Help us protect the old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni!
Conservationists are calling on the BC government to protect a 500 hectare tract of ancient Douglas fir forest near Port Alberni that biologists have classified as both critical habitat for wintering deer and nesting endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks. Conservationists would like the BC government to protect the old-growth forest on private land on McLaughlin Ridge by purchasing it from Island Timberlands.
The land was formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) for black-tailed deer and as a Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) for the endangered goshawk until 2004 when the BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of land now owned by Island Timberlands from their Tree Farm Licenses (TFL’s), thus removing most existing environmental protections on those lands and failing to implement other planned protections. Island Timberlands began logging the 500 hectare tract of old-growth forest a year ago, clearcutting 100 hectares or more from both sides of the Grove, while about 400 hectares of the core area still remains – for now.
Environmentalists want the province to buy a tract of previously protected old-growth forest near Port Alberni that is now being logged by Island Timberlands.
McLaughlin Ridge was classified as critical habitat for wintering deer and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks until 2004, when the province allowed it to be removed from a tree farm licence.
Different regulations governing private managed forest land mean part of the 500-hectare forest is now being logged.
“Here’s another major example of the serious havoc wreaked by the BC government’s TFL-removal scheme,” said Ken Wu, cofounder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “The BC government created this mess by largely deregulating these forest lands and now they need to clean it up by protecting the previously protected old-growth forests, deer winter range and endangered species habitat.”
The area is used by black-tail deer, which feed on lichen hanging from old-growth trees when snow is on the ground.
“These are not deer that live at sea level, where there is rarely snow, or urban deer that feed on your flowers and garden veggies,” Wu said.
“The deer rely on old-growth forests like McLaughlin Ridge for winter shelter and lichens, which are lacking in clearcuts and second-growth stands.”
Endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk nest in the area, which is considered by government biologists to be one of the most ecologically significant sites in BC, said Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni-based Friends of McLaughlin Ridge.
“To let the whole thing get logged would be a travesty,” she said.
However, Island Timberlands spokeswoman Morgan Kennah said logging in McLaughlin Ridge is based on information the company receives from consulting biologists.
“We maintain an inventory of the goshawk nests because they are a species of critical importance and we modify our practices if nests are found in the area,” she said.
In keeping with the rules guiding logging on private managed forest land, critical wildlife habitat is protected by changing patterns of logging or volume, Kennah said.
Forests Minister Steve Thomson, who is on a trade mission in China, could not be contacted Monday.
[Direct link to the Times Colonist article no longer available]
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Jane_McLaughlin_Ridge.jpg600400TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-11-12 00:00:002024-07-30 17:05:41Chainsaw buzz stirs up once-protected old growth
Environmentalists are raising the alarm about the logging of old-growth Douglas firs taking place near Port Alberni.
They are calling on the provincial government to protect a 500hectare tract of old-growth forest they say biologists have classified as critical habitat for wintering deer and nesting endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks.
Island Timberlands owns the area in question on McLaughlin Ridge, southeast of the city.
Two local groups are asking the government to purchase the land from IT in order to protect it.
Members of the Ancient Forest Alliance and Friends of McLaughlin Ridge say the land was formerly protected as a winter feeding area for black-tailed deer and as a known nesting area for the endangered goshawk.
In 2004, the B.C. government removed 88,000 hectares of land now owned by Island Timberlands from their Tree Farm Licenses.
Of the 500-hectare tract, the groups say 100 hectares have already been logged, but the core portion of the stand remains intact.
Ancient Forest Alliance spokesperson Ken Wu said he hopes the logging has stopped for the winter, to buy some time to try to save what remains.
He added 99% of the coastal old-growth Douglas firs have already been logged on Vancouver Island.
“It’s pretty crazy we have to fight over the last 1%,” Wu said. He explained the area is covered in lichens, which are a vital winter food source for deer. The trees also provide shelter, he added. Bed Bath and Beyond Wedding Registry
This concerns environmentalists because they say the black-tailed deer population is in decline, in large part due to the destruction of their winter habitat.
Less deer, Wu said, means less food for wolves, cougars, bears and subsistence hunters.
The Queen Charlotte goshawk, a bird of prey, is “red” – listed and considered endangered, with only about 300 nesting pairs known to exist, he said.
McLaughlin Ridge is a known nesting area for these birds.
Wu said any recovery plan for this species should include protection of one of their few remaining known nesting areas. The groups contend Victoria created “this mess” by largely deregulating these forest lands.
