The 2012 Battle to Save the Bluffs
It was the defining, coming of age moment for FOSBA. Plans were afoot to clear-cut the Bluffs, but the passion, leadership and tenacity of FOSBA pushed the issue into the public eye and raised sufficient awareness and support to literally stop Island Timberlands in its tracks.
Feb 1, 2012 - Nola Poirier was on a morning hike on the Bluffs with her 2 dogs, when she was shocked to see timber cruising paint on some trees and an Island Timberland truck parked at the trail head. Freaked, she made a phone call.
Feb. 2nd,2012 - A clarion call went out to the supporters of FOSBA. - The Bluffs were in grave danger. It had been verified; Island Timberlands was planning a logging campaign for the spring. Notification was instant to our regional board directors and their CAO, our MLA, the mayor, the city council, the press, Jump radio and of course the many Friends of Stillwater Bluffs. Printed petitions were circulated. E-words with wings spread exponentially. A delegation was organized to make a presentation to Regional Board committee of the whole on Feb. 16th.
Feb. 16th, 2012, FOSBA presented four main requests to the Regional District committee of the whole namely:
a) To meet with IT and find out what they plan to do and to explain the local concerns
b) To engage with IT and hire an independent qualified environmental professional to assess the pro’s and con’s IT’s plan
c) Request a 5 year delay in IT’s plan in order for the community to develop a plan to save the Bluffs
d) Request that the RD develop and implement a Parks & Greenspace plan.
Feb. 25, 2012 - Friends occupied the Bluffs in protest from noon on Saturday the 25th till noon Sunday. There was a great, well organized turnout, with plenty of discussion.
March 8, 2012 - A FOSBA delegation again spoke to the P.R.D. committee of the whole to reiterate and pressure our RD board to seek a solution and begin serious communication with I.T.
March 27th. Wayne French (forestry rep. for I.T.) met for a walk about on the Bluffs along with a FOSBA group including David Moore, Abby McLennan, Wayne Brewer, Marc Albert, and Eagle Waltz. New information regarding the now imminent plans of Island Timberlands was presented. It was learned that Island Timberlands would soon be flagging and tagging trees with spray paint for block and road layout.
April 10th ,2012 – Once again a FOSBA delegation spoke to the committee of the whole with this new information.
David Moore addressed the board. His pitch to the board was simple and clear and passionate, "please communicate with I.T. management that the RD is considering DL3040 for park - and request that they please stop any onsite operations pending further development". No director offered any directive at this point. David then reiterated to them that Wayne French was going full steam ahead with harvest planning quite possibly because Wayne and I.T. have received no substantial request from our Regional District to do otherwise. In particular the meeting our Regional District had with I.T. in March was not with management, but with lower level functionaries. One other request FOSBA presented was in regards to a letter that a Cortez Island board member had written and submitted to I.T. It had resulted in a six month ceasing of operations on Cortez Island. FOSBA’s request was for a similar letter to be written on behalf of the Stillwater Bluffs. This request seemed to fall on deaf ears and it took City councillor Maggie Hathaway's outburst of, "Let's just write the letter! They can say no, but at least we can write a letter." She was then asked by the chair if she would like to put that in a motion. She did and it was unanimously passed. THANK YOU MAGGIE!!
Following is a copy of the letter penned by Mac Fraser and we invite you to read it. The result: Until today our precious Bluffs are still intact.
Darshan Sihota President Island Timberlands
Re: District Lot 3040 Powell River – Stillwater Bluffs
As you may be aware, the Powell River Regional District has identified District Lot 3040 Powell River as one of six regional park acquisition objectives through its Regional Parks and Greenspace Plan. In recent conversation with local Island Timberlands staff, the Regional District has been made aware that planned logging operations on the property would be deferred if the Regional District entered into meaningful discussions about acquisition of the property. Please take this letter as formal confirmation of this intent with the expectation that Island Timberlands will immediately cease all planning and harvesting of the standing timber on the property will adversely affect our subsequent acquisition negotiations.
The length of the proposed deferment of planning and harvesting operations will need to be further defined to our mutual satisfaction. Our staff is ready to meet with the appropriate Island Timberland staff at a time and place of your choosing to complete this detail and start confidential discussions about acquisition of the property. It is suggested that this meeting should be a priority to give you confidence of our seriousness and not to unnecessarily encumber or delay your corporate operations.
Thank you for your staff’s offer of the deferment of operations and I look forward to a progressive and mutually beneficial negotiation of our acquisition of the property.
Mac Fraser
Chief Administrative Officer.
Through our monthly bulletins we will keep you informed. You will hear about the Bluffs from many different angles in the hopes that being well informed you can lend your support when the time comes for action. Please keep reminding those busy friends and family about FOSBA. They can join (only $10) and/or donate here at https://www.fosba.org. Thus far we have 351 signed members. Our goal for 2024 is 500.
Lauritz Chambers
Pres.
Comments