Clear cutting has a huge environmental effect on changing the natural watershed areas and effecting properties far away from the actual devastation. There is a huge demand for forestry products and the forces of supply and demand must be controlled to look at protection and examining impacts taking a holistic viewpoint and working together to find new ways of creating a marriage that is amenable to all not all take and not all give. In British Columbia, we have an anomaly. Yet last week Clayoquot Sound a long fought over battle between environmental and forestry interests has been declared and designated a United Nations biosphere reserve. In Richmond Hill, a community 100 km north of Toronto, the Oak Ridge Morraine that feeds the Rouge and Don Rivers is in jeopardy from developers.
Residents fear the effect on the watershed, drinking water, bird habitats.
In Newfoundland there is a desperate conflict over jobs vs. old growth forest preservation. The Main River s lush watershed areas include one of the Island s last remaining stands of old growth forests. Beyond clear cutting implies a need for vision and value. Always measuring by economic value is shortsighted and is short-term gain for long term pain. Today, Tourism is anxious to be a partner in planning for the future that will include the celebration of our natural heritage.