Land use

by Julia Prinselaar

Nearly two decades after the last of 10,000 protesters packed their bags and left Clayoquot Sound in the final days of a summer-long logging blockade in 1993, the fight to protect the region’s ancient temperate rainforest continues. 

In some ways the demonstrations were a success.

When the province announced a Land Use Decision

by Joe Foy

Wild nature and human cultures that spring from wild nature are under assault over the entire planet. Large scale urban expansion, logging, indus­trial agriculture, mining, and petro-chemical developments are disappear­ing nature’s landscapes and peoples from Guatamala to the Philippines.

Here amongst the wild mountains and inlets of the North Pacific coast we suffer the same kinds of destruction. But over the years a new form of land designation has given some hope.

Tribal parks in British Columbia were designated for the first time in the 1980s on Meares Island in Clayoquot Sound by the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation, and on Gwaii Hanaas off the northwest coast by the Haida Nation.

Although typically grounded in environmental concerns

The most endangered ecosystem in Canada – the Coastal Douglas Fir Ecosystem – has less than 2% remaining in a wild condition. But despite a constant stream of people coming to see the rare plants and animals found there, Premier Clark’s government still OK’d the logging destruction.

by Joe Foy

Everybody loves a cute baby. As our bus wound up the steep mountain road I found myself eye to eye with a beautiful little girl who was looking intently at me from the safety of her mother’s arms. Something was bugging her and she would alternate between smiles and spates of crying as we bumped and swerved ever higher into the mountains.  

We were headed for the town of Dalat, which is in the central highlands of Vietnam.

Vancouver Island alone has lost more than one million hectares of productive old growth rainforest.

by Delores Broten

Cortes Island old growth appears to be the next in a series of controver­sial logging disputes to plague the BC coast in 2011. The unrest is forecast to continue in

Proposed toxic gold mining in Baja California Sur threatens massive water shortage in an already dry climate.

by Dawn Paley

Canadians on vacation are generally welcomed in Baja, but another set of Canadians are distinctly unwelcome: those who come in search of gold and who want to use the water to get it...

Every October, an estimated 20,000 grey whales begin their long migration from the waters off Alaska’s shores down the west coast to sub-tropical lagoons off the Coast of Baja California, Mexico.

Shuswap flooding and impacts of development & clearcut logging.

by Jim Cooperman

Preface

Federal and provincial government staff operate under a gag order that restricts the flow of information to the public. Communication staff manufacture the only information allowed to be disseminated. Consequently, it is difficult for the

by Jim Cooperman 

In 2008, groups from throughout the province supported the efforts by Shuswap residents and organizations to halt the proposed condo and RV development adjacent to the Adams River, home to a world famous sockeye salmon run. Although they successfully prevented re-zoning for the proposal, the developer went ahead and installed new infrastructure and began marketing RV lots. Plus, in spite of the regional district’s rejection of the plans for a huge marina, 75 large buoys were installed in the sensitive fresh water estuary that provides critical salmon nursery habitat.