4 ~ Wednesday, June 23, 1993 - North Shore News Clayoquot more than just timber CLAYOQUOT SOUND or Clear-cut Sound? According to Pat Moore, formerly of Greenpeace, now a director of the industry-supported Forest Alliance of B.C,, the reac- tion of environmentalists to the Harcourt government's decision to open the remaining Clayoquot wilderness to logging has been slightly hysterical, 10 say the least, Here's Pat's view on the sub- ject: “Thad no involvement in the Clayaquot decision, but 1 do believe the process was democrat. ic. The Clayoquot Sound Steering Committee was in many ways the model for CORE, “The government could not ig- nore the advice it got from the three yenrs of work of the stecring commmitice or it would have sent the message that all any group has to do is boycott a particular pro- cess and it will be neutralized... _ “if the NDP Clayoquot deei- sion is followed, the annual cut will be reduced to 1,000 hectares per year. So over the next 10 years say, 10,000 hectares of forest will have been cut out of a total arca of 262,060 hectares, i.c. about 4%, Over the past 40 years about 13% of Clayoquot has already been cut. “Most of this is now healthy second growth. The areas of un- sightly scars are mostly from log- ging during the past 10 to 15 years. - “There is no doubt that in some areas there were rotten forest practices, mostly bad road- building on steep slopes, These practices are not allowed any longer. “And there is no reason why we can't make a new derision in 10 years from now. The Clayoquot land-use plan has} a 100-year time line. The impression that two- thirds of Clayoquot is to be clear-cut in the next five years is simely untrue.” OK. Against this lovely vision of Clayoquot as a green feast at which the forest industry is only daintily browsing, pausing to wipe its lips with a hankie and discreet- ‘Ly belch, let us think about Clayoquot in the global and his- ‘torical context. Let us not forget that over half of Vancouver Island has already been clear-cut, leaving what may be some ‘‘healthy second growth,’’ as Pat calls it, but we are, in fact, talking about a dif- ferent kind of forest, and the truth is that scientists have not yet been able to identify ail the bio- logical interactions it takes to create a natural temperate rain- forest. Let us keep in mind, too, that the biomass — the total amount _ Of living matter — in a northwest old-growth rainforest is three to eight times <. great as the biomass of a tropical . ainforest. _ As Herb Hammond puts it in Sceing The Forest Among The Trees,. The Case For Holistic Forest Use: ‘‘Hf plants, animals, and micro-organisms above, at and below soil level are included, a northwest old-growth temperate rainforest may be more biologi- cally diverse than a tropical rain- forest.’” In other words, we are talking about an ecosystem that not only contains more gigantic trees than any other ecosystems on Earth, we are talking about one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems, as well, Only natural forces, so far, have controlled the evolution of the old-growth forests. In short, a unique heritage! In the words of Aldo Leopold, the famed eco-philosopher: ‘‘An intelligent tinkerer saves all of the parts’? If one was to study an in- STRICTLY PERSONAL telligently logged site (should one be able to find one) where the basic ecosystems are still mainly intact, a forest is quite likely to recover health and diversity, given cnough time, The problem is that our system of quick turn-over, maximum short-term profit ‘forest management” precludes the pos- sibility of forests being given time to heal themselves, As Hammond writes: ‘Perhaps we can grow plantations (for 4 while) in cycles 60 to 120 years, but real forests will not develop in this time. “Too many vital components are missing — bacteria, fungi, in- sects, mammals, birds, pure water, and healthy soit. Some of the most important missing parts are large snags (standing dead trees) and large fallen trees, both on the land and int lakes and streams... “Far from being ‘debris,’ waste, junk or rubbish, this mate- tial is a fundamental component of forest health. “This resource docs not develop in 60 years. Often more than 250 to 500 years are required to ac- quire a good supply of large fallen trees... “Clear-cutting and continuous short rotation cropping of trees eventually exhausts the supply of large fallen trees. Most of the ma- terial is lost in the first rotation, and these critical forest structures are depleted completely after two or three rotations. When you lose the structure, you lose the func- tion.”’ As forest ecologist Chris Pielou put it: Clear-cutting damages the environment irreversibly ... Clear-cutting causes two kinds of fundamental ecological damage, one long tasting, the other perma- nent. “The long-lasting damage is to the soil, the permanent damage is to biological (genetic) diversity.” The urgent need right now is to fully protect representatively large watershed areas of all forest types. Adds Herb Hammond: “Threatened forests means threat- ened ecosystems — whole ecosystems. As well as losing tree diversity, we will also see the end of many plant and animal species. ‘Since British Columbia does not have an active program for identification of nor legislation to protect endangered species, an ac-” curate measure of threatened plants and wildlife is not avail- able.’’ The bottom line, to me, is that many conservation biologists believe Clayoquot Sound may be. the only area left on Vancouver Island large enough to perpetuate the entire genetic blueprint of the old-growth forest, from tree lichens to cougars. And that’s why treating it as usual as mere timber is, at this stage in history, a crime. And to " support such a decision, Pat Moore, is, in my mind, to have landed on the wrong side from the angels. ° Higher 3 & 5 year interest rates : The best redeemable options around ‘RRSP & RRIF eligible Low interest rates mean low earnings for your savings. That’s why North Shore Credit Union works hard to guarantee you the very best value for your savings. 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