Valerie Langer

Conservationists Commemorate 25-Year Anniversary of Clayoquot Sound Mass Protests, Call on BC Government to Finally Do the Right Thing and Protect Old-Growth Forests

/in /by

Tofino, British Columbia – July 5th, 2018, marks 25 years since the launch of the Clayoquot Sound mass blockades against the logging of ancient forest in Clayoquot Sound by Tofino on Vancouver Island in Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations territory. Today, conservationists reflect on the impact of the historic movement and are urging the BC government to finally end the main forestry conflicts in BC by implementing science-based legislation to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests, new regulations and incentives to foster a value-added, second-growth forest industry, and support for First Nations land use planning and sustainable economic diversification.

See a new video trailer regarding Clayoquot Sound and BC’s old-growth forests at: https://youtu.be/BreQMR_JrEo

In the summer of 1993 thousands of Canadians came to Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, in the territories of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples, to take part in the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. The historic protests, organized by the Friends of Clayoquot Sound in Tofino, sought to put an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests by timber giant MacMillan Bloedel. Over 12,000 people took part in the blockade of logging trucks over the summer, with almost 900 people being arrested. The protests garnered international media attention.

 

Eight years earlier, in an unprecedented show of solidarity, the Tlaoquiaht and Ahousaht First Nations were joined by local environmentalists to blockade logging of the biggest trees in Canada on Meares Island. These we first major protests against old-growth forest logging in Canada. The First Nations, in 1984, established Canada’s first Tribal Park there. Since then, the Tlaoquiaht have declared much of their territory as a Tribal Park, while the Ahousaht have developed a Land Use Vision, declaring over 82% of their territory, including all of the major intact areas, off-limits to logging.

“The movement for Clayoqout Sound – which includes the largest tracts of old-growth temperate rainforest left in southern British Columbia – was revolutionary in its impacts,” stated Valerie Langer, one of the lead organizers of the Clayoquot Sound campaign in the 1980’s and ‘90’s. “It galvanized a powerful environmental movement, strengthened First Nations rights and innovated the market campaign strategy, resulting in dramatic improvements in conservation and management in Clayoquot Sound. Elevating public understanding of old forests and clearcutting led to new environmental and land use policies in the province with a number of protected areas created in the ensuing few years. But the evidence is clear that we have yet to strike the balance between forestry and conservation on Vancouver Island and even some protection in Clayoquot is still outstanding.”

The movement also laid the foundation for science-based land-use planning and ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest, and the expansion of First Nations resource management rights and land use planning across BC – all measures the NDP government has committed to employ to sustainably manage old-growth forests in BC going forward. It also gave rise to a generation of environmental activists.

“As a university student heavily involved in organizing the large urban rallies in Vancouver and the student blockade day in 1993, the momentous scale and impacts of the Clayoquot Sound movement imbued in me a lasting inspiration that has never left. My experiences from the Clayoquot movement of the early ‘90’s continues to energize me and sustain a resilience in me to keep fighting for nature and for a better world, decades later,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance executive director Ken Wu.

25 years on, much has changed in BC since the “War in the Woods” of the 1990s. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of prime old-growth forests have been logged; the BC economy has diversified; second-growth forests now constitute most of the productive forest lands in southern BC; the legal recognition of aboriginal rights has greatly expanded; and most people “get” it that old-growth forests can and should be protected due to the second-growth alternative for forestry.

Employment levels in BC’s forestry sector have also declined dramatically, from 99,000 jobs in 2000 to 65,000 in 2015, a loss of one-third of all forestry jobs. According to a 2008 study, the value of protecting old-growth forests now outweighs the economic benefits of logging them in large parts of the province.

In recent years, support for increased old-growth protection has expanded far beyond the environmental movement to include forestry workers and unions, businesses and Chambers of Commerce, and municipalities across BC. For example, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts throughout BC, has passed a resolution calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island; the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 BC businesses, has called for expanded old-growth forest protection in BC in order to benefit the economy; and the Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), representing thousands of BC forestry workers, are calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island.

“The stage is totally set for a forward-looking, progressive BC government to protect our old-growth forests, ensure sustainable, value-added, second-growth forestry jobs, and to support First Nations land use planning and sustainable economic development. Doing so will finally put an end to the vast majority of the forestry and related land use conflicts in BC,” stated Wu. “Unfortunately, the large-scale industrial logging of endangered old-growth forests is still a reality in large parts of British Columbia, and the unsustainable high-grade depletion of our finest lowland ancient forests has resulted in the increasing collapse of species and ecosystems, the impoverishment of rural forestry-dependent communities and impacts on First Nations culture.”

Last year, several environmental groups, including the Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC, and Wilderness Committee, presented a suite of policy recommendations to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson which would protect endangered ancient forests while ensuring sustainable, second-growth forestry jobs in BC. They included science-based old-growth protection legislation, financing for First Nations conservation-based economic development and land use planning, and incentives and regulations for a sustainable value-added forest industry.

“In their election platform, the BC government promised to manage BC’s old-growth forests based on the Ecosystem-Based Management approach used in the Great Bear Rainforest agreement, which resulted in the protection of most of the forests on BC’s Central and North Coast,” stated Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “So far, there have been no significant changes to the unsustainable status quo in forest policies in BC. We’re at a historic juncture, wherein we still have the ability to protect some significant tracts of the finest ancient forests on Earth. But time is running out for this government to take meaningful action,” stated Inness.

