Home
Director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and its publishing program, Paul George was the chief writer of Meares Island: Protecting a Natural Paradise (Friends of Clayoquot Sound / Soules, 1985) and was a guiding force behind Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest (Western Canada Wilderness Committee, 1989), featuring the works of more than 60 B.C. artists responding to the Carmanah Valley. The Carmanah book won both the Haig-Brown and Duthie Bookseller's Choice prizes in 1990. It was co-produced by Raincoast and Summerwild Productions.
[BCBW 2003] "Environment" "Publishing"
[BCBW 2003] "Environment" "Publishing"
Articles: 2 Articles for this author
Big Trees Not Big Stumps (WCWC $39.95)
Article
Fellow activist Guy Dauncey has likened Paul George's history of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Big Trees Not Big Stumps (WCWC $39.95) as "the War & Peace of the B.C. environmental movement."; Given Tolstoy's own radicalism as a campaigner for minority interests, he might have approved of such hyperbole, as well as George's tireless role as a defender of nature. "If this book motivates even one person who has never experienced the mystic nature of wild places like Gwaii Haanas, Stein Valley, Carmanah Valley or Clayoquot Sound to be trekking gently through some wilderness,"; says Paul George, "I'll consider the book a success."; 1-895123-03-8
[BCBW 2006]
Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest
Info
THE POWER OF BOOKS AND ARTISTS together is a magic combination," says Paul George of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, "It's a combination that has helped preserve the Stein with Stein: The Way of the River. "We're hoping it can work again for the Carmanah Valley." The Western Wilderness Committee is therefore producing Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest (WWC/Raincoast $60), a collection of Carmanah-inspired paintings by 70 artists including Robert Bateman, Roy Vickers, Toni Onley, Jack Shadbolt and Gordon Smith to help preserve the Carmanah Valley. 000007 per cent of B.C.'s land base. Earlier this year the WWC took two batches of artists into the Vancouver Island valley that boasts the oldest and tallest stand of Sitka spruce in the world. A final decision on logging in the Carmanah has been removed from Minister of Forests Dave Parker into the hands of the provincial Cabinet. "The elevation of this issue to Cabinet level is definitely good news," says George, who hopes to coordinate a silent auction of the original artwork for the new Carmanah book as a fundraiser in October. Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest, with a cover by Robert Bateman, will contain mini biographies of the artists and their statements about Carmanah. Carmanah Valley, located south of Pacific Rim National Park, is 17 times the size of Stanley Park. Macmillan Bloedel, which holds a forest harvesting tenure license, has proposed preserving 2% of the valley.
[BCBW Autumn 1989]
