CHILLIWACK (NEWS1130) - Protestors in Chilliwack are angry about logging, which they say is threatening the last handful of spotted owls living in BC.
An information picket was staged Saturday at the Coast Chilliwack Hotel, in hopes of increasing public awareness.
The
Wilderness Committee's Gwen Barlee says logging is underway in an area she claims was supposed to be protected owl habitat.
"The reason why spotted owls are at risk is because of logging in their habitat, and so it's fundamentally dishonest for government to say that we have a spotted owl protected area, and then turn around and allow logging within that protected area," says Barlee.
She suggests only ten spotted owls remain in BC, and if the logging west of Chilliwack Lake continues, Barlee says they will likely disappear within five years.
"And it not only gives a black eye to the logging industry in British Columbia when you do that but it gives a black eye to the BC government. We don't want to be known around the world as a jurisdiction that logs species in to extinction."
Barlee says 17 cut blocks have been designated in the owl habitat.