More Background Information

Clayoquot Sound is 260,000 hectares in size (2600 square kilometres or 1000 square miles). It lies on western Vancouver Island and consists of a major cluster of largely-intact ancient forest valleys and islands on the Pacific Coast. It is home to bears, wolves, cougars, deer, elk, marbled murrelet seabirds, and a vast array of biodiversity. Most of Clayoquot Sound’s forests – about 75% – remain old-growth, while the inverse is true across Vancouver Island, where 75% of the productive old-growth forests have been logged. The BC NDP government’s 1993 Clayoquot Land Use Plan protected only 33% of Clayoquot Sound’s land area, much of it bogs and marginal low-productivity forests with small trees, while releasing the vast majority of the area’s productive old-growth forests with large trees for the logging industry. The Ahousaht and Tlaoquiaht First Nation bands since then have designated most of their territories off limits to logging through their own land use planning processes, but the BC government has yet to officially endorse or financially support the Ahousaht Land Use Vision or the Tlaoquiaht Tribal Parks.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

On BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland), 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. 3.3 million hectares of productive old-growth forests once stood on the southern coast (with an additional 2.2 million hectares of bog, subalpine forests, and other low productivity old-growth forests of low to no commercial value with stunted trees), and today only 860,000 hectares remain, while only 260,000 hectares are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Second-growth forests now dominate 75% of the southern coast’s productive forest lands, including 90% of southern Vancouver Island, and can be sustainably logged to support the forest industry. See “before and after” maps and stats of the southern coast’s old-growth forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the government’s PR-spin typically over-inflates the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with small, stunted trees, together with the productive old-growth forests where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). They also leave out vast areas of largely overcut private managed forest lands – previously managed as if they were Crown lands for decades and still managed by the province under weaker Private Managed Forest Lands regulations – in order to reduce the basal area for calculating how much old-growth forest remains, thereby increasing the fraction of remaining old-growth forests. See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/

223 international scientists call for urgent action to protect British Columbia’s endangered temperate rainforests

/in /by

Ashland, OR —The Government of British Columbia must take urgent and immediate action to protect the globally unique ecological values of BC’s remaining primary and intact coastal and inland temperate rainforest, say 223 prominent scientists from around the world in a letter released today.

The scientists specifically call for action to protect temperate rainforests along BC’s south coast and Vancouver Island, and inland rainforests on the windward side of the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, all of which remain at risk with insufficient conservation.

The letter was organized by Dr. Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist at the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and author of Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation (Island Press). According to DellaSala, “BC’s temperate rainforests are globally rare, they offer habitat for many imperiled species and globally the vast majority of these unique rainforests has already been logged. Protection of remaining intact tracts of these carbon-rich, climate saving forests is a global responsibility and can help Canada to contribute to the 2020 UN biodiversity targets and the Paris Climate Agreement.” Recently, the ninth largest Douglas-fir in Canada was cut down in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni. The tree, which was 66 metres tall and three metres in diameter, was in an old-growth cut block auctioned off by the BC government.

Temperate rainforests are rare, constituting just 2.5 per cent of the earth’s forests. British Columbia is home to one quarter of that total and BC’s inland rainforests are one of only two such areas worldwide.

“It is hard to overstate the cultural significance of these rainforests to the Indigenous peoples who have inhabited this part of the world for millennia,” said Dr. Barbara Zimmerman, Director of the International Conservation Fund Canada. “Their loss would be an enormous blow to all Canadians and all people of the world. Destruction of the last remnants of ancient old-growth forest with their magnificent trees and complex web of life is a rapidly unfolding tragedy and the vast majority of Canadians are unaware that it is even happening.”

According to recent estimates by Sierra Club BC, logging of old-growth temperate rainforest is currently destroying 10,000 hectares per year on Vancouver Island—the equivalent of two soccer fields per hour, 24 hours per day. Productive old-growth rainforests in lower elevations have been reduced to less than 10 per cent of their original extent. Plants and animals that depend on these rainforests are not just losing habitat, but also are suffering climate change impacts such as extended droughts, extreme rainfall and severe storms, threatening to push ecosystems to limits. Similar losses are occurring in the inland rainforest region where logging of old-growth rainforest has been extensive and is contributing to the demise of mountain caribou.

“BC has inspired the world with conservation solutions in Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest. The province should take similar action to safeguard what remains of these globally outstanding ancient forests in other parts of the province,” said BC forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon. “The provincial government should follow through on its promise and take action for old-growth conservation using the same model and its multiple benefits for biodiversity, communities and the climate.”

Forests absorb atmospheric carbon through the process of photosynthesis and store it in long-lived plants and soils. In doing so, they help to cool down the planet. Cutting down forests releases most of their stored carbon as a global warming pollutant.

The experts are urging the provincial government to follow through on the promise to use the ecosystem-based management approach implemented in the Great Bear Rainforest to safeguard British Columbia’s endangered old-growth rainforest.

The signatories to the letter live and work in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, the United States and Scotland.

Read the original media release here. [Original article no longer available]

Canada's 9th-widest Douglas fir

Veteran B.C. forester weighs in on the continued logging of ancient giants

/in /by

The public discussion about old-growth forests on Vancouver Island is rife with crooked thinking and trickery, and that’s a big problem. If we hope to have a mature discussion about how much of these irreplaceable natural assets should be conserved, then we need to be on the same song sheet.

But it is very, very hard to get to that place when the custodian of much of those lands — the provincial government of British Columbia — fails to disclose the basic facts on which to have an informed debate and then uses bad arithmetic to assert that there is far more old-growth forest left than is actually the case.

“It is incumbent upon our provincial government to stop the arithmetic trickery and to bring intellectual honesty and scientific thinking to a resolution of the old-growth issue on Vancouver Island.”

It’s hard not to conclude that both our provincial government and the association representing professional foresters in our province are deliberately trying to ensure that the public doesn’t see the forest for the trees.

Anyone who cares about our forests knows that there are essentially two camps that are at odds with one another. On the one hand, we have the industry/government camp (B.C. government, corporations and the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals) advocating the logging of the few remaining unprotected giant, ancient forests. On the other hand, we have the public camp (the general public, conservationists, some unions and non-governmental organizations) advocating the protection of these forests.

The differences between these two camps begin with definition. The logging companies, government and the ABCFP define old-growth forests as being any forest over 250 years old. Engaged members of the public, on the other hand, tend to think of old-growth forests as the original, productive, forests found at lower elevations on gentle slopes and in valley bottoms — the places where large ancient trees and a rich diversity of animal and plant life are found (or at least used to be found) in abundance.

It is these incredibly productive and ecologically diverse forests about which the general public are most concerned — a fact well known by government, the logging industry and the ABCFP.

So, to get on the same song sheet, let’s pose the three essential questions in the public interest:

  1. What was the area of original, productive, old-growth forest at low elevation (less than 300 metres) on gentle slopes (
  2. What is the remaining area of unprotected original, productive, old-growth forest at low elevation on gentle slopes on Vancouver Island?
  3. What is the remaining area of protected original, productive, old-growth forest at low elevation on gentle slopes on Vancouver Island?

These three questions are not easily answered because the “publicly available” data the government chooses to provide is deliberately and woefully incomplete, in particular for Vancouver Island.

