The Sikiyou Regional Education Project Homepage-- "The Northwest has perhaps the most serious gap in the system of preserved lands in the continental United States: the Klamath- Siskiyou region, biologically one of the richest areas in North America, indeed one of the richest temperate areas in the world."- Elliott A. Norse, senior ecologist for the Wilderness Society and author of Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Native Forest Council--In the eight years of our existence, we have taken unprecedented risks to assure that future generations will still enjoy the full benefits of life-sustaining native forests. From the start we risked taking the controversial, but necessary, stands. We were the first to advocate an end to all logging on public lands and called our position Zero Cut. We were called "politically unrealistic" and "naive" but, eight years later, the Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Sierra Club have both adopted Zero Cut for public lands. And dozens of grassroots organizations throughout the nation have also understood that, given the state of our forests and how little remains intact, an end to logging, not better logging, was what they really wanted.
Now, one of our staff members, Chad Hanson, is in Washington DC and has received a commitment from several Representatives to introduce Zero Cut legislation in the Congress.
Headwaters Environmental Center--Headwaters is a non-profit educational group created in 1974 to protect critical watersheds in southwest Oregon. We believe that a diversified and sustainable economy depends on the wisest use of our natural resources.
As citizens we work for the protection and restoration of forest ecosystems. Our primary goal is to reform the logging practces of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Managment on our public forests. We are committed to alternative methods of logging which produce timber while protecting the land, a reduction in the annual cut of timber for a long-term supply, and a reforestation program to restore the cutover lands without the use of toxic chemicals.
Our Programs Include:
Forest Action Network--The Great Bear Rainforest is a region of coastal temperate rainforest on the west coast of Canada, stretching up to the Alaskan border. It encompasses some 2.5 million hectares of pristine wilderness - ten times the size of Clayoquot Sound. The region is characterized by snow-capped mountains and steep, forested slopes descending through coastal fog into salmon filled fjords. There is great biological diversity, with grizzly and cougar roaming through ancient stands of Sitka spruce and red cedar.
The Slocan Valley, a large area in southern-central British Columbia, where human communities and a unique environment have harmoniously coexisted for over a hundred years, is in danger. Much of the valley's socially and ecologically vital forest is scheduled to be clearcut logged over the next five years. All of this logging will take place in areas that are scientifically inappropriate for such a destructive form of resource extraction. As a result of this irresponsible planning a host of social, economic and ecological values are threatened by mudslides, erosion, loss of biological and ecosystem diversity, and an unsustainable rate of timber harvest. Safe public drinking water is threatened by erosion, homes of families are threatened by mudslides, as are jobs dependent on tourism and sustainable forestry, wildlife habitat and recreation.
Incredibly, this list is the result of the actions of a single corporation - Slocan Forest Products (SFP). Over the next five years SFP plans to litter the Slocan Valley with 139 clearcuts and several access roads. In the Slocan Valley this has been the norm. A list of SFP 's previous operations and subsequent violations in the Slocan Valley and elsewhere includes: mudslides, damaged streams, washed-out roads, threatened wildlife and threatened local economies. Despite over 20 years of coordinated and strategic input by local governments, citizens and environmental groups, current plans for their valley represent almost none of their concerns. The government of British Columbia, which owns a part of SFP, has been unwilling to ensure the safety and continued well-being of the Slocan Valley.
US Activists: We need your support! USA Today owner Gannett Company buys paper from Finlay Forest Industries, owned by BC's Slocan Forest Products and by another Canadian firm, Donohue Inc. Gannett is the largest consumer of newsprint in North America and they have no commitment to protect forests or forest-dependent communities! It is time they took responsibility for the forests their business affects! Gannett has news operations in dozens of cities and counties across the US, you may live near one. Gannett can help save the Slocan Valley.
As a result, the best hope for the Slocan Valley is consumers in the United States. U.S. consumption of wood, paper and pulp products produced by SFP and other irresponsible corporations is contributing to this situation and similar ones in many places around the world. The Forest Communities Project is working to create awareness among US consumers about the Slocan Valley. Please email us about how you can help: fcp@jps.net
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance--Using what we've learned to save what we love. The NORTHWEST ECOSYSTEM ALLIANCE protects and restores wildlands in the Pacific Northwest and supports such efforts in British Columbia. The alliance bridges science and advocacy, working with activists, policymakers, and the public to conserve our natural heritage.
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Last updated December 31, 1998