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FORESTRY: BC PAPER FIRMS & ENVIRO GROUPS INK TRUCE

VANCOUVER, BC — Four leading forest-products companies and four major environmental groups have agreed to work together on a proposal for a conservation-based ecosystem approach to temperate rainfore…

VANCOUVER, BC — Four leading forest-products companies and four major environmental groups have agreed to work together on a proposal for a conservation-based ecosystem approach to temperate rainforests on British Columbia’s central and north coast, possibly ending years of wrangling. In the deal, the mills have agreed to defer logging in areas of the central coast, and environmental groups to call a halt to their international boycott of forestry products produced in BC. “We believe it is necessary to establish a conflict-free period during which there can be security that ecological options will be maintained, and that there can be security that the social and economic implications of further harvesting deferrals will be addressed,” said Linda Coady, vice-president of Vancouver-based Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd., one of the four forestry companies co-operating. The others are Canfor Corp., Fletcher Challenge Canada (which was bought by Norske Skog) and Western Forest Products. The environmental groups are Greenpeace, Sierra Club of BC, Rainforest Action Network and Coastal Rainforest Coalition. The co-operation was made easier because companies like Western Forest Products and Weyerhaeuser instituted policies between 1998 and 1999 to voluntary stop clear-cutting in these disputed areas, at least until environmental assessments have been done.

At the heart of the initiative is a 70 000-square-kilometre coastal region, which extends from Bute Inlet in the south to the Alaska border in the north. It comprises crown-owned land and disputed Aboriginal title, containing one of the world’s largest remaining intact sections of temperate rainforest. About 10% is open to forestry operations, entitling it to 5-million cubic metres of allowable annual cut (AAC) — which equates to 7.5% of the province’s AAC.