The Nanaimo River is a salmon-bearing stream, chinook and chum salmon, and the Nanaimo River estuary plays a vital part in their life-cycle. From February to July, juvenile salmon will spend time feeding, growing and adapting from a freshwater to a marine environment in the estuary.

Log booms in intertidal areas have reduced a large number of species and abundance of macrobenthos (amphipod crustaceans, molluscs and annelid worms) under log rafts. Copepods are the largest biomass in the oceans and also the dominant food items in juvenile salmon fry in the Nanaimo River estuary. Copepods are subject to loss of living space, drainage changes, tow-boat wash, ship activities and their impacts, log grounding at low tide and tidal currents.

In June 2003 Nanaimo was a port of call for a large condominium, "The World of ResidenSea", cruise ship right in the Nanaimo River estuary for 2 days(www.residensea.com). Both uses, ships allowed to cross and drop an anchor in the estuary, and the logging industry allowed to store logs in the estuary, have a dramatic effect on the salmon cycle of life.

The logging industry in the Regional District of Nanaimo claims that the Nanaimo River estuary access is vital to sawmills, providing them with affordable log warehousing. Log storage is currently an allowed use under a lease the province of British Columbia has with the Nanaimo Port Authority, which in turn sub-leases the tidal estuary land to several sawmills that use it for log storage. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans could possibly reduce or even eliminate this type of industrial use in the river estuary to improve fish habitat.

Log storage tenures were first issued starting in 1950 coinciding with a growth in the number of mills on Vancouver Island. By 1972 most of the Nanaimo River estuary was used to log storage. The water leases are administered by the Nanaimo Port Authority.

The North-East slope of Mount Benson shows that very young trees have been cut off the mountain slope. Clearcutting of the forest is obvious. One or two trees were left over. Very little profit was made by the logging company yet it makes other industries and activities in the region at high risk: the ecotourism industry, Nanaimo heritage, protection of Nanaimo water shed, parks. The logging company is building a road to the peak of the mountain. With so very little profit made there has to be another reason for destroying the forest. The Regional District of Nanaimo may well be in the process of allowing development on the slopes of the mountain.

The long road on the mountain slope has not yet reached the top. The logging company is making the slope available for more development. It may be soon before re-zoning of the land will allow 'the rich and famous' build homes on the slopes. It has already been used by large trailer truks to carry the trees away.

Owners of the 209 hectares property on the peak of Mount Benson are in the process of subdividing it into eight-hectare parcels. Cercomm Electronics built its radio tower on the mountaintop. The tower itself does not need to be on the top of the mountain to broadcast to the Nanaimo region and surroundings. Radio waves can travel very well from a secondary peak in a less threatening place to the ecosystem of the mountain and to the quality of life of the people of Nanaimo. If there were any chance at all for Nanaimo senior people to have access to the top of the mountain and build their own trail for viewing from the top then they would be looking at the radio tower like a sour thumb.

The Mount Benson Preservation Society has drawn the following petition in December 2002 and proposed it to the people of the Regional District of Nanaimo and the people of the City of Nanaimo.

To support the right of the people in the community of the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) to participate in the decision-making process concerning the development of their community as it relates to the future of Mount Benson and surrounding ecosystems, sign the following petition and participate with us in the Campaign to make Westwood Ridge a City of Nanaimo protected park and Mount Benson a RDN ‘protected park'.

I have read the Petition to make Westwood Ridge a City of Nanaimo protected park and Mount Benson a RDN protected park, and I hereby sign the petition:

A check in a box means YES I want the City of Nanaimo to buy Westwood Ridge and make it a protected park, and/or YES I want RDN to purchase Mount Benson and make it a protected park.

Name(print)	Signature	Address	Phone	Date	Westwood Ridge	Mount Benson

The Mount Benson Preservation Society is implementing the Mount Benson reforestation project, which is designed to preserve the biodiversity of the mountain, while enhancing its landscape and helping control its climate, protecting wildlife and the green belt surrounding its slopes.

The Mount Benson Preservation Society is also reclaiming the lake and riverbank forests in the surrounding ecosystems.

An environmental education project for students enrolled with primary schools could be run by the Municipal Governments of the Regional District of Nanaimo, this program turns nature into a classroom, where students are taken by their teachers and volunteers from the Mount Benson Preservation Society to many different types of natural environments, both well-conserved and degraded, in order to work on concepts such as the importance of maintaining natural life and rehabilitating environments that have been severely altered by human beings. Back in the classroom, they study the plants, wildlife and landscapes of the region, as well as eco-system conservation. Then they submit proposals for revitalizing degraded areas to Town Councils, which agree to implement the best suggestions.

This project was based on an initiative undertaken by the Society.