Haida forestry conflict analyzed

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On March 14, I joined a trainload of people at the CN station in Edmonton, who were enroute to Vancouver to support the Haida Indians.

The Haidas have been trying since 1974 to stop logging on certain areas of their traditional ancestral lands, specifically Lyell Island and South Moresby Islands in the Queen Charlottes.

What has evolved since then is an ugly controversy between the traditional Haida Council of Elders and the British Columbia government, with the Native people bearing the brunt of unfair and often questionable ethics on the part of the government.

Improper logging practices on Lyell and South Moresby Island have caused massive destruction of salmon spawning grounds, severe erosion problems, and threatened the continued existence of a very unique and special people.

ANALYSIS

This article will attempt to analyze the situation as it exists today. If the article appears to be slanted in favor of the Haida Indian, then it is because the writer is sympathetic to their plight. As a Native person and as a practicing forest technologist,

I feel that the Haida problem has many parallels to other situations affecting the natural resources of this country, not only in B.C. but in Alberta and even throughout North America.

It is time that the issue is taken up by those who have the technical expertise to make an intelligent statement in regards to just what the hell is happening over there.

The problems that the Haida are facing are problems that our people face throughout

this country and it's time that we let the public know just who is at fault, and maybe by putting this type of information in print, it will stand witness to the ruination of a culture. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

In this article, there will necessarily be some technical terms. The use of this terminology is unavoidable when talking forestry in a technical sense, but the terms will

be defined where appropriate.

ELDERS SPEAK

While traveling to Vancouver with the caravan I had the opportunity to speak

with the Haida elders who were accompanying the protestors on their cross-country journey from Sydney, Nova Scotia. Besides myself, AMMSA reporter Jeanne Lepine,

and Treaty 6 observer Walter Janvier, there were only about a dozen Native people riding in the company of approximately 150 naturalists, environmentalists and conservationists. On board were the three Elders who were arrested for blocking passage to the loggers at their worksite on Lyell Island. Hearing the story from the old people filled me with a growing sense of disbelief that such a colonialistic attitude could still exit in today's society. Obviously Premier Bennett and his cabinet have little conscience when it comes to determining the hows and wherefores for lining their own pockets.

Let me explain...

The forest industry in B.C. is still orientated towards lumber production, as opposed to Alberta's trend towards production of wood chips for pulp.

In 1943, the B.C. government became concerned over the unbalanced pattern

of timber harvesting and the inadequate provisions for future crops; most timber was still being cut on old tenures concentrated in the best stands and in the accessible parts of the lower coast. Thus, while extensive regions of mature and overmature timber were untouched in areas such as South Moresby and Lyell Island, the rate of harvesting in some areas threatened exhaustion of resources

LICENCES

Knowing that these practices gave small assurance of continuous forest production, the B.C. government introduced the Tree Farm Licence (TFL) system of timber disposal in 1945.

Ideally, the TFL system was designed primarily to enable the practice of sustained yield forestry by industry. A good idea, if applied conscientiously, but it failed to take into account the basic motivator of a materialistic society, that of greed. Today terms like sustained yield, annual allowable cut and multiple use have become nothing more than catchwords tat are freely used by smooth-talking "spokesmen" to the investigating media.

Most of the forest land in B.C. is now included in 34 TFLs (4 MM ha).) and in 94 Public Sustained Yield Units (PSYUs), which are the administrative disposal units for smaller, independent operators. The Haida Tree Farm License No. 24 is the TFL working compartment for the Queen Charlotte Islands and is the centre of the Haida/Western Forest Products controversy. In reality, the Haida have nothing to do with the management of Haida Tree Farm Licence No. 24. Neither do they own or manage the Haida Monarch - a monstrous self-loading, self-dumping barge that takes several days to load and is the size of a football field. This slow-moving timber ship is one of the barges that carries the centuries-old logs from cutting areas in the Queen Charlottes to landings in Vancouver.

