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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Canadian Couple Champions Great Bear Rainforest

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

     http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

      http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

 

06/18/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Canada's Great Bear Wilderness is one of the World's most important

temperate rainforests.  Despite being "one of the most intact

healthiest ecosystems on the Earth," it is to be subjected to

industrial, clear-cut logging.  Canada likes to position itself as a

leader in forest management internationally.  The truth of the matter

is that they continue to destroy their remaining ancient forests--

including the Great Bear rainforest.  They following piece

illustrates how individuals and small groups can organize and make a

big difference in conserving important local forests.

g.b.

 

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

 

Title:  Canadian couple champions Great Bear Rainforest

Source:  Copyright 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.  

Date:  June 16, 2000                

By:  David George                       

 

(CNN) -- The word "rainforest" conjures images of steamy jungles

packed with monkeys, parrots and other tropical animals. But one

couple is committed to saving a different kind of rainforest in

Canada.                          

 

The Great Bear Rainforest is on of the most intact healthiest

ecosystems on Earth. But the wilderness may not remain that way

because of industrial, clear-cut logging.                                                         

                                                                  

"Few people even realize that Canada has a rainforest," said Ian

McAllister, an activist with the Raincoast Conservation Society,

hiking through a section of the Great Bear.                                                      

                                                                  

"You think that these forests have been standing for thousands of

years. And a couple weeks from now, all these trees will be gone," he

said.                              

                                    

McAllister and his wife Karen have spent the last ten years fighting

to save this forest. In 1990, they formed the Raincoast Conservation

Society, a watchdog group that collects photographic and scientific

evidence of what's happening in the Great Bear. They are trying to

change logging laws and protect the wildlife in the rainforest.                                      

                                   

"These ancient temperate rainforests are more endangered than the

Amazon because they covered historically such a small part of the

globe.  We've already lost half of that and most of what remains is

found on the coast of British Columbia in the Great Bear Rainforest,"

McAllister said.

                                                                  

The coastal region is home to many mammals on land and in the water,

like grizzlies, deer, dolphins and whales. It is also the only place

you will see the Spirit Bear, a rare white subspecies of black bears.                             

                                                                 

But the McAllisters said they watch the forest trees float down the

river by the boatload.                             

                                      

"I can't imagine having to look out my window and not see this view.

It would be terrible," Ms. McAllister said. "But when you watch a

barge full of logs go down everyday in front of your place, you know

that it's happening."                             

                                                                 

More than half the trees that are cut down go the United States, in

large part to build houses, McAllister said.

                                                                  

"So they are destroying homes for grizzly bears and spirit bears, to

build homes for Americans," he said.            

                                                                 

The McAllisters said logging affects habitat for salmon, and the

animals that feed on the fish.                           

                                                                 

"All the forests being clear cut, the rivers silted. We've watched the

grizzly bears and the salmon disappear in those valleys," McAllister

said.

                                                                 

Working from a remote headquarters in the forest, the McAllisters have

gained international notice. They have written a book, been featured

in numerous news articles and caught the attention of some powerful

supporters, like Robert Kennedy Jr., an environmental attorney in the

United States.

 

"There's a way to log many of these rainforests without destroying

them, to do it sustainably. And we've seen the beginnings of that. The

work of Ian and Karen McAllister has been invaluable," Kennedy said.                              

                                                                 

The McAllisters new project: assessing the status of wolves in the

Great Bear rainforest. They hope their work will help the forest and

its inhabitants survive for centuries to come.