Big Lonely Doug: Canada’s loneliest tree still waiting on help

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Big Lonely Doug, perhaps the loneliest tree in Canada, stands in the middle of a clear-cut on the west coast of Vancouver Island, surrounded by a field of huge stumps.

The giant red cedars and Douglas firs that once surrounded it were cut down and hauled away by loggers two years ago.

Big Lonely Doug was left standing alone, Ken Wu of the Forest Alliance says, because it was either designated as a wildlife tree, or it was left to provide cones for the reseeding of the forest.

Either way, it makes a rather sad sight sticking up out of a raw landscape of logging debris – and it serves as a reminder of just how inadequate British Columbia’s forest regulations are at protecting old, giant trees.

Recently, Mr. Wu’s group, which for years has been campaigning to save old trees like this, teamed up on a climbing expedition with Matthew Beatty of the Arboreal Collective, another organization that works to save trees.

They wanted to get to the top of Big Lonely Doug to see how tall it really was. It had been estimated at 70 metres. And they wanted to get some photographs to highlight the need to protect B.C.’s rapidly disappearing old growth.

Mr. Wu says 99 per cent of the old-growth Douglas fir trees in B.C. have been logged and 75 per cent of the original old growth forests on B.C.’s southern coast have been cut down.

Mr. Wu’s group has been frantically searching out the biggest trees and lobbying to protect them. A few years ago, they found the Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, which the government did set aside, and which is now a tourism attraction. In the same area, they also identified what they named Lower Christy Clark Grove, in the hope the Premier would set it aside. Parts of that area were later protected, not to honour Ms. Clark, but as wildlife habitat because of the presence of endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks.

But Mr. Wu and his colleague, T.J. Watt, didn’t see Big Lonely Doug when they were hiking through the thick forest in the area, and the grove of giants it stood in didn’t get flagged for protection. When they returned in March, it was impossible to miss, however, sticking up all alone like that.

Members of the Arboreal Collective put climbing ropes up the tree and Mr. Watt, a photographer clambered up. Way up. From the top, they dropped a line – Big Lonely Doug is 66 metres tall, not quite as big as first estimated, but still the second largest Douglas fir in Canada.

“It was incredibly humbling,” said Mr. Watt of what it felt like up there in the tree. “It’s like climbing a living skyscraper. You only get a true sense of its mass once you are up there in the canopy and you see the trunk is still 6-, 7-, 8-feet wide. It’s almost unfathomable how large it is.”

From near the top, swaying in the wind, Mr. Watt looked out over the valley and felt a sense of wonder at how long the tree has been there. Ring counts of nearby stumps showed many of the neighbouring trees were 500 years old. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be 1,000 years old.

From his vantage point atop the tree, Mr. Watt’s colleagues seemed tiny on the ground below. Across the valley, he could hear chainsaws and see trees falling as logging continued in the area.

“It was odd to be standing in this giant, record-size tree in the middle of a clear-cut and watching stuff fall not too far away,” he said.

Mr. Watt said it was “kind of sad” too, because he suspected there were more trees like Big Lonely Doug that might be stumps by the time his crew finds them.

“It shows the need to have legislation in place as quickly as possible to protect remaining old-growth forest so we don’t have to keep coming across these things too late,” said Mr. Watt.

Three years ago, the provincial government promised it would bring in regulations to protect the best and biggest groves of B.C.’s dwindling stock of giant old-growth trees.

Mr. Watt, Mr. Wu, and Big Lonely Doug are still waiting.

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/canadas-loneliest-tree-around-1000-years-old-still-waiting-on-help/article19064507/

Tree-Climbers Scale to the top of “Big Lonely Doug,” Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, to highlight BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

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For Immediate Release
June 6, 2014

Tree-Climbers Scale to the top of “Big Lonely Doug”, Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, to highlight BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are collaborating with the Arboreal Collective, a group of professional tree-climbers working to raise awareness, facilitate research, and help protect British Columbia’s biggest trees and endangered old-growth forests.

Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – “Big Lonely Doug”, the recently found, second-largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada, has been scaled by a team of professional tree-climbers. The climbers with the Arboreal Collective are collaborating with the Ancient Forest Alliance, a BC-based conservation organization, to highlight, research, and document the largest old-growth trees and grandest groves in British Columbia. Big Lonely Doug stands alone in a 2012 clearcut, hence its name.

See spectacular photos at: https://16.52.162.165/new-photo-gallery-climbing-big-lonely-doug-round-2/ (News media are free to reprint photos. Credit to “TJ Watt” if possible)

Watch On YouTube here (News media are free to reuse.)

