Spotted Owl Controversy

In 1986, a concerned environmental group encouraged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the the Northern Spotted Owl as an endangered species. After much debate, the U.S. government declared the spotted owl and endangered species. This would effectively limit the timber industry's scope for exploitation in old growth forests. Under the provision, timber companies are required to leave a minimum of 40% of the forest remaining within a 1.3 mile radius of any spotted owl nest or activity site. The timber industry was outraged by this, claiming they would lose 30,000 jobs of 168,000 jobs (refer to Time cover from 1990). In reality, the lumber trade had been decline since after WW2. Automation and over-exploitation of the forest are the main factors behind this loss of jobs. Also critical is the loss of jobs from the profitable export of raw logs to places like Japan instead of processing of the logs here. The picture above depicts slogans used by loggers and logger supporters on hats, bumper stickers, etc.

Macmillan Bloedel

Macmillan Bloedel or "MacBlo" is a massive company in the industries of forestry and pulp and paper.  It was formed in 1908 as the Powell River Company. Starting in the 1960's MacBlo began a campaign of global expansion across North America and Europe. At it's peak it owned assets in excess of 4 Billion CAD. MacBlo is the company who prompted the arrest of almost 1000 protesters in Clayoquot Sound. MacBlo has promised to phase out clear cutting and use more sustainable methods, but has not always reached this goal. It was taken over by Weyerhaeuser in 1999, the largest forest products company in the world. Above is a picture of rolls of finished newspaper in a MacBlo plant in 1970.

Clayoquot Sound

Clayoquot Sound is an old growth forest tract on the isolated west coast of Vancouver Island. In 1984 the first ever Canadian logging blockades occurred on Meares Island after the BC government announced that 90% of the island was to be logged. A legal injuction against logging on Meares island was soon after granted to the Nuu-chah-nulth. In 1993 a famous protest was staged over the government's decision to log 2/3 of the pristine old growth forest of Clayoquot Sound. Activists blockaded the only bridge to a logging site for 5 months. The logging giant, Macmillan Bloedel obtained a court injuction banning blockades. The RCMP arrested 859 people for criminal contempt, making it the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada to date.

The Spotted Owl

The spotted owl has become an icon of what is wrong with old-growth logging. The animal is on the verge of extinction. Some environmentalists view the spotted owl as an "indicator species", as amphibians are in other environments. Indicator species are quick to decline when something is wrong with the environment. In BC there are 6 known breeding pairs, down from historic figures of 500 pairs.

BC's Old Growth Forests

British Columbia's old growth temperate rainforests are one of the most impressive in the world.  Tree species range from the uncommon sitka spruce to red and yellow cedar, to huge douglas firs, arbutus trees, mountain hemlock and many more. These majestic forests include the world's largest douglas fir tree and the second largest western red cedar.

These awe-inspiring forests are under attack because they contain the largest, and therefore most lucrative specimens. Old growth logging should be banned for several reasons, which I will outline below:

1. The forests provide much-needed habitat for the endangered spotted owl and marbled murrelet, as well as other rare, threatened and endangered animals and plants, making the forests ecologically significant. Habitat destruction and/or degradation is a problem for thousands of species, but these creatures are particularly sensitive to it's effects. The biodiversity of old growth cannot be matched by second-growth forest (forest that has been logged previously)

2. Ecological succession is a lengthy process. Old growth forests take up to several millennia to regenerate (depending on the type of trees and location). They cannot be replaced in anytime close to a human lifespan. It is neither sustainable nor responsible to make these choices for future generations