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Coordinates: 53°0′0″N 128°0′0″W / 53.00000°N 128.00000°W / 53.00000; -128.00000
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Bear Rainforest
Lowland forests of Kitlope Heritage Conservancy
Map
Map showing the location of Great Bear Rainforest
Map showing the location of Great Bear Rainforest
Geography
LocationBritish Columbia, Canada
Coordinates53°0′0″N 128°0′0″W / 53.00000°N 128.00000°W / 53.00000; -128.00000[1]
Area64,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi)
Administration
Established19 May 2016
Ecology
Ecosystem(s)British Columbia mainland coastal forests

History

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Campaign for protection

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The temperate rainforests of the Central and North Coast of mainland BC were largely unknown to conservationists as late as the 1980s. Then Peter McAllister, an ex-chair of the Sierra Club of Western Canada,[2] veteran forest campaigner[3][4] and early advocate for boycotts against the timber industry[5][6][7][8][9] chartered a three-masted ship, skippered by the arctic adventurer, Sven Johansson,[10] and sailed north from Victoria in the summer of 1990 with a crew of conservationists.[2]

It would be the first of a series of exploration voyages to the Central and North Coast of British Columbia with the mission of protecting the remaining unlogged watersheds[11][12][2] and bringing recognition to the ecological and cultural values of a significant expanse of the earth’s temperate rainforest.[13]

The second exploratory expedition was aboard the sloop of Baden Cross, the invaluable diesel mechanic, navigator and map maker on future voyages aboard the Pyewacket 11, McAllister’s sister ship to the larger racing yacht of the Disney family.

On the third expedition in 1993, again onboard the North Star of Herschel Island, was the beginning of interaction with Chiefs, elders and teenagers of the Heiltsuk First Nation concerning the fate of their salmon and the conservation of their traditional territory. (YouTube documentary, Great Bear Rainforest, Ethan Sing/Peter McAllister, Watershed)

Organizing themselves under the flagship banner of the Raincoast Conservation Society[1] they alone conducted the Great Bear Rainforest Campaign until 1996 when many of the environmental organizations involved in the struggle to save Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island began to join the campaign. The first were Greenpeacers from Vancouver who organized a marine blockade of a logging operation in Heiltsuk territory and joined the Raincoast Conservation Society’s collaboration with Rainforest Action Network on boycott strategy.

While the Society's expedition voyages took on board an international array of journalists, filmmakers, photographers, scientists and conservationists[2][14][15][16] the first order of business on every voyage was to offer support to the coastal First Nations in their struggle to take back their traditional territories from the timber industry.[17][18]

On the inaugural expedition they discovered MacMillan Bloedell was poised to log the Koeye River watershed (18,625 ha). Prized for its salmon runs and famed for its healthy grizzly population, the Koeye together with the adjacent Namu River watershed is one of the largest complexes of ancient forests of British Columbia’s Central Coast.[2] On returning to Victoria, McAllister, armed with the Koeye River Watershed Wilderness Proposal, convinced the Social Credit government to set aside the Koeye from logging. In 1991 the watershed began its legislative journey to full protection.[19][20]

The second exploratory expedition was aboard the sloop of Baden Cross, a founding director of their Great Bear Campaign flagship, the Raincoast Conservation Society. In Bella Bella on the third expedition in 1993 was the commencement of a long term interaction with Chiefs, elders, and concerned teenagers of the Heiltsuk First Nation regarding the conservation of there traditional territory on the Central Coast (YouTube documentary, Great Bear Rainforest, Ethan Sing/Peter McAllister, Watershed)

In 1994 Ian and Karen McAllister would sail their trimaran “Halibut” from Ottawa down the Hudson River and through the Panama Canal to join the Pywacket 11, McAllister’s sister ship to the famous racing yacht of the Disney family. Raincoast expeditions would cover 1000s of kilometres of ragged coast line and fjords all the way to the Alaskan border, the full extent of the Great Bear.

