Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

Nothing has changed in BC forestry practices under the NDP government.

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Focus On Victoria: IF YOU GO INTO THE WOODS TODAY you’re in for no surprises. Nothing has changed since the BC Liberals left in their wake vast clearcuts, gutted rural communities, and species on the edge of extinction in our deregulated, corporate-controlled public forests. It doesn’t matter who you talk to: unions, First Nations, rural politicians, enviros or insider scientists, the prognosis is that nothing has changed with the rate of mowing down what’s left of our ancient forests since the NDP picked up the reigns in May 2017.

The Chief Forester, Diane Nicholls, is the same; the latest unsustainable Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) that she is setting remains the same. The empty Ministry of Forests offices and lack of anybody on the ground monitoring the forests is the same. The legislation (or lack thereof) is the same. The silent renewal of Tree Farm Licences over vast areas of public forest with no public consultation is the same. The number of raw logs leaving our shores is the same.

Even the guidance letters that Nicholls uses in her determinations of AAC haven’t changed: in two recent timber allocations for Arrow and Arrowsmith regions, Nicholls refers to guidance letters from the former BC Liberal minister who appointed her—not even a touching-of-the-hat to current Forest Minister Doug Donaldson. Was it just a faux pas or the failure of Minister Donaldson to lead British Columbians, including his top staffer, in a new direction for the sake of our decimated forests?

According to Gary Fiege, president of the PPWC (Public and Private Workers of Canada, formerly the Pulp and Paper Workers Union), the minister seems to be paralyzed. Despite a platform to bring in the much-needed forest management reform, the NDP seem to have been unable to implement a single change. “Nothing has happened,” states Fiege. His union will take their frustration public in the new year.

Certainly the calls for change haven’t changed, particularly around the exporting of raw logs and the continuing “fall down effect”—i.e. the decline in timber production as old growth is depleted and the industry logs smaller and smaller second growth. The last two years have been record years for exporting raw logs: 8 million cubic metres per year, equivalent to full logging trucks lined up bumper to bumper from here to Montreal. Exporting 8 million cubic metres also means exporting jobs—six of them a day. As Fiege states, “Instead of dealing with the loss of jobs, the minister is in Asia selling our logs. We weren’t even invited on the tour.”

The PPWC are one of the signatories for a resolution to end the logging of Vancouver Island’s ancient rainforest. Many would assume the NDP would be listening to their union base, so why has nothing happened?

One clue is that every one of the 36 existing Tree Farm Licences has recently been renewed, guaranteeing under the existing Forest and Range Practices Act a dedicated supply of fibre; so there is no wiggle room. The BC Liberals tied up 31 of those leases in the last nine years, even though half of them weren’t coming up for renewal until 2019. The kicker is that another five TFLs were renewed by Minister Donaldson in the last 15 months (TFL 8, 41, 43, 48 and 53) with virtually no public consultation. The question is why?

According to a ministry insider who cannot be named for fear of reprisal, a structural cause is that top staffers remain the same, especially the Chief Forester, whose job it is to determine how much timber is to be cut down. When it comes to public interest issues, whether it is the protection of ancient forests, wildlife, water, indigenous rights, carbon storage or recreational values, all ultimately depend on reducing the cut—but that cut remains the same. For Fort St John, the largest timber supply area in BC, Nicholls has set the AAC for the next 10 years at the same levels set by the BC Liberals a decade ago. And this is despite all the fires, the insect predations, the warnings on climate change, the smaller trees, the threats to endangered caribou and inland rainforests. It also appears blind to the recommendations in the government-commissioned June report of Mark Haddock concerning the failure of the “professional reliance” system to adequately monitor our forests.

Nicholls’ career flourished in the era of professional reliance where deregulation and demise of public oversight created the conditions for advancement to those who helped their employers do well. Focus is still getting whistleblower reports on the failure of her leadership. A letter from one states that Nicholls hasn’t even called a staff meeting to discuss the recommendations of the Haddock report, many of which she could implement. “Instead,” the letter continues, “she seems to spend all of her time in meetings with the companies she knows well. Who is working for the public interest?” According to the Lobbyist Registry, 98 percent of the lobbyists registered under Forestry visiting the minister and staff were from industry. Dealing with corporations like Canfor and Interfor, whose TFLs were renewed, obviously constituted a great proportion of the Minister’s time. When asked about his own lobby success, PPWC’s President Fiege stated that they had had limited access but no action, “so what is the point?”

These sentiments are echoed in the ENGO sector. According to Jens Wieting of the Sierra Club, after collecting 200,000 signatures from around the world asking for a moratorium on British Columbia’s ancient rainforests, there was no response from the Minister, certainly no meeting with him. “It is symbolic that Minister Donaldson has made it his priority to go out to the world to sell our old growth logs, but it is the world that is calling him to save it—and he didn’t have even a word to say about it.” When the petition was submitted, an assistant came out and received the names, but there was no comment from the Ministry. “That lack of response,” states Wieting, “was very telling.”

The original hope for policy on ancient forests stems from a vague promise in the NDP’s environment platform to use “the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model to sustainably manage BC’s old-growth.” This would require revisiting licences and reforming the Forest and Range Practices Act which currently puts timber ahead of all other public interest values. As Wieting points out, there hasn’t even been a public conversation around what the public interest is. The Union of BC Municipalities passed a resolution to end old-growth logging, and even the mayor of the resource-dependent town of Prince George is asking for reform in forest management, but their calls go unheeded. Calls from many First Nations for reform continue to go unanswered. This past November, the Nuu-chah-nulth asked the Province to do more to protect old growth, because logging it is threatening their culture with the disappearance of ancient Western red cedars that root their material, artistic and spiritual lives.

Fiege suggests that after 17 years of sitting in opposition, the NDP were “woefully unprepared on the forestry file.” It defies logic when you have so many sectors calling for forestry reforms, especially with protecting something as valuable to our biggest industry, tourism, as the last bit of old growth. A big tree protection law even made it onto the BC Liberal agenda back in 2011 because of their value to tourism, though was never implemented.

