Mosaic Forest Management Only Has Contempt

(Background: “Logging near cemetery a ‘shock’ for Port Alberni residents” Letter Published in March 13, 2024 edition of AV News)

Dear Editor,

I am not shocked. Mosaic’s (formerly Island Timberlands and Timberwest) recent logging adjacent to the cemetery and Hole in the Wall shows in the worst way that it respects the dead as much as it respects streams, watersheds, public access and amenities, wildfire risk, and wildlife habitat. Like criminals, they often do their business at night, the intense lights of their machines visible on the hillsides from miles away. Their trucks, full of veritable toothpicks, stream down the highway before sunrise.

The tepid and laughable justification about removing the barrier at the cemetery for public safety, without even consulting the owner, belies the intent Mosaic always has; to make money at our expense. I would imagine it also wants to extract its pound of flesh before offering the land for sale — at market price of course — either to private developers or local government so the company can limit its own liability as visitor traffic to the Hole in the Wall increases.

This is an irresponsible and irredeemable entity.

It is time for the BC Government to right old wrongs and return lands stolen from Indigenous Peoples and given away to coal barons. They can start by expropriating the former E&N Land Grant and ending the reign of Mosaic over our forests.

Sincerely

Chris Alemany

Addendum – Pictures and Property

Below is a Mosaic map published in the AVNews

I would point out the note on the map near the left side that says “MoTI Right of Way (Parking/Underpass Option)”. It’s no coincidence that this is right beside the recent logged area. I believe this is all linked to considerations around the Hole in the Wall. But of course instead of consulting the community about how to develop this asset, Mosaic simply does as it sees fit, as it always does.

The image below shows the same area on Google Earth with an overlay showing ownership class and boundaries. Mosaic owns everything to the right of the yellow line beside the cemetery. The small green area is the historic municipal water supply at the Hole in the Wall, now a tourist attraction, still owned by the City of Port Alberni.

(Images are from the AVNews article)

• Yellow outline: Private
• Pink: BC Government (Min Transport)
• Green: Municipal Government
  (City of Port Alberni – Hole in the Wall).

Other images are from the AVNews article.