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Mountain Caribou are Canada's largest old-growth dependent animal.

Comment: Caribou plan little help to endangered herds

The outlook for most of B.C.’s 15 remaining mountain caribou herds is bleak.

In the south especially, it ranges from looming extinction to permanent life support in the form of periodic reintroductions, calving-assistance programs and, above all, predator culls without end.

It’s time the B.C. government faced the fact that its Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan, announced in 2007, is doing little to improve the situation for these animals and in some areas has made matters worse.

On paper the Mountain Caribou Plan looks good, promising to rebuild the population from 1,700 to 2,500 animals by 2027. This will be achieved, it claims, through a three-pronged approach comprising: first, 2.2 million hectares of mostly high-elevation forests set aside as winter habitat; second, intense predator control targeted at wolves and cougars; and third, management of mechanized backcountry winter recreation.

Actually, one of the recovery teams argued for inclusion of a fourth prong, what they called “matrix habitat.”

As originally defined, matrix habitat is low to mid-elevation forest not necessarily occupied by mountain caribou but capable, when logged, of supporting moose and deer and hence their predators in substantial numbers. Wolf and cougar populations bolstered by clearcuts in matrix habitat often spread out into neighbouring protected areas, and became predators on the resident caribou.

What the recovery team was urging was a commitment by government to refrain from creating ever more clearcuts in matrix habitat. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

Most of the set-asides are at high elevations where, granted, they provide critical winter habitat. The few places where set-asides extend to valley elevations are rarely more than small thumbs of old-growth forest protruding into landscapes already heavily logged. For the rest, the government’s plan has entrusted the mountain caribou’s future to a costly, ethically questionable regime of predator control.

The very idea that a workable recovery strategy could be founded on a war against predator populations largely of its own creation seems incredible. It is like hoping to raise chickens without building a chicken coop. You can blast away at predators as long as you like, but the problem never disappears. Sooner or later you lose your chickens.

Mountain caribou, of course, aren’t chickens. They’re a nationally and internationally threatened ungulate species, arguably the most iconic animal in the mountain region of Canada and, besides, an animal essentially endemic to B.C. They deserve better.

No doubt the architects of the caribou plan really believed that a combination of high-elevation set-asides and stringent predator control could return the mountain caribou to its former numbers. Unfortunately, they were wrong. In 2007 there were 1,900 mountain caribou in the world. Today, only about 1,500 remain.

What should be done? If you ask Steve Thompson, the minister responsible for caribou recovery, he will likely tell you the situation is dire and calls for “extreme measures.” Pressed further, he will go on to talk about his government’s commitment to transplant programs, birthing pens and still more predator carnage. What he almost certainly will not tell you is that actions of this kind amount to little more than life support, a rearranging of deck chairs as the great ship of Canada’s mountain icon goes down.

B.C.’s mountain caribou plan claims to be committed to adaptive management, which means learning from mistakes and doing better. The time has come for the government to bolster the plan by establishing new set-asides in lowland matrix habitat. This is what its own recovery team called for in the days before the planning process went political, and certainly it is the only action that can possibly begin to turn the situation around.

As to where these set-asides should be situated, that will take some thinking. One approach would be to place them in the two or three regions that according to best science are most likely to support mountain caribou in the long term. In order of viability these are the Hart Ranges, Wells Gray Park and, running a distant third, the Selkirk Mountains.

Trevor Goward is a lichenologist and naturalist who makes his home in the Clearwater Valley near Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Quadra Island is the largest of the Discovery Islands

Tourism businesses slam forest policies

There’s a new confrontation brewing in British Columbia forests and it’s coming from an unlikely source. The latest battle to protect Vancouver Island’s forests isn’t being waged by an environmental organization—it’s being waged by business, in particular, the tourism industry. A group of tourism businesses in the Discovery Islands, near Campbell River, are charging the government with indifference to the needs of a major economic player in the region.

The Discovery Islands Marine Tourism Group is a coalition of businesses including the local Chamber of Commerce, which claims provincial forest policies designed by the BCLiberal government are encouraging the forest industry to clear-cut forests along marine corridors which are critical to the survival of a large wilderness based tourism industry.
The group went public with its concerns by publishing a full page ad in the Victoria Times Colonist criticizing the government for its inaction.

