Islands in the Sky: Chopping Ancient Walbran Valley Forest Spells Extinction for Treetop Species

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High in the trees that have been growing in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island for up to 1,000 years, unique colonies of insects and invertebrates are thriving.

Carpets of soil which develop in the massive branches of the old-growth trees contain a plethora of species not found anywhere else on Earth and, since 1995, University of Victoria entomologist Neville Winchester has climbed more than 2,000 trees to document and catalogue this life in the tree-tops.

“These ancient forests are a repository of biodiversity,” said Winchester, who has had more than a dozen beetle mites, aphids and flies named after him and who is giving a public talk this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Victoria.

Together with UVic graduate students, Winchester has conducted one of the most extensive canopy research projects in North America, using ropes to scale trees the equivalent of 18-storeys high in the Carmanah and Walbran valleys.

“Then I take my mom’s bulb planter and take a sample of the suspended soils, which can be up to 60 centimetres in depth,” he said.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of unique ecosystems, Winchester is fighting a battle he thought had been won two decades ago when massive protests and demonstrations — part of the ‘War in the Woods’ that marked the 1980s and 1990s in B.C. — erupted over plans to log Carmanah Walbran.

At that time, Winchester was already doing canopy research and, when the government of the day responded to overwhelming public opposition and created the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, taking in 16,450 hectares of the old growth forest, he believed the war was over.

But now, part of the Central Walbran, just outside the park boundary, is under threat.

“I have the feeling that ‘here we go again.’ The same issues that were present then have surfaced again. They have been simmering for 20 years,” said Winchester, who finds it difficult to believe that politicians cannot look at the evidence and ban old-growth logging in the area.

“It’s greed, ignorance and arrogance. The scientific evidence is out there and it shows that these areas and these species are essential to protect biodiversity,” he said.

“By taking these trees down or by causing disruption you are committing species to go extinct… . Who would feel good about species going extinct just because we have mismanaged a resource? That’s the bottom line.”

The province has granted Surrey-based Teal Jones Group a permit for a 3.2-hectare cutblock east of Carmanah Walbran Park.

The cutblock is in the 500-hectare Central Walbran where, unlike the valley further south which is tattered with cutblocks, there is contiguous old-growth.

“It’s where our forests reach their most magnificent proportions,” said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“These are the classic giants. The biggest and the best — and some of the largest remaining tracts and finest old growth western red cedars are in areas such as Castle Grove, together with old-growth dependent species such as the Queen Charlotte goshawk and marbled murrelet,” Wu said, emphasizing the importance of these areas for tourism as well as biodiversity.

Business leaders in Port Renfrew have called on the B.C. government to immediately ban logging in the unprotected part of the Walbran Valley, saying tall tree tourism is now a multi-million dollar business and the highest value would come from stopping further logging of old growth trees.

At the heart of the problem is the original configuration of the park, said Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee.

A large chunk, surrounded by park and known colloquially as “The Bite,” was left without protection.

“It was a big concession to logging interests. When the park was laid down, there was no consensus or agreement from the environmental side,” Coste said.

Logging has already degraded old-growth on the south side of Walbran Creek, and environmentalists are not happy about Teal Jones plans for seven more cutblocks in that area, but the line in the sand is the approved cutblock on the north side of the river, said Coste, who wants to see the 486-hectare northern section of The Bite protected.

Protests started in the area in November, but, three weeks later, a court injunction restricted access and stopped protesters from interfering with logging operations.

On January 4, in a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, the injunction was extended until the end of March.

Coste said that, although he and the Wilderness Committee are named in the injunction, the role of the group has been to record and advocate, not participate in blockades.

However, he believes the injunction is heavy-handed and designed to discourage people from going into the Walbran Valley.

There is a great need for eyes on the ground and for British Columbians to let the province know that it is not acceptable to log some of the last low-elevation old-growth on southern Vancouver Island, he said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said in an e-mail that the ministry facilitated a meeting between the company and environmental groups in December to discuss how concerns could be addressed and another meeting is scheduled for next month.

The 3.2-hectare area that Teal Jones plans to log is part of a special resource management zone, which limits cutblock size to five hectares, and the company will use helicopter harvesting, meaning there will be no trails, roads or use of heavy equipment, the province said.

Conserving old growth and biodiversity are important parts of the province’s long-term resource management plans, said the spokesman.

