Blog Archive Layout

Cathedral Grove threatened by nearby logging, conservationist says

Nov 3 2013/in News Coverage

Canada’s oldest and most-renowned forest is facing new threats as logging on a nearby mountain opens the way for collateral damage to Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, local conservationists say.

Island Timberlands, based in Nanaimo, is in the midst of clearing a road to a plot of Douglas fir trees on the southwest-facing slope of Mount Horne, a plot of land estimated to be about 40-hectares.

While the land itself is not part of Cathedral Grove, Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said once the logging is finished Cathedral Grove will feel the after effects.

“They’re not going to log the park itself, but the park is damaged by the activities around its edges,” he said. “Basically these protected areas become islands of extinction.”

According to Wu, logging of Douglas fir trees on Mount Horne will destroy the winter habitat of black-tailed deer, pollute the Cameron River from siltation which runs through Cathedral Grove and feeds the local wildlife and plant life, and destroy part of the Mount Horne Loop Trail, a popular hiking and mushroom-picking area.

“Island Timberlands needs to back off and the government needs to fix the problem because they broke it,” Wu said.

The B.C. government once protected these lands, but in 2004 the lands were deregulated, thereby removing the old-growth, riparian, scenic, wildlife and endangered species habitat protections and the restrictions on raw log exports on those lands.

Wu and many other local conservation groups held a protest two weeks ago to raise awareness of the issue, but logging is still commencing.

“The company needs to hold off until the government can remedy the situation either with land-purchase or regulation,” Wu said.

Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance spokeswoman Jane Morden met with Island Timberlands on Oct. 19, but could reach no agreement to halt logging for further discussion.

“Cathedral Grove is B.C.’s iconic old-growth forest that people around the world love – it’s like the redwoods of Canada,” Wu said. “The fact that a company can just move to log the mountainside above Canada’s most famous old-growth forest – assisted by the B.C. government’s previous deregulation of those lands and their current failure to take responsibility – underscores the brutal collusion between the B.C. Liberal government and the largest companies to liquidate our ancient forest heritage.”

https://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/843268/cathedral-grove-threatened-by-nearby-logging-conservationist-says/

Douglas Firs in jeopardy: conservationists

Nov 2 2013/in News Coverage

People on Vancouver Island fear a stand of old-growth Douglas Firs near Cathedral Grove is about to be logged.

Conservationists have seen evidence of a logging road being built into the patch of forest.

“We have already lost 99 per cent of the old growth coastal Douglas Firs,” says Ken Wu with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

He blames the province for failing to protect the forest, even though the logging activity is happening on private forest land, owned by Island Timberlands.

“These lands were protected. They were supposed to be off-limits to logging. That was until 2004 when the lands were deregulated by the BC Liberal government.”

He says the government should bring back regulations for private forest lands, or buy the cutblock to make Cathedral Grove bigger. The grove belongs to MacMillan Provincial Park.

He believes the grove’s survival depends on what happens at the cutblock.

“Logging adjacent to the park boundaries has all sorts of negative, or edge, effects, like blow down, increased erosion in the park, loss of wildlife populations.”

Conservationists are also calling for a provincial plan to protect the province’s old-growth forests, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to end the export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.

B.C. old-growth logging plan slammed by conservationists

Nov 2 2013/in News Coverage

Conservation groups are demanding forestry company Island Timberlands abandon plans to log old-growth forest on the perimeter of a Vancouver Island provincial park.

The company is building a logging road to a site that sits 300 metres from the border of MacMillan Provincial Park, best noted for a protected stand of old-growth trees within the park known as Cathedral Grove.

Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance, an environmental activism group, is asking the provincial government to step in and negotiate a deal with Island Timberlands that would prevent any old-growth logging near the site.

Wu says the road and subsequent logging operation will cause severe erosion, putting increasing pressure on the rare old-growth ecosystem preserved within the park's boundaries.

“The fear is that there will be irreversible damage to the most loved and famous and popular old-growth forest in the country,” he told CBC News.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests says the land is privately owned by Island Timberlands, and the company is entitled to log in the area.

The ministry added that the company has a wildlife management plan in place and meets all legislated requirements for forestry operations in B.C.

But Wu insists the plans will be too damaging, and is planning a broader international campaign to bring attention to the logging site outside MacMillan Provincial Park.

“We are not going to forever stand with picket signs in Cathedral Grove. We intend to educate consumers in the U.S. and beyond who buy from Island Timberlands about the dangers posed to these endangered ecosystems.”