Spokesperson Ralph Keller says the group wanted to send a strong message to government that forest management polices aren’t working for Discovery Islands business, employees and their families. ‘We’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to convince the government there’s a serious problem here but they’re not listening.’

The Discovery Islands are home to over 120 tourism-dependent businesses: lodges, resorts, motels, campgrounds, marinas, tour companies, and related operations which employ over 1,200 people and generate $45 million in revenue every year. ‘The Discovery Islands have become a world class destination worthy of increased protection,’ Keller said. ‘We’ve become the second most important marine wilderness destination in BC, behind Tofino/Pacific Rim, yet the government is managing the forests here like its 1956. They’re treating us like bystanders instead of major revenue producers and employers.’

Keller went on to say that in the last 15 years, Vancouver Island has lost most of its pulp mills and saw mills and with them thousands of jobs—now out-sourced to Asia. ‘The once great forest industry is now just a logging industry acting with impunity, completely insensitive to our needs. They degrade our operating environment then send the timber not only out of the region, but out of the country. Is this supposed to be the BCLiberal commitment to jobs and families?’
‘We’re not against logging, but when the government revised the Forest Range & Practices Act in 2003, they gave all the power to the logging industry and left every one else out of the planning process.’

He went on to say that tourism operators are kept completely in the dark about cutting plans. “We find out about forest development plans when we start to see trees being felled. We’re being misled about forest industry intentions and have no meaningful way to influence cut block design. When we complain to government, they tell us to go talk to the licensees. Who’s writing the rules here? Whose forests are these? It’s pretty clear this government is about corporate
resource extraction and everybody else is just in the way”

Fraser receives forest award

Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser received a Forest Sustainability Award from conservationists and forestry workers Monday, recognizing his efforts as an MLA to protect endangered old-growth forests, to counter the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island, and to restrict the export of B.C. raw logs to foreign mills.

The award was presented by Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a non-profit environmental group working to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. The award is jointly sponsored by the Youbou TimberLess Society, former employees of the now-defunct Youbou sawmill.

The ceremony took place in Cathedral Grove, Canada’s most famous old-growth forest that is currently under threat with a planned cutblock by Island Timberlands on the above mountainside on Mount Horne.

“I’m grateful to receive this wonderful recognition for my work,” Fraser said. “Our old-growth forests are a vitally important part of this province’s identity, and a sustainable forest industry will benefit everyone. I will champion endangered old-growth protection and sustainable forestry leading up to the election and subsequent to the election whether as part of a new government or in the opposition.”

Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said Fraser “has been an exceptional MLA for his energy and outspokenness to protect endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. He’s one of the rare politicians who has a real connection to BC’s majestic old-growth forests – a politician who actually hikes and gets muddy in these special places. It’s clear that his advocacy has not been lip service or simply a means to score political points, but because Fraser has a genuine passion – you can feel it when he’s talking – for our old-growth forests and for a sustainable forest industry that could support future generations of forest workers in this province.

“It’s important to give credit where credit is due, and Fraser certainly deserves credit for making forest sustainability central to his role as an elected public servant in his time.”

See More: [Original article no longer available]

MLA Scott Fraser receiving his award at Cathedral Grove alongside the Ancient Forest Alliance and many other important local supporters!

MLA recognized for work to protect forests

Alberni-Pacific Rim NDP MLA Scott Fraser received a Forest Sustainability Award from conservationists and forestry workers in a small ceremony on Monday.

The award was given to him to recognize his years of exceptional public service as an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia to protect endangered old-growth forests, to counter the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island and to restrict the export of B.C. raw logs to foreign mills.

The award was presented by Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance, a non-profit environmental group working to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. The award is jointly sponsored by the Youbou TimberLess Society, former employees of the now-defunct Youbou sawmill who continue to advocate sustainable forest policies.