Commencing with the third expedition in 1993, Peter’s family including Ian McAllister, Karen McAllister, and Bernadette Mertens McAllister became valuable team members.[21]

Mike Humphries, a Second World War fighter pilot, flew aerial reconnaissance, enhancing the documentation of remote logging operations while offering a bird's eye view[22]of this vast landscape of the Great Bear[23](“Raincoast: North Among the Fjords”).[2]

In 1994 Ian McAllister discovered a headless and pawless grizzly bear carcass. Shooting blinds hidden up in trees above salmon spawning beds were found. The Society went to work uncovering and exposing a scandal of rampant poaching and overhunting of the threatened bear population.[24][25][26]

Stories of these first years of the campaign were presented in slide shows in western North America and Europe while those on board spread the word in newspapers, articles, journals and magazines.[27][28][29] Award winning film documentaries brought international condemnation and the cancellation of contracts with pulp and paper producers.[30][31][32][33]("Battle for the Trees"). In 1994 Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, said “Magazine wants no part of B.C. pulp”,[34] Excerpts from a documentary depicting clearcutting were picked up by CNN and PBS.[35] [36] (“Legacy: Killing a Temperate Rainforest”). Jup Weber, MP of Luxembourg, a leader of the Greens, and a critic of the province’s logging practices, invited Peter McAllister to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to present evidence of the over-cutting of the coastal temperate rainforest, countering decades of denials by the provincial government and the timber industry.[37][38]

Evolution of the name “Great Bear Rainforest”. First it was publicized as the Hidden Coast” and the “Raincoast.”[39][40] In 1993 the flagship organization representing their campaign was registered as the “Raincoast Conservation Society.”[41] Expeditions became known as “Raincoast Expeditions.”[42][43] In 1993 after the third expedition, Peter McAllister first used the “Great Bear” name in honour of the coastal grizzlies lording if over the salmon rivers. “Great Bear Wilderness” made its appearance in a 1994 Raincoast Conservation Society publication.[44][45] In 1996 Ian McAllister added “Rainforest” to the “Great Bear” name when the Raincoast Conservation Society met with Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco to develop their international market campaign strategy.[46]

In 1996 Raincoast’s aerial reconnaissance photography of hidden logging operations in the Great Bear was used by Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco to begin developing an international market campaign. Major home building suppliers inspired by the evidence, threatened logging companies operating in Heiltsuk territory with boycotts.[47] This helped force the provincial government and the timber industry to come to the table for the beginning of a long process of negotiations involving the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest.[48][49]“Watershed: Canada’s Threatened Rainforest” (“Great Bear Rainforest- Ethan Sing / Peter Mcallister”).

A Kermode bear from the Great Bear Rainforest

In May 2004, after years of conflict and negotiation, the stakeholders agreed to recommend the BC government that about 3,500,000 acres (14,000 km2), about 33% of the Great Bear Rainforest, be put under some form of protection, and that new forms of ecosystem-based forestry be required throughout the rainforest. This fell short of the scientific recommendations, which had concluded that 44%–70% should be protected. The recommendation given to the BC government was a compromise agreed to by the stakeholders after years of difficult negotiations.[50] The stakeholders included provincial and local governments; many BC First Nations such as the Heiltsuk and Homalco; the ENGOs Greenpeace, ForestEthics, Rainforest Action Network, Pacific Wild, and Sierra Club BC and forestry corporations such as Canadian Forest Products, Catalyst Paper Corporation, International Forest Products, Western Forest Products; and many others.[51]

On 7 February 2006 a comprehensive protection package was announced for the Great Bear Rainforest, which was defined to include the central and north coasts of BC and Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement included four key elements: rainforest protection, improved logging practices, the involvement of First Nations in decision making, and conservation financing to enable economic diversification. The final agreement banned logging in 33% of the Great Bear Rainforest and implemented ecosystem-based forestry management for the entire Great Bear Rainforest by 2009.[50]

