AFA photographer TJ Watt stands beside two large old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the Children's Forest along James Creek on Cortes Island.

NEW PHOTO GALLERY featuring Cortes Island’s endangered forests!

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Follow the link here to see the new images: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

Cortes Island, a northern Gulf Island between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland, is home to some of the last 1% of old-growth Douglas fir groves within the endangered “Dry Maritime” forests along BC’s southern coast. These are some of the most extensive remaining stands and are owned by corporate logging giant Island Timberlands.

Local residents are staunchly opposed to the planned industrial logging of these ancient and mature forests and other sensitive ecosystems. The protection of these forests will take a willingness of Island Timberlands to sell their lands at a fair market value – not at an overinflated price – and for various levels of government (particularly the provincial government) and other organizations and individuals to provide the funds.

For lands not purchased for protection, the company must conduct its forestry operation in line with community eco-forestry values and standards. Ultimately stronger private managed forest land regulations are needed in BC.

Support the Cortes Island activists at: wildstands.wordpress.com
Sign the Ancient Forest Alliance’s petition to protect BC’s old-growth forests and to ban raw log exports at: ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

Concerned local citizen Oliver H. stands near large old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the endangered forests of Cortes Island.

Save Cortes Island’s Endangered Forests!

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URGENT! Cortes Island’s Threatened Forests Need Your Help! Please write to BC’s Minister of Environment Terry Lake below.

Cortes Island, a northern Gulf Island between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland, is home to some of the last 1% of old-growth Douglas-fir groves within the endangered “Dry Maritime” forests along BC’s southern coast. These are some of the most extensive remaining stands and are owned by corporate logging giant Island Timberlands.

See the beautiful NEW PHOTO GALLERY of Cortes Island’s endangered old-growth and mature forests here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=12

Local residents are staunchly opposed to the planned industrial logging of these ancient and mature forests and other sensitive ecosystems. The protection of these forests will take a willingness of Island Timberlands to sell their lands at a fair market value – not at an overinflated price – and for various levels of government (particularly the provincial government) and other organizations and individuals to provide the funds. For lands not purchased for protection, the company must conduct its forestry operation in line with community eco-forestry values and standards. Ultimately stronger private managed forest land regulations are needed in BC.

Please WRITE A QUICK EMAIL as soon as possible to BC’s Minister of Environment, Hon. Terry Lake at: terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca . Ask that the BC government help fund the purchase of endangered old-growth stands, sensitive ecosystems, and other high priority lands for conservation currently owned by Island Timberlands. ***BE SURE to include your FULL NAME and ADDRESS so they know you are a real person!

To keep up-to-date with the local activists campaign to protect Cortes Island’s forests and see photos, videos, and more, visit the Wildstands website! https://wildstands.wordpress.com/

Also, please sign and circulate our petition to protect BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests here: ancientforestalliance.org/ways-to-take-action-for-forests/petition/

 

 

 

Ancient Forest Alliance

Salt Spring Island a ‘model’ for Cortes Island advocates to prevent logging of pristine B.C. forests.

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Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/CNryQq75rAE

As deadline looms for Island Timberlands to begin logging on Cortes Island, advocates are hoping for a re-enactment of an earlier success story to protect the area’s pristine forests.

“If Salt Spring Island is a model of what can happen, Island Timberlands needs to sell the land at the appraised value, not at an inflated value of the land that locals want to see protected…to make sure that if there’s logging, it’s in line with community values.”

Ken Wu, co-founder of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance, said if Cortes Island can generate enough public pressure, it may be able to repeat the events of 2001, when environmental advocates on Salt Spring Island pushed Texada Land Corporation to sell part of their land and save sensitive areas from logging.

Wu said he was “impressed by the tenacity of people on Cortes Island,” who have just submitted a petition with over 6,200 names to Island Timberlands to work towards more sustainable logging on the island.