“We hope that our work to help highlight, research, and document the biggest trees and grandest groves in British Columbia will aid in their legal protection,” stated Matthew Beatty, spokesman with the Arboreal Collective. “Colossal trees like Big Lonely Doug are like the ‘redwoods of Canada’ that inspire awe in people around the world due to their unbelievable size and age. BC’s endangered old-growth forests urgently need protection before they become giant stumps and tree plantations.”

The Arboreal Collective’s Matthew Beatty, Tiger Devine, Dan Holliday, and the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt, were also joined by Will Koomjian from Ascending the Giants, a similar research and awareness-raising organization of tree-climbers based in Portland, and by photographer James Frystak. The Arboreal Collective also collaborates on research with the BC Big Tree Registry, run by the University of British Columbia, a register of the largest measured trees in the province. See: https://bigtrees.forestry.ubc.ca/

“The Arboreal Collective have provided us with the unique ability to photograph and document these giant trees and their surroundings from a birds-eye view, 200 feet up in the canopy!” stated Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt. “It’s a humbling experience exploring the tops of centuries-old trees and in a place no human has been before. I hope the novel images that come from this initiative to climb and document the largest trees and grandest groves in BC will help to ignite the interest and raise awareness of people around the world about these highly endangered ecosystems. The BC government must act to save our last unprotected ancient forests, which are a global treasure.”

The group recently climbed to the top of Big Lonely Doug in order to directly measure its height by dropping a line from the top of the tree down to its base. Big Lonely Doug was found to be 66 metres (216 feet) in height, slightly shorter than its previously measured height of 70 meters (230 feet) using a clinometer (a tree-height measuring device taken from the ground using trigonometry – less accurate than direct measurements, of course). However, Big Lonely Doug still remains as the second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada in total size. Big Lonely Doug’s width has been officially measured to be 12 meters (39 feet) in circumference or 4 meters (12 feet) in diameter by BC Big Tree Registry coordinator Dr. Andy MacKinnon. See: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=782

The climbers also collected samples of moss and canopy soil accumulated on the massive limbs of Big Lonely Doug, which have been given to entomologists (bug biologists) who will examine the sample for new species of spiders, insects, and mites (arthropods). Many unique species of arthropods have been found only in the old-growth forest canopies of Vancouver Island, where thick matts of mosses, ferns, and other plants form layers of soil on the branches high up in the forest canopies.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer, TJ Watt, also climbed the giant tree once the ropes were set-up, and has taken phenomenal, birds-eye view photos of the tree, the tree-climbers, and the surrounding clearcut landscape.

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

“The days of colossal trees like Big Lonely Doug are quickly coming to an end as the timber industry cherry-picks the last stands of unprotected, lowland ancient forests left in southern BC where giants like this grow. Today the vast majority of BC’s remaining old-growth forests are at higher elevations, on rocky sites, and in bogs where the trees are much smaller and in many cases have low to no commercial value”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “We’re really encouraging the BC government to move forward with its proposed legal protection of the biggest trees and grandest groves in BC, as well as to ultimately protect old-growth ecosystems across the province on a more comprehensive scale to support endangered species, the climate, clean water, tourism, and many First Nations cultures.”

BACKGROUND INFO

Big Lonely Doug grows in the Gordon River Valley near the coastal town of Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada. It stands on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. It was first measured and recognized as exceptionally large by Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners in March of this year.

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

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

Big Lonely Doug was likely left behind as a seed tree or as a wildlife tree, and was also used by the loggers as a cable anchor to yard other trees across the clearcut, judging by the long horizontal lines scarred into its bark. Judging by the growth rings on nearby stumps, Big Lonely Doug may be 1000 years in age.

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

The stand of ancient trees in which Big Lonely Doug grew was part of a 1000 hectare tract of provincially-significant, largely intact old-growth forest on Edinburgh Mountain, home to species at risk including the red-listed or endangered Queen Charlotte Goshawk. While some of the area has been reserved as a core Wildlife Habitat Area for the goshawk and as an Old-Growth Management Area, more than half of the forests there – including the finest, valley-bottom stands with the largest trees, such as the stand where Big Lonely Doug once grew in – are open to clearcut logging. This area was nicknamed the “Christy Clark Grove” in 2012 after BC’s premier to put her on the spot and in the spotlight to have to take responsibility for the fate of this spectacular ancient forest. So far, the premier has failed to ensure the area’s full protection.

Government data from 2012 show that about 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and Southwest Mainland) have been logged, including over 90% of the highest productivity, valley bottom ancient stands where the largest trees grow. 99% of the old-growth Douglas-fir trees on BC’s coast have also been logged. The BC government often grossly overinflates the amount of remaining ancient forests in BC by releasing statistics that include vast tracts of bog and subalpine forests consisting of small, stunted old-growth trees of little to no commercial value, combined with the less extensive tracts of the large, old-growth trees growing on more productive sites at risk of being logged. See recent “before and after” maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

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

Climbers scale Canada’s ‘Big Lonely Doug’

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For a few hours last month Big Lonely Doug was a little less lonely.

