News Coverage Archives

Canada’s second largest Douglas fir tree may have been found near Port Renfrew

Mar 29 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

An ancient giant that has been discovered in a logging clearcut area on southern Vancouver Island could be the second largest Douglas fir tree in Canada.

The tree that was named “Big Lonely Doug” was found standing alone among dozens of giant stumps in a 20-hectare clearcut area that was logged two years ago near Port Renfrew.

Preliminary measurements of the tree found it stands 69 meters (226 feet) tall, nearly twice the size of the B.C. Legislature building (130 feet).

It also measures 12 meters (39 feet) in circumference and four meters (13 feet) in diameter.

Official measurements will be made next month by the Ministry of Forests.

The Big Lonely Doug grows in the Gordon River Valley on southern Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada.

It comes in second behind the world’s largest Douglas fir, the Red Creek Fir, located just 20 kilometers to the east of Big Lonely Doug in the San Juan River Valley.

It has been measured to be 13.28 meters (44 feet) in circumference or 4.3 meters (14 feet) in diameter, and 73.8 meters (242 feet) tall.

“It is pretty incredible that Port Renfrew is becoming known as the big trees capital of Canada,” says TJ Watt with the Ancient Forest Alliance, an organization that works to protect endangered, old-growth trees in B.C.

It is estimated Big Lonely Doug is around a thousand years old.

Watt says Big Lonely Doug’s longevity could be explained by the fact it is growing in a prime spot at the valley bottom alongside the river.

But its largest branch was torn off in a storm just a few weeks ago.

“Whereas before, it would have been sheltered in the woods,” says Watt.

Activists with the Ancient Forest Alliance say provincial government should do more to protect the province’s biggest trees.

“There is an urgency to protect these areas because old-growth logging continues right near Port Renfrew,” says Watt.

The organization has been calling for provincial legislation to protect big trees and monumental groves.

“This tree could receive some special recognition, but ideally we would be finding them and protecting them before they are left alone in a clearcut,” says Watt.

Big Lonely Doug coverage in Epoch Times

Mar 29 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

“Big Lonely Doug” is covered in a Chinese-language newspaper, the Epoch Times.

See here:
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/3/30/n4118760.htm%E5%8A%A0%E5%9B%BD%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E5%A4%A7%E5%B7%A8%E6%9D%89-%E7%9F%97%E7%AB%8B%E6%B8%A9%E5%93%A5%E5%8D%8E%E5%B2%9B.html

Big Lonely Doug Could Be Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-Fir

Mar 27 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

In what is being called the most significant big tree discovery in decades, a group of conservationists believe they have found Canada's second largest Douglas-fir.

Preliminary measurements were taken of the tree, located in a clearcut in B.C.'s Gordon River Valley, on Thursday by conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA). Nicknamed Big Lonely Doug, the tree is about 39 ft. in circumference and 226 ft. tall, according to a press release issued on Friday.

Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be about 1,000 years old.

“This is a tree with a trunk as wide as a living room and stands taller than downtown skyscrapers,” TJ Watt, an AFA photographer and campaigner, said in the release.

“Big Lonely Doug’s total size comes in just behind the current champion Douglas-fir, the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest, which grows just one valley over [in B.C.].”

Watt first noticed Big Lonely Doug several months ago but only returned to measure the tree on Thursday along with AFA co-founder Ken Wu.

The Gordon River Valley is located near Port Renfrew on the southern part of Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada. As the release states, Big Lonely Doug “stands on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.”

Big Lonely Doug is a rather fitting name for the large Douglas-fir that stands alone in an otherwise empty area.

“The fact that all of the surrounding old-growth trees have been clearcut around such a globally exceptional tree, putting it at risk of being damaged or blown down by wind storms, underscores the urgency for new provincial laws to protect B.C.’s largest trees, monumental groves, and endangered old-growth ecosystems,” said Wu in the news release.

