‘The start of a broader conservation’: 54 big trees are now protected, but old-growth continues to be a major part of logging on the coast

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Ha-Shilth-Sa
July 30th, 2019

Some of the largest trees in B.C. have gained protection, thanks to an announcement from the provincial government in mid-July, including at least eight giants in Nuu-chah-nulth territory on Vancouver Island.

On July 17 B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development listed 54 trees that were previously unprotected will not be preserved from logging. These trees are on Crown land and among the largest in the province, as they are listed in the Big Tree Registry compiled by the University of British Columbia.

Some of these trees are in Nuu-chah-nulth territory on western Vancouver Island, including a Sitka Spruce near Port Renfrew that measures 62.5 metres in height with a diameter of 3.71 metres, another 49-metre Sitka spruce on the south portion of Meares Island and a western red cedar on the north part of Meares measuring 46.9 metres in height and 5.64 metres in diameter. Also listed among those to be protected is the iconic Big Lonely Doug, a 70.2 metre Douglas fir that was left to be the only tree standing in a clearcut near Port Renfrew.

In a measure to prevent similar scenarios in the future, each of the 54 trees will be surrounded by a one-hectare buffer zone that will also be protected, according to the province.

“These trees represent an important part of B.C.’s natural heritage, and British Columbians have said they want them preserved,” stated Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson. “What we are announcing today is the start of a broader conservation about the future of old-growth management in this province.”

The announcement follows growing concern last year over accelerated old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley south of Sproat Lake. In May 2018 the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered a Douglas fir measuring over three metres in diameter that was logged in the area, dimensions that would rank the tree among the largest of its species in Canada. Over the last three years BC Timber Sales has auctioned over 300 hectares of old-growth in the Nahmint Valley for harvest, including five timber licences that were sold without the consent of the local Tseshaht First Nation.

In November the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council called on the provincial government “to work with them in slowing down, or even stopping, the rapid disappearance of old-growth forests within Nuu-chah-nulth territories.”

“Old growth forests are valuable ecosystems than can never be reproduced,” stated NTC Vice-President Andy Callicum in a media release. “The forests play an important role in protecting wildlife throughout the winter, and for providing Nuu-chah-nulth peoples the medicines and roots contained in them.”

In Victoria last April the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and their supporters celebrated the 35-year anniversary of Meares Island being declared a tribal park. During the event Tla-o-qui-aht carver Joe Martin spoke of the importance of using only what one needs from the forest.

“We’re not allowed to just go and take a tree,” he said. “There’s a protocol with it: you have to go visit that site several times.”

“Sit with it for a long time to make sure there’s no eagle’s nest, wolf dens or bear dens around,” added Martin. “Mother nature will provide for our need, but not our greed.”

But this might not align with the economic aims of BC Timber Sales, which declares its vision as “to be an effective timber marketer generating wealth through sustainable resource management.” BCTS operates in 33 communities across the province and supports over 8,000 jobs through its sales and management of Crown forest land. The logging of old growth continues to be a big part of these operations.

“As with previous years, the amount of harvest being auctioned by BC Timber Sales on the coast this year is approximately 50 per cent old growth and will continue to be for the foreseeable future,” stated a BCTS spokesperson in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa. “This is what the timber supply, economic base and community employment across the coast is based on.”

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COLUMN: Can’t see the forest for the trees

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Victoria News
July 22, 2019

Adam Olsen is the BC Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands

Ever heard the saying “can’t see the forest for the trees?”

It’s when you are standing too close to something and lack the broader perspective and are not able to see the big picture. Or, if you are looking at things one at a time, you might not see their connection with all the others.

You can use this saying as an analogy for literally any situation, so it’s deeply ironic that it arises in the recent announcement by the BC NDP provincial government that they are going to protect 54 individual old-growth trees plus the hectare immediately in their vicinity, or their “friends.”

