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Major Old-Growth Logging Deferrals on Mosaic’s Private Lands on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii

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The largest private landowner in British Columbia, Mosaic Forest Management, is moving to defer 40,000 hectares (400 square kilometers) of old-growth and older second-growth stands from logging on their private lands for the next 25 years, via a carbon credit program. The lands are mainly located on southeastern Vancouver Island, with a few scattered stands on other parts of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

These lands include dozens of hard-fought, contentious old-growth and mature forests on Vancouver Island and elsewhere that conservationists have been working to protect, including: the McLaughlin Ridge, Cameron Valley Firebreak, Cathedral Grove Canyon, lands adjacent to MacMillan Provincial Park (Cathedral Grove) and Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park near Port Alberni; key ancient spruce stands in the Lower Gordon Valley and San Juan Valleys near Port Renfrew; the slope above the town of Youbou by Cowichan Lake, including Mount Holmes; old-growth along the Sooke River; and hundreds of other stands.

The company’s BigCoast Carbon Credits program will set aside the stands via a carbon credits program which will be certified under the Verified Carbon Standard. The company is expecting several hundred million dollars in carbon offsets funding over the next 25 years that will be equivalent to or exceed what their logging revenues would’ve been from logging these stands.

Currently, First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest on BC’s Central and North Coasts and in Haida Gwaii groups are using carbon credits to fund important local jobs for their members in stewardship and conservation and to fund sustainable economic development initiatives, while ensuring the highest levels of forest conservation in Canada. Across BC, First Nations in British Columbia are increasingly looking at carbon offsets as a means to fund old-growth logging deferrals, in order to provide key financial support that would enable them to forgo their old-growth logging rights on their unceded territories.

Carbon offsets have been criticized over various loopholes, including “saving” forests that were already off-limits to logging through environmental regulations or de facto restrictions (ie. forests that were not going to be logged anyway), and for replacing native forests with fast-growing non-native tree plantations (neither of these criticisms applies to the stated approach of Mosaic’s BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative, which is retaining forests that could normally be logged).

Mosaic Forest Management manages the private lands of logging giants TimberWest and Island Timberlands – almost 600,000 hectares across Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and the Sunshine Coast. The Vancouver Island lands, for the most part, were a part of the original E&N Land Grant in 1905 when the BC government gave away about 25% of Vancouver Island’s land area in the unceded territories of the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-Nulth and Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which subsequently was sold over the ensuing century to various timber companies and private landowners.

Old-growth forests have unique characteristics not found in the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with, and which are re-logged every 50 to 60 years on BC’s coast – never to become old-growth again. Old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, the multi-billion dollar tourism industry, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and First Nations cultures. Well over 90% of the high productivity old-growth forests with the biggest trees and over 80% of the medium productivity old-growth forests have been logged.

The BC government has opened the door to a major policy overhaul in old-growth forest management, hiring a science team to identify 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests for potential logging deferrals, pending First Nations consent. The province has put forward $185 million over the next three years to help finance this transition, of which perhaps half would go to First Nations – about one-third of the $300 million that the province must provide – to match the roughly $300 million that the federal government is making available to expand protected areas in BC (including old-growth forests). The BC government has not provided any dedicated funds for private land acquisition, which is needed to buy old-growth forests for new protected areas on private lands such as these Mosaic lands. In addition, the BC government has not yet embraced Canada’s national protected areas targets of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 of the land and marine areas in the country.

Quotes:

“Mosaic has taken an innovative approach to keep some of the rarest and most significant old-growth forests standing for the next 25 years. I’ve hiked, mapped and identified most of these areas for the BC government for their wildlife values for decades, and after decades of seeing one area after another fall, I am feeling positive about this announcement. However, we still need more info through their 30-day consultation process, and I would encourage the company to include additional areas of older forests with high recreational values, like Cold Creek watershed and Candy Store, into their deferral areas via their carbon credits program,” stated Mike Stini, a wildlife specialist in Port Alberni.

