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East Creek Massacre 2003 East Creek & Klaskish Valleys |
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A 2003 Western Canada Wilderness Committee Expedition recorded the clearcut logging of the Klaskish and the new logging road being blasted into the pristine East Creek Valley. The Kaskish was one of a handful of remaining unlogged ancient rainforest valleys on Vancouver Island when in 1997 Interfor (International Forest Products) began its operations here thanks to the timber rights it had been given by the BC government. In only five years, from 1997 to 2003, Interfor and its subcontractor Lemare Lake Logging gutted the rare and precious ancient ecological integrity of the Klaskish Valley. "Though the forestry workers whom we met were very courteous, the logging we saw in the Klaskish shocked us. When we saw how the Klaskish had been butchered it made us even more determined to see logging road construction halted into the East Creek Valley." Expedition members reported that the road building crew is working to extend the East Creek logging road 7 days a week from 7 am until 5 pm. The road is now about 1,000 feet above the East Creek Valley floor. Ancient red cedars litter the side of the road (left). |
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Lemare Lake Logging Company, a local operation |
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![]() Note: Photos and reporting by Joe Foy and Ken Wu © Western Canada Wilderness Committee |
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