I won’t complain about the 54 trees they are protecting. It’s a big victory that the province is not allowing the entire forest to be logged right up to the ancient creature’s stem, like we see with “Big Lonely Doug.” However, it’s disturbing that there is so little willingness to step up and do what actually needs to be done. Chiefly, we need to protect the integrity and function of ecosystems, not trees.

As we heard consistently throughout the Spring legislative session, the Minister of Forests, and his government, see only the value of the fibre. The value of a standing old-growth forest seems to be only in its economic potential for it to become a clearcut. That’s it. The government’s message box is an attempt to have it both ways, maintain the status quo and change. The direct quote from Minister Doug Donaldson from Question Period is,

“We’re committed to protecting old-growth forests as well as continuing with a vibrant forestry sector — the 24,000 jobs that rely on old-growth forests in this province. And we’re undertaking an old-growth management plan, and we’ll be conducting public engagement soon on that plan.”

It appears this is the first step in the development of the management plan. The public consultation is coming soon.

READ ALSO: Big Lonely Doug among largest old-growth trees now on protection list

Unfortunately, forestry “management plans” are actually a euphemism for tree cutting plans.

It’s simply not good enough to protect individual trees. What we need is watershed management plans or ecosystem management plans. As our world changes around the last remaining old-growth forests, they are quickly becoming far more valuable than just the amount we can make by turning them into two by fours. It’s the oxygen we breathe and the water supply of our communities. One ministry logs and another has to swoop in and fix the mess with a $150 million engineered solution; there is seemingly no connection between the two — except, for the future of your community and your tax dollars.

What hasn’t changed is the government’s message box. Even with a change in Minister and a change in government, the message box does not change. Perhaps it’s time to step back and take a look at the forest for the trees.

Adam Olsen is the BC Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands

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New Old Growth Protections More Symbolic than Symbiotic, Environmentalists Say

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The Tyee
July 19, 2019

Province vows to protect 54 trees, describing it as a ‘first step.’

Environmentalists say the provincial government’s commitment to protect 54 more old-growth trees is a good first step, but its effect will likely be more symbolic than ecological.

B.C. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said at a press conference Wednesday that the designated trees would be protected by placing a one-hectare buffer zone around each of them.

He described the action as a “first step in a broader old-growth plan” that also includes an independent, two-person panel to “engage with First Nations, industry, stakeholders and communities on old-growth management” starting this fall.

The panel will provide recommendations to the government in spring 2020.

“This is good, but it’s not nearly enough, and it’s not happening anywhere close to the pace we need change for endangered old-growth forests,” said Jens Wieting, senior forest and climate campaigner with the Sierra Club BC. “We are in the midst of extinction and climate crisis, and this step is more symbolic than anything else.”

Old-growth forests, he said, help mitigate the effects of climate change — particularly when it comes to forest fires. Wieting said he’s worried about any delay in implementing a long-term strategy for such forests.

“While the plan sounds good, it’s actually a huge concern that the government is proposing more talks,” he said, noting that the government has also invited feedback on its Forest and Range Practices Act until Monday.

Forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon said the announcement made him hopeful that the government is “listening to what people have to say about old-growth forests in B.C.,” but he also finds the current lack of a long-term plan troubling.

“What they’re announcing is protection for some very large trees,” he said. “It’s not any kind of plan for old-growth forests.”

Wieting and MacKinnon are doubtful that protecting 54 trees, even with a one-hectare buffer zone, will have significant effect on their ecosystems.

“It’s a very modest step,” said Wieting. “The buffer zones would add up to 54 hectares. On Vancouver Island alone, we are destroying about 10,000 hectares of old growth every year.”

MacKinnon compares the total area protected to a little more than 13 per cent of Stanley Park, which comprises around 400 hectares.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness is optimistic that the buffer zones will be a good first step to avoiding more “Big, Lonely Doug” scenarios on the coast, referencing Canada’s second-largest Douglas fir tree that stands alone amid a clearcut. It is now one of the 54 protected trees.

But Innes also said a more comprehensive strategy based on ecosystem science is needed.

