Lanky, clean cut Cec Robinson is pretty sure the RCMP has been following him on Cortes Island. What danger does this quiet oyster farmer and family man pose? He intends to defend his island from industrial logging by Island Timberlands because he thinks it is the right thing to do for his community and for the planet.
Here are his words:
I am 62 years old, and for the last 23 years, a full time resident of Cortes Island, where my wife and I raised our daughter and son. This truly rare place is still a tapestry of diverse, healthy ecosystems, and I will peacefully block any industrial style logging on Cortes.
As a self-employed shellfish grower, I appreciate free enterprise. I say yes to modest sustainable timber harvest that protects sensitive areas and keeps most of the economic benefit within our community.
I also know that we must all be subject to reasonable constraints in order to protect society from carelessness and greed. In the case of corporately owned forest lands in BC, there are no such constraints. Our government ignores its responsibility, and instead allows these multi-national corporations, such as ‘Brookfield Asset Management’, to self-regulate.
Brookfieldwants to take our environment and convert it into cash for their distant shareholders. They want only to take! To take far too much and far too fast, and when will they give back? Back to the living earth that provided their excessive wealth, and back to my home, Cortes Island. With the last truckload of raw logs exported to China, what would Cortes Islanders be left with? A divided community with a degraded environment, reduced natural resources, tourism dollars lost. All this when climate change is bringing our children a greater need than ever for their environment to be as healthy, productive and abundant as possible.
It may be legal, but it is highly unjust for a corporation to do this to our community and environment. We’ve written the letters and we’ve had the meetings. The corporation responded poorly, and the government, even less so. That leaves only you and me, until we have new legislation which determines that logging be more sustainable.
I love this earth, and I love our children, and I will fight to defend what I love. I will stand in the way, peacefully, 100 per cent, arrest or not. I will not be alone, and we will be there until we have achieved something wonderful.
Who is this sincere, upstanding citizen pitting himself against? Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Most recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves and has $410 billion in assets, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island timberlands.
These institutional owners first extract profits from forest liquidation and then from conversion of forests to residential development, known in corporate vernacular as a “higher and better use.” At its current rate of logging, Island Timberlands will destroy all its Douglas fir forest holdings within 25 years.
Cec is not the only islander to think that Cortes is caught up in a larger trend of destruction that serves no one who depends on the Earth for healthy existence. More immediately, dozens of island business owners have made it clear that Island Timberland’s industrial logging will occur at the expense of their livelihoods.
Cortes Islanders have historically advocated truly sustainable forest management for high end wood working markets. In contrast, Island Timberlands uses the discredited “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” certification, an industry scheme that bears no relation to the more stringent and credible “Forest Stewardship Certification.”
Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition asking Island Timberlands to stand down from industrial logging on Cortes Island. That petition resulted in a delay of Island Timberlands’ logging plans for 10 months of negotiations and a temporary commitment to not cut some of the old growth. But IT ultimately refused to meet the substance of the petition which sought permanent protection for old growth, water sheds, listed species and sustainable selective logging.
Please send an email for the forests of Cortes:
IT CEO Dashan Sihota: dsihota@islandtimberlands.com
IT Operations Planner Wayne French: wfrench@islandtimberlands.com
IT Director of Forest Operations Bill Waugh: BillWaugh@islandtimberlands.com
IT Public Relations Morgan Kennah: MKennah@islandtimberlands.com
bcIMC contact:
CEO/CIO, bcIMC: doug.pearce@bcimc.com
Brookfield Asset Management contact:
BAM CEO Bruce Flatt: bflatt@brookfield.com and kvyse@brookfield.com
Read more: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/cortes-island-citizens-prepare-logging-protests
Wildstands – A Cortes Community Alliance
/in AnnouncementsAs Island Timberlands’ incursions on to Cortes Island heats up the battle to protect its old-growth forests heat up, please follow their campaign by going to their website:com/
https://wildstands.wordpress.
Island Timberlands road crews were on the island today (Nov 27), with security and police presence. Cortes community members have begun to block the road. Peaceful protest is underway. Please stay tuned for more info, and hold off on making travel plans – we will let you know when your presence is needed.
Elphinstone Logging Focus – Wilson Creek forest under threat
/in AnnouncementsCitizens on the Sunshine Coast in Roberts Creek are fighting against
imminent logging in the Wilson Creek Forest – please visit the website
of Elphinstone Logging Focus for more details at: https://www.loggingfocus.org/
The Wilson Creek Forest is a key forest area providing connectivity across the lower slopes of the Mt. Elphinstone area. This never-before-logged area is just a 10 minute drive from Roberts Creek and has a wonderful community trail that winds down to the pristine and untouched forest edges of Wilson Creek. It is the key western forest within the Elphinstone Park Expansion boundaries – NOW SCCA supported. Among its many important features, are a number of groves of the threatened Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem which the government states are threatened province wide. THIS FOREST IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF BEING LOGGED- WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Cortes Island citizens prepare for logging protests
/in News CoverageLanky, clean cut Cec Robinson is pretty sure the RCMP has been following him on Cortes Island. What danger does this quiet oyster farmer and family man pose? He intends to defend his island from industrial logging by Island Timberlands because he thinks it is the right thing to do for his community and for the planet.
