Gravelly Bay; One year later
A year ago, on a cold February 12, a bunch of feisty folks stood in front of small and giant industrial trucks, chewed out BC Ferries staff and held space on the roads at Gravelly Bay, resulting in around 110 trees being saved from the axe. BC Ferries and their workers tried placating us, arguing that Denman community had fair warning of their expansion plans. Some hyper-charged workers, eager to spill/fell trees, used intimidation tactics of various kinds but no one got hurt. The RCMP showed up and asked us what we wanted, which of course was a silly question and then proceeded to ask us to leave several times. With firm resolution, we continued to block industry from cutting down any trees. By the end of the day, no compromises were made and we achieved our goal. BC Ferries seems to be in hiding when it comes to any further mention of Gravelly Bay but we are watching them closely.
“….trees and plants have agency. They perceive, relate, communicate; they exercise various behaviours. They cooperate, make decisions, learn and remember-qualities we normally ascribe to sentience, wisdom, intelligence. By noting how trees, animal and even fungi-any and all non-human species- have this agency, we can acknowledge that they deserve as much regard as we accord ourselves. ” Suzanne Simard, in her book Finding The Mother Tree, explores her life-long passion for understanding forests as living super-organisms. Intact forest ecosystems are our best solution for mitigating climate change. But we must save all forests as part of being allies to Indigenous peoples, whose lands were stolen by our ancestors, and for the sake of their inherent beauty, elegance, inspiration and sanctity. And for the sake of their rain-making capabilities, their vast biodiversity, and their role as sanctuaries for endangered and even unknown animal and plant species.
