Link to The Tyee online article
The British Columbia government says it is acting on a series of recommendations to help the province’s forest industry in the wake of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. Critics say it’s a weak response to the issue that shows the government hasn’t learned from the collapse of other natural resource industries.
“The action plan represents the next phase in our decade-long battle against the mountain pine beetle,” said Steve Thomson, the minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations, talking to reporters on a conference call.
The 16-page plan is a response to an August report from the legislature’s special committee on timber supply that held hearings throughout the province last spring and into the early summer.
It sets out nine actions it describes as “sustained” and 11 that it characterizes as “new.” As the plan puts it, “The key elements of the action plan focus on reforestation, forest inventory, fuel management and intensive and innovative silviculture.”
The plan includes a promise of legislation to move to area-based licenses from volume-based, and to create licenses to allow companies to harvest wood that is not sawlog quality but that could be burned for energy.
Thomson said there is $100 million in the 2013-2014 budget for reforestation, and the ministry will seek further funding through the budget process to pay for the rest of the plan.
He defended the decision in the past to drop doing forest inventory and planning for reforestation during the worst of the beetle epidemic. “The rapidly changing situation in our forests dictated that we hold off on updating our inventory and reforestation plans until it stabilized, and now we can proceed,” he said.
Beetle like a hurricane
John Rustad, who is the parliamentary secretary for forestry and who chaired the timber supply committee, compared it to coping with other natural disasters. “If you’re planning to do some work on your house, and there’s a hurricane approaching, you’re not going to undertake the work on your house until you’ve seen what happened with the hurricane,” he said. “The same thing is what happened with the mountain pine beetle epidemic.”
However, the New Democratic Party’s forestry critic, Norm Macdonald, said it was “ridiculous” to stop doing inventory during the worst of the crisis.
The auditor general, the forest practices board and the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals have all criticized the government’s failure to keep forest inventory up to date, he said.
“They were making cut determinations based on data that’s 30 years old,” he said. “They’re setting cuts. Forestry doesn’t stop.”
The government has taken a hands-off approach to the industry and is responsible for the consequences, said Macdonald. “They’re trying to rationalize what they’ve done, which is to step away from the responsibility to manage the forests properly.”
In general, the plan offers little to help the forest industry, he said. “It is a predictably weak response from this government that’s shown no interest in looking after the land over the last 10 years,” he said. “It’s basically business as usual … There’s no new money. As far as I can see, it’s just not there.”
Jobs today, consequences later
If there’s going to be a shift to area-based tenures, which would set the number of hectares to be harvested each year and give the industry flexibility on how much volume it harvests each year, it needs to be done very carefully and with an eye on the public benefit, said Macdonald.
“It’s a complicated thing to do properly,” he said. While the switch might help, he said, “There really isn’t the proof you necessarily get benefits.”
The government is trying to keep the status quo in the forest industry, even though it’s obvious the province’s forests cannot keep the industry going at the rate it has in the past, said Bob Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo North and a former forest company executive.
“You’ve got an eleventh hour panicked response to something the government’s had a long time to prepare for,” he said. “We’ve seen this movie play out since humanity settled down in one location and wiped out the natural resources around them. It always ends badly.”
Simpson compares the state of B.C.’s forest industry to what happened with the Atlantic cod fishery two decades ago. Despite warnings from non-government scientists, the stocks were allowed to be exploited at an unsustainable rate to feed processing plants in places that identified as fishing communities all along the coast, he said.
“None of those communities can describe themselves as fishing communities anymore,” he said. “That’s what we’re doing here.”
The government should allow cut level to come down and let the industry “rationalize” so there isn’t so much overcapacity for milling, he said. “What the government’s doing is preventing any rationalization whatsoever.”
Fully depleting the resource might delay going over the cliff, but it will make that cliff even bigger when the time comes, he said. “We’re always extinguishing the resources for today’s jobs and today’s economy, and eventually you lose those two as well.”
The government would be wiser to put its efforts into climate change adaptation and mitigation, he said, as well as helping communities that have been dependent on forestry to transition into other ways of surviving.
