Coming this January 2012,Island Timberlands intend to begin logging of yet another pristine wilderness in the B.C. area of islands, namely Cortes Island.
To date, Cortes Island is both a habitat for wildlife such as wolves, rare and endangered species mixed with limited settlement and tourism.
The island’s best forests are privately managed by a company called Island Timberlands (IT). IT's parcels encompass swaths of woods that bisect the island from east to west. They hold the healthiest forests, the biggest trees and the island’s central water recharge area.
The eastern IT parcels abut the Klahoose First Nation reserve and contain significant old growth remnants that are slated as the first area of The IT parcels at the center of the island hold the Blue Jay Lake watershed, where water flows slowly past ancient trees into a giant swamp at the island’s epicenter.
IT has announced plans to clear a two hectare swathe directly through this area to “build a road.” The western parcel edges Carrington Lagoon.
Cortes Island in the witness box“It’s Cortes Island’s turn in the witness box,” biologist and resident Sabina Leader Mense told the Vancouver Observer during a recent interview. “Industrial logging of private managed forest lands in the face of community opposition has occurred all over Vancouver Island and neighbouring Islands. Now it’s our turn to provide testimony to the true corporate ownership of these lands and the inadequate forest practices for environmental protection."
Three factors have contributed to the threat to Cortes Island forests and the transformation of other treasured forests into exported logs and ravaged landscapes targeted for residential development. First, huge multinational corporations use BC’s privately managed forest lands for premium shareholder return. Second, the BC Liberals have left private forest lands virtually unregulated. Third, raw log (and job) export are radically increasing.
BC forest and Brookfield Asset ManagementBAM has corporate offices all over the world and a board of directors that includes Jim Pattison and a tar sands CEO. Local residents have seen the poor environmental record of this company and its rapid decimation and destruction for quick profit with little sustainable result on the land. The end result is to quickly parcel up the shorelines for real estate development and profit.
If you care about the retaining the integrity of B.C. coast lands, sign this petition and help reverse the trend of nature destruction for careless profit.
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