The 2006 agreement between the BC government and a coalition of conservationists, loggers, hunters, and First Nations established a series of conservancies stretching 400 kilometres (250 mi) along the coast.[52] The proposed protected areas will contain 18,000 square kilometres (6,900 sq mi), and another 46,900 square kilometres (18,100 sq mi) that is to be run under a management plan that is expected to ensure sustainable forest management.[52]

The Canadian government announced on 21 January 2007 that it would spend CA$30 million for protection of this rainforest. This matched a pledge made previously by the British Columbia provincial government, as well as private donations of $60 million, making the total funding for the new reserve $120 million.[53]

In autumn 2008, Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC and ForestEthics (jointly known as Rainforest Solutions Project) launched an online campaign titled, "Keep the Promise," to put public pressure on Gordon Campbell, then Premier of British Columbia, to honour the Great Bear Rainforest agreement in its entirety. The groups were concerned certain aspects of the agreement, including implementation of ecosystem-based management, would not materialize in time for the government's own final implementation deadline of March 31, 2009.[54]

Government recognition and protection

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Coast Mountains along Grenville Channel

Premier Christy Clark announced on February 1, 2016, that an agreement had been reached between the government of British Columbia, First Nations, environmentalists, and the forestry industry to protect 85% of the 6.4 million hectare Great Bear Rainforest from industrial logging.[55][56] The remaining 15% would still be subject to logging under stringent conditions. The agreement also recognizes aboriginal rights to shared decision-making and provides a greater economic share of timber rights and $15-million in funding to 26 First Nations in the area.[55][57][58]

The Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act was introduced by cabinet on March 1, 2016.[59] In September, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, visited and unveiled a plaque in the forest acknowledging its admission into The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy.[60]

Fuel spill

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On 13 October 2016, a tugboat hauling an empty tanker barge ran aground on a reef just off the coast of Athlone Island in Seaforth Channel (52°08′29″N 128°11′53″W / 52.141334°N 128.198055°W / 52.141334; -128.198055 (Fuel spill near Athlone Island, BC)). The reef was located in the traditional territorial waters of the Heiltsuk First Nation and within the larger Great Bear Rainforest. The tug leaked over 100,000 litres of diesel fuel and sank into the channel. By 26 October, the fuel tanks of the tug were emptied and about 101,131 litres of oily water was recovered.[61][62] The fuel spill was the last major incident to occur in the region since BC Ferries' Queen of the North ran aground and sank off the coast of Gill Island on 21 March 2006.[63]