“I have a huge sigh of relief for many of my favourite old-growth forests and hiking areas. These are some of the most beautiful places on Earth that so many people in Port Alberni have fought to protect for years, including parts of the China Creek watershed where we get our drinking water from, critical deer and elk wintering range, and habitat for endangered species like the Northern Goshawk. Mosaic’s plan includes many, but not all, of the areas of importance. It is a big step forward,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance.

“We’ve fought hard for decades to keep dozens of these old-growth forests on Mosaic lands from being logged. Now, these long-term deferrals via their carbon credits program will buy vital time – 25 years to be precise – to keep these old forests standing until they can hopefully be purchased and permanently protected in legislation. It appears that Mosaic is taking an important step forward to keep some of the very rarest and most endangered old-growth forest types standing, whose last remnants are heavily concentrated on eastern Vancouver Island, and they should be commended for this if it pans out. However, private carbon offset agreements between companies are not a conservation substitute for public protected areas, like Indigenous Protected Areas/ provincial conservancies, parks and ecological reserves, in terms of their protection and management standards, their permanency, and public access. But this arrangement will provide significant breathing room so that funds can be procured by conservation groups and/or levels of government, including First Nations, whose unceded territories these privatized lands are and who may want to protect these lands as Indigenous Protected Areas,” stated Ken Wu, Executive Director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

“I’ve hiked, photographed, and filmed dozens of these exceptionally rare and beautiful old-growth forests – the giant Douglas-firs at the Cameron Firebreak, Cathedral Grove Canyon, McLaughlin Ridge, and Horne Mountain, the ancient Sitka spruce in the San Juan Valley and the Lower Gordon River Valley, and many other areas when they were on the verge of being logged or were being logged. We’ve lost a lot of important old-growth on Mosaic lands over the years but this new initiative brings a vital pause for the remaining stands while we continue to secure a permanent legislated solution via potential Indigenous Protected Areas and other initiatives. For now, the 25-year deferral period lets us and many others breathe a huge sigh of relief that these incredible forests won’t be cut,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder and photographer.

“Old-growth forests are ecologically important for a whole host of reasons, and recent inventories suggest that BC’s remaining old-growth forests are critically imperilled. Mosaic’s BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative represents a progressive new approach to forest management on private lands in BC. It’s an excellent example of how innovative thinking can lead to new strategies that will yield multiple benefits (social, economic and environmental) from not logging our forests,” said Andy MacKinnon, forest ecologist and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance science advisor.

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Old-Growth Logging on Mountainside Above Cathedral Grove Illustrates Urgent Need for BC Land Acquisition Fund for Protection of Endangered Private Lands

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Old-growth Douglas-fir trees are loaded onto a truck in Mosaic Forest Management clearcut on Mt. Horne, the hillside above the world-famous Cathedral Grove.

Port Alberni, Vancouver Island – Old-growth logging on private lands owned by Mosaic Forest Management (formerly Island Timberlands) on the mountainside above Cathedral Grove has put Canada’s most famous old-growth forest at risk and illustrated the urgent need for provincial funding to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands. 

Conservationists with the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance were alarmed to discover logging of intact old-growth on the mountainside late last year and were joined by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) to assess and document the logging, which is now complete. 

Located east of Port Alberni in territories of the K’ómoks and Tseshaht First Nations and the Te’mexw Treaty Association, the large cutblock lies on the southwest facing slope of Mt. Horne roughly 300 metres from the MacMillan Provincial Park boundary where over half a million tourists visit annually to see Cathedral Grove’s extremely rare, ancient Douglas-fir trees, of which less than 1% remain on BC’s south coast. 

“Cathedral Grove is Canada’s most famous old-growth forest,” stated AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “And yet its ecological integrity continues to be undermined as the BC government allows clearcut logging to encroach closer and closer to the MacMillan Provincial Park boundary. The BC government needs to step in and purchase these and other private lands to protect endangered ecosystems and reduce impacts to this world-famous grove.”

