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July 8, 2024
By Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood
The Narwhal
Original article here.
The Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations will now manage 760 square kilometres of old-growth conservancies with the help of philanthropic funding
The forests of Clayoquot Sound became world famous as the battlegrounds of the decades-long “war in the woods” — and now, a vast swath of the rich old-growth trees are permanently protected.
In June, Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and the BC government announced 760 square kilometres of old-growth forests in the ecologically rich region on Vancouver Island are now safeguarded in ten new conservancies.
In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, First Nations and non-Indigenous advocates joined forces to blockade industrial logging in Clayoquot Sound, home to trees about a thousand years old. The blockades culminated in the 1993 arrests of more than 850 people, drew support from thousands of activists and garnered global media attention.
The ten new conservancies encompass some of the last-standing old-growth forests on Vancouver Island. Map: Province of British Columbia
The new conservancies, to be managed by Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, will nearly double how much old growth is protected in Clayoquot Sound to a total 1,639 square kilometres, or about 62 per cent of the area. New protections include parts of Meares Island near Tofino, where Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation declared a tribal park on part of the island in 1984.
“For 40 years, there’s been rent being paid on the tree farm licences that are on Meares Island. Every year, it still remained under threat of deforestation. Now, the first phase of protecting portions of Meares Island is done,” Saya Masso, Tla-o-qui-aht natural resources manager, said in an interview.
“That’s 40 years of trying to get our rights implemented. … It’s a monumental occasion.”
Conservation charity Nature United provided $40 million to help Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht pay compensation to the forestry-tenure holder, Mamook Natural Resources, which they share ownership of, along with the other three central Nuu-chah-nulth nations. The remaining 560 square kilometres is mostly second growth and remains under the tenure of Mamook Natural Resources.
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation natural resources manager Saya Masso, pictured on the Big Tree Trail on Meares Island, called the conservancies a “monumental” achievement. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
Tyson Atleo, hereditary representative for Ahousaht and natural climate solutions program director for Nature United, said the announcement builds on “generations of effort by the Ahousaht to ensure that our rights and interests are upheld.”
“While this is a milestone, this is by no means the conclusion of the work,” Atleo told The Narwhal. “This is just a step in a new direction that is going to require a significant amount of effort and resources to sustain.”
Ahousaht Guardian Byron Charlie released juvenile salmon into the Bedwell River in the Clayoquot Sound. Salmon enrich forest soil and feed other animals, while forests retain water and provide shade that salmon depend on. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
Mike Reid, BC program director for Nature United, said Clayoquot Sound has become a symbol of the “conflict between the environment and the economy,” making the announcement of the conservancies all the more momentous.
“This is in the heart of the largest intact temperate rainforest on Earth. Clayoquot Sound is a carbon storage and sequestration powerhouse, containing some of the last remaining old-growth stands on Vancouver Island,” he said.
An old-growth red cedar stands within Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation traditional territory. Some trees in Clayoquot Sound are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
Creating the conservancies required consensus from all five nations who jointly own Mamook Natural Resources. It also took years of fundraising and negotiations as each nation created and pursued their own vision for stewarding their lands and waters.
Reid hopes the decision can serve as a model for other nations and communities looking to improve forestry practices as available old growth dwindles.
“Clayoquot Sound demonstrates that there’s alternatives out there,” Reid said, pointing to carbon credits and tourism as examples of economic shifts away from old-growth logging. “Looking at alternative revenue sources and other kinds of economic development is critical for the nations who are advancing these changes.”
According to Sierra Club BC, more than a third of old-growth trees have been logged on Vancouver Island since 1993, the year the “war in the woods” reached its peak with a summer of high-profile protests.
Old growth supports ecosystem health by providing water retention, shade, carbon storage and fire resilience, since older and more diverse forests are less likely to burn. It’s also integral to cultural practices like building canoes, totem poles and longhouses. The number of quality logs has plummeted, Tla-o-qui-aht Elder Tutakwisnapšiƛ (Joe Martin) previously told The Narwhal. For trees to grow strong, straight and large, they require the entire ecosystem to be functioning, he said — right down to the salmon in the streams, whose carcasses nourish the soil.
First Nations were pushed out of their stewardship roles and confined to reserves, he said in an interview, adding forests have since “been totally mismanaged by the governments.”
“They thought the ‘savages’ were just not using it. But we were actually taking care of it.”
Master carver and Tla-o-qui-aht Elder Joe Martin said his ancestors would only harvest trees in the fall and winter to avoid disturbing nesting birds, and would avoid disrupting wolf or bear dens in order to prioritize the health of the whole forest. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
Nuu-chah-nulth culture “can’t survive on second growth,” Masso said. Keeping old forests alive is integral to the Tla-o-qui-aht land use vision and the new conservancies are just the first phase of the nation’s plan. They want to begin selling carbon credits, build up their Guardians program, protect water sources and close mineral tenures and other industrial land uses that for now the conservancy boundaries must wind around.
