Editor:

Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) was recently alarmed to find that a rare western white pine in the recently logged EW002 cutblock in the Wilson Creek watershed has been a target of graffiti. 

This beautiful tree, that was along ELF’s bio-diversity trail, was rudely defaced with “hug here” spray-painted on one side and a log jammed into its base. This type of adolescent behaviour is an affront to the many people including local students who admired the subtlety of the white pine’s bark and trunk and the amazing large cones that it produces.

The orange paint on the tree is a sign to fallers not to cut it due to the tree’s provincial yellow status on the endangered species list; however, whoever did this crude gesture probably has little concern for the diminishing ecology on the Elphinstone slopes. 

Ross Muirhead, Elphinstone Logging Focus