Strategy Meeting in Egmont

Help set our community's strategy towards future logging in our area.

Monday, July 30, 2007
7:00 pm
Egmont Heritage Centre
(on the deck)

Friends Of Egmont (FOE) has been busy speaking out at watershed meetings and working with the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).

On May 29th, four FOE members joined 50 protesters in a rally that took place in downtown Sechelt and then moved outside the SCRD offices.

On June 11th, five FOE members represented Egmont at a meeting of 350 people in Robert's Creek where the community at large decided that it was time to take the Provincial government to court to stop them from granting permits to log in our watersheds.

On June 12th, ten FOE members participated in an SCRD committee meeting where the following 3 resolutions were adopted:

1. That the SCRD work on a way to place a moratorium on all clear-cut logging on the Ruby Lake, North Lake and Waugh Lake watersheds.

2. That the SCRD work with the Sechelt Indian Band (SIB) to extend the Chapman Creek Watershed Agreement to protect all other coastal watersheds (including ours!).

3. That the SCRD work to establish permanent watershed reserves on lakes such as Ruby Lake and Waugh Lake.

On June 18th, 35 people attended a presentation at the community hall to hear about Three Points Properties' plans to find parking in Egmont to serve a new development across the narrows, as well as their future logging plans.

On July 5th, FOE hosted at the Egmont Community Hall, an Eco-Forestry presentation by Jay Rastogi, site manager for Wildwood, the oldest eco-forest on the west coast of North America.

On July 23 & 24th, FOE participated in the new Local Health Board (LHB) meetings at the SCRD offices in Sechelt. The SCRD has taken on the role of a LHB and is holding public meetings to address logging in the watersheds and the risks to our drinking water.

COME TO THE MEETING!

Please participate in the upcoming strategy meeting on Monday night at 7 pm. There will be a lot to talk about including the following two items in the agenda:

1. Finding Egmont residents who would like to form an Advisory Committee of the SCRD in order to hold meetings with Tsain-Ko Forestry Development Corporation reps. Members of this committee will meet on a regular basis and review all areas of proposed logging around Egmont.

2. If the SCRD fails us, and if Tsain-Ko starts road building and logging in our watersheds as planned for September 2007, WHAT SHOULD WE AS A COMMUNITY DO ABOUT THIS? Should we hold peaceful protests? Should we physically try to stop them? Should we blockade the road? What do you think?

Stay informed and help out!

SCRD-Egmont-Tsain Ko FDC

The SCRD Board of Directors met behind closed doors with Tsain-Ko Forest Development Corporation's logging consultants on Thursday, July 19th. Area A Director John Rees says he was impressed with Tsain-Ko's presentation. That's nice. One can only assume the consultants polished it up a tad since they met with our community at the end of May. I spoke with Director Rees on Monday, July 23rd after the Board of Health marathon. I wanted to know if the consultants indicated when they planned to start road building and logging. Rees said no but that Tsain-Ko doesn't appear to be in a hurry. That's nice. Jeez, did no one think to ask them when they were going to start?!! But the good news, according to Rees, is that an advisory committee will be established comprised of area residents who will sit down with the logging consultants and work together to make the logging as painless as possible. Yep, the chickens and wolves will be sitting down at the table together. Perhaps, my dad would have said at this point, "Well, it is better than a kick in the ass with a frozen boot."

Anyways, Rees sent this information to the Coast Reporter's stringer - not to the community. The reporter has kindly shared the information with us and it will be appearing in this Friday's newspaper. Here is what Bev Saunders has written about this advisory committee:

"Our Area A Director John Rees has been listening to our concerns about logging here in Egmont. With the support of the SCRD Board, John is looking for local residents in our area to join an advisory committee that will work with Tsain-Ko's management group, Chaskin. Members of this committee would meet on a regular basis and review all aspects of proposed logging around Egmont. Meetings could also include field trips. He is looking for ten committee members from North, Waugh, and Ruby Lake areas plus a chairman. Anyone who is interested in joining this committee should contact Rees at jarees@dccnet.com. This is a great opportunity for our community to have some real input in how our forest are logged. Please consider joining to represent our community."