On may 25, a group of climbers and environmentalists scaled the giant tree, which was confirmed as Canada’s second-largest Douglas Fir earlier this year.

“It’s a humbling experience exploring the tops of centuries-old trees and in a place no human has been before. I hope the novel images that come from this initiative to climb and document the largest trees and grandest groves in B.C. will help to raise awareness… about these highly endangered ecosystems,” said T.J. Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

While atop the tree, the climbers conducted additional measurements, pegging Doug’s height at 66 metres. That’s four metres less than the original estimate.

“However, Big Lonely Doug still remains as the second-largest Douglas Fir tree in Canada in total size,” the group said in a statement.

Soil and moss samples from the fir’s canopy were also taken, and will be tested for new species of insects.

https://metronews.ca/news/victoria/1058117/video-climbers-scale-canadas-big-lonely-doug/

Tree Climbers Scale Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-Fir

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Many of us have climbed a tree or two in our lives, but how many of us can say that tree was as tall as an 18-storey building?

A group of professional tree climbers scaled Canada's second-largest Douglas-fir — fondly referred to as Big Lonely Doug — and there are some amazing photos to prove it.

Climbers from Arboreal Collective partnered with Ancient Forest Alliance, a B.C.-based conservation organization that discovered Big Lonely Doug, to complete the ascension of the tree near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

“We hope that our work to help highlight, research, and document the biggest trees and grandest groves in British Columbia will aid in their legal protection,” Matthew Beatty, spokesman for Arboreal Collective, said in a press release.

“Colossal trees like Big Lonely Doug are like the ‘redwoods of Canada’ that inspire awe in people around the world due to their unbelievable size and age. B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests urgently need protection before they become giant stumps and tree plantations.”

The tree stands 70.2 metres high and has a diameter that is almost as long as a mid-sized car, according to the B.C. Big Tree Registry. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be as much as 1,000 years old.

View gallery and read more at: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/06/06/tree-climbers-big-lonely-doug-photos_n_5461824.html

Gallery: Tree climbers scale Big Lonely Doug

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View gallery at: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/gallery-tree-climbers-scale-big-lonely-doug-1.1118808

A photo of a burnt Vancouver Island clearcut - where an old-growth temperate rainforest once stood - has been chosen for exhibition in the international photography competition

Photo of Burnt Vancouver Island Clearcut Chosen for Exhibition in International Photography Competition in London

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Photo of Burnt Vancouver Island Clearcut Chosen for Exhibition in International Photography Competition in London

Tragic photo of a logged and burnt old-growth forest on Vancouver Island, taken in January by Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt, highlights the environmental destruction taking place in British Columbia’s “Tree Farm Licences” (TFL’s). The BC government’s plan to expand TFL’s to give exclusive logging rights to major logging companies on BC’s public lands is in its final week of public input.

A tragic photo of a person standing among giant, burnt stumps in an old-growth clearcut on Vancouver Island taken by Victoria-based photographer and conservationist TJ Watt has been chosen by the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition to be featured in an exhibition this summer at the Royal Geographical Society in London and around national forest venues across England. Exhibited photos will be further judged to potentially win first prize in the competition. See the photo here: https://16.52.162.165/pic.php?pID=797

The photo is currently being circulated in social media to show the unsustainable forestry practices in BC’s Tree Farm Licences where large logging companies have exclusive logging rights over vast areas of public forest lands – a designation that the BC government is looking to expand, pending the finalization of public input at the end of this week on May 30. See the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign website at www.BCForestMovement.com

The photo was taken in January of this year in a former old-growth red cedar and hemlock forest on public (Crown) land in the Klanawa Valley in “Tree Farm Licence 44”, an “area-based licence” held by Western Forest Products, a few kilometers from the West Coast Trail on southern Vancouver Island (south of the town of Bamfield). The BC government states: “It is in the best interests of the licence holder to ensure the long-term sustainability of the area to secure future harvests,” in their discussion paper promoting an expansion of Tree Farm Licences in BC (see BC Government’s “Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures”, page 8 – https://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/files/2014/03/Forest_Tenure_Discuss_Paper.pdf)

“This photo highlights the brutal mismanagement of BC’s old-growth forests – in fact the annihilation of these forests – in Tree Farm Licences on public lands. It’s such a tragic place, when you see the contrast between what would’ve been lush green rainforest, and what it is today – a charred and barren landscape of blackened stumps, not unlike a scene from the end of the world” stated TJ Watt. “I hope this photo provides a striking reminder of the ongoing destruction of British Columbia’s last endangered old-growth forests within Tree Farm Licences – a designation shown throughout the coast to be rife with environmentally disastrous forestry practices.”

