Media release - September 30, 1998
Today, Greenpeace will undertake a marathon 10 hour protest against the sale of ancient forest products at the Bellevue Home Depot (325 20th Avenue N.E.). Tomorrow, Greenpeace will protest at the Bothell Home Depot (18333 120th Avenue N.E.). Both protests will run from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00p.m.
Greenpeace is escalating its protests against Sauder/Interfor
trim and molding from Western Hemlock clear cut in British
Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest. The Great Bear Rainforest is the
largest unprotected intact rainforest in North America. Greenpeace
activists will set up a 40 foot long inflatable chain saw with a
banner on the blade that reads, "Ancient Forest Destruction --
Don't Buy It," and talk to customers about the alternatives to
buying wood from ancient forests.
More than half of everything logged in British Columbia is
exported to the United States, with the state of Washington being
the single largest destination.
"People don't want to buy ancient forest destruction at Home
Depot, or anywhere else," said Mat Jacobson, Greenpeace forest
issues specialist.
The Great Bear Rainforest -- home to the rare white "Spirit"
bear and rich salmon streams -- is being ravaged by clearcutting.
British Columbia's own Ministry of the Environment reported in 1996
that one in every ten animal species in the province is threatened
or endangered. Of the original 353 large rainforest valleys in the
Great Bear Rainforest, only 69 are still intact. Nearly all of
these remaining valleys are slated to be logged in the next
decade.
Greenpeace is calling special attention to the Sauder trim and
molding sold at Washington state Home Depot stores. Sauder is
affiliated with the British Columbia-based logging company
Interfor. Interfor is one of the main companies responsible for
ancient forest destruction in the Great Bear Rainforest. A large
portion of Sauder's trim and molding comes from Western Hemlock
trees -- which can grow to 300 feet tall and to over 500 years of
age in coastal ancient rainforests.
Home Depot promised in 1992 to phase out unsustainably logged
wood products. Greenpeace is demanding that Home Depot immediately
cancel its contract with Sauder/Interfor, and other companies
threatening the Great Bear Rainforest, as a concrete step towards
fulfilling this promise.
Greenpeace is the leading independent global organization, which
uses peaceful and creative activism to protect the global
environment.