Seasons Greetings!
The AFA office will be closed Dec. 24-Jan. 3 as our staff spend time at home with their families. During this downtime, we will be checking emails and phone messages periodically and will reply to queries at our first opportunity when we return ready and refreshed in the new year.
Thank you for your support. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!
For the forests,
~AFA Team
Cowichan Valley Citizen
December 14, 2020
Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are urging the province to immediately halt logging in B.C.’s most at-risk old-growth forests.
The alliance also wants the Horgan NDP government to commit funding for old-growth protection following the destruction of some of Vancouver Island’s grandest ancient forests along Haddon Creek in the Caycuse River watershed.
On an exploration to the area earlier this month, AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt visited and photographed the fallen remains of a grove of ancient red cedars he’d first explored and documented in April while the trees were still standing.
The expeditions resulted in stark before-and-after images of the once-towering giants.
Watt said it was an incredible and unique grove.
“I was stunned by the sheer number of monumental red cedars, one after another, on this gentle mountain slope,” he said.
“Giant cedars like these have immense ecological value, particularly as wildlife habitat, and important tourism and First Nations cultural value. Yet, the B.C. government continues to allow irreplaceable, centuries-old trees to be high-graded for short-term gain while they talk about their new old-growth plan.”
Located southwest of Cowichan Lake and east of Nitinat Lake in Ditidaht First Nation territory, the Caycuse watershed hosts some of the grandest forests on the south Island, rivalling the renowned Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew or the Walbran Valley.
The now clear-cut grove was part of a 33.5-hectare cut block near Haddon Creek, located in Tree Farm Licence 46, which is held by logging company Teal Jones Group.
New roads are also being built into adjacent old-growth, which will see more of B.C.’s iconic big tree forests logged.
Earlier this year, the province appointed an independent panel to conduct a strategic review of B.C.’s old-growth management policies.
The final report, released in September, contains 14 recommendations including immediate steps to protect B.C.’s most endangered old-growth ecosystems within six months and a paradigm shift in the province’s forest management regime that prioritizes biodiversity and ecosystem integrity.
On the campaign trail in October, the NDP promised to implement all 14 recommendations in their entirety.
As a first step, the province also announced two-year logging deferrals in nine areas covering 353,000 hectares, but only 3,800 hectares, or about one per cent of the deferred areas, consist of previously unprotected, productive old-growth forest.
“With less than three per cent remaining of B.C.’s original, big-tree old-growth forests, the NDP government must work quickly, as soon as cabinet is sworn in this week, to engage Indigenous nations, whose unceded lands these are, and enact further deferrals in critical areas while a comprehensive old-growth strategy is developed,” said AFA campaigner Andrea Inness.
The AFA is also calling for significant funding to be allocated in the province’s budget for 2021 to facilitate negotiations with First Nations on additional deferral areas and to support Indigenous protected areas, Indigenous-led land-use planning, and economic diversification in lieu of old-growth logging, as well as the purchase and protection of old-growth forests on private lands.
First Nations leaders, including the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, are also demanding the province work with them to expand deferrals in threatened old-growth forests and provide First Nations with dedicated funding to protect and steward their lands while pursuing conservation-based businesses and economies, as outlined in a UBCIC resolution passed in September.
“The B.C. NDP has promised sweeping changes by implementing all of the old-growth panel’s recommendations,” said Inness.
“Now they need to put their money where their mouth is by fully funding Indigenous-led old-growth conservation and the transition to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry. Otherwise we can expect more irreplaceable groves like the one in the Caycuse watershed to be destroyed.”
Read the original article
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
When old-growth forests are logged, they cannot be replicated with tree replanting. “Old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources,” Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
The remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed is as grand and as beautiful in other treasured Vancouver Island forests like Avatar grove and the Walbran valley, Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
When old-growth forests are logged, they cannot be replicated with tree replanting. “Old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources,” Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
Before and after images of Watt standing beside a large twinned old-growth cedar that he later photographed as a stump in a clearcut. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province has failed to protect B.C.’s last remaining old-growth, the pace and scale of logging has become better understood as a key driver of flooding, habitat loss and species extinction.
In response to growing public concern, the province launched a panel to perform a strategic review of old-growth forestry. The resulting report, released in September, called for massive overhaul of how B.C. manages its remaining ancient forests.
The review panel made 14 recommendations to the government, including short-term deferrals in areas with trees greater than 500 years old near the coast and greater than 300 years old inland. So far, essentially none of the panel’s recommendations have been put into action by the government.