The AFA also warned that the number of tall trees similar to Big Lonely Doug are growing scarce in the Pacific Northwest.

“The days of colossal trees like these are quickly coming to an end as the timber industry cherry-picks the last unprotected, valley-bottom, lower elevation ancient stands in southern B.C. where giants like this grow.”

Staff from the Ministry of Forests will take official measurements of Big Lonely Doug in early April.

Vancouver Island Douglas-fir may be Canada’s second biggest

Mar 25 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

On their continual treasure hunt for the region’s largest trees, two Victoria conservationists have found what could be one of the largest Douglas-firs measured in Canada.

“Basically, it’s one giant Douglas-fir in a sea of enormous stumps,” said the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu of the tree dubbed Big Lonely Doug. “The largest branch, the size of a second-growth tree, was torn off in a recent wind storm. Its days might be numbered.”

Wu thinks the tree was likely left as a seed tree or so the area could not be deemed a complete clearcut. The Crown land was logged by Teal-Jones in 2012 under tree farm licence 46. The company could not be reached for comment.

Big Lonely Doug was spotted by Wu’s co-worker T.J. Watt a few months ago in a logged area outside of Port Renfrew. Watt and Wu drove 45 minutes down a rough road outside the west coast town on Thursday to measure it.

“You don’t get how big it is until you get close and see the scale,” Wu said. The Douglas-fir stands 69 metres tall and has a 12-metre circumference. Watt described it as big around as a living room and as tall as most skyscrapers.

Judging from the rings on nearby stumps, Wu said, the tree could be nearly 1,000 years old.

“These types of colossal growth trees historically built B.C.’s logging industry. Now they’re just about gone,” Wu said. The group is calling for legislation to protect old-growth ecosystems and the big trees they contain.

Douglas-firs grow along the west coast of North America from southern B.C. to California and in the Rocky Mountains toward Mexico. The Interior variety of the Douglas-fir tends to grow only to about 42 metres in height.

Wu noted the area where Big Lonely Doug was found now has even greater claim as the tall tree capital. The world’s largest recorded Douglas-fir stands in the nearby San Juan River Valley and is measured to be 73.8 metres tall and 13.28 metres in circumference.

“The biggest spruce is also there, there’s the biggest cedar in Cheewhat Lake, and then there’s Avatar Grove,” Wu said. “A hundred years ago, southwestern Vancouver Island was the land of the giants.”

Andy MacKinnon, a research ecologist for the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said the discovery of the giant Douglas-fir is exciting.

He manages a Big Tree Registry through the University of British Columbia that tracks the 10 largest trees of each species in the province, and plans to measure Big Lonely Doug next month.

“There’s no legal protection for trees on the list, but it is a way to highlight and champion them,” said MacKinnon, citing the advocacy for a giant Sitka spruce that led to protection of the Carmanah Valley as an example.

Of the 1.9 million hectares of Crown forest on Vancouver Island, 840,125 hectares are considered old growth and 313,000 hectares are available for timber harvesting.

Canada’s second largest Douglas Fir tree found in B.C.

Mar 25 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

Big Lonely Doug is a survivor.

The gigantic Douglas fir has weathered storms, earthquakes and a massive logging operation, but according to environmentalists on Vancouver Island, its days are numbered.

“With the other trees gone, there’s no more wind buffer,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Its largest branch was blown off by the wind a few weeks ago, and the whole tree itself is in peril.”

Along with his colleague T.J. Watt, Wu spotted the tree months ago in a logged-out area near Port Renfrew, but only had the chance to measure it last week.

At approximately four metres wide and 69 metres tall, it’s believed to be the second largest Douglas fir ever recorded in Canada.

“It’s so big it’s like arriving at a small planet,” Wu said. “It’s one of those trees that produces awe in people.”

The area around Big Lonely Doug was logged in 2012 by a Vancouver-based timber firm, leading Wu and Watt to give the tree its “lonely” moniker.