NDP Sets Fire to Libs’ Forest Industry Fix
/in News CoverageLink to The Tyee online article
The British Columbia government says it is acting on a series of recommendations to help the province’s forest industry in the wake of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. Critics say it’s a weak response to the issue that shows the government hasn’t learned from the collapse of other natural resource industries.
“The action plan represents the next phase in our decade-long battle against the mountain pine beetle,” said Steve Thomson, the minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations, talking to reporters on a conference call.
The 16-page plan is a response to an August report from the legislature’s special committee on timber supply that held hearings throughout the province last spring and into the early summer.
It sets out nine actions it describes as “sustained” and 11 that it characterizes as “new.” As the plan puts it, “The key elements of the action plan focus on reforestation, forest inventory, fuel management and intensive and innovative silviculture.”
The plan includes a promise of legislation to move to area-based licenses from volume-based, and to create licenses to allow companies to harvest wood that is not sawlog quality but that could be burned for energy.
Thomson said there is $100 million in the 2013-2014 budget for reforestation, and the ministry will seek further funding through the budget process to pay for the rest of the plan.
He defended the decision in the past to drop doing forest inventory and planning for reforestation during the worst of the beetle epidemic. “The rapidly changing situation in our forests dictated that we hold off on updating our inventory and reforestation plans until it stabilized, and now we can proceed,” he said.
Beetle like a hurricane
John Rustad, who is the parliamentary secretary for forestry and who chaired the timber supply committee, compared it to coping with other natural disasters. “If you’re planning to do some work on your house, and there’s a hurricane approaching, you’re not going to undertake the work on your house until you’ve seen what happened with the hurricane,” he said. “The same thing is what happened with the mountain pine beetle epidemic.”
However, the New Democratic Party’s forestry critic, Norm Macdonald, said it was “ridiculous” to stop doing inventory during the worst of the crisis.
The auditor general, the forest practices board and the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals have all criticized the government’s failure to keep forest inventory up to date, he said.
“They were making cut determinations based on data that’s 30 years old,” he said. “They’re setting cuts. Forestry doesn’t stop.”
The government has taken a hands-off approach to the industry and is responsible for the consequences, said Macdonald. “They’re trying to rationalize what they’ve done, which is to step away from the responsibility to manage the forests properly.”
In general, the plan offers little to help the forest industry, he said. “It is a predictably weak response from this government that’s shown no interest in looking after the land over the last 10 years,” he said. “It’s basically business as usual … There’s no new money. As far as I can see, it’s just not there.”
Jobs today, consequences later
If there’s going to be a shift to area-based tenures, which would set the number of hectares to be harvested each year and give the industry flexibility on how much volume it harvests each year, it needs to be done very carefully and with an eye on the public benefit, said Macdonald.
“It’s a complicated thing to do properly,” he said. While the switch might help, he said, “There really isn’t the proof you necessarily get benefits.”
The government is trying to keep the status quo in the forest industry, even though it’s obvious the province’s forests cannot keep the industry going at the rate it has in the past, said Bob Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo North and a former forest company executive.
“You’ve got an eleventh hour panicked response to something the government’s had a long time to prepare for,” he said. “We’ve seen this movie play out since humanity settled down in one location and wiped out the natural resources around them. It always ends badly.”
Simpson compares the state of B.C.’s forest industry to what happened with the Atlantic cod fishery two decades ago. Despite warnings from non-government scientists, the stocks were allowed to be exploited at an unsustainable rate to feed processing plants in places that identified as fishing communities all along the coast, he said.
“None of those communities can describe themselves as fishing communities anymore,” he said. “That’s what we’re doing here.”
The government should allow cut level to come down and let the industry “rationalize” so there isn’t so much overcapacity for milling, he said. “What the government’s doing is preventing any rationalization whatsoever.”
Fully depleting the resource might delay going over the cliff, but it will make that cliff even bigger when the time comes, he said. “We’re always extinguishing the resources for today’s jobs and today’s economy, and eventually you lose those two as well.”
