Logging on islands protestedBy QUENTIN DODD
Courier-Islander Reporter January 13, 1998
Outraged Cortes islanders have begun boat-borne protests over logging on the Twin Islands, which the Queen visited as a private retreat in 1971 and 1994.
The two islands, located about 1,000 metres off the southeast corner of Cortes Island, are overlooked by around 100 properties on Cortes and another 10 or so on Hernando Island.
To date an estimated eight to 10 hectares of the island's 680 hectares have been logged in the past few weeks under new owner Mike Jenks of Gabriola Island, and based on past experiences with Jenks, there is a growing fear the islands, which were owned by a cousin of Prince Philip, will be almost all clearcut.
Jenks, who paid $4 million for the islands and their buildings, said Monday he doesn't give interviews to newspapers, but an interview in a Courtenay magazine recently quoted him as saying he doesn't clearcut.
But a number of Cortes Islanders, including realtor John Fraser, say Jenks has a record of clearcutting properties on Denman and Gabriola Islands.
In the meantime the Cortes Islanders - who are sup ported in their concerns by the Twin Islands' caretakers, who said last week they're quitting over what they've seen to date - acknowledge there's not much they can do, since the islands are private property.
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