Specifically, the data for most Tree Farm Licences (or TFLs), which constitute large areas of forestland where single corporations hold sway, are not available. Nor are good data on the extent of old-growth forests on private lands, which constitute a huge proportion of Vancouver Island. This lack of readily available data is a big problem, because only about 40 per cent of Vancouver Island is Crown land outside TFLs. Also, government information on the Crown land within TFLs is either missing or unavailable to the public.

So, on this score, the forests ministry has been woefully negligent in not providing the inventory facts for informed debate and straight thinking. Instead, it has supported the industry/government camp with crooked thinking and incomplete fact sheets.

For example, quoting a government fact sheet, the ABCFP recently stated in a November 2017 op-ed in the Times Colonist that Vancouver Island had massive amounts of old-growth forest remaining:

“Vancouver Island, which is 3.28 million hectares in size, has 2.4 million hectares of Crown land (of which) 860,000 hectares of that Crown land (46 per cent) is old growth forest and of that, about 520,000 hectares (62 per cent) is estimated to be protected,” the ABCFP boldly asserted.

If this is not a great example of crooked thinking, I don’t know what is. By the government and ABCFP’s logic, the more we log the remaining unprotected old growth, the more percentage of protected area we get!

So, using one of the most complete inventories for Vancouver Island, I asked a biologist, who specializes in analysis with geographic information systems, to answer the three questions of interest to the general public. And here are the answers that the forests ministry cannot, or will not, provide:

  1. Original, Productive, Old Growth Forest at Low Elevation on Gentle Slopes on Vancouver Island = 459,000 ha (100%)
  2. Remaining Unprotected Original, Productive, Old Growth Forest at Low Elevation on Gentle Slopes on Vancouver Island = 33,200 ha (7%)
  3. Remaining Protected Original, Productive, Old Growth at Low Elevation on Low Slope on Vancouver Island = 26,600 ha (6% — Note that only 21,600 ha (5%) are truly protected within parks.)

It is incumbent upon our provincial government to stop the arithmetic trickery and to bring intellectual honesty and scientific thinking to a resolution of the old-growth issue on Vancouver Island.

To do that, the government should refer the question of what remains of our old-growth forests on Vancouver Island to an independent, scientific panel tasked to look at how much original old-growth forest is protected and how much remains for each type of major ecosystem, and where it is. There is plenty of expertise at the University of Victoria to do just that.

I suspect that such a panel would quickly conclude that the original, productive, old-growth forest below 300 metres elevation on slopes under 17 per cent (the most ecologically diverse and productive ecosystem for animals and plants) that is truly protected on Vancouver Island in parks (less than 5%) is scarce and woefully under-represented compared to the areas protected for other types of old-growth forest.

Premier Horgan and Ministers Donaldson and Heyman: let’s see action on your election promise “to modernize land-use planning to effectively and sustainably manage B.C.’s ecosystems … forests and old growth (and to) take an evidence-based scientific approach.”

Anthony Britneff worked for the B.C. Forest Service for 40 years, holding senior professional positions in inventory, silviculture and forest health.

Ancient yellow cedar slated for logging in Schmidt Creek

BC Government Targets Another Old-Growth Rainforest Forest For Clearcut Logging

/in /by
VICTORIA, Unceded Lekwungen Territories – After visiting and documenting Schmidt Creek, the next valley slated for logging by government agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS), environmental organizations and Indigenous leaders are ramping up the call for the agency to discontinue logging permits in remaining endangered old-growth rainforests. The documentation of new BCTS logging roads in Schmidt Creek follows the recent discovery by the Ancient Forest Alliance of BCTS logging of endangered rainforest in the Nahmint Valley, near Port Alberni, including near record-sized ancient giants, wider than the biggest Douglas-fir in Cathedral Grove.
Schmidt Creek, located in Tlowitsis-Ma’amtagila territories on northeast Vancouver Island between Sayward and Telegraph Cove and adjacent to Johnstone Strait, contains several cutblocks slated for imminent logging. Last week, representatives from Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee visited several of these cutblocks and new logging roads, which are located on steep slopes in the valley with a high risk of landslides and potential impact on globally unique orca rubbing beaches near the mouth of Schmidt Creek.
“For too long resource extraction companies have got away with taking from our shared territorial lands and waters,” said Rande Cook, Head Chief Makwala, Hamatam (Seagull) House, Ma’amtagila. “Non-Indigenous governments need to understand that this type of reckless logging is not sustainable or respectful to the land itself.  Furthermore, this is not being done in the spirit of meaningful consultation with the proper Kwakwaka’wakw nations.”
“If this logging goes ahead it will destroy some of the last old-growth rainforest on Vancouver Island, which is outrageous and exactly what we need to be moving away from,” said Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. “The fact that this has been signed off on by the provincial government is something everyone in the province should be ashamed of.”
BCTS is a stand-alone agency of the provincial forests ministry that manages around 20 per cent of the annual cut on provincial land. The agency is one of the operators that supported and implemented ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest but continues to log the most endangered ancient rainforests in B.C., such as old-growth Douglas-fir ecosystems on Vancouver Island.
Last year, Sierra Club BC, the Wilderness Committee and the Ancient Forest Alliance called on forests minister Doug Donaldson to protect endangered old-growth rainforest including interim protection for remaining intact areas. One of the groups’ most straightforward recommendations is to direct BCTS to start by discontinuing the issuance of cutblock permits in old-growth rainforests. The minister rejected this request, and his ministry has yet to commit to any significant changes to forest management to ensure the survival of old-growth ecosystems.
“Anyone in their right mind knows it’s wrong to blast a road through an old-growth forest, yet that’s exactly what the BC government is doing, right near a park boundary,” said Mark Worthing, Conservation and Climate Campaigner with Sierra Club BC. “There has already been huge damage done in the valley by LeMare Lake Logging, and when a major rain event occurs it could send sediment onto critical orca rubbing beaches.”
In its 2017 election platform, the BC NDP promised to “apply an evidence-based scientific approach to land-use planning, using the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing old-growth forests.” The B.C. government has not yet made any progress toward implementing this election commitment.
“We are running out of time to protect B.C.’s most productive ancient forests, where some of the biggest, oldest trees on Earth are found,” stated Andrea Inness, campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “After a century of logging, less than 10 per cent of these forests now remain and yet B.C. Timber Sales is still issuing logging permits in rare and endangered ancient forest ecosystems. When is the government going to realize this is not okay and start living up to its promise to manage old-growth sustainably, based on the scientific evidence?”
Schmidt Creek is in Tlowitsis-Ma’amtagila territories and is adjacent to the world-renowned Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, famous for its orca rubbing beaches.
TJ Watt beside an enormous

Environmentalists accuse B.C. government of fudging the numbers to log some of the world’s biggest trees

/in /by

Environmentalists have accused the B.C. government of lying about the amount of majestic, centuries-old trees left standing in the province.