The government would be wiser to put its efforts into climate change adaptation and mitigation, he said, as well as helping communities that have been dependent on forestry to transition into other ways of surviving.
Logging of old-growth forest mulled by B.C. government
/in News CoverageLink to online article
The B.C. government will examine the contentious possibility of opening old-growth forests to logging in parts of the province hardest hit by plummeting timber supplies.
It’s an idea that both proponents and opponents say would require chopping protective measures that took years to create.
The government is now constructing ground rules so that by early 2013 it can begin revisiting the designation of some sensitive areas, mainly in the north-central triangle between Burns Lake, Prince George and Quesnel.
But any decision to cut old-growth forests would be science-based and reached by consensus of all members of the community, said Forests Minister Steve Thomson.
“There may be limited opportunities to look at that, but only through a process,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“It’s important to recognize that this request came from the communities.”
The move comes as part of a larger strategy the government released on Tuesday aimed at boosting timber supply over the next five to 20 years. The list of actions comes in direct response to a special committee report that warned in August that measures must be taken to stave off an impending, dramatic drop in wood supply.
Pine beetle devastation
The plan is the final phase in the provincial government’s decade-long response to the infestation of the mountain pine beetle, which has decimated forests across the province.
The August report predicted the beetle would chew up to 70 per cent of the central Interior’s marketable timber by 2021 if nothing changes.
But environmental advocates say opening protected forests to logging would roll back years of “hard fought” legislation.
“This is blood sweat and tears, multi-stakeholder processes, consensus building. They took years, these land-use plans, to establish,” said Valerie Langer, director of Forest Ethics Solutions.
“It’s very frightening to all those people who put years of their life as volunteers into this.”
Potential pilot projects could eventually take place in Burns Lake and Quesnel, with the highest priority areas being assessed this coming spring and summer, Thomson said.
Doug Routledge, vice-president forestry with the Council of Forest Industries, welcomed the government’s “tangible” plans.
“Cautiously and well-informed,” Routledge said of the proposed changes. “We’re not unhappy to see that the question about relaxing or deferring other constraints on the working forest land-base is still on the table.”
He explained the wood they’re looking to harvest would not include the most vulnerable areas, such as that protected as a critical habitat.
‘Crisis will be even worse’
Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, has also followed the committee’s work closely.
He believes opening up an old-growth area is unrealistic, and suggested the biggest environmental threat was a part of the plan that will create new opportunities for logging by identifying marginally economic forests.
“We have a significant problem on our hands that is going to extend well beyond five to 20 years,” Parfitt said. “If the government chooses to try and address this problem by freeing up more trees to log today, I believe the crisis will be even worse than what it is now.”
But Thomson said the government believes the “greatest opportunity” to beef up timber supply lies in identifying those stands.
Plan to maintain timber supply widens land base.
/in News CoverageLink to online Vancovuer Sun article
The B.C. government announced plans on Tuesday to meet timber supply shortages in the B.C. Interior by reviewing current prohibitions on logging in environmentally sensitive areas and giving forest companies more power to manage the land base.
In releasing a plan titled “Beyond the Beetle,” Forests Minister Steve Thomson said the provincial government was moving toward the “next phase in our decade-long battle with the mountain pine beetle.”
But no new money has been committed to critically needed inventory work now that the beetle epidemic is winding down. The plan is the government’s response to a special legislative committee on the timber supply that tabled a report last month.
Critics called the plan vague, saying it doesn’t adequately address how much timber is actually left in B.C. forests. An update of the timber inventory is to begin in 2013, but the plan commits no new money to do the work.
Independent MLA Bob Simpson, whose Cariboo North constituency is ground zero in the beetle-damaged forest epidemic, called the plan a recipe for disaster.
“We are going down the same path as we did with the East Coast cod fishery,” Simpson said. “We are going to play with the rules, the regulations and change the tenure and access, to go and bleed the forests dry in order to keep the status quo.”
