To the Editor,
I have lived in this Valley for more than 45 years, and the recreational bounty found in the surrounding nature of this beautiful part of the Island has brought me endless joy. I have experienced great pleasure horseback riding, cycling, hiking and swimming and kayaking in our beautiful lakes. But year by year, my favorite places have disappeared. Trails are closed, clear cuts widened, mushroom forests lost.
It’s heartbreaking to hear that all our mills use old growth timber; second growth is loaded into enormous ships and sent somewhere else to be processed. Meanwhile, forest fires intensify, bare slopes create landslides and our watersheds are at risk. The climate is heating up. Newly planted seedlings don’t hold the soil, are not able to keep fires at bay or create a carbon sink. It takes hundreds of years for majestic trees to develop, and they are not renewable. They are our ancestors and guardians. I cry to see their demise. We need to heed their cry.
Victoria Roscoe-Roumanis,
Port Alberni