Masso said most old growth in Tla-o-qui-aht territory is now protected in the conservancies. The nation will develop a sustainable forestry plan for logging in Kennedy Flats, a second-growth forest area.
“It’s flat land, roadside harvest. The highest-return logging is being set up to be our grandchildren’s forestry tenure,” Masso said, explaining flat land is less costly to log than mountainous terrain. “So, I think it’s a win for everybody. We get to keep the forestry industry alive somewhat with a woodlot.”
“It’s always been an expressed interest to keep our foresters active, keep the ability to move big logs around, keep the machinery, keep the knowledge … while also protecting our culture, our drinking water, our fisheries and our access to monumental cedar.”
The Ahousaht land use vision also includes addressing mineral tenures, getting into carbon credits and strengthening the nation’s Guardians program, according to Atleo. The next phase in their plan is to transition the rest of the tree farm licence into new forest licences and use the land to benefit community members.
While the conservancies are a monumental achievement, they still have a way to go in realizing their vision, Atleo said. He pointed out the conservancies are still considered Crown land by the province, and he wants to see the nation’s Indigenous Title recognized.
Ahousaht Guardian Byron Charlie (left) and Kaylyn Kwasnecha, Central Westcoast Forest Society research and monitoring coordinator, record the size a juvenile salmon. Tyson Atleo said many species the First Nation relies on have been decimated and conservancies are just one step towards restoring the land. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
Although Ahousaht is taking on more responsibility for managing lands after decades of being pushed to the sidelines, “We are not seeing an increase of support from the Crown to fund those responsibilities,” he said, noting philanthropic funding made the conservancies possible. Nature United provided Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht some funding to manage the land, but the conservancies cover a huge area the nations will manage indefinitely. “It’s not enough,” he said.
“We’re stretched to make some of these things a reality. We’re taking on the responsibilities of an entire industry sector to improve on behalf of Crown governments.”
“This is a step in the right direction, unequivocally, but where to from here?”
He said Ahousaht is trying to reverse a century of policies that devastated the environment they rely on.
“It’s not our perfect scenario, right? Historically, we would not have had to make a decision to protect anything, because we would have managed the whole of the ecosystem in a much more effective way.”
He knows it will take time to get there, but for Atleo, a perfect scenario would be implementation of Ahousaht title, decision-making powers in their territory and allowing his people to benefit from the rich land and local economy “in a way reflective of our values.”
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation hosted a celebration in Tofino in June, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Meares Island Tribal Park declaration as well as the announcement of the new conservancies. B Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne, who is also MLA for the Mid Island-Pacific Rim riding that includes Clayoquot Sound, attended the gathering and celebrated the announcement online. “Gratitude for thousands of years of stewardship by the Nuu-chah-nulth people … and today’s phenomenal announcement,” she wrote.
Environmental groups also lauded the protections as historic and momentous. Endangered Ecosystems Alliance called it the “biggest old growth protected areas victory in years.”
Tofino is famous for surfing, whale watching and outdoor sports, and brings thousands of visitors to Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht territory. However, the nations don’t profit from the tourism to the same degree as private businesses. Photo: Melissa Renwick / The Narwhal
However, the BC government was more subdued in its announcement of the conservancies than it has been with other similar conservation agreements in the past, and did not hold a news conference. An emailed statement from the Ministry of Forests said the parties involved in the Clayoquot conservancies had “hoped to host an event to celebrate this achievement” but that “time constraints did not allow the parties to come together before the agreement was finalized.”
“I support the creation of these conservancies,” Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston said in a news release. “Collaborative work with First Nations is a cornerstone of our vision for old growth in this province. At the same time, the clarity that these conservancies will bring to the area will give our industry partners confidence in the future of forestry.”
The First Nations have been working with Nature United to establish the conservancies for about a decade, but the roots of the conservancies go much deeper in history. Here’s a condensed timeline:
1,000 years ago: Some of the oldest trees in Clayoquot Sound standing today begin to grow.
1950s: Forestry companies build the first logging road to Tofino. The forests are logged intensively over the following decades.
1971: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is created, raising concerns more of the surrounding forest will be logged.
1982: Canada enacts its sovereign constitution, recognizing and affirming Aboriginal and Treaty Rights.
1984: Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht and non-Indigenous protesters blockade Meares Island, where logging company MacMillan Bloedel plans to log old-growth forest in an area supplying Tofino’s drinking water.
On April 21, Tla-o-qui-aht leadership declares the Meares Island (Wanachus-Hilthuu’is) Tribal Park. While they continue to patrol and steward the area, the province doesn’t formally recognize it as protected.
1980-90s: A series of blockades takes place in Clayoquot Sound that become known as the war in the woods. The Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and Hesquiaht demand better logging practices from companies and more meaningful consultation from government. Thousands of activists journey to the remote area. The war in the woods peaks in the summer of 1993 when more than 800 people are arrested — 300 in a single day.