NDP forests critic Norm Macdonald said the plan was too vague on the issue of investing in an updated timber inventory. “It was clear there had to be serious investments in inventory. Over 72 per cent of the land has base data over 30 years old. You can’t expect proper forestry to be done with that sort of data.” However, Thomson said the ongoing deteriorating condition of beetle-hit forests dictated that the province delay inventory work until the infestation is over. Federal Student Loan Consolidation
“Now we can proceed,” he said. But he also acknowledged that he is restricted by budgetary constraints and that needed money has yet to be committed. Besides beginning on inventory work, the key elements of the plan include: . A commitment to move from volume-based timber tenures to area-based tenures, where forest companies would assume more management control.
. Increasing the timber inventory by including marginally economic stands that up until this point have been excluded.
. Developing a review of so-called “sensitive areas” that have been exempted from logging because of their wildlife or scenic values, and possibly reopening land-use plans.
Jens Wieting, a forest campaigner for the Sierra Club of B.C., said the province has done exactly what environmentalists feared – sacrificed other forest values to ensure a timber supply for Interior sawmills. He said the government is putting at risk not only environmental values but the forest industry’s reputation.
“To put these at risk for a short-term win is unbelievable. It is a level of ignorance that is hard to digest.”
Thomson said logging communities have asked for the review of restrictions on forest reserves. “It will be done very carefully, and only where there is consensus and agreement from the community,” he said.
The forest industry said Tuesday that it supports the government initiatives.
“We see the potential for some tangible improvements in the short-term and midterm timber supply by following the various courses of action,” said Doug Routledge of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries. “It’s a positive action plan. It provides some definitive timelines. We are a little concerned that there will be sufficient human and financial resources to accomplish what is in the action plan, but that is something that can be worked on over time.”
He said key components for the industry are the commitment to update the timber inventory and a commitment to monitor land-use plans that predate the beetle infestation. Routledge said many values may have changed as a result of the beetle. Current land-use plans leave broad areas out of bounds to logging when it is possible for wildlife conservation to be accomplished in more specific areas, he said.
Routledge said a very rough estimate shows 40 per cent more timber could be found if land-use plans were updated to optimize the allocation of resources and land.
The greatest gains in timber supply are likely to come from the inclusion of marginally economic timber stands.
The beetle is expected to knock 10 million cubic metres a year out of the timber supply. But, in Burns Lake alone, including marginal economic stands added 60 per cent of the volume back into the supply. An economic stand is one with more than 140 cubic metres of saw-logs per hectare. The new standard lowers that to 100 cubic metres.
“They are logging stands below 100 cubic metres per hectare at the moment at Williams Lake,” Routledge said.
BC considers ‘limited logging’ of old-growth
/in News CoverageThe British Columbia government will examine the contentious possibility of opening old-growth forests to logging in parts of the province hardest hit by plummeting timber supplies.
It’s an idea that both proponents and opponents say would require chopping protective measures that took years to create.
The government is now constructing ground rules so that by early 2013 it can begin revisiting the designation of some sensitive areas, mainly in the north-central triangle between Burns Lake, Prince George and Quesnel.
But any decision to cut old-growth forests would be science-based and reached by consensus of all members of the community, said Forests Minister Steve Thomson.
“There may be limited opportunities to look at that, but only through a process,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“It’s important to recognize that this request came from the communities.”
The move comes as part of a larger strategy the government released on Tuesday aimed at boosting timber supply over the next five to 20 years. The list of actions comes in direct response to a special committee report that warned in August measures must be taken to stave off an impending, dramatic drop in wood supply.
The plan is the final phase in the provincial government’s decade-long response to the infestation of the mountain pine beetle, which has decimated forests across the province.
The August report predicted the beetle would chew up to 70 per cent of the central Interior’s marketable timber by 2021 if nothing changes.
But environmental advocates say opening protected forests to logging would roll back years of “hard fought” legislation.
“This is blood sweat and tears, multi-stakeholder processes, consensus building. They took years, these land-use plans, to establish,” said Valerie Langer, director of Forest Ethics Solutions.
“It’s very frightening to all those people who put years of their life as volunteers into this.”
Potential pilot projects could eventually take place in Burns Lake and Quesnel, with the highest priority areas being assessed this coming spring and summer, Thomson said.
