More than 30 years after B.C.’s New Democratic Premier Mike Harcourt had opened up large parts of Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound to commercial logging, parts of the area could soon be off-limits again. Two conservancies covering 77,000 hectares would place much of the area opened for logging in 1993 under protection. Conservancies set aside Crown land for environmental, social, recreational, ceremonial and cultural uses, but also allow a “wider range of low-impact, compatible economic opportunities” than permissible in Class A parks. Commercial logging, mining and hydroelectric power generation, other than local run-of-the-river projects, are prohibited in conservancies. MaMook Natural Resources, a partnership of five First Nations on the western coast of Vancouver Island, currently holds the only tree forest license in Clayoquot Sound and the conservancies would cover almost 60 per cent of the TFL. The province has received 208 submissions on the conservancies since March 12 with an April 10 deadline.