EDITORS NOTE: This is VERY sad! Another chunk of our forests gone!


The Sixty Acres

There’s grim news regarding the Sixty Acres between Long Lake Road and Whiting Way, which we have been working to protect all year. Logging began at 7am this morning, with road-building along the edge of Whiting Way Park, and we expect it to continue in full seriousness tomorrow and next week.

We were told in May that the Chief and Council of the Snuneymuxw First Nation were going to take 6-9 months to consider their options, but they have clearly decided to press ahead with clearcutting most of the site. We have seen the Petroglyph Development Group’s approved logging plan, which protects the riparian zones and the rock bluffs, but everything else seems set for logging, except a few arbutus trees. We respect the fact that this is privately-owned land, and that they have obtained the necessary approvals from the RDN to log the land. We presented them with a proposal that would have enabled them to make a good return on the land by developing a cluster of twelve homes in the north-east corned, while preserving 90% of the forest, but they have not responded.

Diane Coussens and myself are going to try to speak with Chris Good at the Snuneymuxw First Nation on Monday morning, and we are still pursuing a last-minute hope that we can find financial backers to buy the land.

The price they have mentioned is $2 million. The development of a 12-unit cluster could allow the return of such an investment, while protecting 90% of the forest. We will ask the Snuneymuxw if they would agree to pause their logging, and give us a month to see if we can assemble such an investment.

If anyone has any other ideas, please get in touch. Right now, we are mourning the almost certain loss of the forest.

Forests and Watershed Solutions Forum, Thursday September 20th, 7pm, Cedar Community Hall

This may seem ironic, given what seems to be our failure to protect the Sixty Acres. But do please join us at this free forum, where we will learn about our forests and the watershed in the Yellow Point-Cedar area, and discuss seven ways in which we could protect them.

We will also present changes to the Water Sustainability Act which could protect the Crown forest and private managed forests. Speakers include June Ross, Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition; Darryn McConkey, Coastal Douglas Fir Conservation Partnership; Erik Piikkila, Yellow Point Ecological Society and Wildwood; and Guy Dauncey, Yellow Point Ecological Society.

Best wishes,

All of us in the Yellow Point Ecological Society

www.yellowpointecologicalsociety.ca