Chileans Take On Timber Company

Progressive, The, March, 1999 by James Langman

Santiago, Chile

The Trillium Corporation of Bellingham, Washington, is trying to gain official approval to cut down trees in the last remaining ancient forests on Tierra del Fuego island--the southernmost tip of South America.

Environmentalists in Chile say that Trillium should not be cutting into the ancient forests on the island at all. They point out that the Chilean forests are extremely rare. Only 3 percent of the world's original temperate forests remain. According to a 1997 study by the World Resources Institute, one-third of these are in Chile. The only other significant temperate rainforests on Earth are the dwindling woodlands of the Pacific Northwest.

"We will not permit conversion of Tierra del Fuego's ancient forests," says Maria Luisa Robleto, director of the forest campaign for Greenpeace Chile. "Who will pay for replacing an ancient forest that has evolved over hundreds, even thousands, of years?"

But Trillium denies that logging will do environmental harm. "This project is sustainable," says Edmundo Fahrenkrog, the general manager of Trillium's Rio Condor project. "We are using the most advanced forestry techniques available to ensure that the forests will regenerate in a way that mimics the natural ecological systems. There has never been a more sustainable plan in all of Chile."

On its 670,000-acre property in Tierra del Fuego, the company plans to cut more than 254,400 acres of forest. But these forests would not be clearcut. The company would log them using adaptive management techniques that could, in theory, sustain and regenerate the ecosystem. The company has also voluntarily set aside for protection 25 percent of its property, including representation of all the ecosystems and 24,700 acres of commercial grade forest.

But Chilean environmentalists worry that a large-scale logging project might not be ecologically sustainable due to Tierra del Fuego's thin soils and fragile environment, which is frequently pounded by fierce Antarctic winds.

Last May, twenty activists from Greenpeace Chile were arrested in front of the presidential palace in Santiago while trying to present a chainsaw to Trillium executives. In September, Chile's Supreme Court upheld the approval.

Trillium executives say the company plans to start logging in March.

"Recently, Greenpeace ran a boycott for eighteen months and got two companies out of Canada's temperate rainforest. Tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts were canceled," says Marc Evans, Greenpeace USA forest campaign director. "We have made temperate rainforest protection one of our highest conservation priorities and are committed to doing all we can in Chile."

For more information, contact Greenpeace USA Forest Campaign, 965 Mission St., Suite 450, San Francisco CA 94103. Or call (415) 512-9025.