World's Largest Log Barge Occupied to Protest Rainforest Destruction
8/2/96
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/** gp.press: 124.0 **/
** Topic: 8/1 BC:World's Largest Log Barge Oc **
** Written 8:47 PM Aug 2, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in cdp:gp.press *
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Subject: 8/1 BC:World's Largest Log Barge Occupied
Date: Fri, 2 AUG 96 19:51:17 GMT
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Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
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WORLD'S LARGEST LOG BARGE OCCUPIED TO STOP RAINFOREST
DESTRUCTION
Press Release- McClinton Bay, Haida Gwaii, B.C., Canada 12:00 noon August 1,
1996 (GP) Today on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) Greenpeace activists
boarded and prevented further loading of the Haida Brave one of the world's
largest log barges. Owned by MacMillan Bloedel, the ship is used to transport
raw logs from clearcut areas of temperate rainforest to pulp and lumber mills in
the south of British Columbia.
As logs were being loaded onto the Haida Brave, two Greenpeace zodiacs
approached the loading operation by water, chained themselves onto the barge.
The operators were forced to stop all loading procedures and responding by
rocking the ship trying to shake the activists off.
"MacMillan Bloedel is tearing down these irreplaceable rainforests and shipping
them out at an astonishing rate," said Tamara Stark, Greenpeace Forests
Campaigner. "Greenpeace will not stand idly by and allow the last areas of
pristine rainforest be destroyed."
MacMillan Bloedel currently cuts 1.2-million cubic metres of wood on Haida Gwaii
each year and ships the raw logs off-island to mills in the lower mainland and
Vancouver Island for processing. None of the four logging companies currently
clearcutting on Haida Gwaii operate processing facilities on-island. A local
community process (Island Community Stability Initiative which brings together
people from Share BC, Haida First Nations and MacMillan Bloedel staff and the
environmental community) has called for a 50% reduction in the volume logged
annually and for dramatic tenure reform which would give the local community
more control over forest management. The logs are coming from disputed land that
the Haida are currently claiming through the treaty process.
"Every time the barge goes by loaded with logs, everyone knows and feels it's
grand theft taking place, that it's genocide for the Haida people and a
continuation of the company's and government's intentions to log off our islands
for their own benefit. They take with them our past and our future. It must
be stopped," said Ralph Stocker a Haida First Nations activist.
Greenpeace is vowing to stop the barge for as long as possible.
Haida Gwaii is one of the areas of concern within the temperate rainforest
region. Canada~s temperate rainforest stretches from South of Vancouver along
the west coast to the Alaskan border and currently 96% of it is open to logging.
Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on all logging in the remaining pristine
rainforest areas and for full biological and cultural assessments.
For more information contact:
Tzeporah Berman, Greenpeace Vancouver at (604) 253-7701 to
arrange interviews with activists in Haida Gwaii
Ralph Stocker, Haida First Nation, in Masset at (604) 626-3519
Greenpeace Press Backgrounder
Temperate Rainforests
Canada is home to 25% of the world's remaining coastal temperate rainforests.
Worldwide over 50% of the temperate rainforests have already been destroyed. The
largest areas left in the world are in British Columbia, Alaska, and Chile.
British Columbia has only protected 6% of Canada's temperate rainforests and
currently logs approximately 23 million cubic meters a year (approximately 30%
of total old growth forest logged in the province). Alaska (also home to 25% of
the world's temperate rainforest) has already protected 30% of their temperate
rainforest and currently logs 1 million cubic meters a year.
Temperate rainforests are complex dynamic ecosystems that are a result of over
15,000 years of post-glacial activity. These ancient rainforests play an
important role in moderating the local climate (highest rainfall recorded in
North America), storing carbon (because of the size and age of the trees
temperate rainforests have the largest living biomass of any ecosystem on earth)
and providing essential habitat for mammals, birds, insects and fish.
The majority of Canada's temperate rainforests are being exported to the United
States, Europe and Japan to produce newspapers, magazines, phonebooks and
lumber.
Greenpeace estimates that at current logging rates all of Canada's temperate
rainforests will be roaded or clearcut logged within 10 years.