Direct link to Vancouver Observer article: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/2012/01/14/salt-spring-island-model-cortes-island-advocates-prevent-logging

Cortes Island resident Fred Savage next to a 400-year old Douglas fir

Ancient Forest Alliance confirms vital old growth in threatened Cortes Island woods

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During a brief visit to Cortes Island Friday, members of B.C.’s Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) documented a surprising number of rare, old growth Douglas fir trees slated to be logged by Island Timberlands.

Just one day after activists delivered a 6,200-signature petition appealing to the company, concerned Cortes residents received confirmation that the trees were among the most significant remaining old growth stands in British Columbia – a fact that could help gain provincial support to purchase the land from private owners.
•Logging of pristine B.C. island forest to begin in January by Brookfield Asset Management
•Petition against logging pristine B.C. forest draws Margaret Atwood, Mia Farrow and 4700 signatures
•Hand delivered petition urges Island Timberlands to reconsider logging of pristine B.C. forest

“In these parts, at least 99 per cent of the old growth of these firs have been cut,” said AFA Executive Director Ken Wu.

“Normally what you find is individual veterans, but you don’t get a whole stand of it like this,” he said, pointing out several groups of centuries-old trees at the heart of Cortes Island.

“That’s really rare. So to have a whole cluster of these is provincially significant.”

Community activists from Cortes took Wu and AFA tree photographer TJ Watt on a tour through island forests to document remaining old growth stands, which could be affected by impending logging operations. According to Wu, the potential loss of these stands is particularly troubling given the fact that the area’s dry maritime ecosystem is one of the most endangered forest ecosystems in the province.

“It’s like shooting a black rhino,” he said.

Purchasing power

The Ancient Forest Alliance was invited by Cortes residents to visit proposed logging areas, examine and document their ecological value. The organization works to preserve endangered old growth forests across British Columbia, as well as maintaining sustainable forestry jobs in the province. By photographing the biggest, oldest trees on Cortes Island, they can help advocates prove the significance of the stands and make a better case for their protection.

“I think what it means is that we can get off-island support to do a purchase,” said Fred Savage, a Cortes furniture builder who has volunteered countless hours to the cause.

With enough financial support, locals could potentially buy the “high priority” land areas from Island Timberlands. Savage has doubts that they could come up with the funds, as Island Timberlands has indicated they won’t sell for less than twice the appraised market value. But for Wu, this type of success story isn’t unheard of.

“Basically, Island Timberlands needs to agree to sell at the appraised value, not over-inflated values of the lands that the locals want to see protected,” said Wu, noting the possibility of extra support from the government.

“The province has to kick in like they did in Salt Spring Island under pressure,” he said.

Wu is referring to a well-known environmental campaign in the early 2000s, when Salt Spring Island residents protested logging by new landowners Texada Land Corporation. After significant opposition and fundraising efforts from the community, the province stepped in to contribute an additional $13.4 million needed to buy part of the land from the company.

“There’s no way the community’s going to raise $7 million, or whatever the price is,” said Wu.

“But the province – they coughed up over $12 million for Salt Spring.”

The precedent set by Salt Spring Island may offer hope to those on Cortes, but it is unknown whether the same support could be provided in this case. It is also worth noting that Brookfield Asset Management has given over $126,000 in campaign contributions to the BC Liberals since 2006.

An ongoing battle

The residents of Cortes Island have been actively trying to save these trees for decades, but since they’re on private land the owners have no legal obligation to retain them. Old growth trees are also the biggest and provide the most valuable timber, so they are often the most attractive for companies looking to cash in on their investments.

“As trees get older, you get higher quality wood, which is why people want the old growth,” said Wu.

Forest advocates say the older trees on the island could be anywhere from 200 to 500 years old, and logs their size and quality could be sold to markets overseas for over $25,000 each.

