WHEREAS recent social unrest on some of the islands within the
Islands Trust area can be traced to an increasing awareness that
some of the conventional approaches to forestry on private land
are not appropriate and threaten both the sustainability of the
forests and the island communities themselves; and

WHEREAS this is not a purely local phenomenon and can be seen in
similar events in other parts of the province where the rights of
the private land owner clash with the needs and concerns of the
larger community; and

WHEREAS the demand for commercial timber has encouraged some land
owners and some speculators to seek immediate short term gains
from logging practices that threaten the soils, the forests, the
watersheds and many communities and that the absence of
significant controls over logging practices on private land
places the social and environmental amenities at risk; and

WHEREAS many communities are discouraged while promoting those

that will provide continuous supplies of forest products,
enduring occupations in the forest, and sustainable communities.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of the Powell River
Regional District supports the Lasqueti Steering Committee and
the Islands Trust in respectfully requesting that the Cabinet of
the Province of B.C.:

1) Immediately impose a moratorium on commercial logging on
private land within the Islands Trust area where such
activities are not already covered by approved management

plans;

2) Strike a Task Force to devise measures designed to
discourage inappropriate forest practices on private land
while encouraging those methods of forestry that are
sustainable and appropriate to the ecology and the
communities within which they occur;

3) Empower the Islands Trust to apply and enforce the
appropriate forestry regulations deemed to be essential to
achieve the mandate of the Trust;

4) Make provisions for the removal of the moratorium on a4
selective basis as each community develops the necessary
regulatory and enforcement procedures.