North Cowichan must do more to curb illegal logging in forest reserve
Dear North Cowichan mayor and council:
What is council doing to save our precious forests from illegal loggers?
Our mayor’s well-meaning plea for these terrible thieves to “please leave our trees alone” is frankly laughable at best.
I implore council to set large fines and legal prosecution for such crimes, plus large rewards leading to the arrest and conviction of the vicious, greedy culprits.
I also ask council what is being done to work with the police to collar this quiet crisis that may have quietly continued, unreported, for years?
If council and our municipal forester haven’t a proper plan, please find help to stop this insidious crime. Surely, other Canadian communities have dealt with similar crimes.
I now urge staff to research the solutions, if any, used by those communities.
On the surface, do we have forest wardens and volunteer watchdogs who are vigilant about this horrible crime? If not, I suggest council hire and enlist them.
If council and staff’s wisdom proves unable to deal with continual illegal logging, what real assurances have taxpayers that councillors can make cogent decisions about the preservation of the rest of our precious municipal forest reserve?
Peter W. Rusland
North Cowichan