Near the foot of an ancient Western red cedar, a sinkhole leads to a hidden world. With a bit of wriggling, it is possible to disappear below the surface to find delicate ferns dangling from pockets in walls of limestone. The water from the underground stream that carved its way through the rock tastes soft and pure.
British Columbia’s coastline boasts the most significant karst terrain on the continent – magnificent canyons of marble and limestone caves hewn, over tens of thousands of years, by the relentless force of water. These are places where rare species thrive, and secret rivers feed forests and fish-bearing waterways.
They also help produce big, healthy trees coveted by the forest industry.
Members of Vancouver Island’s caving community have spent years documenting incidents where logging has left caves and sinkholes damaged, sometimes stuffed with industrial debris. This summer, cavers and karst specialists combed the Walbran Valley, on the southwestern edge of the island, hoping to identify sensitive spots before forestry crews arrive to harvest the giant cedars that have taken hold on a fragile karst landscape.
Emerging from the sinkhole on a wet November day, activist Mark Worthing of the Sierra Club of B.C. pointed to a tree marked with pink surveyor’s tape about 15 metres up the slope. The tape maps out the route of a proposed logging road. If the province approves logging here in cutblock 4403, this unique landscape could be drastically altered, disrupting the thin layer of soil in which new trees can begin.
“You can replant an old-growth forest, but you create an entirely different landscape. When it is an old-growth forest on karst, though, logging is the nail in the coffin,” Mr. Worthing said. Studies of logging on karst landscape on the north end of Vancouver Island show limestone slopes are painfully slow to recover – it may take centuries for the soil base to rebuild enough to sustain new growth.
To quell anti-logging demonstrations, much of the Walbran Valley was protected 20 years ago with the creation of a provincial park that includes some of the world’s largest and oldest spruce and cedar trees. But part of the valley, dubbed “the bite,” was left outside the park boundary, and it is here that logging company Teal Cedar Products Ltd., a division of the Teal Jones Group, now wants to cut the valuable old-growth trees.
Caving enthusiasts have joined a new round of environmental protests. Vancouver Island has more than 1,000 explored limestone caves and an active membership in the caving organization the B.C. Speleological Federation.
On Nov. 24, the logging company won a court injunction to end a blockade aimed at its logging operation in an adjacent cutblock. Teal Jones officials declined interview requests, but said in a statement: “We are aware of the limestone and karst geology resources in the vicinity of Block 4403 and as a result, we are planning to conduct a formal karst field assessment for this area prior to finalizing any road construction and harvesting plans.”
Charly Caproff, who is pursuing a degree in Environmental Resource Management at Simon Fraser University, has been studying the karst in the valley. Her tests on the water in cutblock 4403 suggest a huge underground system. “Nobody has really gone in and looked at the hydrological systems. Or seen what the biology is down there. You are logging and destroying something you don’t have an understanding of. It’s crazy.”
Significant karst landscapes are protected by government regulation on Vancouver Island, but a report by the independent Forest Practices Board in 2014 concluded the protection regime has large gaps. The forest industry is responsible for ensuring it does not “damage or render ineffective” important karst features, but those terms are not defined, there are no criteria for karst experts who conduct the assessments, and the province’s karst management handbook was disregarded more often than not, the report said.
The board could not prove that logging had damaged karst, but noted it is often impossible to see what is taking place below the surface. “To prove damage or rendered ineffective for many karst features would require long-term baseline data to compare features pre- and post-harvesting,” the report says. “However there is little research being done in B.C.”
Martin Davis, a karst and bat specialist, last summer explored the karst in the cutblocks proposed by Teal Cedar Products. Although he did not find any that would sustain large numbers of bats over the winter, he did log a healthy bat population – unsurprising because both the karst and old growth trees offer perfect habitat for roosting and hibernation. “There should be a proper karst inventory around these blocks and in the adjacent areas,” he said in an interview. “My visit with two other cavers was not thorough, and we could have easily missed features.”
Mr. Davis is skeptical about the government’s commitment to ensure significant karst features are kept intact. He produced a detailed list for the caving community two years ago of karst sites damaged by logging. “The B.C. Speleological Federation had brought these complaints forward to the provincial government, but no action was taken at that level, despite these practises violating provincial standards,” he said.
