Nature tourism is growing fast in the region, creating a wide variety of jobs for thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on preserving the forests. The salmon industry has appealed Boise Cascade's environmental impact study, claiming it ignores negative effects on salmon production, and archaeologists want construction stopped until the chip mill site can be thoroughly excavated for ancient artifacts. Faced with widespread public opposition, Boise Cascade has summoned to its aid the same public relations firm that tried to patch up Exxon's image after the Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Chilean organizations ask Global Response members to help them persuade Boise Cascade and the Chilean government to stay out of Chile's precious temperate rainforest. 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. 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. They are monocultures.