Old-growth logging protesters were formally served an injunction on Tuesday demanding the removal of blockades at the site of Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew.
Logging company Teal Jones formally read the injunction to protesters on-site earlier this morning.
This comes less than one week after the B.C. Supreme Court granted an injunction application to Teal Jones, allowing protestors and blockades to be removed.
The judge overseeing the case also granted Teal Jones’ request for police enforcement, saying it is required in this case, as there is “little or no likelihood the injunction order will be respected otherwise.”
The judge, in delivering his decision, also noted that Teal-Jones’ activities are “lawful.”
The protesters are “misguided, their conduct is illegal and undermines the rule of law,” he said.
The blockades, which were established by members of the Rainforest Flying Squad back in August of 2020, have been preventing Teal Jones from building a road into the Fairy Creek area and accessing an old-growth logging block, intended to be harvested.
Teal Jones says that only about 200 hectares of the 1,200-hectare Fairy Creek Watershed is available for harvesting, subject to government regulations and First Nation engagement.
“The rest is either protected forest reserve or on unstable terrain not suitable for harvesting,” Teal Jones told CHEK News. “BC Government regulations require licensees to leave large signature trees stand. There are no trees in the harvest area large enough to meet those regulations.”
The protected areas include the area of the lower valley around Fairy Lake and the San Juan River, according to Teal Jones.
The injunction was served to protesters just before noon, resulting in the Rainforest Flying Squad taking to social media and plea for more support to join them.
As of noon on April 6, RCMP had yet to arrive on-site, however, protesters were anticipating that officers would show up shortly. Social media posts from members outlined they were hoping more demonstrators could join them as soon as possible.
“We need everyone out here now,” reads a Facebook post from Rainforest Flying Squad.
On Tuesday, Teal Jones emphasized that the work on this specific tree farm license “will be done in a way consistent with our values of sustainable forest management.”
The company says that an area like Fairy Creek is “vital” to sustain operations and create “hundreds of jobs in the province.”
“We respect peaceful, non-disruptive protest in our licenses, and only recently sought an injunction after many months of protesters blocking certain areas of our operations. It is time for our work to get underway,” a statement from the logging company reads.
CHEK News