The clearcut was likely burnt due to an accident. Clearcuts are more prone to fires as the dead wood and vegetation dry-out when exposed to the direct summer sunshine without overhead canopy, while sparks caused by logging equipment, as well as human carelessness and lightning, can readily ignite dried-out clearcuts. Companies also set intentional burns to reduce waste wood.

The photo will on display at the competition in London from June 23 – July 4, 2014, followed by a tour to forest venues nationally, supported by Forestry Commission England. The Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best in environmental photography and film. The exhibition will feature the top picks including Watt’s burnt clearcut photo, among a large number of entries from around the world, with the winning entry receiving a £5000 prize for the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year award. Over 10,000 images were submitted for judging.

In April, the BC Liberal government revived their plans to allow major logging companies to receive exclusive logging rights over vast areas of public forest lands through the expansion of Tree Farm Licences. Despite being killed by widespread public opposition in 2013, they’ve resurrected this “forest giveaway scheme” like a zombie, in a bid to increase property rights for timber corporations on our public lands. These lands are vital for wildlife, recreation, scenery, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations, and smaller forestry operators.

This proposal would increase the compensation rights to be paid for by BC taxpayers to logging companies with Tree Farm Licences in lieu of new parks, protected areas and First Nations treaty settlements. Thus, it would make it harder to protect forests and settle First Nations land claims, as well as to diversify forestry in BC to communities and smaller operators in a way that truly supports forestry-dependent communities. Ultimately, it will further entrench the status quo of massive overcutting in BC by large corporations that is resulting in the collapse of human communities and ecosystems – a process well-advanced on BC’s southern coast, and now underway in BC’s interior.

THOUSANDS of people have already spoken up against the plan and many more will likely speak up during this final week of public input. Those who want to write-in must do so by 12 noon on May 30, to Jim Snetsinger, public engagement coordinator on TFL expansion, at: forest.tenures@gov.bc.ca (Cc. a copy to Forests Minister Steve Thomson at FLNR.minister@gov.bc.ca). See the official government website on participating on their Blog site at: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/

The public consultation process itself is considered a flawed or “rigged” process, as the terms of reference ask “how” not “whether” or not Tree Farm Licences should be expanded. Government info sheets only list “potential benefits” but no “potential problems” of expanding Tree Farm Licences.

“The public relations claim that major timber companies will operate in an environmentally sustainable manner if they are given greater property rights is contradicted by the actual evidence – let’s remember that much of the southern coast has had Tree Farm Licences for decades. Corporations are not communities, they are not tied to the land, looking at the long term – they are highly mobile, buying and selling their Tree Farm Licences regularly after logging what they want, and moving on. Nor is it in their financial interest to manage the forests for biodiversity, recreation, water quality or wild salmon, as they don’t make money from such things – they make money from the timber alone,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Some of the province’s most notorious examples of massive overcutting, landslides, destruction of salmon streams, annihilation of old-growth forests, locked gates, and ruined scenery and recreational opportunities, are in the province’s Tree Farm Licences. This current plan is the BC Liberal government’s attempt to facilitate the last great timber grab by the major companies to log until the end of the resource – at the expense of communities and ecosystems.”

See the Ancient Forest Alliance’s media release and links to various articles and the BC government’s website at: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=772

Opinion: Tree-farm licences a failure in forest management

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British Columbia’s forests are 93-per cent owned by commoners and comprise a part of what has been known for centuries as The Commons.

As such, it is incumbent on policy-makers to ensure the common interest prevails over self-interest and government interest in the governance of these forestlands.

Unfortunately, misguided thinking is undermining the common interest as the government struggles to deal with the aftermath of the mountain-pine-beetle infestation in Interior B.C.

For over half a century, the forests ministry allowed vast areas of aging pine forests in the B.C. Interior to become increasingly susceptible to infestation by the mountain pine beetle.

Although scientists and forest insect specialists did not foretell the magnitude of the beetle infestation, they are in general agreement that climate change caused it and poor government forest policies exacerbated it.

The government’s initial response to the beetle infestation was to deal with the symptom (dead pine trees) and implicitly deny the cause (global warming).

The government immediately raised the rates of logging and the limits placed on allowable cuts to unsustainable levels in the mountain-pine-beetle zone with little regard for the cumulative affects it would have on the soil, water and animals, not to mention the people of Interior B.C.

The recession of the last decade allowed senior forest officials to deceive themselves into thinking that over-harvesting and unsustainable logging rates are in the best interests of forest-dependent communities for at least a couple of political election cycles, but not beyond. Yet, the government, while claiming to have spent a billion dollars on mitigating the affects of the beetle infestation, appears to have completely neglected to do any strategic planning needed to deal with the inevitable social and economic consequences of the predicted crash in available timber.