Gosh, isn't that wonderful? Do I sound cynical? You bet. So, let's see now. According to the the posting below while the SCRD is holding a Board of Health meeting and WFP's reps and lawyers are in attendance and while WFP is preparing to state its case to the board, damn if WFP isn't out logging its cut in the watershed. And, if I remember correctly, I heard that back when Pinnacle Ventures (pre-PNR) was doing its logging at Lake Cowichan one partner was talking to the Boy Scout Camp manager about the nice spot they were going to move the Scouts to and lo and behold if the other partner wasn't out logging that very same spot. Yep, lots of jawing while the trees are falling. Oh, but I am sure that won't happen here because we will have real input on how the trees in our watershed will be logged.

Support the Chapman Creek Five

It's party time in Roberts Creek! This Saturday night, the Robert's Creek Community Hall welcomes the Sunshine Coast to a benefit concert and dance to raise funds for the Watershed Legal Defense Fund. There will also be a Live Services Auction with the opportunity to bid and out-bid on such items as 'A night at a beautiful B&B.' 'Two hours of with an Accountant.' 'Two hours of quilting lessons for beginners (yeah, Three Ducks on a Roof in Egmont!). The event is also a celebration of the uniting of the Coast from Port Mellon to Egmont over an issue that affects us all - logging in our watersheds. Here are the details:

"Winning the Watershed Benefit"
Saturday, July 28, 2007
7:30 pm
Roberts Creek Community Hall
featuring
The Billy Hillpicker Band
Trudy Diening Groupl with Graham Ord & Blaine Dunnaway
Dance 10 pm - midnight with Fat Fish Creek

The Chapman Creek Five lost their bid to block Western Forest Products' injunction in the BC Supreme Court on the 17th. You can read the Coast Reporter story here or you can read the details on the 'Protect Chapman Creek Watershed' website. The next hope to prevent WFP from moving ahead with its logging rested with the SCRD assuming the role of a Board of Health. It did so on early this week and accepted public submissions on both Monday and Tuesday. As a result of these exemplary submissions, the SCRD in this adopted role issued a 'stop work' order against WFP; however, the motion was too late. After punching through the logging road into the watershed, WFP headed straight for the watershed portion of its cutblock and brought the trees down. You can read the details here. We are all waiting to see what decisive action the SCRD undertakes next.

THE CHAPMAN CREEK FIVE

If I can take liberties with Winston Churchill's famous speech "The Few," it may one day be said about the battle to save the Chapman Creek Watershed, "Never...was so much owed by so many to so few." I am writing here about The Chapman Creek Five: Hans Penner, Ron Neilson, Germaine Wilson, Ken Dalgeish and Michael Sidal.

One month ago, these five individuals put up the initial barricade to block Western Forest Products from beginning its road building in the Chapman Creek Watershed. These same individuals are now named in an injunction filed by WFP in the BC Supreme Court. Their first court appearance was last Monday, July 9th and they and their lawyer were granted an additional week to prepare their defense. They will return to court on Tuesday, July 17th.

Due to their convictions and the convictions of others who have since joined them, our regional government and local health agencies have been given the breathing room to take steps that will hopefully result in the complete shut down of logging in our coastal watersheds. However, these five individuals of whom four are senior citizens now face a legal bill of $10,000; the cost of challenging Western's injunction application in court.

Therefore, a plea is going out to all citizens of the Sunshine Coast to help cover these court expenses. An account, Watershed Legal Defense Fund, has been established at the Sunshine Coast Credit Union and you can deposit at or mail contributions to any SCCU branch. If you would like an acknowledgement for donations, send your cheque to:

c/o Dale Peterson
Watershed Legal Defense Fund
141 Forbes Rd. Gibsons, BC. V0N 1V6

As well, as of this date, any contributions made through this FOE site and the ravagedegmont.com site using the PayPal Donate button will be forwarded to the Chapman Creek Five's 'Watershed Legal Defense Fund.'