The National Observer reported last month that the B.C. government, through B.C. Timber Sales, had approved permits for logging that saw some of the world’s biggest red cedar and Douglas fir trees cut down in the Nahmint Valley on Vancouver Island.

The government responded, by saying that more than 55 per cent of Crown old growth forests on B.C.’s coast is protected, and that on Vancouver Island more than 40 per cent of Crown forests are considered old growth, including 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.

But those numbers are “deliberately misleading,” said Vicky Husband, a B.C. environmental activist for decades who has been awarded both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for her work.

“The forests ministry really plays with numbers, and they talk about how much old growth we’ve got left and actually, they really lie,” Husband said in an interview

“They’re trying to claim that of the coastal forest we’ve protected 55 per cent. We haven’t. That’s not true at all.”

 

 

BC old growth map - Supplied by Commons BC

Original ancient forest shown in green. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

Ken Wu, executive director with the Ancient Forest Alliance, which documented the May cutting of the massive trees in the Nahmint Valley, says it makes no sense to include the forests that will never be logged — those with small, stunted trees growing in bogs or on rocky, steep slopes — when discussing the percentage of forest that has been logged.

“It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money and then saying you’re a millionaire,” Wu said. “It’s a disingenuous approach and it’s total spin. It’s so much spin that the marbled murrelet and the deer are dizzy.”

The marbled murrelet is a small, endangered seabird that lives in the north Pacific region and that needs coastal old-growth trees for nesting, a B.C. Ministry of Environment document shows.

 

Logged areas of Vancouver Island - Map supplied by Commons BC

Remaining ancient forests shown in green, logged areas in magenta. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

Wu also takes exception with the government taking private lands out of the equation, even though the government regulates what can be logged on those lands. Also, so called low-productivity forests, those that would never be logged, should not be counted in the total, he said.

“Otherwise it’s just complete spin, precisely designed to make people think there is no problem, that there is a lot there and a lot that is protected, which is total f***ing bull****,” Wu said.

“If the NDP government doesn’t want to continue the war in the woods, they have to stop the spin.”

B.C. government is masking an ‘ecological emergency’

Jens Wieting, a forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC, made similar arguments about how the government misrepresents the numbers.

“They are masking the problem, the ecological emergency,” Wieting said. “By allowing continuing logging in these small, intact areas, that’s like burning down libraries, because we know, based on science, that we are losing a web of life that depends on these old growth forests and that’s the responsibility of the current government.”

 

Protected areas of Vancouver Island - map supplied by Commons BC

Most ancient forest is not protected, shown here in red. Green indicates old growth under protection. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

 

Ministry of Forests responds

The B.C. Ministry of Forests says there are about 55 million hectares of forests around the province, of which 25 million hectares are considered old-growth and four million hectares are protected.

When asked specifically about what definition of old growth the province uses and whether low productivity lands are included, the ministry said “old growth is consistently defined as productive forest, or forest management land base, so swamp, scrub, bog, alpine forest, etc., are all excluded from the province’s calculations.”

Even low productivity sites have larger trees, the ministry said in a written statement, adding that one such site in the Sproat Lake area has a 252-year-old, 22-metre-tall tree.

“By law, a specified amount of the forests that reflect the definition of old growth must be retained to meet biodiversity needs,” the ministry said in its statement. “Generally, the approximate age at which old growth characteristics and structure are apparent in coastal ecosystems is 250 years, whereas Interior ecosystems are 140 years.”

The Forest and Range Practices Act and its regulations are the main set of laws governing forest practices, the ministry said.

Private land covers about one-quarter of Vancouver Island and the province doesn’t include it because it says it has “very limited jurisdiction over private land harvesting.”

When asked specifically how much of the province is protected, the ministry said 15.8 per cent of the Crown land in the province is protected, including legal old growth management areas, which make up about two per cent of Crown land.

“Old growth management areas, wildlife habitat areas, ungulate winter ranges, and ecological reserves are additional areas that contain old growth protection measures in addition to parks,” the ministry said.

B.C. government may lose social license over logging, forestry dean says

It’s not just the government and the environmentalists who disagree on how to classify forests. The problem of defining exactly types of forests should be considered old growth is complicated, said John Innes, professor and dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia.

“This is actually quite a big debate that is going on internationally right now,” Innes said. “People are struggling with this and trying to work out how to talk about this and how to define these different types of forests.”

When Innes hears the term old-growth, he envisions large, old trees – like those found in Cathedral Grove, a provincial park on Vancouver Island that contains an ancient Douglas fir ecosystem. However, technically, he says, the government’s use of the term is not wrong.

“In boggy areas, the trees are so widely spaced and so thin and spindly that they’ve got no commercial value, so they’re not going to be harvested anyway, but that doesn’t mean to say they’re not old growth,” Innes said.

At the same time, he says B.C. Timber Sales should stop issuing licenses to cut down massive, old trees on Vancouver Island except in exceptional situations.

“As a general principle, on Vancouver Island, where there is now a limited supply, … we need to be careful and steward what’s left,” he said.

Innes has also heard that First Nations people now have difficulty finding trees big enough to make canoes.

Innes first learned about the big trees being cut down in the Nahmint Valley from the National Observer story and said he was surprised.

“The B.C. government is at risk of losing social license over this,” Innes said. “I do not consider it to have been a very clever move on the part of B.C. Timber Sales, but I don’t know the full situation.”

Even though the logging was legal, Innes said the move was bound to be controversial.

“I don’t think we should be cutting that size of tree down if there are alternatives,” Innes said.

