Adrienne Tanner, Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, February 14, 2007:

Conservationists are cheering a court decision that forces the foresters'
professional association to investigate complaints in environmental
stewardship cases.

The case was fought by the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, whose
members were incensed about the effect of clearcut logging in Jervis Inlet
on the Marbled Murrelet, a tiny seabird classified as a threatened species.

They filed their complaint against an individual forester who designed the
logging plans that authorized the clearcutting. The complaint was registered in July 2003 with the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals, the governing body that regulates foresters practising in B.C.

Foresters are required to abide by the Foresters Act, which lays out a code
of ethics for the profession and compels foresters to work to improve
"stewardship of forest land."

The foresters' association, however, has not typically agreed to investigate
complaints from the public and conservation groups, said Daniel Bouman, executive director of the Sunshine Coast conservation group.

Twice, association registrar Jerome Marburg threw out the complaint against the forester, who was not named in the court case.

And twice the conservation group appealed to B.C. Supreme Court for a
judicial review to reverse the decision.

"The registrar, in my view, has been shielding foresters from public
complaints for a long time," Bouman said, explaining why the group went to
court.

This week, it won.....