Times Colonist, Feb.13/04
Cathedral Grove activists threatened with injunction for blocking loggers
In the pre-dawn darkness Thursday, Nanaimo resident Jim Erkiletian made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drive to Cathedral Grove.

Because of that decision, logging crews who moved in at 7 a.m. to start cutting trees for a parking lot in MacMillan Provincial Park had to leave without falling any trees.

"Yes, I'm feeling pretty good," said Erkiletian in an interview. "For at least one day I have saved eighteen 300-year-old trees."

Environmental "witnesses" have been patrolling the central Vancouver Island park on an ad hoc basis for the last week in an effort to halt construction of a controversial parking lot for 200 vehicles.

It is the second time this week that the logging contractor has had to leave because protesters refused to leave the area. Bill Barisoff, minister of water, land and air protection, is considering asking B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction.

"We hope that we don't have to go to the hardline route of an injunction," Barisoff said Thursday.
"But, if that's what it takes to create safety for all British Columbians and tourists that travel in that area, that's what we have to do."

Erkiletian said he went to the park because a friend was camping there and he wanted to make sure she was all right. He happened to be on site when the logging contractor turned up.

"They said they couldn't work while my friend and I were there and the foreman said he was going to call the police. We said we were going to stay there because we don't believe the trees should be cut," he said.

RCMP turned up shortly afterward and Erkiletian, who was later joined by other environmentalists, said he was prepared to be arrested if necessary. But police and the loggers left the area, he said.

Cathedral Grove is the most popular part of the park. Erkiletian said he went there a couple of weeks ago to assess the parking lot plans.

"I think the government's plan is backwards. It interferes with elk habitat, and the old-growth trees are a very precious thing to me. There's very few of them left," he said.

Erkiletian, who was a logger for 15 years, said the parking lot will create a wind tunnel into the big trees, increasing the blowdown risk.

The government says the two-hectare parking lot is needed for safety reasons. The area has become an accident hotspot with drivers parking by the busy highway. Few old-growth trees will be cut and the gravel surface will prevent run-off problems, Barisoff said this week.

The parking lot will be built in a 21 hectare area bought specifically for that purpose and the remaining area will be added to the park once the lot has been built, he said.

Syd Haskell of the Carmanah Forestry Society said lawyer Cameron Ward will be asked to oppose any application for an injunction.

"We are calling for a stop-work order and a meaningful, open and full public process so that the public can work with the government to resolve this contentious issue," he said.

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com