Dear Forest Friends:
There are 9 BC Timber Sales old-growth cutblocks on Vancouver Island that have been on their auction list since last summer. I decided to fight this monolithic Goliath and applied for a West Coast Environmental Law Dispute Resolution grant last fall. After 4 months of slog, I successfully got the grant (with endorsements from The Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Garry Merkel from the Old-Growth Review Panel) and found a great lawyer, Ben Isitt to help. In less than 3 days I raised $500.00 to pay him the amount the grant will not cover; thanks to some of you! He will investigate all the legal arguments that could be used in a courtroom. But we really need to begin applying pressure on BCTS to stop allowing old forests to be cut down, especially in the light of Indigenous land claims and the climate crisis. I formed a group called Vancouver Island Forest Focus and we are ready to roll.
I need a volunteer steering/advisory committee to help me:
– communicate with lawyer Ben Isitt
– organize demos at all BCTS district offices on Vancouver island
– liaise with all Indigenous groups whose lands are within the 9 BCTS auction cutblocks
– track when each of the 9 BCTS cutblocks could be auctioned off
– coordinate media campaigns
– coordinate fundraising campaigns
– coordinate letter writing campaigns
Any questions or offers of help? Please be in touch.
For all the Forests:
Eartha Muirhead (ejmuirhead4@gmail.com)
