RAINFOREST WOOD COALITION _______________________ January 6, 1998 Contacts: Tim Keating, Executive Director, Rainforest Relief: 718-832-6775 Rick Spencer, Coordinator, Rainforest Wood Coalition: 336-685-7012 ACTIVISTS PROTEST UNLOADING OF BRITISH COLUMBIA RAINFOREST WOOD; Rainforest Wood Coalition Denounces Theft of Timber from Canadian Indigenous Peoples Brooklyn, NY- Rainforest Relief and Wetlands Rainforest Action Group will descend upon the Green Street Lumber Exchange in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, at 11:30 AM on January 6 to protest the unloading of millions of board feet of timber clearcut from the rainforests of the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia, Canada. The protestors will line the fence just a few yards from the ship, Saga Spray, and will carry banners which read "Stolen Imports," and "Dead Rainforests: Coming Soon to a Lumber Store Near You!" The ship is offloading hemlock and western red cedar which may have come from trees of up to 1,000 years old. The Great Bear Rainforest is a region of coastal temperate rainforest on the west coast of Canada, stretching up to the Alaskan wilderness. The area is home to numerous tribes of indigenous North Americans. The recent downturn in the Asian economy has meant the loss of the largest market of wood logged from British Columbia. Canadian timber companies are trying to make up the difference by increasing shipments to U.S. markets. The timber being offloaded in Brooklyn has been stolen from the Nuxalk people, who have never ceded their land title to Canada. The natives have land claims pending in Canadian courts, but the provincial government continues to grant timber concessions on the land. Some native chiefs have been arrested attempting to block logging roads into their traditional lands. The wood was cut from the Great Bear Rainforest but shipped from mills operating on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver by Doman Industries. Doman is the second largest corporation clearcutting British Columbia's coastal temperate rainforest, also marketing its products as "Western Forest Products" and "Western Pulp Ltd." Based on Vancouver Island, all of Doman's logging operations are clearcuts of old-growth forest. Doman/Western Forest Products is the main company involved in clearcutting the rainforests of Princess Royal Island, the area with the highest concentration of the rare white Kermode (Spirit) bears in the world. "We're acting on behalf of the rainforests and native peoples of British Columbia," says Tim Keating, Executive Director of Rainforest Relief and spokesperson for the newly formed Rainforest Wood Coalition. "Their trees have been stolen to profit a few corporations and shareholders, without regard for the ecosystems or the future." Rainforest Wood Coalition calls on consumers to stop buying all rainforest wood, whether from British Columbia, the U.S., or the tropics. The protesters also call on the British Columbia government to end logging concessions in rainforests until indigenous peoples are consulted, land claims are settled, and then only if logging is certified by an independent organization. "It is already too late for vast areas of forests in British Columbia that have been clearcut under some of the weakest logging laws in the world," said James Hansen of Wetlands Rainforest Action Group. The demonstrators hope that importers will take a stand to spare what remains and heed the voice of the native people of British Columbia. # # # Rainforest Wood Coalition is looking for new member groups to sign on. If you are interested in fighting for the rainforests & their inhabitants, let us know!