“Of the 1.9 million hectares of Crown forest on Vancouver Island, 840,125 hectares are considered old growth, but only 313,000 hectares are available for timber harvesting,” the e-mail reponse read.

Coste remains hopeful that the province will have a change of heart.

“Nowhere else on Vancouver Island do we have the opportunity to protect such a large tract of contiguous old-growth,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity we absolutely can’t afford to miss.”

Winchester is hoping science will convince the government of the need for protection and he will publicly share findings from his years of research at a lecture Friday Jan.29, 6.30 p.m. at the University of Victoria Student Union Building Upper Lounge.

Admission is by donation with proceeds going to the Friends of Carmanah/Walbran campaign to protect the Central Walbran Ancient Forest.

Read more: [Original article no longer available]

Ground zero for Walbran

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The Delica stops along a narrow, twisting section of the Walbran Main just a few miles from the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park border. We scramble from the van for a view across a broad valley overlooking two strings of hills that lead into the distance. At the bottom of the valley is a confluence of rushing water, a distant waterfall visible as a thin twisting ribbon glistening white amid a landscape otherwise green.

It’s a deceiving green, as it hides the wealth within. A forest may seem just a forest, but TJ Watt, a campaigner for the Ancient Forest Alliance, points out the details.

“Second growth forest will look quite monotonous. The trees will typically be all the same height and generally the same shade of green, almost looking like a lawn, very uniform, whereas old-growth forests tend to look messy, to put it the simplest way.

“You have trees of varying heights so one will be sticking up higher than the other. Because of gaps in the canopy you’ll have these dark shadows that give the forest more of a 3D look to it. They often have more mosses or lichens so from a distance you can sometimes see those hanging off the tree branches. And also if there is a lot cedar there, then you often see the dead tops of the cedar trees sticking out; they look like white spires. That doesn’t necessarily mean the trees are dead, but sometimes the leader section of the tree has died off. Once you get used to seeing those, you can really tell the forests apart from a distance.”

What we’re looking at across this wide valley is a messy forest – the indication it is old-growth. In the valley bottom is Castle Grove, one of the finest remaining examples of ancient red cedar stands. It and the surrounding old growth on the lower slopes make up one of the largest intact chunks of endangered, unharvested forest remaining on Vancouver Island.

It’s a rare view. On Vancouver Island south of Barkley Sound, about 90 percent of the original forest has been logged, along with about 95 percent of the lowland old growth.

“What we’re really down to is the last remnants of the classic giants and it’s the best of the classic giants because it’s literally in the Carmanah-Walbran-San Juan-Gordon River, these four southern valleys where you get the very best growing conditions in the entire country. If you go north it gets colder, as you go east it gets drier,” says Ken Wu, a campaigner for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

What we’re looking at is a snapshot of what soon won’t exist. Eight cutblocks are proposed for the slopes surrounding Castle Grove, and one has been approved.

It’s what Ken and TJ are here to fight.

“It would turn that whole region into a Swiss cheese if they were approved and cut,” TJ says.

It’s a region already well sliced. Right behind us is a cleared slope of stumps, debris and encroaching scrub. That cutblock was logged in 1992, when Ken walked through the wreckage to come upon a 16-foot-wide stump.

“It was as wide as the Castle Giant, the biggest known tree in the Walbran. That area was really a gargantuan Jurassic Park kind of stand – it was really one of the most significant, grandest old-growth forests in the world, and now they’ve logged it.”

For TJ, as a new activist at the time, seeing that stump had a profound impact.

“It was one of the first moments I realized old-growth logging was not a thing of the past and these giant trees were still being cut down each and every day. To think this is still happening another 10 years later is disheartening, but makes me resolve to fight harder to keep it from happening any more.”

The fight in the Walbran is escalating and while Ken believes the first cutblock is almost certain to be logged, – unlike the others, it has received approval – he believes mounting public pressure could turn the tide in favour of preserving the remainder.

And the pressure is building.

The Ancient Forest Alliance spearheaded the drive to save nearby Avatar GroveÜ, an old-growth forest outside Port Renfrew. Ken credits the support of the Port Renfrew chamber in helping win that battle.

The support to save the Walbran is already much stronger – particularly as a host of conservation groups are now involved in the Walbran. But Ken believes it is the business support, not the environmental support, that will be tip the balance.

“The reason Avatar was protected was support from the Chamber of Commerce and the business community. That’s one of the key things we’ll be working on – the outreach to all the restaurants and B&Bs and lodges.”