“I can only imagine what a spectacular landscape it would have been two years ago, filled with Douglas firs and ten-foot wide cedars,” Wu said. “Now it looks like a moonscape, except for this one, huge tree.”

Based on the rings of nearby stumps, Wu estimates Lonely Doug is 1,000 years old.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has spent years tracking down Vancouver Island’s largest trees in an effort to bring awareness to the plight of old growth forests. Claiming only 10 per cent of the productive, old growth forest on the Island is under protection, Wu believes more regulation is needed.

“Second-growth forests in B.C. are logged every 50 years, so if you lose something that doesn’t come back for another 1,000 years, it’s gone for good,” he said. “And all the creatures associated with these ancient forests lose their habitat.”

Wu said the forest around Big Lonely Doug would have served as habitat for the endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk.

To bring attention to their cause, Wu and Watt have dubbed the old growth tract around Doug the “Christy Clark grove,” after B.C.’s premier.

“The grove was named after the premier as a strategy to put her on the spot and in the spotlight to have to take responsibility to protect the area’s ancient forests,” Wu said.

The area is definitely home to some large trees. In fact, the world’s largest Douglas fir — standing 73.8 metres tall — is only one valley away, and record-setting cedars and spruces are also nearby.

Andy MacKinnon, an ecologist who manages the B.C. Big Tree Registry, said the discovery of Lonely Doug could help spur conservation efforts in the area.

“If you’re trying to save a grove of trees and you can point to a tree as being one of the largest in the world… that gets a lot more press and a lot more attention, and it indirectly affords the area a kind of protection,” he said.

MacKinnon points to a giant Sitka spruce that led to a portion of the Carmanah Valley on Vancouver Island being designated a provincial park.

“That whole campaign and some of its best publicity was built around the Carmanah Giant,” he said.

MacKinnon expects Big Lonely Doug may be among the world’s ten largest Douglas firs, but he’s waiting until he can officially measure it before adding it to the registry.

For more information on large trees in the province, visit the B.C. Big Tree Registry, or consult the Google map below (follow news link below to view) created by Craig Williams.

Read more: https://metronews.ca/news/victoria/981658/photos-giant-douglas-fir-tree-found-in-b-c-may-be-largest-in-world/

VIDEO: Canada’s 2nd Largest Fir Tree

Mar 22 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

Here's a news clip by CHEK TV on Big Lonely Doug, the 2nd largest Douglas-fir in Canada, featuring the photos of the AFA's TJ Watt.

See video at: https://www.cheknews.ca/?bckey=AQ~~,AAAA4mHNTzE~,ejlzBnGUUKY1gXVPwEwEepl35Y795rND&bclid=975107450001&bctid=3374339880001

Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir discovered

Mar 22 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

“This may very well be the most significant big tree discovery in Canada in decades. This is a tree with a trunk as wide as a living room and stands taller than downtown skyscrapers,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) photographer and campaigner, who first noticed the exceptional tree several months ago before returning to measure it with AFA co-founder Ken Wu yesterday, in a press release from AFA to Vancouver Observer.

Here's more on the discovery of Canada’s second largest recorded Douglas-fir tree from the press release:

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) have found and measured what appears to be Canada’s second largest recorded Douglas-fir tree, nick-named “Big Lonely Doug”. Preliminary measurements of the tree taken yesterday found it to be about 12 meters (39 feet) in circumference or 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, and 69 meters(226 feet) tall. Ministry of Forests staff will visit the site and take official measurements of the tree in early April. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be about 1000 years old, judging by nearby 8 feet wide Douglas-fir stumps in the same clearcut with growth rings of 500-600 years.

“This may very well be the most significant big tree discovery in Canada in decades.This is a tree with a trunk as wide as a living room and stands taller than downtown skyscrapers,” stated TJ Watt, AFA photographer and campaigner, who first noticed the exceptional tree several months ago before returning to measure it with AFA co-founder Ken Wu yesterday. “Big Lonely Doug’s total size comes in just behind the current champion Douglas-fir, the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest, which grows just one valley over.”

