Saturday, March 24, 2007

Hundreds of protesters form an "old-growth tree" during Aerial Art Protest

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Wilderness Committee calls on the newly "climate conscious" Campbell government to set a timeline of targets to reduce and phase-out Old-Growth Logging on Vancouver Island and to ban raw log exports.

Today hundreds of enthusiastic protesters came out during the torrential downpour and joined the Wilderness Committee at a Rally and Aerial Art Event for Vancouver Island's Ancient Forests and to Ban Raw Log Exports. An aerial art image of an old-growth tree created by everyone crouching in formation wasn't picture-perfect compared to previous, similar aerial art protests due to the fact that the vantage point for the photographers/media people wasn't quite high enough on the nearby fire-escape (for some reason the BC Royal Museum denied us access to their tower to take the photo, unlike all previous times), but it was a very powerful event nonetheless, with 250 people braving the brutally heavy rains during the rally.

Speakers included: Bob Simpson - NDP Forest Critic Valerie Langer - ForestEthics Keith Wyton - Save Our Valley Alliance Roger Wiles - Youbou TimberLess Society Arnold Bercov - Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada Marjka Mychajlowycz - Friends of Clayoquot Sound Lisa Matthaus - Sierra Club of BC Jane Sterk - Green Party of BC Pat Rasmussen - World Temperate Rainforest Coalition Ken Wu - Western Canada Wilderness Committee

The Wilderness Committee is calling on the BC government to immediately ban logging in the most endangered old-growth forest types on Vancouver Island and to phase-out old-growth logging from the rest of the Island by 2015, with a rapid transition to second-growth logging at a slower, more sustainable rate of cut. Already, almost two-thirds of the logging on Vancouver Island is in second-growth forests. Other jurisdictions, including New Zealand and southwestern Australia, have banned old-growth logging in recent years.

The most recent photo analysis based on 2004 LandSat satellite images show that 73% of the original productive old-growth forests of Vancouver Island have been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms, 87% south of Barkley Sound/Horne lake, and 99% of the old-growth Coastal Douglas firs. In contrast, only 6% of Vancouver Island's productive forest lands (old-growth and second-growth) are protected in parks. See maps, statistics, and our online petition at: www.viforest.org Media can use the maps on the website without permission.

By banning raw log exports and assisting in the development of second-growth mills and value-added facilities, the BC government could legislate protection for Vancouver Island's remaining old-growth forests, while maintaining forestry employment levels at the same time. The BC government allows about 5 million cubic meters of raw logs to be exported from BC annually, which results in the loss of over 3000 BC forestry jobs to foreign mills each year.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee is taking a new angle in its campaign to protect the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island. Due to overwhelming public concern about climate change, governments around the world including the BC government have been setting timelines of targets to reduce and eventually phase-out greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. In a similar vein, the Wilderness Committee is calling on the BC government to also set a timeline of targets for reductions and an eventual phase-out of the logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island to protect the climate, biodiversity, and environmental quality of life on Vancouver Island.

"Old-growth forests are far more effective than tree plantations at sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to counteract global warming. They also harbour unique species not found in second-growth forests. To be truly a Green government, the BC Liberals must establish a timeline of targets to phase out old-growth logging on Vancouver Island, just as they've established a timeline of targets to reduce greenhouse gases," states Ken Wu, Campaign Director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee in Victoria.

Numerous scientific studies show that old-growth forests are better at storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than younger forests. Scientists have shown that large amounts of carbon stored in the wood, understory, and soil of old-growth forests are released into the atmosphere after logging and that it takes 200 years until the onsite carbon storage capacity approaches that of an old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. A 1990 study by the world's foremost old-growth forest ecologist Dr. Jerry Franklin estimated that the conversion of old-growth forests to younger tree plantations in western Oregon and Washington over the past century added 1500 to 1800 Megatons (million tons) of carbon into the atmosphere (by comparison, Canada's Kyoto target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 270 Megatons each year).