Plans to clear-cut old-growth near Port Renfrew causes an environmental outcry

Sooke News Mirror
April 18, 2019

Note: Two of the seven proposed cutblocks fall within 50 metres of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundary, not 37 metres as stated in the article.

Groups call logging a provincial government ‘blind spot’

A map depicting the old-growth cutblocks adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and town of Port Renfrew that are currently up for auction by BC Timber Sales

Plans to auction off 109 hectares of old-growth forest adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park have outraged conservationists and tourism operators.

The seven planned cutblocks, two of which come to within 37 metres of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundary near Port Renfrew, would see an estimated 55,346 cubic metres of old-growth – the equivalent of over 1,300 loaded logging trucks – leave the region known as the Tall Tree Capital of Canada.

Opponents charge the B.C. government and Forests Minister Doug Donaldson have demonstrated a lack of political will to preserve the endangered forests.

“The provincial government has a blind spot that they are not willing to address,” said Andrea Inness, a representative of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“They won’t even acknowledge that there’s a problem and keep hiding behind misleading statistics that paint a very rosy, and very false, picture for old-growth forests. But if you dig down you can see they just don’t get it.”

Inness said the government will say that 55 per cent of the old growth on Vancouver Island is protected, but they fail to acknowledge that some forest types have already been devastated by logging.

“If you look at the coastal Douglas-fir forests, for example, less than one per cent of those forests remain,” she said.

Inness added that the 55 per cent figure is also misleading as it includes already protected areas like the Great Bear Rainforest and other forest types like the sub-alpine and bog forests that have no commercial value and were never threatened.

The government’s move to auction off the current cutblocks came with no public consultation, said Inness and were discovered when environmental groups studied the 2019 schedule of work published by the B.C. government’s logging agency, B.C. Timber Sales.

B.C. Timber Sales is the B.C. government logging agency that manages 20 per cent of the province’s allowable annual cut. It recently came under fire from a host of environmental agencies for what Jens Weiling of the Sierra Club has described as “flying blind into terminating the old-growth web of life.”

In a review of B.C. Timber Sales’ sales schedule, environmental organizations Elphinstone Logging Focus and Sierra Club B.C. found the provincial government agency is proposing 2019 cutblocks across the last intact old-growth rainforest areas on Vancouver Island adding up to more than 1,300 hectares–an area equivalent to the size of more than three Stanley Parks.

The move to cut down old-growth forests is also of concern to tourist business operators in the region who contend that the standing trees have a far greater value than the clear cut lumber they will provide.

“Port Renfrew, a former logging town, has successfully re-branded itself in recent years as the Tall Tree Capital of Canada and is seeing a huge increase in eco-tourism, greatly benefiting local businesses,” said TJ Watt, a photographer and advocate for old growth forests.

“This logging will impact Port Renfrew’s reputation as an eco-tourism destination, not to mention the impacts on the environment.”

Soule Creek Lodge owner John Cash said he is deeply concerned and disappointed with the planned logging in an area adjacent to his tourist attraction.

“My business relies on tourists who come to admire the big trees and old-growth forests. My business doubled after Avatar Grove was discovered,” he said.

“Instead of old-growth clearcutting right up to a provincial park boundary, the B.C. government should be helping rural communities like Port Renfrew transition to more diverse and sustainable economies. People don’t come here from all around the world to hear the sounds of old-growth being cut down.”

Cash said despite the NDP’s promise that they would make forest conservation a priority, their actions have not reflected that commitment.

“It’s business as usual,” said Cash.

Both Cash and Inness have called upon Forests Minister Doug Donaldson to cancel the old-growth timber sales before the closing date for bids on April 26. They say that, instead, the minister should move to protect the area and consider incorporating it into the boundaries of the provincial park.

A spokesman for the Forest Ministry responded with a statement that confirmed the sale of the cutblocks, reiterated the government position that 55 per cent of old growth forests are protected and said that ending logging in old growth forests would affect people engaged in the logging industry.

See the original article here

Eco-activists urge halt to logging plans near Juan de Fuca park

Times Colonist
April 18, 2019

NOTE: While old-growth logging would not occur within Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundaries, the old-growth forests adjacent to the park that are slated for logging provide a valuable buffer that protects the park’s outstanding ecological and recreational values. Clearcutting the proposed cutblocks would fragment and degrade this important buffer and compromise the park’s tourism and recreational values. Additionally, while the BC government states that ‘55% of coastal old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast, have already been protected’, the vast majority of these protected forests are located in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island. That figure also excludes largely cut-over private lands and includes vast areas of low productivity forest with little to no commercial value. In actual fact, only about 6% of Vancouver Island and 8% of the Southwest Mainland’s productive forests are protected in parks.

