A man in a green shirt and chinos stands amidst a stunning old-growth grove, looking up at an ancient western redcedar. Moss, ferns, nurse logs, and other trees surround him in a sea of green.

Conservationists Welcome BC NDP and Green Governance Agreement

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Conservationists Welcome BC NDP and Green Governance Agreement – BC Forestry Review Could Provide Key Opportunity to Strengthen Old-Growth Forest Protection Policies

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are welcoming the new 2024 Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord between the NDP and Green parties in BC. The cooperation agreement’s priorities include the protection of Fairy Creek and a comprehensive review of BC forests in partnership with First Nations and diverse sectors, offering a key opportunity to strengthen old-growth forest protection policies.

The cooperation agreement calls for the BC government to work towards achieving protection of the Fairy Creek Watershed in partnership with the Pacheedaht First Nation, whose unceded territory it is, and the Ditidaht First Nation, who has various legal arrangements that overlap in the area.

More importantly, the cooperation agreement between the BC NDP and Green parties outlines their intention to undertake a review of BC forests with First Nations and diverse sectors of society to address jobs, environmental protection and sustainability.

“Protection of Fairy Creek is important, but it should be noted that much of the valley is already within an Old-Growth Management Area – it’s mainly the adjacent, surrounding old-growth that is at-risk along with a part of the top headwaters, and most importantly the greater old-growth stands in the nearby San Juan, Upper Walbran, Gordon River,  and Loss Creek Valleys, on Edinburgh Mountain, and in the Jurassic Grove area. Still, this agreement signals the BC government’s recognition that it must proactively seek the protection of an endangered old-growth forest instead of passively waiting for First Nations, who often lack capacity in their small communities, to approach them first. This is something that the BC government must do across the province to safeguard old-growth and endangered ecosystems with First Nations, including by developing a Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) like in the 1990s, implementing ecosystem-based protection targets that prioritize protection for the most endangered ecosystems, allocating deferral funding for First Nations, and closing logging loopholes in the conservation reserve system. The forestry review process in the cooperative governance agreement could provide the key opening to enable all of this to happen,”  stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

“The BC NDP government should be thanked for their commitment to protect 30% by 2030, securing over $1 billion in provincial-federal conservation financing to make it happen, deferring logging on 1.2 million hectares of the Technical Advisory Panel’s most at-risk old-growth, and starting the value-added, second-growth transition – but they still come up short on both conservation policies and sustainable job creation. A comprehensive and integrated overhaul of BC forestry and land use policies is sorely needed. If structured well, a BC forestry review process that involves the public and entails shared decision-making with First Nations can open the doors for this needed overhaul to protect endangered ecosystems and to bolster sustainable jobs and businesses across BC,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Executive Director Ken Wu stands beside a giant old-growth cedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Executive Director Ken Wu beside a giant old-growth cedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Here are some of the policy gaps and key recommendations for old-growth protection and sustainable forestry jobs, as identified by the EEA and AFA:

1. Secure Remaining Old-Growth Deferrals in Most At-Risk Stands by Providing “Solutions Space” Funding

So far, only about half of the most at-risk old-growth stands with the biggest and oldest trees identified by the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP), about 1.2 million hectares, have been deferred from logging out of 2.6 million hectares, with another 1.2 million hectares of more marginal stands also deferred. The “War in the Woods” primarily hinges on the remaining 1.4 million hectares of undeferred most at-risk old-growth stands.

To secure these areas, deferral or “solutions space” funding for First Nations is needed for their lost forestry revenues in deferral areas – otherwise, it’s asking First Nations to go 2 years or more without what is often their largest revenue source. BC Nature Agreement funds are a potential source and can be applied going forward for new deferrals (i.e. the other 1.4 million hectares) and extensions of existing deferrals.

2. Develop the “GPS of Protection” – Ecosystem-Based Targets and a BC Protected Areas Strategy

In BC, protection is skewed towards alpine and marginal timber to minimize the impacts on the available timber supply (i.e. “save the small trees, log the big trees”). At the same time, the BC government has not created a proactive mandate to pursue protected areas – instead, the civil service is waiting on First Nations with IPCA proposals to approach them, despite the fact that many First Nations communities lack the capacity, the technical insights (in part due to a lack of proactive information flow from the BC government), and the economic ability without alternative financial support to protect the big-tree old-growth forests in their territories which many are dependent upon for forestry jobs and revenues.

If the BC government is serious about preventing a re-flare up of the War in the Woods, it must develop a mandate to proactively pursue the protection of the most endangered, least represented ecosystems, including the big-treed old-growth stands.

This mandate can be created via the development of “ecosystem-based targets” by a Chief Ecologist and independent Science/Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees housed under a BC Protected Areas Strategy. These initiatives can all arise from the forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health (BEH) Framework. A science-based approach is needed that ensures protection targets for all ecosystems that are “fine filter” enough to include forest productivity distinctions (*this is critical) to distinguish between sites with small versus big trees. These ecosystem-based targets must not be limited to guiding the establishment of conservation reserves like OGMAs and WHAs under FRPA (as is currently in the works) but must also guide the establishment of parks and conservancies.

In addition, a provincial Protected Areas Strategy like that of the BC NDP government in the 1990s is vital to proactively identify candidate areas for potential protection based on ecosystem-based targets with plans and budgets, contingent on proactively engaging and undertaking shared decision-making with local First Nations, and that guides the expenditure of BC Nature Agreement conservation financing funds based on these objectives.

3. Close the logging loopholes in conservation reserves (e.g. OGMAs and WHAs)

Currently, Old Growth Management Areas can be moved and swapped for lower-value timber, while many Wildlife Habitat Areas still allow commercial logging within their boundaries (including in some spotted owl, northern goshawk and mountain caribou reserves and buffers). OGMAs should not be moveable for logging interests (wildfires and natural disturbances are different), and logging should not occur in the WHAs of sensitive old-growth species. Until then, these areas must not be included in BC’s accounting towards its 30% by 2030 goal (i.e. BC has not protected 19.5% but rather 15 to 16%).

4. Build a Modernized, Smart Forest Industry and a BC Conservation Economy Strategy

The BC government should expand a major second-growth, value-added “smart forest industry” incentive program, where log export “fees in lieu” rebates, PST relief, and provincial property tax relief can be used as incentives to greatly scale up the transition to smaller diameter, value-added, second-growth engineered wood products. Log export restrictions should also be undertaken, along with a concerted effort to facilitate eco-forestry practices to create higher-value logs (longer rotations, removing lower limbs to create higher-value saw logs) and commercial thinning.

A BC Conservation Economy Strategy is also needed, particularly in regions where the major expansion of protected areas is occurring. Provincially-supported business development hubs can provide rebates, loans and various financial incentives; in-kind business development support; facilitation of labour services, including supporting staff housing and accommodation (e.g. supporting rental zoning bylaw adjustments); and other strategies to spur tourism, recreation, real estate, high-tech, non-timber forest products, carbon-offset and clean tech development. Such a strategy can make BC a powerhouse to fuel a sustainable economic resurgence in BC combined with the protection of old-growth and endangered ecosystems.

In these before-and-after logging photos, TJ Watt stands in a red jacket beside a standing tree and a stump in the Nahmint Valley.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands beside an ancient western redcedar approximately 9 feet (3 meters) wide before and after it was cut down by BC Timber Sales in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni in Hupačasath, Tseshaht, and Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nations territory.

TJ stands on the TEDx stage with a photo of a foggy clearcut in the background.

AFA’s TJ Watt Delivers Powerful TEDxVictoria Talk on Protecting Old-Growth Forests in BC

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AFA Photographer, Big-Tree Hunter, and National Geographic Explorer TJ Watt Delivers Powerful TEDxVictoria Talk on Protecting Old-Growth Forests in BC 

Victoria, BC – TJ Watt, renowned Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) photographer, big-tree hunter, and National Geographic Explorer, took the stage at TEDxVictoria 2024 to deliver his talk titled One Last Shot to Protect Old-Growth Forests in British Columbia. Combining his award-winning photography with nearly two decades of experience advocating for endangered old-growth forests, Watt issued an urgent and passionate call for the permanent protection of these irreplaceable ecosystems.

See the talk here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=enF8Zf4EPNg

“I’m honoured to have been a TEDxVictoria speaker and to have the opportunity to share my life’s mission to protect endangered old-growth forests in BC with the world,” said Watt. “These forests are among the most majestic, vital, and imperilled ecosystems on Earth; without protection, they are at risk of being lost forever. Over 80% of the productive old-growth forests have already been logged on Vancouver Island, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the biggest trees grow and the richest biodiversity resides. From uncovering groves of ancient giants to trudging up steep mountainsides or slogging through soaked clear-cuts, it’s been a beautiful and, many times, heartbreaking journey documenting old-growth forests.”