If there’s a lesson learned from Avatar Grove, it is that conservation has a payback. The grove is widely accredited to a growth in tourism to the Port Renfrew region and is a key item of the region’s tourism menuÜ. Clearcuts, on the other hand, never make the must-see list.

A variety of petitions, protests and initiatives are planned by the various groups battling the logging, but another emerging element is a protest camp – at the Walbran Witness Camp, the same location for the camp in the early 1990s. That served as the base for the blockades that led in part to the inclusion of the Lower Walbran Valley into Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park. A spray-painted slogan, painted by a protestor while dangling over the river on a log, still clearly proclaims “Wilderness forever” on the bridge.

The park is populated full-time by only a small band of diehards, though the weekend population tends to swell. At the moment (November, 2015) no blockades are planned; the camp residents are only keeping an eye on the progress of the logging with one brief clash between protesters and policeÜ.

Trails criss-cross the area around the Witness Camp, many leading to the monster trees that can be found nearby. One is the Emerald Giant, and Ken offers a laugh as he sees the sign, proclaiming it “aka Mordor Tree.”

“I named it that back when Lord of the Rings was popular,” Wu says. “It seemed fitting because it looked like Mordor with the turrets for branches.”

He concedes the new name sounds nicer and is more applicable as the Giant is adjacent to the Emerald Pool, a stretch of river that almost glows its namesake colour (the pool is pictured on page 17). We stop to admire a thick patch of tiny mushrooms growing from an adjacent tree. It’s an area that possesses an unspeakable beauty, from the smallest detail to the largest giant spruce.

Previous ‘wars in the woods’ have garnered international attention, and many Canadians must wonder at the fuss. Yet’s it’s hard to believe those who would let the Walbran be logged would fail to be emotional at the bulldozing of the Serengeti or strip mining in the Grand Canyon. Wu sees no difference.

“If you think about where the natural wonders of the earth are, say the Grand Canyon in the U.S. or the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania, I’d argue that the coastal rainforests of Vancouver Island rank up among them. And the Carmanah Walbran is just too beautiful; I just can’t describe it in words.”

To help the war in the woods to save the Walbran, help with any of the initiatives by the supporting conservation groups: the Sierra Club of British Columbia, the Wilderness Committee, the Ancient Forest Alliance or the Friends of Carmanah/Walbran. For driving instructions, the Friends of Carmanah/Walbran website has detailed instructions.

Conservation groups plan a provincial fund to buy new parks

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Island Tides, a great newspaper serving the Gulf Islands, has printed the full article on the 16 conservation and recreation groups in BC calling on the BC government to establish a $40 million/year land acquisition fund to purchase and protected endangered ecosystems on private lands. Places like McLaughlin Ridge in Port Alberni's drinking watershed, Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak (similar to a 2nd Cathedral Grove but unprotected), the Koksilah, Muir Creek, Stillwater Bluffs, the Day Road Forest…and hundreds of other endangered areas on private lands could benefit from such a fund.

See the full article in the Island Tides at: https://islandtides.com/assets/reprint/environment_20160128.pdf

Push for provincial land-acquisition fund gathers steam

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A plan to establish an annual $40-million provincial fund to purchase private land now has 16 conservation and recreation groups behind it.

“That’s just going to continue to grow,” said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Wu said that the push to preserve more land takes in a variety of needs, including protecting watersheds that supply drinking water and helping tourism by keeping natural areas intact. He said he expects tourism businesses to start getting behind the fund.

The call for a provincial fund has picked up momentum with a report from the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre that included a “menu” of funding options used by governments across North America.

“They don’t even have to raise taxes for a good chunk of this,” Wu said, noting one measure that has worked well in other places is using unredeemed deposits from beverage containers.

Dubbed “pops for parks,” it is estimated that the strategy could generate $10 million to $15 million a year.

“If you don’t return [the containers], then that money, in places like New York state and a lot of jurisdictions in the U.S., is used by the government to expand their protected-area system,” Wu said.

The report also suggested a special tax on non-renewable resources such as oil and gas and a tax on real-estate speculation.

Wu said an example of how such funds can work is the Capital Regional District’s park-acquisition fund, which is supported by a household levy.

“The places that people love in the Greater Victoria region — like the Sooke Hills, the Sooke Potholes, Jordan River for surfing — those were secured from development as a result of the CRD’s leadership,” he said.