“The fact that all of the surrounding old-growth trees have been clearcut around such a globally exceptional tree, putting it at risk of being damaged or blown down by wind storms, underscores the urgency for new provincial laws to protect BC’s largest trees, monumental groves, and endangered old-growth ecosystems,” stated Ken Wu, AFA executive director. “The days of colossal trees like these are quickly coming to an end as the timber industry cherry-picks the last unprotected, valley-bottom, lower elevation ancient stands in southern BC where giants like this grow.”

Big Lonely Doug grows in the Gordon River Valley near the coastal town of Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada. It stands on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

Big Lonely Doug stands alone among dozens of giant stumps – some 3 meters (10 feet) wide – of old-growth western redcedars, Douglas-firs, and western hemlocks, in a roughly 20 hectare clearcut that was logged in 2012. Its largest branch was recently torn off in a fierce wind/snow storm a few weeks ago, with a 50 centimeter wide base (the size of most second-growth trees) and still fresh needles lying on the ground adjacent to the tree.

The world’s largest Douglas-fir tree is the Red Creek Fir, located just 20 kilometers to the east of Big Lonely Doug in the San Juan River Valley. The Red Creek Fir has been measured to be 13.28 meters (44 feet) in circumference or 4.3 meters (14 feet) in diameter, and 73.8 meters (242 feet) tall.

The University of British Columbia runs a “BC Big Tree Registry” which lists the 10 largest trees of each species based on circumference, height, and crown spread.

Judging by the registry of the top 10 largest recorded Douglas-fir trees in BC, Big Lonely Doug has the 2nd-largest timber volume (ie. overall size), the 2nd largest circumference/diameter, and is the 7th tallest for its kind in BC.

Big Lonely Doug was likely left behind as a seed tree or through a logging practice known as “variable retention harvesting”, where companies claim they are “not clearcutting” the forest because they “retain” varying amounts of trees (in this case, two trees, including Big Lonely Doug) in each cutblock. The tree might have also been used as a cable anchor to yard other trees for the logging operation across the clearcut, judging by the long horizontal lines scarred into its bark.

The stand of ancient trees in which Big Lonely Doug grew was part of a 1000 hectare tract of provincially-significant, largely intact old-growth forest on Edinburgh Mountain, home to species at risk including the red-listed or endangered Queen Charlotte Goshawk.

While some of the area has been reserved as a core Wildlife Habitat Area for the goshawk and as an Old-Growth Management Area, about 60 per cent of the forests there – including the finest, valley-bottom stands with the largest trees, such as the stand where Big Lonely Doug once grew in – are open to clearcut logging.

This area was nicknamed the “Christy Clark Grove” in 2012 after BC’s premier as a strategy to put her on the spot and in the spotlight to have to take responsibility for the fate of this spectacular ancient forest. So far, the premier has failed to ensure the area’s full protection. See photos of this nationally-significant but threatened forest here.

Government data from 2012 show that about 75 per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and Southwest Mainland) have been logged, including over 91 per cent of the highest productivity, valley bottom ancient stands where the largest trees grow. 99 per cent of the old-growth Douglas-fir trees on BC’s coast have also been logged. See recent “before and after” maps and stats here.

The BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is currently working on following up on a 2011 promise by then-Forests Minister Pat Bell to develop a new “legal too” to protect the province’s biggest old-growth trees and grandest groves. Such a legal mechanism, if effective and if implemented, would be a greatly welcome step forward towards protecting BC’s finest stands. More comprehensive legislation would still be needed to protect the province’s old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale, to sustain biodiversity, clean water, and the climate, as the biggest trees and monumental groves are today a very small fraction of the remaining old-growth forests.

