Meares Island

Its name was given in 1862 by George Henry Richards, captain of HMS Hecate, in honor of John Meares.

Meares Island became historically significant shortly after 1984, when the Nuu-chah-nulth and environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of Clayoquot Sound began protesting forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel's potential harvesting activities.

The Nuu-chah-nulth, with significant cooperation from environmental groups, eventually erected a blockade, preventing MacMillan Bloedel from logging the island.

This essentially granted an injunction in favour of the Nuu-chah-nulth, which was the first time in British Columbia's history that the province had been overruled on a land claims issue.

[citation needed] According to Ecodefense, opponents of logging have spiked thousands of trees on Meares Island.