Among the sites on Vancouver Island that could benefit from a provincial fund are the Koksilah area near Shawnigan Lake and the mountainside above Cathedral Grove, Wu said.

The provincial government had a land-acquisition budget until 2009, but Wu said it was significantly smaller than what is being proposed.

The government did not comment on the proposal.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/push-for-provincial-land-acquisition-fund-gathers-steam-1.2156674

Port Alberni Watershed Forest-Alliance's Jane Morden stands amongst old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the Cameron Valley Firebreak

Support Grows Among Major Conservation Groups for a Provincial Fund to Buy New Parks

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For Immediate Release – January 21, 2016

Support Grows Among Major Conservation Groups for a Provincial Fund to Buy New Parks

16 major conservation and recreation organizations call on the BC government to establish a $40 million/year fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.

Momentum is growing as 16 major BC conservation and recreational groups have now signed onto the call for the BC government to establish a dedicated provincial fund that can be used to purchase and protect endangered private lands of high environmental and recreational significance.

A variety of proposed funding mechanisms for a BC Natural Lands Acquisition Fund (aka “Park Acquisition Fund”) are detailed in a recently released report (www.elc.uvic.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/FindingMoneyForParks-2015-02-08-web.pdf) prepared for the Ancient Forest Alliance by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre (ELC), which calls on the province to establish an annual $40 million fund.

The organizations signed on include:

  • Ancient Forest Alliance
  • BC Nature
  • Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – BC Chapter
  • Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society
  • Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC
  • ForestEthics Solutions
  • Friends of the Nemaiah Valley
  • Habitat Acquisition Trust
  • North Columbia Environmental Society
  • Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance
  • Sierra Club of BC
  • Skeena Wild Conservation Trust
  • Trails Society of BC
  • Wilderness Committee
  • Wildsight
  • Valhalla Wilderness Society

The report, Finding the Money to Buy and Protect Natural Lands, provides a “menu” of possible ways that funds can be allocated or generated for a dedicated fund to purchase vital green spaces and natural areas from willing sellers of private lands. These mechanisms include:

  • $10 to $15 million per year by simply recapturing the windfall that the beverage industry enjoys when consumers fail to redeem container deposits, an approach nicknamed “pops for parks”.
  • Many millions more could be raised by emulating the most important mechanism for park funding in the US – a special tax on non-renewable resources like oil and gas. Numerous North American governments have ruled that it is fair to require industries using up non-renewables to compensate future generations – and permanently protect other natural resources.
  • Funds from a tax on real estate speculation. Currently Vancouver real estate is becoming unaffordable, in part because of speculation in the housing market. Some are proposing a specially designed tax to curb speculation. Fortuitously, such a tax could provide generous funding for acquisition of natural areas – areas which will be needed to serve our growing population.

The above initiatives could be combined with one or more of the many other proven mechanisms for park funding. This could include: dedication of funds from the sale of Crown lands, property transfer taxes, income tax check-offs, sales of environmental licence plates, gas taxes, sales taxes, taxes and fines on environmentally harmful products and actions, and a variety of other fees and taxes.

About 5% of British Columbia’s land base is private, where new protected areas require the outright purchase of private lands from willing sellers, while 95% is Crown (public) lands where new protected areas are established by government legislation. However, a high percentage of BC’s most endangered and biologically diverse and rich ecosystems are found on private lands – which tend to be found in temperate lower elevations and valleys where most humans live. As a result, private lands are disproportionately important for conservation efforts in BC. In particular, southeastern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast, and the Okanagan Valley contain much of the private lands in BC, the greatest concentrations of endangered species, and the most heavily visited natural areas, and would benefit the most from such a fund.

“Many regional districts in BC already have dedicated land acquisition funds to protect green spaces, such as the Capital Regional District in the Greater Victoria region”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “The BC government should do its part and step forward with a fund to purchase endangered ecosystems, old-growth forests, drinking watersheds and areas of high recreational and scenic value on private lands for future generations of British Columbians. While private citizens, land trusts, and environmental groups can help, they simply don’t have enough funds to purchase enough of the lands at risk in a timely manner before their demise, in most cases. Only governments have those kinds of funds.”