1997: BC hands over Tree Farm Licence 54 (which encompasses Clayoquot Sound) to the five nations that make up the Central Region First Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council: the Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht, Hesquiaht, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ (Ucluelet) and Toquaht First Nations. In 1997, the nations create Mamook Natural Resources, a partnership among the five nations. They are now obliged to pay the province rent for the licence.
The company works with environmental organizations to improve its forestry practices, but balancing financial needs with a desire to slow down old-growth logging isn’t easy, Masso says.
2000s: The Tla-o-qui-aht declare three more tribal parks that encompass all of the nation’s territory. The Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht each develop individual land use visions and Guardians programs. In 2011, they begin to work with Nature United to buy up the tree farm licence and convert the woods to protected areas.
2020: BC announces a two-year deferral on old-growth logging in nine areas around the province, including in Clayoquot Sound. The next year, old-growth logging takes over headlines again during the Fairy Creek blockades.
2021: In November, BC launches a wider deferral plan to temporarily pause old-growth logging. The program faces criticism for putting an unfair burden on First Nations. Old growth is still being logged in deferral areas and critics say protected old growth is poorly counted.
2023: BC commits to protecting 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030, in line with Canada’s international commitments to curb biodiversity loss.
2024: Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and the province announce the conservancies on June 18. They come into effect on June 26.
— With files from Shannon Waters
July 30, 2024
Rick Stiebel
Sooke News Mirror
Original article here.
Closed since 2022 and unmaintained since 2018, there’s many questions as to when Avatar Grove will reopen
When Dan Quigley’s grandchildren ask him when they can visit Avatar Grove again, he’s at a loss for words.
“I’ve been taking them there since it opened,” said Quigley, a long-time resident of a summer property in Port Renfrew. “They used to say, ‘Papa can we go see the granddaddy trees?’ Now, when they ask when can we go and why it’s still closed, I have no answer, nobody does.”
Avatar Grove and recreational site was temporarily closed by Recreation Sites and Trails BC (RSTBC) in 2022, and trail maintenance has been disallowed since 2018 because the RSTBC had determined that safety and sustainability concerns must be addressed before reopening public access. In 2020, the RSTBC commissioned a Sustainable Forest Management Plan and Trail Redesign Plan to identify issues, provide solutions, and address safety and sustainability concerns.
“Although I have never seen the Sustainable Forest Management Plan, I have heard it noted concerns about impacts from the high volume of recreational users and the need for a more robust trail system at Avatar,” Quigley stated in a recent letter to various entities at RSTBC, Juan de Fuca Electoral Area director Al Wickheim, Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar, and BC Premier David Eby.
“I understand that after the Sustainable Forest Management Plan was completed, an initial trail redesign plan was also prepared for Avatar Grove,” Quigley noted. “However, RSTBC has now decided that a further comprehensive plan would be required because of geotechnical and hydrological concerns and so that accurate cost estimates can be made for the site before any new construction work can proceed.”
Until then, the site remains closed, and the Ancient Forest Alliance has not been allowed to maintain the trails since 2018, leading to their steady decline, he added.
“It appears that the bureaucrats at RSTBC are the final hold up to the reopening of Avatar Grove,” Quigley said. “It’s 2024, and many tourists still visit Port Renfrew to see Avatar Grove. Yet for years, Avatar has remained closed to the public, who travel from all corners of the world to see the big trees and spend money in our community.”
Quigley called on everyone he sent the letter to to secure the necessary funding to open Avatar Grove.
“I ask all of you to call on RSTBC, the Juan de Fuca regional director, our MLA and premier and ask when the necessary funding will be secured for the trail planning and reconstruction and to take accountability on when our beloved Avatar will be reopened,” Quigley said. “The local economy of Port Renfrew and the enjoyment of its visitors are suffering each day there’s further delay. ”
TJ Watt, a campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance said his organization campaigned from 2010 to 2012 to protect Avatar Grove, with assistance from the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, and worked on the boardwalk and trail upgrades until 2017.
“Avatar Grove is one of the most famous, impressive, and beloved old-growth forests on Vancouver Island,” Watt stated. “Over the past decade, it has become the bread and butter of ecotourism in Port Renfrew, a town that’s known as the ‘Tall Trees Capital of Canada’. People travel across the globe to marvel at Avatar’s burly red cedars and giant Douglas-fir trees and, in turn, spend money in the community, supporting local businesses. For many visitors, it’s often their first time in an old-growth forest, which is an experience that can be life-changing.”
While the Ancient Forest Alliance supports a new sustainable trail plan, Watt stressed that the grove cannot languish indefinitely, with thousands of visitors travelling long distances only to arrive and be disappointed.
