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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