EDITORS NOTE: Timberwest is at it yet again! Please sign onto the petition below and read the story.

Help us save our Roosvelt Elks "Holmes" and the community of Youbou

Youbou is a small community on Vancouver Island with a population of about 1000 full time residents. Youbou started as a mill town and was built on the shores of Lake Cowichan along the slope of Mount Holmes. In 1997 Timber West purchased the mill and the lands surrounding the mill site and the community of Youbou. The mill was closed and removed in 2001. Youbou has struggled to survive and currently consists of a gas station, a coffee house and a convenience store. Many residents have been here for many years, 50 plus, but there are many newcomers choosing to reside here for the closeness to nature and quiet atmosphere. Everyone who lives here whether new comers or long time residents appreciate our lake and our mountain that afford us the lifestyle we treasure.

Timber West has continued to log the area and has continued to grow. Residents have tried for 20 years to earn some consideration from this company and finally after 15 years of letter writing and a road blockade, they installed a truck wash to try to alleviate the problem of mud and debris on our residential road . This causes incredible dust in the dry months and slippery, dangerous conditions in the wet months. This is an ongoing struggle with Timber West. Representatives have finally been meeting with the community on a somewhat regular basis only in the last 24 months.

Now to add to Youbou residents struggle Timber West has stated that they intend to log Mount Holmes which lies directly behind the residences in Youbou. Timber West has logged areas on the other side of the mountain but are actively moving towards logging the slope that is literally our back yard. This means not only is the esthetic quality of our community going to be greatly affected but our watershed will be affected, all of Youbou's drinking water comes off that mountain. There are residents that still have water licenses and get their drinking water off that mountain. There have been landslides down that mountain in the past and once logged this is a much greater risk, especially in light of global warming and heavier rainfalls. This mountain provides habitat to our endangered species of Roosevelt Elk, one of the few places where they still able to live and raise their young.

A door to door petition was completed by concerned residents and the response has been overwhelmingly in favor or no logging of Mount Holmes. Our municipal official has been involved as well as our MLA representatives, everyone is in agreement that this must not be logged. BUT, it is private land, owned by a private company so we have limited recourse.

We need support from you to put pressure on Timber West to do the right thing. They must not log the mountainside facing our community. Please help us in making them aware that the consequences of logging our mountain are too risky to our little community.

1,327 have signed. Let’s get to 1,500!

PETITION IS AT THIS LINK

https://www.change.org/p/timber-west-forest-corporation-please-help-our-community-save-our-holmes