Now the big trees are falling faster than ever. Wieting notes: “This government risks becoming the government of extinction for many of the species that are dependent on old-growth forests.” The percentage of large-enough, intact ancient forests to support marbled murrelets, caribou, and other old-growth-dependent species is diminishing so fast that it looks like some extinctions might occur on this government’s watch. Some high-profile cutting of ancient trees through BC Timber Sales has also highlighted the failure of this agency that sells 20 percent of our AAC.

Where is the Green Party on this? They have been pursuing improvement in forest management through the narrow window they have under the Supply and Confidence Agreement to review the professional reliance system that puts the public interest in professional hands. In November, Bill 49, the Professional Governance Act, was introduced to implement 2 of the 121 recommendations made under the Haddock report. However, professionals are only as good as the regulations they have to follow, so there still has to be leadership in reform of forest legislation. Even industry and professional foresters, like Christine Gelowitz of the Association of BC Forest Professionals, stress “the need for government to clearly define values, clarify desired results, set objectives and values and establish a hierarchy for objectives on the landscape. Without those tools, forest professionals are left trying to balance numerous competing and varied expectations by disparate groups with differing values and competing interests on the land.”

Meanwhile, the war in the woods continues. Climber/activists like Alex Smith have been scouring imminent cut blocks, flagging and measuring the last of the huge trees in the Nahmint, Klaskish, and Walbran watersheds, as well as Edinburgh Mountain and other places. Smith and others have built witness trails to some of the big giants, like those in the proposed cutblocks of the upper Walbran, which has been the site of blockades for decades. As Smith notes: “Everyone else in the world can see the value of these ancient rainforests, why doesn’t our current government?”

ACCORDING TO WIETING, 2019 is going to be a make-or-break year for rainforests and climate policy in BC. Our ancient rainforests are the biggest sequesters and storehouses of carbon on the planet, but government is barely counting their contribution or loss in the BC greenhouse gas emissions inventory. If they did, they would find the logging companies are a larger contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the oil sector. The problem with not factoring in the role of the forest industry is that when you add up the carbon loss through logging and slash burning, the climate loses twice: once for the loss of a forest sink for future carbon sequestration, and again for the emissions released.

Many are lining up to get in front of Minister Donaldson in the new year to recommend the setting of targets related to actions like phasing out slashburning; the protection of carbon rich old-growth rainforests; and reforming forest management to achieve negative emissions in recovering second-growth forests managed for carbon and timber by careful selective forestry. After all, this was the basis for the NDP platform on ecosystem-based management. And, as with the Great Bear, there are carbon financing mechanisms to do this now, using a combination of incentive and regulation to reduce waste.

In response to Focus’ request for input, the minister’s office wrote, “Given the scope of the subject matter, we will not be able to meet your deadline. Minister Donaldson is also on a trade mission in Asia at the moment.” Selling BC’s logs, no doubt.

Briony Penn is currently working with Xenaksiala elder, Cecil Paul, Wa’xaid on Following the Good River, due out in 2019. She is also the author of the prize-winning The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan.

See article here: https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/janfeb2019/logging-madness-continues-r11/

Disturbing finding about destruction of old-growth rainforest in B.C.

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Watch this Global News piece featuring Sierra Club BC’s Jens Wieting about BC’s global responsibility to protect endangered old-growth forests and the need for urgent action by the NDP government.

With the election of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new pro-development president, resulting in anticipated increases in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, it is even more important that BC’s temperate rainforests – which store more carbon per hectare than any other forest on Earth – be protected. Yet, the NDP has yet to move on its 2017 election platform commitment to manage old-growth forests sustainably, using the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Conservationists call for halt on old-growth logging in Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni

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Watch this Global News piece about the logging of magnificent ancient forests in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni, featuring AFA Campaigner Andrea Inness.

The AFA is calling on the BC government to immediately place a halt on the logging of old-growth forest “hotspots” of high ecological and recreational value – like the Nahmint Valley – and to use its control of BC Timber Sales to discontinue issuance timber sales in old-growth forests. Urgent action must be taken, particularly given the Nahmint is under investigation for potentially violating BC’s existing inadequate laws, which must be strengthened to protect ancient, endangered forests across the province.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

Eco-group files complaint over old-growth cuts

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Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

Photo by TJ Watt

Times Colonist: An environmental group has filed a complaint over logging in the Nahmint Valley, alleging trees were cut, including one of Canada’s biggest, without regard to values such as conservation or recreation.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, an eight-year-old conservation group founded to highlight the need to protect forests as natural habitat, objects to the B.C. government decision to auction 300 hectares in various-sized cutblocks in the Nahmint Valley, southwest of Port Alberni.

Some of the resulting cutblocks logged last spring were 30 hectares. One contained a Douglas fir whose measurements, three metres in diameter, would have placed it ninth on the B.C. Big Tree Registry, a list maintained by the forest faculty at the University of British Columbia.

“Elsewhere in the valley, we found cedar stumps over 10 feet in diameter,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner in an interview. “There are a fair number of trees there that we feel should still be standing.”

Watt’s group filed a complaint in June with the B.C. government, contending the logging failed to take into account aspects such as the protection of sensitive or endangered plant communities. The big Douglas fir, about 800 years old, should have been left standing because it qualified as what is known as a legacy tree. The group has not heard any response to its complaint.

The Nahmint Valley is about 194 square kilometres, about 20 km southwest of Port Alberni. The area includes the Nahmint River, which widens into the 13-kilometre-long Nahmint Lake, both known for good fishing.

As far back as 1975, when the area was the responsibility MacMillan Bloedel, a B.C. forestry corporate giant at the time, the provincial government identified the Nahmint Valley as an area whose resources include more than just timber. They also include fishing, hiking, camping and wildlife habitat.

“The Nahmint is just a spectacular valley for anyone who visits the area,” said Watt.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests said in an emailed statement it reviews the timber blocks to be auctioned in the Nahmint Valley to ensure no legacy trees are at risk.

