Weyerhaeuser Commitment to Great Bear Questioned
7/21/99
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Title: Weyerhaeuser Commitment to Great Bear Questioned
Source: Environmental News Network
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: July 21, 1999
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups hope to rally public
opinion and pressure the Weyerhaeuser Company into protecting British
Columbia's Great Bear rain forest, the largest remaining intact
temperate rain forest in the world.
Weyerhaeuser, based out of Tacoma, Wash., is the world's largest
producer of softwood lumber and market pulp. The company recently
acquired MacMillan Bloedel, one of Canada's largest forest products
companies.
Prior to being acquired, MacMillan Bloedel had made a series of pro-
environment commitments to environmental groups. Steven Rogel, CEO of
Weyerhaeuser, has said that the company will honor the commitments.
"We are declaring our intention to honor commitments made by MacMillan
Bloedel to transition its coastal British Columbia operations to
variable retention harvesting, to increase old growth and habitat
conservation in this region, and to implement the Clayoquot Memorandum
of Understanding. We will also continue moving toward certification of
sustainable forestry to meet customer expectations," Rogel said July 13.
Nevertheless, the Sierra Club remains wary, based on what they say is an
extremely poor track record.
"Despite Weyerhaeuser's announcement, we are still very concerned about
the vagueness of their policy toward the Great Bear rain forest given
their uneven environmental record," said Maiya Shaw, conservation
organizer at the Sierra Club. "We need a solid commitment from them
that they will leave this rare and endangered wilderness from becoming
scaffolding."
The group cites the fact that Weyerhaeuser is currently involved in the
environmental investigation or remediation of 45 Superfund sites around
the United States, and has a history of extensive violations of Canada's
Forest Practices Code. It is also the first, and so far the only company
to actually have charges brought against it for violating the code. The
charges range from illegally harvesting timber to destroying fish
habitats and cutting too close to streams.
The Great Bear rain forest stretches from Vancouver Island to southeast
Alaska. It comprises more than 8 million acres of coastal rain forest
and is home to the rare white Kermode, or Spirit Bear, grizzlies, wolves
and bald eagles, and is a rich spawning ground for salmon.
The Sierra Club message: The world is watching.