RALLY for ANCIENT FORESTS & BC JOBS Part I

Video by Christian Tatonetti
freezinghand Channel
Sat Oct 25 2008

Info taken from:

Western Canada Wilderness Committee

Satellite photos show that 75% of the original, productive
old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have already been logged,
including 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.
Unfortunately only 6% of the productive forests on Vancouver
Island are protected in our parks system. See maps and stats at
www.viforest.org (sign the online petition, too)

Over 18,000 of BC's forestry workers have been laid off over the
past year, in large part due to the BC Liberal government's
deregulation of the forest industry that has allowed logging
companies to shut down their BC sawmills while retaining their
cutting rights. In addition, the decline of the coastal forest
industry at its root is being driven by the long-term depletion
of the productive, readily accessible stands of old-growth
forests that built the industry for over a century. They've
logged off the biggest and best trees already. Instead of
ensuring that the companies retool their sawmills to process
second-growth trees that now cover most of the southern coast,
the BC Liberal government has simply allowed companies to
shutdown their old sawmills but meanwhile export the raw logs
from the maturing second-growth forests that they are now
unsustainably liquidating at breakneck speeds (along with logging
the last of the old-growth, particularly redcedar).

Old-growth forests are important for harbouring endangered
species that can't flourish in younger forests; for sequestering
far more atmospheric carbon per hectare than second-growth
forests do; as fundamental pillars of BC's multi-billion dollar
coastal tourism industry; and as important parts of many First
Nations cultures. Our ancient forests are not replicated by the
ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being
replaced with.

How many jurisdictions on Earth still have 1800 year old trees
that grow to be as wide as living rooms and as tall as
skyscrapers? Our endangered coastal old-growth forests are world
wonders that deserve to be protected. With YOUR voice we can
ensure that the BC Liberal government enacts a solution that
works for our biodiversity, forestry workers, tourism industry,
First Nations, and the people of BC!

For more info and maps on our campaign visit www.wcwcvictoria.org
and www.viforest.org (sign the petition)

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• RALLY
• for
• ANCIENT
• FORESTS
• and
• BC
• JOBS!
• Saturday
• Oct
• 25
• 2008
• Western
• Canada
• Wilderness
• Committee
• Victoria
• freezinghand
• British
• Columbia
• Protest

[jeremyseanwilliams]

good work!

I like the slow fades

certainly some good shots