BC’s old-growth forests are important to sustain numerous species at risk that can’t live or flourish in second-growth stands; to mitigate climate change by storing two to three times more atmospheric carbon than the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with; as fundamental pillars for BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry; to support clean water and wild salmon; and for many First Nations cultures who use ancient cedar trees for canoes, totems, long-houses, and numerous other items.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect our endangered old-growth forests, ensure the development of a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry (second-growth forest now constitute the vast majority of productive forest lands in BC), and to end the vast export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.

“The vast majority of BC’s remaining old-growth forests are at higher elevations, on rocky sites, and in bogs where the trees are much smaller and in many cases have low to no commercial value. It’s the valley-bottom, low elevation stands where trees like the Big Lonely Doug grow that are incredibly scarce now. 99 per cent of the old-growth Douglas-fir trees on BC’s coast have already been logged. It’s time for the BC government to stop being more enthusiastic about big stumps than big trees, and for them to enact forest policies that protect our last endangered ancient forest ecosystems,” stated TJ Watt.

Ground Zero: Island Timberlands

Mar 5 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

The extraordinarily rich forests of Vancouver Island have been fought over since James Douglas had 14 Vancouver Island chiefs sign a blank piece of paper. The frustration in losing virtually every battle by four generations of First Nations and concerned citizens has bred some sophisticated new approaches to the old task of protecting Indigenous rights and nature. These reach out internationally and to corporate shareholders. As a result, 2014 is off to a difficult start for Island Timberlands, the corporation most in the news these days for questionable logging practices.

First, a resolution on an ethical investment issue was passed unanimously on January 31 by the BC Teachers Federation. The resolution urged BC Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), which invests the teachers’ pensions and is a majority shareholder in Island Timberlands, to send the company back to the planning table over its liquidation of old growth forests on Vancouver Island, specifically around Port Alberni (near Cathedral Grove and McLaughlin Ridge). This resolution built on a 2012 recommendation that “the BCTF seeks legislative or regulatory changes that would clarify the definition of fiduciary duty to include consideration of long-term financial sustainability through environmental, social, and governance responsible investing principles.” Since pensions are fuelling the logging rates, this hits at the heart of the problem.

In support of their resolution, members of the BCTF used the argument presented in the 2008 Supreme Court of Canada judgment that the directors must resolve to balance stakeholder interests “in accordance with their fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the corporation, viewed as a good corporate citizen.”

This leaves it wide open for the courts and citizens to define “a good corporate citizen.”

Another case brought by Robert Morales, chief negotiator for six southeast Vancouver Island First Nations of the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (HTG), might do just that at the international level. The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (Focus, November 2011) will assess the culpability of Canada and three corporations (including Island Timberlands) who are the “successors in interest” in breaching human rights. Morales explains that after the original application to the international tribunal was filed in 2011, the government of Canada objected on the grounds that the native groups had not exhausted all domestic remedies.

Morales states, “We argued that no Canadian court has ever recognized Indigenous people’s rights to private property. The Inter-American Commission agreed with us, and were satisfied that there were no domestic remedies. Canadians don’t realize the gravity of this statement. Here is an international body of human rights experts stating that in Canada a situation exists where a group of people’s human rights cannot be effectively dealt with under the existing legal and political structures here.” The case is now awaiting the final hearing—and we can anticipate that this court’s judgment might point to a lack of good corporate citizenship.

Island Timberlands’ third worry is a cluster of community groups up and down the island, who, under the slogan “No community stands alone,” have been seeking an improvement in forest practices of the company. On February 4, Jane Morden, spokesperson for Watershed Forest Alliance out of Port Alberni, released in a letter to bcIMC and IT “the evidence for our concern regarding Island Timberlands’ logging practices on private lands in the Alberni Valley area.”