 

 

The largest Douglas fir in the world, the Red Creek fir near Port Renfrew. Photo July 2016 by Ancient Forest Alliance

Besides the fact that tourists and locals alike love to visit the majestic old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, there are also scientific reasons for saving these grand old trees, Innes said.

“Every time there is some sort of a severe stress in a population, some of that population will be killed and if you’ve got trees that are 1,400 or 1,500 years old, they have survived an awful lot of those stresses, which means they must be pretty good at it,” Innes said.

“If we’re worried about the future and the future stresses on trees, those very old trees may hold the gene reservoir that we need for future forests.”

Technology is advancing so fast that soon, environmental groups may be able to count the exact numbers of large trees left in the province using drones, and track them when they are logged, Innes said.

Legislative and regulatory changes are needed now, campaigner says

The relatively new NDP government needs to make changes now, Wieting said.

“The current B.C. government is not responsible for forest management over the previous 16 years on Vancouver Island, but we have an emergency now as a result of that,” Wieting said.

“They are responsible for the losses that will happen now, because there is now so little left that species like the marbled murrelet are disappearing … and mosses, lichen and fungi that depend on old growth ecosystems. This is now getting worse as a result of climate change.

 

 

Jens Wieting from Sierra Club BC - photo supplied.

Jens Wieting, a forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC, says the government’s numbers mask an ‘ecological emergency.’ Handout photo

The longer the government denies a problem on Vancouver Island, the worse the ecological and cultural damage will be, Wieting says.

“This new government continues to use the same rhetoric and the same superficial information like the previous government and that’s no longer acceptable because it’s not based on science and we are now in an ecological emergency and it’s getting worse every day,” Wieting said.

Wieting would like to see interim steps put in place, based on precaution.

“The government should stop issuing permits for old growth logging in some of these areas that I refer to as precautionary areas – relatively intact areas with significant potential for ecosystems, for species habitat for cultural value, for tourism and carbon value. We have record high carbon storage in these areas,” Wieting said.

He would also like to see legislation to protect endangered rainforest by ecosystem.

“It’s not okay to have logging continuing in some of the last relatively intact old growth areas because that means that we will have foregone conclusions, we will have a situation after the fact where there are no intact old growth forests left to consider,” Wieting said.

All that’s left is a tree museum, activist says

Husband says now is the time to stop logging the ancient forests of Vancouver Island.

“This is the last flailing gasp of the dinosaur swinging his tail,” Husband said. “If you drive through Tofino and Cathedral Grove, that’s what we have to show what those Douglas fir forests used to look like. That’s all we have – it’s a tree museum.”

Wu would like to see a land acquisitions fund so that the government can buy land from private owners to protect it from logging.

“For example, the mountain side above Cathedral Grove – the most famous old-growth forest in Canada – is privately owned and slated for logging,” Wu said. “People don’t realize that the mountainside above that stand of trees that millions come to see, can actually get logged and already has a logging road punched through it.

“The company has been sitting on it for several years because of our campaign to see where this is going to go. The government could buy that old-growth forest and add it to the park with a land acquisition fund.”

In the meantime, Wu would like to see an immediate end to the B.C. government issuing permits through B.C. Timber Sales for logging of old growth forests.

“The BC NDP can end the war in the woods, that can be their legacy,” Wu said. “They just have to do what the rest of the western world has moved to now, which is moving towards a second growth forest industry. We want them to do it sustainably, and let’s keep the remnants of the old growth for endangered species, for tourism, for the climate, for clean water and wild salmon.”

Hear, hear. I couldn’t agree more.

Read the original article here.

BC's 9th widest Douglas-fir cut down in the Nahmint Valley

B.C. “legacy tree” policy under review after ancient fir logged

/in /by

B.C. Timber Sales is reviewing its best management practices for legacy trees with the intent of strengthening a policy brought into question by old-growth logging near Port Alberni.

The Crown agency (BCTS) and the B.C. government have been roundly criticized in recent weeks by conservationists and local First Nations for continuing to allow logging of ancient fir and cedar in the Nahmint Valley.

Researchers aligned with the lobby group Ancient Forest Alliance pinpointed the logging last month of what was the ninth largest Douglas fir. They maintain that it’s one of many old-growth giants still being levelled in Vancouver Island forests.

READ: Blame for felled Nahmint giant placed on NDP

“Although it should be a no-brainer to protect B.C.’s biggest trees, what we ultimately need is protection for endangered forest ecosystems, which are under siege by commercial logging. Almost 11,000 hectares of old-growth forests were cut on Vancouver Island in 2016,” said Andrea Inness, an alliance campaigner. “And where better to start protecting old-growth than at the government’s own logging agency, B.C. Timber Sales?”

Immediately west of Port Alberni, the valley contains some of the most extensive stands of old-growth forest on Vancouver Island left standing outside of Clayoquot Sound. The area lies in the territory of Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations.

The Crown agency is overseen by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, which confirmed that the old-growth Douglas fir cited by Ancient Forest Alliance was part of Crown lands auctioned off before new policy was in place.

“With regard to the specific tree mentioned in the (Ancient Forest Alliance) news release, BCTS’ best management practices on legacy trees came into effect after that specific timber sale was laid out,” the ministry stated. “BCTS is also reviewing this policy to make it stronger.”

In its current form, policy requires any Douglas fir wider than 2.1 metres and any cedar wider than three metres to be left standing. The felled Nahmint fir was three metres in diameter.

Since August 2016, BCTS has awarded five timber sales totalling 319 hectares in the valley. The ministry noted, however, that there are 2,760 hectares of old growth protected in the “Nahmint landscape unit.”

BCTS has identified 250 old-growth cedar trees to be spared from logging in the Nahmint, the ministry said. As well, the ministry maintains that old growth forest is not far from a rare commodity on the Island, representing 43 percent of 1.9 million hectares of Crown forest on the Island. A large proportion of that old growth — 520,000 hectares — is protected.

Despite reassurances, conservation groups insist that government is exaggerating the extent of highly productive old growth, specifically trees ranging from 500 to 1,000 years old. Cut blocks in the Nahmint Valley auctioned by BCTS extend into areas where those oldest trees are found and don’t provide enough buffer to retain old-growth ecosystems, the alliance says.

Mike Stini of the Port Alberni Watershed Alliance was among those who identified the fir when it was still standing this spring.

