Sliammon First Nation files suit over decade-old landslide mess

Sliammon First Nation sues governments and forestry company, saying road defects caused slide and depleted salmon stocks
SUNNY DHILLON, Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER — The Sliammon First Nation in Powell River filed a lawsuit against a northwest forestry company and the provincial and federal governments on Tuesday “to compel cleanup of damage caused to its Toquana Reserve” in a 1995 landslide.
“It was mud and debris and everything else,” Sliammon First Nation Chief Walter Paul said.

Protecting the public interest in B.C. forests

Forestry can best meet expectations of the public by striving to meet them
Ray Travers, Special to Times Colonist
British Columbians have just witnessed a spirited public exchange between auditor general John Doyle and Forests Minister Pat Bell over the release of the report “Removing Private Land from Tree Farm Licences 6, 19 & 25: Protecting the Public Interest?”
Why is protecting the public interest — a central concept in B.C. forestry — attracting so much attention? Done well, it should result in us being better off.

Talks continue on proposed logging in Hesquiaht

Gillian Riddell, Westerly News; with files from http://www.iisaak.com and http://www.focs.ca
Talks are continuing between environmental groups and a forestry company run by local First Nations about logging in the untouched Hesquiaht Point Creek valley in Clayoquot Sound.
On Monday, just hours before a deadline imposed by the environmentalists, a news release was issued stating the groups would be meeting with the Central Region First Nations Chiefs.

Minister to review Crown, private logging practices

Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Forests Minister Pat Bell will be in Campbell River today taking a look at the difference in logging practices on private managed forestlands and Crown land.
Bell, who is meeting with the forestry round table in Campbell River, said he will look at blocks being logged by TimberWest.

Ongoing threat fuels Clayoquot rally, group says

Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Clayoquot Sound remains under threat, even though a temporary truce has been called in a brewing battle between environmentalists and companies wanting to log an old-growth valley, says a prominent environmental group.
Friends of Clayoquot Sound, which grew out of massive protests that halted logging in Clayoquot in 1993, will hold a rally in Tofino Saturday to draw attention to what it calls industrial threats facing the area.