The World's Largest Log Barges
The Haida Brave and the Haida Monarch are two of the largest self-loading log
barges in the world. The barges hold approximately 12,000 cubic metres of logs
from the temperate rainforest at one time.
This is the equivalent of the same load carried by 400 logging trucks. Both
barge were built by Yarrows Shipyard of Victoria (now bankrupt), and are owned
by timber giant MacMillan Bloedel, the company responsible for logging more of
Canada's temperate rainforests than any other single company.
The barges travel at an approximate speed of 11-12 knots when loaded and take an
estimated 48 hours to travel from the Queen Charlotte Islands, which are also
known as Haida Gwaii, to Vancouver.
Both barges run up and down Canada's west coast and occasionally into the United
States, moving the felled temperate rainforests to mills in Powell River,
Nanaimo, Howe Sound, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Names: HAIDA BRAVE HAIDA MONARCH
call sign: VG 2739 CZ 5562
owner: Macmillan Bloedel Macmillan Bloedel
registered: Vancouver Vancouver
tonnage: 8120 9519
length: 121.39 m 129.01 m
beam: 25.35 m 26.98 m
draught: 6.082 m 6.274 m
Say Good bye to Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands)
The Haida Brave or the Haida Monarch load up on the shores of Haida Gwaii two or
three times per week. In one year the barges will take away a total of
$200,000,000 worth of felled cedar, hemlock and spruce from the region. Ninety-
four per cent of all the rainforests cut on Haida Gwaii are barged out to
mills in the Lower mainland or Vancouver Island for processing.
Logging in Haida Gwaii provides 427 direct jobs to on-island residents, only
one-fourth of all the jobs generated by the trees cut. The local community is
calling for a 50 per cent reduction of logging in the island's Timber Supply
Area and for on-island processing facilities that would keep more jobs at
home. None of the four large logging companies currently clearcutting the
rainforests of Haida Gwaii operate processing operations on the islands.
** End of text from cdp:gp.press **
/** gp.press: 125.0 **/
** Topic: 8/2 Log Barge Still Being Blockaded **
** Written 8:47 PM Aug 2, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in cdp:gp.press *
*
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Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
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MASSIVE LOG BARGE STILL BLOCKADED IN MASSET INLET Protest Over Rainforest
Destruction Builds as the "Haida Brave" is Confronted by Haida Activists
Press Release- MASSET INLET, HAIDA GWAII, BRITISH COLUMBIA - August 2, 1996 --
1:00 a.m. (GP) MacMillan Bloedel's massive log barge, the "Haida Brave" has
retreated into Masset Inlet after being confronted by Haida activists,
protesting the logging giant's destruction of temperate rainforest on their
islands.
Late yesterday, eight Haida paddled a cedar canoe into Masset Inlet in front of
the village of Old Masset. Other members of the First Nations community
accompanied the paddlers in small boats. The activists brought the barge to a
standstill as it attempted to leave the area loaded with logs. Eventually
operators of the barge retreated back inside Masset Inlet.
The action followed another confrontation with barge earlier in the day,
launched by Greenpeace activists who boarded the "Haida Brave" and disrupted the
loading of logs.
For More Information Call:
Tamara Stark in Masset: 1-604-626-3318
Tzeporah Berman in Vancouver: 1-604-253-7701
Mary MacNutt in Toronto: 1-416-597-8408
*Video of the First Phase of the Action is available through
Reuters, WTN and Associated Press Video. Second phase will
hopefully be available tomorrow.
** End of text from cdp:gp.press **
/** gp.press: 126.0 **/
** Topic: 8/1 BC:Log Barge-Activists Cut Free **
** Written 8:47 PM Aug 2, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in cdp:gp.press *
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Subject: 8/1 BC:Log Barge-Activists Cut Free, GP Gives Chase
Date: Fri, 2 AUG 96 19:51:41 GMT
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Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
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MACMILLAN BLOEDEL CUTS GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS FREE, GREENPEACE
GIVES CHASE
Press Release-Masset Inlet, Haida Gwaii, 3:30 pm, August 1, 1996 (GP) Three
activists chained themselves to the MacMillan Bloedel raw log barge the Haida
Brave this morning in McClinton Bay in Masset Inlet in Haida Gwaii (the Queen
Charlotte Islands).