“We will be asking Island Timberlands to show good will to the community by putting their logging plans for McLaughlin Ridge on hold until funds are put forward to protect this critical old-growth habitat,” said Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni-based Friends of McLaughlin Ridge.
IT spokesperson Morgan Kennah could not confirm whether logging in the area will continue this winter, although she said IT does have harvest plans across that general area, and has completed some “clear-cutting with variable retention levels” there.
“IT has not received a formal proposal to purchase that area and actions will not be stalled indefinitely for a proposal that may or may not come to fruition,” she said.
Kennah acknowledged the area is considered suitable habitat for deer and the Queen Charlotte goshawk, and IT does alter its helilogging when young of the latter species are hatching to reduce the noise impact.
“Wildlife procedures are in place that dictate modified practices,” she said, adding that logging in areas identified as wildlife habitat are planned in consultation with a registered biologist.
As for IT’s critics, Kennah said residents can learn more about the company’s logging plans by attending the next West Island Woodland Advisory Group meetings on Dec. 8 at the AlberniClayoquot Regional District office.
PORT RENFREW, B.C.—Pink ribbons knotted to tree branches at the side of a gravel logging road mark the entry to an amazing earthly experience, something so different from anything most people have experienced it might be on another world.
The air is cool, damp and even smells green. Look up and there is no blue sky, just scraggy branches and the tops of 60-metre trees, that allow sunlight to hit the mossy ground only in broken beams of light.
This is Avatar Grove, a 50-hectare piece of untouched old-growth forest, about 110 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
Through a karma-like convergence, natural-born enemies, environmentalists, business leaders and politicians are joining hands to protect it from logging and create a nature-lover’s paradise.
It’s as if the happy-ending script is writing itself at Avatar Grove — a sequel of sorts to the Hollywood blockbuster, unfolding in the few remaining dark, moody and ancient big-tree forests on southern Vancouver Island.
“When we came across the area, it was at the same time the movie ‘Avatar’ was released,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance. “‘Avatar’ was about saving old-growth forests, albeit on an alien moon.
“We wanted people to make the connection that here on earth we have real spectacular old growth (forests) that are endangered and that need protecting,” he said, standing near a huge cedar marked in spray paint with the number five, signifying that it once faced a chainsaw death.
Wu said choosing the name Avatar Grove, courting the business community in nearby struggling Port Renfrew and getting the ear of the B.C. government has sparked a groundswell to declare the rugged coastal area the Big Trees Capital of Canada.
The Ancient Forest Alliance spent the summer taking busloads of tourists into Avatar Grove to see the mysterious forest, especially the alien-shaped western red cedar, nicknamed Canada’s gnarliest tree for is Volkswagen-sized burl that makes it look like something out of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels.
“Port Renfrew really is the biggest trees capital of Canada,” said Wu. “The fact is the largest Douglas fir tree on earth is near town. The biggest spruce tree in Canada is also near town. The biggest tree in Canada, the Cheewaht cedar, is also north of town.
“And we’ve got the gnarliest tree at the Avatar Grove,” he said. “It’s an exceptional place for big-tree tourism and I think this is the year people are starting to recognize that and are coming to see them.”
Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew’s Chamber of Commerce president, agrees with Wu and the Ancient Forest Alliance that the big trees are something to see. It’s also offering a tourism boost to the community that, until recently, considered logging and fishing its lifeblood.
“The majority (here) can see the value of tourism dollars,” she said. “And now that there’s probably a handful of loggers left in this community, it is no longer a logging town.”
Betsworth said environmentalists like Wu and photographer T.J. Watt, who discovered Avatar Grove in 2009 while scouting the area’s few remaining old-growth stands, convinced locals that there is money in saving trees as opposed to cutting them down.
“For a small group of very broke guys, my God, they’ve made so much movement,” she said.
Steve Thomson, B.C.’s minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, said the government halted planned logging of Avatar Grove and is awaiting the results of a public consultation process on the area’s future.
But he suggested it already appears logging is no longer a viable option.
“The province has published its intent to adjust the old-growth management area to protect that grove,” he said.
Watt said Avatar Grove and the other huge trees in the Port Renfrew area, where many hillsides are scarred from clear-cut logging, are living examples of Mother Nature’s majesty that are located steps from easily accessible roads.
“Right away we knew we had something special because I couldn’t think of anywhere else where you could see trees of this size and get there in something like a Honda Civic.”
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/11-11-02-thestar.jpg410615TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-11-03 00:00:002023-04-06 19:09:33Welcome to Avatar forest in B.C.