“The province of British Columbia makes billions of dollars from logging old-growth forests,” Watt said. “If the BC NDP government is truly committed to a “paradigm shift” in its approach to old-growth forests, they should invest the necessary funding to get the trail project at Avatar Grove underway so visitors can once again return and the local tourism economy of Port Renfrew can flourish. This is an iconic area of the west coast and must be made a top priority.”
In a letter to Parmar seeking support for the re-opening of Avatar Grove, Wickheim said that electoral areas are short-changed.
“It’s long overdue that the folks of Port Renfrew start getting their dues for the struggles they endure with economic uncertainty, power failures, water and sewer inadequacies and tourism opportunities,” said Wickheim. “They want to work for it, the province needs to step it up and provide support in action, not just ideal.”
Calls and emails to several contacts with the RSTBC were referred to B.C. government communications and public engagement.
The Ministry of Environment responded with a statement noting that Avatar Grove is a “unique ecological gem” on Southern Vancouver Island.
“We know how important it is to the local community and people eager to experience some of the Island’s biggest trees,” the ministry said. “We understand how popular the recreation site is and that popularity has had an impact on both the safety of the infrastructure, and on the trees that have been impacted by more and more people walking on exposed roots.”
The Ministry of Environment works to balance recreational value with cultural and environmental protection, and conservation and sustainability are key values that drive much of the work it does do, the statement noted.
“Planning for infrastructure upgrades is underway, and we appreciate people’s patience while we find the best path forward to ensure the ecological values of this spectacular park are preserved so future generations can enjoy the natural beauty of Avatar Grove,” the statement concluded.
Quigley said his understanding is that the Pacheedaht First Nation and the Ancient Forest Alliance are committed to working together to move the project forward.
“We have three main attractions in Port Renfrew, Botanical Beach, Avatar Grove, and recreational fishing,” Quigley added. “Recreational fishing has taken a beating because of new (federal government) restrictions, so we need to get Avatar open.”
The Pacheedaht First Nation could not be reached for comment before the Sooke News Mirror’s deadline.
The famed Avatar Grove has been closed since 2022 and unmaintained since 2018.
July 6, 2024
Global News
An old growth advocate group is raising concerns regarding a recent clear-cut on Vancouver Island. Paul Johnson has more.
July 3, 2024
By: Curtis Blandy
Victoria Buzz
Original article here.
BC old-growth activists have taken before and after photos of a large area of an ancient grove that was clear-cut on Vancouver Island near Port Alberni in the Nahmint Valley.
The Ancient Forest Alliance says that many of the massive trees that were cut down were over 500 years old, some being up to nine feet across.
Now that the grove has been cut, they are urging the BC government to immediately correct misidentified at-risk old-growth forests that could be eligible for logging deferrals.
The Nahmint Valley clear-cut spans 17.4 hectares, roughly 31 football fields, and contains numerous giant, old-growth trees. Some of the trees lost to this clearcut were immense redcedars and rare, old-growth Douglas-fir trees.
The Ancient Forest Alliance also says that an at-risk species, specklebelly lichen, was recently documented in the area and this particular lichen can only be found in old-growth groves.
The old-growth advocates added that BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the BC government’s own logging agency, owned and auctioned off this forest to the highest bidder.
They say that as of this publication, trees are still being felled.
The Ancient Forest Alliance says this area should have never been logged and should have been a part of the millions of hectares protected by deferrals because it was originally identified as an at-risk old-growth forest.
“When I first visited this endangered forest several months ago, I was amazed by its sheer beauty. It was filled with massive old-growth trees, gardens of ferns and wildflowers carpeted the forest floor, and birdsong filled the air. It was like stepping into a lost world,” recounted TJ Watt, campaigner & photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.
“When we returned last week, it was old-growth carnage. The shattered bodies of ancient cedars lie where a vibrant and biodiverse ecosystem once stood.”
Watt added that Premier Eby has said he intends to move forward and protect old-growth forests in BC, but there is more that can be done.
Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on Eby to direct BC Timber Sales to lead by example and put an end to clearcutting old-growth.
The BC government has significantly ramped up their efforts to protect these at-risk areas over the past year. These efforts include a commitment to protect 30% of the province’s old-growth by 2030 and allocating significant funding for this endeavour.
What the Ancient Forests Alliance wants BC to do now is to secure First Nations consent and shared decision-making in all areas of the province regarding old-growth, including lands BC Timber Sales manages.
Additionally they are calling on the Province to provide additional funding and deferrals based on ecosystem-based protection targets.
“The monumental stumps and giant fallen logs here in the Nahmint are fresh evidence that major conservation policy and funding gaps remain that the BC NDP government must address,” said Watt.
“We need legally binding ecosystem-based protection targets that would aim new protected areas at the most at-risk ecosystems, such as the big-tree old-growth forests.”
He continued by suggesting that the BC government include this funding in the forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework.