“Standing and fallen dead wood plays an incredibly important role in old-growth forest ecosystems as wildlife trees, for example,” she said. “Bears will still use dead and rotting western red cedar trees for habitat.”

Currently, only living trees are eligible for provincial protection, and advocates want protection for dead trees, too.

Dead trees continue to store carbon for decades, Wieting said. “It takes that long for a truly old tree to completely decompose and much of the carbon will then remain stored in the soil, slowly absorbed by other growing trees.”

Inness, Wieting and MacKinnon also said the size threshold is a concern.

To be eligible for provincial protection, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and yellow cedar trees must have a diameter at least half the size of the largest tree on record for their species. All other species of trees must be 75 per cent of the largest tree on record.

“It sounds like that would capture a lot, but it actually doesn’t. The very largest trees on the Big Tree Registry are exceptional giants,” said Inness. “So to protect only those that are 50 per cent as wide only captures exceptionally rare and large trees.”

The BC Big Tree Registry is a record of large tree specimens native to B.C. housed at the University of British Columbia. All 54 of the newly protected trees are from the registry.

MacKinnon, who was the committee chair of the registry from the mid-1990s until last year, said that any old-growth forest strategy needs to extend far beyond trees on the registry.

“Much more important than protecting individual, large, old trees is protecting watersheds,” said MacKinnon. “One-hectare patches won’t help anything except perhaps protect individual, very large trees.”

Donaldson noted Wednesday that the 54 newly protected trees would be in addition to the 55 per cent of old-growth forests on Crown land already protected on Vancouver Island and the coast, citing 500,000 hectares of protected old growth on Vancouver Island.

But Inness, Wieting, and MacKinnon said those numbers are misleading.

“Not only does that [55 per cent] include low productivity forests in subalpine areas and bogs — forests that have very little to no commercial value and aren’t endangered — it excludes private lands which have largely been cut over,” said Inness.

The ministry has previously said that it has “very limited jurisdiction over private land harvesting” in response as to why it’s not included.

Inness also said that the 55 per cent of protected old growth only describes the remaining forests, not the original amount before industrial logging began.

According to her, more than 80 per cent of original productive old-growth forests and more than 90 per cent of very rare, monumental old-growth stands have already been logged on the south coast.

“They’re just talking about a fraction protected of the fraction remaining,” she said. “By that logic, the more you log outside of the protected areas, the more is protected until finally, the government can say ‘100 percent of old growth on the coast is protected’ because everything else is logged.”

Wieting and MacKinnon said they have been unable to map 500,000 hectares of protected old growth on Vancouver Island.

“It’s been really frustrating to see the different numbers that have been thrown about,” said MacKinnon. “When an environmental NGO says there’s only this amount [of old growth] left on Vancouver Island, the government and industry together will always respond that there’s this amount protected on the coast of British Columbia.”

MacKinnon said the coast of B.C. has very different conservation statuses depending on the location, with 75 per cent of the north and central coast already protected under the Great Bear Rainforest agreement and 52 per cent of Haida Gwaii in protected areas.

Lumping the amount of protected old growth on Vancouver Island with these regions distorts the image of how much is at risk from logging, he said.

“If you’re wondering who to believe about Vancouver Island, I would encourage people to either look at satellite imagery, air photos,” said MacKinnon. “Or simply drive the back roads and decide for yourself.”

The province’s office of Land Use Planning was reached out to for data on Vancouver Island’s protected old growth but did not respond. 

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NDP announces plan to protect old-growth trees

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Global News
July 17, 2019

Watch this Global News piece featuring interviews with Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu, the AFA’s Andrea Inness, and Sierra Club BC’s Jens Wieting about the BC government’s plan to protect 54 of BC’s biggest trees and develop an old-growth management strategy.

While the conversation often comes down to jobs vs. the environment and the need to ‘strike a balance’, this is a tired argument that must be left in the past. Healthy forest ecosystems form the basis of a strong economy and healthy communities. Many jobs, not to mention our climate, clean water, endangered species, and First Nations’ cultures depend on healthy, intact old-growth forests.

