Archive for month: December, 2015

"Conservationists who want the government to take action on climate change by protecting B.C.'s old-growth forests say they've measured a near-record-size red cedar in Vancouver Island's central Walbran Valley.
The Ancient Forest Alliance said the tree that it calls the Tolkien Giant is the ninth-widest western red cedar in the province, according to a list compiled by the University of B.C.'s forestry faculty.
It said the tree has a circumference of 14.4 metres, or 47 feet, stands 42 metres high and lies within a protected reserve.
However, logging is proposed for an area 200 metres away that includes another huge tree the alliance calls the Karst Giant, executive director Ken Wu said Friday.
"Outside the central Walbran, the rest of the upper Walbran is tattered like Swiss cheese. So it means that the little remnants of old-growth are surrounded by clearcuts.
"The issue is large-scale industrial logging throughout the central Walbran valley and for this particular tree, they've already cut the other side of the river so they want to ring this area with clearcuts."

After a 10-year "climate action pause," Canada is back at the international table. Though expectations are high that the new government will work to end our dependence on fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable energy, there has been little discussion about the importance of and threats to our forests in the fight against global warming.