FRIENDS OF CLAYOQUOT SOUND — MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release — Tuesday, 5 April, 2011
Clayoquot Sound, BC — The BC government has issued a road-building permit for Flores Island north f Tofino. Iisaak Forest Resources received the permit on April 1st. Flores Island supports a large, intact ancient rainforest that was included in the historic 1999 “no logging in intact valleys” agreement between Iisaak and major environmental groups. This agreement put an end to the “War in the Woods,” with its decade-long protests and market campaigns. Now Iisaak has deliberately broken that agreement.
To defuse this escalating conflict, we need the BC government to step up to the plate in Clayoquot Sound,” said FOCS Forest Campaigner Dan Lewis. “We’re asking the provincial government to not issue any more road-building or logging permits for Clayoquot Sound’s intact rainforests. We need breathing space in order to find a solution.”
Iisaak is cutting predominantly ancient trees, most of which it ships out as raw logs on huge barges, taking local jobs with them. The company claims it is obliged to log on Flores Island to service its debt.
By signing the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve declaration in 2000, both the federal and provincial governments acknowledged that Clayoquot Sound is a globally significant ecosystem,” said FOCS director Bonny Glambeck. “If governments partner with First Nations and environmental groups in a conservation solution, there is an opportunity here to address the biodiversity crisis, mitigate climate change, and ensure the long-term wellbeing of local First Nations communities.”
Glambeck and Lewis are currently on a 17-stop tour across BC and Alberta with a presentation called Secrets of Clayoquot Sound. The tour is sounding the alarm that Clayoquot Sound is under imminent nd ongoing threat from logging, as well as a potential open-pit copper mine.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound, founded in 1979, is an environmental organization with a mandate to protect the ancient temperate rainforest and marine environments of Clayoquot Sound.
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Upcoming Secrets of Clayoquot shows (listed at clayoquot.tumblr.com/dates):
PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
250-725-4218 info@focs.ca
Newsletters:
Fall 2011 / winter 2012 (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Summer 2011 (PDF, 1.7 Mb)
Fall 2010 / Winter 2011 (PDF, 5 Mb)
Summer 2010 (PDF, 2 Mb)
Maps:
Reports:
Overview of Logging in Clayoquot Sound 2000-2009 (download page)
Clayoquot Green Economic Opportunities Project, Vol. 1 (PDF, 1.3 MB)
Clayoquot Green Economic Opportunities Project Vol. 2 (PDF, 3.7 MB)
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