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said forest companies and recreational cavers need to work together to ensure special karst features are not harmed. “We recognize there is a need for engagement and for communication with local caving community.”
He also acknowledged the province needs to do a better job of setting out its expectations, and said the protocols and the guidebook for managing karst features are being updated.
The boundaries of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park were set in 1995 by the New Democratic Party government, when Dan Miller was the minister of forests. Mr. Miller, long retired from politics, recalls the fierce battle over logging in the Walbran – both in public and within his party’s caucus. It took painstaking negotiation to reach a compromise between environmental values and resource jobs. “Some was allocated to park, and some was part of the working forest,” he said.
With new issues – preserving the water, the bats, the soil and the rocks – emerging that were not contemplated 20 years ago, when the primary concern was the trees, he said today’s environmentalists and forest executives need to find a way to meet in that same spirit of compromise. “The rights of Teal Jones come into this picture,” he said. “The question is, is there a way to resolve the issue?”
A karst explainer
What is karst?
Karst landscapes are created by water dissolving soluble rock – usually marble, limestone or dolomite. The process can take tens of thousands of years, and Vancouver Island’s temperate rainforests boast some of the most significant karst landscapes in North America because the terrain is evolving – in geological time – at a rapid pace.
How is karst protected?
Under the Forest and Range Practices Act, the province has set out a Government Action Regulation order for karst caves, significant surface karst features and important features and elements on Vancouver Island with karst terrain of high and very high vulnerability. Forest companies are responsible for identifying these and ensuring their activities “do not damage or render ineffective” karst features.
What is the risk?
The province’s 12-year-old Karst Management Handbook notes that karst ecosystems often support unusual or rare plant and animal species, and water quality can be affected by logging activities. “The potential for karst hydrological systems to transport air, water, nutrients, soil and pollutants into and through underground environments should be carefully considered when developing and implementing management strategies for karst landscapes.”
Who decides what is significant?
The handbook says reserves should be established around “significant cave entrances; above significant caves; significant surface karst features; significant karst springs; and unique or unusual karst flora/fauna habitats.” It does not define “significant,” but calls for “experienced professionals” to determine that. The Forest Practices Board has found there are no criteria to determine whether an individual is qualified to complete a karst assessment.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/karst/article27519264/
Conservationists Call for Innovative Fund to Buy New Parks
/in Media ReleaseVictoria, BC – Conservationists are calling on the BC government to establish a Natural Lands Acquisition Fund. In a new report prepared for the Ancient Forest Alliance, the UVic Environmental Law Centre (ELC) is calling on the Province to establish an annual $40 million Natural Lands Acquisition Fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.
The report, Finding the Money to Buy and Protect Natural Lands, provides a “menu” of possible ways that funds can be allocated or generated for a dedicated fund to purchase vital green spaces and natural areas from willing sellers of private lands. These mechanisms include:
The above initiatives could be combined with one or more of the many other proven mechanisms for park funding. This could include dedication of funds from the sale of Crown lands, property transfer taxes, income tax check-offs, sales of environmental licence plates, gas taxes, sales taxes, taxes and fines on environmentally harmful products and actions, and a variety of other fees and taxes.
“Many regional districts in BC already have dedicated land acquisition funds to protect green spaces,” says Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder. “The BC government should do its part and step forward with a fund to purchase endangered ecosystems, old-growth forests, drinking watersheds and areas of high recreational and scenic value on private lands for future generations of British Columbians. While private citizens, land trusts, and environmental groups can help, they simply don’t have enough funds to purchase enough of the lands at risk in a timely manner before their demise, in most cases. Only governments have those kinds of funds.”
“We’ve outlined a menu of practical funding options that are used by governments across North America to purchase private lands for conservation. Some mechanisms don’t even require additional taxes — such as the so-called ‘pops for parks’ funding which simply captures a current industry windfall from unredeemed beverage container proceeds,” stated Calvin Sandborn, Legal Director of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre. “Such a fund could remedy many land-use disputes and environmental concerns — while permanently enhancing the tourism economy and quality of life for all British Columbians.”