In the documents submitted to bcIMC and IT, the Alliance detailed the history of the IT lands in question. In 2004 the provincial government removed 74,000 hectares of Island Timberlands private land from Tree Farm License 44 with a letter of intent that grandfathered the protection of 2400 hectares of critical wildlife habitat (old growth) for wintering ungulates (deer and elk) and the nesting Northern Goshawk—a red-listed species at risk. After long negotiations between 2005 and 2008, and upon acquiring these lands, IT agreed to the boundaries of the 2400 hectares of ungulate winter range (UWR) and wildlife habitat area (WHA) for goshawk as the minimum area required for protection. Shortly after, however, IT began clearcutting these lands.

In a document obtained by FOI, government scientists Darryn McConkey and Erica McClaren stated “negotiations ceased because we could not agree on the management regime within these boundaries. Island Timberlands wanted to extract timber resources from within UWRs and WHA 1-002 and Ministry of Forests could not scientifically rationalize how the quality of these areas could be maintained.” Ministry scientists go on to say that IT’s proposed management “did not incorporate any input from the Ministry of Environment” and “is not supported by the best available science.”

Island Timberland’s spokesperson Morgan Kennah, in answer to this claim of unscientific forest practices, stated IT stands by its forest certification process, Sustainable Forestry Initiatives (SFI). SFI has received strong criticism for being an industry-financed certification system. ForestEthics, for example, has stated, “The SFI certification program actually assures its timber company customers that it does not prohibit logging in old growth forests, wild areas that do not currently have roads, or other places in which ecological values are especially rich.”

When asked about these critiques and industry ties to SFI, IT’s Kennah responded, “Many people would say that it [SFI] is independent. The board is made up of economic and environmental interests. We feel strongly, as [do] others, that it is not controlled by industry.” On the SFI board various non-profits are represented, including Bird Studies Canada whose website states that SFI is a Gold Donor with donations of over $50,000 for projects like their Bird Atlas, which ironically would include the goshawk nesting site that the Alliance seeks to protect. Bird Studies Canada President George Finney, defended his role: “From Bird Studies Canada point of view, we are just giving them bird information and how they can be less detrimental to various bird populations.” He said, “Complaints could be registered and they will be investigated.”

The Kwakiutl First Nation also added their voice to the chorus of disenchanted Vancouver Islanders with an ongoing peaceful protest when Island Timberlands started to log cultural sites, traplines and cedar trees in their territory. The Douglas Treaty (signed 163 years ago to the day of their February 9 press release) stipulated “that lands and waters were to be set-aside for the exclusive use by Kwakiutl to maintain livelihood ‘as formerly’ and for ‘generations to follow.’” Chief Coreen Child of Kwakiutl First Nation stated: “The people of Kwakiutl have been left with no choice but to protest and stop Canada and BC from allowing Companies to cut and remove cedar trees from our land.” IT’s response to this was: “We have done due diligence by sending in an archaeologist to do an Archaeological Impact Assessment with members of the band attending.” Focus asked to view the report or the terms of reference, but was refused. Chief Child argues that these studies don’t address cultural land-use issues granted in the Douglas Treaty.

Morales and the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group are also pointing to these cultural land-use issues as the nub of the case: “The Inter-American Commission is not judging whether the action of transferring the land to private corporate hands was legal or not, but whether the ability of the people to practice their culture has been significantly affected by this action today.” He argued that the privatization resulted in a situation in which First Nations cannot practice their culture due to the losses that they have sustained. “How can you teach your children how to build a canoe when there are no longer any cedar trees? That is the loss that the Inter-American Commission is considering.”

Finally, Cortes Islanders, who have successfully fended off Island Timberland’s clearcutting plans for the old growth on their island to date (Focus, January 2013), celebrated—after 20-plus years of negotiation—realization of a community forest agreement (CFA). The agreement covers Crown lands adjacent to IT’s land and includes equal partnership with the KIahoose First Nation. The partnership is in the process of developing a Community Forest Operating Plan that reflects community values and will guide forest management within the CFA. Cortes Islanders had asked IT to bring their own forestlands under a similar value-added ecosystem management and certification system, Forest Stewardship Council, but IT has consistently rejected that idea, citing increased costs. Today, with shareholders demanding this type of ethical management, IT’s excuse of fiduciary responsibility is sounding less and less convincing.