Another point of concern for the Ancient Forest Alliance is to help offset lost revenues for First Nations with a $120 million contribution.
“Does the Ministry of Forests believe this is what putting ecosystem health before timber values looks like,” Watt asked in conclusion.
“If there were anywhere you might expect the promised ‘paradigm shift’ in forest management, it would be here in the Nahmint Valley.
(TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
(TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
(TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
(TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
Specklebelly lichen (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the following businesses for kindly supporting the old-growth campaign:
Tantalus Design Inc. and Viva Cacao! for their generous donations to the Ancient Forest Alliance.
Go Canada for donating a portion of its proceeds to the old-growth campaign.
And huge thanks to Ancient Trees of Vancouver from all of us at Ancient Forest Alliance for promoting the importance of old-growth protection through your Stanley Park Big Tree tours as well as spreading the word about the work that AFA is doing to keep ancient forests standing!
Your support makes our important work possible and we’re extremely grateful to each and every one of you!
For Immediate Release
July 2, 2024
Shocking photos and drone footage reveal “old-growth carnage” as trees upwards of 9 feet (3 meters) wide and more than five hundred years old are logged under the management of BC Timber Sales in the famed Nahmint Valley on Vancouver Island, BC. Conservationists are urging the BC government to immediately identify substantial tracts of misidentified at-risk old-growth forests that should be eligible for logging deferrals that may have been missed due to data errors, to provide deferral funding or “solutions space” funding to First Nations to facilitate the protection of these stands, and to implement “ecosystem-based” protection targets. A species at risk, oldgrowth specklebelly lichen, was also documented in the now logged area, potentially for the first time in the Nahmint Valley.
Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) have documented the clearcutting of a superlative ancient forest in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni in the territory of the Hupačasath, Tseshaht, and Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nations. The clearcut spans 17.4 hectares or roughly 31 football fields and contains scores of giant old-growth trees, including monumental redcedars and rare, old-growth Douglas-fir trees. The cutblock was home to oldgrowth specklebelly lichen, a species at risk found only in old-growth forests, as well as being mapped as suitable habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet. BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the BC government’s own logging agency, auctioned off the forest for logging, and trees are still being felled at the time of this release. The Nahmint is legally designated a Special Management Zone for biodiversity and is famed for its crystal blue river waters, record-sized old-growth trees, diverse wildlife, and high recreational values.
“When I first visited this endangered forest several months ago, I was amazed by its sheer beauty. It was filled with massive old-growth trees, gardens of ferns and wildflowers carpeted the forest floor, and birdsong filled the air. It was like stepping into a lost world,” recounted TJ Watt, campaigner & photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “When we returned last week, it was old-growth carnage. The shattered bodies of ancient cedars lie where a vibrant and biodiverse ecosystem once stood. Premier Eby has shown a willingness to move forward on greater old-growth protection in BC but is still coming up deficient in many areas, and it’s time he directed BC Timber Sales – the BC government’s logging agency and the ones responsible for planning and approving this logging – to lead by example. What we’ve documented here is brutal and will leave many people outraged.”
Before and after the logging of an ancient redcedar roughly 9 ft (3 m) wide in the Nahmint Valley in 2024.
Over the past year, the BC NDP government has set the stage to vastly expand the protection of old-growth forests and other ecosystems across BC by allocating and securing significant funding for conservation financing, committing to protect 30% of the province by 2030, creating a draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, and more (see backgrounder below). Several critical government conservation policy gaps and funding needs remain, though, namely deferral funding for First Nations and ecosystem-based protection targets, thus allowing for the continued destruction of the most at-risk old-growth ecosystems. The only path to fully protecting old-growth forests in British Columbia is via First Nations consent and shared decision-making, including on lands managed by BC Timber Sales. However, the BC government can and should facilitate that process by allowing the addition of misidentified at-risk old-growth stands into logging deferral areas, providing deferral funding, and proactively engaging First Nations about potential Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) in the high conservation value areas in their territories.
“The monumental stumps and giant fallen logs here in the Nahmint are fresh evidence that major conservation policy and funding gaps remain that the BC NDP government must address,” notes Watt. “We need legally binding ecosystem-based protection targets that would aim new protected areas at the most at-risk ecosystems, such as the big-tree old-growth forests. These could be included in the forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. At least $120 million in dedicated deferral or “solution space” funding is also urgently needed to support logging deferrals by helping offset any lost revenues for First Nations being asked to accept them in their territories, along with proactive efforts from the BC government to identify forests that meet the criteria for deferral but were missed in the initial mapping exercise. These solutions would have presented the greatest opportunity for protecting this forest and others like it, wherever they may be found on the landscape.”