Environmental protection should be the first consideration if the military decides to sell surplus land around Greater Victoria, conservation groups say.
Some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems are found on Department of National Defence land in the capital region, the groups say.
DND, which controls more than 4,000 hectares of land around Greater Victoria, is looking at selling surplus land. The Ancient Forest Alliance has called on the federal government to create protected areas or turn parcels over to agencies which can protect ecosystems.
“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but, in many cases, ecosystems in the best condition in Canada are on DND lands,” said Ken Wu of the AFA.
“The occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture and suburban sprawl that impact other lands.”
Old-growth coastal Douglas fir forests and Garry oak meadows are among ecosystems represented in DND-owned areas such as Rocky Point and Mary Hill in Metchosin, the area next to Fort Rodd National Historic Park and Royal Roads University, which leases land from DND.
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DND_Giant_Arbutus.jpg600400TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-10-28 00:00:002023-04-06 19:09:33Conservationists fearful of DND land sale
Ancient Forest Alliance worries about potential sell-off of unused DND lands for real estate development and calls for federal government to let Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, the provinces, regional districts, and First Nations protect unused DND lands.
The potential sell-off of Department of National Defence (DND) lands reported by the Ottawa Citizen and the Canadian media recently is causing concern for conservationists who fear some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems could be jeopardized by real estate development.
Instead the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the federal government to protect the endangered ecosystems and exceptional natural areas on unused DND lands through:
– the Canadian Wildlife Service as new National Wildlife Areas
– Parks Canada as new National Parks
– transferring unused DND lands to the provinces for new Provincial Parks, Provincial Conservancies (in BC), or Ecological Reserves
– to Regional Districts in BC as new Regional Parks
– to First Nations as treaty settlement lands under agreement to become new First Nations protected areas where subsistence, cultural, and spiritual uses will continue
The Department of National Defence controls 800 parcels of federal public lands totalling 2.25 million hectares (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island) in Canada for military use, although vast areas are unused and remain in excellent ecological condition. From endangered coastal old-growth forests to prairie grasslands to Carolinian deciduous forests in southern Ontario to large intact boreal forests, Canada’s least disturbed ecosystems are often in the unused portions of the DND’s lands.
“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but in many cases the ecosystems in the best ecological condition in Canada are on DND lands. Much DND land is unused, and in other areas the occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and suburban sprawl that impact other lands in Canada,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re demanding that the federal government show environmental leadership by protecting the endangered ecosystems and key natural areas on DND lands through new National and Provincial Parks, National Wildlife Areas, and Ecological Reserves rather than selling them off for suburban sprawl.”
In the Capital Regional District around Victoria, the DND controls over 4000 hectares of public lands, which include the very finest old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir forests and Garry oak ecosystems left in Canada in places like Rocky Point and Mary Hill in Metchosin, and DND lands behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, adjacent to Fort Rodd National Historic Park, and at Royal Roads University (which leases their lands from the DND) in Colwood.
“40% of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is now underneath the pavement of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, or converted to agriculture, and 99% of its old-growth forests are already logged. The finest remnants of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are here on the DND lands,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s the Department of National Defence’s duty to protect our Country when it’s under threat and here is the perfect opportunity to protect one of the most threatened places in Canada on their very own lands.”
Ancient Forest Alliance worries about potential sell-off of unused DND lands for real estate development and calls for federal government to let Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, the provinces, regional districts, and First Nations protect unused DND lands.
The potential sell-off of Department of National Defence (DND) lands reported by the Ottawa Citizen and the Canadian media recently is causing concern for conservationists who fear some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems could be jeopardized by real estate development.
Instead the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the federal government to protect the endangered ecosystems and exceptional natural areas on unused DND lands through:
– the Canadian Wildlife Service as new National Wildlife Areas
– Parks Canada as new National Parks
– transferring unused DND lands to the provinces for new Provincial Parks, Provincial Conservancies (in BC), or Ecological Reserves
– to Regional Districts in BC as new Regional Parks
– to First Nations as treaty settlement lands under agreement to become new First Nations protected areas where subsistence, cultural, and spiritual uses will continue
The Department of National Defence controls 800 parcels of federal public lands totalling 2.25 million hectares (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island) in Canada for military use, although vast areas are unused and remain in excellent ecological condition. From endangered coastal old-growth forests to prairie grasslands to Carolinian deciduous forests in southern Ontario to large intact boreal forests, Canada’s least disturbed ecosystems are often in the unused portions of the DND’s lands.