The logging on Mt Horne, which conservationists consider to be an old-growth forest “hotspot” of high conservation and recreational value, will likely have numerous adverse impacts, including destroying some of BC’s last remaining endangered old-growth Douglas-fir stands; fragmenting the continuous forest cover and wildlife habitat on the slope above Cathedral Grove; reducing critical wintering habitat for black-tailed deer; and increasing siltation of the Cameron River (which runs through Cathedral Grove) during the heavy winter rains as soil washes down from the new clearcut and logging road. 

The clearcut has also already destroyed part of the Mount Horne Loop Trail, a popular hiking and mushroom-picking trail, which Mosaic has closed public access to.

“Mt. Horne has outstanding scenic and recreational value and should never have been logged,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance. “Even if the loop trail is re-opened, it will now lead through a clearcut, totally degrading the trail’s scenic values. It’s also hard to imagine that logging on Mt. Horne’s steep slopes won’t negatively impact the health and longevity of Cathedral Grove.”

Mt Horne was formerly intended as an Ungulate Winter Range to protect the old-growth winter habitat of black-tailed deer. The mountainside is part in the 88,000 hectares of privately held land that the provincial government allowed to be removed from Tree Farm License 44 in 2004 — with the agreement that critical winter habitats be protected. Both Island Timberlands (now Mosaic) and the BC government have failed to follow through on this promise. 

“This is important wildlife habitat that was once designated for protection,” stated local wildlife expert Mike Stini. “Unless the BC government steps in and protects more old-growth forests and improves forestry regulations on private lands, iconic wildlife species like elk, deer, bears, and cougars – as well as threatened species like marbled murrelet and northern goshawk – will be left with smaller and increasingly fragmented patches of old-growth habitat.”

Old-growth clearcutting by Mosaic Forest Management on Mt. Horne, the hillside above the world-famous Cathedral Grove. Second-growth forests are in the foreground.

In 2013, numerous conservation groups campaigned for the protection of Mt. Horne and the expansion of protected areas around Cathedral Grove to maintain tourism opportunities and wildlife habitat values. Their efforts garnered a massive public outcry, resulting in Island Timberlands placing a halt on their logging plans. However, due to a lack of political will and a dedicated provincial funding mechanism for the Province to purchase and protect the land, Mt. Horne remained vulnerable to future logging. 

“For years, the Ancient Forest Alliance has been calling on the BC government to re-establish a provincial Natural Lands Acquisition Fund for the purchase and protection of private lands,” stated Watt.

“Such a fund would allow for the expansion of the MacMillan Provincial Park boundaries to fully encompass the forests above and adjacent to the world-famous Cathedral Grove. This includes the old-growth forests on Mount Horne and along the Alberni Summit Highway as well as the scenic Cameron Lake and the Cameron River Canyon. With the logging on Mt. Horne now complete, we’ve lost a critical opportunity to safeguard the integrity of this world-renowned ancient forest.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance is also calling for provincial support and funding for the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) to protect places of high conservation and First Nations cultural value, including old-growth forests.

“The federal government has committed $1.3 billion to meet international protected area targets by the end of 2020, which includes funding for the private land acquisition and the creation of new IPCAs, but BC needs to come to the table with matching funding,” stated AFA forest campaigner Andrea Inness. “We were extremely disappointed that, once again, the Province failed to provide even modest funding for land acquisition and protected area expansion in its 2020 budget, despite a projected $227 million surplus and the growing urgency to protect endangered native ecosystems.” 

“Vancouver Island’s Capital Regional District recently approved a 10-year extension on its hugely popular Land Acquisition Fund, which relies on a $20 annual household levy and has protected nearly 5,000 hectares since the fund’s creation in 2000. The BC government needs to start showing the same kind of commitment to protecting BC’s lands and waters for future generations.”

