Editor:
Nicholas Simons’ letter about his government’s recent policy shift on old growth forests sounds like good news (“Simons on old growth,” June 18). If the government has truly shifted its policy, and if it intends to implement the recommendations of its advisory panel on old growth forests, then that is good news. The government’s advisory panel urged it to make protection of the forest ecosystems its top priority (instead of extracting the maximum amount of timber).
Mr. Simons cites the temporary halt in logging at Fairy Creek and other places (including the Dakota Bowl Bear Sanctuary) as examples of the shift in policy. That shift is long overdue, given that clear-cutting in recent decades has accelerated to unprecedented levels. It was not until protesters alerted the world to the horrors of Fairy Creek that the government decided to put the brakes on that. Meanwhile, away from the public’s attention, there are hundreds of other old forests still on the chopping block. Several of them are in the Sunshine Coast’s Elphinstone Forest. Most of the timber from those clear-cuts is sold off-Coast as raw logs. The cost to the environment of all this is unimaginable and irretrievable. And whatever benefit is accrued goes mostly to the giant timber companies.
Everyone applauds the reprieve in clear-cutting at places like Fairy Creek. Even though much more is needed, those are definitely steps in the right direction. And if, as Mr. Simons states, further protections are coming, they, too, will be steps in the right direction. From the Sunshine Coast’s perspective, the main question for Mr. Simons is: Will those further protections include the section of old forest that joins the Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park? Protection of that forest has long been the main rallying point of local environmental groups. It has also been endorsed by the SCRD.
Robert O’Neill, Roberts Creek