With 80% of Vancouver Island’s productive old-growth forests already logged, it’s time for bold action from the BC government. We need to keep the pressure up to ensure the Province’s old-growth strategy isn’t a piecemeal approach that protects big trees but allows entire old-growth ecosystems to be mowed down.

 

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B.C. announces protection for old-growth trees

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CTV News
July 17, 2019

 

 

Forests minister says 54 of the province’s largest trees will be protected

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Times Colonist
July 17, 2019

The B.C. government moved Wednesday to protect 54 of the province’s largest trees in a first step toward a broader old-growth strategy.

In a change criticized as “inadequate” by the B.C. Green Party, Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said the “exceptionally large and old trees” were selected from 347 on the University of B.C.’s Big Tree Registry.

The 54 old-growth giants will be surrounded by groves about the size of a “soccer pitch” to provide additional protection, especially from windstorms, Donaldson said.

“I don’t want to leave the impression that it’s one tree standing in the forest,” he said. “It’s a one-hectare buffer around that tree. So it’s other trees included in that.”

The 54 trees include seven in the Capital Regional District — one Arbutus, two Douglas firs, three Sitka spruce and a western red cedar, documents show.

More trees could be added as they are identified, said Donaldson, who made the announcement at Francis/King Regional Park, standing in front of an ancient Douglas fir tree that is already protected within the park boundaries.

“British Columbians want to know that trees like this and the ones you’re seeing today — even in an area they might not ever visit — will never be cut down,” he said.

B.C. Green Party MLA Adam Olsen said the decision to protect 54 trees falls far short of what is needed to save endangered old-growth ecosystems, particularly those on Vancouver Island.

“It’s the least possible thing that the government could do when it comes to protecting old growth,” he said. “It’s frustrating and a distraction, I think, from what actually needs to be done.

“It’s not good enough, not far enough.”

The Greens have called for a moratorium on logging in Vancouver Island’s old-growth “hot spots,” described as pristine areas of conservation significance, such as the Central Walbran or Schmidt Creek, north of Sayward.

Donaldson said the move to protect big trees marks the start of a “broader conversation” about managing old-growth forests.

He noted that Gary Merkel, a forester and member of the Tahltan Nation, and Al Gorley, former chair of the Forest Practices Board, will hear from British Columbians beginning this fall on how to manage old-growth forests. The two-man panel will deliver its recommendations to the government next spring.

“The recommendations are expected to inform a new approach to old-growth management for British Columbia,” Donaldson said. “It’s always a question of how to strike a balance between protecting old-growth trees and protecting jobs and the economy.”

Andrea Innes, a forest campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance, welcomed the appointment of an independent panel. “The NDP have been talking about an old-growth strategy for almost a year now, with very little to show for it,” she said.

“What we need is a much more comprehensive, legislated plan that’s based on science and protects entire endangered old-growth forest ecosystems.”

The government said the 54 trees selected for protection had to meet certain criteria, including being on Crown land outside parks or other protected areas. In addition, each tree was required to meet a minimum size threshold determined by the tree’s diameter.

For Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and yellow cedar, the minimum threshold was set at 50 per cent of the largest tree on record for those species. The minimum for other species was set at 75 per cent.

For example, the largest coastal Douglas fir on record has a diameter at breast height of 4.23 metres. The protection threshold was set at 2.12 metres.
lkines@timescolonist.com

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Big Lonely Doug among largest old-growth trees now on protection list

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Sooke News Mirror
July 17, 2019

B.C. to protect 54 old-growth trees, but critics say it’s not enough

 

A tree climber scales Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree. Doug stands alone in an old-growth clearcut in the Gordon River Valley near Port Renfrew, BC. Height: 216 ft (66 m) (broken top) Diameter: 12 ft (4 m)

Big Lonely Doug won’t be so lonely anymore.

