ARRESTS IMMINENT IN RAINFOREST BLOCKADE

Roderick Island, Great Bear Rainforest, B.C., 29 May 1997

The arrests of Greenpeace activists blockading a Western Forest Products' (Doman Industries) clearcut operation in British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest appear imminent. The protesters have refused to leave the island after an injunction gained by Western Forest Products on Wednesday was served in the remote region at around 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evening. The injunction legally bars logging protests on Roderick Island.

Eight activists began their non-violent protest against the clearcutting on Roderick Island nine days ago by locking on to logging equipment, effectively halting clearcutting in the area.

"We came here to protest this destructive practice and have so far stopped the felling of nine thousand trees," said Mario Rautner, an Austrian volunteer. "This rainforest is a global treasure, and we must protect it from being turned into phone books, hot tubs, advertising inserts and other disposable products by greedy companies like Doman/Western Forest Products."

"We hope our presence here will be a message of hope for the whole world that this rainforest can be saved," said Maxine Tang of Vancouver, B.C.

Through the continued presence of a floating base camp and the MV Moby Dick, Greenpeace will continue to bear witness to both the majesty and the destruction of the Great Bear Rainforest -- the world's largest area of intact temperate rainforest, a rich ecosystem that has been degraded or severely fragmented where it once existed on five continents.

Greenpeace is calling for an end to clearcutting, no new roads in the temperate rainforest and no logging in any of the remaining pristine rainforest valleys.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karen Mahon, Greenpeace Vancouver - tel:604 253 7701, cell: 604 220 7701