On the day logging was deferred for Clayoquot Sound, we were making a short film called “Forests Across Generations” with Gisele Martin, Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks Guardian and language activist. Here Gisele looks out, as smoke from B.C. forest fires lingers over the clearcut. #WORTHMORESTANDING #CLIMATEACTION #INDIGENOUSLIVESMATTER
Photo Credit: @friendsofclayoquotsound
On September 11, 2020 – for the 1st time in colonial history – the B.C. government announced a 2-year deferral of logging in over 350,000 hectares of forests provincially, including 260,000 hectares in Clayoquot Sound. With the 2-year deferral anniversary this September, we are calling on the B.C. government to continue the existing moratorium on logging in Clayoquot Sound, ban old growth logging province wide, and provide funding for Indigenous Nations to establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs).
Prior to the deferral, the B.C. government’s outdated forestry system required the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ owned forestry company, MaMook, to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual fees for Tree Farm Licenses to the B.C. government for the ‘rights to log’ in their own unceded Nuu-chah-nulth territories. The B.C. government has been facilitating economically exploitative environmental destruction, and missing the opportunity for reconciliation based ancient forest protection. With Clayoquot MLA Josie Osbourne (former Tofino Mayor as well as previous Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council biologist) recently appointed Minister of Land, Water, and Resource Stewardship – we are optimistic that positive change is possible.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound remain active with the Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance (CSCA) to support discussions with regional First Nations about protecting the ancient rainforests through securing conservation investment.