Documenting all these examples of citizens fighting back is Dan Pierce who, with producer Cari Green (of the award-winning documentary The Corporation), is developing a feature documentary (through crowd sourcing) on these initiatives. That gives hope to the idea that community involvement could finally supplant the old corporate model—from how we invest our pensions and how we run our timber companies to how we fund our films. See www.heartwoodfilm.com.

163 Years of Delay, Denial and Dishonour: Kwakiutl First Nation Marks Treaty Anniversary with Day Twelve of Protest

Feb 23 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

Today, Kwakiutl commemorates the 163rd anniversary of its 1851 “Douglas” Treaty as the First Nation enters into its twelve day of protest against the Province of British Columbia, Canada and Forest Companies over the controversial clear-cutting of cedar trees on lands with exclusive Kwakiutl Aboriginal title, rights & interests, and Treaty rights.

“The people of Kwakiutl have been left with no choice but to protest and stop Canada and BC from allowing Companies to cut and remove cedar trees from our Land,” said Chief Coreen Child of Kwakiutl First Nation.

Cedar is vital to the Kwakiutl people, contributing to every facet of life—from ceremony to sanctuary. “As our respected ones taught us, the trees are the 'standing people'. They have the same energy as a bear, a salmon, a mountain, or a human being. The trees in the forest are like family,” said Tom Child, Lands Manager and Band Member of Kwakiutl First Nation.

At the centre of Kwakiutl's protest is an 1851 Treaty with the British Crown, which stipulated that lands and waters were to be set-aside for the exclusive use by Kwakiutl to maintain livelihood “as formerly” and for “generations to follow”.

“Our people viewed the Treaty as vital to protecting land, water, and a way of life,” said Chief Child. “But treaty implementation never happened. It was denied. And by way of denial, natural resource based industries sprang up around us and decimated our lands and waters,” said Chief Child.

In June 2013, after a century and a half of Crown neglect, the BC Supreme Court found that BC and Canada had failed to implement and respect Kwakiutl “Douglas” Treaty and “challenged” both levels of government to begin honourable negotiations with the First Nation “without any further litigation, expense or delay.” Kwakiutl considered this aspect of the judgment a victory because it put to rest, once and for all, the Provincial Crown's denial of Kwakiutl rights, title and interests.

As of this writing, BC has appealed the ruling and Canada has fallen silent. Both levels of government claim they do not have a mandate to implement Kwakiutl's 1851 Treaty.

Kwakiutl believes it has been left with little recourse but to protest, and views its actions as part of a larger struggle shared by First Nations across Canada.

“There is a resistance growing across Canada because the Crown continues with its shopworn practice of dispossession, and if it works, why change it. It's infringing, insulting and infuriating. Here, we live amidst the most resource rich Nation in the world and our people continue to be mired in a system of poverty and stigma that still dresses itself in assimilationist clothing,” said Chief Child.

In the wake of anniversary and protest, Kwakiutl First Nation calls upon the federal and provincial Crown governments to cease their delay tactics, stop their denial of Aboriginal rights, title and interests, and acknowledge that the Treaty of 1851 exists and needs to be honoured and implemented.

“Our Treaty is alive and well,” said Kwakiutl Councillor, Ross Hunt, Jr. “It stands as testament to Kwakiutl self-government and the principles of Kwakiutl law. Tonight, in heat of our protest fire and in the heart of Kwakiutl territory, our forests will ring with traditional games and songs. We invite BC and Canada to celebrate the honour with us.”

See more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1727448

Surprise! Old growth trees are ‘star players’ in gobbling greenhouse gas.

Feb 23 2014/in News Coverage/by TJ Watt

The oldest trees in a forest aren't just passively clinging to the carbon they've drawn from the atmosphere and stored as leaves and wood – they're capturing CO2 at a pace that increases with each passing year.