The report noted old forests carry an intrinsic value for all living things and should be managed for ecosystem health, not for timber. It also emphasized that unique ancient forests are irreplaceable, even if trees are replanted.
Watt echoed the sentiment: “When you log an old-growth forest, it’s not coming back. Trees may come back … but old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources.”
Watt said the forest in the Caycuse watershed is exactly the type of forest the panel recommended protecting through immediate deferrals.
Unfortunately that recommendation is “too little too late for this forest,” Watt said.
The remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed is as grand and as beautiful in other treasured Vancouver Island forests like Avatar grove and the Walbran valley, Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
When old-growth forests are logged, they cannot be replicated with tree replanting. “Old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources,” Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
Read the original article
Photographer TJ Watt has seen more than his fair share of clearcuts through his work for the Ancient Forest Alliance.
Still, the sudden transformation of an old-growth forest in the Caycuse watershed on Vancouver Island into a “bleak grey landscape” caught Watt off guard.
His before and after photos, published on Instagram and featured in The Guardian, also struck a nerve with the public.
“I think it’s just with the before and after it’s very plain and simple: you can clearly see what was there and what was lost,” Watt told The Narwhal.
“These photos are going around the world now,” he said, adding he’d just sent a gallery off to a newspaper in France.
In an Instagram post that has received more than 8,900 likes, Watt noted the photos are a series he hoped to never complete. The Ancient Forest Alliance has campaigned for months, asking the province to introduce immediate and long-term measures to protect the last remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed around Haddon Creek, south of Lake Cowichan.
Watt said the Caycuse watershed was heavily logged in the 80s and 90s, “save for a few last groves on these slopes in the upper regions of the valley, where there they’ve kind of stood, alone, for the past 10 years or so.”
Now that those groves have been logged by company Teal-Jones and he has completed the photo series, Watt said he hopes the images will serve as a stark reminder of what is at stake when endangered old-growth forests are left without protection.
“This is essentially what we stand to lose, every time there is more talk and log and delays from the government,” Watt said.
Before and after images of Watt standing beside a large twinned old-growth cedar that he later photographed as a stump in a clearcut. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province has failed to protect B.C.’s last remaining old-growth, the pace and scale of logging has become better understood as a key driver of flooding, habitat loss and species extinction.
In response to growing public concern, the province launched a panel to perform a strategic review of old-growth forestry. The resulting report, released in September, called for massive overhaul of how B.C. manages its remaining ancient forests.
The review panel made 14 recommendations to the government, including short-term deferrals in areas with trees greater than 500 years old near the coast and greater than 300 years old inland. So far, essentially none of the panel’s recommendations have been put into action by the government.
The report noted old forests carry an intrinsic value for all living things and should be managed for ecosystem health, not for timber. It also emphasized that unique ancient forests are irreplaceable, even if trees are replanted.
Watt echoed the sentiment: “When you log an old-growth forest, it’s not coming back. Trees may come back … but old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources.”
Watt said the forest in the Caycuse watershed is exactly the type of forest the panel recommended protecting through immediate deferrals.
Unfortunately that recommendation is “too little too late for this forest,” Watt said.
The remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed is as grand and as beautiful in other treasured Vancouver Island forests like Avatar grove and the Walbran valley, Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
When old-growth forests are logged, they cannot be replicated with tree replanting. “Old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources,” Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
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The Narwhal
December 10th, 2020
Photographer TJ Watt has seen more than his fair share of clearcuts through his work for the Ancient Forest Alliance.
Still, the sudden transformation of an old-growth forest in the Caycuse watershed on Vancouver Island into a “bleak grey landscape” caught Watt off guard.
His before and after photos, published on Instagram and featured in The Guardian, also struck a nerve with the public.
“I think it’s just with the before and after it’s very plain and simple: you can clearly see what was there and what was lost,” Watt told The Narwhal.
“These photos are going around the world now,” he said, adding he’d just sent a gallery off to a newspaper in France.
In an Instagram post that has received more than 8,900 likes, Watt noted the photos are a series he hoped to never complete. The Ancient Forest Alliance has campaigned for months, asking the province to introduce immediate and long-term measures to protect the last remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed around Haddon Creek, south of Lake Cowichan.