As a conservation photographer, Watt has dedicated his life to capturing the beauty and destruction of old-growth forests in BC. His TEDxVictoria Talk takes viewers on a visual and emotional journey of his experience tracking down some of the grandest yet most endangered forests on the planet while leading campaigns to protect them. Among these efforts is the landmark victory of protecting Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory and helping to secure major conservation financing to support the creation of new protected areas across BC. His viral “before and after” photos have also exposed the devastating impacts of old-growth logging in BC.

“Old-growth forests are extraordinary—some of the ancient trees are as wide as a living room, as tall as a downtown skyscraper, and have lived to be more than a thousand years old,” Watt explains. “Yet, in British Columbia, their destruction from industrial logging continues at an alarming rate. Cutting down thousand-year-old trees and turning them into 2x4s and toilet paper is like grinding up castles in Europe into gravel to make highways. It’s unethical and unnecessary. Most of the world is now logging second, third, and fourth-growth forests. We must ensure a swift transition to a truly sustainable, value-added, second-growth forestry industry in BC. By investing in technology that makes higher-value wood products from smaller-diameter trees, we can protect old-growth forests and forestry jobs at the same time. We have a global responsibility to do the right thing. I hope my talk will raise widespread awareness of this issue and inspire people to stand with me and help protect these irreplaceable ecosystems for our generation and those still to come.”

Born and raised in Metchosin on southern Vancouver Island, BC, Watt’s photography and environmental advocacy have established him as a leading voice in the movement to protect old-growth forests in BC and transition to a more sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry industry. His contributions have earned him recognition as a National Geographic Explorer and a Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer after he was granted support through the Trebek Initiative. Earlier this year, his image of a monumental redcedar he found on Flores Island in Ahousaht territory was awarded in the prestigious Royal Geographical Society Earth Photo 2024 contest in London and later featured in The Guardian and CNN.

This month, the Ancient Forest Alliance launched a social media campaign featuring Watt’s TEDxVictoria Talk to amplify his message and reach thousands of new viewers. With a newly elected BC government in place and the fate of many endangered old-growth forests still hanging in the balance, his call to action comes at a pivotal moment for the future of ancient forests in BC. Namely, there is still a need for the BC government to take a proactive, science-based approach to ensuring the most at-risk old-growth forests are targeted for protection and to deliver “solutions space” funding to help First Nations offset lost logging revenues when being asked to accept logging deferrals in their unceded territories.

To watch TJ’s TEDxVictoria Talk, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=enF8Zf4EPNg

About Ancient Forest Alliance 

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a registered charitable organization working to protect endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry in BC. We work to educate and mobilize British Columbians to pressure politicians to achieve our goals. We partner with First Nations to help advance old-growth conservation initiatives in their territories; explore and photograph endangered old-growth forests; garner major news media coverage to inform the public; organize hikes, slideshows, and rallies; build support among non-traditional allies, such as businesses, unions, faith groups, and others; lobby politicians; produce important educational materials; and much more.

About TEDxVictoria

TEDx is a grassroots initiative created in the spirit of TED’s overall mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” TEDx brings the spirit of TED to local communities around the globe through TEDx events organized by passionate individuals who seek to share the latest research in their local areas that spark conversations in their communities. TEDx events include live speakers and recorded TED Talks and are organized independently under a free license granted by TED. More than 3000 events are now held annually, and TEDx has over 42 million YouTube subscribers. 2024 was the first year TEDxVictoria took place in a decade. The theme of this year was “It’s up to us.”

A giant old-growth redcedar tree cut down in the Namhint Valley

Massive Old-Growth Trees Cut in the Nahmint Valley via BC Timber Sales

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For Immediate Release
July 2, 2024

Massive Old-Growth Trees Cut on Vancouver Island in the Spectacular Nahmint Valley, planned and approved by the BC Government’s Own Logging Agency

 

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.

Backgrounder

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.

A giant redcedar tree on Flores Island. Ahousaht Hereditary Representative Tyson Atleo stands at its base.

Photo of Giant Old-Growth Cedar Wins Prestigious International Award

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For Immediate Release
June 21, 2024

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer TJ Watt awarded Royal Geographical Society Earth Photo 2024 prize for Image of the Enormous Tree in Clayoquot Sound, Canada, featured on CNN and in The Guardian.

The award coincides with the largest old-growth protected areas victory in decades announced earlier this week in Clayoquot Sound, including for the forest pictured.

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer and Campaigner TJ Watt has received an award in Earth Photo 2024, an international photography competition currently on display at the Royal Geographical Society in London, UK. His award-winning image, titled Flores Island Cedar, features a gargantuan redcedar tree – perhaps the most impressive tree in Canada – with Tyson Atleo, an Indigenous Hereditary Representative of the local Ahousaht people, standing next to the tree’s base providing a sense of scale. Watt located the enormous tree in 2022 on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound in the unceded territory of the Ahousaht on western Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The contest, which saw over 1900 entries from around the world and 11 award winners, celebrates photography and moving images that tell compelling stories about our planet, its inhabitants, its beauty, resilience and fragility.

“I’m thrilled and honoured to have received an award in the Earth Photo 2024 contest. I always hope my images of old-growth forests reach as wide an audience as possible, inspiring people and raising global awareness of the need to protect them. The tree in the winning image is the largest one I’ve ever found in nearly 20 years of searching for big trees in BC. It’s more than 17 feet (5 meters) wide near its base, 151 feet tall (46 meters), and likely well over a thousand years old, given its size. Unlike most other trees, it grows wider as it gets taller, making it perhaps the most impressive tree in the country when you’re standing before it. In the photo, Ahousaht Hereditary Representative Tyson Atleo stands alongside the mammoth-sized trunk, adding a sense of scale during our visit to the tree in 2023”, stated TJ Watt, Photographer & Campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

A giant redcedar tree on Flores Island. Ahousaht Hereditary Representative Tyson Atleo stands at its base.

Watt’s award-winning image, Flores Island Cedar, features an enormous redcedar tree – perhaps the most impressive tree in Canada – with Tyson Atleo, an Indigenous Hereditary Representative of the local Ahousaht people, standing at the tree’s base providing a sense of scale.

Coincidently, the photo award announcement happened to closely coincide with the biggest old-growth protected areas victory in decades when, earlier this week, the leadership of the Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, and BC NDP government declared the protection of 76,000 hectares of land in new conservancies in Clayoquot Sound near Tofino, BC. Most of the lands committed for protection are comprised of some of the grandest and most intact coastal old-growth temperate rainforests on Earth, including the forest where Watt’s winning photo was captured.

“It’s not always the case that the forests featured in my photographs have a happy ending. But in this case, I’m so grateful that they do. The announcement of the new conservancies in Clayoquot is incredible news, and I extend my deepest gratitude to the leadership and vision of the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht people, who’ve now secured protection for some of the grandest old-growth rainforests on Earth in their territories. Their proper care and stewardship go back thousands of years, and as a result, one can still find themselves standing in magnificent ancient forests home to trees that have lived for more than a millennium. A special thanks to Tyson Atleo and the Ahousaht Guardians for their time spent with me in the woods as well”, stated Watt.

Watt’s image was specifically awarded the National Trust Attingham Award for images that show the work or impact of volunteers protecting habitats under the threat of climate change. A second image of Watt’s titled Fallen Giants, featuring him laying atop a freshly fallen old-growth redcedar tree cut down in Quatsino territory on northern Vancouver Island, was also shortlisted in the competition. Both images were part of a body of work Watt created with support from the Trebek Initiative, which also named him a National Geographic and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer.

The winning images of Earth Photo 2024 have also attracted international attention, with high-profile features in The Guardian and CNN. BC-based photographer Taylor Roades was also awarded for her series Alaska Rust Rivers.

To view the collection of winning images online, visit the Royal Geographical Society website or the Parker Harris website.

“Congratulations to all the shortlisted and winning photographers for their stunning and thought-provoking images. Photography is a powerful tool for raising public awareness about the many issues our fragile Earth faces. Thanks to the Royal Geographical Society, Parker Harris, Forestry England, and all those who made Earth Photo possible, helping to get these images and messages out in front of the world”, stated Watt.

Earth Photo was jointly created in 2018 by Forestry England, The Royal Geographical Society and Parker Harris, one of the leading visual arts consultancies in the UK. For those looking to view the images in person, they will be on display at the Royal Geographical Society in London, UK, from June 18 – August 21, 2024, with additional exhibit times listed here.

Clayoquot – Biggest Old-Growth Protected Areas Victory in Decades

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For Immediate Release
June 19, 2024

Biggest Old-Growth Protected Areas Victory in Years: Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and BC NDP Government Declare Protection of 76,000 hectares in Conservancies in Clayoquot Sound.

Conservationists are applauding the leadership of the Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and BC NDP government for yesterday declaring the protection of 76,000 hectares of land – an area about the size of Manning Provincial Park – in new conservancies in Clayoquot Sound near Tofino. Most of the lands committed for protection are comprised of some of the grandest and most intact coastal old-growth temperate rainforests on Earth, and the new protected areas will represent the largest old-growth forest protected areas victory in BC since the Great Bear Rainforest conservancies were announced in 2006. The historic milestone also includes major support from provincial, federal and conservation sources to facilitate sustainable economic development opportunities for the communities to facilitate their economic and social well-being.