Finally, it’s important to remember that BC’s forest industry will be forced to shift to second-growth eventually, when all the unprotected old-growth is gone. In order to maintain forestry jobs and protect BC’s endangered ancient forests, the BC government must facilitate this shift sooner rather than later by curbing raw log exports and encouraging value-added second-growth manufacturing.

An aerial photo of the old-growth forests where B.C. Timber Sales has seven pending cutblocks totalling 109 hectares. Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is along the coast and the town of Port Renfrew in the background. Photograph By TJ WATT

Plans to log old-growth forests near Port Renfrew have conservationists accusing the B.C. Ministry of Forests of endangering tourism in the area.

The Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance says government-run B.C. Timber Sales is preparing to auction 109 hectares of forest in seven cutblocks. Two of those planned cutblocks will see trees falling within 37 metres and 50 metres of the boundary of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, known as a gentler, more accessible version of the West Coast Trail.

“Port Renfrew is changing toward a more sustainable economy based on leaving trees standing rather than cutting them down,” said T.J. Watt, campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We are calling on B.C. Timber Sales to cancel these auctions.”

A spokeswoman for the B.C. Forests Ministry confirmed B.C. Timber Sales has advertised the timber sale identified by Ancient Forest Alliance. The sale closes on April 26. The successful buyer will have 2 1/2 years to conduct the logging.

But the spokeswoman also said when cutblocks are surveyed and positioned, considerations are always made for the ecology of the site and the esthetics of nearby views. And logging is not occurring in the park.

Meanwhile, significant areas, 55 per cent of coastal old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast, have already been protected, the spokeswoman said.

B.C. Timber Sales was formed in 2003 to inject market-based pricing to Crown-owned timber as opposed to other land-based tenure systems.

The provincial agency monitors economic conditions to determine an appropriate price for the timber. About 20 per cent of the province’s total, annual allowable cut is now sold through auction.

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s objections to the B.C. Timber Sales auction received little enthusiasm from Mike Hicks, Capital Regional District director for the Juan de Fuca district.

Hicks, the closest thing the unincorporated community of Port Renfrew has to an elected local government, agreed that tourism, including environmental tourism, has taken off in recent years. But he said that logging, while diminished, remains a significant economic generator and shouldn’t be frozen out.

Hicks said Port Renfrew is reeling from Tuesday’s federal announcement of tough restrictions on fishing for chinook salmon: a catch-and-release fishery until mid-July, followed by catch limits of one to two per day depending on time of year and location.

He said he thinks the fishing closures have made economics in Port Renfrew, including its tourism, too fragile to put more obstacles in the path of business.

“Logging is a very important part of our economic survival and so is eco-tourism,” Hicks said. “They should both be able to get along.”

But John Cash, owner and founder of Soule Creek Lodge near Port Renfrew, operating wilderness huts and cabins near the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, is concerned about the effects of nearby logging.

The noise of blasting during the building of logging roads along with chainsaws and other machinery during falling will only take away from the wilderness experience, he said. “It would be pretty unpleasant. It’s not what you want to hear when you are camping or hiking, the blasting and tree-falling.”

rwatts@timescolonist.com

See the original article

Plan to allow logging of old growth forests draws criticism

Check out this Global News piece about conservationists’ disappointment with the BC NDP and their plans to auction off 1,300 hectares of old-growth on Vancouver Island, featuring Sierra Club BC’s Jens Wieting, and footage by AFA’s TJ Watt.

Keep in mind the statistics stated by the government are misleading. The BC government is combining the old-growth stats from Vancouver Island/South Coast – where very little has been protected (about 6% of Vancouver Island and 8% of the SW Mainland’s productive forests are in parks) with the Great Bear Rainforest, the northern rainforest where 85% of all the forests are off-limits due to a massive campaign of boycotts, protests, and negotiations for over two decades. To lump together the northern rainforest where regulations are strong (and where the trees are smaller and the forests are different) with the southern rainforest where the old-growth protections are sparse (and where the trees are much larger and the forests are generally more diverse) is disingenuous. When they say ‘55% of the old-growth forests on the coast are protected’ – the vast majority of that is in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island where the conflict rages and old-growth logging occurs at a scale of about 11,000 hectares a year (in 2016) and where the forests are more highly endangered.

