Editor:
The first thing I notice when I go to the city is the air and how it smells, usually the smell of exhaust. Every time I come back to the Coast, one of the first things I notice is the quality and freshness of the air here! There is nothing like being in the forest - it is healing, rejuvenating, peaceful, re-energizing - a big reason why people are drawn to living here in the first place. There are more reasons to keep our forest than excuses to cut them. We can fly to the moon, so I am sure we can figure out a way to reinvent many alternatives to natural resources.
There is enough land that has been clear cut to replant and have tree farms for logging. We need to think of our children and their future - what will be left for them? Breathing is one of the most basic, most important things we do, yet we take it for granted. Without it, there is no life.
I see more people biking in the cities with gas masks on. The forests on the Coast are working double time with the amount of pollution in our air, earth and water on the planet these days. More than ever we need to protect these biosystems that take hundreds of years to establish. The forests are the lungs of the planet.
Presently one of our last natural forests on the Coast, a 1,500-hectare natural forest, regrown after a forest fire over 100 years ago is under threat of extinction!
We do apologize for any inconvenience our blockade caused on May 2. Our plea to save it has been ignored, and thankfully we have a great community in Roberts Creek that comes together in tragedy, hopefully to prevent one as well.
Rebecka Saunders
Roberts Creek