“I'm grateful to receive this wonderful recognition for my work. Our old-growth forests are a vitally important part of this province's identity, and a sustainable forest industry will benefit everyone,” Fraser said. “I will champion endangered old-growth protection and sustainable forestry leading up to the election and subsequent to the election whether as part of a new government or in the opposition.”

The brief ceremony took place in Cathedral Grove, Canada's most famous old-growth forest that is currently under threat with a planned cutblock by Island Timberlands on the above mountainside on Mount Horne. Joining the award ceremony to show their support for Fraser's good work were Arnold Bercov, representing the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada – President of Local 8, Jane Morden and Mike Stini, from the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, and Annette Tanner, of the Mid-Island Chapter of the Wilderness Committee.

“Scott Fraser has been an exceptional MLA for his energy and outspokenness to protect endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs,” said Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “He's one of the rare politicians who has a real connection to B.C.'s majestic old-growth forests – a politician who actually hikes and gets muddy in these special places.”

He said it is clear that his advocacy has not been lip service or simply a means to score political points.

“But because Fraser has a genuine passion – you can feel it when he's talking – for our old-growth forests and for a sustainable forest industry that could support future generations of forest workers in this province,” Wu added. “It's important to give credit where credit is due, and Fraser certainly deserves credit for making forest sustainability central to his role as an elected public servant in his time.”

Ken James, president of the Youbou TimberLess Society said this past decade has been an atrocity for B.C.'s forestry workers.

“Over 70 mills have closed and 30,000 forestry jobs have been lost,” he said. “Fraser has repeatedly gone to bat against the deregulation of B.C.'s forest industry and the massive export of raw logs that is killing current and future manufacturing jobs in this province.”

He added that the province needs MLAs like Fraser in government to champion a forest industry that will sustain both ecosystems and human communities.

MLA Awarded for Tree Saving Efforts

CTV news clip on Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser receiving a Forest Sustainability Award from the Ancient Forest Alliance and Youbou TimberLess Society.

Watch the video on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/vQbEH7u2Efc

Link to full media release: www.staging.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=606

A shot from this year's Tree Huggers Ball!! If you missed this one

Wiggle your trunk at the Tree Huggers Ball

Note from the Ancient Forest Alliance: A huge THANK YOU to Nathaniel Glickman and members of the UVic AncientForest Committee for organizing a totally fun and successful fundraising night with a first rate line-up of local musicians (Moonshine Gang Victoria Chapter, (as the) Crow Flies, Redwood Green, Co-Captain, and DJ Rough Child) on Saturday’s 3rd Annual “Tree Huggers Ball”! The event raised a total of $4800 for our young organization that depends on grassroots support to stay afloat! Big thanks as well to Amanda Cook for donating nearly $400 in proceeds from sales of her “Stand up for the Coast” t-shirts! See you again next FALL!!

Martlet article below:

Being part of positive environmental change can be a rewarding experience, but also exhausting. For those who find themselves worn out from all the petition-signing or phone-calling, the third annual Tree Huggers Ball is being held at Felicita’s on Saturday, March 23, by the UVic Ancient Forest Committee and promises to put the fun back in fundraiser.

“The goal is about fun — we have great music from local artists, and everyone can come and have a good time,” says TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA). “In the world of activism, it’s easy to be bombarded with bad news, so it’s important to put time aside for friends and dancing.” The Tree Huggers Ball will include local bands such as Redwood Green, Rough Child, Co-Captain, (as the) Crow Flies and The Moonshine Gang.

The UVic Ancient Forest Committee puts on the event as a fundraiser for the AFA. The AFA is a non-profit organization that works to protect B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry (forests that have been planted in clear-cut areas) and end the export of raw logs.

“We’re pushing the B.C. Liberal government and the NDP opposition to create a new provincial old-growth policy that would protect endangered old-growth forests in B.C.,” says Watt. Watt, who grew up in Victoria, is the forest campaigner and photographer with the AFA, which just celebrated its three-year anniversary this month. Watt spends much of his time exploring valleys on Vancouver Island and documenting the state of the forests, using photos and videos to capture the oldest trees — as well as the oldest stumps. Watt won the Martlet’s inaugural photo feature contest this year with his photo of a man standing on an enormous stump in the midst of a clearcut. “We’re losing the old-growth forest ecosystems and endangered species,” he says. “They are hugely important for clean air, clean water and the climate.”

