Premier Gordon:

On Feb 7, 2006 a coalition of four leading environmental groups, along with industry leaders and indigenous groups, celebrated success after a decade long campaign to protect the globally unique Great Bear Rainforest.  The long awaited government announcement protecting one third of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging and requiring the use of more sustainable logging practices for the remaining area had finally become a reality.  This agreement also set a new precedent for decision making for local indigenous groups (First Nations), giving them the right to define what happens on their land.

This agreement is now at risk because a cornerstone of the agreement, Ecosystem-based Management, is faltering. Without this up and running, logging decisions are being made on a piecemeal basis. Today, logging threatens the future of ecologically important areas creating uncertainty in the Great Bear Rainforest – it is time to get down to work and act on these agreements.

Equally important, is the conservation of the rare (pure white) kermode bear.  Biologists estimate a population of 1,200 spirit bears --of which only 400 are white phased.

Much of the spirit bear's historic territory is already logged, from River's Inlet at the south end of its range, to the Nass Valley in the north, and east up the Skeena River as far as Hazelton. On the mid-coast, large areas of the islands where the Kermode bears live – Princess Royal, Gribbell, Roderick and Pooley – have already been logged. The spirit bear's traditional home is already much diminished. The logging industry has extracted substantial commercial value from the range of the spirit bear even as the provincial government planning process was proceeding!

Please assure us that the government is taking steps to put these protections in place for the preservation of this most rare and beautiful forest and it's inhabitants.

Sincerely, The undersigned.