Interfor, a forest products company, has begun blasting on Catface Mountain in Clayoquot Sound, and this worries the Vancouver Island environmental group friends of clayoquot sound (FCS). They fear that the environment of the area is in danger, and that the government isn't doing much to stop it.

Interfor is building a logging road just north of Tofino, and the FCS are concerned that this road will endanger a salmon bearing stream as well as open the way for new cut-blocks. Valerie Langer, a spokesperson for the FCS stated: "We will not stand by as a national heritage is whittled away road by road, cut by cut. This is an illegal road, an irreplaceable ancient rainforest. Clayoquot is too precious to entrust to industrial criminals."

The FCS fears that issues raised by earlier logging episodes in the sound are being ignored. In 1995, the scientific panel for sustainable forest practices in clayoquot sound made up of ecologists, First Nations elders, foresters, geologists and other experts in this area developed recommendations to improve foresting practices, as well as to protect environmental and cultural values of the area. The FCS believe that these recommendations are not being adhered to.

In a letter to the Central Region Board members and co-chairs on September 21 1998, the FCS stated their concerns: "our general concerns revolve around the failure to implement significant aspects of the scientific panel's recommendations, namely, the setting of locally derived planning objectives, the collection of adequate and coordinated baseline information, the establishment of adaptive management including ecological monitoring, and the issue of local control of our resources. The plan for Catface is an example of all these problems and therefore promises nothing but deterioration for Clayoquot Sound's future."

On March 9 Jill Thompson, a member of the FCS, filed a complaint against Interfor with the Forest Practices Board, a regulatory board which deals with infringments of the forest practices code. In response to Thompson's complaint, the Forest Practices Board began an investigation of Interfor regarding their construction of logging road C-1000. On September 22 an investigator for the Forest Practices Board went to Catface Mountain.

Darlene Dahl of the Forest Practices Board admits that her organization does not have the authority to stop the construction but can only make recommendations on how to improve the activities of logging companies and improvements to the forest practices code in general. Such recommendations would be made available to both the ministry of forests and Interfor. However, Dahl suggested that it could take up to two months to complete the investigation. In the meantime, road construction continues.

While they wait for the recommendations of the Forest Practices Board, the FCS have been making their presence felt. On September 21 the FCS began protesting at Catface Mountain to stop the construction. Mike Mullin, a director for the FCS says he believed there was a "gentleman's agreement" that no work should take place on the road until the board makes its ruling.

However, Rick Slaco of Interfor denies any knowledge of such an agreement. According to Slaco, this agreement was a "claim made by FCS" and never existed.

First Nations representatives in the area support Interfor's activities. A letter to the CRB by the Ahousat Hawiih (hereditary chiefs) states: "The Hawiih of Ahousat are satisfied that all requirements have been lived up to. Further, the Hawiih of Ahousat object strongly to the presence of the friends of clayoquot sound demonstrators blocking an approved logging activity. This demonstration by the friends of clayoquot sound is an insult to our Hawiih and the process for which they fought hard. The Hawiih of Ahousat demand that the friends of clayoquot sound cease their demonstration activities on this site immediately."

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