Protester falls from tree
By Jennifer Maloney, Parksville Qualicum News
Cathedral Grove tree-sitter Greg Warry was taken by ambulance
to hospital in Nanaimo Wednesday after falling 30 feet from
a tree near the site of a proposed parking lot.
A protester in Cathedral Grove fell 30 feet
out of a tree Wednesday afternoon. Greg Warry was conscious
when ambulance crews arrived just after 3 p.m., and is expected
to survive. As a precaution, he was rushed to Nanaimo Regional
General Hospital to be checked for injuries.
While attempting to put up a traverse line - a line that links
two trees together in case of an emergency - Warry's rope failed
to knot.
Thirty feet below, his fellow protesters attempted to help him
reach the rope's loose end, but Warry lost his footing and fell
hard to the ground.
Vancouver Island Highway Patrol, first on the scene, reported
Warry was in significant discomfort.
The incident is the first of its kind since people began gathering
and tree sitting in the Grove in February, but protester Alexis
Ness, 20, says it has had an impact.
"It's going to help us be more cautious. To make sure both
ends of the rope are tied," she said. "Things like
this happen. That's now very evident, but it's not going to
make us leave."
Only a day earlier Warry had spoken to The News about his involvement
with the protest against a proposed parking lot in Cathedral
Grove.
"I don't want them to build a parking lot in the proposed
location," he said from a chair at the entrance to a wooded
area near the park itself, where protesters have comfortably
set up camp. "It's too close to the river and it's unsafe."
Warry is not alone. On any given day a handful of protesters
are glued to the site's entrance, some even 60 feet up in the
trees on platforms stocked with food. Ness is one of those protesters.
The Fraser Valley resident found out that 21 hectares of Cathedral
Grove was marked for a 150-car parking lot, on the Internet.
That's when she came to the Island to get involved. Before coming
to the Grove, Ness had no climbing experience and, in fact,
was afraid of heights.
On Tuesday, however she spoke to The News from a platform hoisted
in a tree high above ground.
“We have a presence here,” she shouted from the platform.
“We’re using positive energy to keep this area from
being developed and to keep the parking lot away. Once it’s
built it’s gone.”
In May Madam Justice Quijano denied an injunction sought by
the Attorney General of B.C. to remove the protesters from MacMillian
Provincial Park. After Wednesday’s incident Port Alberni
RCMP said there wasn’t much they could do.
“It’s not a crime to fall out of a tree,” said
Sgt. Lee Omlusik. “It’d be up to the property owner
to do something.”
However, the land is owned by the public, which is why protesters
like Ness say it must be saved.
Under Workers’ Compensation Board rules the public has
to be two tree lengths outside a forested area before any tree
falling can begin.
This, added to the fact that an injunction was not served to
protesters in May, means protesters are able to stop construction
of the parking lot — at least for the time being.
After visiting the site last week and being confronted by protesters,
Water, Land and Air Protection Minister Bill Barisoff has not
announced any changes to the government’s plan.
Until he does, protesters say they will remain firmly planted.