Ahousaht Hereditary Representative Tyson Atleo looks toward an ancient redcedar deemed the “most impressive tree in Canada” on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound.

“This is truly a historic and great day – it warms my heart and makes me feel a deep contentment inside to see this vision finally come to fruition. This is a huge old-growth victory for the people and ecosystems in Clayoquot Sound, and for the people of BC and for the world. We greatly applaud the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht leadership for moving forward with their visions to protect the old-growth ecosystems in their territories, while working to build sustainable economies, and we give great thanks to the BC NDP government, the federal Liberal government and organizations like Nature United for supporting their initiatives. I expect the Clayoquot conservancies will further inspire many other communities across BC and Canada to undertake increased protection of the ecosystems in their territories to support their cultures and their people’s well-being, while working to build sustainable economies”, stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

“I extend my deepest gratitude to the leadership and people of the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation for bringing their incredible conservation visions to life in Clayoquot Sound. The embattled coastal rainforests of Clayoquot are famed for having some of the most impressive old-growth forests and trees on the planet, and it fills me with the greatest joy to know that the majority are now finally safe. The BC NDP government and the federal Liberal government also deserve credit for supporting this amazing initiative and bringing significant conservation dollars to the table. As we face the global climate and biodiversity crisis, conservation victories like these, which protect some of the grandest ecosystems on Earth while supporting the creation of more sustainable, conservation-based economies for local Indigenous people, are an inspiring model for other communities who may still be considering alternative paths forward and help buoy the heart. Today is a fantastic day”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner.

More work remains to be done regarding potential mines in the remaining unprotected portions of Clayoquot Sound, while funding is needed for the long-term management of the protected areas.

An aerial view over the ancient forests of Meares Island in Tla’o’qui’aht territory, the site of the first blockades against old-growth logging in 1984 in Clayoquot Sound.

BC Old-Growth Policy Update Adds Little To Current Commitments

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Conservationists note the latest BC government plan doesn’t include much action beyond its previous commitments, with the updated plan lacking specificity and objectives around old-growth protection. Key deferral funding and ecosystem-based targets are still missing. However, the mention of a science advisory group is much welcomed. Existing commitments to protect 30% of BC by 2030 with over $1 billion in provincial-federal funding are moving protected areas progress forward, as the province has been in discussions with dozens of First Nations across BC on their Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) proposals.

The BC government released an old-growth policy update yesterday outlining its roadmap for forest management and old-growth conservation in BC. The document titled “From Review to Action,” is the province’s official implementation plan thus far for the recommendations laid out by the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel (OGSR), which was tasked in 2020 to evaluate how old-growth forests are managed in BC.

The OGSR found that the status quo was ecologically and economically unsustainable and that a “paradigm shift” was urgently needed in forest management in BC, echoing what environmental groups had been arguing for decades. The BC government accepted all of the OGSR recommendations and pledged to implement them, representing a major shift from the government’s previous stances on the old-growth issue.

This plan builds on the steps already taken by the BC government including:

  • A commitment to incrementally protect 30% of BC by 2030 (currently, 15% of BC is in legislated protected areas).
  • Securing over $1 billion to enable this expansion, which includes a dedicated $300-million conservation financing fund and a joint $100 million+ in a federal/provincial old-growth conservation fund.
  • Floating a promising draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) that has the potential to direct protected areas establishment correctly via “ecosystem-based targets”, which would ensure that science-based targets span all ecosystems, including the most endangered and least represented ones.
  • Establishing the Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship (MWLRS) as a necessary coordinating agency in land and resource management.
  • Supporting several Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) plans, including the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht conservancies recently announced in Clayoquot Sound and protecting the Incomappleux Valley last year.

These historic milestones in old-growth conservation are significant and deserve to be celebrated. But conservationists are pointing out that critical gaps remain in government policy, that if not addressed will mean that the protection of the most at-risk old-growth ecosystems will fall short. Except for a promising mention that they will bring together a science advisory committee to help guide their forthcoming biodiversity-related policies, the newly released plan does not directly address the remaining policy gaps. The most important of these gaps include a lack of funding for First Nations’ lost revenues when they consent to old-growth logging deferrals (without such “solutions space” funding, the BC government won’t be able to secure logging deferrals on the full 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth stands in BC – and they know this…) and the lack of ecosystem-based protection targets (protected areas targets for every ecosystem based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge that “aim” protection correctly to also include the most endangered ecosystems, like big-tree old-growth ecosystems, rather than skirting around them as is typically the case with government policies) which may yet come in via the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework due in 2025.

Despite these critical shortcomings in the BC government’s old-growth policies thus far, conservationists are drawing a sharp contrast between the positions of the NDP government and those of the ascendant BC Conservative Party, currently among the opposition parties. BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad recently stated that he would scrap BC’s 30% by 2030 protected areas commitment, making false claims that the commitment would result in 30% less agriculture and 30% less forestry in BC. The reality is that the protected areas expansion would happen almost exclusively on Crown/unceded First Nations lands where farming is already illegal (farming happens on private lands, and private lands are only purchased for conservation purposes from willing sellers and focused on native ecosystems, not farmlands). Forestry would not be reduced by anywhere close to 30% as the added protections would amount to 15% more protected areas at most (given that 15% of BC is already protected) and would include vast areas of alpine, subalpine, wetlands, grassland, bogs, lake and rivers without trees or timber value.

The BC Conservative’s platform states that forestry in BC is already “100% Sustainable” despite the independent findings of the OGSR that the massive clearcutting and old-growth liquidation that define current forest policy represent a model that is diametrically opposed to sustainability. The Conservative platform also pledges to mobilize the government to persecute activists (typically First Nations and environmentalists) who disrupt resource industries. In general, the Conservative platform promotes the classic destructive status quo economics of massive industrial resource depletion that has resulted throughout history in the collapse of both rural employment and ecosystems — think of the Atlantic cod fisheries or the 30-year decline of forestry in BC due to the massive overcutting of the valley bottoms and lower elevations where the biggest, best trees once stood, leaving behind smaller trees on steep slopes that are expensive to reach, resulting in mill closures — instead of the modernization of the BC economy towards smart, diversified, and sustainable industries and policies.

EEA's Ken Wu, wearing a blue jacket and grey pants, stands beside a massive Douglas-fir tree surrounded by the lush green foliage of the unprotected Eden Grove.

Endangered Ecosystem Alliance’s Ken Wu with a giant Douglas-fir tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Quotes:

Ken Wu – Executive Director, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance:

“The BC NDP government has objectively taken us farther along than any previous government in bringing the key policy pieces together needed to protect old-growth and endangered ecosystems. Under their leadership and First Nations, we are on the brink of the largest expansion of protected areas in BC’s history as dozens of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area plans are now underway. However, they are still missing several critical policies, the most important of which is the lack of ecosystem-based protection targets — because just one province-wide target is insufficient to capture all ecosystems and will potentially allow new protected areas to skirt around the many productive forests with the biggest trees — based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. They also have thus far failed to allocate the needed funding to cover the lost forestry revenues of First Nations if they agree to implement old-growth logging deferrals – hence resulting in only half of the priority, most at-risk old-growth being deferred from logging — a frustrating and consistent failing on the BC NDP government’s shoulders for which they deserve full blame and that they must remedy ASAP.

Right now, the rise in the polls of the BC Conservative Party with their extremist anti-environmental stance to kill BC’s protected areas commitment and who state against all evidence that ‘forestry in BC is already 100% sustainable’, is undoubtedly creating great caution within the BC NDP government against moving forward quickly with ambitious environmental action. It is essential for BC environmentalists to expose and tackle the giant Conservative cave troll in the room – Rustad’s radical anti-environmental agenda- as in 5 months they may be ruling the province and undertaking a backwards reversal to 1980’s resource policies that kill most of the forthcoming protected areas expansion, as is their plan.

The old-growth update released by the Ministry of Forests yesterday is a fairly lacklustre plan with few objectives and little action. It’s mostly about processes regarding shared decision-making with First Nations and more planning tables. The one bright light is the mention of an expert advisory panel to implement biodiversity-related measures — a much-needed and welcome precursor to potential ecosystem-based targets. The actual action from the BC government has been largely outside the Ministry of Forests, via the new Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship which has been mandated to protect 30% of the province’s land area by 2030, is in charge of over $1 billion in provincial-federal funding to make it happen, and is now moving forward with discussions on dozens of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) projects of First Nations across BC, totalling millions of hectares that will help protect ecosystems and indigenous cultures.

My overall assessment of Eby and old growth is that he has taken unprecedented leaps forward in developing the enabling policies to expand protected areas in BC via First Nations, which is how protected areas are now done in BC, and he should be thanked for this — but there are still critical gaps in conservation policies that have to be fixed. Eby needs to show leadership and get this done.”

