>Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 11:53:30 +0900
>From: James Albert <albert@nms.ac.jp>
>Subject: BIOD: Cascada Chile project
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>Chile's temperate forests are the target of a huge wood chipping and strand
>board facility proposed by Boise Cascade (BC) of the United States. The
>project called "Cascada Chile" is to be located near Puerto Montt as a
>joint venture with the Chilean firm Maderas Condor. Although the project
>recently received approval from Chile's Regional Environmental Commission
>(COREMA), independent sources project the mill will double the rate of
>deforestation in Chile's temperate rainforests. The mill is part of a long
>term plan by BC to move operations from the Pacific Northwest to Patagonia.
>More than a third of the world's remaining temperate rainforests are in
>Southern Chile; estimates are that 90 percent of species found in these
>forests are endemic. A broad coalition of Chileans, including the mayor of
>Puerto Montt, oppose the project and are planning to fight Cascada Chile in
>the courts. Their primary leverage is that BC is still seeking financing
>as well as approval from stockholders at their annual meeting this spring.
>The following report is from a Chilean NGO: "Chileans for a Sustainable and
>Equitable Society." JSA
>
>
>*******************************
>RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
>
>Title: CHILE'S TEMPERATE RAINFORESTS THREATENED
> BOISE CASCADE PLANS WORLD'S LARGEST TIMBER MILL FOR CHILE
>Source: NGO: "Chileans for a Sustainable and Equitable Society"
>Status: Distribute freely with credit given to source
>Date: January 29, 1999
>Byline: Jimmy Langman, jlangman@mcl.cl
>
>
>After helping tear up the temperate rainforests of the Pacific
>Northwest, Boise Cascade is now abandoning its mills and jobs in the
>United States and looking to the southern hemisphere. In Chile, they
>have plans to invest US$180 million in a wood chipping and oriented
>strand board facility that would be the largest of its kind in the
>world. Company officials state that their next stop is the Amazon
>rainforests of Brazil.
>
>The Boise Cascade project in Chile, dubbed "Cascada Chile," is so huge
>that it would double the rate of deforestation in Chile's temperate
>rainforests. Meanwhile, Chile's forests are already disappearing fast
>even without Cascada Chile. A Central Bank of Chile study states that
>with current methods of exploitation, all of Chile's native forests
>not set aside for protection will be completely degraded and
>deforested within 25 years.
>
>In terms of global biodiversity, Chile's temperate rainforests are
>very important. Temperate rainforests originally only ever covered
>just 0.2 percent of the Earth's land area and today more than half are
>destroyed. Southern Chile holds more than one-third of those remaining
>temperate rainforests.
>
>Scientists estimate that 90 percent of species found in Chile's native
>forests are endemic. The rare "siempreverde" coastal temperate
>rainforest found in the region threatened by the Boise Cascade mill
>has the highest levels of biodiversity of all of Chile's forests.
>
>Boise Cascade's plans for Chile come on the heels of their recent
>episode in Mexico. Last year, they were finally chased out of
>Mexico's Costa Grande forests by local farmers protesting the effects
>of deforestation on their communities. Timber suppliers rebelled as a
>result of the protests and simply stopped supplying wood to the
>company.
>
>Boise Cascade seemingly stops at nothing to get raw wood for its mills
>and the company perceives Chile as just another large source of cheap
>timber. In Mexico, Boise Cascade started its timber buying operations
>just months after Mexican police tragically killed 17 farmers and
>permanently maimed 23 others at an anti-logging protest.
>
>But the people who live in southern Chile see their forests as more
>than just another source of wood.
>
>Chile's tourism associations - national, regional, and local - all
>oppose the project because it will cause a decline in ecotourism. The
>Boise Cascade mill is set to be located near Puerto Montt, Chile,
>which is in the middle of Chile's Lake District and northern
>Patagonia. An international hot spot for eco-travel, one recent
>economic study estimates that revenue from tourism is seven times more
>important to the region than wood chipping operations.
>
>Salmon companies are opposed as uncontrolled deforestation will damage
>the lakes, rivers, and streams of watersheds. One salmon company is
>located just 20 meters from the proposed port of the Cascada Chile
>mill and it states that emissions from the timber mill would
>contaminate their salmon farm.