[Times Colonist article no longer available]
Rock music video to support old-growth forest conservation in BC
/in News CoverageThe Vancouver Island based Artist Response Team (ART) is proud to announce the release of its newest song and video in support of ancient forests in BC and the Ancient Forest Alliance. The song was written and performed by Holly Arntzen and Kevin Wright of ART and features world-class guitarist David Sinclair (Sarah McLachlan, kd lang). They perform under the band name, The Wilds.
The MR. DOUGLAS video, was shot mostly in the Koksilah Ancient Forest, an unprotected grove of old growth Douglas Fir and cedar trees located west of Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.
The song was inspired by a trip to the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan where there is a cross-section of a 1300-year-old fir tree that blew down in a storm in the 1960s. The tree rings are marked to correspond with events down through history that the tree lived through; the publishing of the first book in China in 868 AD, the arrival of the Vikings in North America in 1000, the rise of Ghengis Khan in 1206, and Columbus’ first journey to the New World in 1492. The song is a walk through history.
There is less than 1% of the original coastal old growth Douglas Fir forests left in BC, and we are still cutting them down. A recent story in the Victoria Times Colonist documents the struggle going on to reap the economic windfall from highly valuable old growth on the one hand… and on the other hand, preserve the last remnants of old growth ecosystems for future generations, the protection of drinking water, and conservation of habitats.
WATCH MR. DOUGLAS on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aKH54msZ0AY
EIGHT MONTH COUNTDOWN until the BC Election!
/in AnnouncementsPlease DONATE to help the Ancient Forest Alliance build a much-needed “War Chest” of funding during this crucial pre-election period to shape major provincial policy decisions.
DONATE at: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/donations.php
The Greatest Opportunity is NOW for New Forest Policy Commitments
The next eight months will be a crucial time period for the fate of BC’s old-growth forests – in fact, the most important in BC’s history for ancient forests. In May, 2013, there will be a provincial election. During this pre-election period, politicians both in government and in the opposition are highly sensitive to public pressure as they seek power in the upcoming election. This is the time they must listen to the Ancient Forest Alliance and thousands of our supporters calling for new forest policy commitments including a Provincial Old-Growth Strategy that will protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and that will ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.
Times Have Changed
Over the past three decades, the level of public awareness and sympathy for the protection of BC’s old-growth forests has steadily grown…so much so that today, the social expectations that the last of these magnificent ancient forests be protected and a sustainable second-growth forest industry be established is far in the majority of public opinion. However, the fate of ancient forests is not necessarily at the forefront of most people’s minds, and may not be a voting issue for many yet. We need to get it there through a massive campaign now.
All indications are there will be a major shift in the politics of this province in the upcoming election. But there are no guarantees that whoever rules BC next, they will fundamentally change the status quo of old-growth forest liquidation in BC – unless there is massive public pressure coming from BC’s electorate. NOW is the time that we must make the decisive, large-scale, concerted public push for a new provincial plan to protect our endangered forests and jobs.
What’s at Stake?
The fate of BC’s forests is not just “one among many environmental issues”, but is the overriding, most significant environmental land-use issue in the province for the simple reason that forests are by far the dominant part of BC’s landbase and industrial logging exerts the largest ecological footprint of any land-use activity in BC – 200,000 hectares of forests are logged every year, an area about twenty times the size of the city of Vancouver. This logging includes tens of thousands of hectares of old-growth forests each year. Logging of BC’s forests heavily impacts the climate, endangered species, water quality, wild fisheries, First Nations cultures, tourism, scenery, recreation, and our quality of lives.
What will we DO?
The Ancient Forest Alliance leads the way among BC conservation groups campaigning for a province-wide forestry overhaul to save ancient forests and forestry jobs. History demonstrates that only large-scale awareness and mobilization of a broad diversity of citizens can ensure major societal shifts, including how the tens of millions of hectares of BC’s forests are going to be managed. Over the next eight months we will:
…and much more!
We Need Funding to Take Advantage of this Most Opportune Time
Unfortunately the AFA is highly underfunded and we are currently in a very tough financial spot. To top it off, we really need to greatly expand our funding base for the heightened period of intense campaigning over the next 8 months before a BC election!