Coast Watershed Map

Friends of Egmont gained access to a new map of the watersheds recently produced by the SCRD's Planning & Development Department. Seaweed, ravagedegmont.com's webmaster, has put this .pdf file up on the server so readers can access it. The file is a good size at 1.7 MB so I would recommend anyone on dial-up to do a right click on the link below and click "Save link as..." or "Save target as..." and save the file somewhere on your hard drive. You can zoom in quite a bit on the map. Here is the link:

Sunshine Coast Watersheds Map

We thank Kim Tournat, our MLA Nicholas Simon's Constituency Assistant, for forwarding that map to us.

We would also like to thank SCRD Area D Director (Roberts Creek), Donna Shugar, for adding our blog to her 'links' page. Donna's website is a good resource for coast and creek issues and I would recommend bookmarking it to keep it handy.

Welcome Ground Truth Trekking Visitors!

I ran into a young American couple the other day at the Green Rosette Bakery on the Skook Trail. Erin and Hig are a month into a 4,000 mile trek that will take them from Seattle to False Pass at the tip of Alaska's Aleutian Archipelago. They are travelling by foot, packrafts and skis and anticipate completing their incredible journey by next March. They updated their blog from our Heritage Museum and you can read what they have written about our area here. I will place a link to their blog under "Site Worth Visiting" to the right. I think it will be interesting to follow their journey up the BC coast and see our province and country through their eyes. All the best to you both, Erin and Hig, in the days and months ahead.

Ecoforestry Meeting on July 12 in Egmont

The Friends of Egmont are inviting all Sunshine Coast Residents from Port Mellon to Egmont to attend a Public Meeting on Ecoforestry. We are fortunate to have two guest speakers from Vancouver Island:

Jay Rostogi
Site Manager for Wildwood
Land Conservancy of BC

Barry Gates
Malahat Ecoforestry Products

Wildwood on Vancouver Island is the oldest ecoforest on the west coast of North America. Founded by Merve Wilkinson in 1938 and now owned by the Land Conservancy of BC, Wildwood continues Merve's practices of true selective logging ensuring forest survival for future generations.

Barry Gates is manager of 400 hectare private forest at Shawnigan Lake. Both Barry and Jay are members of the Ecoforestry Institute and will share their experiences and views on alternatives to clear-cut logging. The Public Meeting will take place at:

7:00 pm
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Egmont Community Hall

For further information, click on Wildwood and the Ecoforestry Institute under "Sites Worth Visiting" in the column to the right.

"Our Ancerstors Are Watching"

The following letter appeared in this past week's Coast Reporter. It was sent to both the newspaper and to Western Forest Products.

"My name is Willard Joe, and I am a member of the Sechelt Indian Band. My family name is well known amongst our Band, and my family has a long history with our traditional territories.

I wish to advise your company that I visited your company's logging roads that have been built in the Chapman Creek watershed, and there I sang a song for protection over my traditional lands.

The late Chief Dan George's song was taught to me by a Squamish band member and the song reaches out to my ancestors and asks for their protection over the watershed.

My singing and drum sounds went deep into the forest and the ancestors knew my presence. I ask your company to respect my traditional lands and mot continue with your plans to build roads and log trees in the watersheds."

That is a beautiful letter Mr. Joe. Now, we ask with deep sincerity that you come to our watersheds here in Egmont to sing Chief Dan George's song and to drum. We ask that you reach out to your ancestors for their protection against the clear-cutting and road building planned in our watersheds and in this territory, too.

SCRD & Our Watersheds

The following are the motions passed by the SCRD at it's June 21, 2007 meeting. They show the direction the SCRD is taking in regards to logging on the watersheds throughout the coast and towards Egmont's Waugh Lake Watershed and the Chapman Creek Watershed in particular.