The area containing these high-value trees was previously owned by MacMillan Bloedel, a Canadian forestry company bought by Weyerhauser in 1999. Island Timberlands – a subsidiary of the multi-national firm Brookfield Asset Management – bought the land from Weyerhauser in 2005. Locals had arranged a hard-won agreement with former owners to protect sensitive old growth zones, but Island Timberlands is not bound by the same promises.

“It doesn’t have legal status, and Island Timberlands doesn’t know anything about it,” said Savage.

He repeats another islander’s analogy, saying it’s “like throwing Jell-o at the wall. We just keep doing it, and we don’t get anything to stick.”

Read article in the VO:   https://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/01/14/ancient-forest-alliance-confirms-vital-old-growth-threatened-cortes-island

Ancient Forest Alliance

Environmental group balances jobs with old-growth protection

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There was a time in the 1990s when a massive wedge existed between forestry workers and environmentalists. There was the ‘war in the woods’ and various other tension-ridden incidents and protests that led to acrimony and anger on both sides.

In 2010 a new environmentally-conscious organization appeared on the scene and met with a thumbs-up from both sides.

Ken Wu, one of the original founders (along with TJ Watt and others) said, “an organization can’t be based solely on ideals and divorced from how people make a living.”

The group spearheading the organization approached forestry workers, first in the Cowichan Valley, and the derision started to wear away.

“We started to make alliances with forestry workers,” said Wu.

Many of the ties that bind the two sides are the goals of the AFA; protection of the last remaining old-growth forests, and banning export of raw logs to foreign mills.

The problem now is that the B.C. government is opening up Chinese markets, where large scale manufacturing can be set up very, very fast, said Wu.

“It’s just a matter of time until they (the Chinese) start phasing out imports and shift to raw logs,” stated Wu.

He said this is “dangerous” because it is a lose, lose situation for British Columbia forests and forestry workers.

Old-growth forests are on the decline as they are logged now as they were in the past. The forestry companies are slow at re-tooling the machinery to handle second-growth logs and developing value-added wood industries. The alliance believes we should be logging second-growth at a slower rate, a more sustainable rate of cut and be manufacturing wood products in B.C.

There are other items as well on the alliance’s platform and they have instituted an on-line petition in an effort to get the B.C. government to protect old-growth forests and forestry jobs.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is not seeking charitable status because they feel they can be more effective in leveling stronger criticisms and gaining stronger support from politicians and political parties based on their stance.

The AFA would like the government to undertake a provincial old-growth strategy that will inventory old-growth forests in B.C. and protect them where they are scarce. Sustainable logging practices (which might include selective logging) on second-growth forests and an end to raw log exports are also in the alliance’s goals.

As environmentalists the AFA differs in that they realize jobs are important.

“There is a social pressure to make a living and we have to have a plan for economy at the same as environmental protection,” said Wu. “People need a way to work.”

[Sooke News Mirror article no longer available]

Ken Wu stands beside a giant redcedar in the Upper Avatar Grove

2012 Predictions – Environment – Ken Wu

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While the strength of environmental campaigns vary each year, 2012 should be major. Here are five predictions:

The Climate Change Movement will Heat Up

The massive momentum in 2006 from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth took a beating by a global recession, Copenhagen’s let-down and a huge climate denial industry that still wins over the uninformed and myopic. However, the latest UN climate summit in Durban created a new climate treaty framework that under massive pressure can be turned into something useful and vitally important. The movement is now supercharged with fury over Canada’s withdrawl from Kyoto, and will only grow. This time businesses, unions, and faith groups must be enlisted. The positive attributes of a sustainable, low carbon society should be emphasized, including expanded green businesses and jobs, more liveable cities, a healthier and happier quality of life, greater stability and world peace, and sustaining Earth’s tremendous diversity of life. We must also get a lot more political, working to toss out climate-sabotaging Conservative MP’s.