>
>Furthermore, it has been discovered that the proposed mill site for
>Cascada Chile lies above ancient artifacts that could prove to be
>among the oldest in the western hemisphere. Archeologists and Chile's
>National Monuments Council are filing lawsuits to protect these
>ancient remains.
>
>The Mayor of Puerto Montt, countless local citizens, scientists,
>environmental groups, and others from across the nation of Chile are
>solidly opposed.
>
>Another big reason for the firm opposition to Cascada Chile is that
>Chile's forest service has few resources to control logging in the
>region. And current Chilean forestry laws are weak anyway. For
>example, clearcutting is permitted in many cases, often in order to
>make way for tree plantations of exotic species like eucalyptus and
>Monterrey pine. A recent study by Chile's University of
>Austral at Valdivia estimated that less than one-fifth of logging in
>Chile's forests are even done with management plans!
>
>But Boise Cascade insists, again over all the protests and the hard
>facts about Chile's forest situation, and has spent thousands of
>dollars on a public relations campaign run by Burson-Marstellar (the
>same p.r. firm famous for cleaning up Exxon's image after the Valdez
>oil spill) in order to ram the project through.
>
>Unfortunately, money and political connections is winning. Boise
>Cascade, the majority owner of the "Cascada Chile," which is a joint
>venture with a local wood chipping menace called Maderas Condor, has
>recently received approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment
>(EIA) from Chile's Regional Environmental Commission (COREMA). The
>Cascada Chile EIA covers only the mill site and does not address the
>impacts of the project to the forest resource.
>
>The broad and large coalition of Chileans opposed to the project has
>vowed to fight Cascada Chile in the courts, and however else possible,
>but they need your help! Pressure here in the United States on Boise
>Cascade could save Chile's temperate rainforests from disaster.
>
>*******************************************************
>
>PLEASE SEND LETTERS TODAY!!!!
>
>Here's what you should say, but in your own words.
>
>Tell these captains of industry that Boise Cascade is making a large
>and expensive mistake. The opposition to the project is widespread
>and diverse, from Chile's tourism industry to Chile's salmon industry
>to the Mayor of Puerto Montt to environmental groups from around the
>world.
>
>Chile's temperate rainforests are priceless, too valuable to be
>squandered away as wood chips and fiber board. The world's largest
>chip and board mill is not appropriate in Chile, its offensive.
>Chileans will fight it tooth and nail, and so will international
>environmental groups. In that kind of environment, Boise Cascade will
>have a very difficult time guaranteeing a sufficient supply of timber
>for their Cascada Chile mill. Its a risky venture for them, and it
>will just get riskier.
>
>In addition, specifically tell Mr. Harad and his board partner, Mr.
>Robert Jaedicke, to instead reinvest in their projects at home by
>emphasizing responsible management of their lands. And urge Mr.
>Marshall Carter and Mr. John Gunn to use their financial stockholder
>might as leverage to put pressure on Boise Cascade to pull out of this
>shaky and irresponsible investment.
>
>There is a window of opportunity right now for us to help Boise
>Cascade reverse course. The company still must obtain full bank
>financing for the Cascada Chile project in order for it to go forward,
>and Boise Cascade's board of directors must also vote its approval of
>the project at their meeting this Spring. Thousands of influential
>letters can turn them around!
>
>
> Mr. George Harad
> Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
> Boise Cascade Corporation
> 224 E. Braemere Rd.
> Boise, Idaho 83702-1710
>
> Mr. Marshall N. Carter, CEO
> State Street Bank & Trust
> 225 Franklin St.
> Boston, MA 02110
>
> Mr. Robert K. Jaedicke
> Stanford University
> Graduate School of Business
> Stanford, CA 94305
>
> Mr. John Gunn, President
> Dodge & Cox
> 1 Sansome Street
> San Francisco, CA 94104-4436
>
>###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###
>This document is for general distribution. All efforts are made to
>provide accurate, timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for
>verifying all information rests with the reader.
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>James
>
>
>
>Dr. James Albert
>Nippon Medical School
>Department of Anatomy
>Sendagi 1-1-5, Bunkyo-ku
>Tokyo 113-8602, Japan
>Tel : +81 3-3822-2131 ext. 5320
>Fax: +81 3-5685-6640
>Email: albert@nms.ac.jp
>http://www.nms.ac.jp/NMS/KAIBOU2/albert.html
>