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Flow '99 Archives

Flow '99 Conference Archives

Here are some Press releases and pre-conference material that may be useful.

Pre-conference press releases June 15, 1999 July 23, 1999 Post-conference press releases August 24, 1999 September 14, 1999

June 15, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Forest Workers and Environmentalists come together to address the Crisis in the Woods

FLOW '99 Conference organizers are exposing the myth that forest workers and environmentalists are continually at odds.

A steering committee with individuals from both camps is organizing an event in the Slocan Valley to examine the current crisis in the woods and find solutions and alternatives for a brighter future. FLOW '99 (For Love Of Water / For Love of Our Work) will be held simultaneously in New Denver, Silverton and Slocan City from August 20-22, 1999. The conference will explore three related areas: how to safeguard the health of our water (both domestic and wild); the economic impacts on our communities of poor logging practices compared to sustainable ones; and the opportunities to ensure long-term jobs for forest workers and others who depend upon the forest.

• Will Maloff (noted author of "Chain Saw Lumber Making" and creator of the Alaska Chain Saw Mill);
• Professor Stan Rowe, forest ecologist;
• Michael M'Gonigle, forest economist;
• Dr. Fred Bass, health specialist;
• Robert Theobald (author of "Reworking Success" and reknown speaker and consultant on change, economics and related issues) and
• Herb Hammond (author of "Seeing the Forest amongst the Trees").

The Slocan Valley may be the most studied and best prepared area in BC to deal with the conflict between logging and protection of water. It has been the scene of watershed blockades and arrests since 1990 and has lost half its sawmill jobs.

Valley logging sports show. "The Nelson Forest Region is continually losing money and forest workers keep losing jobs, while logging volumes have doubled over the past 20 years. The culprit has long been identified: a corporation that has cut the saw milling jobs in half while doubling its production since it bought the mill in 1978, and a government that is continuously prioritizing the interests of corporations over public interests. As forest workers, we too feel the need for a change in the way things are run. It is for this change that I am helping organize this conference. We need to look at what is possible so that jobs and the environment can not just survive, but thrive."

" with 3 days of expert presentations, panel discussions, educational displays and inspiring workshops, FLOW '99 promises a unique opportunity for forest workers and environmentalists to work together for positive change. It is time to build on the many bridges in our community. All of us need clean, pure water. We all want sustainable work and we all wish for a healthy ecosystem. By working together on long-term solutions - both the environment and the job situation - can find relief. The solutions exist - we don't have to make them up. At this time in history it is crucial to look at and understand these solutions, and from there, to find ways of integrating them in our communities."

"We hope to attract people from all around the province, and possibly from further afield", says organizer Richard Allin, an SVWA director. "This conference will give participants knowledge and tools they can use back in their own communities."

In order to give participants a taste of life in the Slocan Valley, the conference will also include a farmer's market with many local artists and home-based businesses as well as a Saturday night dance and celebration of the community spirit of this valley.

"The Slocan Valley holds many of the keys necessary for a transition into a sustainable future: an evergrowing diversified economy, a population willing to embrace the changes, and a still somewhat pristine wilderness ecosystem. It is this environment, as much as the unique knowledge and experience of over 25 speakers and presenters, that we wish to pass on through the conference",

"The FLOW '99 Conference offers the opportunity for all to come together, and by unifying forces and moving in the same direction, to generate a strong impetus for change, both locally and throughout the province."

By Miriam Mason

July 23, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FLOW Conference has 30 confirmed speakers

Organizers of FLOW 99 (For Love Of Water / For Love of Our Work), a major environmental conference to be held in the Slocan Valley, have booked over 30 speakers from around BC and the U.S. Pacific Northwest for three days of workshops and presentations, August 20-22.

The conference will be set in New Denver and Silverton and aims to bring together participants interested in protecting drinking water and in building ecologically-sound, diversified economies for BC's forest-dependent communities. Organized by the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance, the conference coordinating committee also includes forest workers.

The Slocan Valley is a flashpoint in the conflict between logging and environmental protection. It has been the scene of watershed blockades and arrests since 1990, and forest-based jobs have been declining for over two decades. Things could heat up again this summer as the Ministry of Forests has just signed a road permit into a highly controversial watershed south of Silverton.

"The forest issue is so broad," says conference coordinator Stephan Martineau, "that to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together is a daunting task, but we feel that we have achieved just that. Our presenters bring with them a wealth of experience and a vision of sustainability for the work force, the economy, the environment and communities. Key organizations around the Pacific Northwest are being asked to send representatives to the FLOW conference. The event promises to be timely and inspiring."

Among the speakers and workshop leaders are: Michael M'Gonigle, U Vic. law professor and political economist and former Greenpeace Canada chair; Tom Milne, BC Ministry of Forests manager of the Lumby Log Sort Yard; Cheri Burda, forest policy strategist for the David Suzuki Foundation; Dr. Fred Bass, health specialist from the BC Medical Assoc.; Herb Hammond, forester, author, and leading-edge proponent of ecosystem-based forest use; Lisa Matthaus, forest policy analyst for the Sierra Club of BC; Merve Wilkinson, legendary Vancouver Island ecoforestry practioner; Professor Stan Rowe, forest ecologist and former research supervisor for the Canadian Forestry Service; Marilyn James, appointed spokesperson for the Sinixt Nation; Robert Theobald, author of "Reworking Success" and renowned speaker and consultant; Colleen McCrory, internationally-recognized grassroots environmental organizer and chair of the Valhalla Wilderness Society; Ernie Niemi, Oregon economist and author of The Sky Did Not Fall: The Pacific Northwest's response to Logging Reductions; and Rami Rothkop and Ramona Faust, from the Harrop-Procter group just awarded BC's first community forest license to use ecosystem-based forestry.

