LADNER, COAST SALISH TERRITORY - Protesters shut down work on a Boundary Bay 'habitat remediation'  early this morning, surrounding machines being used by the Port of Metro Vancouver to remove virtually all the logs from the foreshore around the bay. 

Members of Citizens Against Port Expansion (CAPE) and the Council of Canadians say the logs are vital to the protection of birds and their prey that use the area, including snowy owls and thousands of waterfowl. The project to 'cleanup' the foreshore of logs washed up over the past 80 years gets the Port 'Habitat Banking' points it can trade in for eco-exemptions on its nearby Deltaport Coal port expansion. Work resumed on removing the logs once the blockade packed up around 9am.

CAPE spokesperson Cliff Caprani called the Port plan "The Port of No Return for snowy owls, other raptors and the marine environment"  and likened the log removal to a clearcut for the wildlife that uses the foreshore. He pointed out that the area is considered an IBA (important bird area) and is supposed to be part of the Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area.

The groups say  ``perches`` being installed around the bay are no substitute for the logs and won`t be used by the owls.

Biologist Mary Taitt, who has worked with the nearby Reifel Bird Sanctuary for the last 25 years, called the Port plan "eco-nonsense."  She described Boundary Bay as a stable habitat that doesn't need remediation and the land around the coal port expansion as "a sensitive, active, invaluable habitat"  and part of the Fraser River Estuary that is now at risk.

While Port Metro Vancouver calls it a "salt marsh restoration" designed "to remove excess woody debris," CAPE calls it a transparent ploy to allow the Port to wreak ecological havoc at the coal port expansion site.

The protesters say they plan to return to the site to do what they can to alert the public to the Port`s activities and to protect wildlife.