A $40 million fund to expand conservation lands would amount to less than one tenth of 1% of BC’s annual provincial budget (ie. 1/1000th) of $40 billion. Studies have shown that for every $1 invested by the government in BC’s provincial park system, another $9 is generated in the provincial economy as visitors spend their funds in local restaurants, campsites, motels, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.
The provincial Natural Lands Acquisition Fund would be similar to the park or land acquisition funds of various regional districts in BC which are augmented by the fundraising efforts of private citizens and land trusts. The Land Acquisition Fund of the Capital Regional District of Greater Victoria has been foundational in helping to protect endangered ecosystems and lands of high recreational and scenic value. The fund generates about $3.7 million each year and has spent over $35 million dollars to purchase over 4500 hectares of land around Victoria with its partners since its establishment in the year 2000. The CRD’s funds are raised through an average $20-per-household levy each year and has been pivotal for protecting lands of high environmental and/or recreational value at Jordan River, the Sooke Hills, Sooke Potholes, adjacent to Thetis Lake Park, and on Mount Maxwell on Salt Spring Island.
Some endangered ecosystems and/or forests on private forest lands that a BC Natural Lands Acquisition Fund could help protect right now include:
…and hundreds of other significant natural areas on private lands across the province.
About 5% of British Columbia’s land base is private, where new protected areas require the outright purchase of private lands from willing sellers, while 95% is Crown (public) lands where new protected areas are established by government legislation. However, a high percentage of BC’s most endangered and biologically diverse and rich ecosystems are found on private lands – which tend to be found in temperate lower elevations and valleys where most humans live. As a result, private lands are disproportionately important for conservation efforts in BC.
Ancient Forest Alliance’s Holiday OPEN HOUSE!
/in AnnouncementsFriday, December 11th, 4-7pm (**drop in anytime; special presentation by Ken & TJ at 6pm)
AFA Victoria office (620 View St, 3rd floor #306)
You're invited to the Ancient Forest Alliance's Holiday Season Open House! Come by the AFA office to enjoy some drinks and snacks (including Sea Cider and Tugwell Creek Mead), meet and socialize with other supporters, watch a brief fun presentation by the AFA's Ken Wu and TJ Watt as well as some short film clips from this year, and check out the AFA's holiday gifts!
We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to celebrating with you!
Vancouver Film Showing & Presentation – “Exploring & Protecting our Biggest Trees & Old-Growth Forests”
/in AnnouncementsThursday, December 10, 2015
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Patagonia Vancouver store, 1994 W. 4th Avenue, Kitsilano
Join and invite others on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1689628047987222/
Join members of the Ancient Forest Alliance and their hosts from Patagonia Vancouver for a screening of Darryl Augustine's 17 minute film “The Ancient Forest Alliance”, some smaller videos including “Climbing Big Lonely Doug” and “Save the Central Walbran Valley (with drone footage)”, and a new slideshow presentation by Ancient Forest Alliance activists Ken Wu, TJ Watt, Hannah Carpendale, and Mike Grant on “Exploring and Protecting our Biggest Trees and Old-Growth Forests”.
Admission: by donation
For more info contact: info@staging.ancientforestalliance.org
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1689628047987222/
**NEW AFA 2016 calendars, cards, posters and other gifts will be available to purchase at the event**
Forests Can Only Fight Climate Change if We Become Better Stewards
/in News CoverageAfter a 10-year “climate action pause,” Canada is back at the international table. Though expectations are high that the new government will work to end our dependence on fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable energy, there has been little discussion about the importance of and threats to our forests in the fight against global warming.
Despite ongoing deforestation and degradation, the world's forests absorb about one quarter of our emissions. This is one of the key reasons why global warming isn't already much worse. Unfortunately, as a result of poor forest management and climate-driven impacts like droughts, insects and fires, many of our forests are now absorbing less carbon than they are releasing into the atmosphere. Since forests store 340 billion tonnes of carbon (equivalent to about 34 years of annual global emissions), we cannot afford to lose these valuable carbon sinks through continued mismanagement.