The conference will also include a weekend-long arts/crafts/trade fair, two evenings of talented local entertainment, and children's events. A highlight will be the Sierra Club of BC's Rainforest Education Bus, a full size school bus transformed into a live, lush forest interior complete with all the smells and sounds. The bus contains hands-on displays of rainforest wildlife and rare plants.

Many workshops and presentations have limited seating and early registration is recommended. More conference information and registration forms are available, by phoning (250) 355-2206, by email to star@netidea.com, on the Internet at www.watertalk.org or at the Hemp & Company store in New Denver.

September 14, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Flow steering committee is working on a "Post FLOW package" which will include:

1. A copy of Stan Rowe's opening speech
2. A paragraph summary of each workshop, a paragraph on the tools and strategies that were discussed in each workshop and contact info for the workshop presenters
3. A page of inspirational FLOW 99 quotes
4. A transcript of the panel discussion
5. An address list of conference attendees

If you are interested in receiving such a package, please let us know - either by phone, email or snail mail.

Following is the news release that went out after the conference and the resolutions from the plenary session. Also on this site you will find a statement on the upcoming vision process (forest policy review process) - mentioned by Cheri Burda as an important opportunity to get involved in this fall.

Aug 24, 1999

FLOW Conference delegates call for transition

Over 300 delegates to the FLOW 99 conference in New Denver, BC, returned home on Sunday with a resolve and a renewed sense of urgency and inspiration to work for the protection of water, for the ecologically-responsible and balanced use of our forests, and for the social and economic well-being of their communities.

"A chief focus of this conference," said Dr. Stan Rowe, forest ecologist and former head of research with the Canadian Forestry Service in his opening address, "is on creating models of sustainability: perhaps the most important task for all of humanity, not just in the Slocan valley and the Columbia Basin, but in all eco-regions of Earth." Dr. Rowe defined sustainability as the "harmonizing of humans and their lifestyles with the resources of the ecological regions where they live."

About 50% of the conference attendees were from the West Kootenays, with about one-third from other areas of BC. The remainder came from other provinces, from the US northwestern states, and from as far away as England and Germany. Conference delegates included: representatives from environmental groups, educators, community development workers, forest workers, wood manufacturing business owners, personnel from the Ministry of Forests and the Environment, and alternative logging contractors, including one who came looking for loggers to hire and train for his small skyline logging system.

"The conference was a huge success," said coordinator Stephan Martineau, "The number of people who attended showed how widespread the commitment is for networking, communicating and implementing the solutions. We received many comments on the excellent quality of the workshops. The keynote speakers proved to be thought-provoking, inspirational and informative. We are very pleased."

Several themes ran through the conference workshops and were picked up by delegates in discussions and resolutions made during the closing session.

"The need for long-term thinking and action was one of the key ideas that ran throughout the conference," said steering committee member Richard Allin. "There was universal agreement that current industrial forestry has a very short-term outlook that is putting our water, forests and our economic and social futures in serious jeopardy."

"There is a sense that right now we are busy re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic while the ship is going down," said John Herrmann of the conference steering committee. "We have all the information we need to guide us, and it's now time to act."

Cheri Burda, forest policy strategist from the David Suzuki Foundation pledged to work on pushing for the Slocan Valley to become the model for the province - a model where healthy, vibrant communities and economies would exist within the means and natural limits of the ecosystem. Many of the keynote speakers who had made their way to the conference from the coast also expressed their conviction that the Slocan Valley is the place in B.C. to implement the Ecosystem-based plan as put forward by the Silva Forest Foundation.

Many resolutions that came out of the conference, and culminated in the plenary session with unanimous support, addressed and called for action and commitment on many different levels.

On the political, provincial level:

• A call for an immediate 50% reduction in the Annual Allowable Cut
• Forest tenure redistribution to communities.
• Establishment of Community Resource/Forest Boards.
• A full disclosure of the subsidies to the logging industry and the real costs to the tax payers.
• Changes to the provincial Health Act to remove chlorination as a method of water treatment.
• A strong endangered species legislation from the federal and provincial governments.
• Legislative changes to support small-scale business
• A call for the B.C. Government to implement the Silva Forest Foundation's
• Ecosystem-based for the Slocan Valley and other communities around the province.
• Inclusion of First Nations people with a recognition that no work or decision excluding them is complete
• Changes to the Forest Act and other legislation to move away from a timber bias and toward increased consideration of ecosystem-based values like water.
• World-class government policy to protect consumptive-use watersheds, recognizing the global importance of clean drinking water.

On the regional level:

• Raising the public profile of the Slocan Valley, recognizing its importance for all other regions as a place of vision and commitment to a transition to sustainability.
• A strong push for communication and outreach no matter what the differing opinions may be.
• Support for strategies that are inclusive of all parties.
• Education of the public and the politicians in order to get ecosystem-based planning on the political agenda in the upcoming election.
• Challenging the decisions of regional and district forest managers given the widely accepted findings of modern forest ecology.

On the personal level:

• Commitment as consumers to request and purchase eco-certified wood and non-chlorinated paper.
• Voluntarily simplifying our consumption - clarifying the distinction between needs and wants.
• Spreading the inspiration, hope and goodwill that came out of the FLOW 99 conference.

"People left the FLOW 99 conference inspired and united under a common vision," said Martineau. "We urge our government to listen to yet another unanimous call for transition that will benefit both the environment and the economy of communities around the province."