Minister Steve Thomson:
In a recent letter to your office, copied to newspapers on the Sunshine Coast, Glen Bonderud, president of the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF), makes some misleading, deceptive remarks regarding the proposed expansion of Mt. Elphinstone Park. Please consider that Mr. Bonderud is in a conflict of interest situation in this matter since part of the Community Forest licence area is within the proposed park.
Mr. Bonderud starts by stating, “The SCCF is very concerned about another 1,500-2,500-hectare park.” While there are some parks of this size in the region, they largely consist of high-elevation marginal forest and clear-cut areas. What is exceptional about the proposed Mt. Elphinstone Park or protected area is that, due to its particular unique history, it is the only intact large area of natural low-elevation forest left on the Sunshine Coast. According to your ministry’s own data, most of the proposed park area (80 per cent) is comprised of blue listed (species of concern) plant communities. Professional biologists, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (Bylaw 641), the Sechelt First Nation, the Sierra Club, and many others support protecting this, what has become a rare, ecosystem.
Regarding local jobs, Mr. Bonderud also knows that not a single permanent job is created from the sporadic sale of BC Timber Sales (BCTS) cutblocks. The forest is cut down, using a feller buncher, the logs are trucked out – end of job creation. On top of that, all the timber from the logging leaves the Coast unprocessed, as does over 90 per cent of the timber from SCCF logging.
Hans Penner, Elphinstone Logging Focus