Before humans started to alter natural landscapes in a significant way, half our planet's land mass was forested. Today, only about 30 per cent remains covered by forest. As a result of this deforestation, the majority of which has occurred in the last several decades, the world has lost a significant part of its natural environment, species habitats and natural carbon sinks.
A Nature study released earlier this year showed for the first time, how many trees still grow on earth. Canada is home to over one tenth of the planet's 3 trillion trees — 318 billion trees — and no other country has more trees per capita (8,953 per person).
Arguably, Canadian citizens and their governments have a global responsibility to be good stewards of our forests. Canada's forests are vast and contain outstanding ecological values, and large tracts remain undisturbed from industrial activity. Approximately 348 million hectares (about 35 per cent of Canada's landmass) are forested. Only Russia and Brazil have more forest area, but both countries have less intact forest, greater economic challenges and much bigger populations than Canada.
Canada's two most important forest ecosystems are found in the taiga and the temperate zone. The taiga covers more area than any other forest type, while temperate rainforests grow the tallest trees on the planet. The boreal forest region is home to countless migratory songbirds and some of the world's largest populations of northern mammals, including caribou, bear and wolves.
The largest remaining intact tracts of temperate rainforest on the planet are found along the Pacific Coast of British Columbia and provide a refuge for species which have declined across their historical range, such as grizzly bears and Pacific salmon.
Forgetting stewardship
But despite its wealth and relatively small population, forest conservation and stewardship have been neglected in many regions of Canada. While approximately 90 per cent of Canada's forests are on public land, logging rights for most forests of economic value have been given to large corporations, many of which are operating under weak government regulation, monitoring and enforcement. Furthermore, climate change-driven impacts, such as wildfires and the mountain pine beetle outbreak in Western Canada, are worsening.
For Canada, the gradual process of forest degradation (the long-term loss of forest structure from industrial logging or frequent fire) is a much greater problem than deforestation (the complete loss of forest). According to analysis by Greenpeace and the University of Maryland, globally over 100 million hectares of intact forests were lost to degradation from 2000 to 2013 (eight per cent of what remained at the beginning of the millennium). Shockingly, Canada contributed 21 per cent of this loss, more than any other country.
The largest driver of forest degradation in Canada is logging. In 2012, approximately 600,000 hectares of forests were logged in Canada (in contrast, deforestation, e.g. as a result of urban growth was 45,000 hectares in 2012). In Alberta's tarsands region, industrial development and forest fires have cleared or degraded nearly 800,000 hectares between 2000 and 2013 (5.5 per cent of the region's land area).
Meanwhile, Canada has set aside only 8.5 per cent of its land in permanent protected areas (12.2 per cent if interim protection is included). But scientists recommend that half of the landmass should be set aside to protect species habitat and safeguard ecological services, and there is a significant gap to meet the goal agreed to in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to set aside 17 per cent of the world's terrestrial ecosystems by 2020.
One model of progress
One notable model for conservation progress is B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest region. In 2006, after years of conflict and negotiations, the provincial government, First Nations, a group of logging companies and a coalition of environmental organizations endorsed the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. The goal is to achieve ecological integrity, economic activity building on conservation and shared decision-making between the provincial government and First Nations. Once fully implemented (expected before the end of the year), 85 per cent of the region's rainforest will be set aside under Ecosystem-Based Management, through a combination of protected areas and stricter logging regulations.
South of the Great Bear Rainforest, in Clayoquot Sound, there is new hope that a lasting conservation solution can be found for the remaining unprotected intact rainforest valleys on Vancouver Island, particularly since the Ahousaht First Nation announced in October an end to industrial logging in their territory, spanning the majority of this region.
However, much of the productive old-growth rainforest has already been logged in the southern part of the B.C. coast and logging continues in some of the last remaining intact areas on Vancouver Island, such as the Walbran Valley, despite opposition. Logging of these rainforests is particularly concerning because old-growth stores record high amounts of carbon per hectare, accumulated over thousands of years, and steadily sequesters more carbon from the atmosphere. Clearcutting old-growth releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Tree power!
