4 —- Wednesday, November 21 . 1990 ~ North Shore News Clear-cut forests look like WWI no-man’s land THE COAST of British Columbia is a war zone. The reason is plain enough. The stakes have suddenly become higher in the final showdown be- tween loggers, environmentalists and natives. I was flying up the coast to the Robson Bight area just as the B.C. Supreme Court injunction barring blockades in the Tsitika Valley was being pondered. The focus of the media up until then had been on MacMillan Bloedel, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, a judge, and a handful of orca-lovers. But now the ante had been up- ped by the appearance of at least 1,000 placard-waving loggers in front of various cameras. The workers had something to lose, all right. Their jobs. So beneath the scudding grey clouds obscuring much of Ichnstone Strait, the mood was ugly. Righteousness was meeting fear. On the way up from Van- couver, despite the cloud cover, patches of sheared-off hilltops could be glimpsed, set back far enough from the water so that cruise ships going by will siill be able to show tourists the fabulous green of the rainforest that once stretched unbroken all the way from California to Alaska. From the air, you can see where the clearcuts begin, the grey- brown swatches of levelled forest with only the seams of logging roads left winding between the stumps. I was reminded of pictures of the devastated First World War fields called ‘* no-man’s land.” The only difference is that instead of bomb craters, there are stumps. Whether amputated or shelled, the end result seems roughly the same. For people unfamiliar with the sight, my companions in the flight northward — two Americans and a Finn — it was a jarring in- troduction to the reality of life in the last of the northwestern rain- forest, where economic im- peratives have so obviously swept the field. Now that I thought about it, looking down, I realized that the B.C. coastal wilderness has always been a battle zone, with various forces contending for control. First, it was the Haida and Nootka and Kwakiutl and others warring among themselves. Next, they had to turn and resist the Spaniards, who lost to the British, who eventually handed it over to the colenists, who jumped on board Canada — all with the issue of who actually controls the West Coast left adrift in legal limbo. The battle continues today, only for the first time the colonists are seriously divided among themselves. Until now, the native people have faced invading hordes that were basically united on ex- ploiting the captured resources as fast as possible. With the entry of determined bands of environnientalists in'o Bob Hunter ECOLOGIC the fray, the equation changes. Down there, below in the fog, they were enduring rain, cold, threats and violent assaults on their property. The natives were either busy in courts, manning their own blockades, or sitting in on strategy meetings. Thus the feeling of an ecological Lebanon in the making. But it’s funny how, sometimes, when you get close to the centre of a news event, the sight that greets your eyes turns out to be quite different from what you had expected. Climbing out of the plane in Alert Bay, we rode in the back of a pickup down the main street, winding along the western shore of Cormorant Island, to the Nim- pkish Band burial grounds. We hoped to get pictures of the haunting old totems. But this road, too, was blocked. There was nobody standing on the pavement. Just a pile of gravel poured from a dump truck. There were tire marks across the heap, but only one set. As our driver explained, it would be a really bad move to drive across it. The taxi company had tried once. Unable to take the usual route along the shoreline past the graveyard, the taxi drivers now had to drive uphill a quarter of a mile to make a U-turn around it. Come winter, this was going to be hell. But after driving over the bar- rier once, the taxi company had been told by the chief that per- mission to drive on reserve land wouid be yanked if they did that again. Without reserve business, Alert Bay would have one dead taxi company. The issue was whether any ancestors had been buried under the paved-over land by the shore. If their bones were there, the road would have to be dug up. Of course, in order to find out if the bones were there in the first place, the road would have to be torn up anyway. Either way: bye, bye toad. The barricade had gone up at the time of Oka. The issue had been tabled at successive band council meetings ever since. Ah yes. Battles within battles. As ever. Te a sto THEFT AUTOS. protect ¥ OICBC AND YOUR LOCAL POLICE development coyote responsible for the relocation or trapping of coyotes before devel- opment begins. Coyote capture raises concerns WEST VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL CONCERNS have been raised by a B.C. SPCA executive and West Vancouver residents over West Vancouver SPCA plans to curb the coyote population in the municipality’s affluent British Properties area following a recent increase in the number of reported coyote attacks on family pets. By Maureen Curtis Contributine Writer BCSPCA executive director Michael Weeks said in a letter to a West Vancouver resident that he had reservations about the intend- ed capture and relocation of mother and young (coyotes) dur- ing the next spring breeding season. “Wild animals are highly ter- ritorial, and 1 think to relocate (them) into another animal's ter- titory has to result in animal fighting and probable injury,’’ he wrote in a letter to West Van- couverite Connie Metcalfe. Weeks also speculated that creatit" a coyote “vacuum” in the British Properties might en- courage other coyotes to replace the relocated ones. “But short of a trapp- ing/euthanasia policy, | don’t think there’s an alternative,” he con- cluded. Believing it crucl to move a mother and cubs without the mate, Metcalfe submitted that those responsible for residential (which is invading territory) should be CANADIAN CLOSET Ba, Free home estimates 986-4263 1385 Crown St., N-Van. PATTERNS. All regular stock ELEGANCE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS SCULPTURED NAILS 33.999 fl So thin and natural looking $4999 SILK & FIBERGLASS $1499 Protects your natural nails Open Mon.-Sat, 9:30-5:30, Thurs, & Fri, Evening by Appt. We specialize in wrinkle reduction & control, Acne Treatments, Waxing. Lash-tinting, European Pacial. pedicure, Body Massage. Aroma Therapy = "Chez Elle estHEtics =] 7 1369 Marine Dr.. West Vancouver 922-1225 or breakfast or lunch or tea or snacks for appetizers. . . "Semi-Annual Sale 3 days only Nov. 22, 23, 24 ‘9:30-5:30: 25% off storewide Gould & McCue Sewellers “Your Village Teweller”’ 985-1500 3102 Edgemont Bhd, N.Van. Assorted Textores ma mn Res 299m roTEEN SALE “100! * 3690 cm. Reg. 12. 98/m “ Members Buy 1 get 2 Free Sale Buy 1 get 1 FREE Details at Fabricland * Refers to Fabricland Sewing ‘Club Members 100% “COTTON 45-/115-cmy. Reg. 7. 7.38/n “CANADIAN OWNED CANADIAN OPERATED FOR CANADIANS: vs “¢ VANCOUVER © NORTH VAN i R B18 West Gh s Jal Lensaaie Av 4099 E Hastings @ Bumaby