The Coastal Douglas-fir is among 54 of the province’s largest and oldest trees to be protected by the province along with a one-hectare buffer zone surrounding each of the giants, says Forest Minister Doug Donaldson.

Big Lonely Doug is the second largest Douglas-fir in Canada. The tree, located near Port Renfrew, stands at 70.2 metres, or 230 feet.

Two other trees in the Port Renfrew region – Sitka spruce – are also protected.

The trees are on the University of B.C.’s Big Tree Registry that has identified 347 of the largest of each species in the province.

The 54 trees were at risk of being harvested.

The trees are in more than two dozen locations, including central B.C., the East Kootenays, Haida Gwaii, Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley.

The species include arbutus, coastal Douglas-fir, Pacific yew, ponderosa pine, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and western white pine.

Donaldson says the announcement is also the start of a broader conversation about the future of old-growth management in the province.

The government says starting this fall, an independent two-person panel will meet with First Nations, industry and communities on how to manage old growth in the province.

Local environmental groups welcomed the decision to protect the 54 trees, but say much more needs to be done.

“It’s a small step, but it may signal there’s more comprehensive action to come,” said Andrea Inness, forest campaigner for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“A more comprehensive, legislated plan is still desperately needed to protect the province’s old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale in order to sustain biodiversity, clean water, and the climate.”

Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, says the government announcement protects the most charismatic fraction of B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests, but at the same time thousands of others remain endangered, including their ecosystems.

“The fact that the B.C. government says that they plan more comprehensive big tree protections and also old-growth forest ecosystem protections gives us some hope – but let’s see where they go with it,” Wu said.

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Conservationists Welcome NDP Government’s Big Tree Protection Announcement, Set Sights on More Comprehensive Old-Growth Plan

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Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) welcomes the NDP government’s announcement that it will protect 54 of the biggest trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry with buffer zones and hopes for more comprehensive, science-based old-growth forest protection under the BC government’s proposed old-growth strategy.

“We welcome this positive step toward protecting some of the biggest and oldest trees on Earth,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “It’s a small step, but it may signal there’s more comprehensive action to come.”

“The BC government’s old-growth plan must now be scaled up exponentially. We need protection at all spatial scales: at the tree, grove, landscape unit/watershed, and ecosystem level.”

“We’re glad to hear the 54 trees will be protected with buffer zones, which, although small in this case at only one hectare, are vital to minimize the risk of damage due to factors exacerbated by surrounding harvesting activities, such as strong winds, and to enhance ecosystem protection and tourism value.”

“The NDP’s approach to protecting big trees should not be based only on trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry, though, which is a small subset of BC’s biggest trees based on what some big tree enthusiasts have found. Many of BC’s biggest trees are not on the big tree registry.”

The AFA also welcomes the NDP’s commitment to change regulations later this year to protect more of BC’s biggest trees. If effective, such a legal mechanism would help protect the environmental, recreational, and cultural values of BC and could bolster BC’s tourism industry, significantly enhancing the province’s status as a preferred destination for nature-lovers far and wide.

“It’s important they get the details right, though,” stated AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “These regulatory protections must include adequate buffer zones of at least 2 hectares and must avoid loopholes that allow big trees to be logged in certain circumstances. The minimum size thresholds for protection should also be lowered, as 50% of the diameter of the widest trees found still only captures the most extremely rare, exceptionally big trees.”

“It must also be a comprehensive policy that’s rolled out across BC’s coast and expanded to the Interior.”

The AFA is hopeful the NDP’s big tree protection regulations will also be expanded to include protection of BC’s “grandest groves,” where there is an exceptional number and density of large trees, to ensure ancient forests with the greatest ecological, recreational, and scenic values are conserved for future generations to enjoy.

“BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves truly stand out as some of the province’s most spectacular natural assets and are disproportionately valuable for tourism and often for biodiversity. But much more work is needed to protect old-growth forests on a much greater scale.”

“A more comprehensive, legislated plan is still desperately needed to protect the province’s old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale in order to sustain biodiversity, clean water, and the climate,” stated Inness.

