Canada Loggers Bypass Protests to Log in Temagami
9/23/96
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Canada Loggers Bypass Protests
By DAVID CRARY
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 1996 The Associated Press
Monday, September 23, 1996 6:24 pm EDT
TEMAGAMI, Ontario (AP) -- Breaking a three-week blockade by environmental
protesters, loggers felled 120-year-old pines Monday in one of the last
remaining old-growth forests in eastern Canada.
Two protesters were arrested after they chained themselves to logging equipment.
A total of 37 people have been arrested since a Toronto-based group called
Earthroots set up a tent camp along a dirt road leading to the Owain Lake
forest.
The start of logging marked a major setback for Earthroots and allied groups
that have campaigned for more than a decade to protect old-growth forests in the
Temagami region, a vast tract of woods and lakes about 250 miles north of
Toronto.
More than 300 protesters were arrested in 1989 when they blocked a different
logging road in the region. The protests prompted the government to set up a
planning council, and after lengthy negotiations it proposed allowing logging in
one-third of the old-growth forests, including Owain Lake.
Protesters were caught by surprise Sunday when Goulard Lumber Co. logging crews
roared past their camp at daybreak and prepared to begin cutting. By Monday
afternoon, several hundred red and white pines, virtually all 120 or more
years old, had been sawed down.
"It made some of the protesters feel sad, but it also made them feel very
determined," said Lea Ann Mallett, an Earthroots organizer who spent nine days
in jail this month and was at the tent camp Monday.
She said protesters planned to remain in their camp throughout the logging
operation, which could last until the first snowfall. She also predicted there
would be further acts of civil disobedience.
"This is part of a long-term commitment," she said. "Other logging and mining
companies are watching what is happening here. We want them to know they are
going to meet resistance."
The protesters want the Temagami area off limits to loggers and miners because
its old-growth forests are among the few remaining vestiges of accessible
wilderness in eastern Canada. In April, the Ontario government agreed to protect
12 stands of old-growth trees, but at the same time approved mining and expanded
logging in the area.
Last week, hundreds of prospectors fanned out through the region to stake
mineral claims, but it could be several years before significant work begins at
any of the newly claimed sites.
The Owain Lake tract covers 790 acres; Goulard received permission to take about
half of the trees.
In the town of Temagami, the long protest campaign has angered many residents
and created ill will toward the minority of locals who sympathize with
Earthroots. That minority believes the town's future lies in tourism, while
others say mining and logging are crucial if Temagami is to slash a jobless rate
that surpasses 40 percent in the off-season winter months.
Last week, about 250 of the town's 900 residents marched through the tiny
commercial district, supporting the loggers and denouncing the Earthroots
protesters, who are known locally as "tree-huggers."
One of the men behind the march was Ivan Beauchamp, who runs a transport company
and formerly was Temagami's reeve -- the equivalent of mayor.
"The people in this little community -- when times get tough, they pull
together," Beauchamp said. "We have nothing more to lose. If the protests
continue, people are going to get more riled up. Someone's going to get hurt."