Protest Doesn’t Stop Log Barge Greenpeace Protest Aimed At British Columbia Rainforests

A Greenpeace logging protest in the Queen Charlotte Islands didn’t stop a MacMillan Bloedel log barge from loading its cargo and heading down the British Columbia coast.

MacMillan Bloedel spokesman Scott Alexander said Thursday that one protester who had attached himself to the barge was safely lowered into a boat.

Activists in two Greenpeace boats had chained their crafts to the barge to protest continued logging in British Columbia rainforests.

The chairman of a local group working with industry and government to change logging practices in the area said Greenpeace couldn’t have picked a worse time to stage a protest.

Dale Lore said the group is only a few weeks away from reaching a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government over timber cutting volumes, and the Greenpeace protest might have jeopardized the negotiations.

“All of us would like to sort this out ourselves,” Lore said. “We don’t need any off-island interests coming up and trying to solve our problems for us. We’re doing quite nicely.”

Greenpeace spokesman Patrick Anderson said the group supports local efforts to reduce logging, but his organization was challenging timber harvests in pristine rainforests.

“We’re supportive of local initiatives to reduce the cut levels, but this is a protest as well about the fact we don’t think there should be logging and roading into these last unlogged areas,” Anderson said.