Clayoquot Sound: a Chronology of Key Events
Cypre River, 1994. Don't let this happen to the Ursus
Today, the Ursus Valleys is at the centre of the long fight to protect from clearcut logging the natural ecology of the 260,000 hectare region of islands, rivers and valleys known as Clayoquot Sound. Clayoquot Sound contains the largest expanse of low elevation temperate rainforest left in North America. Here is a short chronology of events.
8,000+ BC to present - Aboriginal First Nations occupied Clayoquot Sound and sustainably used its natural resources.
1778 - Captain Cook "discovers" the First Nations of the West Coast of Vancouver Island and their rich culture based on cedar, salmon and sustainable resource use.
1955 - Newly amalgamated logging company McMillian Bloedel (MB) granted perpetual Tree Farm License (TFL) with exclusive cutting rights over more than half of Clayoquot Sound.
1956 - Cutting rights in almost all the rest of Clayoquot Sound granted to British Columbia Forest Products (BCFP), a newly formed forest company. Forest Minister of the day sentenced to jail for accepting bribes to grant this license. (License sold to Fletcher Challenge and then in 1992 to International Forest Products - Interfor.)
1960's and 70's - Level of clearcutting in Clayoquot Sound continually increases to more than triple the initial rate of cut at time licenses granted. Evidence of damage-especially accelerated soil erosion - grows.
1981 - 82 - First Nations and other residents organize to oppose proposed clearcutting of Meares Island.
- B.C. government establishes Meares Planning Team.
1982 – Ahousahtsoppose MB logging on Flores Island. Take MB to court to stop MB log booming in Steamer Cove, claiming bark and debris hurting their aboriginal harring roe fishery and shellfish beds, Judge says Ahousahts are right but damage is minimal-rules in favour of MB
1984 - Government ignores Meares Planning Team's recommendation for substantial preservation of Meares and reconfirms allocations of 95% of timber on Meares to industry. Cutting permits issued. First Nations and others block company efforts to log.
1985 - Nuu-Chah Nult granted an injunction to halt MB's logging of Meares to maintain status quo while their aboriginal claim to its forest is before the courts.
-Meares is declared a Tribal Park by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. (Ahousaht First Nations signed a new revised Meares Island Park declaration in 1992).
-Wilderness Committee produces an educational report entitled Meare's Island - Peaceful Protest Halts Logging.
-Chief Earl Maquinna George states he will not allow logging in the Megin Valley
1988 - Local residents oppose road building along the shoreline of pristine Sulphur Pass - entrance to the Megin Valley, the largest unlogged coastal watershed remaining on Vancouver Island. Courts grant injunction to logging company. Thirty-five people defy the court orders and are arrested, including Chief Earl Maquinna George, Joe Martin and Carl Martin. Road building eventually is halted. Wilderness Committee publishes educational newspaper entitled Time to sustain rather than destroy about the fight to save Sulphur Pass.
September 1989 - More than 200 Ahousaht representatives and other First Nations gather on a logging road in the Atleo River Watershed in Ahousaht Territory in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the clearcut logging destruction of this salmon-rich stream. Logging company gives workers day off to avoid confrontation.
1989 - Premier Bill Vander Zalm announces the formation of the Sustainable Development Task Force for the Clayoquot Sound Area in order to decide which areas should be logged and which should be protected. Environmentalists call for preservation of all large intact valleys and islands in Clayoquot Sound, with "ecoforestry" (single-stem selection logging) to be practised in the fragmented areas.
1990 - Task Force flounders because continued clearcut logging in areas considered prime candidates for preservation compromises the outcome of the process.
-Wilderness Committee produces an educational tabloid entitled Save the Wild Side of Vancouver Island and goes substantially into debt to publish a full colour 144 page hard cover book entitled Clayoquot - On the Wild Side.
1991 - New Task Force formed. Logging in study area continues. Environment and tourism representatives eventually walk off in protest.
-Meares Island case begins in BC Supreme court.
1992 - The provincial government of Mike Harcourt established CORE (Commission on Resources and the Environment) to decide which lands should be logged and which lands should be preserved on Vancouver Island.
1993 - The B.C. government announces that Clayoquot Sound will not be considered by CORE and that, instead the Clayoquot Sound Task Force recommendation will form the basis of the B.C. government's decision on Clayoquot Sound land use.
April 13, 1993 - B.C. government announces its Clayoquot Sound land-use decision. Most of the area's tall-tree forests are to be clearcut, while the Megin watershed will be preserved - Government creates a Scientific Panel to recommend how Clayoquot Sound should be logged.
-Local people begin to blockade MacMillan Bloedel logging operations near Kennedy Lake. People from all over the nation come to support them. More than 900 peaceful protesters eventually arrested.
-Ombudsman says Nuu-chah-nulth not consulted properly regarding Clayoquot land-use decision.
-B.C. Government and Central Region Nuu-chah-nulth begin negotiating an Interim Measures Agreement.
-B.C. Government agrees to negotiate Meares Island case, instead of continuing fighting in the courts.
-Clearcut logging continues elsewhere in Clayoquot Sound, but at a reduced rate.
-Wilderness Committee begins construction of the Clayoquot Witness Trail in Clayoquot Valley with permission of the Tla-o-qui-aht construction of the Big Cedar Trail on Meares.
-The Wilderness Committee publishes an information report entitled Save Clayoquot Valley.
March 19, 1994 - Clayoquot Sound Interim Measures Agreement signed by representatives of B.C. government and Nuu-chah-nulth Central Regions First Nations. Agreement gives First Nations right to review all proposed resource development in Clayoquot and power to stop those they believe harm the environment or native cultural heritage.
Oct. 1994 - Wilderness Committee completes the Witness Trail in Clayoquot Valley and begins a joint research project in the Ursus Valley with the Ahousaht First Nations.
January 1995 - The Ahousaht First Nations and the Wilderness Committee publish a 45 page report of joint expeditions into the Ursus Valley entitled Preliminary Investigations of Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs) by Aboriginal Use of the Ursus Valley in Ahousaht Territory of Clayoquot Sound detailing extensive aboriginal forest use in the Ursus.
February 1995 - MB refuses to show WCWC representatives proposed Ursus road and logging plans at its public review of TFL 44 Management and Working Plans in Vancouver.
-MB TFL 44 replacement license referred to the Central Region Board established under the Interim Measures Agreement for its consideration.