Slick Oil Industry PR will Spread to Pipelines

While the Keystone Pipeline to the U.S. and the Enbridge Pipeline to Kitimat from Alberta’s tar sands had setbacks in 2011, next year will be different. The dirty energy barons are sure to sink millions more into sophisticated, large-scale PR campaigns. Attacks on environmentalists as being foreigner-controlled, fear-mongering about job losses, and efforts to buy rural and working-class support to pit against “urban cappuccino-sucking tree huggers” are the common tactics of corporate anti-environmentalists.

The new spin also includes the “Ethical Oil” argument conjured up by a former tobacco industry lobbyist, which states that Alberta’s dirtiest tar sands oil is somehow more ethical and environmental than conventional oil from Saudi Arabia because of their human rights abuses. It’s like promoting child labour in Canada, due to lower standards in other nations. Meanwhile, opposition will grow against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline from Alberta to Burrard Inlet, which aims to expand oil tanker traffic along Canada’s most populated coastline, including by Victoria.

Ancient Forest Campaign will Target both B.C. Lib’s and NDP

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s growing strength, several large environmental groups moving to ramp-up their campaigns, and a provincial election in 2013 will drive a push for the B.C. Liberals and the NDP to commit to stronger old-growth policies. The B.C. Liberals still defend the destructive status quo, while the NDP who are likely to form the next government have made positive but vague promises with much wiggle room. Dix’s environmental platform during his NDP leadership bid committed to, “Develop a long term strategy for old growth forests in the province, including protection of specific areas that are facing immediate logging plans, such as Avatar Grove,” but fell short of calling for an end to old-growth logging in any major region.

The Fight against Fish Farms will go Viral

Viral in the sense that a salmon-killing virus, Infectious Salmon Anemia, has now been found by researchers in B.C.’s wild sockeye. It was first found in Norwegian fish farms and has wiped out salmon stocks in Europe and Chile. Investigations continue on the virus’ role in massive declines of Fraser sockeye runs. Combined with concerns about sea lice, waste, overharvesting smaller fish to feed farmed salmon, and the large-scale killing of sea lions by fish farmers, this new threat will make protests against open net-cage fish farms go viral.

Raw Logs on a Slow Boat to China will be Protested

The B.C. government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to open up Chinese markets for B.C. wood. “Lumber, not logs” to China was the assurance of former Forests Minister Pat Bell in 2008 when questioned about the potential loss of B.C. milling jobs. However, in 2009 Bell allowed the first B.C. raw logs to be exported to China. With the flood-gates opened, raw log exports to China increased over 10-fold in 2010, to over a million cubic meters. In a nation where large-scale manufacturing capacity springs up seemingly overnight, it’s only a matter of time now before China shifts its imports of B.C. lumber to mainly raw logs to feed their own mills. Ten years from now, we’ll be able to thank the B.C. Liberals for the migration of the province’s wood manufacturing capacity to China. Protests will ramp-up in 2012.

Ken Wu is the executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and MASS (Majority for A Sustainable Society).

Link to Monday Magazine article: https://www.mondaymag.com/news/136700133.html

Ancient Forest Alliance

Logging of pristine BC island forest to begin in January by Brookfield Asset Management

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Island Timberlands will start logging on Cortes Island this January, according to Wayne French, Operations Planner for IT.  Cortes Islanders are seeking signatories to a petition to prevent the logging.

Cortes Island is known for its balance of remoteness and accessibility.  Serviced by ferries, float planes and water taxis,  getting there still takes effort. People stay long enough for the island to take hold in their imaginations. Many come for inspiration at the Hollyhock Conference Centre, for practical farming guidance at the Linnaea Farm Ecological Gardening Programme, or to rent beach and lake side vacation houses. The year round community of about 1000 people is  known for its warmth, creativity and deep civic engagement.

The island’s extensive trails lead to rich lagoons, hidden lakes, ridgeline vistas and the few stately old growth stands that earlier generations of loggers graciously left to live. Bush walkers quickly find the sense of belonging within nature’s integrity which emanates from undisturbed places. Wolves, red legged frogs and other rare and endangered species rely on these rarely visited places.