The only evident plan is to keep the rates of timber harvesting unsustainably high, thereby making the eventual collapse of available timber even more painful for forest-dependent communities, a policy based on the premise that it is better to have more jobs today and none tomorrow rather than fewer jobs today and some tomorrow.

Instead of focusing on the common good, on getting a reliable forest inventory and on defining a long-term vision for forestry in British Columbia with attendant strategies, goals and objectives, the government is preoccupied with rewarding an oligopoly of companies with exclusive timber rights over public forests within quasi-private timber farms (Tree Farm Licences)

In its zeal to justify further enclosure of The Commons and increased corporate control over the commoners’ timber, the government’s twisted thinking becomes so bent that it defines mountebank politics.

The false argument, or syllogism, goes like this. Area-based forest management is preferable to volume-based management. Tree-farm licences are a type of area-based tenure. Therefore, forest management on tree-farm Licences must be better than it is on volume-based tenures.

The government then takes that syllogism to the people and pretends to consult publicly by inviting selected stakeholders to a meeting with the consultation leader and by arranging an Internet blog on which the public can post comments and send written submissions by email.

The declared purpose of the consultation is to obtain input on the criteria to be considered in evaluating proposals for converting some or a portion of some volume-based forest licences to new or expanded area-based tree-farm licences. More tree-farm licences are a foregone conclusion. The public has no say.

The whole consultation process is a sham. The language used is a complete turnoff for any member of the public unversed in forestry jargon. To participate meaningfully, the public would need clear evidence of whether public benefits from previously awarded tree-farm licences have materialized as background to an open question as to whether more timber farms are desirable and in the common interest.

History shows forest tenure under tree-farm licences is a singular failure resulting in British Columbians being robbed of control of their forests and denied the promised benefits from them.

British Columbians need a full, public and provincewide discussion — not a phoney consultation — on what type of forest governance might best address the concerns and needs of forest-dependant communities during this century of rapid climate change.

Today, common sense is the cement needed to unite British Columbians to re-establish control over their forest commons. Until noon on May 30, use your common sense to say no to more Tree Farm Licences by sending an email to: forest.tenures@gov.bc.ca

Anthony Britneff recently retired from a 40-year career with the B.C. Forest Service during which he held senior professional positions in inventory, silviculture and forest health.

Read more: https://www.vancouversun.com/Opinion+Tree+farm+licences+failure+forest+management/9879112/story.html

B.C. forest giveaway threatens to speed up collapse

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HISTORICALLY, SOCIETIES HAVE collapsed because they cling to business as usual when a vital resource is becoming scarce. From Easter Island to the Mayans, history tells us what happens when societies ignore the signs they have stretched finite resources beyond their limits.

Here in British Columbia, we are seeing the same ominous pattern when it comes to our forests. Even in regions that are running out of trees, government acts as if finding more trees to cut is the only priority, no matter what the cost in the longer term.

To this short-sighted end, the provincial government is inviting comments until the end of May on a tenure change proposal that offers logging companies a change from “volume-based” to “secure area-based” tenures in the form of tree farm licences.

This would give greater corporate control over more public forest land. It would mean unsustainable harvest levels would continue. And it would mean the consequences of years of poor forest management would be made far worse. The government attempted similar changes before the 2013 election, but withdrew them after being roundly rejected by diverse community, environmental, and economic interests.

How did we get to this point? It is no secret that this redressed proposal is especially aimed at companies operating in the Interior. After the mountain pine beetle epidemic, the province allowed a significant increase to the annual cut to deal with massive quantities of dead or dying trees in this region. But that process has almost run its course: dead wood is running out and forest companies are cutting down more and more living trees, also known as green timber. In a headline-making case, West Fraser and Canfor took one million cubic metres of green timber over and above the allocated cut, without penalty by the B.C. government.

Making this challenge even greater, the value of our remaining healthy forests is increasing by the day because of climate change. Forests are indispensable for clean air, clean water, carbon stored in trees and soils, wildlife, recreation, and many other environmental services. We cannot survive without them. But global warming impacts like shifting ecosystems, droughts, more insect infestations, more wildfires, and more landslides are already here. Global warming means that we can no longer take these key functions of our forests for granted, without doubling our efforts to maintain them healthy.

Forest-dependent communities in the Interior have already been hit with the double whammy of years of overharvesting compounded by the mountain pine beetle epidemic. The consequences have been devastating for many communities.

But the answer is not to continue cutting at unsustainable levels. That’s business as usual.

