VANCOUVER -- A standoff over the future of a vast swath of forest on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, estimated to be worth about $150-million, is heating up as a regional government contemplates taking a forestry company to court to block its plans to subdivide the area and sell it for development.

Re: "CRD, WFP tangle over forest roads," Aug. 7. The situation has gone beyond enraging and has become ridiculous. How can a Western Forest Products official openly state that the company is clearing roads for subdivision development, and then state that it doesn't have to provide development permits to the Capital Regional District because the land is under forestry use?

Something is seriously wrong when Western Forest Products can argue that it has the right to build roads for subdivisions -- because it's doing the development work on land set aside for forestry.

BC environmental groups are applauding the latest recommendations from the province's Climate Action Team, a blue ribbon panel created by Premier Campbell to provide, ìthe most credible, aggressive and economically viable targets,î for the province's fight against Climate Change.

Western Forest Products is pushing ahead with building roads meant for a housing subdivision, even though the Capital Regional District insists the company doesn’t have the right to do so. In late July, the CRD sent the company a letter demanding it stop building roads on forest land around Jordan River and Shirley. The CRD says the work contravenes development permit rules. However, Western has replied that it does not need a development permit for road building as the land is still private managed forest land and comes under provincial regulations, not CRD rules.

After taking over the forestry portfolio a month ago, Prince George-North MLA and Forest and Range Minister Pat Bell has developed a four-point strategy.

Lawyers for the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt Society, supported by other environmental groups, are demanding the provincial cabinet quash subdivision applications for land west of Sooke.

Losses among Canada's largest forest companies increased more than 560 per cent in 2007 from 2006, the worst performance in the sector in the world, according to a report released Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

VICTORIA -- While lawyers prepare for a court battle over Western Forest Products' attempts to sell off timberlands for real-estate development, company employees were still clearing land yesterday to stake out its proposed subdivision boundaries.

Lawyers for the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt Society, supported by other environmental groups, are demanding the provincial cabinet quash subdivision applications for land west of Sooke.

Is former forests minister Rich Coleman the sole villain for making a forests decision without due regard to the public interest? Forest ministers in B.C. have been very lenient with the forest industry for more than 60 years. The auditor general's recent report has just revealed the tip of the iceberg.

B.C. could see a return to protests and blockades in world-renowned Clayoquot Sound as a forestry company prepares to log an old-growth forest in the Hesquiat Point Creek watershed - the first time a company has begun logging in such a "pristine" valley in nearly 20 years.

Is former forests minister Rich Coleman the sole villain for making a forests decision without due regard to the public interest? Forest ministers in B.C. have been very lenient with the forest industry for more than 60 years. The auditor general's recent report has just revealed the tip of the iceberg.

NEWLY-NAMED forests minister Pat Bell isn’t quite ready to commit himself to continue a specific plan by his predecessor to help a struggling northwest forest industry.

The case for public hearings before prime Jordan River waterfront and forest land is developed has always been strong. After the auditor general's report on the botched way the land was released from tree farm licence provisions, the need for public hearings is overwhelming.

The furious response of Forests Minister Pat Bell to a report on private forest lands was auditor general John Doyle's welcome-home greeting.

VICTORIA - The B.C. government made a major, controversial land-use decision on Vancouver Island without adequate consultation or proper regard for the public interest, Auditor-General John Doyle said in a scathing report Wednesday.

B.C.'s conflict-of-interest commissioner is about to take a close opinion of conflict-of-interest commissioner Paul Fraser on allegations Coleman was in conflict with his official responsibilities since his brother Stan is employed by Western Forest Products.

A judicial review is needed in the wake of the auditor general's report that blasts the way government dealt with private land removals from Vancouver Island tree farm licences, says Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the University of Victoria's environmental law clinic.

VICTORIA -- Armed with just a wafer-thin sheaf of briefing notes, then-forests minister Rich Coleman signed an order last year effectively improving Western Forest Products' bottom line by about $150-million.