That's the surprising result from an exhaustive new study of tree growth and carbon storage, a key element in Earth's carbon cycle and a focus of international efforts to draw up a new international climate treaty.

For years, conventional wisdom held that even if old-growth trees weren't felled by fire, disease, lightning, or chain saws, they retained no additional carbon as they entered their golden years. They were valuable as storage bins for the carbon they had taken up and stored as they grew. But few counted on old-growth trees to continue sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere in their senior years.

That bit of arboreal ageism began to change in 2008, when researchers published a study showing that old-growth forests actively added to their carbon stocks, although at a slower pace than forests with younger demographics.

Now, an international research team has shown that, for many tree species across the globe, old trees accumulate carbon at an increasing rate as time passes. On average, trees whose trunks are about three feet across add nearly 230 pounds of dry mass to their girth each year. That's about three times more mass than a younger tree of the same species with a trunk half as wide would add.

This does not mean that trees will save the planet from the relentless rise of heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere resulting from human industrial activities and land-use changes, researchers caution.

The fact that concentrations continue to rise in itself shows that natural sinks for carbon aren't keeping up with human emissions, although they are moderating the increase the atmosphere sees.

Nor do the results imply that old-growth forests are better at soaking up and retaining CO2 on a given day than large stands of young trees or forests with a broader mix of young and old, says Nathan Stephenson, a forest ecologist with the US Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center in Three Rivers, Calif. Mortality rates in these younger forests tend to be lower, allowing more trees to carry on the vital work of photosynthesis. And proportionately fewer trees are dying at any one time, limiting the net amount of carbon dioxide that returns to the atmosphere as the dead trees decompose.

Still, in managing forests for the carbon they actively acquire and hold in long-term storage, “you need to know who your star players are on the team. It turns out that the star players in an old forest are the old trees, not the young trees.”

The results are “very exciting,” says Doug Boucher, director of tropical forest and climate initiative at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group based in Cambridge, Mass. “It reinforces the value of old-growth forests for the storage of carbon in the biosphere.”

Beyond a tendency to anthropomorphize the life cycle of trees, doubts about the capacity of older trees to increase their carbon stores had some basis in earlier research, Dr. Stephenson says.

Researchers looking at the role of leaves noted that as trees grew older, their leaves became less efficient at taking up CO2 – which would be expected to show up as a slowdown in carbon accumulation. And in stands where the trees were all about the same age, net CO2 storage declined as the trees aged.

A couple of studies, each focusing on an individual species, found that the older trees in their samples bucked conventional wisdom. But the results weren't overwhelming enough to overturn it.

Stephenson and his colleagues culled their measurements from records kept at research stations worldwide. Their sample included more than 670,000 trees, representing 403 species from six continents. Their measurements focused on increases in trunk diameter at a standard height above the ground.

Overall, 98.6 percent of the species in the sample experienced increased mass with age, suggesting that while a tree might reach a maximum height, it could add mass along its trunk indefinitely, with biggest trees adding the most mass.

One reason, Stephenson explains, is that as trees grow, they continue to add branches and leaves. Even though the carbon uptake of an individual leaf might decline with time, an older tree has many more leaves than its younger siblings. A decline in leaf efficiency is more than offset by an increase in numbers.

As for the sequestration declines seen in old stands of trees of similar age, such stands started out with many more trees, which would have boosted their carbon-sequestration potential. “You can pack a lot more young trees on a patch of land than old trees,” Stephenson says.

The study's results have important implications for managing forests in a warming climate, he adds.

In regions such as the US's Mountain West, climate-related contributions to wildfire frequency and intensity, as well as to more-frequent infestations of insects such as the Mountain pine beetle, already are putting more-intense stress on forests.

“Maybe if environmental changes are hitting your biggest trees the hardest, this is sort of an added impetus to go: 'Oh my gosh, we need to mitigate that,' because these are the star players in pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,” he says.