The AFA began humbly. “The Ancient Forest Alliance started out with a Gmail account,” says Watt. But the organization developed quickly as support grew for its first project: protecting Avatar Grove, a 59-hectare stand of giant old-growth Douglas fir and Western redcedar just outside Port Renfrew. One of the giant cedars in Avatar Grove has been dubbed “Canada’s gnarliest tree” due to a 12-foot-wide burl growing on its trunk. The AFA worked with the local business community and Chamber of Commerce in Port Renfrew while campaigning to raise awareness, which led to the grove’s protection in early 2012. “It was the hottest campaign for a specific old-growth forest in the past decade,” states Watt, “and our first major victory.”

Other recent achievements includes staving off logging in the Walbran Valley’s Castle Grove, protecting approximately half of the world’s largest night roosting site for bald eagles around Echo Lake on the Lower Mainland and helping stop the B.C. government’s recent plan to expand Tree Farm Licenses (TFLs) in the province through Bill 8. To do this, the AFA led media campaigns and encouraged its supporters to write letters and call representatives. “We have over 20 000 supporters,” says Watt. “That includes many students, but also small business owners and even forestry workers. We have speakers from the pulp, paper and woodworkers union and have support from various First Nations. We work to include as wide a demographic as possible and bring about change by running solutions-based campaigns.”

Despite widespread support, the AFA still faces challenges in convincing the government that old-growth forests are indeed endangered and shouldn’t be cut down. “The public is largely supportive, but the B.C. Liberal government maintains that old-growth forests are somehow not endangered, even after 150 years of logging,” says Watt.

In an effort to protect endangered private lands, the AFA is calling for the creation of a B.C. park acquisition fund that sees $40 million set aside each year with which to purchase endangered old-growth forests or areas of high recreational value.

Last year, the Tree Huggers Ball raised upwards of $3 000 with the aid of an anonymous donor who matched all other donations. Watt hopes for another successful event this year.

“We run AFA on a shoestring budget,” he says. “So an event like this really goes a long way for us, and we’re very grateful for the support.”

The funds go toward endeavours such as exploring old-growth areas, creating new maps and reports and delivering information throughout the province with slideshow tours.

Although there is no official dress code, Watt encourages people to be creative and have fun with the tree theme of the event. “We encourage people to dress up like the forest. Wear your green or wear your tree stuff. Wear branches. Be forest friendly!”

Direct link to online article: https://martlet.ca/wiggle-your-trunk-at-the-tree-huggers-ball/

Group angry over old-growth clearcut in Walbran Valley

As Torrance Coste stood beside giant stumps in a clearcut in the Upper Walbran Valley, he wondered why anyone would cut down 900-year-old trees.

“Unlogged stands and 900-year-old trees are incomparable in terms of their value in sequestering carbon,” said Coste, a campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.

“Given what we know about climate change, liquidating the last few stands of old growth for very short-term profit is extremely irresponsible.”

Coste drove into the Walbran Valley this month with a student movie crew that wanted to film giant trees.

The story they have taken back to New York will not reflect positively on B.C.’s logging practices, he said.

“I just stopped dead in my tracks. The forest was now a field of stumps. It was the worst sort of clearcut you will see anywhere.”

The area is about one kilometre from Castle Grove, which contains the “Castle Giant” — a western red cedar with a five-metre diameter, considered one of the widest trees in Canada.

The area has also been ground zero for forest protests on Vancouver Island.

Protests in 1991 resulted in the lower half of the Walbran Valley and the Upper Carmanah Valley being added to Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park in 1995.

In 2003, more protests erupted, resulting in the arrest of environmentalist Betty Krawczyk, who was 74 at the time.

Last year, after another skirmish over logging plans near Castle Grove, the company backed off and the province promised to look for new ways to protect ancient stands of trees.

“We need an old-growth logging ban right off the bat,” Coste said.