“To see it lying on the ground two weeks later was devastating, especially since these big, old Douglas firs are now endangered after a century of commercial logging,” Stini said. “There are less than one percent of the old-growth Douglas-firs on the coast remaining. It’s like finding a huge black rhino or Siberian tiger that’s been shot. There are simply too few today and logging the last of these giants shouldn’t be allowed to happen anymore in B.C.”

Link to original article: www.vicnews.com/news/b-c-legacy-tree-policy-under-review-after-ancient-fir-logged/

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

The fall of giants: irreplaceable trees logged

/in /by

“These are some of the biggest, oldest living creatures that have ever existed in Earth’s history. It’s ethically wrong, it’s ecologically destructive”, Ken Wu, executive director, Ancient Forest Alliance

After decades of campaigning to save old growth forest giants on the west coast, activists are shocked that it’s still happening.

Members of the Ancient Forest Alliance and other environmental groups discovered several giant trees felled this month in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.

The provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) government is being blamed for the action through its agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS). The agency auctioned off a 300 hectare section (cutblock) which includes some of the biggest old-growth Douglas Fir and western red cedar trees in the province.

Among them was the ninth widest tree in all of British Columbia (3 m/10ft), and one of the tallest(66m/216ft) according to the “B.C. Big Tree Registry”

“There are fewer than 1% of the old-growth Douglas-firs on the coast remaining. It’s like finding a huge black rhino or Siberian tiger that’s been shot. There are simply too few today and logging the last of these giants shouldn’t be allowed to happen anymore in BC” – Mike Stini of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance

Environmentalist Mike Stini said he spoke to the mill owner responsible for the cut block as was told the contractor was advised to leave that specific tree alone.

There is a provincial policy to protect such ancient trees, but activists say it’s not being enforced. In a statement by the Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner T.J. Watt said, “According to BCTS’ policy, Douglas-fir trees over 2.1 meters (7 feet) wide and western red cedars over 3 metres (10 feet) wide located within BCTS-issued cutblocks should be left standing, In spite of this policy, they still cut down Canada’s 9th widest Douglas-fir tree that was 3 meters (10 feet) wide – far larger than their minimum protection size – and we saw several fresh cedar stumps wider than 3 metres. In addition to it being a weak policy to begin with, with plenty of loopholes and lacking buffer zones for the biggest trees, they aren’t even implementing it in the Nahmint Valley. BCTS’ ‘best practices’ didn’t even save the ninth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada”.

Environmentalists are also upset because as they say there is plenty of second growth trees available for logging and therefore no need to cut down the ancient trees.

People are angry with the NDP government which had made election promises to protect old growth forests. Forestry Minister Doug Donaldson says there are 3,000 hectares of protected old growth forest in the valley, “so it’s a balancing act…and we’re working on addressing those concerns”.

Read the original article here.

The AFA's Ken Wu and local Port Alberni conservationists stand atop Canada's 9th-widest Douglas-fir tree

NDP blamed for failing to save Vancouver Island old-growth giants from logging

/in /by

Environmentalists on Vancouver Island are calling on the NDP government to deliver on an election promise to protect old-growth forests.

The demand follows the recent felling of huge, ancient trees in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

The Ancient Forest Alliance says in late May trees up to 70 metres tall and as wide as three metres in diameter were cut down as part of logging on Crown land made possible by the government agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS).

“These are some of the biggest, oldest living creatures that have ever existed in Earth’s history,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the alliance. “It’s ethically wrong, it’s ecologically destructive.”

The organization says the Nahmint Valley, which lies in the territory of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations, has extensive stands of old-growth forests similar to those in Clayoquot Sound.

Hupacasath member Brenda Sayers says she was dismayed upon learning that trees that big were being logged.

“I was horrified,” said Sayers, a former federal Green Party candidate.

She often visits the area and describes it as magnificent and magical. She also says it has cultural significance as a sacred site for her nation.

“We are caretakers of the land,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to safeguard what is there for future generations.”

Sparing legacy trees

In January, the BCTS implemented a best practices management plan for coastal legacy trees, which it describes as exceptionally large and old trees.

The document says the specimens are a unique feature of B.C.’s coastal forests that help with habitat conservation and support ecotourism.

It sets guidelines for loggers to spare yellow cedar, coastal Douglas fir, sitka spruce and western red cedar. For example, a Douglas fir with a diameter of at least 2.1 metres must be preserved.

The alliance says a Douglas fir felled in the Nahmint Valley was larger than this and is surprised it wasn’t saved — but the BCTS document also includes operational factors, such as safety hazards, that allow legacy trees to be felled.

“Right now it’s generally legal to log these old-growth forests. It doesn’t make it right,” said Wu.

Focus on second-growth

Environmentalists on Vancouver Island have for years campaigned to have B.C. stop the practice of logging old-growth forests and focus solely on second-growth instead.

As part of its 2017 election platform, the NDP promised to partner with First Nations to modernize land-use planning.

That included using the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.

In 2016 an agreement was struck to protect 85 per cent of the forest — 3.1 million hectares — from industrial logging.

Wu says that, so far, the NDP has not committed to its election promise.

“I think they’re trying to figure out their position as we continue to push and as there’s a massive old-growth logging industry lobby that is also pushing them,” he said.

Old growth protections

A statement from the Ministry of Forests said BCTS has awarded five timber sales worth 319 hectares since August 2016 in the Nahmint Valley, and that logging continues to support jobs in places like Port Alberni.

The ministry says there are 2,760 hectares of old growth protected in the valley and that there are 520,000 hectares of old-growth forests that will never be logged on Vancouver Island.

“Government is continuously reviewing practices to ensure healthy ecosystems and that logging is sustainable,” said Forests Minister Doug Donaldson in the statement.

The NDP committed $16 million over three years in its latest budget to modernize land-use planning. It says there will be an update on progress in the fall.

Read the original article here.

AFA executive director Ken Wu stands beside the Alberni Giant

Blame for felled Nahmint giant placed on NDP

/in /by

Logging underway in the Nahmint Valley threatens one of the last prime spots of B.C. old-growth habitat and points to the NDP government’s failure to honour its election promise, says an Island-based conservation group.


Ancient Forest Alliance led a media tour on Wednesday, May 23 to examine a freshly felled Douglas fir estimated to be 800 years old.

“This is a monumental screwup,” said Ken Wu, alliance executive director. “They’ve just cut down the ninth largest Douglas fir.”

