Jay Van Oostdam

COMOX, BC — It’s become common to see clearcut logging of second-growth trees in our Valley. But in the past week, we have noticed something very different: hundreds of trees cut in the Ramparts Creek area beside the Mount Washington road. These trees are 250 to 500 years old, the last uncut remnants of a forest that once stretched from the ocean to the alpine meadows. Why is logging being permitted around Mount Washington and Strathcona Park? Mount Washington alone draws 300,000 visitors yearly. …We know forestry can be done differently and better, using selective harvesting methods to replace extensive clearcutting. …How sustainable is logging 350-year-old trees in the middle of a drought and impending climate change? When will Mosaic Forest Management start logging better?