Watt said the Caycuse watershed was heavily logged in the 80s and 90s, “save for a few last groves on these slopes in the upper regions of the valley, where there they’ve kind of stood, alone, for the past 10 years or so.”
Now that those groves have been logged by company Teal-Jones and he has completed the photo series, Watt said he hopes the images will serve as a stark reminder of what is at stake when endangered old-growth forests are left without protection.
“This is essentially what we stand to lose, every time there is more talk and log and delays from the government,” Watt said.
Before and after images of Watt standing beside a large twinned old-growth cedar that he later photographed as a stump in a clearcut. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province has failed to protect B.C.’s last remaining old-growth, the pace and scale of logging has become better understood as a key driver of flooding, habitat loss and species extinction.
In response to growing public concern, the province launched a panel to perform a strategic review of old-growth forestry. The resulting report, released in September, called for massive overhaul of how B.C. manages its remaining ancient forests.
The review panel made 14 recommendations to the government, including short-term deferrals in areas with trees greater than 500 years old near the coast and greater than 300 years old inland. So far, essentially none of the panel’s recommendations have been put into action by the government.
The report noted old forests carry an intrinsic value for all living things and should be managed for ecosystem health, not for timber. It also emphasized that unique ancient forests are irreplaceable, even if trees are replanted.
Watt echoed the sentiment: “When you log an old-growth forest, it’s not coming back. Trees may come back … but old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources.”
Watt said the forest in the Caycuse watershed is exactly the type of forest the panel recommended protecting through immediate deferrals.
Unfortunately that recommendation is “too little too late for this forest,” Watt said.
The remaining old-growth in the Caycuse watershed is as grand and as beautiful in other treasured Vancouver Island forests like Avatar grove and the Walbran valley, Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
When old-growth forests are logged, they cannot be replicated with tree replanting. “Old-growth forests are essentially non-renewable resources,” Watt said. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt estimates some of the trees recently cut down in the Caycuse watershed are between 800 and 1,000 years old. Photo: TJ Watt
While the province committed to temporarily defer logging in nine forests containing old-growth, critics were quick to point out little to no harvesting was expected to take place in those areas recommended by the panel. They also noted some of the deferral zones contained forests already protected in parks or forests that had already been logged.
These deferrals did not offer any protection to some of B.C.’s most quickly disappearing old-growth located in the northern boreal forest, a rare and endangered interior temperate rainforest and on Vancouver Island.
Watt stands at the remains of a large, old-growth cedar in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
The province also claims 23 per cent of B.C. forest — about 13 million hectares — qualifies as old-growth.
But a study published in June found just three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the report’s authors found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old. The authors note, “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”
“We’ve basically logged it all,” Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, told The Narwhal in June.
Watt said he’s disappointed the province continues to talk up its old-growth strategy, while failing to do more to protect forests like the one in the Caycuse watershed.
“When you see a tree that is 800 or 1,000 years old, reduced to this graveyard of stumps, you realize that every day, every week, every month that there is further delay in action on these endangered ecosystems, the losses we face are huge and are permanent.”
Before and after images show the extent of clearcut logging on the slopes of the valley. Photo: TJ Watt
Forestry machinery on a logging road leading to a new clear cut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt said industrial logging in B.C. often happens out of sight and out of mind of Canadians and yet the stakes are so urgent when you realize how little old-growth forest remains.
“That’s what I’m trying to get across. I’m trying to bring these remote places into people’s living rooms, onto their phones, so people can see what is happening, speak up, contact their elected officials, their MLAs, to demand an end to the logging of endangered old-growth forests.”
Communities dependent on logging deserve a sustainable transition plan, so they’re not left hanging when protections are put into place, Watt said.
Increasingly, conservation groups and First Nations are asking the provincial and federal governments to create financial incentives to protect, rather than harvest, forests.
Forests that are highly productive in terms of timber yield are often forests that contain the greatest biodiversity, species habitat and store the most carbon.
The province needs to turn its attention to transitioning forest management from old-growth logging to sustainable and value-added forestry practices, Watt said.
“It’s critical the government put forward funding to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support for communities that are looking to transition away from old-growth logging,” he said.
“The world is watching B.C. right now,” Watt added. “Unfortunately it took these images to capture people’s attention. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”
Watt said he is going to continue traveling to remaining ancient forests that can still be protected. He hopes he won’t have to publish more before and after photos.
“I’m going to keep going out there. Otherwise this would still be happening. No one would know. No one would care.”