The recent logging, which took place on Crown land, was conducted by the Teal Jones Group of Surrey in late November. The company had all necessary permits and plans in place, said Forests Ministry spokesman Brennan Clarke in an emailed response to questions.

The cuts took place within a special management zone that includes 2,600 hectares along the east side of the Walbran protected area, he said. Clearcuts are limited to a maximum of five hectares and cutblocks that are selectively logged cannot be larger than 40 hectares.

“The government is still actively working on new ways to protect ancient or giant trees,” Clarke wrote. “On Vancouver Island, 46 per cent of the forest on Crown land is old growth. Of the 862,125 hectares of old-growth forest, it is estimated that over 520,000 hectares will never be harvested.”

No one from Teal Jones was available to comment on the logging because of spring break holidays.

Rob Fleming, the B.C. NDP’s environment critic, said the clearcut beside the road leading into Castle Grove shows the need to strengthen old-growth management areas.

“I think we need to look at gaps in the current laws and designated protected areas and look at why 900-year-old trees and stands are not protected,” he said.

The problems were underlined recently by auditor general John Doyle, who said B.C. is not doing enough to protect the province’s biodiversity, Fleming said.

“A patchwork doesn’t protect biodiversity,” he said.

“On Crown land there should be better opportunities to have old growth preserved. We just don’t see any proactive old-growth or conservation strategies in B.C.”

Groups wary of logging near park

Survey tape was discovered recently in an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest 300 meters from Cathedral Grove’s park boundary and a local conservation group is now calling for stronger old-growth protection policies in B.C. to protect this land and other places like it.

“Cathedral Grove is the mascot of old-growth forests in Canada,” said Qualicum Beach resident Annette Tanner, chair of the Mid-Island Wilderness Committee.

“If we can’t ensure its ecological integrity because of the B.C. government’s inaction, or complicity‚ it really gives a black eye to B.C.’s environmental reputation in the international community.”

The planned cutblock by Island Timberlands is about 40 hectares and lies within a formerly protected Ungulate (deer) Winter Range, according to the Wilderness Commmitee. It lies on the southwest facing slope of Mt. Horne on the ridge above the park and highway.

Tanner and other conservationists said they are concerned that logging the area would further fragment the forest that is contiguous with the small park, and destroy an important wildlife corridor. They said they believe logging would also threaten eco-tourism in the area by destroying a major section of the popular hiking trail, the Mt. Horne Loop Trail, which the cutblock overlaps.

The lands are privately owned by Island Timberlands.

The Ancient Forest Alliance, based in Victoria, is also calling on the B.C. Liberals and NDP to commit to a provincial plan to protect the province’s old-growth forests, to ensure sustainable second-growth forestry and to end the export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills, among other actions.

Calls from The NEWS to Island Timberlands seeking comment were not returned by deadline.

MLA Scott Fraser Receives “Forest Sustainability Award” For Years of Outspoken Public Service to Protect Endangered Old-Growth Forests, Halt Forestry Deregulation, and Support BC Forestry Jobs

For Immediate Release

March 25, 2013

Today NDP MLA Scott Fraser (riding of Alberni-Pacific Rim) received a “Forest Sustainability Award” from conservationists and forestry workers for his years of exceptional public service as an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in British Columbia to protect endangered old-growth forests, to counter the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island, and to restrict the export of BC raw logs to foreign mills.

The award was presented by Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), a non-profit environmental group working to protect old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. The award is jointly sponsored by the Youbou TimberLess Society (YTS), former employees of the now-defunct Youbou sawmill who continue to advocate sustainable forest policies.

The brief ceremony took place in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, Canada’s most famous old-growth forest that is currently under threat with a planned cutblock by Island Timberlands on the above mountainside on Mount Horne (see: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/old-growth-near-cathedral-grove-set-for-imminent-logging-activists-1.90194)

Joining the award ceremony to show their support for Fraser’s good work were Arnold Bercov (Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada – President of Local 8), Jane Morden and Mike Stini (Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance), and Annette Tanner (Mid-Island Chapter of the Wilderness Committee).