This forest was initially identified as being an at-risk, big-tree old-growth forest by the province’s independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). However, it was not included in the 2.6 million hectares of priority big-tree old-growth deferrals, likely due to provincial inventory mapping errors that lumped together the areas of big trees with adjacent areas of less productive forest. The TAP specifically identified the issue of inventory errors in their report to the BC government, stipulating that any big-tree old-growth forests that were misclassified in the provincial datasets should be identified through on-the-ground assessments and immediately deferred.
AFA photographer TJ Watt lays atop a giant fallen cedar for scale.
“When it comes to verifying forests for logging deferral, the Ministry of Forests is currently playing a game of old-growth subtraction in favour of the timber industry, facilitating more old-growth logging rather than less,” stated Watt. “As per their current policy, BC Timber Sales is actively using field verification to remove forests recommended for deferral that don’t meet the TAP criteria, but do not use the same practice to identify at-risk old-growth forests that may have been missed for deferral, such this one, so they have a chance at being added in and eventually protected. To help identify these at-risk stands, forest engineers should be legally bound to field-verify planned logging cutblocks against the TAP deferral criteria and report any discrepancies to the BC government so adjustments can be made. Citizens and scientists should also be able to submit the locations of key old-growth stands they’ve identified, which Forest Service foresters would then verify. Government data gaps and an approach that skews towards protecting the least amount of old-growth possible are leading to the loss of irreplaceable ancient forests vital to supporting endangered species, First Nations cultures, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and tourism. Premier Eby should be instructing government staff to close this conservation loophole immediately.”
AFA researcher Ian Thomas beside the trunk of an old-growth Douglas-fir tree cut down in June 2024 in the Nahmint.
The Nahmint Valley has long been recognized as a place of exceptional ecological value. The province designated it a “high biodiversity emphasis” Special Management Zone to help protect its old-growth values and safeguard threatened ecosystems. Despite that legal requirement, successive governments have opened the Nahmint up to devastating logging practices, destroying some of the most magnificent forests on earth.
“The Nahmint is a Special Management Zone established to ensure old-growth values are maintained and biodiversity is safeguarded. And yet you see the liquidation of a threatened ecosystem home to countless species, including this rare old-growth dependent lichen species, observed possibly for the very first time in the Nahmint Valley, dying as it was discovered,” noted Ian Thomas, a researcher with the Ancient Forest Alliance. This forest was a rich, priceless ecosystem that is impossible to replace. It wasn’t a big multi-national corporation, but government staff who planned the logging of a forest that contained rare, big-tree old-growth and was home to at-risk species. All of this is in a landscape that is supposedly managed to protect biodiversity. Does the Ministry of Forests believe this is what putting ecosystem health before timber values looks like? If there were anywhere you might expect the promised ‘paradigm shift’ in forest management, it would be here in the Nahmint Valley.”
– See our information explaining the central importance of ecosystem-based targets and forest productivity distinctions.
– See our media release from May 2024 for a comprehensive list of the actions still needed from the BC government to protect old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems in BC.
AFA’s TJ Watt (red) and Ian Thomas (yellow) provide scale to the scene of destruction.
The Ancient Forest Alliance has fought for years to ensure greater protection for the old-growth forests in the Nahmint Valley. In 2018, the Ancient Forest Alliance exposed the logging of hundreds of hectares of spectacular ancient forests, including some of the largest trees in Canada. Ancient Forest Alliance filed a complaint with the independent BC Forest Practices Board, which found that the provincial government failed to adequately protect the exceptional ecological values of the Nahmint. In 2021, the resulting report from the independent Forest Practices Board found that the province was failing to adequately safeguard the ecological health of this Special Management Zone.
In 2022, the BC government released a draft landscape unit plan for the Nahmint Valley, placing some additional areas of old-growth forest into landscape reserves such as Old-Growth Management Areas. Though a welcome step, this planning was carried out under the previous paradigm where conservation could not significantly impact timber harvesting. As a result, the findings of the Technical Advisory Panel were not considered, and only about 30% of the productive forests were put into conservation reserves. Biologists agree that when ecosystems fall below 30% of their original extent, they are at high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss, and at least 70% of the original old-growth forests should be protected from logging to ensure long-term ecosystem health. In the Nahmint Valley, additional old-growth groves, including forests explicitly recommended for deferral by the Technical Advisory Panel that should have been protected in the draft landscape plan, are already planned for logging. Should BC Timber Sales’ future plans move forward, it will further fragment and destroy the old-growth forests of this remarkable valley.
AFA has now documented what is likely the first known occurrence of old-growth specklebelly lichen in the Nahmint Valley (according to the page 21 summary list of known locations from 2015). Oldgrowth specklebelly lichen is federally and provincially listed as a species at risk, with only 52 known colonies in Canada. The highly sensitive lichen species depend on the humid microclimate of intact old-growth forests. The specimens observed were already dead or dying in the exposed clearcut. A photo of the lichen, which had lost much of its bluish colour after being in the sunlight, was sent to expert lichenologist Trevor Goward, who confirmed its presence. The provincial recovery plan for the species calls for the protection of each of these rare colonies from logging in order to “maintain all known extant populations and any future populations that may be found in British Columbia.” However, no formal legal protection exists.