TJ Watt – Photographer & Campaigner, Ancient Forest Alliance:

“The BC government’s latest old-growth update notes some significant strides that have been made toward enacting a paradigm shift in the conservation and management of forests in BC, however, it lacks specificity and objectives on the action front – namely, how the government will address the fact that thousand-year-old trees with trunks the size of living rooms are still being cut down today. British Columbians are rightfully angry and dismayed by the fact that they still must advocate for this destructive practice to stop. Ecological emergencies such as the biodiversity and climate crisis that old-growth logging massively contribute to call for a modern version of wartime efforts. The BC government must show leadership and pull out all stops to remove well-known barriers to old-growth protection such as providing at least $100 million in deferral or ‘solutions space’ funding and ensuring that new protected areas are aimed at preserving the most at-risk areas through ecosystem-based targets. This calls on them to become true advocates for protecting the best old-growth forests instead of being content with landing only part-way there.”

Ian Thomas – Research & Engagement Officer, Ancient Forest Alliance:

“We are heartened by the progress made by the provincial government on conservation financing and their commitments to vastly expand protected areas. But without directing that funding towards the most threatened old-growth ecosystems we will continue to lose large tracts of our most magnificent ancient forests. This plan was a missed opportunity to identify the gaps and own up to the stalled progress on TAP deferrals. The actual results of this ongoing refusal to tackle this issue will be the loss of irreplaceable forests and the further degradation of threatened biodiversity in BC. The NDP can and must do better to ensure the TAP deferrals are implemented in their entirety, and ecosystem-based protection targets guide land-use decisions across the province, but let’s not kid ourselves and assume the NDP’s failures are remotely comparable to the stated goals of the BC Conservatives. The Conservative platform is quite simply terrifying. We are in an ecological catastrophe with compounding biodiversity and climate crises that threaten human well-being on an unprecedented scale. The NDP government, despite moving far too slowly in many ways, has at least accepted that we are at a moment when the ship needs to be swerved away from the iceberg. The Conservative platform is about aiming right at the iceberg and leaning on the throttle. The wildfire crisis bearing down on the province this summer is a result (globally and locally) of the same destructive policies of unsustainable resource extraction that John Rustad is promising to intensify. Furthermore, Rustad has pledged to use the legal system to target, intimidate and persecute anyone who threatens the profits of resource corporations, pledging to side with large corporate development over the voices of local community members. The environmental movement needs to hold the NDP to account for their failings, but also not make a false equivalency between current policy and the extreme anti-environmental agenda that the conservatives are promising to implement.”

AFA's Ian Thomas, wearing a blue jacket and grey pants, stands beside an old-growth cedar in a forest under imminent threat, as seen by the bright orange felling tape wrapped around the massive tree.

Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ian Thomas beside an old-growth cedar in a forest under imminent threat on northern Vancouver Island in Quatsino territory.

More information:

Our main concerns with regards to the BC government’s latest old-growth update include:

  1. There is little mention of old-growth protection and no mention of ecosystem-based targets. It mainly hides behind better consultations and forest planning tables but lacks many actual objectives. The beginning of the document does mention the importance of the BC Nature Agreement and the BC Conservation Financing mechanism, both funds that are designed to expand the protected areas system – but then doesn’t incorporate them in the body of their old-growth policies.
  2. The Ministry of Forests has failed to secure old-growth logging deferrals for half of the priority most at-risk Technical Advisory Panel old-growth categories (i.e. 1.3 million of the 2.6 million hectares are secured). There is no great mystery why this is so – the BC government has still yet to provide deferral or “solutions space” funding for the lost revenues of First Nations who have an economic dependency on old-growth logging and who are contemplating deferrals but who have not committed yet to IPCAs. This has been an ever-present failing of this government and we emphasize the importance of deferral or “solutions space” funding.
  3. There is no BC Protected Areas Strategy (unlike with the NDP government in the 1990s) to develop plans, centralize resources, undertake needed assessments like gap analyses, and systematically prioritize areas via science-based targets. The current approach is ad hoc based on a first-come, first-serve scenario from First Nations who have previously developed IPCA proposals largely driven by previous federal funding.
  4. The local Forest Landscape Planning tables can include the establishment of new protected areas, but it certainly isn’t being emphasized by the Ministry of Forests. There is no substitute for a coordinated provincial strategy to get to 30% by 2030 entailing ecosystem-based targets.
  5. The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) when implemented could create the targets needed to guide new protected areas expansion (e.g. Provincial Conservancies and Parks) — as it must — but the response of the civil servants, when questioned, seems to indicate it will more likely just update targets for the weaker Biodiversity Guidebook conservation reserve system. i.e. It will only guide the weaker and smaller old-growth reserves in the “working landscape” like Old-Growth Management Areas and Wildlife Habitat Areas — both of which are tenuous designations full of logging loopholes — but not necessarily the major protected areas system like Conservancies and Parks. Instead, the protected areas with strong protections need to aim for the “good stuff” too and not largely emphasize alpine and subalpine landscapes. Strong ecosystem-based targets from the BEHF that form the foundation of a BC Protected Areas Strategy and that guide the expenditure of the BC Nature Agreement and Conservation Financing funds, in terms of priority areas and expenditures, are vital. Otherwise, BC will end up with a protected areas system that still largely skirts around the valley bottoms and emphasizes protecting a lot of alpine and subalpine areas of low timber values.
  6. We have concerns that the timber industry may be involved in creating the conservation targets of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework – this is an absolute no-go for conservation. Independent science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees, similar to the Coast Information Team struck up during the Great Bear Rainforest process, are needed, and the proposed BC Biodiversity Office would be the natural one to convene such a panel of experts in consultation with First Nations. We are concerned that no funding is provided to First Nations in the Forest Landscape Planning tables to establish conservation areas like Old-Growth Management Areas, Ungulate Winter Ranges, Wildlife Habitat Areas, etc. The funding thus far is only where First Nations want to create IPCAs. Without funding directed to First Nations right now for old-growth conservation at the FLP tables, these FLP tables may end up “baking in” forestry plans that are pre-paradigm shift — and this is what the MoF seems to be aiming for.
  7. The MoF has stated that they will be reviewing OGMA rules — and we hope it means that boundaries cannot be changed to allow logging of choice stands.
  8. The BC government currently only allows for incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth forests to be subtracted from rather than added to the priority TAP logging deferral areas. This constitutes a significant timber bias and conservation loophole that must be closed.
  9. Most importantly, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) due in early 2025 will need to devise ecosystem-based targets that are:
    • Legally binding and not merely aspirational guidelines.
    • Guide the expansion of both the protected areas system like Provincial Conservancies and Parks and the biodiversity/conservation reserve system like OGMAs.
    • Are fine filter enough to represent all BEC zones, subzones, variants, ecological communities, and, most critically, *Forest Productivity Distinctions* (i.e. areas that grow large vs medium vs small trees).
    • Scale-up protection by incorporating the latest conservation biology science, based on independent scientists and Traditional Ecological Knowledge holders, not industry reps.
AFA's Ian Thomas, wearing a blue jacket and dark grey pants, stands beside a freshly cut old-growth cedar. The tree's stump dwarfs Thomas, who is 6"5', amongst a sea of more clearcut stumps and debris.

Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ian Thomas beside an ancient redcedar tree felled in 2022 on northern Vancouver Island in Quatsino territory.

See our information explaining the central importance of ecosystem-based targets and forest productivity distinctions.

In short, we believe what is needed is:

  1. An action plan that brings a goal of old-growth protection as the first cornerstone of old-growth management, both in terms of the real protected areas and biodiversity conservation reserves. It should emphasize the centrality of the BC Nature Agreement, BC Old-Growth Fund, and Conservation Financing mechanism to achieve these goals in its policies.
  2. A commitment to ecosystem-based targets to guide protected areas, conservation areas, and resource decisions – all based on independent science teams and Traditional Ecological Knowledge without industry.
  3. Recognizing the importance of forest productivity distinctions in protection and conservation targets.
  4. Developing a BC Protected Areas Strategy like the NDP of the 1990s to develop targets, analyses, and plans and to deploy resources and action to systematically expand the protected areas system based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
  5. A clear statement that the province still has a goal of achieving deferrals on the 2.6 million hectares of the TAP priority most-at-risk recommended deferral old-growth areas.
  6. Allocating deferral or “solutions space” funding for First Nations to implement deferrals even where they haven’t decided on IPCAs.
  7. Allocating funding for First Nations at the Forest Landscape Planning tables for potential lost revenues should they move forward with conservation reserves like OGMAs, WHAs, and UWRs.
  8. Moving to close the loopholes in OGMAs that allow moveable boundaries to enable logging and in WHAs and other such conservation designations that allow logging to take place.
  9. Ensure the addition of misidentified at-risk old-growth forests to the priority list of deferrals where identified by scientists, citizens, and industry.

From ground level, we are looking up at an ancient western redcedar, of which is marked with falling tape and is in danger of being logged.

