GREENPEACE AND CANADIAN FIRST NATION ESCALATE STRUGGLE TO PROTECT GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

PORT HARDY, 25 June 1997

Five Greenpeace activists continue their day long occupation of one of the world's largest log barges to protest the destruction of The Great Bear Rainforest. A further 24 activists, representing members of the Nuxalk First Nation, Greenpeace and three other environmental groups will appear in a Vancouver court this morning. Their charges relate to a 19 day old blockade in which they stopped all clearcut logging on King Island in the Great Bear Rainforest.

The protests come as Canada's destruction of its temperate rainforests come under increasing scrutiny at the United Nations Special General Assembly Meeting on the Environment.

"How can we ask Brazil to stop the illegal logging and clearing in Amazonia when two of the world's wealthies nations, Canada and the U.S., are, as I speak, logging their last remaining rainforests into extinction," said Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode in his address to the United Nations late yesterday.

Satellite mapping shows that half the world's temperate rainforests have been destroyed; the majority of what remains is in Alaska, British Columbia and Chile. British Columbia is cutting its rainforest at a rate thirty times greater than Alaska.

The barge occupied by the Greenpeace activists, the Seaspan Rigger,carries the equivalent of 400 truckloads of timber covering an area equal to 56 football fields. The trees were cut by Interfor. Across the top of the barge, the activists have unfurled a banner reading "Rainforest Destruction ---Don't Buy It." The barge, with the activists on board has been towed to Port Hardy from Smith Inlet where it was boarded by the Greenpeace team.

With the arrest of the the 24 activists who were blocking Interfor logging operations on King Island, the logging company will resume clearcutting in the area which is considered sacred to the Nuxalk people. It is the place, according to the Nuxalk creation story, where the first woman descended to the world. The Great Bear Rainforest is also of extreme ecological importance because it contains the world's largest remaining areas of temperate rainforest in the world. It contains an enormous diversity of plant and animal species.

During the arrest Hereditary Chief Qwatsinas of the Nuxalk Nation said "The Great Spirit is flowing upon us, here at Ista. The Killer Whale came with its little one. They no longer hear the trees falling, nor do they hear the sound of logging trucks. The whales came from Him, our Great Father, to acknowledge us for what we are doing. The Killer Whales are standing with us. Thank you for all the support throughout the world and for the prayers that have been said."

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tzeporah Berman, Greenpeace Vancouver, 604-253-7701:

Michael Hopf, Greenpeace Germany: 49 4030618-0;

Dr. Matthew Bramley occupying the Seaspan Rigger: 604-341-5665;

Steve Shallhorn aboard the Arctic Sunrise: 416- 451-9354 or 011-872-324-453-810

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