“We’ve outlined a menu of practical funding options that are used by governments across North America to purchase private lands for conservation. Some mechanisms don’t even require additional taxes — such as the so-called ‘pops for parks’ funding which simply captures a current industry windfall from unredeemed beverage container proceeds,” stated Calvin Sandborn, Legal Director of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre. “Such a fund could remedy many land-use disputes and environmental concerns — while permanently enhancing the tourism economy and quality of life for all British Columbians.”

A $40 million fund to expand conservation lands would amount to less than one tenth of 1% of BC’s $40 billion annual provincial budget (ie. 1/1000th). Studies have shown that for every $1 invested by the government in BC’s provincial park system, another $9 is generated in the provincial economy as visitors spend their funds in local restaurants, campsites, motels, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

The provincial Natural Lands Acquisition Fund would be similar to the park or land acquisition funds of various regional districts in BC which are augmented by the fundraising efforts of private citizens and land trusts. The Land Acquisition Fund of the Capital Regional District of Greater Victoria has been foundational in helping to protect endangered ecosystems and lands of high recreational and scenic value. The fund generates about $3.7 million each year and has contributed approximately $35 million dollars to the purchase of almost 4500 hectares of land around Victoria since its establishment in the year 2000. The CRD’s funds are raised through an average $20-per-household levy each year and has been pivotal for protecting lands of high environmental and/or recreational value at Jordan River, the Sooke Hills, Sooke Potholes, adjacent to Thetis Lake Park, and on Mount Maxwell on Salt Spring Island. See: https://www.crd.bc.ca/docs/default-source/parks-pdf/summary-of-2014-regional-parks-land-acquisition-fund.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Children’s Educational Forest on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) Threatened by TimberWest Forest Corp’s Logging Plans

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Here is a media release and action alert from the Mount Moresby Adventure Camp on Haida Gwaii, where a forest that is central as a learning centre for the children and youth of Haida Gwaii is threatened by planned logging by TimberWest (whose managing agent for their Forestry Licence there is Teal-Jones):

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 Children’s Educational Forest on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) Threatened by TimberWest Forest Corp.’s Logging Plans

The BC government is one step away from approving a permit allowing Teal-Jones, a Surrey based logging company, to log a 16 hectare area on behalf of TimberWest Forest Corp. It is an area that more than 1,300 Haida Gwaii students have used for 10 years as an outdoor classroom to learn about the natural sciences, outdoor education, leadership, and forest stewardship.

The Mount Moresby Adventure Camp Society programs are part of the school curriculum in the Haida Gwaii School District, and most youth on the islands attend the camp’s Outdoor Education and week-long Forest Stewardship Programs. Local educators and parents are calling on the province to halt the logging plans that would be devastating for the future of the most highly used outdoor education facility for youth on Haida Gwaii.

Angus Wilson, Superintendent of Schools, explains the importance of this outdoor classroom to the youth of Haida Gwaii: “Mount Moresby Adventure Camp has been an integral part of the curriculum for all School District 50 learners. So important, in fact, that students return to it several times in their career for the combination of scientific, cultural, physical and social learning that it provides. To lose this safe, organised, and just plain fun resource would be a deathblow to Haida Gwaii student’s outdoor education opportunities.”

Dave McLean, a high school teacher in Masset says, “Students have told me that it [the camp] was one of the most significant, most defining events that happened in their high school years.”

“We live in a resource-based community, and we are supportive of the logging industry,” explains Toby Sanmiya, executive director for the camp. “We have a good relationship with Taan Forest, a local Haida-owned logging company, and we collaborate with them to deliver forest stewardship programs to our youth. We aren’t trying to stop logging, we are just asking them [TimberWest] to relocate this one cutblock.”

“The outdoor classroom that is the forest next to Mt. Moresby Camp is one of the few advantages our isolated schools have compared to schools with access to science centres, museums and industry tours,” explains Lorrie Joron, teacher, and former principal at George M Dawson Secondary. “They need this hands-on real-life experience.”

Speak up for the youth of Haida Gwaii and for this integral part of our islands!