The ministry statement said B.C. Timber Sales, an agency responsible for about 20 per cent of annual tree harvest in the province by auctioning cutblocks, has conducted an inventory of old-growth cedar trees in Nahmint. It has identified more than 200 with a diameter greater than one metre and worthy of being considered for retention.

Also, an area of about 2,700 hectares, six times the size of Stanley Park, has been protected as wildlife habitat within the Nahmint Valley or identified as winter foraging range for deer and elk.

“We recognize the value of old-growth forests for their biodiversity and are currently working on an old-growth strategy,” said the statement.

See article here: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/eco-group-files-complaint-over-old-growth-cuts-1.23543570

Money trees

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CBC News
November 13, 2018

The struggle over what’s ancient, giant, valuable and dwindling in B.C.’s coastal forests

I.

For the past seven years, environmentalists in B.C. have been looking for trees just like it — wide, tall and centuries old — big, ancient trees that erupt out of the ground and make people standing beside them look minuscule and insignificant.

They could be red cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock or sitka spruce, at least 250 years old and dominant in the densely forested landscapes where they grow.

In May, an hour’s drive southwest from the Vancouver Island logging town of Port Alberni, a group including TJ Watt and Andrea Inness found one — a giant Douglas fir measuring 66 metres tall and three metres in diameter at chest height.

“It’s kind of like coming across a unicorn,” said Inness, 36, who grew up on a small island off Vancouver Island and talks about old-growth giants with a religious reverence.

The pair, who work for the environmental group the Ancient Forest Alliance, figured it was the ninth largest tree of its kind in Canada and around 800 years old.

“Trees of that size are so few and far between now … less than one per cent remains of the old-growth Douglas fir stands, so we were giddy with excitement,” said Inness.

But two weeks later, the giant fir was cut down by loggers who say it was rotten in its core and worth more being turned into products like wooden beams than living out its life in the forest.

“It creates a lot of revenue,” said fourth-generation logger Jeremy Matkovich about old-growth trees like the fir. “It has supported my family, my dad’s family — it’s going to be [the same for] my kids’ family, probably their kids.”

The tree is — or was — a symbol of the latest iteration of B.C’s War in the Woods where, on one side, environmentalists want all old-growth trees off limits to cutting because of the role they play in preserving biodiversity and keeping climate change from advancing.

The other side — forestry workers — wants at least some old-growth trees available to logging as the wood is valuable and important to an industry that supports more than 140 rural communities across the province.

II.

Many Canadians know Douglas firs as well-shaped and fragrant Christmas trees in their homes, but in B.C.’s temperate rainforest, they can reach staggering heights and live for up to 1,000 years.

It can rain up to 250 centimetres a year in these rainforests, which are along the coast of B.C.’s mainland, Haida Gwaii and western Vancouver Island. All that moisture feeds an ecosystem perfect for trees to grow into massive green and growing monoliths.

Stepping into a grove like the one where the giant Douglas fir was discovered is like pushing through a heavy curtain of green and entering into a dimension where the only sounds you hear are the sway of massive branches in the wind, the dripping of moisture and the soft crunch of your feet sinking into dense, soft earth of rotting wood and fern fronds.

The air is dank and dense with oxygen, the smell slightly sweet and deep.

Both loggers and environmentalists agree that there is a big wow factor when they come across a truly big old tree.

“It’s breathtaking to stand before something that’s lived for upwards of 1,000 years,” said Watt. “It’s a truly humbling experience.”

The province says there are 1.9 million hectares of forests on Crown land on Vancouver Island. About 840,000 hectares of that is considered old growth and out of that, the province says 520,000 hectares are protected from logging.

Still, the Sierra Club of B.C. estimates that around 10,000 hectares of old growth, 100 square kilometres, is being cut each year.

One of the Ancient Forest Alliance’s 10 demands for the industry is to transition to only cutting second growth trees, leaving all old growth to remain, live, die and help the groves exist and thrive. Second growth forests are made up of replanted trees that get harvested every 50 to 100 years.

Loggers say significant groves of old-growth forest are already protected and the industry is transitioning to second growth, but to stop cutting old growth immediately could put whole towns out of work.

It’s been 25 years since 800 people were arrested as they tried and succeeded in saving the ancient forests of Clayoquot Sound near the coastal towns of Tofino and Ucluelet.

Loggers themselves respect those turbulent years, saying that forest practices were modernized as a result. The rate of cutting dropped and there were also changes to better manage ecosystems.

III.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness looked sad when asked about the big fir being cut down.

“[It’s] a little bit like coming across an elephant that’s been shot for its ivory and it’s wrong,” she said. “[It’s] a little bit hopeless that the ninth widest tree in Canada can’t be protected … what hope is there for the rest of endangered eco-forest systems?”

She stood in a special place for the Ancient Forest Alliance called Avatar Grove, which is a 20-minute drive from Port Renfrew on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Inness looked up to the top of another Douglas fir, which is not as big as the one that was taken, but still impressive. Its roots have formed a sort of platform above the spongy earth where it grows. Its trunk is dense and gnarled and wide. Inness craned her neck back to try and glimpse its top.

“You know, I get a profound sense of just connection to nature, connection to the past,” she said about this area.

“This is what Vancouver Island is supposed to look like and did look like for many, many thousands of years.”

Avatar Grove, (yes, named after the movie) is the alliance’s showcase for old, ancient trees.

TJ Watt first went into the area in 2010 and took Ancient Forest Alliance founder Ken Wu to the green and lush ravine leading down to the Gordon River the following year.

At that time, there were markers hung from trees, put there by logging surveyors, but no cutting permit had been issued.

Watt and Wu knew it was a special area with several large and impressive Douglas firs, but also red cedars that were unique and old because of the giant burls on their trunks.

After photographing the trees, they set to work advocating to have the area saved from logging, built stairs and boardwalks for easier access for visitors and applied to the province to have the area designated as a recreation area.

