Editor:
One often hears that the forests of the Sunshine Coast are so productive that they practically beg to be logged, that no amount of logging (read clear-cutting), could possibly put a dent in this apparently inexhaustible resource. This sophistic conception of the forest as anthropocentric extractive resource is built on the old colonial productivism paradigm, which is the opposite of the ecological conception of the forest as an infinitely complex ecosystem whose equilibrium has evolved over millennia, to sustain all living beings and not only humans.
One of these “productive” Sunshine Coast forests slated to be felled by the chainsaw is designated as “Blk EW24,” just back of Sechelt airport. This 11.7 hectare site not only comprises rare dry Coastal Western Hemlock of the type recommended by the provincial government as “recruitment” for future old growth, it is a winter foraging and sheltering habitat for elk, a species known to be threatened by habitat loss. Apparently, the logging company known as the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) is of the opinion that this old forest is not worth keeping as it is surrounded by logged out land (land which used to be “productive” forests no doubt…).
The logic escapes me. Little by little, these nearby forests that make our region so livable, so beautiful, so rich in the immaterial sense, will be felled resulting in a fragmented clear-cut landscape that is becoming unrecognizable. On the Sunshine Coast, a productive forest is a doomed forest.
Paulette Caillé, Sechelt