Watt said he wants to see the B.C. government commit funding to the transition to sustainable forestry. Photo: TJ Watt
Watt walks down a Teal-Jones logging road. Photo: TJ Watt
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The Guardian
December 2, 2020
When TJ Watt first stood at the base of a towering western red cedar on Canada’s Pacific coast, the ancient giant was surrounded by thick moss and ferns, and the sounds of a vibrant forest ecosystem.
When he returned a few months later, all that remained was a massive stump, set against a landscape that was unrecognizable. “To come back and see a place that was so magnificent and complex just completely and utterly destroyed is just gut-wrenching,” he said.
Watt’s photographs of the forest – and the grim aftermath of logging – are now the centrepiece of a campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance to capture the impact of clearcutting old growth trees in British Columbia. Despite recent efforts by the province to protect these fragile forests, conservationists say far more is needed to prevent the collapse of ecosystems.
Watt has photographed clearcuts in the province for more than a decade with the AFA, but said the “graveyard of stumps” in the Caycuse watershed remains a jarring sight.
“We’re in the midst of a global climate environmental crisis yet here in Canada, a first world country, we’re allowing the destruction of some of the most highly endangered old growth forests on the planet,” he said. “A lot of people are shocked that that’s still happening here. It’s not illegal. The government sanctions it.”
The AFA estimates that most of the original old-growth forests along the province’s southern coast have been logged commercially. Less than 10% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests – where Watt shot his before-and-after series – are protected.
Conservation groups have fought for decades to protect some of the oldest trees in the country. Campaigners won a major victory in September, after the province of British Columbia agreed to implement 14 recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review over the next three years.
The panel called on the province to defer logging old-growth forests in nine areas throughout the province, protecting 352,739 hectares (871,600 acres) until a formal plan is developed. But as critics point out, only 3,800 hectares (9,400 acres) – or about 1% of the deferred areas – is previously unprotected old-growth forest.
“There’s a huge gap between the quality of the recommendations and initial steps the government took,” said Jens Wieting of the Sierra Club of BC, pointing out that deferral areas contain only 1% of the most at-risk ecosystems. “That means that 99% of the work still remains to be done.”
Both Watt and Wieting have called on the government to both protect the remaining old growth forests and to help forestry-dependent communities so they can transition away from old growth logging. They also say Indigenous peoples must have a role in protecting and managing the forest.
“I’m going to keep taking these ‘before’ photos,” said Watt. “And it’s up to politicians if there’s going to be an ‘after’ shot.”
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CBC News British Columbia
November 29, 2020
Stark photos released this week by a conservation group pushing hard for the province to protect what remains of B.C.’s largest and oldest trees is just one point of pressure the province’s new forestry minister is facing as she comes into the job.
On Thursday, MLA for Kootenay-West Katrine Conroy was appointed minister of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development, taking over from Doug Donaldson, who did not seek reelection.
Two days earlier, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) released dramatic before and after photographs of massive cedar trees on Vancouver Island, where they were logged as part of a government-approved tree harvesting licence.
It’s a technique the AFA has often used to illustrate the impact of logging in areas where trees can be up to 1,000 years old.
The term old growth in B.C. refers to trees that are generally 250 years or older on the coast and 140 years or older in the Interior.
The trees have significance to First Nations, they are good for the environment, help to clean air and water, store carbon and house other plants and animals.
But they are also prized by loggers for their monetary value.
Andrea Inness, a campaigner with the AFA, says the latest round of photos taken by T.J. Watt have been shared thousands of times on social media, with comments from people asking the province to end the practise of cutting down the large, iconic trees.
“[People] are sick and tired of seeing photographs like that,” said Inness.
In taking on the forestry portfolio, Conroy — who has represented the West Kootenays for 15 years, and was minister of children and family development from 2017 — has clear direction in her mandate letter to give conservationists like Inness what they want, but maybe not in time to save the trees that remain.
The letter calls for her to implement 14 recommendations announced in September by a special panel, which travelled the province for months speaking with conservationists, unions, First Nations and the public to ask about the ecological, economic and cultural importance of old-growth trees and forests and how they fit into a new forestry strategy for B.C.
The panel’s most time-sensitive recommendation was to defer the cutting of old-growth forests most at risk of “irreversible biodiversity loss.”
In presenting the report from the panel, the province did announce the temporary protection of 353,000 hectares of forest in nine old-growth areas.