Now thousands of people come each year to walk through and take photographs of themselves standing beside the trees.

Port Renfrew has also since rebranded itself as Canada’s tall tree capital, hopeful that tourism dollars will be its key economic driver rather than logging or fishing.

“It brings me such joy to hike here throughout the summer months. You bump into people from all around the world, many … say it’s the most beautiful place they have ever been,” said Watt, who owns a home in Port Renfrew.

“But at one point in time its future was uncertain.”

The big tree hunters hope to develop other groves like this, creating showcases for people to see and experience these ecosystems.

“Avatar Grove … has been an incredibly useful tool for advocacy and for getting people connected to these amazing forests,” said Inness.

IV.

What groups like the Ancient Forest Alliance are doing has resulted in a new version of the War in the Woods, a public relations battle over B.C.’s iconic old trees that is playing out online, in political lobbying and during hikes in the forest rather than with civil disobedience and arrests like the summer of 1993.

Inness, along with Watt, a soft-spoken 34-year-old who grew up skateboarding outside Victoria, and Wu, 44, are full-time big tree hunters looking for specimens they say are anchors of B.C.’s unique coastal rainforests.

“I feel truly lucky that we still have some of Earth’s last temperate rainforests right here on Vancouver Island,” said Watt. “[The] passion in my life is exploring and documenting these landscapes, hopefully resulting in their protection.”

Their campaigns dispute the province’s numbers about what amount of old growth is left. Wu argues that the province includes old-growth trees that exist in hard-to-log areas or places where they actually don’t grow that big or contribute as much to ecosystems as their giant cousins in lush valley bottoms.

“It’s like adding your Monopoly money with your real money and saying you are a millionaire,” said Wu.

The B.C. government fails to mention the context of how much old growth has been previously logged, said Wu. The AFA estimates that to be 75 per cent or about 1.5 million hectares of the original two million hectares of productive old-growth forest on Vancouver Island.

Environmentalists like those with the AFA say that remaining huge and ancient trees are worth far more to the unique ecosystem of the coastal temperate rainforest than being cut down and milled.

They support diverse ecosystems and even when they hollow in the middle, die, fall over and rot, they help support the growth of new trees, plant life and animals.

Some First Nations want also old growth preserved for cultural and environmental reasons. There is also an economic model showing their value as tourist and recreation destinations.

To strengthen these messages Inness, Watt and Wu push through yet-to-be-logged wild areas on public land to find trees like the big fir. They photograph the giants to reflect their stunning size and age. The goal is to hopefully drum up support over social media from residents to call on governments to keep them from being logged.

“To fight to protect something, you need to know about it and care about it and I think photography as an art form, especially, helps bridge that gap and make people aware about these incredible old-growth forests that are home to some of the largest trees on Earth that are still actually being cut down in many cases,” said Watt.

V.

Forestry workers — loggers — have themselves been outspoken about the photos and campaigns organizations like the AFA are doing, saying they hurt their industry at a time when changes could be coming from the provincial government on how Crown land and its resources are managed.

“It puts a bad name to everyone out here trying to make a living,” said Jeremy Matkovich, 42, a third generation logger from Campbell River.

His grandfather worked in an era when horses were used to haul logs out of the forest.

His father is still logging and his two sons, 19 and 21, are also loggers.

He stood in a cut block devoid of standing trees, wore a high visibility vest and defended the industry that has supported his family and his town for a century.

“We do it in an environmentally safe way,” he said about modern day logging.

“I don’t think [people] understand how many products they actually have in their home from logging.”

With Matkovich was Zoltan Schafer, a registered professional forester who started working as a logger when he was 14 years old.

He’s known as Zolie and seems to know pretty much everything and everyone involved with logging on Vancouver Island. He turns 60 this year and says much has changed since he started in the 1970s.

“It’s been a drastic change,” he said, adding that the Clayoquot protests really paved the way for these changes.

“I think the environmental movement was probably a good thing to wake up the industry but I think the balance has to come back.

“Are we always going to have old-growth timber?” he asked. “Yes.

“Maybe not in the percentage that certain people want, but we have reserves. And it’s going to stay.”

From the air on a helicopter ride to the area around Nahmint Lake, outside Port Alberni, Schafer pointed out dense groves of old growth that he says won’t be logged. Their scraggly tops, poke out above other trees along the water’s edge.

The tour was organized by the Truck Loggers Association, which represents loggers working public lands. Up above the landscape, yes there are bare, clear-cut areas, but it’s hard not to notice the vibrant green tree tops where old growth is or the emerald carpet of second growth trees.

There are still so many trees, either there for hundreds of years or replanted in the past 50.

The area the helicopter set down in was recently cut. Hundreds of logs still littered the landscape, the smell of sawdust and earth was strong and fragrant.

Schafer showed us around, walking up and down one of the access roads built to get at the trees. He has the body of a hockey player, wore a yellow and orange high visibility vest and kept his hands tucked in his waistband.

He wore his baseball hat at an angle on his head but his boots were well-worn and when he talked about changes to the industry, he was serious.

“They don’t try and clear cut anymore. They try and leave mosaics,” he said about the area.

What he is talking about is how modern logging looks. Gone, he said, is the complete mowing down of trees off entire hillsides, leaving 100 hectares of nothing but stumps and garbled up leftover trees, rocks and mud.

Loggers now leave parcels or swaths of trees of different sizes within and around the cutting areas, what Schafer calls mosaics. This is intended to help preserve the natural diversity of the area and help it when it’s replanted.

In January, the province also published a special legacy tree policy to help loggers assess large, ancient trees that should be kept from being cut. The government is reviewing it to potentially strengthen it.

Still, old-growth trees — the giants — are prized.

Schafer walked over to one that had been cut down, chopped into chunks beside the access road we stood on. It’s a big red cedar, probably somewhere around 300 years old.

Schafer counted the rings and pointed out how blemish-free the wood is, how at a mill it can be made into high value lumber or even even high-end furniture or musical instruments.

