May 15, 2005
Raw logs
The Fraser River, near my home in New West is a really cool place, especially as seen from a canoe.
We got the call the night before. There was a big fat ship tied up in the Fraser River at Surrey Docks, across from the New West Quay. She was loading up on raw logs, bound for offshore mills, likely in Asia.
We decided it was time to launch the Wilderness Committee’s raw log webcam. Scott and Tammy and Shane and Gwen and Nik had been tweaking the thing for weeks, making sure it was set up to continuously broadcast images of the log ships loading up logs (and BC mill jobs) to ship offshore. It was time to launch!
The Wilderness Committee wants the BC government to ban raw log shipments because it squanders woodworking jobs and our environment. We figure if we bring enough attention to this issue, government will eventually act to shut it down.
So as Gwen got ready to speak to the media about the “World’s first raw log webcam”. We sent out a news advisory. Then Dennis, JP and I headed for the Fraser River. We tied my canoe down to the top of my pickup. Then we dropped JP off at New West Quay so he could take photos of the ship tied up on the far bank of the river.
Then Dennis and I drove over Pattullo Bridge to the Surrey side then under the bridge where we launched the canoe, packed with banner, ropes and poles. Our job was to string the huge “Stop Raw Log Shipments” banner in front of the ship. The webcam would record the banner and we would also photograph it.
The Fraser is in freshet, which means its filling up with snowmelt and is running pretty good. The tide was way low so the current was chugging along. The river is full of logs and seals. Sometimes its hard to tell which is which.
We pulled up on a rock jetty right in front of the ship, whose name was the Santa Pacifica. We set up our banner and took lots of photos. They were loading logs nonstop.
A big guy in a little boat came over to talk to us. He sort of agreed that raw log shipments cost mill jogs – but he pointed out that he had a job, loading logs onto the ship. He told us to be careful of the rising tide so we didn’t get swamped off our rocky perch.
We were in contact via cell phone with the WCWC office, so we were real happy to hear that Gwen had gotten an interview with CBC TV about our campaign to stop raw log shipments.
When the tide turned, and the river slowed down a bit Dennis and I paddled for home.
Check out the World’s one and only raw log webcam!
http://www.wildernesscommittee.org/campaigns/policy/forestry/raw_logs/raw_log_cam