Conservationists like Inness and Jens Wieting, a forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club B.C., were initially pleased with the move, but maintain such a small number of these special trees remain in the province that if more dramatic action is not taken immediately, an insignificant amount could remain by the time the province comes up with a new forestry strategy.
“We have to look at their willingness to quickly defer more old growth from logging,” he said.
An independent ecological consulting firm used provincial data in the spring to determine that while old-growth forests make up about 23 per cent of forested areas in the province — or about 13.2 million hectares — less than three per cent, or around 400,000 hectares, support biologically significant old-growth trees.
Sierra Club B.C. estimates that more than 140,000 hectares of old-growth forests — those with trees at least 120 years old — are logged each year along the B.C. coast and in the Interior.
“We all know the data now, we all know that old-growth logging needs to come to an end,” said Inness. “The government just needs to listen and start acting.”
Both Wieting and Inness estimate the province would need to spend about $1 billion to meet the 14 recommendations, which include involving Indigenous leaders in future decisions and declaring the conservation of “ecosystem health and biodiversity” an overarching priority for the province.
That would need to include money to help First Nations assess the resources on their lands and transition away from logging old-growth trees, something the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs wants.
“For years, the government has enabled a debilitating and dangerous system that expunges the irreplaceable cultural value of old-growth forests, viewing not the immense roots these ancient and giant trees have set in our First Nation communities to sustain our cultures and livelihoods, but rather the pecuniary value of these trees that must be exploited in the short-term,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said in a release in October.
Financial support will also be needed for communities currently dependent on old-growth logging as they transition away from it, which could be tough for the province considering it’s facing a more than $12-billion deficit due to the pandemic.
Back in her days as an opposition MLA, Conroy frequently spoke up for the embattled logging communities she represents, saying the B.C. Liberals should have done more to achieve fair stumpage rates, reform forestry management, and encourage reforestation to help keep the industry viable.
The new minister did not respond to a request for comment before publication of this story.
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Shocking before and after images of giant ancient cedars felled in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory by Teal Jones between April and November 2020.
Shocking before-and-after photos reveal destruction of irreplaceable ancient redcedars in Vancouver Island’s Caycuse watershed and highlight urgent need for immediate protection of at-risk old-growth and funding to support First Nations’ protected areas and economies.
See full photo gallery here
Unceded Lekwungen territories/Victoria, BC – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are urging the BC NDP government to immediately halt logging in BC’s most at-risk old-growth forests and commit funding for old-growth protection following the destruction of some of Vancouver Island’s grandest ancient forests along Haddon Creek in the Caycuse River watershed.
On an exploration to the area earlier this month, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) campaigner and photographer TJ Watt visited and photographed the fallen remains of a grove of ancient redcedars he’d first explored and documented in April while still standing. The expeditions resulted in shocking before-and-after images of the once-towering giants.
“It was truly an incredible and unique grove,” stated Watt. “I was stunned by the sheer number of monumental redcedars, one after another, on this gentle mountain slope. Giant cedars like these have immense ecological value, particularly as wildlife habitat, and important tourism and First Nations cultural value. Yet, the BC government continues to allow irreplaceable, centuries-old trees to be high-graded for short-term gain while they talk about their new old-growth plan.”
Located southwest of Cowichan Lake and east of Nitinat Lake in Ditidaht First Nation territory, the Caycuse watershed hosts some of the grandest forests on the South Island, rivalling the renowned Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew or the Walbran Valley.
The now clearcut grove was part of a 33.5-hectare cutblock near Haddon Creek, located in Tree Farm Licence 46, which is held by logging company Teal Jones Group. New roads are also being built into adjacent old-growth, which will see more of BC’s iconic big tree forests logged.
Earlier this year, the BC government appointed an independent panel to conduct a strategic review of BC’s old-growth management policies. The final report, released in September, contains 14 recommendations including immediate steps to protect BC’s most endangered old-growth ecosystems within six months and a paradigm shift in the province’s forest management regime that prioritizes biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. On the campaign trail in October, the BC NDP promised to implement all 14 recommendations in their entirety.
As a first step, the province also announced two-year logging deferrals in nine areas covering 353,000 hectares; however, only 3,800 ha or about one percent of the deferred areas consist of previously unprotected, productive old-growth forest.
“With less than three percent remaining of BC’s original, big-tree old-growth forests, the NDP government must work quickly – as soon as Cabinet is sworn in this week – to engage Indigenous Nations, whose unceded lands these are, and enact further deferrals in critical areas while a comprehensive old-growth strategy is developed,” stated AFA campaigner Andrea Inness.