GUIDELINES

The B.C. Forest Service has initiated what is known as close utilization standards. These are, simply, guidelines to improve the utilization of timber and to ensure that a timber operator uses as much of the tree as practicable. The utilization standards state that all timber must be cut to a 10 cm. top and stumps must be left no higher than 30 cm. from the ground.

The Haida are claiming that these utilization standards are being blatantly ignored. They can cite instances of loggers high-grading or high-stumping, and have noted that these practices have worsened with the advent of their actual, physical intervention of the loggers at the worksite(s). While most of the loggers are sympathetic to their plight, some of them have deliberately used poor cutting practices in a childish attempt to get back at the Haida for what they construe to be a threat to the security of their jobs.

Ada Yovanovich is a white-haired, heavy-set Haida woman and one of the three Elders who was arrested for blocking a road on a part of their sacred, ancestral lands. When questioned as to why she took part in the blockade, she repied that..." we have laws, too. And our law is to protect our land. If the logging goes on then there will be no jobs. For anyone."

QUOTA RAISED

In November of last year, Western Forest Products had already but their quota,

or Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for the year. The minister approved the raising of the quota. Since then they've been working 24 hours a day. The local people have noted that in areas where loggers once were clear-cutting every single tree, now they are only taking the very best. They also noted "a lot of logs being left in the bush" that the loggers are not picking up.

The Haida people are very devout. Their attachment to the land is the same as that of Native people throughout this country -and that the earth is our Mother and that we must respect her and protect her. The empathy that the Haidas have for their land and the reverent manner to which they refer to HAADA GWAII has shamed the B.C. government. In January, the Vancouver Sun released a poll that showed widespread support for the Haida position. Sixty-five per cent of the readers believed the Haida committed no crime.

The crime is that of poor logging practices and greed.

The Minister can suspend or cancel a Tree Farm License in case of a violation.

On HAADA GWAII there has been many violations. Poor management planning coupled with a lackadaisical observance of well-intentioned ground-rules established by government and industry has resulted in deteriorating the once majestic stands of centuries-old cedar forests.

GENERATIONS

These forests have nourished hundreds of generations of Haida Indians, by providing an abundance of all that is necessary for the sustenance and longevity of their unique culture. However, selective and clear-cut logging as well has heavy commercial fishing has compromised food sources and the vitality of HAADA GWAII. Today it is much more difficult to gather traditional foods.

Cedar, hemlock and Sitka spruce are the major commercially logged tree secies on the Queen Charlottes. The awe-inspiring cedar forests are becoming a thing of the past. Reforestation of the cut-over areas is primarily Sitka spruce seedlings. Hemlock, being more shade tolerant, is becoming the dominant species in areas where no artificial reforestation has been done. The cedar forests are further being threatened by heavy browsing from deer. The deer were introduced in 1912 and because they have no natural predators on the island, they have multiplied like rabbits.

Cedar, the cornerpost of Haida culture, is practically non-existent in the second growth forests. When it does grow, its small size and poor quality make it unsuitable for cultural uses such as the carving of totems, canoes, or the construction of log houses.

VIOLATIONS

One could fill pages listing the violations of the logging company: stream siltation causing the destruction of a significant salmon run, landslides, erosion, etc., etc.

All the while, the Haida people, following the direction of their Council of Elders, were fighting to stop further logging on two specific areas: Lyell Island and South Moresby.

While negotiations were going on between the Haida Council and forestry officials in the fall of 1985 and in spite of assurances given by Parks Minister Tony Brummet, the forestry minister, Tom Waterland, announced that logging would continue on Lyell Island.

Shortly afterwards, it was disclosed that there was an extreme conflict of interest on behalf of senior members of the Cabinet Environment and Land Use Committee, which was deliberating South Morseby's fate:

- When it was found that Waterland held shares in Western Pulp Mills Partnership Ltd., he was compelled to resign his position. He was given a new position after a two-week break.

- The previous forest minister, who had originally awarded Tree Farm License No. 24, ended up in jail for accepting bribes.

- Minister of energy and mines, Steven Rogers, was found to have an investment five times the size