by Arthur Caldicott

Since 2000, BC Hydro has received dozens of small hydroelec­tric generation proposals. Fourteen are now producing elec­tricity. BC Hydro has signed Electricity Purchase Agreements (EPAs) with about sixty of them, totaling nearly 1500 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity, about an eighth of all provincial gen­eration. And there are many more proposals to come.

The largest small hydro plant in service so far is Rutherford Creek, just south of Pemberton, capable of generating 50 MW. The largest project is Plutonic's East Toba River and Montrose Creek Hy­droelectric Project, consisting of two interconnected hydro plants totalling 196 MW.

by Barry Saxifrage

Almost all the energy we use to build the "good life" comes from fossil fuels, gas, oil and coal. But now that same fossil fuel use is tearing our good life apart. We can’t have both anymore. Time’s up: we have to choose now. We can promptly and purposefully create a new version of the good life without fossil fuels…or we can continue aimlessly into collective misery.

Fossil fuel emissions drive climate change and ocean acidification. Together they are inflicting thousands of

The Land & Forests

6 Using the Activist’s Toolkit
Swimming against development in Salmon Arm

7 Independent People Power
Protecting Surge Narrows and Okisollo Rapids

8 Yellowstone to Yukon
Animal and plant species need space and resources to adapt to changing conditions

11 Local Conservation in Action

12 Resurrecting Rio
Briony Penn tells of carbon, forests and biodiversity

Scandal is not new to the private forest lands on Vancouver Island.

by Will Horter

Fortunes have been made – and are being made – by resource companies that benefit from sweetheart deals that privatize vast tracts of land in BC. A select few, with the right government connections, reap the benefits. The public, especially First Nations, pay the price. The BC government’s recent decision to privatize 28,000 hectares of forestlands previously in Western Forest Products (WFP) tree farm licences (TFL) is only the latest scandal in a sordid history that traces back to BC’s entry into the Canadian Confederation.