“This is what we call a ‘money tree,’” he said.

According to the Truck Loggers Association, these types of trees are worth far more than second growth trees.

Typical coastal old-growth sites can yield as much as 1,500 to 1,800 cubic metres per hectare whereas second growth sites yield around a third of that because they are harvested at younger ages, according to the TLA.

If you picture a cubic metre as a box, it has 1,000 litres of space.

Old-growth logs fetch around $350 per cubic metre for lumber-quality logs and $700 per cubic metre for high-end grades. By comparison, second-growth logs range between $120 and $200 per cubic metre.

It’s not hard to understand how old growth has kept logging as a viable industry along B.C.’s coast. Based on the TLA’s numbers, logging one hectare, or 0.01 square kilometre of the highest quality old-growth trees, could potentially generate wood worth more than $1 million.

As Schafer walked through the area pointing out old-growth trees that are currently off limits to cutting, he explained how increased protections have come, and continue to come, but to transition immediately out of logging any old-growth trees to just cutting second growth is not doable.

“We have to have a balance,” he said.

The TLA agrees and says that the current proportion of the harvest from coastal second-growth forests has risen steadily over the last decade from about five per cent of the harvest in 2000 to about 50 per cent of the total harvest today.

Leaving every remaining old-growth tree standing on Vancouver Island would result in the closure of four saw mills, at least one pulp mill and spell the end of the cedar shake and shingles industry, according to the TLA.

Schafer said the industry is sustainable with its current practices.

“I think there is a balance and I think it’s being done and I don’t think you are going to satisfy everybody,” he said. “You never are.

“I think the loggers do care, the ones I have dealt with and work with. We all try and do the right thing … protecting the streams and wildlife, cleaning the block up, getting it replanted.”

Schafer said this right where the big fir, described as a unicorn, was logged in May, two weeks after it was recorded by environmentalists.

The province’s legacy tree policy didn’t end up protecting it because the area was auctioned off by the government before the policy took effect.

No matter, say loggers like Matkovich who argue the tree was better served coming down than left standing.

“It was completely rotten,” said Matkovich. “It only had probably 50 years left and it would have blown over anyways.”

They resent the photos the AFA took and posted online of the tree cut from its base and lying prostrate on the ground.

VI.

Many people working within B.C.’s logging industry know that times continue to change and some are already getting prepared for there being less old growth to cut and mill.

On the shores of the inlet outside Port Alberni, fourth generation logger Mike McKay showed us his sawmill, Franklin Forest Products.

It was a logging camp in the 1930s before being converted to a sawmill in the late ‘70s.

His father brought it into the modern area in the 1990s and now McKay is taking it further.

He pointed to a structure of beams, belts, ladders and steel — a processor that can mill second growth logs.

“I’m going to take one last kick at the cat,” he said about the seven-figure investment he hopes will give his mill a future.

McKay, 48, employs 35 people.

“I am proud of that,” he said out from under his hard hat, which is emblazoned with maple leaves and the words “Canada Strong.”

“Sometimes it’s a little bit of pressure to keep them all employed but we seem to be doing a good job.”

The mill once had 70 workers before downturns in the industry. It also used to only cut old-growth logs, but now, 75 per cent of what McKay turns into fence posts and lumber is from old growth, and 25 per cent is from second growth.

“I think there is a transition period that we all need,” he said, adding that if there was an immediate transition to second growth logging only, his mill would go out of business.

McKay said there has been a significant preservation of old-growth forests around Port Alberni. The rest, he said, need to function as working forests, meaning they should be cut and replanted at intervals.

While environmentalists like Watt and Wu describe these working forests — second growth groves — as “astroturf” because of how uniformly they look from the air compared to old-growth groves, they do recognize their utility.

The AFA is supportive of a second growth industry and wants the province to help people like McKay retool their mills to be able to process it. But they also say curbing the export of logs from B.C. to overseas would equally help.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is looking to the B.C. NDP to make good on its 2017 election platform, to partner with First Nations to further modernize public land use planning, which is managing land in ways that meet economic, environmental, cultural and social objectives.

That could include coming up with more huge protections like what was done in the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.’s central coast. An area the size of Vancouver Island is now off limits to logging.

In its 2018 budget, the province committed $16 million over three years to land use planning and the forestry ministry is reviewing how it treats old growth as part of that.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners say they’re waiting to see what comes from the province while continuing to push their way through the dense groves on Vancouver Island to find more old-growth trees to wow the public and policymakers with, like that huge Douglas fir they found in May.

“Holy moly — that’s a hell of a cedar,” Wu said as he scrambled through the fern-covered forest floor of yet another grove already surveyed for logging.

He stood up against the trunk of the massive cedar and posed for a photo taken by Watt.

They’re hopeful impressions like this will do something to keep these old giants from being felled but realistic that loggers will most likely get here first.

See the original piece here

Old-growth logging threatens culture, says Nuu-chah-nulth tribal council

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The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says the provincial government needs to do more to protect B.C.’s remaining ancient forests for both cultural and environmental reasons.

Nuu-chah-nulth territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island is home to some of the province’s largest remaining old-growth trees.

But tribal council president Judith Sayers says the province needs to stop — or at least slow down — the rate at which they are disappearing.

“Our whole lives really, and a lot of our spirituality, is wrapped up in the forests,” she said.

Nuu-chah-nulth Nations use old-growth yellow and red cedar for traditional purposes, such as canoes, totem poles and long houses.

Other nations often come to Nuu-chah-nulth territory for access to ancient cedar because it is no longer available in their own regions, Sayers said.

Current logging practices also have a negative impact on salmon-bearing streams in the territory, she added.

There are protections in place, through parks and wilderness areas, for about 55 per cent of the 3.2 million hectares of old-growth forests. On Vancouver Island that translates into roughly 520,000 hectares where logging is off limits.

Environmental groups have been pressuring the government to expand restrictions on old-growth logging and shift the industry entirely to second-growth trees. But old-growth trees are more valuable.