Group researchers identified the living tree earlier this month as chainsaws buzzed with logging activity on surrounding mountainsides. They assumed the big fir was protected and were astonished to find it felled a couple of weeks later.

Wu said their concerns relate not only to the felled fir but to the area as a whole. Nahmint Valley, 40 km west of Port Alberni, is known as an all-too-rare “hot spot” of old-growth in the province.

He holds the NDP government directly responsible because the logging is administered by its own agency, B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS). BCTS has auctioned cut blocks that overlap areas of ancient old growth, the group contends. Extensive logging in the area began this spring.

Mike Stini, a Port Alberni conservationist, said he spoke with the mill owner responsible for the cut block and was told the contractor was specifically told not to fall the big Douglas fir in question.

“There are so few of the giant first left,” Stini said. “We’ve got to do something.”

Giant fir and cedar are the crux of Nahmint habitat critical to species such as Roosevelt elk, marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. The picturesque valley is also a popular destination for recreationalists. Wu compared the felling of the fir to the slaughter of endangered elephants or the last of a species.

“It really is like blowing away the last remaining black rhinos,” he said. “The crazy thing is, most of the region is second growth.”

The Nahmint Valley is largely virgin forest yet there is plenty of second- and even third-generation forest available for harvest, he noted. In comparison, highly productive old-growth represents less than 10 percent of Island forests.

Not far from the site of the downed fir stands another that has been labelled the “Alberni Giant,” an even larger Douglas fir believed to be 800-900 years old. That tree remains protected in a zone designated for ungulate winter range. Other old growth is not similarly protected.

“This is not isolated,” said TJ Watt, a photographer who uses satellite imagery and provincial mapping to identify surviving old-growth trees. His work led him to the Douglas fir and others in the Nahmint.

“It’s happening all over the Island all of the time,” Watt said. “Old-growth logging is not a thing of the past.”

Trees several hundred years old, larger than those in Cathedral Grove, are still coming down in the face of the B.C. government’s new “big tree policy” established in January, the group said. They were told by regional staff of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations that the Nahmint cut blocks were laid out five years ago.

Forest Alliance posted photos of the felled tree on Facebook last week, triggering widespread condemnation unlike any the decade-old lobby group has seen.

“What has changed is not government policy,” Wu said. “The NDP government has exactly the same policy as the Liberal government. The change is in the moment because there are so many log exports and because there are second-growth alternatives. Businesses and people in general realize that we shouldn’t be logging the last of the remaining old growth forest. We can have all the jobs and keep all the old growth, too.”

They’ve met with Forests Minister Doug Donaldson on the issue and want to take the old-growth issue straight to Premier John Horgan since cutting contradicts the NDP pledge to adhere to an ancient growth model.

“We have raised the issue that the Nahmint really is a hot spot area and that they have to instruct B.C. Timber to stop auctioning old-growth cut blocks,” Wu said. “Certainly don’t place cut blocks in old-growth stands where logging is allowed. They don’t mandate a buffer zone and as a result they’re still logging 12-foot cedars.

“Hopefully there is some movement on the government’s part to change from the status quo,” he added. “They can’t take for granted the support of the environmental movement.”

A call to MLA Scott Fraser’s office was referred to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, which hadn’t responded by press time.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt stands next to Canada's 9th-widest Douglas-fir tree

Canada’s Ninth-Widest Douglas-fir Cut Down in Old-Growth Forest Auctioned Off by BC Government’s Logging Agency

/in /by

For Immediate Release

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners were dismayed to discover that Canada’s ninth-widest Douglas-fir tree (compared to the trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry) was cut down last week. The massive tree, which stood 66 metres (216 feet) tall and 3.0 metres (10 feet) in diameter, was located in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni and had only just been found by the group earlier this month, standing within a planned cutblock auctioned off by the BC government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales. Two weeks after first finding the tree in early May, conservationists returned to find the colossal tree had been felled.

Thousands of old-growth trees are being logged in over 300 hectares of cutblocks issued by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) in the Nahmint Valley. The 300 hectares constitute some of the very grandest remaining “monumental” stands of “high productivity” old-growth forests (i.e. the largest trees on the best growing sites) left in the valley. Most of the Nahmint Valley’s monumental groves, growing at lower elevations, have long since been logged and much of the remaining old-growth forests outside of these cutblocks are comprised of much smaller trees growing on low and medium productivity sites, including much of the 2700 hectares forests currently reserved in Old-Growth Management Areas and other forest reserves. Environmentalists are now redoubling their efforts to pressure the BC government to direct their logging agency to stop issuing old-growth cutblocks in BC, to implement a Big Tree Protection Order to protect BC’s biggest trees (including buffer zones) and grandest groves, and most importantly, to develop comprehensive, science-based legislation to protect endangered old-growth forest ecosystems across the province while ensuring a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry. The Nahmint Valley contains some of the most extensive remaining stands of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island outside of Clayoquot Sound and is in the territory of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations bands.

“We’d seen this magnificent Douglas-fir, towering above its neighbours in the forest earlier in May and decided to take a measurement. We couldn’t believe we’d found the ninth-widest Douglas-fir in the country,” stated Mike Stini of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance. “To see it lying on the ground two weeks later was devastating, especially since these big, old Douglas-firs are now endangered after a century of commercial logging. There are less than 1% of the old-growth Douglas-firs on the coast remaining. It’s like finding a huge black rhino or Siberian tiger that’s been shot. There are simply too few today and logging the last of these giants shouldn’t be allowed to happen anymore in BC,” stated Stini.

“According to BCTS’ policy, Douglas-fir trees over 2.1 meters (7 feet) wide and western redcedars over 3 metres (10 feet) wide located within BCTS-issued cutblocks should be left standing,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt. “In spite of this policy, they still cut down Canada’s 9th widest Douglas-fir tree that was 3 meters (10 feet) wide – far larger than their minimum protection size – and we saw several fresh cedar stumps wider than 3 metres. In addition to it being a weak policy to begin with, with plenty of loopholes and lacking buffer zones for the biggest trees, they aren’t even implementing it in the Nahmint Valley. BCTS’ ‘best practices’ didn’t even save the ninth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada.”

