How Responsible is the Government?

• Total government subsidy for logging road construction and maintenance in 1992:
  
  $30.2 million
  

  1992 stumpage fees paid for timber cut in B.C.:
  

  $411,000
  

  Cost to run Ministry of Forests in same year:
  

  $666,946
  

  Rank of B.C. provincial government among Mac-Blo shareholders:
  

  1
  

  Amount of B.C.'s annual allowable cut controlled by multinational corporations:
  

  85%
  

  Largest exporter of forest products in the world:
  

  Canada
  

  Largest producer of newsprint in the world:
  

  Canada (31% of total world production)

Is There Enough Public Control?

• Number of jail terms handed out following discovery of logging damage to 34 of 53 Vancouver Island streams:
  
  0
  

  Amount of the Clayoquot Sound population who are Nuu-Chah-Nulth by heritage:
  

  43%
  

  Amount of land base controlled by Nuu-Chah-Nulth in the Sound:
  

  0.4% (4/10 of 1%)
  

  Forest jobs per thousand cubic meters of B.C. timber:
  

  1.05
  

  Forest jobs per thousand cubic meters in U.S.:
  

  3.55
  

  Forest jobs per thousand cubic meters in New Zealand:
  

  5.0
  

  Amount of public received in revenue from logging in U.S. 1988-89:
  

  $16.00 per cubic meter
  

  Amount of public received in revenue from logging in B.C. 1988-89:
  

  $1.88 per cubic meter

Jobs vs. the Environment?

• Estimated job losses in B.C. as forest industry becomes "more competitive":
  
  20,000
  

  Jobs cut by forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel in Alberni/Clayoquot region 1991-93:
  

  987
  

  Job cuts planned in the Alberni/Clayoquot region by Mac-Blo by 1995:
  

  310

Canadian Trees Forever?

• Amount Canada covered by forest:
  
  45%
  

  Amount of Canadian forest officially protected:
  

  2.6%
  

  Amount of Canada's timber produced in B.C.:
  

  almost 50%
  

  Amount of world's remaining temperate rainforest located in B.C.:
  

  50%
  

  Estimated # of years until all viable old-growth in B.C. is logged out:
  

  12 to 27
  

  Watersheds over 5000 hectares on Vancouver Island:
  

  89
  

  Watersheds over 5000 hectares still unlogged:
  

  5
  

  Amount of Clayoquot Sound's ancient rainforests which are already clear-cut:
  

  23%
  

  Ratio of the amount of pulp per acre per year that can be produced from hemp vs. wood:
  

  4:1

What About the Wildlife?

• Province with the most wildlife species in Canada:
  
  B.C.
  

  Number of bird species found in B.C.:
  

  445
  

  Number of bird species that breed nowhere else in the country:
  

  162 or 55%
  

  Number of mammal species found in B.C.:
  

  144
  

  Number of wildlife species strongly associated with or dependent upon, old growth:
  

  80
  

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Contents on this page were published in the February/March, 1996 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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Copyright © 1996 WFP Collective, Inc.