Increasing protection of old-growth forest and improving forest management could quickly reduce carbon losses from forests, particularly in B.C.'s forests with their very high carbon storage. A recent Sierra Club B.C. report found that in B.C. forests as a whole have been a net emitter of carbon over a full decade (2003-2012). This contrasts to their historic role capturing large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. While the mountain pine beetle and more wildfires have tipped the balance, our analysis shows that logging practices remain the biggest factor contributing to B.C.'s forest carbon emissions.
Canada's vast intact forest landscapes present an outstanding potential and responsibility to contribute to global climate solutions. Canada should heed the call of scientists and set aside 50 per cent of the range of Canada's boreal forest ecosystems. A similar level of protection is needed in other regions of the country with large intact ecosystems to protect biodiversity and carbon values.
Climate-harming fossil fuel subsidies should be transferred to increase forest conservation, improved forest management and support value-added forest products manufacturing and other sectors of the low-carbon economy. This would increase jobs per unit of wood cut and enable modern logging practices, such as selective logging, reducing wood waste, eliminating slash burning and growing older trees. Global warming means that we need a paradigm shift to end Canada's large-scale land degradation and ensure that our forests stop losing carbon. In short, there is no climate-friendly wood product without forest-friendly forestry.
Thirty-five million Canadians, half a per cent of the world's population, are stewards of 10 per cent of the world's forests, one-third of the planet's fragile boreal forest and one-quarter of the remaining intact forests on Earth. There is no other nation whose citizens could contribute more to saving our forests.
Read more: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/12/04/Become-Better-Forest-Stewards/
‘Tolkien Giant’ tree at root of B.C. climate change appeal
/in News CoverageConservationists who want the government to take action on climate change by protecting B.C.'s old-growth forests say they've measured a near-record-sized red cedar in Vancouver Island's central Walbran Valley.
The Ancient Forest Alliance said the tree that it calls the Tolkien Giant is the ninth-widest western red cedar in the province, according to a list compiled by the University of B.C.'s forestry faculty.
It said the tree has a circumference of 14.4 metres, or 47 feet, stands 42 metres high and lies within a protected reserve.
However, logging is proposed for an area 200 metres away that includes another huge tree the alliance calls the Karst Giant, executive director Ken Wu said Friday.
“It's a tenuous protection, it's not legislated and it's a regulatory protection that can change,” he said of the narrow
forest reserve around the Tolkien.
“Outside the central Walbran, the rest of the upper Walbran is tattered like Swiss cheese. So it means that the little remnants of old-growth are surrounded by clearcuts.
“The issue is large-scale industrial logging throughout the central Walbran valley and for this particular tree, they've already cut the other side of the river so they want to ring this area with clearcuts.”
Wu said the old-growth temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island stores more carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests.
He said that when massive trees are logged they stop absorbing huge amounts of carbon and the province's current measures to protect old-growth forests don't go far enough.
While the lower Walbran Valley is protected, the central and upper Walbran are not, Wu said.
Province approves cut block
The Ministry of Forests said 25-million hectares of forests in the province are old-growth and that 4.5 million are protected.
The province has approved one of eight cut blocks for the Walbran.
Wilderness Committee spokesman Joe Foy said lawyers have negotiated a court agreement with the Teal Jones Group that allows its members to witness the forestry company's logging activities in the central Walbran.
Foy said a B.C. Supreme Court judge narrowed an injunction Thursday that erroneously named the Wilderness Committee as the organizers of a blockade protesting logging of old-growth forest in the Walbran Valley.
He said the injunction unfairly restricted members and the public from photographing or taking video of forestry work, but that is no longer the case.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tolkien-giant-tree-climate-change-logging-1.3352193
Group says giant trees an aid to climate change
/in News CoverageWALBRAN VALLEY, B.C. – Conservationists who want the government to take action on climate change by protecting British Columbia’s old-growth forests say they’ve measured a near-record-size red cedar in the central Walbran Valley.
The Ancient Forest Alliance said the tree that it calls the Tolkien Giant is the ninth-widest western red cedar in the province, according to a list compiled by the University of B.C.’s forestry faculty.