See the original clip here

Canada’s ‘most magnificent old-growth forest’ near Port Renfrew

Watch video news coverage here 

CHEK News: Conservationists are asking the provincial government to protect what they are calling Canada’s “most magnificent” old-growth forest near Port Renfrew. Ceilidh Millar reports.

It may remind some of a prehistoric-creature, but even Hollywood would be hard-pressed to re-create a sight as spectacular as “Mossome Grove.”

“It’s the most magnificent and beautiful forest in the country,” said Ken Wu with the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Short for “mossy and awesome” Mossome Grove is a 13-hectare old-growth grove located along the San Juan River near Port Renfrew.

The conservation group recently identified the area, and say it is home to some of the top ten widest trees in the province including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres.

There is also a giant Bigleaf maple, nicknamed the “Woolly Giant,” which has produced a branch measuring 76-feet in length.

Wu says it could the longest horizontal branch on any tree in B.C.

“They are also very old,” Wu explained. “I would estimate the spruce are as young as 300 or 400-years-old and maybe as old as 800-years-old.”

They aren’t revealing its exact location, for fear it will be logged as the grove is on mostly unprotected land.

The grove is situated on Crown land in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

“It’s a mishmash of different jurisdictions but most of it could be logged,” Wu said.

Conservationists say the province needs a more protective old-growth policy.

“They are logging about 10,000 hectares which is over 10,000 football fields of old-growth every year on Vancouver Island alone,” explained Wu.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, more than 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

However, a proper protection policy can’t come soon enough for those fighting to save our forests.

“Let’s leave these ancient trees,” explained Wu. “Especially these magnificent valley bottom giants like this for future generations of all creatures.”

Conservationists want protection on ‘Canada’s most magnificent’ old-growth forest

The Canadian Press
January 12, 2019

VANCOUVER — Conservationists in British Columbia are pushing for protections on an area of old-growth forests they describe as “Canada’s most magnificent.”

The grove is located on Crown land in the San Juan River Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

The 13-hectare grove of immense old-growth Sitka spruce and big-leaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns was first located in October and explored again in late December, said Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

“It is probably the most spectacular and beautiful old growth forest I’ve ever seen and I’ve explored a lot of old growth forests,” Wu said. “(The trees) look shaggy because they’ve got all this hanging mosses and ferns on their branches. So they look like ancient prehistoric creatures.”

Most of the grove is unprotected, with a small portion — about four hectares — off-limits to loggers through the provincial government’s old-growth management area, he said.

Some of the trees in this grove are near-record sized, including a Sitka spruce with a diameter of 3.1 metres that would rank among the top 10 in the province, Wu said.

A massive maple that conservationists have nicknamed the “Woolly Giant” may have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in British Columbia, measuring 23.1 metres, he said.

“It’s covered in thick mats of hanging mosses and ferns, resembling a prehistoric monster.”

Wu said conservationists are calling this area of old-growth forests, “The “Mossome” Grove,” which is short for mossy and awesome.

“It includes lots of the tall, straight Sitka spruce like Roman pillars and they’re very impressive giants along with ancient moss covered shaggy, big-leaf maples,” he said.

It’s hard to say how old these trees are, Wu said.

“These are great growing conditions,” he said. “The trees can be as young as 400 years old but I would estimate around the 800-year-old range for the big spruce.”

Ancient Forest Alliance and other conservation groups are asking the provincial government to save not just this newly found old-growth forest but others too, he said.

This forest can be saved from logging if the provincial government simply extends its existing old growth management area, which currently protects about two hectares of this grove, he said.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in a statement that the grove is contained in a woodlot operated by Pacheedaht Forestry Ltd., and there is no imminent logging planned.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance supplied the ministry with an updated map of the grove area yesterday, so ministry staff are currently reviewing the map to determine what protections exist in the area,” it said.

Under the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan, over 13 per cent of Vancouver Island will never be logged, including 520,000 hectares of old growth forests, the statement said.

The ministry is also updating the forest inventory for Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of best management practices related to protecting legacy, or big trees, it said.

Wu said conservation organizations want comprehensive science-based legislation to protect not just this grove but all old-growth forests.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining wildlife, including unique species that can’t live in the second-growth tree plantations that old growth forests are being replaced with, he said.

The Mossome Grove is home to not just some of the oldest and grandest trees but also animals and birds such as Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, cougars, marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, pygmy owl, screech owl, Vaux’s swift, and long-eared bats.

They are also vital for tourism, providing clean water for communities and wild salmon, for carbon storage, and for many First Nations cultures, Wu said.

“We’ve already lost well over 90 per cent of our grandest old-growth forests in the valley bottoms,” he said.

