MACMILLAN BLOEDEL VIOLATES RAINFOREST PROTECTION AGREEMENT

Activists Blockade Logging in B.C's Clayoquot Sound, Target U.S. Customers

TOFINO, BRITISH COLUBIA, JUNE 21st 1996.

Activists from Greenpeace and the Friends of Clayoquot Sound are in the second day of a blockade of a logging operation in one of N. America's largest contiguous rainforest areas. Thirty-six activists have shut down the active logging roads and three activists are chained to the log loader, which is used to load the logs from the pristine valleys of British Columbia's Clayoquot Sound. The blockade in B.C. was mirrored by a mailing in the U.S. to the country's largest newspaper, magazine and phone directory publishers, urging them to sever their business ties to MacMillan Bloedel.

The blockade occurred after discovering that MacMillan Bloedel was logging in a pristine area of Clayoquot Sound - a clear violation of the recommendations made by top government-chosen scientists. Almost one year ago, the Science Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound made stringent recommendations which MacMillan Bloedel promised to abide by, a commitment MB used to assure their international newsprint and phone directory paper customers that they should keep buying from the Canadian logging giant. The Science Panel was formed after 850 people were arrested blockading MB's logging in Clayoquot in the Summer of 1993 - the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

"The world has a right to know that Clayoquot Sound's rainforests are still being destroyed. A year after the Science Panel the pristine areas remain on the chopping block," said Karen Mahon of Greenpeace. "The band-aid solutions that have been tried in Clayoquot have not worked. We need to protect the rainforest valleys before we lose them forever."

Greenpeace is calling for full protection of all the remaining pristine rainforest areas in Clayoquot Sound. Based on this flagrant transgression, Greenpeace and its partners in the Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition - Rainforest Action Network, Natural Resources Defense Council and Pacific Environment & Resources Center - have renewed their efforts to shift the U.S. paper market away from clearcut ancient rainforest products and towards ecologically sound alternatives.

"The ongoing destruction of Clayoquot Sound is an international scandal," said Marc Evans, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner. "B.C.'s industry and government have led the world to believe that the controversy is solved. We will ensure that major paper buyers in the U.S. and Europe are informed of the continued threat to Clayoquot's remaining pristine rainforests by MacMillan Bloedel."

Clayoquot Sound is 650,000 acres of coastal temperate rainforest, 20% of which has been clearcut to date. It is the traditional home of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nations and contains redcedar trees up to 1700 years old, as well as wolves, bald eagles, Rosevelt elk, river otters, martens and salmon.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karen Mahon on board Greenpeace's MV Moby Dick: 011 872 130 2403

Tamara Stark at Greenpeace-Vancouver: 604/253-7701

Valerie Langer or Tzeporah Berman at F.O.C.S. in Tofino: 604/725-4218

Marc Evans at Greenpeace-San Francisco: 415/512-9025