Send an email to:

Honorable Steve Thompson, BC Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations: steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca

Cc your email to:

Honorable Christy Clark, BC Premier: premier@gov.bc.ca

Honorable Mary Polack, BC Minister of Environment: mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca

John Horgan, NDP Opposition Leader: oppositionleader@leg.bc.ca

Harry Bains, Opposition Critic for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations: harry.bains.mla@leg.bc.ca

Jennifer Rice, MLA for the North Coast constituency: jennifer.rice.mla@leg.bc.ca

Please tell the above politicians that you want them to commit to:

  • Preserve this vital part of outdoor education for the youth of Haida Gwaii
  • Not approve the cutting permit for this one 16 ha cutblock.
  • Relocate TimberWest’s cutblock to an area of equivalent timber value

***Be sure to include your full name and your home mailing address so they know you’re a real person! Thank you!

For more information, contact Mount Moresby Adventure Camp at:

Toby Sanmiya (250) 626-9048

‘The Ecology and Status of the Central Walbran Ancient Forest’ by the AFA’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt

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If you live in the Duncan area join us for a slideshow about the endangered Central Walbran Valley!

The Cowichan Valley Naturalist Society presents:

Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance on
The Ecology and Status of the Central Walbran Ancient Forest

When: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, 7:00 pm
Where: The HUB, 2375 Koksilah Road, Cowichan Station (south of Duncan)

Learn about the old-growth forest ecology, wildlife, relevant policies, and conservation status of the Central Walbran Valley's old-growth forests in the context of southern Vancouver Island. Discussion to follow.
Find out what you can do to help protect the area's ecology and to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry jobs

Free. Donations appreciated to cover hall rental.

Questions: cvns@naturecowichan.net

Old Growth Walbran – Shaw TV Victoria

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Check out the news report by Shaw TV on the endangered Central Walbran Valley! TJ Watt and Ken Wu from the Ancient Forest Alliance talk about their goal of legislation to protect all of BC's endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry, and Dan Hager of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce talks about the local business community's interest in seeing the Central Walbran protected for tourism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29hAzW4zJQ

BC Hydro orders protestors off land near Site C dam

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FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Members of a small but defiant group are pledging to keep protesting the Site C hydroelectric project in northeastern British Columbia, despite being ordered off the land.

They set up a camp on Dec. 31, when BC Hydro and Power Authority issued an eviction notice while pressing ahead with land clearing for the controversial $9-billion dam.

The Crown corporation gave protesters 24 hours to leave the area known as Rocky Mountain Fort, on the south bank of the Peace River, just a few kilometres south of Fort St. John.

It warned that BC Hydro personnel will remove all contents of the camp and deliver it to RCMP but such action had not been taken by Monday afternoon.

Verena Hofmann, a Peace River Valley resident who was at the encampment over the weekend, said contractors appear ready to begin logging a three-kilometre region that is First Nations territory.

“We've just heard that equipment has started up. It looks like they are intending to keep on cutting,” she said on the phone from Fort St. John. “Treaty 8 First Nation people are holding their ground and are not moving from the site, so things are intensifying and changing quickly.”

Hofmann said demonstrators believe BC Hydro has no right to force them off the land in the midst of ongoing legal challenges involving Site C.

Several court cases raise major concerns about the potential impact of flooding from the creation of a new lake on the Peace River and the surrounding valley during construction of the dam.

She said upward of about five people at a time are occupying the west side of the mouth of the Moberly River in rotating shifts. First Nations people and other landowners are staying in a small cabin that was flown to the bank, as well as a hunting tent, she said.

It takes about 30 minutes to walk or less by snow machine to reach an area where contractors are set up, she said.

“There is no physical structure blockading BC Hydro's construction, it's individual people approaching them and reasonably and respectfully pleading with them to cease construction.”

Local people are trying to protect the land – significant because it contains swaths of old-growth boreal forest – until court proceedings run their full course, Hofmann said.

She said the group has asked that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reassess the environmental approval granted for the project by the former Conservative government, in conjunction with the B.C. government.

A spokesman for Site C project said the utility will continue to monitor the situation and is evaluating “all options.”

“BC Hydro respects the right of all individuals to peacefully protest and express their opinions about Site C in a safe and lawful manner,” Craig Fitzsimmons, the manager of communications and issues management, said in an email.

“We are hopeful this can be resolved. We are in discussions with the protesters and local authorities to allow us to resume construction activities.”

The Rocky Mountain Fort was established in 1794 by the North West Company as a fur trading post and is the site of the earliest settler post in mainland B.C.

The dam will be the third on the Peace River, creating an 83-kilometre-long reservoir that's slated to power up to 450,000 homes a year.

BC Hydro announced in mid-December that a consortium of three companies will be paid about $1.75 billion to build the largest components of the Site C development over the next eight years.

