Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:27:12 -0700
From: Scott Frederick <scott451@gmx.net>
Subject: [KCUTS] Oct.25: LARGEST Environmental RALLY in BC's History! Take Part!!
Hello Kootenaycuts,
RALLY for ANCIENT FORESTS and BC JOBS!
Take Part in the LARGEST Environmental Rally in BC's HISTORY!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Victoria, BC
11:30 am Meet at Centennial Square, then begin marching
12:00 noon Arrive at Legislative Buildings for speeches
12:45 pm Join hands and form rings surrounding government
building
Drumming band! Parade! Speeches! Ring-Around-the-Legislature!
Kids, bring your parents!
****EMAIL US to us to tell us how many of you (yourself, friends,
family) can attend, so we can get a sense of our numbers at:
info@wcwcvictoria.org
***You can also confirm yourself through our Facebook Events Page
and invite all of your Facebook friends at:
http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43769801592
***If you are coming from Vancouver, catching a 9 am ferry from
Tsawassen should allow you to arrive in time for the rally.
The Wilderness Committee is requesting YOUR participation to help
us bring out 3000 to 5000 concerned citizens to our "Rally for
Ancient Forests and BC Forestry Jobs" on Saturday, October 25.
Our last rally in March brought out 1300 people (see photos at
www.wcwcvictoria.org) including tree-huggers, forestry workers,
kids, students, seniors, politicians, and people from all walks
of life.
This is the most decisive time for the endangered ancient forests
of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland and the jobs of
thousands of BC forestry workers. With a BC election coming up in
May of 2009, and with a new Forests Minister Pat Bell, the BC
Liberal government MUST listen to the growing chorus of concerned
citizens - or else face significant consequences.
In recent years active public support for protecting ancient
forests and banning raw log exports has grown tremendously here.
The turnout at our rallies have steadily increased from 100 to
300 to 600 to 1300 participants at the last rally in March...this
time around, with an overwhelming turnout, we'll deliver a
knock-out message to the BC Liberal government that they must
dispense with their callous intransigence and instead become
proactive in protecting the last ancient forests on BC's southern
coast and the jobs of thousands of BC's forestry workers.
The Wilderness Committee is calling on the BC Liberal government
to:
- Enact legislated timelines to quickly end old-growth logging
on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland where old-growth
forests are now scarce.
- Ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests which
now constitute 75% of our productive forest lands.
- Ban raw log exports to ensure a steady log supply for BC's
mills.
- Assist in the retooling and development of second-growth mills
and value-added wood processing facilities.
Instead, so far the BC Liberal government has:
- Defended the continued liquidation of our remaining ancient
forests on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
- Allowed the unsustainable liquidation of our maturing
second-growth forests by reducing the harvest rotation age down
to 50 years, while deregulating vast swaths of corporate private
lands for unregulated logging by removing them from their Tree
Farm Licenses.
- Allowed unprecedented levels of raw log exports to leave BC.
- Allowed almost 50 sawmills and pulp mills to shut down by
deregulating much of the forest industry and removing the
requirements that companies must process the logs that they cut
down here in BC.
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)
For the Wild,
Ken Wu, Charlotte Barrow, Joan Varley, Susan Shields, Erika
Verlinden - Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Victoria office
--
Only 232 organising days until the next BC provincial election.
Best regards,
Scott mailto:scott451@gmx.net
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