The island’s best forests are privately managed by a company called Island Timberlands (IT). IT’s parcels encompass swaths of woods that bisect the island from east to west. They hold the healthiest forests, the biggest trees and the island’s central water recharge area.

The eastern IT parcels abut the Klahoose First Nation reserve and contain significant old growth remnants that are slated as the first area of IT’s planned operations. The IT parcels at the center of the island hold the Blue Jay Lake watershed, where water flows slowly past ancient trees into a giant swamp at the island’s epicenter.

IT has announced plans to clear a two hectare swathe directly through this area to “build a road.” The western parcel edges Carrington Lagoon, a favorite of hikers and picnickers and the destination of an annual pilgrimage for hundreds of twenty somethings. Local organizers call this parcel the Children’s Forest and are fundraising to add it to the Carrington Lagoon Park. IT also owns Whaletown Commons, another beloved parcel for which the community and Regional District have raised enough funds to purchase at an independently appraised fair market value. IT has refused to sell for less than twice the appraised value.

Cortes Island in the witness box

“It’s Cortes Island’s turn in the witness box,” biologist and resident Sabina Leader Mense told the Vancouver Observer during a recent interview. “Industrial logging of private managed forest lands in the face of community opposition has occurred all over Vancouver Island and neighbouring Islands. Now it’s our turn to provide testimony to the true corporate ownership of these lands and the inadequate forest practices for environmental protection.”

The privately managed forest lands on Cortes Island have been considered “socially inoperable” for decades, due to staunch local opposition in the form of blockades and the community’s hard work on solutions that would protect ecosystems and provide much needed forest-based employment for the long term. For example, the Cortes Initiative of 2001 was a joint proposal by the Klahoose First Nation, Weyerhaeuser and the Cortes Ecoforestry Society for joint sustainable management of the Island’s private and Crown forest lands. The new yet long sought Cortes Community Forest Co-Operative could offer a solution along similar lines.

Three factors have contributed to the threat to Cortes Island forests and the transformation of other treasured forests into exported logs and ravaged landscapes targeted for residential development. First, huge multinational corporations use BC’s privately managed forest lands for premium shareholder return. Second, the BC Liberals have left private forest lands virtually unregulated. Third, raw log (and job) export are radically increasing.

BC forest and Brookfield Asset Management

Brascan, which became Brookfield Asset Management, bought 635,000 acres of fee simple timberlands in BC from Weyerhaeuser in 2005 for management by its subsidiary, Island Timberlands. Weyerhaeuser bought those lands from MacMillan Bloedel in 1999. MacMillan Bloedel originally bought the Cortes Island lands from a local logger for under $30,000.

In the sale of MacMillan Bloedel to Weyerhaeuser, the provincial government imposed the condition that Weyerhaeuser negotiate in good faith with the Cortes Island community for a satisfactory solution for the island’s private forest lands. This requirement has not been met by IT.

BAM has corporate offices all over the world and a board of directors that includes Jim Pattison and a tar sands CEO. It has $110 billion in assets under management and delivered an annual return of 23% from 2000 to 2010. Following the purchase of Weyerhaeuser, BAM divided the private and public forest land assets, closed the mills, and restructured the management of private forest lands for faster harvest and more export of raw logs.

BAM touts IT as the second largest private timber lands holding in BC and the second most valuable private timberland estate in Canada. That value is not just trees. BAM is known as a real estate management company and when IT talks to Cortes Islanders, it is often Chris Dawes, the real estate manager, who shows up.

According to naturalist and journalist Briony Penn, it is no surprise BC has become the target of global capital:

“Who could resist British Columbia, a great little banana republic on the doorstep of America that meets all those great investment criteria? Safe? For sure, there are no Zapatistas here. And cheap? Once you’ve creamed the forest off the top, you have free real estate that can be sold. Moreover, we have a provincial government that seems easily swayed by corporate investors,” Penn told VO.