We can’t let the BEST OPPORTUNITY to ensure the protection of BC’s ancient forests SLIP BY by due to a lack of funding. IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME TO SUPPORT US, IT IS NOW.
Again, you can donate by going to: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/donations.php
With your help, we’re confident now that we’ll change the history of BC’s forests over the coming intense eight months, for the benefit of future generations of human and non-human communities throughout BC.
For the Wild,
Ken Wu, Joan Varley, TJ Watt, Hannah Carpendale
Battle revealed over use of sensitive Island forest near Port Alberni
/in News CoverageAn old-growth forest near Port Alberni that had been protected as critical habitat for wintering deer and endangered goshawks is being logged by Island Timberlands – even though newly released documents show Environment Ministry staff strongly disagreed with the company’s harvesting plans.
The documents, obtained by Alberni-Pacific Rim NDP MLA Scott Fraser through a freedom-of-information request, reveal a pitched battle between government biologists and Island Timberlands over protections needed for McLaughlin Ridge, the headwaters for the main source of Port Alberni’s drinking water.
McLaughlin Ridge is privately managed forest land and was removed from a tree farm licence in 2004 by then-owners Weyerhaeuser. The province insisted that critical winter habitat should be protected for two years and a committee should then decide levels of protection.
But the province and Island Timberlands could not agree and meetings were “terminated” by the company in 2009, with government biologists saying harvesting plans were not science-based. Bed bath and beyond coupons
“It is now apparent that it will not be possible to achieve consensus within the committee on how much protected wildlife area is required,” says a letter from the company.
But a letter setting out provincial objections was never sent to Island Timberlands, which has since said its plans are based on ministry input.
That has Fraser questioning whether information was suppressed by the government.
“With all the concerns about the Harper government stifling scientists, it appears it has been happening in BC for years.”
The list of objections was relegated to a memo or “note to file” that says Island Timberlands wanted to log in deer winter ranges and wildlife habitat areas “and [the Environment Ministry] could not scientifically rationalize how the quality of these areas could be maintained.”
“This letter was never released, but does summarize many important opinions of MoE staff,” it says.
Ancient Forest Alliance founder Ken Wu said that indicates political interference.
“These are huge revelations that may be a game changer on how Island Timberlands and the BC Liberals have to deal with the public” regarding how old-growth forests are managed, he said.
Forests Minister Steve Thomson was not available, but ministry spokesman Vivian Thomas said staff were not overruled.
“The Minister of Environment of the time did not prevent the letter from being sent, nor did he direct staff not to send it,” Thomas said in an emailed response.
“The draft letter summa rizes differing points of view between ministry staff and Island Timberlands. However, sending it would not have served any purpose, since an agreement with Island Timberlands on managing critical wildlife habitat/ungulate winter range … could not be reached,” she said.
The company is bound by the Private Managed Forest Land Act, federal Species at Risk Act and Drinking Water Protection Act, Thomas said.
Island Timberlands spokeswoman Morgan Kennah said the company had not previously seen the memo, but it would not have affected logging plans.
“We know there were differing opinions on how the property should be managed. Ministry staff at the time thought the preservation model was the one to have and Island Timberland’s perspective was to look at opportunities for … harvest as well as habitat,” she said.
Logging in McLaughlin Ridge has been completed for this year, Kennah said.
“Next year and subsequent years we may be harvesting, but we haven’t finalized our long-term final strategy for habitat management in that area.”
[Times Colonist article no longer available]
Land swaps could protect watersheds, official says
/in News CoverageRead the Times Colonist article here
Logging on hillsides such as McLaughlin Ridge inevitably affects the water supply of surrounding communities and the province should do more to help protect watersheds, says the chairman of the AlberniClayoquot Regional District.
Glenn Wong is planning to ask Forests Minister Steve Thomson about the possibility of swapping Crown land for private managed forest lands at the Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting in Victoria next week. If the proposal were accepted, forestry companies could cut in Crown land areas instead of in the watershed.