Read this Canadian Press article in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, or in the Toronto Star.

Mossome Grove: ‘One of the most beautiful’ forests on Earth

Note: Mossome Grove is a 13 hectare grove, not 6 hectares, as stated in the article

Times Colonist, January 13, 2019

Ancient Forest Alliancee campaigner and photographer TJ Watt by the ninth-widest big-leaf maple in B.C., in the Mossome Grove near Port Renfrew.

A six-hectare parcel of old-growth forest in the San Juan River Valley, near Port Renfrew, has been dubbed Mossome Grove (a combination of “mossy” and “awesome”) by the conservationists who recently came across it.

It includes huge old-growth Sitka spruce and big-leaf maples adorned with hanging moss and ferns.

At present, most of the grove is unprotected. It is on Crown land.

Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the site is special.

“I think anybody who sees the photos and, at some point, gets a chance to visit the area will recognize it as one of the most beautiful and photogenic forests on Earth, literally. It would be hard for Hollywood to top this one.”

Wu said he marvels at the rare combination of “tall, straight, solid Sitka spruce” and ancient, mossy maples resembling “prehistoric, shaggy monsters.”

“They’re like the epitome of all the greatest qualities of ancient forests combined in one grove.”

TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance said the grove should be “the new poster child for B.C.’s endangered ancient forests.”

For now, those who found the grove are not saying exactly where it us, Wu said.

“At this point in time, we’re not going to disclose the location because there’s no trails there and it’s a fairly sensitive site,” he said. “First things first, we’ve got to get the area protected and the old growth protected.”

Included in the grove are the ninth-widest Sitka spruce and ninth-widest big-leaf maple in B.C., Wu said.

“The spruce is over 10 feet wide, the maple is almost eight feet wide.”

He said second-growth forest dominates much of the B.C. landscape, so it’s important to protect the major old growth that is left.

Wu said the provincial government is working to establish a new old-growth management policy.

“We don’t know what that consists of yet.”

See the original article here

Old-growth forest near Port Renfrew needs protection, group says

Watch this CTV piece about Mossome Grove, located by conservationists from the Ancient Forest Alliance and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance in October

See the original news piece here

B.C. ancient tree lovers unveil ‘Mossome’ grove as part of bid for new protections

CBC News
January 12, 2019

The most ‘stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,’ says conservationist

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt poses with a bigleaf maple outside of Port Renfrew B.C. The group considers the tree the ninth largest of its kind in B.C. and has nicknamed it the Woolly Giant. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists on Vancouver Island have documented a unique grove of ancient trees which it wants protected from logging due to its ecological value.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the conservation group, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Wu, 44, has been exploring forests on Vancouver Island to campaign for their protection for the past 28 years.

The latest find, a 13-hectare parcel on public land, is located near Port Renfrew along the San Juan River and within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness poses with a series of giant Sitka spruce snags and bigleaf maples outside of Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

Wu and campaigners with the conservation group, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), have nicknamed the grove ‘Mossome Grove,’ a blending of the words “mossy” and “awesome.”

They first walked through the area in October 2018 and returned in December to document it.

Several of the grove’s trees are near record size. Based on B.C.’s Big Tree Registry, one Sitka spruce would rank in the top 10 in the province with a diameter at chest height of 3.1 metres.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director Ken Wu poses by a huge, old bigleaf maple outside Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. One of its branches is 23.1 metres in length. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

One of the bigleaf maples, which campaigners have named the “Woolly Giant,” has a horizontal branch 23.1 metres in length. Wu says it may be the longest branch in B.C.

“Of all of B.C.’s ancient forests, this one deserves protection not only due to the scarcity of its ecosystem type, but because of its sheer unique beauty,” said Wu.

No ‘imminent’ logging
The province says there are no imminent plans for logging in the area and it is reviewing a map of the area provided by the AFA to determine what protections may already be in place.

Wu says roughly four hectares of the area is in a Pacheedaht woodlot, which could be logged by the nation, but is unlikely. The nation has its own sawmill, but mostly processes cedar logs, which it harvests based on a conservation strategy.

Another four hectares has some provincial protection according to Wu, while the remaining four could be auctioned off for logging by the government’s timber agency.

Highlighting the area is the latest move by campaigners as they hope to push the province to improve protections for old-growth areas in the province.

B.C.’s Ministry of Forests says it is currently working with key stakeholders, including conservationists like Wu, to refine its old-growth strategy. It has not said when that process will be completed.