331/07
THAT the Planning and Development Committee recommendations No 1-4, 16, 22-24, and 32 of June 21, 2007 be received, adopted and acted upon as amended at follows:

Recommendation No1 - Waugh Lake Watershed

That with respect to the proposed logging by Tsain Ko in the Waugh Lake Community Watershed, that staff review the requests from the Egmont community, and prepare information as to what the Regional District can so to support their requests and concerns, including the status of the a Watershed Reserve on Waugh Lake;

AND THAT staff request information from Tsain Ko on their proposed logging plans, environmental studies andother supporting documents;

AND FURTHER THAT staff send a letter to Tsain Ko inviting them to meet with the SCRD Board to explain thier plans, and that the invitation to participate in the meeting include representatives from the Ministry of Forests, Dr. Pau Martiquet and Tim Adams, and that a copy of the letter of invitation be forwarded to SIB Chief and Council.

Recommendation No 2 - Logging Within Watersheds

THAT staff provide information on all watersheds and proposed cutblocks with watersheds with active water licenses (for the purpose of indentification), timber licences holders within them, location of chart areas of the licences, and terms of tenure;

AND THAT the SCRD request a meeting with the Minister of Forests and Range to discuss information on logging within watersheds, and an invitation be extended to the SIB to participate in the meeting with the Minister.

Recommendation No. 3 - Watershed Reserves

THAT staff investigate the process required to establish Watershed Reserves on lakes providing a source of community drinking water such as Ruby Lake and Waugh Lake.

Recommendation No. 4 - UBCM Resolutions Re: Community Watersheds

THAT the SCRD send a letter to UBCM requesting that they work with the SCRD in recommending strategies to address forestry activity in community watersheds;

THAT SCRD and Sechelt Indian Band meet at a mutually convenient time to discuss broadening the Joint Watershed Management Agreement to include all drinking water watersheds on the lower Sunshine Coast;

AND THAT the Squamish Indian Band be invited to attend.

CARRIED

324-07
THAT given the workload generated by concerns related to the Chapman Creek, Wilson Creek and Egmont Watersheds, staff be authorized to retain consultants to obtain information the Board is requesting regarding watersheds, cutblocks, jurisdictions, etc.

CARRIED

325-07
THAT a meeting be scheduled with Stuart MacPerson of the Private Managed Forest Council.

CARRIED

326-07
THAT a letter be sent to the Premier outlining the situation concern the approval of Western Forest Products cutblocks in the watershed, and including the history of water surveying and the service provided to 23,000 people, and the SCRD's frustrations and the cost of the water treatment plant;

AND THAT the letter put the province on notice that the SCRD will cosider them negligent for any risk or incident in the watershed due to Western Forest Products logging, noting that the quality and quantity of water will be monitored;

AND FURTHER THAT the letter be copied to Nicholas Simons, MLA, and the Ministers of Forests, Health and Community Services.

CARRIED

327-07
THAT a copy of the letter to the Premier be hand-delivered to the Honourable Rich Coleman, Minister of Forests.

CARRIED

328-07
THAT staff consult with SCRD legal counsel and if they are amenable, contact West Coast Environmental Law for advice about who in the legal community would best be able to meet our needs on the watershed issue.

CARRIED

330-07
Recommendation No. 2 - Letter to Ombudsman re: Logging in Watersheds

THAT the SCRD, as a Sunshine Coast water purveyor, write a letter to the Ombudsman asking that mining and logging in the Chapman Creek watershed be halted due to the threat to drinking water quality and request that consideration be given to all community watersheds with the Sunshine Coast Regional District.

Recommendation No. 3 - Logging in Chapman Watershed

THAT a letter be sent to Western Forest Products expressing the Sunshine Coast Regional District's concerns regarding logging in the Chapman watershed and that Western Forest Products be asked to inform the SCRD of their intentions in this regards.