“I know that what you do in the hills has an impact on water quality,” he said. “We have two water improvement districts and the [Port Alberni] water supply, and we don’t have much of a say in what is happening in our watersheds.”
Smaller communities such as Port Alberni, which is surrounded by private managed forest land, cannot afford to buy their watersheds, so must look for other ways to increase protections, Wong said.
Port Alberni Mayor John Douglas said the emphasis is on talking to forestry companies.
“We have a pretty good dialogue going,” he said.
But Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser, who obtained documents showing strong disagreements between the province and Island Timberlands over protection on McLaughlin Ridge, said logging done so far in the area shows little concern for environmental or watershed values.
Logging this year took place around the periphery of the ridge. The core has not yet been harvested.
“It’s not just a matter of the deer or the water,” Fraser said. “It’s a unique biosystem.”
Jane Morden, spokeswoman for the WatershedForest Alliance in Port Alberni, said the ridge has “scary steep slopes” and harvesting is likely to affect both the water supply and wildlife habitat – even if selective logging techniques are used.
“It was supposedly protected to begin with,” she said. “If anything is going to be left, at least leave this.”
China Creek, the main source of Port Alberni’s water, already has sediment problems, but recent turbidity has cleared very quickly – a sign that the creek is rushing because of erosion higher up, Morden said.
McLaughlin Ridge is made up of old-growth coastal Douglas fir, with a good canopy, hanging lichens and small meadows, making it excellent wildlife habitat, Morden said.
Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said ministry staff have met with Port Alberni officials about the water.
“There are pre-existing seasonal water turbidity issues in China Creek; however, to this point, no evidence suggests that logging activity in the area is the cause,” she said. “This turbidity has existed for many years and is one reason why Port Alberni also draws water from Bainbridge Lake, particularly when turbidity levels are high in China Creek.”
Minutes of meetings in the documents obtained by Fraser document concerns about public perception.
“Selling this to the public is a real concern for [Island Timberlands],” say the minutes.
Bill Waugh, Island Timberlands’ forestry manager, warned ministry staff that the only way to protect the area in perpetuity would be for the province to buy it.
However, Thomas said the ministry has no interest in buying the ridge.
British Columbia Magazine: Ancient cedars saved
/in News CoverageIn an ethereal valley near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, more than 100 remarkable Douglas-fir and red cedar trees have held their ground for centuries. Members of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance came upon the gnarled titans – some over 60 metres tall and more than four metres in diameter – in December 2009. Soon after, they learned the area was slated for harvest and launched a campaign to save “Avatar Grove.” Earlier this year, the provincial government expanded an existing old-growth management area, where logging and mining is prohibited, to 59.4 hectares, encompassing the grove in its entirety.
Avatar Grove has “some of the most bizarre and beautiful giant cedars known,” says Ken Wu of AFA. “It’s definitely a place of superlatives.”
TOMORROW LUSH "Charity Pot" Celebration Day with the Ancient Forest Alliance
/in AnnouncementsTOMORROW LUSH “Charity Pot” Celebration Day with the Ancient Forest Alliance!
A Mossy Maple Hug and “thank you” to LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics for choosing the Ancient Forest Alliance to participate in their Charity Pot initiative. This fundraising initiative offers grants to environmental groups through the sale of their “Charity Pot” Hand and Body Lotion, and will benefit and boost the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign for the protection of BC’s endangered old-growth forests.
To celebrate the Charity Pot and the Ancient Forest Alliance, LUSH is hosting a party at the downtown location at 1003 Government St. in Victoria TOMORROW, Saturday, September 15th from Noon until 6pm where you can pick up an Ancient Forest Alliance “Charity Pot”, hear more about the AFA’s campaigns, enter a draw for a spectacular print by forest campaigner and photographer TJ Watt, or pick up a selection of our greeting cards ($3.00) or a Big Tree Poster ($10 each or 3 for $25).
LUSH Cosmetics
1003 Government St., Downtown Victoria
250-384-5874
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LUSHGovtSt
LUSH website: https://www.lush.ca/