The Martlet

A petition of over 30,000 signatures calling for Premier Gordon Campbell to end old-growth logging on Vancouver Island was displayed at the Victoria Legislature on Thursday, Jan. 8, and proved that citizens are watching.

The petition, spearheaded by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, urged that along with protecting the Island’s remaining old-growth forests, the B.C. government take steps to ensure sustainable second-growth logging and ban raw log exports to protect the province’s forestry jobs.

“Vancouver Island has some of the most exceptional forests on the planet,” said Victoria’s Wilderness Committee campaign director Ken Wu. “How many jurisdictions still have trees that are as wide as living rooms, as tall as skyscrapers and can live to almost 2,000 years old?”

Wu told media and onlookers at the petition’s display that satellite photos now show that over 75 per cent of the original productive old-growth forest on Vancouver Island has been cut down, while only six per cent of old-growth forests are in protected parks. But protection isn’t the only concern.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in our log exports on this government’s turf, and we want to see that cut way back,” said Port Alberni-Qualicum NDP MLA Scott Fraser, who was also present at the petition’s display. “[But] the idea that jobs be moved away across the border with those logs is out of the question.”

Fraser and the NDP Opposition intends to introduce the petition into the B.C. Legislature during the February legislative sessions. He hopes the BC Liberals will commit to a comprehensive plan that will ensure the forests survive for future generations.

But Fraser, the Wilderness Committee and Island residents aren’t asking for an old-growth miracle — they’re calling for a phase-out plan.

“Our goal is not to end all of the logging tomorrow,” Wu said. “We understand that a lot of the industry is still structured toward old growth. That’s why we’re calling for a retooling of the industry and a graduated phase-out of old-growth logging from Vancouver Island.”

Wu said the committee’s goal is to get Campbell to agree to immediate bans on the south and east sides of the Island where only one per cent of old growth remains, and all valley bottoms where only 10 per cent remains.

For the rest of the Island, the petition asks to see a graduated phase-out by 2015.

“Similar to climate change initiatives, nobody is saying don’t use oil tomorrow — that can’t happen,” Wu said. “We believe we can have a win-win situation for Vancouver Island’s forests, for the environment and for the workers.”

Charlotte Barrow, a UVic graduate and assistant to the campaign, said the issue should hold a strong importance to all residents, but especially UVic students.

“One of the best things about being a UVic student is that you have such a beautiful campus, and surrounding area,” Barrow said. “The ability to go hiking is important, and some of the closest places to UVic are old growth.”

Wu isn’t surprised by the number of signatures on the petition, or the support it’s been generating — from as close as UVic to as far away as England and Korea. But will people and politicians see this as a key issue in coming months? Wu points out that signatures are still coming in right now.

“We know we’re in the far majority of public opinion now,” said Wu. “Capitalism has cycles and we’re in the bottom of one. But it will recover … and we still have the opportunity to do it right.”

The issue of old-growth logging has also seen a rise in attention over the last year.

While most of the 30,000 signatures on the petition were collected over two years online and by way of hundreds of volunteers, UVic’s own Wilderness Committee Club took part in organizing one of the largest environmental rallies in B.C.’s history, drawing almost 3,000 people to the B.C. Legislature on Oct. 25, 2008.

Wu estimates that UVic students contributed about 6,000 of the scribbled signatures to the petition, or 20 per cent. He’s thankful for the support.

“There are a tremendous number of UVic students, and they are the revolution,” Wu said. “We’re in one of the most progressive places in B.C., and we all have a stake in the matter, [but] thank god for the students.”

To get involved with the UVic chapter of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee Club contact uvicwilderness@gmail.com.