The province is also updating the makeup of forests on Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of a new policy to protect big trees.

That policy, if followed by loggers, would result in the preservation of the Sitka spruce in the Mossome Grove because it meets a threshold in size.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer, TJ Watt, poses by what the organization calls the the 9th widest Sitka spruce in B.C. outside Port Renfrew on Southern Vancouver Island. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists are concerned the policy will only end up protecting individual trees, not whole areas of trees and their ecosystems.

The ministry says it has taken steps since July 2017 to protect wildlife habitat areas for animals like marbled murrelets and northern goshawks, which nest in old-growth forests.

It also has protected around 1,000 hectares, or 10 square kilometres, of the unique coastal Douglas fir ecosystem.

See original article here

Conservation groups discover ancient old-growth forest near Port Renfrew: Grove home to record-size Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple trees

Sooke News Mirror
January 9, 2019

Two Victoria-based forest conservation groups recently discovered an ancient grove near Port Renfrew that they’re calling the “the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old growth forest in the country.”

TJ with the largest spruce in the grove, which measures 10’1″ in diameter!

Members of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and the Ancient Forest Alliance found the unprotected grove, with several near-record trees, in the San Juan River Valley in October.

Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the largest trees in grove are near-record size, including a Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple that would rank as the ninth widest on the B.C. big tree registry.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve explored a lot of old-growth forests in my time,” said Wu on Wednesday.

He said finding an unprotected forest is significant because many similar areas on Vancouver Island and elsewhere on coastal B.C. have been logged.

The forest has been nicknamed Mossome Grove, short for Mossy and Awesome Grove, because of the trees which are draped in hanging mosses and ferns. The grove is located on Crown land and managed by B.C. Timber Sales.

There are no plans to log the area, but B.C. Timber Sales has come under fire for auctioning off old-growth forests for logging in areas of the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island and Manning provincial park.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance are calling on the B.C. government to reimplement a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests.

“Without buffer zones to surround and protect the largest trees, and without also protecting the grandest groves, the B.C. government’s currently proposed big tree protection policy is essentially a Big Lonely Doug Policy’ that will leave a few sad giants standing alone in clearcuts scattered around Vancouver Island,” said Andrea Inness, an Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner.

See the original article here: www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/conservation-groups-discover-ancient-old-growth-forest-near-port-renfrew/

*Note: Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with some (3-4 hectares) protected in an Old-Growth Management Area and riparian reserve, a portion (3-4 hectares) unprotected within a Woodlot Licence allocated to a forestry company, and the rest is unprotected, falling under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. There are no logging plans for the grove at this time.

Push is on to protect Mossome Grove

My Campbell River Now
January 9, 2019

EEA’s Ken Wu alongside The Wolly Giant! This bigleaf maple ranks as the ninth widest on the Big Tree Registry with a diameter of 2.29m or 7’6″. It also may very well have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in BC, measuring 23.1m (76ft) long!

Conservationists in B.C. have located, what they say could be, the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old-growth forest in the country on Vancouver Island.

Ken Wu, executive director with Endangered Ecosystems Alliance says the grove consists of giant, prehistoric-looking, shaggy bigleaf maples with tall, straight Sitka spruce, and it was found near Port Renfrew.

“Its about 6 hectares in size. Two hectares are off limits in the old growth management area and the riparian reserve but the other four hectares, most of the growth including the biggest trees are not protected and they could be logged and B.C. Timber Sales actually has a history of putting cutblocks and logging the very biggest trees in the province like up in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni in the summer when they cut down the ninth widest douglas fir in the country.”

Wu says the push is on to get the grove, which conservationists are calling “Mossome Grove”, which is short for “Mossy and Awesome”, protected.

To do that, Wu is asking people to contact their MLA or make a request through the Ancient Forest Alliance website.

“The previous government actually protected Avatar Grove within a year and a half time span of us campaigning to save the Avatar Grove, the old growth forest closer to Port Renfrew. This is a small area, it should not be a hard thing for them to do. The last remnants of old growth., especially something like this, their highest and best use is not two by fours, or pulp and paper and toilet paper.”

The BC government is developing a new set of policies to manage BC’s old-growth forests but have not revealed any details yet.

See article here: https://www.mycampbellrivernow.com/31290/push-is-on-to-protect-mossome-grove/

*Note: Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with some (3-4 hectares) protected in an Old-Growth Management Area and riparian reserve, a portion (3-4 hectares) unprotected within a Woodlot Licence allocated to a forestry company, and the rest is unprotected, falling under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. There are no logging plans for the grove at this time.