Here are his words:
I am 62 years old, and for the last 23 years, a full time resident of Cortes Island, where my wife and I raised our daughter and son. This truly rare place is still a tapestry of diverse, healthy ecosystems, and I will peacefully block any industrial style logging on Cortes.
As a self-employed shellfish grower, I appreciate free enterprise. I say yes to modest sustainable timber harvest that protects sensitive areas and keeps most of the economic benefit within our community.
I also know that we must all be subject to reasonable constraints in order to protect society from carelessness and greed. In the case of corporately owned forest lands in BC, there are no such constraints. Our government ignores its responsibility, and instead allows these multi-national corporations, such as ‘Brookfield Asset Management’, to self-regulate.
Brookfieldwants to take our environment and convert it into cash for their distant shareholders. They want only to take! To take far too much and far too fast, and when will they give back? Back to the living earth that provided their excessive wealth, and back to my home, Cortes Island. With the last truckload of raw logs exported to China, what would Cortes Islanders be left with? A divided community with a degraded environment, reduced natural resources, tourism dollars lost. All this when climate change is bringing our children a greater need than ever for their environment to be as healthy, productive and abundant as possible.
It may be legal, but it is highly unjust for a corporation to do this to our community and environment. We’ve written the letters and we’ve had the meetings. The corporation responded poorly, and the government, even less so. That leaves only you and me, until we have new legislation which determines that logging be more sustainable.
I love this earth, and I love our children, and I will fight to defend what I love. I will stand in the way, peacefully, 100 per cent, arrest or not. I will not be alone, and we will be there until we have achieved something wonderful.
Who is this sincere, upstanding citizen pitting himself against? Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Most recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves and has $410 billion in assets, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island timberlands.
These institutional owners first extract profits from forest liquidation and then from conversion of forests to residential development, known in corporate vernacular as a “higher and better use.” At its current rate of logging, Island Timberlands will destroy all its Douglas fir forest holdings within 25 years.
Cec is not the only islander to think that Cortes is caught up in a larger trend of destruction that serves no one who depends on the Earth for healthy existence. More immediately, dozens of island business owners have made it clear that Island Timberland’s industrial logging will occur at the expense of their livelihoods.
Cortes Islanders have historically advocated truly sustainable forest management for high end wood working markets. In contrast, Island Timberlands uses the discredited “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” certification, an industry scheme that bears no relation to the more stringent and credible “Forest Stewardship Certification.”
Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition asking Island Timberlands to stand down from industrial logging on Cortes Island. That petition resulted in a delay of Island Timberlands’ logging plans for 10 months of negotiations and a temporary commitment to not cut some of the old growth. But IT ultimately refused to meet the substance of the petition which sought permanent protection for old growth, water sheds, listed species and sustainable selective logging.
Please send an email for the forests of Cortes:
IT CEO Dashan Sihota: dsihota@islandtimberlands.com
IT Operations Planner Wayne French: wfrench@islandtimberlands.com
IT Director of Forest Operations Bill Waugh: BillWaugh@islandtimberlands.com
IT Public Relations Morgan Kennah: MKennah@islandtimberlands.com
bcIMC contact:
CEO/CIO, bcIMC: doug.pearce@bcimc.com
Brookfield Asset Management contact:
BAM CEO Bruce Flatt: bflatt@brookfield.com and kvyse@brookfield.com
Read more: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/cortes-island-citizens-prepare-logging-protests
Alberni groups protest McLaughlin logging
/in News CoverageMore than 80 people gathered at Echo Centre Monday for a meeting hosted by the Watershed-Forest Alliance in its quest to protect an old-growth forest at McLaughlin Ridge and in the China Creek Watershed.
Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser and retired government scientist Doug Janz were guest speakers at the event.
The pair were resolute: that the forest range needs to be protected with enhanced regulations.
“McLaughlin Ridge is critical winter range for deer and elk. Weyerhaeuser and Mac Blo saw this and left it untouched,” Fraser said. “The area is a unique system for many different species.”
Fraser retraced the history of the issue.
McLaughlin Ridge was removed from a tree farm licence in 2004 by then-owners Weyerhaeuser and is now considered privately managed forest land.
Provincial officials wanted critical winter habitat protected for two years and a committee would subsequently decide the form of protection.
The province and Island Timberlands disagreed on critical issues and the company ceased meeting in 2009. Harvesting plans were not science-based, government biologists said. “We asked Island Timberlands not to go into McLaughlin but at the end of the day it was their land,” Fraser said.
