Green Inlet

Sunday May 18 1997 - British Columbia

Update from the Great Bear Rainforest

Standing on the deck of the Moby Dick at dawn we can hear the marbled murrelets as they emerge from deep in the rainforest valleys to find fish for their young. It is not unusual during the day to see bald eagles flying over head or perching on the top of the ancient cedar trees on the island off our starboard side.

There is rare family of harlequin ducks that can often be seen skimming the surface of the water beside the ship. Yesterday, six seals (five black and one pure white) circled the ship and the floating base camp, popping their heads up out of the water and studying us curiously. The steep mountain sides of Green Inlet are covered in dense lush rainforest and capped iceblue glacial peaks. At times the only sound in the inlet is the roar of the waterfalls cascading down the mountain sides.

On the day that we arrived a black bear came out of the forest and onto the rocks searching for mussels and other delicacies. We have been told by the local First Nations (the Kitasou people) that the Spirit Bear (a rare white bear) and grizzly bears also live in this inlet.

We have now been in the region for a week , building our base camp, setting up communications and studying the activities of the logging company Western Forest Products(WFP)-also known as Doman. We have set up our floating camp in Green Inlet to monitor the activities of WFP who plan to helicopter log these steep mountain slopes this summer. Not far from the mouth of the inlet WFP is actively logging the old growth rainforest on Roderick Island.

We have sent in teams of people to monitor their activities. In the past week the company has stepped up their operations and are now active in at least five different locations, falling trees, blasting roads and yarding the logs. For many of the thirty people living on the ship and barge it is the first time that they have experienced the beauty and richness of these forests and stood beneath towering trees that are hundreds of years old. While there are many Canadians here there are also people from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Switzerland and the United States.

Everyday, scouting teams have been hiking through the barren clearcuts and listening to the chainsaws rear through the ancient rianforests. Despite how difficult this work has been our spirits are high and we are heartened by the knowledge that our actions in the coming weeks will help to raise awareness around the world of the threats facing Canada's Great Bear Rainforests.

We have had several visits from local Forst Nations people and have found that many share our concerns regarding WFP's logging plans. However, the Kitasou have recently started Treaty negotiations and have decided to pursue negotiations in order to achieve decision making power over their traditional territories rather that active protests. We hope that our work here will help them attain their goals.

It has been wonderful to hear of campaign events in other countries. Congratulations to all the folks in Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston.

From the rainforests,

The forest campaign team and crew of the Moby Dick