Use your voice to help protect B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest

Imagine an oasis of green stretching out for as far as the eye can see. Lush forests that are home to so many plants and animals that you think the place must be enchanted. Welcome to British Columbia’s mid-coast: the Great Bear Rainforest is a place unparalleled in both beauty and ecological riches!

This land of narrow, steep-walled fjords, towering Western Red Cedars and Sitka spruce encompasses over seven million hectares stretching between Vancouver Island and the Alaskan Panhandle. It is the traditional territory of many culturally rich, diverse First Nations. The Great Bear Rainforest represents almost one quarter of the planet’s remaining ancient temperate rainforest and is the largest intact, unprotected coastal temperate rainforest left in the world. The area boasts one of the world’s largest populations of grizzly bears, is home to marbled murrelets, martens, and the rare white Kermode or Spirit Bears. Five species of wild salmon spawn in its streams and genetically unique coastal wolves find refuge in its forests. In a way this place is enchanted.

The Great Bear Rainforest has long been threatened by industrial forestry. Blockades and marketplace action over the past decade brought global attention to this region. Now, industry, environmental groups, communities and workers have come to an historic land-use agreement. Following final negotiations between the provincial government and First Nations, it stands to protect one-third of the region from logging, define new sustainable logging practices outside of protected areas, and provide for significant investment in diversifying community economies.

The B.C. government has promised to approve this agreement by September 2005. Please chime in with your voice to express how important it is that BC Premier Gordon Campbell follow through on his promise and protect this enchanted place for generations to come. Send a fax to Gordon Campbell today