Recommendation No. 4 - Columbia National Investments

THAT a letter be sent to Columbia National Investments (CNI) asking for clarification on the following comments that were made at a recent Public Open House:

• Confirmation that CNI will not be logging in the Chapman watershed
• What CNI considers the "watershed" to be
• CNI's offer to negotiate granting an easement for access to the SCRD water intake

Recommendation No. 5 - Logging in the Chapman Creek Watershed

THAT the Board, pursuant to Section 13 of the Drinking Waters Protection Act (DWPA), notify the Drinking Water Officer that logging and road building underway in the Chapman Watershed presents an imminent threat to the drinking water supply;

AND THAT the Board, pursuant to Section 25 of the Drinking Water Protection Act (DWPA) request the Drinking Water Officer to stop all logging and road building within the Chapman Watershed until such time as a Drinking Water Protection Plan is in place;

AND THAT the Board request that the Drinking Water Officer begin the process of developing a Drinking Water Protection Plan for the Chapman Creek watershed;

AND THAT the Board request a letter of support from the Sechelt Indian Band, District of Sechelt and Town of Gibsons in recommending a moratorium on all logging and road building in the Chapman Creek watershed until such time as a Drinking Water Protection Plan and Assessement Response is completed.

AND THAT the Board send a letter to Western Forest Products, Ministry of Forests, and the District and the District Forest Manager requesting that a moratorium on all logging and road building in the Chapman Creek watershed until such time as a Drinking Water Protection Plan and Assessment Response Plan is completed;

AND THAT the Committee, given the sensitive nature of the issues, direct staff to send these letters as soon as possible, and before the next Board meeting;

AND THAT a letter be ssent to Triton Environment Consultants Ltd. requesting writeen confirmation that there is an immenient threat to the Chapman Creek watershed and Sunshine Coast drinking water due to logging activity by Western Forest Products.

AND FINALLY THAT the Committee consider a press release advising the public of these actions.

CARRIED

336-07
THAT the following resolution be adopted and forwarded to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities for consideration at the 2007 convention:

Bill 11

WHEREAS Bill 11 amends the Local Government Act to allow the Lieutenant Governor in Council to designate a resort region and establish a resor municipality without the consent of residents within that area and without consultation and support of the affected Regional District;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT Bill 11 be amended so that the designation of a resort region and the establishment of a resort municipality is contingent upon the support of the affected Regional District by resolution and the consent of residents and property owners within the Regional District by referendum.

CARRIED

SCRD begins building its war chest

The following email arrived this morning from Dan Bouman, Director of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association. It announces that the SCRD took its first tentative steps in a new battle to stop logging and road building in the Chapman Creek watershed.

"Greetings All!

Watershed activists won a small but highly significant victory tonight (Thursday) at the regular meeting of the Sunshine Coast Regional District.

The SCRD agreed that it is a "local board of health" and is obligated to investigate a citizens' complaint that Western Forests Products' activities in the Chapman Watershed are a health hazard.The SCRD will undertake this investigation diligently and without prejudice. The Directors also agreed to send a letter to WFP asking that they voluntarily agree to cease and desist pending the investigation outcome.

As well, the Directors agreed to begin the groundwork of establishing a $1,000,000 fund for use in pursuing watershed protection through the courts, if this becomes necessary.

I feel strongly that SCRD directors and staff deserve our gratitude and support for these measures. I would also like to thank you for your efforts and support as we have struggled to deal with this latest watershed emergency.

It may be cliché to say but it's never been more true; working together, we can make a difference!

Have a great weekend! Next week we will begin proving that Chapman Watershed logging is a threat to public health. Thank you so much!

Cheers, Daniel"

All regional governments particularly on Vancouver Island will be watching how this goal to protect a watershed unfolds since all the watersheds in BC are wide open to logging. We hope it bodes well for us, too, in our goal to stop logging in our own watersheds.