The AFA is hopeful the NDP government’s consultation process and resulting old-growth strategy result in such legislated changes, for example, through amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act in the spring of 2020.

“The next step, however, should be immediate moratoria on logging of old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the highest ecological and recreational value. Otherwise the grandest, most intact forests will continue to be whittled away while the government figures out its old-growth plan.”

“To sustain forestry jobs, the BC government must also ensure the development of a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry and end the export of vast amounts of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.”

“Today’s announcement is like the bang of the starting gun at the beginning of the race. It kicks things off. Let’s just hope there are much more exciting things to come and that the NDP’s old-growth strategy is a sprint, not a marathon that drags on for years. Time is running out for the last of BC’s remaining productive old-growth forests and we need province-wide, science-based solutions fast.”

In the press release accompanying today’s announcement, the NDP government claimed that 55% of the old-growth on BC’s coast is protected. This figure is highly misleading for a number of reasons. The BC government is including vast areas of low-productivity sub-alpine and bog forests with little to no commercial value, which aren’t endangered, and are ignoring largely cut-over private lands, which make up almost 25% of Vancouver Island’s land base. They also lump the Great Bear Rainforest (where 85% of forests have been set aside from commercial logging) in with the south coast, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and where old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

Finally, the BC government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on the south coast: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

“By focusing only on the fraction of old-growth protected of the fraction remaining, the more old-growth forest that’s logged outside the 55% that’s protected, the higher that number rises,” stated Inness. “If all the unprotected old-growth forests are logged, the BC government could then make the claim that ‘100% of the old-growth forests on the coast are protected!’”

UBC scientists find high mutation rates generating genetic diversity within huge, old-growth trees

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UBC News
July 8th, 2019

Study provides clues on how trees evolve to survive

The towering, hundreds of years old Sitka spruce trees growing in the heart of Vancouver Island’s Carmanah Valley appear placid and unchanging.

In reality, each one is packed to the rafters with evolutionary potential.

UBC researchers scraped bark and collected needles from 20 of these trees last summer, sending the samples to a lab for DNA sequencing. Results, published recently in Evolution Letters, showed that a single old-growth tree could have up to 100,000 genetic differences in DNA sequence between the base of the tree, where the bark was collected, and the tip of the crown.

Each difference represents a somatic mutation, or a mutation that occurs during the natural course of growth rather than during reproduction.

“This is the first evidence of the tremendous genetic variation that can accumulate in some of our tallest trees. Scientists have known for decades about somatic mutations, but very little about how frequently they occur and whether they contribute significantly to genetic variation,” said Sally Aitken, the study’s lead researcher and a professor of forestry at UBC. “Now, thanks to advances in genomic sequencing, we know some of the answers.”

The researchers chose the Sitka spruce because it’s among the tallest trees growing in the Pacific Northwest, and sampled the exceptional trees in Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park.

“Because these trees live so long and grow so tall, they’re capable of accumulating tremendous genetic variation over time,” explained Vincent Hanlon, who did the research as part of his master of science in the faculty of forestry at UBC.

“On average, the trees we sampled for the study were 220 to 500 years old and 76 metres tall. There’s a redwood tree in California that’s 116 metres tall, but these Sitka spruce were pretty big.”

The researchers say more time and further studies will be needed to understand exactly how the different somatic mutations will affect the evolution of the tree as a species.

“Most of the mutations are probably harmless, and some will likely be bad,” explained Aitken. “But other mutations may result in genetic diversity and if they’re passed onto offspring they’ll contribute to evolution and adaptation over time.”

Studying somatic mutation rates in various tree species can shed light on how trees, which can’t evolve as rapidly as other organisms like animals due to their long lifespans, nonetheless survive and thrive, Aitken said.

“We often see tree populations that adapt well to local climates and develop effective responses to changing stresses such as pests and bugs,” she added. “Our study provides insights on one genetic mechanism that might help make this possible.”

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