“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but in many cases the ecosystems in the best ecological condition in Canada are on DND lands. Much DND land is unused, and in other areas the occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and suburban sprawl that impact other lands in Canada,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re demanding that the federal government show environmental leadership by protecting the endangered ecosystems and key natural areas on DND lands through new National and Provincial Parks, National Wildlife Areas, and Ecological Reserves rather than selling them off for suburban sprawl.”
In the Capital Regional District around Victoria, the DND controls over 4000 hectares of public lands, which include the very finest old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir forests and Garry oak ecosystems left in Canada in places like at the Rocky Point and Mary Hill DND lands in Metchosin, and at DND lands behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, adjacent to Fort Rodd National Historic Park, and at Royal Roads University (which leases their lands from the DND) in Colwood.
“40% of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is now underneath the pavement of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, or converted to agriculture, and 99% of its old-growth forests are already logged. The finest remnants of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are here on the DND lands,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s a first rate national conservation priority to get them protected. It’s time for everyone to speak up!”
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DND_Douglas-fir.jpg600400TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-10-26 00:00:002023-04-06 19:09:33Conservationists Call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence Lands
On the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, just 15 minutes north of the historic logging town of Port Renfrew, an ancient old-growth forest named Avatar Grove gives visitors a glimpse of how the island’s trees may have looked 1,000 years ago.
Discovered in 2009 by photographer TJ Watt, cofounder of the Victoria-based environmental group the Ancient Forest Alliance, this 40-hectare old-growth forest is home to western red cedars and Douglas fir trees that stretch up to four metres in width.
Vancouver Island has lost 73 percent of its productive old-growth forest to logging, so Watt immediately recognized the significance of stumbling upon the pristine parcel of land.
The AFA has taken thousands of visitors on educational hikes through Avatar Grove to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the islands’ remaining ancient forests.
“To work to save an area, wherever you are in the world, if you experience a place yourself it gives you a greater resolve to protect it,” says Watt. “If you can experience that in real life you have a much greater and deeper appreciation.”
The AFA’s campaigning efforts and partnership with the local Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce has generated significant media attention and sparked a public conversation about whether the provincial government is doing enough to protect B.C.‘s old-growth forests.
The value of old trees
British Columbia is home to one of the largest coastal temperate rainforests left the world.
Saturated by an average annual precipitation of 3,671 mm — that’s three times more rain than Vancouver gets in a year — trees in Port Renfrew absorb enough water to resist pests and forest fires, enabling them to live and grow for as long as 1,000 years.
Their slow growth produces tighter growth rings and a high quality of wood less susceptible to bending and twisting with age. This makes them attractive targets of the logging industry: Ancient logs can be worth thousands of dollars.
The business of cutting down trees in B.C. has developed a symbiotic venture with tree planting. Since 1987, reforestation laws in B.C. require companies to replant areas that they harvest.
Forty million seedlings have been planted in B.C. since 2005, according to Pat Bell, former Minister of Forests and Range.
But a recent study by Anthony Britneff, who worked for the B.C. Forest Service for 39 years, found that harvested areas are not always replanted adequately, meaning seedlings do not grow productively.
Britneff states that “not satisfactorily restocked,” or NSR, forests are estimated to be larger than they were 25 years ago and cover an area nearly three times the size of Vancouver Island. These NSR statistics help determine the annual allowable cut and can potentially limit the amount of land that can be harvested for lumber.
A 90 percent funding cut to B.C.’s reforestation program in 2002 has made ensuring the accuracy of NSR statistics difficult, leading Britneff to argue that B.C. has an “unprecedented reforestation challenge” on its hands.
The value of old forests
Author Charlotte Gill, who spent 20 years working as a tree planter in Canada, experienced firsthand the challenges of trying to turn a clearcut into a forest.
In her new book, Eating Dirt, she questions whether the intricate relationships between species that have developed over centuries in old-growth forests can be replaced through the efforts of an army of shovels.
“Human hands can replace the trees but not necessarily the forest,” she writes.
Regrowing a forest can take up to 400 years, according to Gill’s research. Yet achieving the soil makeup necessary to sustain such a forest is a “millenial and geologic” process.
“You can’t build a forest floor in a nursery or manufacture topsoil in a mill.”
A “third-hand” forest, she writes, would be more brittle than the one it replaced. The next one would be leaner still. In the logging industry, this is known as falldown.
Gill describes our need for maintaining undisturbed forests as they store precious fresh water, absorb tonnes of carbon and guard against the otherwise inevitability of soil erosion. Keeping old forests intact also does more to mitigate climate change than planting new trees, as more carbon can be stored in the soil of an undisturbed ancient forest.
