1979 Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) is founded as a non-profit society. Campaign begins to save Meares Island from logging by MacMillan Bloedel.
1984/85 FOCS and First Nations blockade MacMillan Bloedel from logging Meares Island (one of first logging blockades in Canadian history). Company turned away. First Nations court injunction granted, suspending logging on Meares to this day.
1988 FOCS discovers illegal logging road in Sulphur Pass; 35 arrested during summer-long blockade. Road is stopped, thus allowing large Megin Valley wilderness to remain intact (Megin and adjacent intact valleys were designated provincial park in 1993). FOCS is first to call for an end to clearcutting and initiates a local "sustainable development" planning process (which is taken over by province and dissolves in 1992 in disagreement).
1992 Blockade at Clayoquot Arm Bridge of Kennedy Lake, 65 arrested, protesting MacMillan Bloedel's logging at edge of intact Clayoquot River valley.
1993 International campaign takes off with ad in New York Times and FOCS trip to Europe. FOCS and allied environment groups call for boycott of MacMillan Bloedel and other companies. Largest peaceful civil disobedience in Canadian history is sparked by BC government's decision to log 74% of Clayoquot Sound's ancient forest. FOCS opens Peace Camp at "Black Hole". Daily blockades and arrests begin at Kennedy River Bridge. 856 arrested and 12,000 participate during "Clayoquot Summer 93".
1996 FOCS and Greenpeace takeover of Rankin Cove logging camp leads to First Nations-brokered truce between MacMillan Bloedel and environmentalists. Negotiations begin regarding protecting large intact (pristine) valleys in Clayoquot Sound from logging.
1997 FOCS begins a fish farm campaign aimed at reforming open net-cage salmon aquaculture in Clayoquot Sound and BC.
1999 FOCS helps to negotiate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between 4 environment groups and Iisaak Forest Resources, the First Nations/MacMillan Bloedel joint venture logging company that replaced MacBlo. MOU commits Iisaak to protecting large pristine areas in its portion of Clayoquot Sound, while enviro groups agree to help market Iisaak's wood. FOCS does not sign MOU in order to maintain its independent watchdog position.
2000 Markets Initiative, a joint project of FOCS, Sierra Club and Greenpeace, begins a market campaign to shift Canadian companies, including book and magazine publishers, to using paper that is free of ancient and endangered forests fibre.
2001 FOCS joins other BC groups in forming the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) and engages in a market campaign against buying farmed salmon.
2004 Working with Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, FOCS signs up 140 Canadian and American restaurants and retailers to go farmed-salmon-free. By exerting market pressure on Interfor, FOCS wins 5-year moratorium on logging in large intact valleys of Sydney and Pretty Girl.
2005 Using public, media and market pressure, FOCS stops Interfor from building a logging road into intact valley of Hesquiat Lake Creek.
2007 FOCS, allied environment groups, and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation persuade BC Timber Sales to grant 5-year moratorium on logging in intact Upper Kennedy Valley.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound
PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
Tel: 250-725-4218 Fax: 250-725-2527
Email: info@focs.ca
Photo by Adrian Dorst
The health of the global environment depends on intact ecosystems. It is our responsibility to act as peaceful and courageous advocates for marine and terrestrial life in Clayoquot Sound. Join us!
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Learn more about fish farming in Clayoquot Sound
Learn more about industrial logging in Clayoquot Sound