BC Timber Sales in January launched their big tree protection policy, the Best Management Practices for Coastal Legacy Trees initiative, to protect the largest trees over a minimum diameter size in BCTS-issued cutblocks. The policy fails to include mandatory buffer zones (creating more “Big Lonely Doug” scenarios where the largest Douglas-firs and redcedars stand alone in clearcuts) and has many loopholes (such as allowing the largest trees to be cut if they block access for logging or if the government deems that there are enough large trees already protected in the area). Despite the policy being in place, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and local conservationists found freshly logged western redcedar and Douglas-fir trees throughout the valley – including Canada’s ninth-widest Douglas-fir – that exceeded the minimum protection sizes set out in the policy.

“Although it should be a no-brainer to protect BC’s biggest trees, what we ultimately need is protection for endangered forest ecosystems, which are under siege by commercial logging. Almost 11,000 hectares of old-growth forests were cut on Vancouver Island in 2016,” stated Ancient Forest Alliacne campaigner Andrea Inness. “And where better to start protecting old-growth than at the government’s own logging agency, BC Timber Sales?”

“It’s incredibly disappointing that the BC government has a deficient policy for big tree protection – which they aren’t even implementing – on BC Timber Sales managed lands where they directly plan logging and that they are dragging their heels on implementing a similar policy on other Crown lands,” stated TJ Watt. “We have been calling on the province to implement a Big Tree Protection Order to save BC’s last remaining big trees with buffer zones and smaller minimum protection sizes, but monumental trees continue to be cut while we wait for the NDP government to take action. Most importantly, we need old-growth ecosystems protected on a much larger scale, and a value-added, sustainable second-growth forest industry, which will require a far larger overhaul of BC’s unsustainable forest policies. If the BC government is showing itself to be incompetent in protecting the very largest trees in the province, this does not bode well for the necessary protections of forest ecosystems and tens of thousands of forestry jobs dependent on sustainable policies.”

The BC government began developing the Big Tree Protection policy in 2011 and, according to the Ministry of Forests, the policy is still under development and won’t be officially implemented for another year or two.

“We’ve been in liaising with the new government and Ministry of Forests since July last year and have put forward a suite of forest policy recommendations that the BC government can implement over both short- and long-term timeframes. In addition to a comprehensive, science-based law to protect endangered old-growth forests, one of the recommendations is for the BC government to direct BC Timber Sales to discontinue the issuance of old-growth cutblocks. They have declined to do so thus far,” stated Inness. 

BC Timber Sales (BCTS), a division of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, is the BC government’s logging agency that plans and directly issues logging permits for about 20 per cent of the province’s merchantable timber on Crown lands, which fall outside of forestry tenures. The BC government retains full control over which cut blocks are auctioned each year through BCTS and can therefore use this control to quickly phase out issuing timber sales in old-growth forests in these areas.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with conservationists from Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee, have also met with Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson and key ministry staff to highlight the urgency of BC’s old-growth forest crisis and provide a map of old-growth ‘hotspots’ – areas of high conservation and recreational value that warrant immediate protection.

“For almost a year now, the NDP has been dragging its heels, giving excuses, and plodding along with the destructive status quo of high-grade old-growth forest liquidation, raw log exports, mill closures, and unsustainable forestry in general. It’s obvious they feel no sense of urgency to act,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance executive director Ken Wu.

“The NDP needs to wake up and break away from the old, unsustainable mindset that has driven the increasing collapse of both ecosystems and rural communities in this province,” said Wu. “Today, there’s a viable, potentially sustainable, second-growth forestry alternative that the government can foster through regulations and incentives while protecting endangered old-growth forests and supporting the economic diversification of First Nations and rural communities. So far it has only been the Green Party advocating major old-growth forest protection and a forest policy overhaul.”

The Nahmint Valley is considered a “hotspot” of high-conservation value old-growth forest by conservation groups, with some of the largest tracts of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island outside of Clayoquot Sound, and is home to Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, cougars, wolves, and black bears, as well as old-growth associated species like the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. The area also supports significant salmon and steelhead spawning runs. The Nahmint is considered by many people to be one of the most scenic areas in BC, with its ancient forests, rugged peaks, gorgeous turquoise canyons and swimming holes, and large and small lakes, and is heavily used by hikers, campers, anglers, and hunters.

More Background Info

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

On BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland), 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. 3.3 million hectares of productive old-growth forests once stood on the southern coast (with an additional 2.2 million hectares of bog, subalpine forests, and other low productivity old-growth forests of low to no commercial value with stunted trees), and today only 860,000 hectares remain, while only 260,000 hectares are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Second-growth forests now dominate 75% of the southern coast’s productive forest lands, including 90% of southern Vancouver Island, and can be sustainably logged to support the forest industry. See “before and after” maps and stats of the southern coast’s old-growth forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the government’s PR-spin typically over-inflates the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with small, stunted trees, together with the productive old-growth forests where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). They also leave out vast areas of largely overcut private managed forest lands – previously managed as if they were Crown lands for decades and still managed by the province under weaker Private Managed Forest Lands regulations – in order to reduce the basal area for calculating how much old-growth forest remains, thereby increasing the fraction of remaining old-growth forests. See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/

In recent times in BC, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, and conservation groups across BC who have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

BC’s premier business lobby, the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution in May of 2016 calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-historic-leap-for-old-growth-forests-bc-chamber-of-commerce-passes-resolution-for-expanded-protection/

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts across BC, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the province to protect the Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land use plan. See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

The Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, passed a resolution in 2017 calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

Each year, a significant portion of the provincial timber harvest is carried out on BC Timber Sales (BCTS) controlled land through its timber sales program. BCTS, a division of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRO), is the BC government’s logging agency that plans and directly issues logging permits for about 20 percent of the province’s merchantable timber on Crown lands, which fall outside of forestry tenures. Under this system, logging rights are granted through competitive auction to the highest bidding company for each timber sale, which provides benchmark costs and prices from the harvest of Crown timber in BC in order to set stumpage rates for tenure holders. The remaining 80 per cent of the province’s annual timber harvest occurs under the timber tenure system through tree farm or forest licences within Timber Supply Areas, woodlot licences, First Nations woodland licences, community forest agreements, or other tenures.

As the BC government retains full control over which cut blocks are auctioned each year through BCTS, the new government should use this control to quickly phase out issuing timber sales in old-growth forests and support implementation of conservation steps.