Editor:
Re: “Truck loggers glad to see cutblock auction go ahead,” Coast Reporter, June 10.
In reading comments from David Elstone of the Truck Loggers Association regarding BC Timber Sales block A87125 (Elphinstone), I note his quotes regarding the multi-use aspect of the area show a major contradiction. On the one hand he acknowledges several key values of these intact forests – i.e.: mushroom gathering, tree bough collection (not so sure about that one), and the many heavily used recreational pursuits. He could have included cedar bark harvesting by First Nation members, a spiritual sanctuary, and other natural functions, such as carbon sequestering, water flow control, temperature regulation, and wildlife habitat.
Truck loggers are opposed to wider protection of the small Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park (from 140 to 2,000 hectares) where the very features identified would be erased from logging and road building. Logging, not the expanded park, would result “in the exclusion of many of these activities” because industrial-scale logging is ruthless. It’s an insult to an iconic species, like the old-growth Douglas fir, to leave them standing alone in a clearcut to fend for themselves against wind storms. Has the province not learnt its lesson from the “Lonely Doug” embarrassment on Vancouver Island?
The B.C. Chamber of Commerce recently said they’re opposed to logging older forests near communities, because it’s proven that these ecosystems have far more long-term value to tourism than the quick extraction buck. ELF has suggested to BCTS to meet timber volumes in nearby tree farms outside the park expansion boundaries. Now that’s a win-win, fair solution. But they refuse to consider – thus our resistance will continue.
Ross Muirhead, Elphinstone Logging Focus
