Editor, The Times;
Re: Upper Clearwater Logging
Since my last letter of July 10/14 I’ve been sitting back, observing all the verbal diarrhea that has been produced!
The latest letter, “Tourism should be left to do its productive function in balance”, was by Trevor Goward, Aug. 21/14.
Let me make it very clear that I’m not belittling Trevor for his research about lichen. The fact remains, however, that lichen has absolutely nothing to do with logging the Upper Clearwater Corridor or with tourism.
Many of the years that Trevor spent studying lichen occurred while he was employed as a park naturalist, a government job that was supported in part by logging dollars.
A couple of questions that have come to mind should be answered:
1. Trevor, have you ever logged the property you own in Upper Clearwater?
2. If you were able to obtain a woodlot licence on crown land adjoining your property, would you log it?
The same two questions should be asked of George Briggs!
Trevor should also know that whether or not logging occurs in the Clearwater Valley corridor, Clearwater will always be the “Gateway to Wells Gray Park”. The taxpayers of this province just paid over $3 million for a road blockage with a sign to prove that!
Another letter, “Caribou endangered species” was written by Nancy Flood and Lyn Baldwin, TRU faculty members, on July 3/14. Maybe before they spoke for the caribou, they should find all the facts. They say the caribou have declined by 30 per cent since 2002.
Before they made that statement, they should have checked with the Ministry of Environment to see how much the moose population was decimated in that same period.It’s not about old growth or logging. It’s about wolves.
In the 1970s, Weyerhaeuser’s log blocks in Berry Creek, east of Raft Mountain, had leave strips of timber “migration routes” for the then-struggling caribou herd that was on the verge of extinction.
Maybe the writers should have found out exactly how much total area Wells Gray Park covers. How many thousand hectares does it take to feed a caribou?
The majority of the other letters, mainly Erik Milton’s, contained endless paragraphs of monotonous repetition. Erik did tell our editor that “The pen is mightier than the sword ... Careful how you wield it”.
On that note, hearty congratulations to Keith and all the team at Clearwater Times for first place, best newspaper in Canada, and first place, editorial page!
I must say I was very disappointed that there was no reference to Best Letter to the Editor! think everyone knows that my letters made many of Keith’s editorials what they were!
So you see, Captain Keith, the pen is mightier than the sword.
Jim Lamberton
The Rambling Man
Blackpool, B.C.