 

Conservationists locate and climb the largest Sitka spruce tree in BC’s famed Carmanah Valley

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Spectacular drone footage and photos reveal climbers more than 20 stories in the air in the “hydra-like” canopy of an old-growth Sitka spruce, highlighting the incredible grandeur of old-growth forests in British Columbia during Earth Week.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) have located, climbed, and measured the largest spruce tree in the famed Carmanah Valley. The record-sized tree — whose mammoth trunk forks into multiple stems reminiscent of the multi-headed hydra of Greek mythology — grows protected within the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park in Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island. The tree was identified by AFA’s TJ Watt and Ian Thomas while exploring the valley in the spring of 2022 and climbed later in the fall with the help of professional arborists. The images and videos are being released for the first time today to celebrate Earth Week.

See an incredible video of the climb and the full photo gallery.

The towering tree measures 12.9 ft (3.89 m) wide near its base, 233 ft (71 m) tall, and has an average crown spread of 72 ft (22 m). According to the BC Big Tree Registry, this makes it the largest tree in the Carmanah Valley (despite the famed “Carmanah Giant” being taller), and the fourth-largest Sitka spruce on record in BC. Two blue whales laid end-to-end would still not equal the height of this immense tree, which is one of the largest living organisms on Earth. Its immense, multi-stemmed crown has garnered it the nickname the “Hydra Spruce.”

Through a fisheye lens, a man wearing neon ascends the largest Sitka spruce tree in Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, with many other trees surrounding it.

Climber Will Clayton of Bartlett Tree Experts begins his ascent up the towering trunk of the largest spruce tree in the Carmanah Valley in Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island, BC.

“This giant is by far the most spectacular Sitka spruce tree that we’ve come across during our decades-long search for big trees in BC,” noted AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “We had been big tree hunting in the valley for two days as part of my work as a National Geographic Explorer, when, just before dark, a massive crown caught our eye in the distance. Right away, we knew we had found something special. Most Sitkas are tall and straight like a Roman pillar, but this one had an enormous trunk that forked into five major stems, creating a sprawling canopy like the head of a hydra. Near the base, it would have taken seven or eight of us to wrap our arms around the trunk. Seeing it from the ground was one thing, but we knew that to truly highlight the tree’s grandeur, we would need to climb to the top.”

AFA later teamed up with professional arborists from Bartlett Tree Experts to ascend, document, and measure the ancient tree. Using a 12-foot “Big Shot” slingshot, the team fired a line over a large branch high up into the canopy. Then, using low-impact techniques where climbers ascend the ropes themselves rather than the tree’s trunk, they could reach within a few meters of the top of the tree. Lowering down a giant tape measure, they calculated a height measurement of 233 feet or 71 meters tall — as tall as a 21-story building.

“I’ve climbed thousands of trees in my life, but this one was like none other,” said arborist and climber Matthew Beatty with Bartlett Tree Experts. “Even within the Carmanah Valley, where we have climbed numerous trees for scientific research projects, this is a giant among giants. The feeling of being within an ancient canopy is an immersive, humbling, and awe-inspiring experience. I hope that by highlighting the magnificence of these rainforest ecosystems, we inspire people about the need to protect those forests still at risk outside the park boundaries.”

Climber Finn Rowlands dangles among the massive canopy of the Hydra Spruce during golden hour. All five trunks visible in this image are part of the same tree.

The Carmanah Valley has long been famous as one of the most superlative old-growth Sitka spruce forests left in Canada. Beyond the Hydra Spruce, it is home to Canada’s tallest known tree, the Carmanah Giant, which towers 315 feet (96 metres) in the sky. The Carmanah Valley was the focus of intense conservation efforts in the early 1990s when it was imminently threatened by logging. Big-tree hunter and conservationist, the late Randy Stoltmann, was a particular champion of protecting this exceptional valley. After intense public pressure, the entire watershed was eventually protected as a provincial park alongside sections of the nearby Walbran Valley. The Carmanah is now celebrated as one of the most magnificent old-growth forests on Earth, with visitors coming from across the world to walk through its vast pillars of enormous trees.

Pioneering research in the canopies of tall trees in the Carmanah Valley in the early 1990s also revealed thousands of invertebrates living in the lush jungle of epiphytic ferns, mosses, and lichens. Many of these species were entirely new to science and are believed to only live in the crowns of old-growth trees and nowhere else on Earth. Other inhabitants of these unique “sky gardens” include wandering salamanders, which recent research suggests may “glide” from branch to branch like flying squirrels, and the endangered marbled murrelet. This tiny seabird nests on the mossy cushions found on the immense branches of old-growth trees.

“When we walk among trees at ground level, huge as they seem, we are often only seeing one third of the tree, which can extend hundreds of more feet into the air,” said Watt. “Climbing into the canopy of a giant old-growth tree is like entering a lost world seen by very few people. Their branches can be as big as regular-sized trees and are often adorned with suspended gardens, overflowing with mosses, ferns, lichens, and shrubs. In those moments, you realize the vast ecological value of even a single old-growth giant. They are worlds unto themselves, with creatures that might live their entire lives in the canopy without ever touching solid ground. These ancient giants are like huge, living apartment buildings that have grown over centuries, housing uncountable numbers of individual creatures and species. These trees are irreplaceable in our lifetimes. I hope the images and videos we’ve captured here inspire reverence and awe in those who see them and inspire people to engage and speak up for protecting old-growth forests across BC.”

 

Research has shown that in addition to their immense ecological value in providing habitat for wildlife, supporting biodiversity, maintaining clean water, sequestering carbon, and buffering against climate change, standing old-growth forests and protected areas provide greater economic benefits to communities in the longer term when compared to logging them. Factoring in ecotourism, recreation, non-timber forest products, carbon credits, and enhanced real estate values, among other industries, standing old-growth forests have been shown to provide greater economic benefits over time than the one-time economic benefits gained from cutting them down.

“Carmanah is a perfect example of what society gains when we set aside large areas for nature. Thirty years after it was saved from logging, Carmanah still has vast stands of the giant trees that have been decimated elsewhere in BC. It still harbours threatened species such as marbled murrelets and western screech owls, and, it’s still a place of hidden natural wonders, where we can seek out and document some of the largest and oldest living beings on Earth,” stated Watt. “Conservationists 30 years ago gave us this gift; without them, the valley and its skyscraper trees would be another stump field transitioning to an industrial tree farm. We must give that same gift — healthy ecosystems and protected old-growth forests — to future generations.”

Climber Matthew Beatty near the top of the tree, which measures 233 feet (71 m) tall – as tall as a 21-story building.

As the BC government develops its new Old-Growth Strategy as part of a larger mandate to expand protection to 30% of BC by 2030, it must commit to legally binding ecosystem-based protection targets. These must factor in “forest productivity distinctions” (differentiating between sites that grow large trees vs. sites that typically grow small trees in cold, rocky, or boggy sites) set by science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees. These critical distinctions are vital to ensure the most at-risk and least-protected ecosystems are prioritized — otherwise, protection will still be largely focused on alpine and subalpine areas with low to no timber values.

Old-growth forests have unique characteristics not found in the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with. These forests are typically re-logged every 50 to 60 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again. Old-growth forests support endangered species, the multi-billion dollar tourism industry, carbon storage, clean water, wild salmon, and First Nations cultures. Well over 90% of the high-productivity old-growth forests with the biggest trees and over 80% of the medium-productivity old-growth forests have been logged in BC.

This climbing project was part of AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt’s work as a National Geographic and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer, supported by the Trebek Initiative. This grant supports emerging Canadian explorers, scientists, photographers, geographers, and educators with the goal of using storytelling to ignite “a passion to preserve” in all Canadians. Watt was among the first round of recipients in 2021.

All tree climbing and drone filming was done with permission from local governments.

The Carmanah Valley at dusk, with shades of green and blue in the valley and pink along the mountain outline.

The Carmanah Valley

International Day of Forests: Conservation groups alarmed that BC is backsliding on Old-Growth Forest Policy Progress

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In light of International Day of Forests on March 21, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) are expressing serious concerns that the British Columbian government is backsliding on its previous policy progress to ensure an ecological paradigm shift regarding its management of old-growth forests across BC.

“Despite significant conservation policy progress over the past year since Premier Eby came in, including his commitment to essentially double the protected areas system by 2030 and his allocation of major funding to enable this to happen, we’re concerned by what appears to be recent backsliding by the BC government on old-growth conservation,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

“This includes all manner of sophistry by the Ministry of Forests to sustain the destructive status quo of old-growth liquidation, including having ‘deliberate bad aim’ to miss critical protection targets — that is, having an emphasis on saving smaller trees while the big trees continue to get logged; returning to the old dishonest ways of statistical PR-spin to mask their failures; promoting weak protection standards full of logging loopholes; facilitating the increased economic dependency of First Nations communities on old-growth logging; and doing a ‘slow walk’ in working with First Nations to implement old-growth logging deferrals in order to see the status quo further entrenched before any potential paradigm shift can occur.