It said the tree has a circumference of 14.4 metres, or 47 feet, stands 42 metres high and lies within a protected reserve.
However, logging is proposed for an area 200 metres away that includes another huge tree the alliance calls the Karst Giant, executive director Ken Wu said Friday.
“It’s a tenuous protection, it’s not legislated and it’s a regulatory protection that can change,” he said of the narrow forest reserve around the Tolkien.
“Outside the central Walbran the rest of the upper Walbran is tattered like Swiss cheese. So it means that the little remnants of old-growth are surrounded by clearcuts.
“The issue is large-scale industrial logging throughout the central Walbran valley and for this particular tree, they’ve already cut the other side of the river so they want to ring this area with clearcuts.”
Wu said the old-growth temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island stores more carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests.
He said that when massive trees are logged they stop absorbing huge amounts of carbon and the province’s current measures to protect old-growth forests don’t go far enough.
While the lower Walbran Valley is protected, the central and upper Walbran are not, Wu said.
The Ministry of Forests said 25-million hectares of forests in the province are old-growth and that 4.5 million are protected.
The province has approved one of eight cut blocks for the Walbran.
Wilderness Committee spokesman Joe Foy said lawyers have negotiated a court agreement with the Teal Jones Group that allows its members to witness the forestry company’s logging activities in the central Walbran.
Foy said a B.C. Supreme Court judge narrowed an injunction Thursday that erroneously named the Wilderness Committee as the organizers of a blockade protesting logging of old-growth forest in the Walbran Valley.
He said the injunction unfairly restricted members and the public from photographing or taking video of forestry work, but that is no longer the case.
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/2381159/group-says-giant-trees-an-aid-to-climate-change/
Conservationists Measure Near Record-Size Cedar in the Endangered Central Walbran Valley
/in Media ReleaseSend a Message to BC Politicians – Save BC’s Grandest Old-Growth Forests!
/in Take ActionThe two largest tracts of ancient forest left on southern Vancouver Island, the Central Walbran Valley (500 hectares) and Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest (1500 hectares), both near Port Renfrew, are threatened by the Teal-Jones Group. Please take 30 seconds and send a message to BC politicians through our website at: www.BCForestMovement.com Thank you!
Inside a fragile landscape
/in News CoverageNear the foot of an ancient Western red cedar, a sinkhole leads to a hidden world. With a bit of wriggling, it is possible to disappear below the surface to find delicate ferns dangling from pockets in walls of limestone. The water from the underground stream that carved its way through the rock tastes soft and pure.
British Columbia’s coastline boasts the most significant karst terrain on the continent – magnificent canyons of marble and limestone caves hewn, over tens of thousands of years, by the relentless force of water. These are places where rare species thrive, and secret rivers feed forests and fish-bearing waterways.
They also help produce big, healthy trees coveted by the forest industry.
Members of Vancouver Island’s caving community have spent years documenting incidents where logging has left caves and sinkholes damaged, sometimes stuffed with industrial debris. This summer, cavers and karst specialists combed the Walbran Valley, on the southwestern edge of the island, hoping to identify sensitive spots before forestry crews arrive to harvest the giant cedars that have taken hold on a fragile karst landscape.
Emerging from the sinkhole on a wet November day, activist Mark Worthing of the Sierra Club of B.C. pointed to a tree marked with pink surveyor’s tape about 15 metres up the slope. The tape maps out the route of a proposed logging road. If the province approves logging here in cutblock 4403, this unique landscape could be drastically altered, disrupting the thin layer of soil in which new trees can begin.
“You can replant an old-growth forest, but you create an entirely different landscape. When it is an old-growth forest on karst, though, logging is the nail in the coffin,” Mr. Worthing said. Studies of logging on karst landscape on the north end of Vancouver Island show limestone slopes are painfully slow to recover – it may take centuries for the soil base to rebuild enough to sustain new growth.
To quell anti-logging demonstrations, much of the Walbran Valley was protected 20 years ago with the creation of a provincial park that includes some of the world’s largest and oldest spruce and cedar trees. But part of the valley, dubbed “the bite,” was left outside the park boundary, and it is here that logging company Teal Cedar Products Ltd., a division of the Teal Jones Group, now wants to cut the valuable old-growth trees.
