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New weapon in B.C.'s war of the woods A new weapon in B.C.'s
war of the woods - Glenn Bohn Vancouver Sun NELSON -- A dangerous new weapon has emerged in the fight to stop logging in the forests of the West Kootenays. Environmental activists are using tree spikes made of concrete instead of metal to evade detection and create a deadly hazard in the woods.Logger Jeff Mattes knew something was wrong when he recently saw a spiral wood shaving on the ground beside a felled log -- the only visible hint that anything was amiss. He put his chainsaw aside and began searching for a new weapon in B.C.'s war of the woods -- a tube-shaped chunk of concrete slipped into a hole drilled into the tree trunk. Mattes and other loggers looked for 45 minutes before finding the first concrete plug, because someone had carefully glued a chunk of bark on top of the drilled hole to hide the spike in the wood. The concrete was set in a 10-centimetre-long section of plastic or PVC-type piping. And unlike the metal spikes formerly advocated by Earth First! and other advocates of "ecotage" -- or ecological sabotage of forestry operations -- the concrete and plastic would not have been found with metal detectors.That day -- May 10 -- they found a dozen such spikes in felled timber and standing trees. Now police in Nelson are trying to find out who planted the deadly devices in the forest. The concrete plugs are meant to splinter the metal blade of a logger's chain saw or break huge saws used in mills, wrecking machinery and sending broken metal and concrete shrapnel in every direction.RCMP Constable Don Brunner said police in this region have seen metal spikes in trees before, but concrete spikes are a new tactic. "This is a potentially lethal form of protest," Brunner said. "This is going beyond a statement or a protest. They're endangering people's lives here, so we're taking it very seriously." So far, the police investigation has not led to arrests or criminal charges. Mattes said the concrete spikes had all been placed in trees at eye level, or the level where a chain saw would be used to take down the tree. Mattes, 48, a logger for about 30 years, said he's used to the occupational hazards of B.C.'s most dangerous job, but shouldn't have to face a deliberately-created hazard by someone who disagrees with a government-approved logging operation. "They were pretty crafty in the way they hid what they were doing," he said in an interview from his home in Kaslo."It kind of messes with your mind." [THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT "TERROR"-ISM] The spiked trees were found on provincial Crown land near Trozzo Creek in the Slocan Valley, about halfway between the small towns of Slocan and Winlaw, northwest of Nelson. It's an region that has seen many illegal logging road blockades and protests in the last decade, because the B.C. forests ministry allows logging in forests that some residents say shouldn't be clearcut because they are the community watersheds that provide safe drinking water. Colleen McCrory, a prominent Kootenay-born conservationist, said she has no idea who spiked the trees. McCrory, who successfully campaigned for the creation of nearby Valhalla provincial park and later led a national campaign that branded B.C. the "Brazil of the North" for its allegedly unsustainable and harmful logging practices, also told the local Nelson Daily News that tree spiking doesn't help conservation campaigns.McCrory, who received more than 4,000 votes as a B.C. Green party candidate in last week's provincial election, said she was "very pained to see what happened, but I understand there is a level of frustration and the situation is going to get worse." A spokesman for Slocan Forest Products, which hired Mattes to supervise a contract logging operation near Trozzo Creek, said the concrete spikes could have killed someone. "If a faller had been standing in the wrong place when the blade hit the spike, it could have come out at him like a bullet," said Alex Ferguson, the company's woodlands manager. Ferguson said no group has claimed responsibility for the spikes and he doesn't know who planted them, but the company videotapes protesters who come into the area, and the videotapes are now with police. He pointed to the region's history when asked to explain why logging in the Slocan Valley is controversial, noting that area was settled in the 1970s by U.S. draft-dodgers and other back-to-the-land advocates. Nelson, and the surrounding area, are also a magnet for urban youths who want a cleaner, more natural environment. Ferguson said "transients" are also participating in logging protests. "It's one thing to be here for 20 years and complain," he said. "It's another thing to be here for a few weeks and complain." According to Ferguson, mainstream environmental groups that are campaigning against logging are quite embarrassed by the discovery of concrete spikes. Mattes said he respects the people who don't agree with forestry practices and considers some of them his friends. Anyone who puts spikes into trees isn't helping that environmental cause, he said. "This kind of cuts their legs off," the logger said. GREAT, ANOTHER THREAT TO LOGGERS' SAFETY! Justin Case In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml] |