“The forces of the old guard within government are working strategically to contain change and limit any paradigm shift to minimize the impacts of new conservation policies on the available timber supply — that is, enabling industry to ‘log until extinction.’ Eby is in charge, and he needs to do a selective harvest or controlled burn to cleanse the politics, policies and bureaucracy in BC of these old, unsustainable logging mindsets ASAP. I know he has the backbone for this, should he choose to do so. And we expect this now.”

Old-growth logging in Quatsino territory on northern Vancouver Island.

AFA and EEA acknowledge the genuine historic progress for old-growth protection that has been implemented under this BC government in recent times and are thankful for several significant leaps forward in conservation policy that Premier David Eby and Minister Nathan Cullen have implemented.

Positive steps toward increased old-growth protection:

  • A commitment to incrementally protect 30% of BC by 2030 (currently, 15% of BC is in legislated protected areas). 
  • Securing over $1 billion to enable this expansion, which includes a dedicated $300-million conservation financing fund and a joint $100 million+ in a federal/provincial old-growth conservation fund.
  • Floating a promising draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) that has the potential to direct protected areas establishment correctly via “ecosystem-based targets”, which would ensure that science-based targets span all ecosystems, including the most endangered and least represented ones.
  • Establishing the Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship (MWLRS) as a necessary coordinating agency in land and resource management.
  • Supporting several Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) plans, including the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht conservancies recently announced in Clayoquot Sound and protecting the In​​comappleux Valley last year.

However, key issues threaten this progress, including:

  1. The failure to secure old-growth logging deferrals for half of the priority most at-risk old-growth forests (the grandest, oldest, and rarest) as identified by the province’s appointed science team, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). After over two years, only 1.23 million of the 2.6 million hectares are secured. This is primarily due to the BC government’s unwillingness to provide deferral or “solutions space” funding to cover the lost revenues of First Nations who have an economic dependency on old-growth logging in their territories. This has been an ever-present failure of this government.
  2. The BC government’s refusal to proactively identify and add incorrectly categorized old-growth forests that, in truth, meet the criteria for priority deferrals but were missed in the initial TAP mapping exercise. Currently, the province is providing guidance to industry on how to subtract incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth forests from the TAP maps. This “subtract, don’t add” policy for incorrectly categorized old growth that should be deferred from logging demonstrates an egregious bias toward the timber industry and a conservation loophole that must be closed.
  3. The alarming way in which the province is using misleading statistics to cover its failure to secure logging deferrals in the most at-risk TAP priority old-growth stands by lumping together vast tracts of much smaller trees/less at-risk old growth secured through unrelated deferrals. While all old-growth logging deferrals are welcome and needed (the separate set of deferrals are forests that First Nations have identified as important for cultural values or are included in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) proposals are important areas too), but not identical to the grandest, rarest or oldest stands identified by the TAP which must always remain a conservation priority), lumping the smaller trees together with the biggest and most at-risk old-growth categories to produce an aggregated number of 2.4 million hectares serves to sow public confusion and enables the BC government to shirk its responsibility to secure the full 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk categories. In truth, 1.23 million hectares of the 2.6 million hectares of priority, most at-risk categories are currently deferred. In addition, the Ministry of Forests is also lumping together the TAP priority deferral areas with forests already protected in provincial parks and conservancies to get credit for “deferring” forests that had been protected for decades. These disingenuous and misleading statistics sow confusion and create mistrust. Fundamentally, these communication strategies suggest that the province is not prioritizing the full implementation of the 2.6 million hectares of TAP priority deferrals, and instead is trying to escape its commitment to preserve the most at-risk, big-tree forests by substituting protection for less threatened areas with smaller trees and lower timber values.

Other major problems with BC’s old-growth policies thus far include a lack of ecosystem-based protection targets to guide the protected areas expansion (which may yet come via the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework) as well as the weak protection standards of conservation reserves such as Old-Growth Management Areas, which has boundaries that can be moved around due to the influence of the timber industry lobby, and Wildlife Habitat Areas, which can be logged.

Additional issues include the province facilitating an increase in the economic dependency in many First Nations communities on old-growth logging, a lack of proactive advocacy by the province to foster new protected areas at planning tables and in general (rather, new protected areas are solely based on the will of First Nations, with the province doing nothing to actively identify and champion additional potential protected areas based on their high conservation values, subject to First Nations consent) and a lack of sufficient scale economic transition policies to move the timber industry away from old-growth toward second-growth stands.

 

“We’re in a global biodiversity and climate crisis, with the planet just experiencing its hottest year on record,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “Endangered old-growth forests in British Columbia, which store vast amounts of carbon and are havens for diverse species, are the antidote for what ails our world. On International Day of Forests, Premier David Eby and the BC government must renew their commitment to ensuring the old-growth forests identified as most at-risk are protected. At least $100 million in ‘solutions space’ funding that helps offset lost logging revenues for First Nations who are being asked to defer the most valuable and at-risk forests in their territories, along with the implementation of ecosystem-based targets that prioritize the protection of rare, big-tree old-growth forests and other highly endangered ecosystems, are a necessity. 1.3 million hectares (roughly half) of the old-growth forests identified by the old-growth science panel as being most at-risk remain undeferred and open to logging. Will Premier Eby oversee these endangered forests persist into the future or risk their permanent destruction? The BC government has a global responsibility to do the right thing.”

To turn this around, the province must:

  1. Truly commit to the mapping and the spirit of the TAP methodology, which prioritizes protecting the threatened big-tree old-growth forests. This means identifying barriers to protection and creating a credible, transparent strategy to overcoming those barriers, such as committing $120 million in “solutions space” funding to allow First Nations to accept these deferrals without facing financial hardship from lost logging revenues, as well as pursuing the continued addition of forests that were missed in the initial mapping exercise through ground-truthing and improved inventory data.
  2. Develop a rigorous and binding Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework that mandates fine-filter ecosystem-based protection targets incorporating forest productivity distinctions, for all ecosystems across BC. This framework must scale up protection by incorporating the latest conservation biology science and be developed by independent scientists and Traditional Ecological Knowledge holders, not representatives from industry.
  3. Close loopholes in current landscape reserves such as Old Growth Management Areas and Wildlife Habitat Areas to ensure they can’t be moved to facilitate logging or to allow logging within their boundaries. Until then, they must not be included in BC’s accounting of how much territory is protected as part of its 30% by 2030 goal.
  4. Create a BC Protected Areas Strategy informed by the forthcoming BEHF that identifies the priority areas for protection and that guides the expenditure of the BC Nature Agreement and Conservation Financing funds as BC expands its protected area system to achieve 30% protection by 2030.
  5. Ensure that the BC government is taking an active hand in regional planning, especially at the Forest Landscape Planning tables, by advocating for the protection of key old-growth ecosystems and making conservation financing funding available to enable First Nations to reasonably choose protection instead of timber extraction without major financial loss.
  6. Undertake a much greater economic transition policy of incentives and regulations to move the timber industry from an old-growth industry toward a modernized, value-added, sustainable second-growth industry, and to incentivize the development of a larger conservation-based green economy associated with an expanded protected areas system.

Without following these steps, BC will inevitably end up with a protected areas system that will continue to largely skirt around the rich valley bottoms and focus protection on predominantly alpine and subalpine areas with low timber values while the biggest trees continue to fall and BC’s 50-year “War in the Woods” will continue to flare up and rage on.

“The vast resources now available from the federal and provincial government for conservation must be laser-focused toward protecting the most biodiverse and threatened ecosystems, providing whatever resources First Nations need to offset lost revenues and allowing them to choose protection without taking significant financial losses,” stated Ian Thomas of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“The forests that TAP recommended for deferral are endangered because they are also the most lucrative forests to log, and therefore, successive governments have largely avoided protecting them. That must change. Whenever the government uses misleading statistics to obscure the stubborn fact that 50% of the most threatened forests remain open for logging, they signal a wavering commitment to protecting the irreplaceable. The province, which has driven the liquidation of the oldest and most magnificent forests in BC for over a century, cannot just shrug its shoulders and walk away while the last of these threatened forests are destroyed. There are consequences for all with this approach — including for the government.”

“In short, the BC government is at a crossroads,” said Watt. “It can choose to bolster the significant strides it has taken toward protecting old-growth forests by closing the funding and policy gaps, helping to save endangered ecosystems while supporting conservation-based economies. Or, it can slink back to its old ways of fudging statistics to imply old-growth forests are not at risk while facilitating the destruction of the best of what little remains, leaving behind impoverished landscapes and communities.”

Wu said, “We have hope that Premier Eby will ensure that his old-growth policy progress doesn’t ultimately end up as a sinking ship due to the old-growth timber lobby and its friends. The forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, still under development, holds the greatest promise of all. The single largest game-changer in BC’s conservation policies will be if the BEHF mandates legally-binding, ecosystem-based targets that include forest productivity distinctions to ensure that the most at-risk, least represented ecosystems are protected based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Premier Eby must see this done.”