Provincial protection
Mark Haddock, an attorney with the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, says B.C. has historically viewed old-growth forests as a resource for lumber extraction, often overlooking the connection between the ecosystems that depend on them.
Species such as Roosevelt elk and northern spotted owls rely on the mix of new, old and decaying trees found in old-growth forests for food and shelter. The logging of B.C.’s pristine forests endangers these species as clear cutting continues.
“I think the conservation biology is pretty sound,” Haddock said. “I think it makes a pretty persuasive case to me as a British Columbian that there’s real merit in protecting old-growth forests. Now that we are aware of these ecological values, how do we act?”
Current provincial protection for old-growth forests is a matter of discretion by the government, Haddock said.
“There are rules that can and do protect old-growth,” Haddock said. “It’s just that the amount of old-growth that is protected is not stated in any mandatory way. It’s a discretionary decision by the government.”
Environmentalists like Watt question how long the logging of old-growth forests can continue as the AFA pushes the provincial government to grant Avatar Grove provincial park status.
“If they don’t have a plan and it’s not considered, what are they going to do in a couple decades when they finish it?” he said.
http://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.png00TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-10-26 00:00:002024-02-29 16:01:50Ancient forests in B.C. – Canadian Geographic Blog
PORT RENFREW, B.C. – Pink ribbons knotted to tree branches at the side of a gravel logging road mark the entry to an amazing earthly experience, something so different from anything most people have experienced it might be on another world.
The air is cool, damp and even smells green. Look up and there is no blue sky, just scraggy branches and the tops of 60-metre-high trees, that allow sunlight to hit the mossy ground only in broken beams of light.
This is Avatar Grove, a 50-hectare piece of untouched old-growth forest, about 110 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
Through a karma-like convergence, natural-born enemies, environmentalists, business leaders and politicians are joining hands to protect it from logging and create a nature-lover’s paradise.
It’s as if the happy-ending script is writing itself at Avatar Grove — a sequel of sorts to the Hollywood blockbuster, unfolding in the few remaining dark, moody and ancient big-tree forests on southern Vancouver Island.
“When we came across the area, it was at the same time the movie `Avatar’ was released,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance. “`Avatar’ was about saving old-growth forests, albeit on an alien moon.
“We wanted people to make the connection that here on earth we have real spectacular old growth (forests) that are endangered and that need protecting,” he said, standing near a huge cedar marked in spray paint with the number five, signifying that it once faced a chainsaw death.
Wu said choosing the name Avatar Grove, courting the business community in nearby struggling Port Renfrew and getting the ear of the B.C. government has sparked a groundswell to declare the rugged coastal area the Big Trees Capital of Canada.
The Ancient Forest Alliance spent the summer taking busloads of tourists into Avatar Grove to see the mysterious forest, especially the alien-shaped western red cedar, nicknamed Canada’s gnarliest tree for is Volkswagen-sized burl that makes it look like something out of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels.
“Port Renfrew really is the biggest trees capital of Canada,” said Wu. “The fact is the largest Douglas fir tree on earth is near town. The biggest spruce tree in Canada is also near town. The biggest tree in Canada, the Cheewaht cedar, is also north of town.
“And we’ve got the gnarliest tree at the Avatar Grove,” he said. “It’s an exceptional place for big-tree tourism and I think this is the year people are starting to recognize that and are coming to see them.”
Rosie Betsworth, Port Renfrew’s Chamber of Commerce president, agrees with Wu and the Ancient Forest Alliance that the big trees are something to see. It’s also offering a tourism boost to the community that, until recently, considered logging and fishing its lifeblood.
“The majority (here) can see the value of tourism dollars,” she said. “And now that there’s probably a handful of loggers left in this community, it is no longer a logging town.
Betsworth said environmentalists like Wu and photographer T.J. Watt, who discovered Avatar Grove in 2009 while scouting the area’s few remaining old-growth stands, convinced locals that there is money in saving trees as opposed to cutting them down. Grants for college students
“For a small group of very broke guys, my God, they’ve made so much movement,” she said.
Steve Thomson, B.C.’s minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, said the government halted planned logging of Avatar Grove and is awaiting the results of a public consultation process on the area’s future.
But he suggested it already appears logging is no longer a viable option.
“The province has published its intent to adjust the old-growth management area to protect that grove,” he said.
Watt said Avatar Grove and the other huge trees in the Port Renfrew area, where many hillsides are scarred from clear-cut logging, are living examples of Mother Nature’s majesty that are located steps from easily accessible roads.
