Angelika Hanko

To the Honourable Bill Barisoff
Minister of WLAP

1st of February, 2004

Dear Mr. Barisoff,

I am a teacher from Germany. In October 2003 I visited British Columbia. Germans like to travel - especially to countries where we can marvel at things we can’t find in our land, for example ancient forests and very old huge trees.

Please preserve the old trees. In Germany there are only few. They are declared "natural monuments". If somebody breaks a twig off them he will be punished as if he had stolen a stone from the Akropolis! Isn’t there a law like that in Canada?

I think that "Cathedral Grove" is a treasure of mankind. You should guard it like your eyeball (We say so in German). It should be preserved for your children and grandchildren. Please stop cutting trees for a parking lot. Every logged tree in this area is one tree too many.

As a tourist I would be ashamed if trees were logged just for my convenience. A longer walkway or a shuttle service would be okay for us.

Please listen to the arguments of the environmentalists. If you had seen things happening in Germany as dying forests, polluted rivers, animal diseases and toxic air you would become an environmentalist, too. Please, don’t repeat our mistakes - learn to make it better. You still have the chance!

Yours sincerely,
Angelika Hanko