Public outcry over the incident coupled with increased interest in preserving the ecological integrity of the rainforest helped to spur the passage of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act on 21 June 2019, which prohibits any oil tanker from docking at any port along the North Coast of British Columbia.[64][65]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Great Bear Rainforest". BC Geographical Names.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing pp. 72-73
  3. ^ Young, Cameron (December 1989) BC Business, Is This Man the Enemy? “Environmentalist Peter McAllister relentlessly dogs the forest companies’ every move. Just what does he want?” BC Business
  4. ^ Young, Cameron (May 26-June 1988), “His old corporate cronies may think he has switched sides. But Peter McAllister says working as a leading environmental lobbyists is just good business”. SIERRA PADRE, Monday Magazine
  5. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing pp. 72-73
  6. ^ Tafler, Sid (August 30-December 5, 1990), “The European Connection” Monday Magazine "CA UVICARCH SC684".
  7. ^ Wickens, Barbara with Hal Quinn, (May 13, 1991) “A Powerful Screen Attack” p. 36 Maclean’s Magazine
  8. ^ Quinn, Hal, (June 10, 1991) A clear-cut fight: “B.C. logging becomes an international issue” Maclean’s Magazine
  9. ^ (June 30, 1991) “European boycott latest tactic in clearcut battle“, Times Colonist
  10. ^ MacFarlane, John M and Johansson, Sven, (summer 1991) The North Star p. 17, Last of the Western Arctic Eskimo trapping schooners is still making a contribution after being rescued from a beach on Banks Island”, Maritime Museum of British Columbia
  11. ^ Keith Moore, (1991) COASTAL WATERSHEDS, An Inventory of Watersheds in the Coastal Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, EARTHLIFE CANADA FOUNDATION & ECOTRUST/CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
  12. ^ Joel Connelly (May/June 1991) BRITISH COLUMBIA’S BIG CUT, Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club with a publication of 500,000
  13. ^ Cameron Young (Fall 1994), “Canadian Forests at Risk” "Wild Earth".
  14. ^ (January/February 1994) Canada’s Secret Forests “THE CHAINSAWS DRAW NEAR” Before the FALL, SIERRA, THE MAGAZINE OF THE SIERRA CLUB
  15. ^ Howard, Cori (Monday, November 15 1993) "Alarm Grows Over Clear-Cutting on Majestic Coast" San Francisco Chronicle
  16. ^ Lavoie, Judith, (Friday, May 27, 1994), Crusader: "Clearcut carnage threatens rainforest valleys" Times Colonist
  17. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 151
  18. ^ Tafler, i, (Dec. 2-8, 1993) The Heiltsuk Connection “How a tribal park land and one determined Victoria man could shift the battle over forestry to the mainland coast” Monday Magazine
  19. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing pp. 148-149
  20. ^ Little, R.W., (April 1991) Koeye River Watershed Wilderness Reserve Proposal
  21. ^ Harvey, Roy, (Thursday, September 16, 1993) Where salmon is king: “Nature’s bounty is the anchor of the schooner North Star’s meals” Chicago Tribune
  22. ^ Pinch, Diane, (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 150
  23. ^ Cowell, Douglas (November/December 1995) Forgotten Forest, CANADIAN WILDLIFE Documentary Film: “Raincoast: North Among the Fjords”
  24. ^ McAllister, Peter, (September 1995) “Canadian Chain Saw Massacre” Translation of Das Kanada-Kettennsagenmassaker BBC WILDLIFE WWF Germany
  25. ^ McAllister, Peter,(Spring 1996) “History has taught us that we rarely come to the rescue of any species until it is too late”, the GRIZZLY BEARS of the COASTAL RAINFOREST VALLEYS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Raincoast Conservation Society publication
  26. ^ Lavoie, Judith, (Thursday, December 1,1994) “Alarms sounded to shield grizzlies at coast” Times Colonist
  27. ^ McAllister, Peter, (March 29, 1995) Presentation, House of Representatives, Berlin, Germany
  28. ^ Maxwell, Jessica, (January-February 1994) The Last Best Rainforest: “Clearcuts in British Columbia have roused Canadians to Action” AUDUBON
  29. ^ Genovali, Christopher, (Summer 1995) Beyond Clayoquot Sound, EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL
  30. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 72
  31. ^ Gill, Dominic, (October 1, 1992) “Front-ranking British publisher cancels plans to buy B.C. newsprint” LOOT says “No”, London’s Notice Board
  32. ^ Findley, Rowe, (September 1990) Endangered Old-Growth Forests: “Will We Save Our Own”, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC p. 132
  33. ^ Edgentin, John, Film Documentary, "Battle for the Trees"
  34. ^ Hamilton, Gordon, (Wednesday, February 2, 1994) SIERRA: Magazine Wants No Part of B.C. Pulp: Other environmental publications are likely to follow suit, “Sierra says it has ended its odious British Columbia Connection” The Vancouver Sun
