Editor:
The following letter was addressed to B.C. Premier David Eby and shared with Coast Reporter.
Re. Protect BC’s Watersheds from clear-cut logging, not just those in Vancouver and Victoria
We live at the foot of Mt Elphinstone near Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast and read with interest the hydrology report (Mt. Elphinstone South Watershed Assessment) recently released by your government agency BC Timber Sales. This report recommends clear-cut logging approximately 20 per cent of the forest area in the community watershed that supplies our drinking water. This will result in two major negative consequences for residents. 1) extreme flooding during storms and 2) endangering our drinking water in times of drought. We strongly disagree with the conclusion that the forest above us can suffer an extra 20 per cent clear-cutting and that this will not increase the danger of flooding nor affect the safety of our drinking water.
We notice the standards are different for people like us, living on the Sunshine Coast, than for yourself and your constituents living in Vancouver Point Grey and your parliamentary colleagues working in Victoria. The watersheds supplying clean water to those two areas where you live and work are protected from logging…ours are not! To be fair to all, you should make it the same for all. Either open all watersheds in B.C. to clear-cut logging or alternatively, and undoubtedly the best solution, protect all our watersheds from clear-cut logging.
B.C. is experiencing serious drought conditions now the third year in a row. On our own we cannot stop climate change, but at the provincial level you have the power to mitigate its impact. Protecting our drinking water is one important step in this direction. A moratorium on logging in watersheds, followed by the development of a provincial watershed security strategy are in our view critical for a long-term solution.
Sincerely,
Hermann Ziltener and Colleen Clark,
Elphinstone
