Dear Editor,

I've never classified myself as a tree hugger, until now.

In fact, I was quite the opposite. But today, that status has changed as I join the fight to preserve the forests and wetlands of Glen Valley.

Tell speculators and developers to look elsewhere.

There are a lot of alternative sites to pick from - in this community alone - without having to devastate Glen Valley, and specifically McLellan Park East (as it's being called), one of the few remaining older-growth forested areas in this community.

It's criminal to knock down a forest like that to subdivide.

And why should the residents of Glen Valley, who have asked for very little and received very little from the Township over the years (except the basic necessity of roads) pay such a terrible price to make sure the residents in Aldergrove have a swanky new pool and community centre?

Okay, so I hear the plans to sell off Glen Valley to specifically pay for the Aldergrove project might have been quashed, but the forests and wetlands of Glen Valley are still in peril.

If the Township is so desperate for money, then it should consider other options, for instance selling off other land that is less ecologically sensitive and less significant to the community.

Anyone who takes time to walk through and discover all the beauty and wonderment in this old-growth grove and wetlands will realize that bulldozing it for some fast cash and monster homes - well, it's just wrong.

I thought we elected a group of visionaries to lead this municipality, but this proves that belief wrong. Please, there's still time to reconsider.

And as for the residents of Langley, please join the likes of world-renowned artist Robert Bateman and the Watchers of Langley Forests (WOLF) in fighting to preserve this special piece of land for future generations.

WOLF was given an unrealistic deadline of Dec. 17 to come up with "a significant down payment" to buy the $3 million out from under prospective buyers.

Instead, the buyers should feel the social pressure to back away from the deal, and council should be pressured into turning that (and the forested area to the west) into a park - a future Stanley Park, if you will, for Langley and the region.

Dick Hooper, Langley