1997 FWOC Resolution
No. 21:
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BRITISH COLUMBIA'S FORESTS AND PROTECTED AREAS
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The province of British
Columbia is blessed with the largest remaining tracts of uncut native
forest in North America. It is also, perhaps inevitably, the
"habitat" of one of North America's largest, most aggressive, most
heavily subsidized, and most politically intrusive wood product
industries.
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These two facts, one,
ecological, the other, economic, have clashed repeatedly over the past
century, and the natural forest has nearly always been the loser.
An airplane flight over the blighted and clearcut landscape of
Vancouver Island will reveal to an appalled observer the true extent of
the forest devastation and species extinction now occurring on a vast
scale throughout this province.
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Over cutting far beyond
sustainable levels is also occurring by the B.C. government's own
analysis. Current logging rates exceed sustainability standards
by 20 million cubic meters annually, or almost 30%.
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Fortunately, B.C.
environmentalists have made some progress recently in their efforts to
both protect some of this magnificent forest for future
generations. In calling attention to the overcutting. A new
government came to power in 1991, which was much more environmentally
aware and to its credit established several million acres of new
provincial parks, some with forested areas. Unfortunately, the
current B.C. government seems to be reverting to prior policies
favoring the timber industry, refusing to enforce protective laws and
allowing the overcutting to continue.
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The Federation of Western
Outdoor Clubs urges the government of British Columbia to:
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1. Defer logging in
the pristine valleys of B.C.'s central coast pending the completion of
conservation biology studies.
2. Phase in ecosystem-based forest management in all B.C. forests
and phase out clearcut logging.
3. Reduce the rate of logging immediately to existing
government-determined sustainable levels and phase in ecologically
determined sustainable levels.
4. Support the establishment of a Biosphere Reserve in the
spectacular Clayoquot Sound are of Vancouver island.
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F.W.O.C. member clubs and members are
urged to send this resolution to the Premier and Minster of Environment
of British Columbia.
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