Across BC, the BC NDP government has taken historic strides toward expanding the protection of old-growth forests and other endangered ecosystems across BC, such as securing over $1 billion in federal-provincial funding through the BC Nature Agreement, creating a $300 million conservation financing fund, committing to expanding protected areas in BC to 30% by 2030, drafting a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework still currently under development, and now undertaking discussions with dozens of First Nations on potential new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (with several major protected areas recently announced, including ten new Conservancies in Clayoquot Sound and a 2000 square kilometer new Klinse-za/Twin Sisters Provincial Park in the far north). However, without dedicated “ecosystem-based” protection targets, in general, the most threatened and biodiverse ecosystems will continue to be largely excluded from new protected areas, which will focus on less-contested ecosystems at higher elevations and in the far North.
Old-growth forests support endangered species, First Nations cultures, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and tourism. Under BC’s current system of forestry, second-growth tree plantations are typically re-logged every 50–60 years, never to become old-growth again.
June 18, 2024
By: Ainslie Cruickshank and Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood
The Narwhal
See the original article.
The greatly expanded Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters Park will protect nearly 200,000 hectares of habitat for endangered caribou in BC’s northeast
A significant stretch of endangered caribou habitat in northeast BC has been permanently protected in the newly expanded Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters Park, First Nations and the BC and federal governments announced today.
The announcement comes more than four years after West Moberly First Nations, Saulteau First Nations and the provincial and federal governments agreed to work together to recover caribou herds teetering on the brink of extinction. The deal included a commitment to create a park to protect crucial caribou habitat in the mountainous area northeast of Mackenzie and west of Hudson’s Hope and Chetwynd, in the heavily industrialized Peace region.
“We’re showing that when we work together collaboratively — not just say we’re going to work together, but we actually sit down and start applying the principles of working together — we can do some amazing things,” Chief Roland Willson of West Moberly First Nations told The Narwhal.
West Moberly First Nations, Saulteau First Nations and the provincial and federal governments have announced an expansion of the Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters Park, protecting key habitat for endangered caribou herds. Photo: Photo: David Moskowitz / Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Klinse-Za Park (pronounced Klin-see’-za) was just 2,700 hectares — about seven times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park — in 2020 when the deal was forged. Over the next two years, the park was expanded to 30,000 hectares. Today’s announcement extends the park to nearly 200,000 hectares, making it almost two-and-a-half times the size of E.C. Manning Provincial Park in the Cascade Mountains in the province’s southwest.
Alongside vital caribou habitat, the park also protects the Twin Sisters, two mountains of cultural importance to Treaty 8 First Nations.
In contrast to other recent conservation announcements — including the $1 billion nature agreement announced late last year — the BC government shared news of the Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters park quietly in a press release Friday morning with comparatively little fanfare, even though the provincial park is the largest established in BC in a decade.
The greatly expanded BC park makes a noteworthy contribution to the provincial government’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of provincial land by 2030, in keeping with global commitments to protect nature at a time when close to one million species are at risk of extinction, many within decades.
The new provincial park protects habitat vitally important for endangered caribou. Photo: David Moskowitz / Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
“This announcement is a good thing for everybody,” Willson said. “We’re trying to bring balance back. Maybe it’s not just all take. We gotta give some back, or we’re going to wind up in this situation where we have nothing left — truly nothing.”
In a press release, BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman said, “The decline of caribou is a complex problem, and we continue our work to stabilize populations. Providing a large area that protects caribou and their habitat from development is a critically important step forward that is consistent with the agreements we first announced in 2020.”
Tim Burkhart, director of landscape protection at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, called the announcement a “really important milestone” for Indigenous-led caribou recovery.
Caribou populations in the Peace region have suffered dramatic declines due to the combined pressures of hydro dam development, oil and gas production and extensive logging and road-building. In the last century, caribou have declined by 55 per cent in BC, according to the BC government news release.
The Klinse-Za herd declined from about 250 caribou in the 1990s to just 38 in 2013, according to a 2022 study in the journal Ecological Applications.
Since 2014, West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations have led a successful, though costly, maternity pen project.
Each year pregnant caribou and, later, their calves are kept in maternity pens, safe from natural predators such as wolves and under the watchful eye of Indigenous Guardians until the calves are strong enough to have a better chance of surviving outside the pen.
First Nations-operated maternity pens protect caribou calves until they have a chance at surviving in the wild. Penning, combined with predator reduction, has helped increase the population of the Klinse-Za herd from 38 to 138 caribou over the past decade. Photo: David Moskowitz / Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
A herd “within months of being extirpated” has tripled in size, Willson pointed out. Though the Klinse-Za herd remains at risk of extinction, the population had recovered to 138 caribou by 2023, aided by the maternity pen and wolf culls.