Rights and title

A number of Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nations do have timber harvesting businesses, and some are involved in land-use planning as signatories to the Maa-Nulth Treaty signed between five First Nations and the federal and provincial governments.

But they work to preserve old-growth, Sayers said, while calling on the province to ensure other forestry companies do the same, especially in light of outstanding issues around Indigenous rights and title.

“These are our territories. We have title to these lands. We still haven’t resolved that title,” she said.

The province is in the process of modernizing its land use planning policies.​

In a statement, the Ministry of Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said it recognizes the close connection Indigenous communities have to old-growth forests.

It said it is committed to working with First Nations to sustainably​ manage ecosystems.

Read the original story here.

Fighting to protect B.C.’s ancient forests

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Check it out! The AFA’s TJ Watt and former Executive Director Ken Wu were featured on CBC’s “The National” showcasing an endangered ancient forest and recent old-growth clearcutting near Hadikin Lake on Vancouver Island.

Watch the original piece here.

*Please take note of these relevant facts while watching:
1) Most of BC’s industry is already based on second-growth, but, without a course correction from the BC government, the timber industry won’t stop until the very last unprotected old-growth tree has fallen.

2) The NDP has no targets, timelines, or policies to expedite the transition to second-growth forestry while protecting remaining old-growth forests. This is a huge moral, environmental, and economic failure on the BC government’s part.

3) 79% of the productive old-growth forests have been already logged on Vancouver Island, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only 8% are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas.

4) Economic studies have shown that old-growth forests have greater economic value standing compared to logging when factoring in values for tourism, recreation, clean water, fisheries, non-timber forest products (wild mushrooms, berries, etc.), and carbon offsets. This is more true today than ever – Port Renfrew and Tofino are shining examples of communities whose economies have vastly benefited from standing, living ancient forests. With more and more visitors coming to BC to experience our ‘pristine’ wilderness, many more communities could benefit from protecting old-growth, now and into the future!

International call for action to save B.C.’s old-growth rainforests

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As part of an international call for action, the voices of 185,000 people from around the world were heard Thursday at the B.C. Legislature, when a petition calling for the protection of B.C.’s old-growth forests was delivered to the government.

Together with representatives from tourism businesses and local government, Sierra Club BC and German environmental organization Rainforest Rescue called for an end to the ongoing clearcutting of Vancouver Island’s last endangered ancient rainforest.

“The ongoing destruction undermines the positive image of Canada internationally,” said Mathias Rittgerott, spokesperson with Rainforest Rescue. “Protecting rare old-growth forests is a crucial step in fighting global warming and saving habitat of endangered species. There is no price tag for the value of these forests.”

Sent to Premier John Horgan and Forest Minister Doug Donaldson, the petition calls on the provincial government to “impose an immediate moratorium on the logging of intact forests in hotspots such as the Central Walbran and other valuable areas on Vancouver Island and the mainland.”

Ministerial assistant Tim Renneberg accepted the petition on behalf of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

Most of the concerned citizens who signed the petition are from Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Australia and Argentina.

Local political support for the call came from Sonia Furstenau, MLA for Cowichan Valley, Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and councillor-elect for the City of Victoria Laurel Collins who joined the group on the steps of the legislature.

“We can produce high quality, high value wood and good jobs while protecting watersheds and our climate with strong forest stewardship and improved forest management,” said Collins.

The ongoing harvesting of the globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests worries Island tourism operators and experts as well, who say the destruction jeopardizes B.C.’s tourism economy.

“Opportunities to experience old-growth forests are increasingly rare in B.C. and particularly on Vancouver Island. Tourism businesses built around these experiences are sustainable year after year. The lack of consideration and foresight for other economic uses of these resources is a significant concern,” said Scott Benton of the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC.

“Tourists come to Vancouver Island to experience what is missing in so many other parts of the world: intact nature,” echoed Brian White, professor at Royal Roads University School of Tourism and Hospitality. “And yet what they find when they get here is big stumps, not big trees. We’re concerned about the impact on tourism businesses.”

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.”

The group is asking the government to follow through on that promise.

Destinations: Port Renfrew

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Pacific Yachting
September 20th, 2018

With a new well-protected marina, Wild Renfrew is the perfect stopover for cruising the west coast of Vancouver Island

Pacific Gateway Marina, built on the south shore of Port San Juan in Port Renfrew, is so new it doesn’t show up on even the most updated charts. It’s still a marina in evolution but the most important aspects are in place: the heavy breakwater, a set of sturdy docks, a fuel dock and fish-cleaning stations. The breakwater is essential, as the frequent west and southwest winds funnel up Port San Juan and there’s not even a small land protrusion to shield a vessel from the wind and waves. Years ago, we anchored here and we rocked and rolled throughout the night; we never stopped again on the way to and from Barkley Sound.

And we aren’t alone. One of the impediments to cruisers visiting Vancouver Island’s west coast from the south has been the long slog from Becher Bay or Sooke to Barkley Sound. The approximately 90- mile run is a daunting distance, especially for smaller sailboats. Catching an ebbing tide can help during the trip, but you must fight the flood at some stage. That’s why having a safe stop at Port Renfrew’s marina is such a pleasure—it cuts the voyage into two almost equal segments.

This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.
This heavy-duty breakwater was built to protect the marina against any weather.

WE’D LEFT CADBORO BAY in Beyond the Stars, our Hanse 411, for the short trip to Becher Bay. The sun was hot early on, a welcome change from our region’s long, rainy and cold winter. The sky filled with puffy clouds resembling woolly sheep- skins. A few Dall porpoises sliced their ins through the water, while gulls raised a racket as they dove into a herring ball. Some hitched a ride on floating logs, reminding us to be watchful and recalling the adage from ancient mariner Bruce Taylor, “don’t steer your boat where the seagulls walk.”

