Logging has begun in the critically endangered Nanoose Bay Forest, known as DL33.

This publicly-owned and rare Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) forest that has been identified by government scientists as containing threatened forest and wetland ecosystems.

"We are mobilizing to oppose this reckless logging, which has been irresponsibly green-lighted by the provincial government," said Wilderness Committee Vancouver Island Campaigner Tria Donaldson, who is en route to Nanoose Bay today.

Only six per cent of Coastal Douglas-fir forests is on Crown land, and only 110 of old growth hectares have been protected in the entire province. Of that even a smaller amount is old-growth. Nanoose Bay Forest is one of the most productive CDF forests, and home to many red-listed species such as red-legged tree frogs.

"The Wilderness Committee has been actively working with the local communities, and with the support of local and regional governments, to find solutions to logging this precious and rare slice of CDF forest on the east coast of Vancouver Island for the past year, and we will not give up fighting against this dangerous blunder by the provincial government," said Annette Tanner, Wilderness Committee Mid Island spokesperson.

"We are calling for a stop to this logging and for government action to implement an immediate ban on logging in the remaining endangered Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem," said Donaldson.

Contact:

Tria Donaldson, Pacific Coast Campaigner, Wilderness Committee, cell: 250-686-9249

Annette Tanner, Mid-Island Chapter Chair, Wilderness Committee, 250 752-6585, cell 250 240-7470

Photos available upon request