In fact, IT and other BC timber companies are major contributors to the Liberal Party of BC which, under Gordon Campbell, obligingly removed what little protection existed for privately managed forest lands.

Friends with benefits: multinationals and BC’s Liberal government

The Provincial Government deregulated privately managed forest lands at the behest of the multinational corporations which provide huge campaign contributions.  Prior to 2002, the Assessment Act and Forest Land Reserve Act helped to reduce the impact of urban development and rural settlement on privately managed forest land. The BC Liberals repealed the FLR Act in 2002 and replaced it with the Private Managed Forest Land Act (PMFLA ) in 2004. Douglas Harris of the UBC Faculty of Law has described the act as “a highly flexible, industry‐friendly Act, which does not prohibit activity on forest land, but provides incentives to forest land owners who comply with its provisions.”

PMFLA sets out very general “objectives” for soil conservation, water quality, fish habitat, critical wildlife habitat and reforestation with no compliance review by provincial government foresters. Oversight is provided by a Council which has been criticized as too closely connected to the logging industry owners, resulting in a form of self-regulation.

Research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, shows forest liquidation rates that have resulted in:

  • Logging at more than twice the rate that forest industry auditors say can be sustained threatens the environment and economy alike;
  • Trees logged at younger and younger ages;
  • Successful petitions to the provincial government for forest companies to pull their private holdings out of Tree Farm Licences to avoid regulations aimed to ensure sustainable management;
  • Douglas fir logging, in particular, at a near liquidation pace, with one company’s entire “merchantable” stock slated for depletion in 25 years.
  • A high level of waste of usable wood
  • Loss of jobs because trees are no longer delivered to coastal mills
  • A huge increase in raw log exports from BC’s coast, 62 per cent of which come from private forestlands
  • Tens of thousands of hectares of private forestland being readied for sale as real  estate developments or other “higher and better uses.”

The liquidation of private forest lands means that communities lose essential wildlife habitat and vital ecological services that include drinking water, carbon absorption, erosion and flood control, micro climate stability, and salmonid protection. The present rate of forest liquidation also ignores the long term value of the high end market for BC’s legendary wood by favouring quantity over quality.

Cutting BC’s forests: faster, faster, faster

In 2010, BC log exports increased by more than 50%. More logs were shipped to China than during the previous 20 years combined. In the first three months of 2011 alone, BC’s coast exported 40% or 1.3 million cubic metres of logs, a 300% from the same period in 2009.

Liquidating BC forests to sell lumber to China

With such huge powers at play, it seems possible that all of BC’s private forest lands will be liquidated and sent to China. We clearly need a new paradigm for privately managed forest land. Many communities have protested mightily against the depredation against their water sheds and favourite places: Port Alberni, Cowichan Valley, Port McNeil, Cathedral Grove, and Nanaimo, to name a few. Such protest can seem more like art than strategy, giving expression to communities’ aspirations moments before they are bulldozed under.

But BC’s forests have no political voice other than ours. We need to converge for more effective advocacy both for our home forests and for a new paradigm for private forest land management. Our tools include: protests (in January, Cortes Island will be a good place to stand up for forests); fierce opposition to the rezoning of forest land for real estate development; strategic voting through organizations such as the Conservation Voters of BC; complaints to the Association of BC Professional Foresters for unethical conduct; letters to government and corporate officers (see below) and public advocacy journalism that holds individuals responsible for their corporate actions.

Oh, yes, and signing by the thousands on petitions to protect locally and ecologically significant forests.

Email Addresses:

Protect Cortes Forests:

Reform private forest land management:

  • Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson:  steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca
  • Premier Christy Clark: premier@gov.bc.ca.

 

[Original Vancouver Observer article no longer available]