Caving enthusiasts have joined a new round of environmental protests. Vancouver Island has more than 1,000 explored limestone caves and an active membership in the caving organization the B.C. Speleological Federation.
On Nov. 24, the logging company won a court injunction to end a blockade aimed at its logging operation in an adjacent cutblock. Teal Jones officials declined interview requests, but said in a statement: “We are aware of the limestone and karst geology resources in the vicinity of Block 4403 and as a result, we are planning to conduct a formal karst field assessment for this area prior to finalizing any road construction and harvesting plans.”
Charly Caproff, who is pursuing a degree in Environmental Resource Management at Simon Fraser University, has been studying the karst in the valley. Her tests on the water in cutblock 4403 suggest a huge underground system. “Nobody has really gone in and looked at the hydrological systems. Or seen what the biology is down there. You are logging and destroying something you don’t have an understanding of. It’s crazy.”
Significant karst landscapes are protected by government regulation on Vancouver Island, but a report by the independent Forest Practices Board in 2014 concluded the protection regime has large gaps. The forest industry is responsible for ensuring it does not “damage or render ineffective” important karst features, but those terms are not defined, there are no criteria for karst experts who conduct the assessments, and the province’s karst management handbook was disregarded more often than not, the report said.
The board could not prove that logging had damaged karst, but noted it is often impossible to see what is taking place below the surface. “To prove damage or rendered ineffective for many karst features would require long-term baseline data to compare features pre- and post-harvesting,” the report says. “However there is little research being done in B.C.”
Martin Davis, a karst and bat specialist, last summer explored the karst in the cutblocks proposed by Teal Cedar Products. Although he did not find any that would sustain large numbers of bats over the winter, he did log a healthy bat population – unsurprising because both the karst and old growth trees offer perfect habitat for roosting and hibernation. “There should be a proper karst inventory around these blocks and in the adjacent areas,” he said in an interview. “My visit with two other cavers was not thorough, and we could have easily missed features.”
Mr. Davis is skeptical about the government’s commitment to ensure significant karst features are kept intact. He produced a detailed list for the caving community two years ago of karst sites damaged by logging. “The B.C. Speleological Federation had brought these complaints forward to the provincial government, but no action was taken at that level, despite these practises violating provincial standards,” he said.
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said forest companies and recreational cavers need to work together to ensure special karst features are not harmed. “We recognize there is a need for engagement and for communication with local caving community.”
He also acknowledged the province needs to do a better job of setting out its expectations, and said the protocols and the guidebook for managing karst features are being updated.
The boundaries of Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park were set in 1995 by the New Democratic Party government, when Dan Miller was the minister of forests. Mr. Miller, long retired from politics, recalls the fierce battle over logging in the Walbran – both in public and within his party’s caucus. It took painstaking negotiation to reach a compromise between environmental values and resource jobs. “Some was allocated to park, and some was part of the working forest,” he said.
With new issues – preserving the water, the bats, the soil and the rocks – emerging that were not contemplated 20 years ago, when the primary concern was the trees, he said today’s environmentalists and forest executives need to find a way to meet in that same spirit of compromise. “The rights of Teal Jones come into this picture,” he said. “The question is, is there a way to resolve the issue?”
A karst explainer
What is karst?
Karst landscapes are created by water dissolving soluble rock – usually marble, limestone or dolomite. The process can take tens of thousands of years, and Vancouver Island’s temperate rainforests boast some of the most significant karst landscapes in North America because the terrain is evolving – in geological time – at a rapid pace.
How is karst protected?
Under the Forest and Range Practices Act, the province has set out a Government Action Regulation order for karst caves, significant surface karst features and important features and elements on Vancouver Island with karst terrain of high and very high vulnerability. Forest companies are responsible for identifying these and ensuring their activities “do not damage or render ineffective” karst features.
What is the risk?
The province’s 12-year-old Karst Management Handbook notes that karst ecosystems often support unusual or rare plant and animal species, and water quality can be affected by logging activities. “The potential for karst hydrological systems to transport air, water, nutrients, soil and pollutants into and through underground environments should be carefully considered when developing and implementing management strategies for karst landscapes.”
