HELI-LOGGING ISLAND IN ENGLISHMAN RIVER

Island Timberlands is targeting tiny patches of old growth forest along the banks of one of the most endangered rivers in British Columbia. Millions of dollars have been spent, by both federal and provincial governments, to rehabilitate the banks of the Englishman River over recent years. Meanwhile Island Timberlands is logging in the middle of the river.

Only 1% of the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem is left today and this is the most endangered Biogeoclimatic Zone in Canada. The 1 hectare island in the middle of the Englishman River is just 200 metres upstream from the Provincial Park boundary.

On the island I noticed tracks and scat from Blue listed Roosevelt Elk, and a host of other species at risk have been identified along the riparian zone of the Englishman River. A few winters ago I photographed a Bear inside a den it had dug out of the base of a large cedar tree, it was this den tree that I took refuge behind when the helicopter was directly over my head. All the trees around it had been logged because Island Timberlands felled many wildlife habitat trees to make way for the helicopter extraction of the largest and healthiest old growth trees on the island.

Since 2005 profits from Island Timberlands have been stored off-shore in Bermuda by Brookfield Asset Management in order to minimize taxes paid in Canada, therefore bypassing the public coffers of BC taxpayers. At the same time the BC Government employees pension funds were used to purchase 25% of Island Timberlands through the BC Investment Corporation.

Certification for sales to European buyers must be questioned when it allow logging in the riparian zone of an endangered river watershed. Do the buyers in Europe know the reality of Island Timberlands logging practices?
The day after my tour for Councilor Chris Berger he brought forward an Emergency Resolution which was adopted unanimously by the City of Parksville stating: that the City of Parksville strongly objects to this ongoing logging activity and urges the Provincial Government to take immediate action to halt all logging in proximity to the Englishman River: and, Be it further resolved that we request the Provincial Government take all necessary steps to prevent this type of harmful logging activity from occurring in the future.
A similar resolution will be brought to the council of BC Municipalities so let your local government know how important it is to protect watersheds, drinking water supplies, and forest in these corridors.
What is desperately needed in British Columbia, and across Canada, is legislation that protects watersheds regardless of private ownership of lands.

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[SaveOldForest]

dateTue, Sep 29, 2009 at 10:01 PM

duncanite has made a comment

haha you dumb tree huggers im proud to say i was one of the two guys that nuked that humble island of yours. and it was a blast, probably the nicest cream patch ive ever been in. i was there the day you were in there filming while the crane was logging it too, you dumb shit. good footage of what a couple real men can do in a day though. get a life or hurry up and kick the bucket ya old bed wetter

[Arleepowwowhighway]

Why the fuck are they logging wildlife trees??? I've been a logger for 20 plus years and I'm also native American indian....I'm also a fire-wood vendor...I'm also a tipi pole contractor.....That's just plain fucked-up situation u have up there!!!

[Garrys300]

@Arleepowwowhighway that little bit about logging wildlife trees was complete bullshit made up by the producers of this video. I know some of these losers and believe me loser is the right termThis is 2012 and if you take a walk thru that area (easy walk from the park) other then stumps you would be hard pressed to see that any activity had taken place.It was selective logging ,the least destructive logging known to mankind.

[222brent]

i cant wait till its all gone and theres nothing left to fight about. i'm tired of soft-in-the-head tree huggers spouting non sense about living in harmony with nature, and equally tired of retards like duncanite who are actually proud of themselves as they crack another lucky and pat themselves on the back. you people make me sick.

[131313chemistry]

@shreekme1 well i agree with you about the hypocrisy, it would be more economically viable to leave the last remaining patches of old growth for tourism. when you log the old growth you get a one time bonus of cash, but if you leave the last bits for the tourism industry, you can keep making a profit off of the trees.

[shreekme1]

I can guarantee that ALL you live in wood framed houses. Bunch of hypocrites. I can see you now writing this email in your would house on your wood chair in front of your wood desk on a computer that came in a cardboard box. You guys are just as much the reason they log as anyone else.

[matttlock1]

@SaveOldForest... duncanites...nice work ,i hate hippies...check out my heli vid's just s61's tho...but how much would all you hippie's bitch if they built roads and yarded out the wood...the tears would flow...anyway fag on.. as you were...

[maxhole2]

Interesting opinion you have there sir's and Maam.