Unless the government acts to reduce the cut and begin forest restoration today, forest-dependent communities will not only lose even more jobs, but will be exposed to increased flooding and landslides as our forests lose their ability to provide essential environmental services.

B.C. needs a broader conversation about the future of our forests, one that is honest about the current state of our forests and how that limits our options for the future. One thing we know: business as usual has got to stop.

We need to develop a comprehensive forest action plan to manage our forests today and for future generations. Such a plan would include better inventory and research, sustainable logging rates, better government oversight, protection of critical species habitat, and an effective approach to reforestation. It would also include support for communities impacted by reduced logging activity, more First Nations and non-native community control over forest lands, and the creation of value-added forestry jobs. In the light of the climate crisis it is absolutely critical to reduce the massive forest carbon emissions from provincial forest lands to ensure that that our forests help slow down global warming instead of marking it worse (in 2011 uncounted net carbon dioxide emissions from B.C. forests due to logging, pests, and fire were 35 million tonnes, equivalent to more than half of B.C.’s total official emissions).

There is one bright spot on the provincial map, in one of the most spectacular forest regions of the planet. Full implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements endorsed by the B.C. government, First Nations, a group of major logging companies, and a group of environmental organizations is scheduled for this year and will result in increasing conservation and a long-term timber supply based on ecosystem-based management. We need a similar coherent approach for sound, sustainable forest management for the entire province.

In the past, societies have collapsed because they did not understand the consequences of their actions. Today, we have overwhelming scientific evidence about the decline of our forests and its potential impacts on our lives. We can ignore that evidence and stick to business as usual. Or we can build a better future for our forests and the communities that depend on them by developing a comprehensive action plan for our forests. If you believe in the latter course, let the provincial government know by emailing forest.tenures@gov.bc.ca before noon on May 30.

Jens Wieting is a forest and climate campaigner for Sierra Club B.C.

Read more: https://www.straight.com/news/651411/jens-wieting-bc-forest-giveaway-threatens-speed-collapse

Echo Lake BIODIVERSITY BLITZ! Sat May 31 – Sun June 1, 2014

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THIS WEEKEND, join the Ancient Forest Alliance along with a group of biologists and environmental experts for a weekend of biodiversity surveys, a guided walk and nature talks at Echo Lake. Located between Mission and Agassiz east of Vancouver, Echo Lake is a spectacular and endangered lowland old-growth forest. Come out to experience and learn about this unique ecosystem and find out more about the birds, amphibians, mammals, plants, fungi, and other living things that make Echo Lake their home!

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, May 31st, 1:30pm-5pm: Citizens Science Day – Join one of the biologists to learn how to survey and identify different species found in Echo Lake’s old-growth forest!
• Searching for Amphibians! with Barb Beasley
• Fungi Walks! with Erin Feldman, and Adolf & Oluna Ceska
• Mossome Mosses and other Awesome Plants! 
**To attend Saturday’s activities, please meet at 12:30pm at Kermode Winery from where we'll go in a car convoy (see directions below).**

Sunday, June 1st, 1:30pm-5pm: Biodiversity Nature Walk & Talks – Join Ancient Forest Alliance organizers Ken Wu, TJ Watt, and Hannah Carpendale, biologist David Cook, naturalist Rich mably, and other biodiversity experts on a nature walk in Echo Lake Ancient Forest.  Learn about old-growth forest characteristics, ecology, plant ID, and forest creatures along the way!
NEW!  Participants will also get a chance to learn about low-impact forest canopy research from Matthew Beatty and Tiger Devine of the Arboreal Collective, who will be ascending one of the giant old-growth trees at Echo Lake on Sunday!
**To attend Sunday’s activities, please meet at 12:30pm at Kermode Winery from where we'll go in a car convoy (see directions below).**

** PLEASE NOTE: Participants should pre-register for either or both days by sending an email to info@16.52.162.165 and indicate which day (either or both) they would like to attend. **

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS: For each day’s activities, please meet at 12:30 pm at the Kermode Wild Berry Winery (8457 River Road, South Dewdney) about 10 minutes east of Mission just off Highway 7. To get there, turn right just before crossing the bridge off Lougheed Highway 7 at Dewdney when heading east, and follow the River Road South for a couple minutes until you see the winery facilities down on the right. From there, we will head in a convoy to Echo Lake, to begin the tours about 1:30 pm.

**Echo Lake Ancient Forest is home to bears, cougars, bobcats, deer, bald eagles and many other wildlife species. Please note that NO DOGS will be permitted at the Bio Blitz for the sake of the wildlife.**

**Note that this site is only accessible across the private lands of local landowners who have given us permission to cross their property to access the old-growth on the Crown lands. This is also the unceded territory of the Sts'ailes First Nation people. Anyone showing any disrespect will be asked to leave.**

DIFFICULTY: The hike is an easy-moderate level of difficulty.

