A member of an environmental group that has threatened to launch protests against logging in a Clayoquot Sound old-growth forest says there has been some "hopeful development" in negotiations with the companies in charge.

Ma-Mook Natural Resources Ltd., owned by first nations, and its partner Coulson Forest Products, have plans to start logging in the Hesquiat Point Creek watershed in the fall. The area is an untouched valley and although logging has taken place in the sound since the early 1990s, companies have steered clear of intact watersheds that have gone undisturbed for more than 10,000 years. Ma-Mook and Coulson began taking down trees to build a logging road into the area in March but stopped in May after environmental groups, including Greenpeace, Forest Ethics, Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the Wilderness Committee, objected to logging a pristine forest. Environmental groups chose today as a deadline to reach an agreement with the companies and the provincial government. "We're at a bit of a sensitive time," said Joe Foy of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. "We're trying not to add gasoline to the fire of conflict." Representatives from Forest Ethics and Greenpeace refused comment. New protests could repeat the uproar in 1993, when 800 people were arrested while demonstrating against logging in the sound.