Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) is expecting the company that won a BC Timber Sales (BCTS) auction to harvest in cutblock A87125 on Mount Elphinstone to apply to the courts to have a blockade removed.
ELF set up camp on a road leading into the cutblock, which is near the Twist and Shout mountain biking trail, in June shortly after BCTS put it up for auction. Sunshine Coast RCMP officers were at the blockade Aug. 16.
“Our officers attended the area on Tuesday to help foster peaceful communication between the parties involved,” said Const. Harrison Mohr. “We will continue to monitor the situation and provide assistance as needed.”
ELF’s Ross Muirhead told Coast Reporter the group believes Peninsula Logging was hoping to start operations that day, despite a recent decision by the Forest Practices Board. ELF complained to the board that logging could “lead to further degradation of this blue-listed forest ecosystem.”
The board agreed last week to assign a plant ecologist from the Ministry of Environment to study the area. The Forest Practices Board doesn’t have the power to revoke cutting rights, but Muirhead said ELF was hoping the company would hold off until the ecologist’s study is complete.