WHAT TO BRING: Please bring raingear, appropriate footwear and clothing, snacks, water, any medical requirements, and a wonderful respectful attitude for the day’s activities!

SAFETY: All participants are responsible for their own safety and will be required to sign a waiver form.

** For more info and to PRE-REGISTER, please contact info@16.52.162.165 **
 

Forest Giveaway Plan for Timber Companies Threatens BC’s Public Forest Lands! Please SPEAK UP Now – May 30 noon Deadline!

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Things YOU can DO right now:

1. Take 30 seconds and “SEND a MESSAGE” to make your voice heard to BC’s politicians at: www.BCForestMovement.com

2. By 12 noon on May 30, be sure to write-in to the official input process (but don’t limit yourself to this flawed process). Write to Jim Snetsinger, public engagement coordinator on TFL expansion, at: forest.tenures@gov.bc.ca See the official government website on participating on their Blog site at: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/

Let them know that you:

– Oppose any move to expand Tree Farm Licences (TFL’s) in BC. TFL-expansion would increase the property rights for BC’s largest logging companies over public forest lands and undermine new forest protection measures, First Nations treaty settlement, and remove land that could be used to diversify forestry in BC for communities and smaller operators. Tree Farm Licences increase the compensation rights – to be paid by BC taxpayers – to private logging companies if significant new protected areas or First Nations treaties are settled on those public lands. This would make it more lengthy and difficult to settle land claims and protect forests for tourism, recreation, and biodiversity.

– Dispute the notion that Tree Farm Licences act as incentives for companies to treat the land in an environmentally-sustainable manner. Major logging companies are not communities – they are highly mobile, regularly buy and sell their TFL’s every few years, and are not tied to the land or to the area’s scenery, water quality, wild salmon, biodiversity, or tourism/recreational qualities. BC’s TFL’s are replete with examples of overcut forests, major soil erosion, destroyed salmon-spawning streams, locked gates, and the massive depletion of old-growth forests.

– Believe the BC government’s “consultation process” is flawed due to being framed around the question of “how” to expand Tree Farm Licences instead of “whether or not” this should be done. It also only lists “potential benefits” of TFL’s but no “potential problems”.

– Want the BC government instead to increase protection of BC’s overcut forests for all values and users – for endangered species, scenery, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and long-term sustainable employment for forestry dependent communities.

3. Write Letters to the Editor, phone-in to radio programs, forward to your email contacts, share on Facebook and Twitter, and help get the word out!

***MORE INFO***

In April, the BC Liberal government revived their proposal to allow major logging companies to receive exclusive logging rights over vast areas of public forest lands through the expansion of Tree Farm Licences. Despite being killed by widespread public opposition in 2013, they’ve resurrected this “forest giveaway scheme” like a zombie, in a bid to increase property rights for timber corporations on our public lands. These lands are vital for wildlife, recreation, scenery, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations, and small forestry operators.

This proposal would make it harder to protect forests, settle First Nations land claims, and diversify forestry in BC in a way that truly supports forestry-dependent communities. Ultimately, it will further entrench the status quo of massive overcutting in BC by large corporations that is resulting in the collapse of human communities and ecosystems – a process well-advanced on BC’s southern coast, and now underway in BC’s interior.

What is a Tree Farm Licence?

A Tree Farm Licence (TFL) is a defined geographic area that is tens or hundreds of thousands of hectares in size that confers exclusive logging rights to one logging company on public (Crown) land. TFL’s currently constitute a small fraction of BC, about 15% of the province’s cut. Most of the province’s forests are found in Timber Supply Areas (TSA’s) where no specific geographic area is granted to one company for exclusive logging rights – instead many companies within each large TSA are each given a volume of wood (in cubic meters) through a Forest Licence (FL) to cut, as are a diversity of smaller companies and First Nations through other types of licences and Timber Sales.

A Rigged Consultation Process

While now gently billed as a “consultation process” regarding “area-based tenures” – which evokes images of Community Forests and family-run Woodlots – in reality the government’s proposal primarily aims to allow large companies that already have major “volume-based licences” (ie. Forest Licences) to convert them into Tree Farm Licences: “The Province is looking at options to convert some or a portion of some volume-based forest licences to new or expanded area-based tree farm licences” (BC Government’s “Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures”, page 11).

In BC, only five major companies have been allocated two-thirds of the allowable cut under replaceable Forest Licences, meaning these large companies stand to primarily benefit from this scheme at the exclusion of others. Any expansion of small tenures like Community Forests, if it happens, would be very minor in comparison – they would primarily be used as a Trojan horse in an effort to placate public discontent, behind which the much larger corporate forest land giveaway would occur.

