Wildblog-Special / 15.07.12 The two of us, Finn and Anton, along with Reini and Tim, got to go to the paper mill in Crofton on Sunday, July 15, 2012. Tim, a Cowichan with an incredible wealth of knowledge about the flora and fauna in and around Sansum Narrows, took us on his boat so that we could see the mill from the water. As it was quite a long way to get there, Tim told us about the history of the Cowichan and their connection to this piece of land along the way. As you have probably already seen in the photos from the Sansum Narrows blog posts, the landscape is really beautiful. But when we turned into a large bay and saw the paper mill, it was like a big shock or sudden turnaround for us that in this actually so peaceful, quiet landscape there could be huge tankers and factories in "GDR condition". Ships that you normally only see in the port of Hamburg were now right in front of us. But there were also at least seven very large containers, the size of two detached houses and filled with wood shavings. There were also large tree trunks floating in the water everywhere, which made us wonder how old they must have been because they were 2 (!) meters in diameter. We also wondered how many trees had been felled to fill these containers. Tim also told us that a special agent (anti sap stain treatment or spray) is used to make it easier to remove the bark from the trees. This agent has now entered the organisms of the animals living on site and will be present for at least 45 years in the following generations. The water samples we took were surprisingly good quality and much better than we expected. Tim added that the water quality has improved enormously in recent years, but that unfortunately toxic chemicals are still being discharged directly into the ocean from the paper mill. See you soon ;) Finn and Anton More reports and pictures from the photographer team on www.reinis-blue-box.blogspot.de and http://www.samifayed.de/blog. www.facebook.com/wildernessinternational