Who decides what is significant?
The handbook says reserves should be established around “significant cave entrances; above significant caves; significant surface karst features; significant karst springs; and unique or unusual karst flora/fauna habitats.” It does not define “significant,” but calls for “experienced professionals” to determine that. The Forest Practices Board has found there are no criteria to determine whether an individual is qualified to complete a karst assessment.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/karst/article27519264/
B.C.’s wildlife policy skirts issue of habitat loss due to logging
/in News CoverageBritish Columbia’s biodiversity is under threat not just because of climate change and poorly regulated industrial activity, but also because the provincial government won’t deal with the root problem – habitat loss.
One example of how the government manages for resource extraction at the expense of wildlife can be found in the “forest enhancement program” that was announced in September.
A Ministry of Forests briefing document obtained by The Globe and Mail shows the province proposes to invest $115-million in the plan.
In effect, it’s a massive subsidy to encourage the logging of marginally valuable forest – and one of the key targets will be the last existing old growth on the coast.
“Decisions on the coast would need to include engagement due to the controversial nature of logging old growth,” states the document in a classic case of bureaucratic understatement. The logging of old growth is widely opposed in B.C. – the public surely won’t welcome a plan where taxpayers are supposed to pay for it.
The plan outlines how the forest industry will be subsidized to go after pockets of old trees “that are uneconomic to harvest” because they are sparsely scattered or are at high elevation.
Some of the costs would be recovered through timber sales, but it is a money-losing proposition. In year four, for example, the province will spend $25-million to get timber worth $6-million.
Why do something like that?
The government justifies this by saying it will keep loggers working and improve the supply of timber, which has been reduced by overcutting, a pine-beetle kill and forest fires.
“They are running out of timber because of overharvesting throughout the province,” environmental activist Vicky Husband said. “This is a desperate move that’s all about keeping up the short-term timber supply, with no consideration for wildlife values. They are going after every last little bit of forest out there, with no consideration for the impact on biodiversity.”
Maintaining biodiversity in the face of growth is challenging. It calls for the best wildlife science available and requires the B.C. government to do something it’s loath to do – protect habitat.
Rather than restricting logging to save dwindling herds of mountain caribou, the government has launched a wolf cull.
Instead of setting aside old growth to protect an endangered goshawk population, the government works with the forest industry to devise a species-at-risk plan that doesn’t require a reduction in logging.
In the Peace River Valley, where the Site C dam will flood prime moose habitat, the government proposes to help the moose not through habitat improvement, but by restricting hunting.
In wildlife regulations just posted for public comment, the government proposes to shut non-native hunters out of the Peace-Moberly Tract, which covers more than 100,000 hectares.
Under the plan, First Nations would still be allowed to hunt. Indeed, it would create an exclusive hunting zone, just for natives.
The strategy is not based on wildlife management science, and it does nothing to address the loss of habitat caused by the Site C dam.
“By having some kind of political decision here you are causing a divisiveness amongst the users and that’s not healthy,” Doug Janz, a former wildlife manager for the B.C. government said in an interview. “That’s not going to get us anywhere.”
Mr. Janz, who retired in 2004 after a 32-year career, fears the Peace River approach may be applied elsewhere around the province as it tries to deal with habitat loss and declining wildlife populations.
“Even though the Peace-Moberly Tract is a local example, if the government says, ‘Oh, wherever there are these kinds of pressures, we’ll just restrict the resident hunters.’ That’s pretty scary,” Mr. Janz said.
“The problem is we’re managing for resource extraction – at the expense of wildlife,” said Jesse Zeman, a spokesman for the BC Wildlife Federation.
“There is a serious lack of investment in wildlife,” he said. “The government seems to have very little appetite to deal with biodiversity issues.”
To save caribou and goshawks, to hang on to the last groves of old-growth forest, to ensure there is moose hunting far into the future, the B.C. government has to make some tough decisions.
So far, it hasn’t been up to the task.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bcs-wildlife-policy-skirts-issue-of-habitat-loss-due-to-logging/article27435434/