Two existing maternity pens will now fall within the boundary of the expanded park, according to the BC government.
“Our sacred Klinse-za / Twin Sisters area will now be protected for our people forever,” Chief Rudy Paquette of Saulteau First Nations said in the press release. “This is another step in the process by which we are proving that we can recover endangered species and protect the sacred lands of First Nations people, while also providing for healthy ecosystems and diverse economies.”
Burkhart lauded the success of the maternity pen program. “Folks working on orca, salmon and other species across the world should really look to the leadership of West Moberly and Saulteau and how they brought a local herd back from the brink,” he said.
The expanded protected area was “designed specifically to create habitat that is abundant enough to bring the herd to a self-sustaining level,” Burkhart said. “So we know now that when the baby caribou are released from that maternal pen, they have a place to stand and a landscape that will support them going forward.”
The expanded Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters Park is the largest provincial park created in BC in a decade. Map: Province of BC
The two First Nations, BC government and other partners will work together to develop a management plan for the park to protect Treaty Rights and Indigenous cultural values, restore forestry roads and logged areas to natural habitat and manage recreation sustainably, the release said, noting snowmobiling has been restricted in most areas of the park since 2021 to protect caribou.
Industrial activity has also been restricted in the park for several years. The federal government has provided $46 million to compensate industry and tenure holders affected by the implementation of the 2020 partnership agreement, as well as $10 million to support a regional economic diversification trust for the region, according to the news release.
Habitat protection is crucial to the long-term survival of at-risk caribou herds. Although forestry and other resource activities may be allowed in areas adjacent to the BC.park, Burkhart noted the 2020 agreement prioritizes caribou recovery when such activities are planned.
While the Klinse-Za herd has seen remarkable growth, the population is a long way from being large enough to allow West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations to once again harvest caribou for food. In a 2023 study, the nations worked with scientists to estimate “meaningful abundance”: how plentiful the Klinse-Za herd would have to be to harvest enough caribou for 15 meals for every family in their nations over one winter, without harming the herd’s stability. They found the herd would need 3,000 animals — meaning it would need to increase by at least 20 times.
The Klinse-Za / Twin Sisters Park also offers habitat for three dozen other at-risk species, including grizzly bear, wolverine, fisher and numerous plant and insect species.
Willson said the Klinse-Za mountains are sacred to the Dena-za people and were once a place of refuge.
“In times of need, we would go to the mountains, and they would take care of us,” he said. “There were lots of caribou, lots of sheep, lots of goats, lots of moose. The waters were clean. The fish were good to eat. There was an abundance in the mountains.”
Today, Willson said, there are hardly any caribou or mountain goats left and the fish and waters are contaminated. But the nations are working to restore habitat where they can.
Willson said it took more than 20 years to bring the Klinse-Za park to fruition. The process, which began under the BC NDP government in the 1990s, was halted when the BC Liberals (now called BC United) came to power in 2001 and only resumed after the BC NDP returned to power 16 years later.
Countries around the world, including Canada, have agreed to protect 30 per cent of their land and waters by 2030 as part of a global effort to address the growing biodiversity crisis. According to the World Economic Forum, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse represent one of the largest risks the world faces over the next decade, with dire consequences for the environment, humankind and economic activity if not addressed.
But scientists warn nature may require far more protections. Up to 50 per cent of lands and waters globally may need to be conserved to maintain biodiversity, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
According to the Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database, BC is leading the provinces in meeting targets. As of December 2023, BC had conserved 19.7 per cent of its land. The expanded 2,000-square-kilometre Klinse-Za park covers approximately 0.2 per cent of the province.
But some groups question the BC government’s accounting.
Earlier this year, the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society published a report that raised concerns BC inflated its progress by counting fragmented stretches of forest that may not have permanent protection toward its conservation targets.
At the time, the BC government said it was working on a new approach to assessing conserved areas.
Expanding the Kinse-Za provincial park is a small step toward meeting BC and federal government commitments to conserve 30 per cent of land and waters by 2030, as part of global efforts to stem the loss of nature. Photo: David Moskowitz / Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
“It is a bold vision, but there is a path to meeting 30-by-30 through Indigenous-led conservation,” Burkhart said.
“This is the scale of new protected areas that we want to see,” he said of the newly expanded park. “We need a lot of pieces like that to make it work.”
Willson pointed out caribou need vast swaths of land and it’s still uncertain if the expanded park will be enough. He said the nations will have to monitor the impacts and continue to restore habitat. “We’ve got to do what we can, where we can,” he said.
“Our future generations are going to know that the caribou are still here because of the work that we’ve done today.”
June 18th, 2024
The Guardian
See the original article here
Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt’s award-winning image of a giant old-growth cedar on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound was also featured alongside the other winning images in The Guardian. Click the image below to see the full story and list of winning images!
