Premier John Horgan—it’s time to stand up for old-growth forests.
After having my backpack searched by police, I hiked 14 kilometres up the forest service road to the Heli Camp at Fairy Creek.
Torrential rain and high winds didn’t deter me as I needed to see first-hand what the loggers were cutting, and what the activists were doing to protest and protect our forests from old-growth logging.
After I had hiked 10 km, a truck with two RCMP officers pulled up beside me. They were friendly yet curious with their questions, trying to figure out the intentions of this middle-aged man.
As the rain poured down, I took off my glove to squeeze water out. Through the open window on the RCMP’s truck, a couple of raindrops landed on the officer’s shoulder. He said to me “second guessing life’s decision?” I looked him straight in the eye and without hesitation said, “no second guessing.”
I passed two university-aged kids walking down; soaked, cold, tired, and hungry. They looked battle beaten and yet I could tell, after exchanging a few words with them, that they were quite undeterred.
I arrived at the protesters’ camp in the woods. Under multiple hanging tarps were 15 twenty-something youths. [Others were] huddled around a fire, drying clothes, eating porridge, and trying to stay warm while joking and singing. I was immediately welcomed. As they offered me a spot by the fire they expressed their sincere thanks for the added support.
An hour before I arrived, the RCMP that had questioned me on the way up, had found this camp. They scoured through their belongings and retained anything deemed to cause mischief.
The camp leader is an intelligent young woman who had been protesting for months. I asked how long she intended to stay. “Until the end,” she replied.
She told me how they had been forced to change tactics. Instead of blockading the logging road the activists had moved into the forest.
The new tactics undertaken by the youth is a strategy they call “Cops & Loggers.” As the chainsaws roar the kids disperse and position themselves within two tree lengths of the trees being targeted. Loggers are not allowed to cut a tree if a human is within two tree lengths. The RCMP then moves in.
The scene the day before I arrived sounded surreal. The Surrey-based Teal Jones Group, which holds licences allowing it to log in the Fairy Creek watershed, dropped their loggers in by helicopter. The RCMP followed, also via helicopter. The forest activists dispersed throughout the cutting area. The scene unfolds with multiple arrests and fallen old-growth trees.
The activists are passionate about the cause, resilient in the face of law enforcement, and determined to save our ancient forests.
They are doing all of this for us.
The forests are the lungs of the planet, synthesizing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. They are the only proven way to remove carbon and halt climate change. We need more trees and not fewer of them. Old-growth forests are ecologically diverse, natural treasures. The ancient trees make breathable air, and accumulate and store large amounts of carbon above and below the ground.
It’s time to stand up for old growth. The youth in the forests are leading the way for all of us. We now need you to be a leader.
Take action now to stop logging of all old- growth forests.
Paul Dorland // Whistler