Groups have a bit of breathing room as logging has thus far occurred only in the lower areas and not on the upper ridge. And logging isn’t expected to start again until next spring, Watershed-Forest Alliance chair Jane Morden said.
The group will continue talks with Island Timberlands about stalling logging in the area.
The group doesn’t have a beef with the company, Morden said. “Island Timberlands has the legal right to do what it’s doing,” Morden said. “But the government erred in not following through with its intent to pursue winter ungulate ranges.”
Original article no longer available: https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/180526621.html
VICTORIA: Monday, Nov.26th – EAGLES, ANCIENT FORESTS, and ELECTIONS!
/in Announcements*By donation (suggested $5 to $20)
Snacks, drinks, hob-nobbing, silent auction fundraiser!
Presentations include:
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/BCAncientForest
Sing Tao Daily
/in News Coverageå‘è©©çœå¤æ¨¹è¯ç›Ÿï¼ˆAncient Forest Alliance）20個支æŒè€…，周å…下åˆ1時在çœé•·ç°¡è•™èŠï¼ˆChristy Clarkï¼‰æ–¼æº«è¥¿æ ¼é›·å²¬ï¼ˆPoint Grey）é¸å€è¾¦å…¬å®¤å¤–示å¨ï¼Œè¦æ±‚çœåºœæˆç«‹ä¸€å€‹å‘è©©å¤è€æ£®æž—ä¿è·è¨ˆåŠƒï¼Œé˜»æ¢ç ä¼æº«å“¥è¯å³¶åŠä½Žé™¸å¹³åŽŸç‰åœ°å€çš„çè²´å¤æ¨¹ã€‚王露æ”
Read more: https://news.singtao.ca/toronto/realtimenews/details.php?IndexID=2853014
TODAY Old-Growth Forest Rally and Riding Outreach Campaign aims to reach thousands of constituents in Premier Christy Clark’s Point Grey riding
/in AnnouncementsVANCOUVER: Friday, Nov. 23 – UBC Ancient Forest Slideshow
/in AnnouncementsWhen: Friday November 23, 3:30pm
Where: UBC Forest Sciences Centre, Room 1221 (at the corner of Main Mall and Agronomy Rd)
Join the UBC Ancient Forest Committee and Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance for a spectacular slideshow on the ecology, wildlife, biggest trees, and politics surrounding BC’s old-growth forests including at Echo Lake east of Vancouver, and the Upper Walbran Valley, Avatar Grove, Mossy Maple Grove (Fangorn Forest), and Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island.
Find out how YOU can help to ensure the protection of our ancient forests and a sustainable second-growth forest industry.
VANCOUVER: Sat. Nov. 24th – Storm the Riding for Ancient Forests! Rally and Outreach in Christy Clark’s Riding
/in AnnouncementsWhen: Saturday November 24th
Time:
Join concerned citizens and students for a brief but powerful rally for ancient forests and sustainable forestry jobs at BC Premier Christy Clark’s office, followed by a major door-to-door education campaign to reach thousands of households in the premier’s riding of Vancouver Kitsilano-Point Grey, during this critical period before the May 2013 provincial election!
Invite others at https://www.facebook.com/events/374991255924831/?fref=ts
Please bring a brief letter/gift request for the GIANT CHRISTMAS STOCKING addressed to Premier Clark asking her to “give a gift that keeps on giving” to British Columbians—the protection of our magnificent old-growth forests and sustainable, second-growth forestry jobs!
Drop off your letter into the giant stocking for the media, hear some speeches, and then fan out across the riding to help reach thousands of households with a petition and letter-writing alert for residents asking Premier Clark to take action! If you’re shy you can simply deliver brochures into mailboxes and if you’re comfortable with speaking to strangers you can get local constituents to sign the petition door-to-door or on busy street corners—organizers will get you set up! It’ll be easy, and vitally necessary to help defend Beautiful British Columbia!
If possible please email us at info@ancientforestalliance.org to PLEDGE YOUR HELP at this crucial event so we can get a sense of our numbers!
VANCOUVER: Sat. Nov.24th – AFA Fundraiser Sale at Ten Thousand Villages Commercial Drive
/in AnnouncementsWhen: Saturday, November 24, 10:00am-8:00pm
Where: Ten Thousand Villages at 1204 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Come support the AFA through the purchase of fair-trade gift items at our upcoming fundraiser sale! Ten Thousand Villages Commercial Drive is donating 15% of proceeds on Saturday November 24th to the AFA’s work to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests. Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit organization that sells clothing, accessories, health products, cosmetics, instruments, food and other gift items from artisans around the world. A perfect place to buy holiday gifts and support old-growth conservation at the same time!
Invite friends and family to come out and support us!events/103313546498438/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/