The Ancient Forest Alliance is also calling for significant funding to be allocated in Budget 2021 to facilitate negotiations with First Nations on additional deferral areas and to support Indigenous Protected Areas, Indigenous-led land-use planning, and economic diversification in lieu of old-growth logging, as well as the purchase and protection of old-growth forests on private lands.
First Nations leaders, including the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), are also demanding the BC government work with Indigenous Nations to expand deferrals in threatened old-growth forests and provide First Nations with dedicated funding to protect and steward their lands while pursuing conservation-based businesses and economies, as outlined in a UBCIC resolution passed in September.
“The BC NDP has promised sweeping changes by implementing all of the Old Growth Panel’s recommendations,” stated Inness. “Now they need to put their money where their mouth is by fully funding Indigenous-led old-growth conservation and the transition to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry. Otherwise we can expect more irreplaceable groves like the one in the Caycuse watershed to be destroyed.”
Background information
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.
See the Old Growth Strategic Review panel’s report, A New Future for Old Forests, released in September: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/STRATEGIC-REVIEW-20200430.pdf
See the Union of BC Indian Chiefs September 2020 resolution on old-growth forests: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/UBCIC-Resolution-2020-23.pdf
The AFA is calling on the BC NDP government to protect the ecological integrity of BC’s old-growth forests while maintaining jobs and supporting communities by: implementing a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests; providing financial support for First Nations’ sustainable economic development as an alternative to old-growth logging and formally recognizing First Nations’ land use plans, tribal parks, and protected areas; creating a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands; and curbing raw log exports and providing incentives for the development of value-added, second-growth wood manufacturing facilities to sustain and enhance forestry jobs.
We’re hosting our annual year-end event and fundraiser on Thursday, December 3rd, from 7-8 pm – this time on Zoom! Join us to learn what we’ve been up to this past year and what’s next for BC’s old-growth forests. Plus, you could win some fun prizes!
With new scientific evidence on the dire state of BC’s old-growth forests and the NDP’s election promise to implement all of the independent Old Growth Strategic Review panel’s recommendations, 2020 has been an eventful year for the ancient forest campaign.
Tune in to hear more about these and other developments, learn what AFA is doing to make immediate old-growth protection a top priority for the NDP government, and celebrate all we’ve achieved together this past year.
The evening will feature a slideshow presentation from AFA campaigners TJ Watt and Andrea Inness, a Q&A session on all things old-growth, and a chance to connect with the AFA team.
You’ll also find out how you can support our campaigns, including by purchasing some great AFA gear (which make excellent holiday gifts!)
Event schedule:
7:00pm presentation followed by Q&A
Tickets: By donation. Register here
A Zoom link to join the webinar will be sent in your confirmation email.
Proceeds from the event will go towards AFA’s campaign to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.
Thank you to our Ancient Forest Fundraisers!
A big thanks to the following businesses for supporting the AFA: Silver Wilds for donating 5% of their monthly sales; the newly incorporated DuckDuck Co. is generously donating 50% of proceeds from select t-shirt sales; SeaFlora Skincare became a generous monthly donor; Scend Sails donated 10% of their monthly sales recently; artist Jeremy Herndl has a beautiful painting of an old-growth forest for sale and will donate 50% to the proceeds; Arc’teryx Victoria for dedicating 100% of the proceeds from their large die cut stickers; Dream Designs for their generous donation generated from sales of their handmade, non-medical face masks; Skye Dreamer for supporting us three years in a row by donating 10% of sales from his nature art calendar; Silent Forest Designs for donating $1 from every sale of their beautiful handmade artwork; and OneUp Components for their incredible $10,000 donation! Thank you all again – We are so grateful to each of you!
The Ancient Forest Alliance 2021 CALENDAR is hot off the press!! From the popular tourist destination Avatar Grove and old-growth “hotspot” Fairy Creek to the majestic bald eagle and more, each month showcases a spectacular image of BC’s magnificent ancient forests and the species that call them home. All photos are by AFA’s renowned photographer TJ Watt and are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks.
$25.00 each; 3 or more $20.00 each. Great as holiday gifts!
To get yours:
• Visit our online store www.ancientforestalliance.org/store/
• Give us a call 250-896-4007
By purchasing an AFA calendar you’re helping us continue our work to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.
Thank you most gratefully!