“I’m grateful to receive this wonderful recognition for my work. Our old-growth forests are a vitally important part of this province’s identity, and a sustainable forest industry will benefit everyone. I will champion endangered old-growth protection and sustainable forestry leading up to the election and subsequent to the election whether as part of a new government or in the opposition,” stated Fraser.

“Scott Fraser has been an exceptional MLA for his energy and outspokenness to protect endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. He’s one of the rare politicians who has a real connection to BC’s majestic old-growth forests – a politician who actually hikes and gets muddy in these special places. It’s clear that his advocacy has not been lip service or simply a means to score political points, but because Fraser has a genuine passion – you can feel it when he’s talking – for our old-growth forests and for a sustainable forest industry that could support future generations of forest workers in this province,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “It's important to give credit where credit is due, and Fraser certainly deserves credit for making forest sustainability central to his role as an elected public servant in his time.”

“This past decade has been an atrocity for BC’s forestry workers – over 70 mills have closed and 30,000 forestry jobs have been lost. Fraser has repeatedly gone to bat against the deregulation of BC’s forest industry and the massive export of raw logs that is killing current and future manufacturing jobs in this province,” stated Ken James, president of the Youbou TimberLess Society. “We need MLA’s like Fraser in government to champion a forest industry that will sustain both ecosystems and human communities.”

Since Fraser was elected in 2005 as an MLA for the New Democratic Party opposition member, he has repeatedly worked for sustainable forestry on such issues as:

– Tree Farm Licence (TFL) deregulation, where the BC Liberal government removed 88,000 hectares of Weyerhaeuser’s (now Island Timberlands) corporate forest lands from their Tree Farm Licences in 2004, removing regulations and policies designed to protect old-growth and wildlife, as well as restrictions on raw log exports, prohibitions against real estate development for non-forestry uses, and controls on the rate of cut. This large scale deregulation of forest lands on central Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast was one of the most destructive, anti-environmental acts of the BC Liberal government during its reign of power. Fraser has repeatedly sought to ensure that a follow-up agreement to protect the old-growth ungulate winter range between the company and the government is pursued, to no avail so far.

– Cathedral Grove, speaking up against adjacent logging plans several times, including recently where a surveyed Island Timberlands cutblock threatens an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest in an area formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range on Mount Horne above the park. The cutblock would also annihilate part of the Mount Horne loop trail.

– McLaughlin Ridge, the prime old-growth winter range for deer that was formerly intended for protection as an Ungulate Winter Range until the BC Liberal government removed existing protections and failed to implement other planned protections for the area in 2004 as part of their TFL deregulation scheme. Island Timberlands has already logged part of its ancient forests and plans to log more in the future. Fraser has worked hard for this area’s protection.

– Cameron Valley Firebreak, a rare valley-bottom to mountain-top ancient Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock forest that was formerly planned to become an Ungulate Winter Range for Roosevelt elk and black-tailed deer until the BC Liberal government deregulated the land in 2004. Island Timberlands has now logged perhaps half of the area now.

– Raw log exports. Since the BC Liberals came to power in 2001, a mass exodus of raw logs have left the province, currently about 6 million cubic meters of logs each year, costing thousands of existing and potential forestry jobs in BC’s mills and wood manufacturing facilities.

– Private Managed Forest Lands Act, the too-weak regulations on private managed forest lands that do little to protect riparian ecosystems, endangered species, old-growth forests, and the ecological integrity of the vast private forest lands on Vancouver Island and elsewhere. Large swaths of these lands were formerly regulated up to stronger public lands standards until the BC Liberal government deregulated them.

– Spearheading the introduction of petitions into the Legislative Assembly to protect endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable second-growth forestry, and to end raw log exports, on behalf of the Ancient Forest Alliance recently (22,000 signatures) and the Wilderness Committee in 2009 (30,000 signatures).

Global TV News – Cathedral Grove & the NDP on Forestry

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/NOz232HDx3Y

Conservationists are calling for much stronger, comprehensive old-growth protection policies in BC after having discovered a major logging threat to Canada's most famous old-growth forest, Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Conservationists came across survey tape marked “Falling Boundary” and “Road Location” in an old-growth Douglas fir and hemlock forest only 300 meters from the park boundary.