Employees on the barge turned the fire hose on the Greenpeace activists trying
to force them off with a strong spray of water and then cut off one activist who
was chained to the stern ladder using a gas-powered grinder.
The barge then pulled anchor and proceeded up Masset Inlet to begin it's journey
back to the lower mainland, however two teams of Greenpeace activists in
inflatable zodiacs have given chase and will attempt to block the barge in the
inlet.
Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on all logging in the remaining pristine
rainforest areas of British Columbia and full biological and cultural
inventories.
For more information contact: Tzeporah Berman or Steve Shallhorn at Greenpeace
in Vancouver 253-7701. They can arrange interviews with activists on site.
** End of text from cdp:gp.press **
/** gp.press: 127.0 **/
** Topic: 8/2 GP Stops World's Largest Log Ba **
** Written 8:48 PM Aug 2, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in cdp:gp.press *
*
Subject: 8/2 GP Stops World's Largest Log Barge-Int'l Press Release
Date: Fri, 2 AUG 96 19:52:21 GMT
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Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
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GREENPEACE STOPS WORLD'S LARGEST LOG BARGE
Press Release-Vancouver/Amsterdam, August 2, 1996 (GP) Yesterday Greenpeace
activists boarded and stopped the world's largest log barge, owned by
multinational logging company MacMillan Bloedel, at Haida Gwaii in the Queen
Charlotte Islands of Canada. The action, carried out off the Coast of British
Columbia by 3 activists, is aimed at preventing further destruction of the
remaining ancient Canadian rain forests.
As logs were being loaded onto the barge, two Greenpeace inflatables approached
the loading operation by water and three Greenpeace activists climbed onto the
barge. The activists locked themselves onto the cranes of the barge and unfurled
a banner that read " MacMillan Bloedel - Number 1 Rainforest Destroyers." The
operators were forced to stop all loading operations for several hours before
they could cut off the activists.
Haida First Nation natives supported the Greenpeace action and joined in the
protest in their war canoes, thus blocking the barge and preventing it from
continuing its work. The Haida have accused the company and the Canadian
Government of ignoring the concerns of the local people and stealing and
plundering their forests. "MacMillan Bloedel is tearing down irreplaceable
Canadian rainforests and shipping them out at a rate that will destroy the Haida
Gwaii forest within 5 - 10 years", said Ralph Stocker, a local Haida activist at
the site of the barge occupation.
Greenpeace is calling for permanent protection of all the remaining ancient
rainforest areas that are still intact in the Haida Gwaii area. "At a time when
the Brazilian Government has recently announced a 2 year ban on the logging of
all mahogany in the Amazonian rain forest, Greenpeace urges the Canadian
Government to announce a moratorium on all industrial logging in the threatened
Canadian rain forests", said Thilo Bode, Executive Director of Greenpeace
International.
The barge, called the Haida Brave, can carry a log load equivalent to 400
logging trucks. MacMillan Bloedel is one of the largest timber companies in the
world and is the number one destroyer of Canada's threatened rain forests,
cutting an annual 1.2 million cubic metres of wood on Haida Gwaii alone.
The Haida Brave loads up with logs two or three times a week from Haida Gwaii,
British Columbia. This means that over 30,000 cubic metres of timber are logged
every week from the rain forests in the region and transported down the coast to
mills near Vancouver for processing.
Canada's coastal temperate rainforests, which comprise 25 per cent of the
remaining coastal temperate rainforests in the world, are found exclusively in a
narrow band along British Columbia's coast. This type of rainforest once found
on every continent except Africa and Antarctica is one of the most endangered
forest types in the world.
Less than 6 per cent of Canada's ancient rainforests are protected from logging
and approximately one third of this rainforest has already disappeared. These
forests are home to countless plants and animals including endangered grizzly
bears and wolves, otters, eagles and salmon and trees that are hundreds of years
old.
For more information contact:
Tim Birch Campaign Coordinator in London ++44 1 433 651 776
GPI press desk, Holger Roenitz ++31 20 5249 545
Greenpeace Vancouver, Tzeporah Berman ++1 604 253 7701
(cellular phone) ++1 416 505 1792
betacam footage is available through Reuters TV Washington and
AP TV