“Right away we knew we had something special because I couldn’t think of anywhere else where you could see trees of this size and get there in something like a Honda Civic.”
———
If you go . . .
Currently, there are no official scheduled tours into Avatar Grove, but visit the Ancient Forest Alliance website: www.ancientforestalliance.org for a map of the area’s big tree sites. The alliance also will take visitors into Avatar Grove or can provide travellers with a detailed and easy to follow map that they can use to guide themselves.
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MSN_Travel_Avatar.jpg433650TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-10-24 00:00:002023-04-06 19:09:33Big trees boost tourism in West Coast town
The provincial government has introduced legislation to allow woodlot owners the right to remove their lands from forest management requirements and sell them while retaining their tenure on Crown lands, similar to a controversial move four years ago that allowed large forest companies the same right on Vancouver Island.
The Liberals introduced the change Tuesday as an amendment to the Forest Act, stating in a news release that woodlot owners will be able to remove private land from their woodlots, at the discretion of the minister, to provide them “flexibility in managing their assets in changing economic times and to plan for retirement.”
Critics of the woodlot licence amendment say it is a one-sided change of a public-private contract that provides benefits to private land owners. The only difference between the amendment and the 2007 removal of 28,000 hectares of private forest land from tree farm licences on Vancouver Island controlled by Western Forest Products, is the scale, said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. The Victoria-based conservation group mounted public opposition to the 2007 removal of Western’s southern Vancouver Island forestlands adjacent to the Juan De Fuca Marine Trail.
The government’s handling of that removal drew an admonishment from the auditor-general and ignited widespread community protest that has yet to die down.
“This sounds like a mini-version of the tree farm licence removal controversy,” Wu said in an interview. As was the case with the larger tree farm licences, private forest lands cannot be developed as long as they are in a woodlot. There is no development restriction once the lands are taken out.
There are 875 woodlot licences in B.C. operating on 505,000 hectares of forest land but only 91,000 hectares, or 18 per cent of the land, is private. The rest is Crown land, often obtained in return for keeping the private portion of the land within the woodlot licence.
“In many cases people were granted woodlot licences on Crown land by agreeing to include their private forest lands within the woodlot licence,” said Wu. “It’s similar to the situation with many coastal tree farm licences but on a smaller scale. The removal of those private lands from the woodlot licence essentially frees them up for development while allowing them to keep the Crown woodlot licence, and that’s not in the public interest.”
According to the website of the Federation of British Columbia Woodlot Associations, the woodlot licences are “a form of area-based tenure which is unique to British Columbia. In effect, they are partnerships between the licence holder and the Province of British Columbia to manage public and private forest lands.”
Brian McNaughton, executive director of the association, said in an interview that the estate planning is the prime reason woodlot owners want the right to take their private lands out of the woodlot.
“We have an aging demographic,” he said.
He said not all woodlot owners, himself included, will want to take private lands out. Some might want to take a portion out, and others might want to take all out but continue to manage the public portion.
He said the association expects there will be some controversy and wants to be transparent in what it is proposing. Before any land could be taken out of the woodlot licence, it would be advertised locally and the public be invited to comment. An accommodation could then be reached, he said, which might include the woodlot owner taking steps to ensure that public values are maintained. The decision to allow forest companies to withdraw their private lands motivated woodlot owners to seek the same right, but he said there is a difference in scale.
“We are talking about woodlots, which are small parcels, we are not talking about large tracks of timber, like perhaps was done with the corporations,” he said.
Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Steve Thomson defended the decision at a media scrum at the legislature Wednesday, saying woodlot owners would have to meet certain conditions before they could withdraw private land from their woodlot.
“This will be limited. This is dealing with an aging demographic in the woodlot industry. This means that they can continue woodlot operations without having to surrender the whole woodlot in terms of their planning,” he said.
NDP forestry critic Norm McDonald said he understands that woodlot owners require some flexibility but allowing them to remove their private lands while continuing to harvest timber on the public lands portion of their licence is not the answer.
Woodlot owners, he said, originally received the benefit of tenure on public lands by putting up their private lands to manage as forestlands. As long as their private lands are in woodlots, the owners receive favourable taxation and other benefits, McDonald said.
“We have a high degree of discomfort with this,” he said in an interview
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2011-10-07-Van-Sun-GHamilton-sm.jpg226350TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2011-10-08 00:00:002023-04-06 19:09:34Move by Liberals to amend Forest Act draws criticism
