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Clayoquot Sound Land Use Plan

10 KEY POINTS ON THE CLAYOQUOT SOUND LAND-USE DECISION

1. On target to protect 12 percent of the province: Protecting an additional 48,500 hectares of Clayoquot Sound contributes significantly to the government's goal of effectively doubling B.C.'s parks and wilderness by preserving 12 percent of the important representative ecological systems throughout the province.
   
2. 33 percent of Sound now permanently protected: Includes four of its major unlogged forests and its entire outer coastline. Another 17 percent will be placed under special management, which allows for some timber harvesting but protects wildlife, recreation and scenic landscape values.
   
3. Previous timber rights taken back: Instead of the more than 80 percent awarded to MacBlo and other logging companies by previous B.C. governments, we have taken back a significant amount of timber rights and reduced the area dedicated to logging to approximately 45 percent. And on these limited lands available for logging, we are setting sound harvesting and environmental standards.
   
4. 1,000 hectares only to be cut each year: Along with these standards and performance-based enforcement, harvesting will proceed at a rate of only about 1,000 hectares per year in small dispersed cutblocks and will be spread out over an 80 to 100 year rotation. These cutblocks will be reforested on average within three to five years following harvest.
   
5. More than half of old growth saved: B.C. now has one of the largest areas of protected old growth rainforest on the west coast of North America, with Strathcona Park effectively extended to the ocean. There are nine primary watersheds over 1,000 hectares in size in Clayoquot Sound which are still in pristine condition and contain most of the old growth timber. The land-use decision permanently protects about 54 percent - more than half of the total area of these unlogged watersheds.
   
6. Biodiversity protected: In effect 28,000 hectares have been added to Strathcona Park, linking the interior mountains of Vancouver Island to the ocean shore. As the principle of island biogeography generally states that the larger the area, the greater the diversity of species and habitats, this newly protected reserve will foster the maintenance of biological diversity in this ecoregion. Other newly protected areas, such as Clayoquot Plateau, are also home to rare plant species and unique geographical features.
   
7. Special management areas protect other values: Of the 17 percent placed under special management, the vast majority (15 percent of the total land base) is designated to cover scenic corridors. Landscape management plans will ensure the key scenic landscape values important to tourism and recreation are not compromised. These areas now encompass virtually every kilometre of inland coastline, while the entire 78 kilometres of outer coastline is protected absolutely.
   
8. Harvest levels cut standards improved: The estimated new harvest level will be reduced by about 300,000 cubic metres annually (a 33 percent reduction), to a sustainable level of 600,000 cubic metres per year. Harvesting plans will incorporate smaller dispersed cut blocks, moving away from large scale clear cuts. A commitment has been made to specific logging standards for sensitive areas, including an emphasis on skyline and helicopter harvesting to reduce road densities and mid-slope roads.
   
9. Protection comes at significant economic cost: The jobs of an estimated 1,000 men and women will be lost, including nearly 500 in the Alberni-Clayoquot area. Taking away MacBlo and other forest company timber rights means a $46 million per year reduction in B.C.'s gross domestic product, and an additional $7.6 million in annual resource and tax revenue lost to the public treasury.
   
10. Local land-use process respected: When CORE was announced on January 21, 1992, we said Clayoquot would remain outside CORE in order to continue the extensive work already done by the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable Development Steering Committee. We didn't want to alter any of the conditions under which this local land-use process was operating as it worked to put together its recommendations. Our land-use decision builds on extensive information collected during that process and comes after wide public input.