– Wallbran Billboard GoFundMe Campaign, Created January 8, 2016 by David Evans
David Evans owns and operates Stick in the Mud

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The province of British Columbia owes much to forestry, to mining, to fishing…The province was built on resources and was built quickly as though the resources were infinite.

They are not.

Just as we no longer use purse nets to catch salmon so should we move away from clear cutting Old Growth forests before they are all gone.  And they are almost all gone.

This fundraising campaign is to cover the costs of placing a billboard on the Pat Bay Highway between Victoria, BC and the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.  The billboard is to draw attention to what is happening RIGHT NOW in The Walbran Valley.

The last time Vancouver Island was clear of trees was during the most recent Ice Age – about 15,000 years ago.  But in about 6 generations we have taken Vancouver Island from 100% coverage of Old Growth to less than 10%.

In an Old Growth forest on Southern Vancouver Island you will find some of the largest living things on earth.  You find fir trees 300 feet tall and cedar trees as big around at their base as a 2 car garage.  Spruce trees that have enough lumber in them to build a neighbourhood.  (Well, a small neighbourhood!). The trees standing in these forests were growing when the Magna Carta was signed.

We need a SIlva Carta.  A charter of rights for the straggly remainders of a once mighty ecosystem.

About 30 years ago a groundswell of public support managed to convince the NDP Government of the day to preserve an untouched stretch of land where Old Growth stretches from ocean to mountaintop in two adjoining river valleys.  That land, just over 125 km from Victoria, is known as The Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park.  Areas around the park were set up as a buffer to be forested as Specialty Management Zones.

Logging companies overseen by the holder of the Tree Farm License, Teal Cedar Company of Surrey BC, are clearing the forests in the SMZ.

Businesses are businesses.  We rarely hold them to the standards that we hold ourselves…But does anyone think the best and highest use of an 800 year old Cedar tree is to spend 40 years on a roof as cedar shakes?
Can anyone argue that this is sustainable?

Yes, forestry is sustainable.  Nobody argues that a woodlot, a tree farm, can produce high quality lumber.  This campaign is not to put a stop to logging, rather it is to preserve the remaining Old Growth forests…Museum pieces.  Once you cut down a 1000 year old tree you will NEVER see one like it again.  Not for a dozen long lifetimes.

The Provincial Government, the BC Liberals, are unmoved by protests.  The BC NDP are quiet on the topic.  Saving Old Growth is up to you and me.

Let’s set up a billboard on the highway to draw attention to what is happening within a couple hours drive of the BC Legislature.  People need to be talking about this at their dinner tables.  They need to talk sbout it work and on the radio and in magazines, newspapers.  Most people, when I tell them that this is happening reply, “Why can’t we just leave the Old Growth Alone?” or “Are we still cutting Old Growth?  I thought that stopped in the ’90s.”

• Billboards cost about $1000 per month.
• Set up costs for printing and install could run another $1000.
• Graphic design has been offered at no charge.
• Copywriting has been offered at no charge.
• Images have been offered at no charge.

We just need the money to rent the sign and run the thing for about 3 months.  The end of March, 2016 is the next date set for a court injunction extension…Sought by Teal Cedar, they want to keep us away from their work in the Walbran.

If we raise more than the required 5 Gs then we will put it to charity work in the parks, building trails, maybe running the billboard for longer if Teal Jones gets their injunction extension in March!  The trees need your help, they need the money and happily, Canadian money isn’t paper anymore!

One more thing: there used to be 2 ways to drive to Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park.  One was through Lake Cowichan, Caycuse, over towards Nitinat Lake and then left into the Carmanah Valley.  Those roads remain open.  But some cynical forestry company blocked the other access which was a short drive on better roads.  15km outside of Port Renfrew is Bugaboo Main Line and a couple of km up Bugaboo the road has been blocked with boulders and logging slash.  Cynical.  Keeping us out by making it more difficult to access a Provincial Park and the Old Growth SMZ they are clear cutting.

These are the people we are up against.  They hide behind the law because they have a government issued license to harvest trees…But ask yourself, does the right to do something preclude the moral obligation not to do it if it is wrong?

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Resources

• BC Chamber of Commerce Passes Resolution Calling on the Province to Expand Old-Growth Forest Protections
• Group seeks to share information on forestry corruption, collusion
• Log Watch launches, and starts counting
• NDP critical of increasing carbon emissions under Clark’s leadership
• Local business owner launches website and billboard, calling for a stop to old growth logging
• BC Liberals and NDP agree on the success of the Great Bear Rainforest agreement
• Sooke entrepreneur seeks to raise funds for Walbran awareness billboard on Pat Bay Highway
• Supreme court rules in favour of logging company Teal-Jones
• LETTER: Update on clear-cut logging of old growth at Carmanah/Walbran