British Columbia's public dispute on Forests

In response to Alex Atamanenko’s claims in his Aug. 2 and Aug. 16 columns, I believe the readers of your newspaper deserve and need to know the facts.

Each year in British Columbia about 16,000 hectares of forest are sprayed with a herbicide that contains glyphosate. It is one of the most popular weed killers in the world, according to the manufacturer, Monsanto.

If you're a clerk in the produce department at the local supermarket you have a big task on your hands.

Not only must you track how quickly the bins of apples, lemons, lettuce, radishes and dozens of other fruits and vegetables are depleted, but you must constantly root out the rotten from the fresh and be ever vigilant that behind the swinging storeroom door there's sufficient replacement stock.

April 8^th, 2011: The administration and care of British Columbia's publicly owned forestlands - some 60 million hectares, an area larger than France - is unstable and in deep trouble.

The shifting of forest governance among three ministries in less than a year, following a decade of deregulation, has eroded forest stewardship and sustainable forest management in B.C.