The future of this wonder is under pressure. The 118 acres is privately owned by Island Timberlands Ltd. of Nanaimo and, like so much of the Stillwater area that's recently been clear-cut, they are preparing to 'harvest' the forest above and behind the bluffs themselves. Fortunately there are opponents to this short-sighted scheme. The opposition is led by The Friends of Stillwater Bluffs. They have an excellent website up and running with a link to a petition with a fast growing number of signatures, including mine.
The site was also recently the focus of an occupation by Occupy Powell River who were attempting to draw further attention to the importance of the area ecologically and the immediacy of the need for protection. Because the area is privately owned the only real long-term protection seems to be the purchase of the land from Island Timberlands. There are proposals before the regional and provincial governments to do just that but proposals aren't money and raising the money will take time. Five year moratorium on any logging of Stillwater Bluffs is the purpose of the petition mentioned above.
As The Friends of Stillwater Bluffs homepage says in part, "Somehow the dramatic scale of the geography allows greater appreciation of the fragile plants clinging to rock and crevice, and the subtle sounds of trickling water or the sea lions offshore...of the dense fir forest and through a bank of salal walls...of licorice ferns and pockets of ground orchids...of sloping bare rock expanses clothed with moss and reindeer lichen...of arbutus trees and shore pines...entirely dependent on the measured release of rainwater runoff from the upland tree stands. The stark conditions of sea bluffs are a laboratory for survival of plant species which populate the margins."
Please help The Friends of Stillwater Bluffs to save this unique ecosystem in any way you can. Thanks in advance.
