Stop clearcut in Great Bear Rainforest

Old growth redwoods threatened by TimberWest's interpretation of agreement.

from Take It Taller

We’ve recently learned TimberWest is logging some of the last remaining majestic stands of old-growth forests in the southern Great Bear Rainforest, despite provincial regulations compelling TimberWest to set these stands aside. The company is using highly questionable interpretations of the legal logging rules to log old-growth forests that must be left standing. Old growth forests on Sonora Island and other parts of TimberWest’s tenure are under immediate threat.

TimberWest is known as the conservation laggard among the major logging companies in the Great Bear Rainforest. Their tenure is located in the southern-most, least protected part of the region. Most of the rainforest under their control has been converted to second-growth forest over the last 80 years. It is not too late for TimberWest to turn things around and do the right thing in the Great Bear Rainforest.

After a public outcry in 2011 about an increase in TimberWest clearcuts, the company committed on paper to fully implementing the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. This meant increasing conservation levels, including protecting remaining old-growth forest stands. Let’s see them live up to the promise they made.

Residents of Sonora Island discovered that TimberWest is preparing to clear-cut some of the last old-growth stands on the island. The company’s logging tenure is located in the least protected part of the Great Bear Rainforest and among the hardest hit by logging, with most of the rainforest already converted to second-growth forest.

TimberWest claims it will be logging second growth stands, but we went there with independent biologists, foresters and community members and saw for ourselves this is simply not the case. The giant trees — many of them hundreds of years-old Douglas firs and Western Red cedars — form part of what remains of old growth stands in this part of the region and must be set aside.

We need your help with this. Please take action by sending a message to TimberWest’s CEO Brian Frank asking him to follow the rules in spirit and intent, and participate in good faith to conserve the Great Bear Rainforest. And please share this troublesome news with everyone you can.

Visit Take It Taller and sign or modify the following letter to TimberWest's CEO:

Dear Brian Frank,

I was shocked to learn TimberWest is using very questionable interpretations of logging regulations to cut down some of the last remaining old-growth forests in the southern part of the Great Bear Rainforest, including on Sonora Island. Instead of showing leadership and supporting the important work to fully implement the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements that increase conservation of old-growth forests, your company is earning a reputation for unsustainable logging.  

It is not too late for TimberWest to change course and support conservation efforts. I am urging you to immediately revise logging plans, on paper and on the ground, to save the very last stands of old-growth forests and commit to increasing conservation in the southern part of the Great Bear Rainforest.

© Copyright 2013 Take It Taller, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca