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LAKE COWICHAN, B.C. — The Mounties say four people were arrested Friday as they enforced a British Columbia court injunction ordering the removal of blockades aimed at preventing old-growth logging on southwestern Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­Island. 

Police say of the four people arrested, three were removed from tree structures.

They say three other people were found in trees and escorted out without charges.

Police say 137 people have been arrested since enforcement of the court injunction began last week to allow workers with the Teal-Jones Group to resume logging in that area and in the Fairy Creek watershed to the south, near Port Renfrew. 

Activists say very little of the best old-growth forest remains in B.C. and Fairy Creek is the last unprotected, intact old-growth valley on southern Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­Island. 

Teal-Jones has said it plans to harvest about 20 hectares at the north ridge of the 1,200-hectare watershed out of 200 available for harvest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2021.

The Canadian Press