life.
Thorsell is asking all women—mothers, grandmothers and children—to go into the forest and link arms in front of a tree and share the photo on the group’s social media page. The group can be found on Facebook.
“Right now we have nesting birds, deer and [other] animals are giving birth—that is what bothered me the most,” said Thorsell. “I’m an advocate for anything that cannot speak for itself.”
