Re: “Community is ready to solve Cowichan River problems,” comment, April 28.
Parker Jefferson wrote in this commentary that the solution to the reduced water flow in the Cowichan River is to increase height of the weir at Lake Cowichan. Completely ignored is improving the flow in the streams that feed the Cowichan River.
In the past, the intact forests held water in the spongy forest floors that would slowly enter the streams that fed the Cowichan River, while forested mountaintops held snow that slowly melted, feeding cool water to the Cowichan River well into the summer.
Clear-cutting of mountaintops, mountain sides and valleys has completely disrupted this part of the normal water cycle. Clear-cutting also destroys the fish-friendly ecology of the streams.
Rescuing the fish habitat of the Cowichan River requires addressing changes in forestry practices on private as well as Crown lands. Yet clear-cutting of forests, whether by pension fund-controlled private corporations or by the B.C. government, is rapidly depleting our still-intact forests, often for little benefit to local mills.
Recently, B.C. Timber Sales has announced selling off yet another 109 hectares of old-growth forest near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. We seem determined to deny future generations a viable Earth.
Bernhard H.J. Juurlink
Mill Bay
