A broad range of corporate forces have their eyes on the Pilalt Territory near Cheam British Columbia.

THE BATTLE AT ELK CREEK, THE WAR FOR CHEAM
joey only

THE FIGHT FOR ELK CREEK
Earlier this year Cattermole Timber successfully overturned a court injunction the Western
Canada Wilderness Committee had preventing two logging projects. One cut block was at
Anderson Creek north of Hope, an old growth forest hidden deep in the round mountains east of
the Fraser Canyon. Anderson Creek is at a transition zone from Coast Mountains to British
Columbian interior, that region was previously logged in the old fashion when entire
mountainsides were devastated by massive clear cuts. The Anderson Creek old growth is a
known nesting area for the nearly extinct spotted owl, there may be two dozen of these
marvelous owls left in BC. The logging of Anderson Creek received no special attention while
the second Cattermole cut block is at Elk Creek, incidently also a known spotted owl habitat, has
been much more public.

Elk Creek has an intact old growth forest just outside of Chilliwack BC. There has been hot
local opposition to logging one of the last remnants of Fraser Valley old growth. A multitude of
petitions, letters and a protest had found their way to MLA Barry Penner’s office over the last
two years. When the Chilliwack office of the BC Forestry service asked for public commentary
700 people wrote in with 100% opposition to the logging project. The Pilalt at Cheam First
Nation strongly oppose the logging of Elk Creek as they liken the forest there to a church, and a
sacred place to find medicines. The benefits of this logging project go to one place and that is
Cattermole Timber Co. and its stock holders.

The logging began at both Elk and Anderson Creek when the forest fire ban was lifted. Since
the beginning of October there has been an ongoing series of protests and actions which have
complicated but not stopped the logging at Elk Creek. On October 3rd band members at the
Cheam reservation blockaded the CN Rail Line that runs through the reserve. The Pilalt
demands included no development and logging on their sacred mountains. (I will come back to
this). The RCMP sent 12 large vehicles, including a transport, 15 passenger vans and a budget
cube truck all full of armed men and dogs totaling about a hundred police officers. Before the
police arrived the CTV news truck packed up and fled. The blockade came down quickly but
there was a promise to meet the Minister of Forestry Mike Dejong at 11AM the following day.
The meeting with Mike Dejong took place at Rosedale’s Community Center. People from the
Cheam shed tears for the protection of their sacred forest. In the end it was agreed that a one
week cooling period what be put into effect, for one week there was no logging in Elk Creek.
Just before the CN rail blockade a protest camp was set up on private property next to the
cutblock. On September 28th the campers made first contact with the loggers, at about 9:30 that
morning a logger showered an environmentalist with sawdust. Then at 11:30AM a logger
dropped a 160 foot tall tree dangerously close to the observers. A similar act at Grizzly Creek in
the California Redwoods resulted in the death of 24 year old David Chain when a Pacific
Lumber Co. faller dropped a tree on him, that was in 1998.

Protesters began to wake up in the mornings and climb up to a helicopter landing pad, occupying
the Landing Zone (LZ) so the choppers could not drop off the fallers to log. On October 2nd a
logger threatened to shove a camera up someone’s ass. Once a protester suggested that
everybody calm down the logger said, “Why do you think that Cattermole put me in here? It’s
not because I am calm,