August 1998

By HUBERT BEYER

VICTORIA – Hundreds of people gathered at Clayoquot Sound last weekend to celebrate the fifth anniversary of what was perhaps the most pitched battle in the woods between the forest industry and environmentalists.

The story of that long, hot summer at Clayoquot Sound had almost receded into history, the events only dimly remembered by those who weren’t directly affected. I had to teach the spell checker of my new laptop that Clayoquot was, indeed, a word. Those who showed up at the reunion, however, remembered only too well.

Today, Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, is a quiet place. But five years ago, it became the decisive battle ground in the war over the preservation old-growth forests, a war that had been raging for some time.

It was that war which had helped the NDP form the government in 1991. One of the main planks in former premier Mike Harcourt’s campaign had been his promise to end the "valley-by-valley confrontation" in the woods.

Harcourt delivered on his promise, but not fast enough. He formed the Commission on Resources and Environment to bring all stakeholders to the table and hammer out land use plans for British Columbia. The process took time, however, and confrontations over specific areas of old growth became more pronounced. One of those was Clayoquot Sound.

In the summer of 1993, protesters blocked a road at Kennedy River, preventing MacMillan Bloedel crews from getting to their work site. Arrests were made, but it seemed that for every person arrested, there were two to take his place.

In all, more than eight hundred people were arrested. And what burned the events into the public’s consciousness was that the protesters weren’t just young kids, caught up in youthful idealism, but many elderly people.

Some of those who disobeyed court injunctions, forbidding them to return to Clayoquot Sound, were sent to prison. Several elderly people, who previously considered getting a speeding ticket unthinkable, spent months in prison.

Last weekend many of them came back to Clayoquot Sound to celebrate their victory. Also present at the reunion was Robert Kennedy Jr., who had lent the protesters his moral support five years ago.

"Future generations will look at you the way they look at people who fought for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. I want to tell each of you – you are my hero," Kennedy told the gathering.

Looking back, their victory was, indeed, impressive. Not only did they succeed in getting protection for Clayoquot Sound’s old-growth forest, but they brought the issue to the general public’s attention.

I would be less than honest if I didn’t mention here that I was firmly on the side of the loggers at the time. While I could identify with the romanticism of protecting every stand of old growth, I also thought of my many friends who depended for their livelihood on forestry.

I thought of Chris O’Connor, woodlands manager for Lytton Lumber, whose company employs 50 or 60 people. In a small town like Lytton, that makes it the biggest employer.

I rarely chose the status quo, but I felt -- and I still feel – that a society bent on change must not abandon those who will suffer from that change.

Whatever I felt at the time or even feel now, has become irrelevant. Most remaining old- growth forests are protected, and MacMillan Bloedel, the giant of the industry, has announced that it will get away from clearcuts completely.

The forces of change have won, leaving the industry and "dinosaurs of journalism" like me in the dust.

But who, I ask, will provide jobs for my friends to whom forestry was the only way of life they knew?

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