Friends of Clayoquot Sound: Logging

Clayoquot Land Use Decision, 1993

Logging of ancient forests in Clayoquot Sound has been controversial since the 1980s, when local citizens blockaded logging on Meares Island and at Sulphur Pass. In 1989, a local "sustainable development" stakeholder process was set up to develop a land use plan for Clayoquot, but it dissolved in late 1992, unable to reach consensus.

It fell to the BC government to make a decision. On Easter Monday, April 13, 1993, NDP Premier Mike Harcourt helicoptered to Clayoquot Sound and pronounced his cabinet's decision from the top of Radar Hill.

Clayoquot Land Use Decision (CLUD):

33% of land base of Clayoquot Sound protected (90,400 hectares)
(translates into 22% of productive ancient forest protected)
62% of land base open for logging
(translates into 74% of productive ancient forest open for logging)
5% of land base not included in decision
(District of Tofino; First Nations reserves; Meares Island - under court injunction and treaty negotiation)

The decision was intended as a reasonable compromise. The area protected in parks was more than doubled (from 15% to 33%), while the rest remained open for logging to satisfy the forest industry.

However, the CLUD did not go over well. It sparked the largest peaceful civil disobedience in Canadian history -- 12,000 citizens attended a logging road blockade in Clayoquot Sound in summer 1993 and 850 were arrested. Protests also occurred worldwide, while media coverage made Clayoquot a household name and an icon for temperate rainforest conservation globally.

PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
250-725-4218 info@focs.ca