We sped through Race Rock Passage, with its black-and-white ringed lighthouse starkly outlined against the glacier-capped Olympic Mountains. Whirl Bay presented a surprisingly strong back-eddy where lat circles were ringed by tiny whitecaps—small white horses on a trot—halved our speed. A fishboat so laden its gunnels nearly touched the water passed by. We anchored in Becher Bay behind Wolf Island and spent the afternoon recovering from the bustle of getting ready for a seven-week cruise. Early the next morning, we began the 50-mile passage to Port Renfrew.

PACIFIC GATEWAY MARINA From a distance, the new rock breakwater on the marina’s northwest and southwest sides is high enough that only the white-hatted pilings show. The new facility replaced an old, unprotected marina whose docks were deployed only during the summer. Sport-fishing boats are the new dock’s primary occupants while both sides of a long finger offer transient moorage for vessels up to 80 feet. We had five metres under the keel at low tide.

PGM is part of the Mill Bay Marine Group, which has purchased, built or refurbished five marinas in B.C. over the past several years, including this one, Mill Bay, MK Marina in Kitimat, Port Sidney and Port Browning.

A high wall, made up of grey igneous rock and brittle layers of black shale, looms behind the marina. It’s where the breakwater was born. “It took several years to get the permits in place,” said Glenn Brown, whose wife Vicki Asselin, is the marina site manager. “We started blasting in January 2016. Three 50-ton and two 30-ton excavators loaded the rock into trucks. Down a newly built road, the trucks backed up to the water and dumped their loads until the rock remained above water. As the breakwater grew, they’d back up further, on and on, seven days a week from late May until the end of September until the barrier rose two metres above high tide.

“We had a storm this winter,” Glenn continued.“It took down trees but the sea didn’t come over the breakwater. A good test! I think this will be a world-class marina. The owner, Andrew Purdey, does things right. No skimping on materials.”

During our visit, we registered up to 18 knots of wind but didn’t feel a ripple. A Cal 24, Pizza Pocket, tied up behind us. Vancouverites Dave and Vesna said it was their first time on Vancouver Island’s west coast. “We read about the new marina in a Pacific Yachting ad,” said Vesna. “We wouldn’t have come if it hadn’t been for this place to tie up. It would’ve been just too far for a small boat to venture out.”

Plans for the marina are on-going. Water and power are slated for installation in 2018. Once a sewage treatment plant is built, laundry, showers and toilets will replace the porta-potties. The post-and- beam structure at the top of the dock may become a restaurant; in the meantime, a Bridgeman’s food truck sells burgers and other fast food. A hotel will be built at the bottom of the rock wall and cottages will occupy the acreage owned by the development. Purdey has already installed a helipad so he can visit the marina—and fish—frequently.

LATER THAT DAY, I met a group of fishing guides, baseball caps in place, relaxing at a picnic table with a beer, a smoke and fried onion rings. A strong part of the local culture, they’d had a successful day with their B.C. and Alberta-based clients, each having caught their quota of two chinook salmon and one halibut (two coho later in the season).“They must all have their fishing licence before they come,” said self-appointed spokesman, Brannon Derek. “We take a maximum of four passengers and charge up to $1,300 a day. Plus tips, of course.

“I see you’re all having a beer together,” I said.“Is there no competition among you fishing guides?” “Nah,” said Brannon. “We all work together. We’re often busy seven days a week. And we help each other. In fact, a freak wave broke the windows on another boat just yesterday and cut a client’s neck badly. A lot of blood. We wrapped a big towel around his neck. Then we swapped boats. The other per took my boat and delivered the injured guy to shore while I slowly brought back the stricken boat.”

Fishing guide John Wells has lived in Port Renfrew for 17 years and loves the freer, non-city aspects of the outdoor life. He has the build and complexion of some- one who spends most of his time on the water and in the sun.“This is a great place to live,” he said. “I like the natural beauty of this region. It’s outdoor living yet we’re close to Victoria if need be. We’re lucky up here, leaving the city stress behind. In the winter, I hunt deer and Canada geese.”Then, looking up at me from under his baseball cap’s rim, he asked if I liked crab. “Who doesn’t?” I answered. “Well,” he said, “you see those traps on the first dock? Go haul out that line next to them and you’ll ind crabs in the crab hotel. Take what you want.” This generous offer wasn’t wasted on us; we fished out three lovely Dungeness and had a feast.

PROVISIONING IS SCARCE in Port Renfrew. A small general store serves the 250 year-round residents and visiting hikers and campers, but for most, it’s too far to walk to from the marina. However, if you’re tired of cooking aboard, besides the food truck, three eateries are easily reached on foot. You can follow the road around or take a bit of a short cut by climb- ing the 122 steps to the upper road.You’ll skip-quickly ind Tomi’s, a small place serving breakfast and lunch. At exactly one kilo- metre from the marina, Coastal Kitchen Café is operated by Chelsea Kuzman. The café cooks breakfast and a lunch that includes calamari, salmon, halibut, burgers and pie.

I ate lunch at the Renfrew Pub (1.3 kilometres from the marina), once the Port Renfrew Hotel. It burned down in 2003, was rebuilt as the pub and now rents cottages down the boardwalk that also leads to an unprotected, seasonal government dock. Visitors come here for holidays, or stay before hiking the West Coast Trail, which runs between Port Renfrew and Bamield, or the less strenuous Juan de Fuca Trail (heading south from Renfrew.) The well-known Botanical Beach and the start of the Marine Trail are located another 2.5 kilometres down the road.

I’d been told that I should seek out Johnny Mac, the unofficial mayor of Port Renfrew: “He’ll be at the pub on the first stool at the bar when you come in the door. Can’t miss him.” Indeed, Johnny was just finishing his pint; sporting a short grizzled beard, he joined me on the deck while I ate a terrific seafood chowder. (The pub’s menu promotes a drink called the Johnny Mac.) He said he’s travelled the world competing in the sport of archery and represented Canada at the Seoul Olympic Games—one of his proudest achievements. But after retiring as a shipwright, he chose to live in the small isolated town of Port Renfrew. “For the fishing and the lifestyle,” he said. “I care about Port Renfrew. I want people to enjoy it here. I often help them. I’m like a personal tourist guide.”

