Nanoose Bay,  British Columbia - Timberwest's contract to buy logs from Nanoose Bay Forest -- one of the last remaining parcels of rare, endangered Coastal Douglas-fir forests -- exceeds the license issued by the province.

BC Supreme Court documents filed last week, obtained by the Wilderness Committee, reveal that the company went 2,000 cubic metres of wood, or approximately 65 logging truck loads, over the licensed limit.

 "The 15,000 cubic metres in the Forest Licence for DL33 in  Nanoose Bay was increased to 17,000 cu metres in the contract with Timberwest, " said Annette Tanner, Wilderness Committee, Mid Island spokesperson. 

"Forest Services confirmed yesterday that the licence issued was for 15,000 cubic metres," said Tanner.  "All reports, studies and investigations done regarding the logging plans for this sensitive forest ecosystem are now void and irrelevant, as the logging plan, roadbuilding and cutblocks would now be changed to accommodate the removal of an additional 65 logging truck loads of logs that were not addressed in the pre-harvest silvaculture prescription approved by the province and challenged by the community through complaints to the Forest Practices Board."

"The additional logging will have a profound effect on the habitat of the many red and blue listed species on the watershed headwaters of two fish-bearing creeks,"  said Tanner.  "This information must be provided to the public." 

Coastal Douglas-fir forests on east Vancouver Island are globally imperilled because the ecosystem is on the brink of extinction as most of this forest-type has been permanently removed, leaving the remaining small areas very fragmented and very challenging to connect for wildlife migration of elk and large carnivores.

"On Saturday a herd of Roosevelt elk was caught on video in this forest - and we're concerned this expanded logging puts them as well as other species who depend this forest at risk," said Tanner.

Forests such as DL33 exist only in British Columbia and rank as one of the most biologically diverse and threatened ecosystems in Canada.