The scope of the new consultation is a rigged process that doesn’t ask “whether” or not Tree Farm Licences should be expanded, but instead asks “how” they should be implemented. The BC government’s Discussion Paper only lists “Potential Benefits” but no “Potential Problems”. Its starting assumption is that companies with volume-based licences should and will be allowed to convert them into Tree Farm Licences in regions throughout BC.

Despite the government’s attempts to downplay the proposal’s geographic extent – as if it will be limited to only pine-beetle affected regions (which is still an enormous part of the province) – their wider ambitions are revealed in their Discussion Paper: “Initially, these opportunities would be limited in number and would only be available in areas impacted by the mountain pine beetle. Over time, they could be offered in other parts of the province.” (BC Government’s “Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures”, page 11)

Undermining Forest Protection and First Nations Land Claims

A core reason for the drive to expand Tree Farm Licences is to enhance the major logging companies’ claims to compensation and to undermine potential forest conservation measures (for fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, old-growth forests, endangered species, scenery, tourism, etc.) and First Nations treaties. Protected areas and First Nations land claims pose the main sources of “uncertainty” to the logging companies’ access to the remaining public timber supply. Again, the BC government makes this clear:

“The major benefit of such a change is the increased certainty of timber supply that an area-based tenure would apply to the licence holder.” (page 10, Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures )

and

“The licence holder is compensated if the allowable annual cut of the licence is reduced by more than 5 per cent as a result of Crown land deletions.” (page 8, Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures)

Not only would it be more expensive and difficult to establish provincial parks and conservancies (First Nations-orientated protected areas), the politics of Tree Farm Licences could also undermine new “forest reserves” or regulatory protections like Riparian Management Zones, Wildlife Habitat Areas, Ungulate Winter Ranges, Old-Growth Management Areas, Visual Quality Objectives, and Recreation Areas. The BC government is considering opening up forest reserves in the Central Interior in order to allow companies to continue overcutting our forests for a few more years – until the inevitable crash. It’s like burning up parts of your house for firewood after unsustainably squandering all your other wood sources. If forest reserves are removed, it could be politically more difficult to re-establish forest protections once companies are awarded Tree Farm Licences on those lands, as their expectations to exercise their logging rights within their defined geographic areas would be enhanced with their exclusive access rights.

The Myth of Tree Farm Licences Promoting Sustainability – Countless Examples of this Falsehood

The BC government propagates the myth that increased corporate control on public lands fosters better stewardship and greater sustainability in their Discussion Paper: “With area-based forest tenures, it is in the best interests of the licence holder to ensure the long-term sustainability of the area to secure future harvests.” (BC Government’s “Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures”, page 8).

In reality, BC’s Tree Farm Licences are bought and sold frequently by highly mobile companies that themselves frequently change ownership. These big companies are not tied to the land like communities are, they are not looking at the long term. Nor is it in their financial interest to manage the forests for biodiversity, recreation, water quality or wild salmon, as they don’t make money from such things – they make money from the timber alone. Some of the province’s most notorious, internationally famous examples of massive clearcutting, overcutting, landslides, destruction of salmon streams, annihilation of old-growth forests, locked gates, and ruined scenery and recreational opportunities are in the province’s Tree Farm Licences.

Rewarding Corporations for Overcutting BC’s Public Forests

Recently, two of the BC Interior’s major companies, Canfor and West Fraser, overcut almost a million cubic meters of live green timber where they were supposed to be only taking beetle-killed wood. Incredibly, the companies were let off the hook by Forest Minister Steve Thomson without penalties.

Instead of penalizing companies that are overcutting our forests, this government is now looking to potentially reward them by further entrenching their unfettered access to vast tracts of public forest lands through new Tree Farm Licences.

This is the BC Liberal government’s attempt to facilitate the last great timber grab by the major companies to log until the end of the resource – at the expense of communities and ecosystems. Only a large-scale, broad-based mobilization of British Columbians who speak up can stop this corporate land grab in BC.

Sustainable Forestry Needed – Slower, Value-Added, Diverse

With employment in BC’s forest industry now almost half of what it was a couple decades ago due to resource depletion (ie. cutting too much, too fast, of the biggest, best trees in the easiest to reach lower elevations), industry deregulation, corporate concentration, raw log exports, and mechanization, the BC Liberal government must have the wisdom and courage to implement real solutions. Reducing the grossly unsustainable rate of cut, promoting value-added manufacturing through incentives and regulations, providing access to forests and logs for a greater diversity of smaller and community-based forestry operations in BC, restricting raw log exports, diminishing wood waste, and protecting and conserving more endangered forests, are all needed. Increasing corporate control over the land base, obstructing new forest protections, and helping to entrench further overcutting for a few more years, are the last things BC needs.