  35. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 150
  36. ^ Film Documentary LEGACY: Killing a Temperate Rainforest (Nov. 21, 1996) Press Release: “LEGACY” the winner of 4 awards at the International Wildlife Film Festival will be going on tour to 156 cities as a prize winner of the 21st Annual BANFF FESTIVAL OF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL. (November 3, 1996) The 21st Annual Banff Festival of Mountain Films wishes to acknowledge Legacy as the recipient of the 1996 Special Jury Award
  37. ^ Pinch, Diane (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 172
  38. ^ (June 16, 1993) Speech to the Members of the European Parliament, Helsinki, Finland, The Green Group
  39. ^ Seattle Audubon Society, BRITISH COLUMBIA’S RAINFORESTS: THE Hidden Coast, slide lecture by Peter McAllister, Seattle Audubon Society
  40. ^ (Fall 1994), Raincoast Wilderness, WildEARTH
  41. ^ (June 22, 1993) Raincoast Conservation Society: Society Act, Annual Report
  42. ^ (1993) Schulz, Karen, Raincoast Expeditions ’93 The Spearhead
  43. ^ (Nov. 27, 1994) “For the sake of the ancient forests, the grizzlies, the wild salmon and us all…THIS STORY MUST BE TOLD” A MULTI MEDIA PRESENTATION ON THE 1994 RAINCOAST EXPEDITION, RAINCOAST ’94
  44. ^ (1994) McAllister, Peter, “Almost every wilderness valley or inlet with significant stands of timber will have logging roads through them in three to five years” CANADIAN Raincoast Wilderness, A Raincoast Coast Conservation Society Publication
  45. ^ Pinch Diane, (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 148
  46. ^ Rainforest Action Network Trophy, 2002 World Rainforest Award, Peter McAllister and Ian McAllister, Rainforest Heroes
  47. ^ (Saturday, January 22, 2000) “The Rainforest Action Network, a militant San Francisco based group, is taking aim at large U.S. home builders with a publicity campaign to deter them from using old-growth lumber” THE GLOBE AND MAIL
  48. ^ Pinch, Diane, (2019) Passion and Persistence: Fifty Years of the Sierra Club in British Columbia, Harbour Publishing p. 148
  49. ^ Great Bear Rainforest- Ethan Sing / Peter Mcallister
  50. ^ a b Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean; Zimmerman, Michael E. (2009). Integral ecology: uniting multiple perspectives on the natural world. Shambhala Publications. p. 471. ISBN 978-1-59030-466-2. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  51. ^ "Province announces a new vision for coastal B.C." British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  52. ^ a b Struck, Doug (2006-02-07). "Huge Canadian Park Is Born of Compromise". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  53. ^ "Canada acts to protect rainforest". BBC News Online. January 22, 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  54. ^ "Environmentalist turns to online campaign to protect B.C. forest". CBC News. November 28, 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  55. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference GlobeProtect was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  56. ^ Cite error: The named reference CBCProtect was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  57. ^ "Coast Land Use Decision Implementation". BC Strategic Land and Resource Planning. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  58. ^ "Proposed 2015 Great Bear Rainforest Order and Potential Biodiversity, Mining and Tourism Areas / Conservancy Designations". BC Strategic Land and Resource Planning. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  59. ^ "B.C. legislation to halt logging in much of Great Bear Rainforest". The Globe and Mail. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  60. ^ "Royals endorse Great Bear Rainforest as part of Queen's Commonwealth Canopy". CBC. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  61. ^ "Bella Bella". Western Canada Marine Response Corporation. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  62. ^ Lindsay, Bethany (October 14, 2016). "Diesel fears after tug and petroleum barge run aground near Bella Bella". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  63. ^ "Queen of the North". Western Canada Marine Response Corporation. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  64. ^ Zada, John (November 16, 2016). "Canadian First Nation cleans up latest fuel spill mess: Fuel spill in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest adds to pressure to cut fuel transport lines on Pacific Coast". British Columbia: Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  65. ^ "Oil tanker moratorium on British Columbia's north coast". tc.canada.ca. 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2020-10-06.

Further reading

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