Let's persuade him to take our concerns to the April 16 board meeting. Chile lacks the technical and legal capacity to guarantee that independent loggers will use sustainable forestry practices to supply Boise Cascade's chip mill. There is fierce opposition to this project in Chile and around the world because it threatens the viability of tourism in this beautiful region, which promises economic benefits to many thousands of people and businesses. Urge him to reject the Cascada Chile project for the same reasons. During the last glaciation the forests were restricted to small coastal areas of favorable climate where today exists the greatest biodiversity in the temperate world.
Most wood chips feed Japan's pulp industry for production of paper and boards.
This is, in effect, an invitation to landowners to clearcut their forested lands and sell the trees to chip mills for quick profits. Tree plantations - Chile's forestry law allows for the conversion of native forests to tree plantations. The government even subsidizes it. As many as 90 thousand hectares of native forests are destroyed each year and replanted with exotic species like Monterey pine and eucalyptus. These tree plantations are nothing like forests.