THE BIG TREE TOUR From Port Renfrew, TJ Watt operates the Big Tree Tour (bigtreetours.ca), using his sturdy van to drive up to six visitors to view some of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. Some may be 1,000 years old. “I was on a photography trip and found these mammoth trees,” said TJ. “I identified the groves as a special old-growth forest of high conservation and tourism value. We’ve called it Avatar Grove. Seeing them, the trees shifted my baseline and I joined conservation groups.”

With Ken Wu, he founded the Ancient Forest Alliance, which, along with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce’s strong support, has campaigned to prevent the trees from being logged. Since identifying the groves, TJ has built boardwalks clad in non-slip chicken wire to protect roots and provide excellent viewing platforms. While there, he explains the climate and environment that allows trees to grow to these great heights and girth.“The tour is of moderate difficulty but I’ve had visitors from around the world and of all ages,”he said. “These trees always amaze people and that keeps me excited too. It’s a spiritual experience to see them.”

Depending on weather and tides and the time visitors have, Big Tree Tours can tailor tours to include visits to Sombrio Beach and Botanical Beach.

Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.
Atavar-Grove. The tree in the foreground is an old-growth redcedar. The tree in the background is a giant Douglas-fir.

THE WILD RENFREW ADVENTURE CENTRE, with offices next to the pub on the boardwalk, also offers tailored adventures. “Along with partners and guides, the centre conducts ocean wildlife tours in RIBS, focusing on all the ocean’s creatures, not just whales,” said manager Martin Knor. “With Pacheedaht guides, canoes and kayaks we will explore the Gordon and San Juan rivers. And we offer nature tours of the nearby big trees like Avatar Grove, the beaches, lakes and intertidal zones. We take walk-ins from yachts or cottages. Plus, we’ll rent electric scooters for people to explore on their own.”

Port Renfrew is rebranding itself: “Wild Renfrew—Wilderness within Reach.” Vacation cottages are springing up. The Chamber of Commerce sees tourism as a job creator. The new marina for boaters and the planned accommodations on its site will add more allure for visitors.

With all these visitors, by sea and by land, will Port Renfrew become less wild? Will it lose its small-town, rough-hewn character? Perhaps, but not for quite a while yet.

If You Go

Pacific Gateway Marina
pacificgatewaymarina.ca

Wild Renfrew Adventure Centre
wildrenfrew.com

Etymology

Before Spanish explorer José Maria Narváez called the inlet “Port San Juan,” the Pacheedaht First Nation, meaning “People of the Sea Foam,” had their village sites around the bay. according to Raincoast Place Names, Narváez arrived here on June 24, 1789, the date purported to be John the Baptist’s birthday. The Port’s name honoured this New Testament figure, a favourite in Spanish Catholicism. Captain Vancouver recorded the name on his charts. The European settlement at the head of the bay also called itself San Juan, but continual confusion with the U.S.’s San Juan Island led to a renaming. Port Renfrew may refer to the Prince of Wales, who also holds the title of Baron Renfrew.

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Environmentalists want old growth on west coast of Island protected

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Forest company says it has delayed plans a year to listen to local concerns

Environmentalists are hoping to halt proposed logging of old-growth forest slated for the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Recently, the Ancient Forest Alliance enlisted the support of the local council from Tahsis in efforts to protect the McKelvie Valley.

The valley extends from Tahsis to the base of Mount McKelvie. According to the news release from the Ancient Forest Alliance, the area features endangered ancient forest, rich wildlife habitat and McKelvie Creek, which serves as a salmon spawning ground and source of drinking water for the community.

“The McKelvie is an exceptionally significant ancient forest given that it is an entire intact valley in a region where virtually all valleys have now been fragmented and tattered by logging” Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness said in the release.

“As such, its value for wildlife, water, fisheries, tourism, recreation, and the climate are exceptional. Most controversies over old-growth logging today involve significant patches and groves of ancient forest, but we’re talking about an entire intact watershed here.”

The McKelvie Creek watershed lies within Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 19, the licence for which was acquired by Western Forest Products’ (WFP) predecessor in December 1997. According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, the TFL covers 170,713 hectares, with 138,350 hectares considered productive forest and 75,958, or about 55 per cent, available for timber harvesting. In addition, the ministry says more than 23,000 hectares are designated as old growth management areas or wildlife habitat areas.

The Ancient Forest Alliance says the McKelvie watershed, which is 2,170 hectares, is the last regional stronghold for the threatened marbled murrelet sea bird population, while McKelvie Creek provides a habitat for fish such as chum and coho salmon, cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden. They are concerned proposed road-building and logging in TFL 19 will increase runoff and increase the severity of debris slides and flooding, which could affect species’ habitat as well as water quality. In response, the Tahsis Village Council passed a resolution in June opposing all forms of resource extraction, including logging.

In response, WFP says it relies on industry-leading forest management standards and employs professional foresters and other qualified professionals, such as biologists, hydrologists and geoscientists, to develop and implement plans that meet or exceed the B.C. government standards.

“Our professionals develop forest stewardship plans that show how we are meeting the objectives set by the government for old growth preservation, soils, timber, wildlife, water, fish, biodiversity, visual landscapes and First Nations cultural heritage resources,” WFP Senior Communications Director Babita Khunkhun told the Mirror in an email.

The company also says it voluntarily submits to having all of its forest tenures independently certified to internationally recognized standards for sustainable forest management.

As far as why WFP is harvesting old growth, Khunkhun continued, saying, “Wood is a renewable resource and the most sustainable building material on the planet. Vast areas of forests are retained, including old growth management areas and other types of reserves. In addition, Western has policies in place, including a big tree protection policy, to ensure we maintain unique features across the land base.”

The company said it has consulted with the Tahsis council this past year and will continue to engage with them on this issue, adding it has delayed plans for at least a year to provide more time to better understand local concerns and consider these as part of forest management in the McKelvie Valley.

Read the original article here.