On February 7, after more than a decade of talks, international boycott campaigns against Great Bear wood products, and forest sit-ins by First Nation tribes and environmentalists, a milestone agreement was reached in British Columbia to create a 21-million acre park on the province’s north and central coast, as well as on the islands of Haida Gwaii, the New York Times reports. Under the new agreement, 5 million acres will be fully protected and managed as parkland. An additional 10 million acres of the forest will be open to logging; however, loggers will be required to "cut selectively," or away from critical watersheds, bear dens, and fish spawning grounds. Commonly known as the Great Bear Rain Forest, or the Amazon of the North, the area is predominantly occupied by the Gitga’at people, who live on their ancestral lands in the Kitkiata Inlet, on the northwest side of the Douglas Channel. The park is also home to grizzly bears, goshawks, coastal wolves, Sitka blacktail deer, and mountain goats. While the logging agreement has left some environmentalists and First Nation tribes critical of the agreement, others are inspired by it. Ross Wilson, chairman of the Heiltsuk tribal council told the New York Times: "Now we can manage our destiny."
