Local forestry experts say they are not anti-logging, but opposed to the rate and scale of logging Texada is engaged in on Salt Spring. Forestry consultant Jean Brouard, said, "Our beef with them is that they are not at all interested in sustainable forestry and we as a community are. Essentially they should not be logging at the rate they're logging now," he said.

Texada is logging their land at 15 to 20 times the sustainable rate, according to local forestry consultant Sally John, who has been monitoring the operation since it began in November. "I estimate their rate of cut to be at least twice the rate of re-growth on an island-wide basis," she said.

John pointed out that the Islands Trust policy statement 4.2.2 reads, "It is the position of the Trust Council that: on each island in the Trust area, the rate of forest harvesting should not exceed the rate of re-growth. "John said that she read this policy statement to Texada principal Rob Macdonald in a meeting last week. Joh n asked Macdonald, "You single-handedly are harvesting more than the rate of re-growth on this island, how do you feel about that?" Macdonald replied, said John, "I feel pretty good about that actually", and then he laughed.

In an interview with the Barnacle, Macdonald said the provincial policy for harvesting timber at a sustainable rate is one or two percent per year on Crown land. "Private land is different. There is no economical way on private land to take out two percent per year. You can't operate forestry on that basis," he said.