Read more: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/bc-hydro-orders-protesters-off-land-near-site-c-dam-1.2723597

Walbran Valley logging buffer-zone injunction extended

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Logging company Teal Cedar Products has been granted an extension of an injunction that will keep environmental activists at bay as the company continues to log in the Walbran Valley.

In a decision delivered Monday, the B.C. Supreme Court ordered that until the end of March, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and other environmental activists must allow the company to carry on its work unimpeded and maintain a 50-metre safety zone from any motor vehicle engaged in active logging.

Teal Cedar Products is part of Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group.

The ruling came as a major blow to the Wilderness Committee, with organizer Torrance Coste saying the result could be permanent damage to the ecosystem.

“If people are discouraged from getting out to Walbran … if no one knows what’s going on, Teal-Jones will run rampant,” he said.

“That’s what we’ve seen in the rest of the [tree farm licence areas] where Teal-Jones is active. Public access to Walbran is critical to keep these last stands of old-growth standing.”

The court’s decision came after a long day of procedural hearings, punctured by muffled shouts from a sometimes vocal and passionate gallery of as many as 65 environmental advocates.

Madam Justice Jennifer Power acknowledged the gallery Monday, noting it drove home the point that Walbran is an area of significant public concern.

However, Power said she was satisfied that Teal-Jones had the right to log the area, and that protesters will now have to keep their distance.

Power also dismissed an application by activist Marlene Simmons for an adjournment of the proceedings.

Power said while she sympathized with Simmons, who represented herself, she was not persuaded to grant the adjournment.

However, Power did include in the order a clause that would allow Simmons or any other activist to have the order set aside with 24 hours’ notice in order to bring the matter back to the courts when they have counsel or additional evidence.

The Wilderness Committee and other activists want to see a ban on cutting of old-growth trees in the Walbran Valley.

Teal-Jones Group gained a permit in September from the province to harvest timber in cutblock No. 4424, a 3.2-hectare area of Crown land in the contentious Central Walbran, for pulp, paper and solid-wood products.

Coste said the cutblock contains 1,000 year-old trees and a densely packed group of old-growth western red cedars dubbed Castle Grove. “It’s a forest unlike any other on the planet,” he said.

According to Teal-Jones’ submissions, the extension of the injunction, which would have expired Monday at midnight, follows three blockades, the last of which saw a man lock himself to a log placed across the road to prevent anyone from going to work.

The injunction will allow legal protests and activities, but stops protesters from interfering with the company’s harvesting operations. Anyone found violating the injunction could be considered in contempt of court.

Activists began blocking Teal Cedar Products Ltd. from road-building work in November.

While the Wilderness Committee and Coste were named by the company in its court application, the activist group says it did not organize the blockades or civil disobedience, but is championing the rights of individuals to stand up for and advocate for the environment.

Teal-Jones’ counsel said it has the legal right to log the area and that the activists’ fight is with the province. And while the company respects the right of activists to protest, it says those blockades have become a safety issue.

Coste maintains the logging company is trying to block access to the Walbran for the law-abiding public. “In a democracy like B.C., we have a right to get out and witness what’s happening in our forests, to witness ecological destruction and to report back on that,” Coste said during a morning protest outside the court. “Teal-Jones is trying to bar that and we’re here to stand up and say the public is deeply concerned about what is happening in the Walbran.”

A lawyer for the Wilderness Committee argued that the 50-metre zone keeping protesters away from the logging equipment is too large and the injunction period is too long. Initially Teal-Jones had asked that it be extended until September.

Coste told a cheering crowd outside the court that the group is standing up for the rights of individuals to protest and defending the province’s forests.

“We are here in court standing up against Teal-Jones today, but a ban on old-growth logging, a legislated solution to this, [has] to come from the province of B.C.,” Coste said. “We need to put pressure on them.”

Teal-Jones may legally be permitted to log the area, but ethically and environmentally it’s wrong, Coste said.

“We don’t have the cathedrals, the castles that other parts of the world have. These are our links back in time and they should be protected as such, as historical monuments,” he told the crowd, arguing the province should ban the logging of old-growth forests this year. “There are no replacements for these forests. A 1,000-year-old forest takes 1,000 years to grow.”

Read more: https://www.vancouversun.com/business/resources/walbran+valley+logging+buffer+zone+injunction/11631656/story.html?__lsa=e20a-c7f0