Protesters blockaded a Roberts Creek logging road for two days this week before reaching a negotiated agreement with the logging contractor, A&A Trading.
After A&A agreed to leave larger buffers along Clack Creek and several other creeks that crossed its cutblock, located near the Roberts Flume forest service road, the protesters allowed logging to begin July 13.
Rick O'Neill, a wildlife photographer and environmentalist, said environmentalists have been camped in the area for several weeks, ever since learning that B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS) had sold the timber rights to the cutblock, which he estimated is about 20 hectares.
"On Monday morning, we blockaded the road and began negotiations," said O'Neill. "They agreed to put much larger buffers on the creeks, and a good 50-metre buffer on Clack Creek. Because this piece had already been sold, we agreed to let them log most of the rest. . . We expect they'll be doing it very quickly, using a feller-buncher."
Wade Balbirnie, a forester with the Vancouver-based A&A Trading Ltd., said the company did not want to comment."The blockade is no longer there and we've come to a mutually beneficial agreement," said Balbirnie. "We've talked with the people who were concerned . . . The issue has been dealt with."
This may be just the beginning of the protest season on Mt. Elphinstone. Several other contentious cutblocks near Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park are slated to be sold by BCTS, and O'Neill said protesters are prepared to block logging there as well.
"We intend to take a much stronger stand on the other blocks that have not already been sold," said O'Neill. "Nobody has spent any money there. They have no excuse."
