Youbou residents are circulating a petition to urge TimberWest not to log the southern slope of Mount Holmes above the community.
According to Kim Ring of the Save Our Holmes action group, the petition is worded as a letter to the forest company.
It explains they became organized after the recent town hall meetings initiated by the company Aug. 28, Sept. 7 and 20. The group supports Area Director Klaus Kuhn’s letter to TimberWest and “gives voice to the citizens of Youbou”, the petition says.
Residents tell TimberWest they are pleased with the idea of paving the road from Youbou to Cottonwood Creek.
“We would like to acknowledge and thank you for your efforts to reduce and eliminate the dirt and dust problem created by logging trucks driving our residential roads. We recognize your ongoing efforts with the truck wash and appreciate you listening to our community’s input in the question of building a bypass.”
However, there is a real problem still, the petition tells the company, and urges TimberWest to “do things right” and “build a strong relationship with Youbou”.
“From these meetings arose the very real threat of logging the south slope of Mount Holmes and a community wide awareness of the impact this would have on our community.
“Our action group conducted a door to door questionnaire and petition. We have learned that 99.94 cent of people questioned were very strongly against logging the south slope of Mt. Holmes. Currently we have 365 signatures with that number rising every day. We currently have 875 signatures on our online petition. These petitions state that we do not want TimberWest or any other forest company to log the south slope of Mount Holmes. The risk to the safety of our homes and quality of life is too great.”
A solution would be for TimberWest “to publicly and in writing agree to never log the south slope of Mount Holmes.”
See www.change.org for the petition
lexi.bainas@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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