View these infographics that explain the central importance of “ecosystem-based targets” and a strong Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework here.

And see an explanation of why “forest productivity distinctions” must be included in ecosystem-based targets here.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director, Ken Wu, stands in a blue jacket amongst the spectacular yet unprotected ancient forests of the Mossome Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

BC Opens the Door for a Potential Paradigm Shift in Conservation

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For Immediate Release
November 15, 2023

BC Opens the Door for a Potential Paradigm Shift in Conservation: Prioritizing Saving the Most Endangered Ecosystems via Ecosystem-Based Targets.

If done right, conservationists say the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) could ensure a major paradigm shift to safeguard the most endangered and least protected ecosystems, such as big-treed old-growth forests (“high productivity” old-growth forests with the classic forest giants) and diverse valley bottom and low elevation ecosystems — rather than the status quo of primarily protecting areas of low timber values. Conservationists commend the vision in the draft framework for being a potentially revolutionary game-changer in conservation, but the devil will be in the details when the framework is completed in the spring.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are commending the BC government for developing a draft policy framework that intends to guide all new protection, conservation, and land-use activities in BC to ensure ecosystem integrity.

“We commend Premier David Eby and Minister Nathan Cullen for launching this potentially revolutionary game-changer in conservation, falling on the heels of their $1 billion-plus funding agreements to expand protected areas, announced earlier this month,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director. “If this framework results in science-based targets to protect the full diversity of ecosystems in BC, including factoring in ‘forest productivity distinctions’ to protect the classic old-growth stands that spawned the ‘War in the Woods’, then it would up-end the traditional conservation model in BC and across much of the world which seeks to minimize impacts of conservation on industry. In BC, the dominant paradigm has long focused on minimizing the impacts of conservation on the available timber supply for logging, thus emphasizing the protection of alpine, subalpine, far north, and bog landscapes with low to no timber values. Ecosystem-based targets mean that you aim protected areas establishment towards the most endangered and least protected ecosystems. Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like sending in a fire brigade to hose down the non-burning homes, while those on fire are largely ignored. Or a surgeon who makes no distinction between organs, and simply has a target in kilograms to remove. While much greater specificity is still needed as the BEHF moves toward policy and legislation, so far the province is largely signaling the right approach — and British Columbians will need to keep speaking up to make sure this policy lands right and is not a squandered opportunity.”

In BC, typically the ecosystems least coveted by industry are the most protected, in particular those with low to no timber values, such as alpine, subalpine, far north, and bog landscapes. These are native ecosystems that deserve protection. However, to immediately tackle the urgent extinction and climate crises, a far greater emphasis needs to be placed on saving those ecosystems most at risk and coveted for development by resource industries (particularly logging in BC). These at-risk ecosystems (with the big, valuable timber) tend to be more concentrated at lower elevations in southern BC.

“This document represents a potentially profound and necessary change in BC’s approach to nature conservation,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “For over a century in BC, the government has prioritized industrial extraction at the expense of ecosystems. Finally, we are seeing that focus change. This transformation cannot come soon enough as many of our richest and most biodiverse ecosystems have been pushed right to the brink. The framework, however, must adhere to the centrality of legislated protected areas as foundational to prioritizing ecosystem-based health. Overemphasis on developing ever more stringent methods to practice industrial extraction in threatened ecosystems instead of identifying the areas most in need of full protection will continue to see the erosion of BC’s irreplaceable ecosystems. As this framework is further defined, we will need to see ecosystem protection targets focussed on the most biodiverse and threatened ecosystems such as productive old-growth forests. Without ecosystem-based protection targets to safeguard areas from industrial extraction, we will continue to see these ecosystems further chipped away at and degraded.”

A man in a red jacket stands beside an enormous old-growth Sitka spruce among a sea of green ferns and other old-growth fauna growing unprotected west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer & campaigner, TJ Watt, beside an enormous old-growth Sitka spruce growing unprotected west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

Key tenets of this agreement include a commitment to the creation of a “Provincial Biodiversity Officer” who would have responsibility for implementing the intentions of the framework, the development of updated guidance for the management of specific ecosystems, the acknowledgment of the need for protection of the most threatened ecosystems, and the acknowledgment of the need to maintain the natural range of variation in native ecosystems. Each of these represents key policy commitments that the EEA and AFA have advocated for and are critical tenets of ensuring a true paradigm shift in the management and protection of ecosystems in BC, particularly if targets include forest productivity distinctions (likely the largest uphill battle at this point). Despite these extremely positive signals, conservationists are cautioning that this framework must also recognize the critical role of legislated protected areas for at-risk ecosystems, not merely updated standards for exploitation.

To be an effective framework, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) must include the following components:

  1. Ecosystem-based protection targets that are legally binding and “fine filter” enough (including Biogeoclimatic subzones and variants, plant communities, seral stages of old-growth within their natural range of variability, and forest productivity distinctions) and that ensure sufficient scale of protection to support the long-term persistence of these ecosystems, based on the latest insights from conservation biology and landscape ecology from designated independent science teams, and from Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees of First Nations.
  2. It must emphasize protected areas and uphold protected areas integrity; that is, the standards and permanency of protected areas to exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas activities, and without moveable boundaries. There are concerns that the province is emphasizing weaker conservation reserves, such as Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMAs) (where boundaries can be moved under timber industry lobby efforts) and Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs) (where logging in some areas can occur), rather than the stronger protected areas, like Provincial Conservancies and various PA (Protected Area) designations. In contrast, these stronger protected areas are permanent and exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development, all while protecting First Nations subsistence rights, co-management authority and rights and title. OGMA and WHA loopholes must be closed, as they are vital parts of the conservation reserve system to pick up the pieces of remaining old-growth and vital habitat. There are also concerns that the province is developing a new protected area designation that will have flexitarian minimum standards that still allow for commercial logging. Our organizations strongly advocate against these minimum standards that are easily shapable.
  3. The BEHF when completed in a few months must guide the deployment of funds from the BC Nature Agreement and BC Conservation Financing Mechanism to ensure protection is most heavily funded for the most at-risk and least protected ecosystems. It must also guide the Forest Landscape Planning tables, where conservation reserves (eg. OGMAs, WHAs, Visual Quality Objectives, Riparian Management Areas, etc.), forestry and resource use activities with First Nations, the province, and stakeholders.

“The province under Premier David Eby’s leadership and the federal government has provided half of the equation to protect ecosystems on a major scale in BC — the major funding to fuel protected areas expansion by supporting First Nations conservation initiatives. We have just heard from First Nations we’re working with to establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) that those funds are already being committed to move their old-growth protected areas initiatives along, which is excellent. Now the other vital half of the equation: to aim protected areas establishment towards the most endangered ecosystems. Premier Eby and Minister Cullen, with their new draft BEHF, are signaling that the province may very well be headed there. To make it simple, this whole thing must scale up the protection of the most endangered and least represented ecosystems in BC. If it doesn’t do that, it’s a flop. Let’s see where this goes and keep speaking up to make it happen,” stated Wu.

See a new EEA video series from a week ago on the status of BC old-growth and protected areas policies here.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer & campaigner, TJ Watt, beside an enormous old-growth Sitka spruce growing unprotected west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

Billion-dollar BC Nature Agreement will Supercharge Protected Areas Expansion across the Province

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For Immediate Release
November 3rd, 2023

Conservationists thank the BC and federal governments for the $1.1 billion launch of the BC Nature Agreement. The federal government has provided $500 million and BC is providing $563 million from diverse funding sources — now purposed toward achieving BC’s 30% by 2030 nature protection, conservation, and restoration goals via First Nations conservation agreements.

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) are greatly applauding the BC and federal governments and the First Nations Leadership Council for launching the BC Nature Agreement, with $1.1 billion in funding to start, to help achieve BC’s minimum protected areas target of protecting 30% by 2030 of its land area. The tripartite agreement, negotiated between the BC government, the federal government, and the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), comes with a $563 million contribution from the province and a $500 million federal contribution. The fund will continue to grow with major contributions from the philanthropic community and potentially from future government budgets over time.

Funds will be used for supporting First Nations to establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and conservation initiatives, endangered species recovery, compensation of resource licensees, and habitat restoration, with a central mandate to achieve the 30% by 2030 protection target of BC in line with Canada’s national protection target.

“This is the largest provincial funding package in Canada’s history for nature conservation, and we understand it will continue to grow beyond the initial sum of $1.1 billion,” stated Ken Wu, Executive Director for EEA. “Our central campaign focus for years has been on the necessity of government funding for First Nations to establish new protected areas to save old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems in BC. Today, Premier Eby, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, and the First Nations Leadership Council delivered, and we thank them greatly. The funds will be critically important as the ‘fuel’ to enable Indigenous conservation initiatives to help BC reach its minimum protection target of 30% by 2030. Now we need ecosystem-based protection targets connected to these conservation funds to prioritize the most endangered and least protected ecosystems in BC. Without ecosystem-based targets to aim protection priorities wisely, it’ll be like a fire brigade hosing down all the non-burning houses while the houses on fire are largely ignored. Or a surgeon who doesn’t make distinctions between organs, instead just aiming to reach an overall target of removing a couple of kilograms.”

“Because First Nations are legally in the driver’s seat in BC when it comes to on-the-ground protection of their unceded territories, a major fund such as the one announced today is vital to support them and to deal with all the various costs of establishing new protected areas, particularly in contested landscapes,” stated TJ Watt, Campaigner for AFA. “It would be impossible to essentially double the protected areas in BC from 15% now to 30% over the next seven years without it. The major funding that Eby and Guilbeault have just put forward is a big deal. Step by step, the province is moving forward with support from the federal government to create the policy vehicle and funding streams that will enable First Nations to drive where we all need to go: the protection of native ecosystems and old-growth forests in BC. Funding for First Nations-led deferrals in the most at-risk old-growth stands is still outstanding, and we will keep working to see that these vital ‘solutions space’ funds are provided.”

In BC, the province cannot unilaterally establish protected areas and “just save the old growth” on Crown/ unceded First Nations lands — the support and shared decision-making of local First Nations governments is a legal necessity in their territories. Protected areas establishment and logging deferrals move at the speed of the local First Nations whose territories it is — the BC government’s policies and funding can facilitate or hinder, help speed up or slow down, the abilities of First Nations to protect ecosystems. Conservation financing, included in this funding package, is a vital enabling condition that can greatly facilitate and speed up the protection of old-growth forests.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director, Ken Wu, stands beside a monumental old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director, Ken Wu, stands beside a monumental old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

Today’s BC Nature Agreement funds come from four federal funding pots (Enhanced Nature Legacy, Nature Smart Solutions Fund, BC Old-Growth Fund, and 2 Billion Trees program) and most of the funding was, until now, largely inaccessible for BC protected areas. The provincial funds also come from diverse sources — disparate funds that are now newly tasked to fulfill the mandate of the BC Nature Agreement’s 30% by 2030 goal to protect, conserve and restore ecosystems via First Nations’ shared decision-making initiatives. These include the $150 million in provincial contributions to BC’s Conservation Financing Mechanism announced last week, another $100 million from the Watershed Security Fund and $200 million from the Northeast Restoration Fund, and a host of other smaller funding pots.

In addition, the BC Old-Growth Fund, worth $50 million from federal funds and which must be matched by a $50 million provincial contribution (ie. $100 million), comes into force (and will grow by an additional $32 million in federal funds committed earlier, or $64 million in matching total funds), and is mandated to protect the most at-risk old-growth forests (ie. grandest, rarest and oldest stands) in the Coastal and Inland Rainforests, and the Coastal Douglas-Fir biogeoclimatic zone. These are among the most endangered ecosystems in BC, which evolved to naturally exist with high proportions of their landscapes in an old-growth condition, with greater levels of biodiversity adapted to old-growth forests than most other ecosystems (hence, the prioritization of funds for these ecosystems is sensible from a conservation perspective — the other $1 billion is available to protect forests including old-growth in other ecosystems).

While a minor subset of the overall BC Nature Agreement, the BC Old-Growth Fund is indispensable to help protect the “biggest and best” remaining old-growth stands in BC, with a mandate akin to ecosystem-based targets to protect 400,000 hectares to 1.3 million hectares of old-growth and mature forests in the most at-risk old-growth forest types by supporting First Nations conservation initiatives. Some of these hectares might come from the finalization of the ecosystem-based management reserves negotiated years earlier in the Great Bear Rainforest final agreement. Hopefully, with support from the greater BC Nature Agreement funds, most of the remaining tracts of the at-risk old-growth forests in the Coastal and Inland Rainforests and Coastal Douglas-Fir ecosystems are picked up for protection with this fund.

TJ Watt said, “We want to flag that provincial leadership is now vital to fulfilling the mandate of the BC Old-Growth Fund, to identify the key sites, which have already been largely mapped by the province’s appointed Technical Advisory Panel, and to pro-actively approach and work with First Nations and to bring them the resources and support needed to work on protecting these most important at-risk stands. BC bureaucrats sitting on their haunches and waiting to be approached won’t get the job done.”

The BC Nature Agreement fund comes on the heels of the $300 million Conservation Financing Mechanism and in fact, includes the $150 million provincial contribution to that fund. The BC Nature Agreement fund can also be used to augment the Conservation Financing Mechanism, which, unlike the BC Nature Agreement itself, can be used to support First Nations economic development initiatives linked to new protected areas.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director, Ken Wu, stands beside a monumental old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director, Ken Wu, stands beside a monumental old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

EEA and AFA are now focused on closing several additional gaps in BC’s old-growth and protected-areas policies, which include:

  • Ecosystem-based protection targets, ie. legally-binding targets set for all ecosystems that factor in “forest productivity distinctions” (sites that grow large trees in warm, rich soils typically at lower elevations and more southerly latitudes, vs. sites that typically grow small trees in cold, rocky, or boggy sites) set by science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees. These targets are vital to ensure that the most at-risk and least protected ecosystems are prioritized — otherwise, protection will still be largely focused on alpine and subalpine areas with low to no timber values, with the exception of the old-growth that the BC Old-Growth Fund protects.
  • Deferral or “solutions-space” funding for First Nations to forgo logging in the most at-risk old-growth priority areas as defined by the province’s appointed Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). This is a critical stepping stone to at least get the full remaining 1.4 million hectares of TAP’s priority areas deferred. First Nations with logging interests in these areas need compensation for their lost revenues for two years while deferrals are enacted, during which time they can potentially undertake protected areas and land-use planning.
  • Upholding protected areas standards. A provincial Protected Areas Strategy with goals, objectives, strategies, and resources must be developed, and must emphasize Provincial Conservancies, Ecological Reserves, and Protected Areas (PAs), and other real protected areas. Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMAs) have moveable boundaries upon request by logging companies, and many types of Wildlife Habitat Areas allow logging — these loopholes must be closed, and until then, they must not be included in BC’s 30% by 2030 accounting. In addition, the province is developing a new IPCA designation that is considering “flexitarian” standards that might allow for commercial logging (cultural cedar harvesting for First Nations community use, of course, should be safeguarded and is different in scale and purpose than commercial logging). Weak and/or moveable conservation designations are akin to the “cryptocurrency of protected areas,” and BC must focus on real protected areas and close the moveable boundary loophole with OGMAs in particular, as OGMAs are a needed designation to save the labyrinth of remaining old-growth fragments.
Ancient Forest Alliance photographer & campaigner, TJ Watt, stands between two enormous old-growth Sitka spruce growing unprotected near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer & campaigner, TJ Watt, stands between two enormous old-growth Sitka spruce growing unprotected near Port Renfrew, BC in Pacheedaht territory.

EEA and AFA are also noting that much of the funding agreement, with the exception of the conservation financing component ($150 million from BC, and $150 million from the BC Parks Foundation), is narrowly defined so as not to fund First Nations’ owned businesses as alternatives to the nations’ old-growth logging dependencies. The lack of funding to support economic alternatives in First Nations communities, which keeps these communities dependent on old-growth logging revenues and jobs, is the single greatest barrier to the protection of old-growth forests across BC. This barrier is not lost upon many of the key timber-centric senior provincial bureaucrats who continue to marginalize the availability of such funds for First Nations’ economic development, along with the lack of deferral funding. This will also be an issue that our organizations will also be watching and working on.

More Background Info

  • Conservation financing is key to meeting First Nations’ needs for sustainable economic development alternatives to their old-growth logging dependencies. Many or most BC First Nations have an economic dependency fostered by successive BC governments on forestry, including old-growth logging, and require support to develop sustainable alternatives in ecotourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products like wild mushrooms, and other businesses if they are to forgo their old-growth logging interests to establish new protected areas and to not lose major jobs and revenues. Nations also need funding to develop the capacity to undertake land-use planning, mapping, engagement of community members, stakeholders, and resource licensees, and for stewardship and management jobs in new protected areas.
  • On BC’s Central and North Coasts (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest), $120 million in conservation financing from the province, federal government, and conservation groups in 2007 resulted in the protection of almost 1.8 million hectares of land (about 2/3rds the size of Vancouver Island), the creation of over 100 businesses and 1000 permanent jobs in First Nations communities, and significantly raised the average household income in numerous communities.
  • BC’s old-growth forests have spawned one of the most passionate and pervasive ecosystem-protection movements in world history, and for good reason. They contain some of the largest and oldest living organisms that have ever existed in Earth’s history — forest giants that can live to 2000 years old and grow wider than a living room. Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. These forests have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations they’re being replaced with. In fact, second-growth forests in BC are logged every 50-to-80 years on BC’s coast, never to become old growth again.
  • Well over 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests (sites where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and over 5 million hectares of big treed, rare (by ecosystem type), and very oldest old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC, with 2.6 million hectares identified as the top priorities for logging deferrals by the province’s appointed science panel or Technical Advisory Panel.