Old-growth logging by Mosaic Forest Management encroaching on streams on Mt. Horne.

Last fall, the BC government commenced a provincial Old Growth Strategic Review and established an independent panel to solicit feedback from British Columbians on how old-growth management could be improved. The panel is expected to submit recommendations to the BC government by the end of April, but the Province plans to delay public release of the report by up to six months. 

“The BC NDP’s action on old-growth thus far is totally inadequate and now they’re delaying action even further,” stated Inness. “Not only is there no commitment or timeframe around the implementation of any new old-growth policies, the Forest Minister said recently he intends to consult old-growth logging proponents once again, before any recommendations from the panel are implemented.”

“Given the overwhelming public feedback calling for increased old-growth forest protection in Spring 2020 amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act and the government’s proposed Old Growth Strategy, there is no valid excuse for this delay. British Columbians want and expect action on old-growth now.” 

Background Information:

In 2004, the BC government removed 88,000 hectares of Weyerhaeuser’s private forest lands (now owned by Mosaic Forest Management) from their Tree Farm Licences, thereby deregulating vast sections of forest lands including Mount Horne, McLaughlin Ridge and Cameron Firebreak in Hupacasath territory, and Katlum Creek. A follow-up agreement with the corporate landowners was supposed to ensure protection of many of the deregulated old-growth forests (i.e. previously proposed Ungulate Winter Ranges for elk and deer and Wildlife Habitat Areas for species-at-risk), but this agreement was abandoned when the lands were transferred to Island Timberlands. 

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to establish an annual $40 million provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect private lands in BC. The proposed fund would rise to an annual $100 million by 2024 through $10 million increases each year and would enable the timely purchase of significant tracts of endangered private lands of high conservation, scenic, and recreation value to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system.

BC’s old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures whose unceded lands these are. About 79% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged on BC’s southern coast, including well over 90% of the valley-bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow, and 99% of the old-growth Douglas fir trees on BC’s coast. See maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

Port Alberni Watershed Forest-Alliance activist Jane Morden surveys old-growth logging by Island Timberlands on McLaughlin Ridge in the China Creek drinking watershed of Port Alberni.

Conservationists Disappointed the BC NDP’s Budget Fails to Allocate Land Acquisition Funding for Endangered Ecosystems and Old-Growth Forests

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For immediate release
February 20, 2018

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is disappointed the NDP government’s provincial budget, released today, fails to include even modest funding for a provincial land acquisition fund vital for protecting endangered old-growth forests and ecosystems on private lands, despite repeated requests from conservation groups and thousands of concerned citizens. A land acquisition fund could be used to protect the endangered old-growth forests on Mount Horne above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, for example, and hundreds of other forests, grasslands, and wetlands across the province in danger of development.

Such a fund currently exists among various regional districts, including a $3.7 million/year annual fund at the Capital Regional District of Greater Victoria, and previously existed under the NDP government of the 1990s and on a diminished scale under the BC Liberal government until 2008, when the province cancelled dedicated, annual provincial funding for the initiative.

Since July of last year, the Ancient Forest Alliance has repeatedly sent briefing documents to Environment Minister George Heyman and Forest Minister Doug Donaldson, outlining the urgent need for a dedicated provincial fund to purchase private lands of high conservation and recreational value to add them to the province’s protected area system. Reports by the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre and by environmental lawyer, Erin Grey, were also sent, detailing various funding mechanisms readily available to the province for a land acquisition fund.

As a start, the group asked the BC government to commit even modest funds in the February 2018 budget for a land acquisition fund for new protected areas and to begin exploring dedicated funding mechanisms that can be implemented during a subsequent legislative session, such as redirecting the province's unredeemed bottle deposit funds (worth an estimated $5 to $15 million/year) toward private land acquisition.

After repeated requests to meet with Environment Minister George Heyman and Ministry of Environment staff since August, the Ancient Forest Alliance received only one reply in October, saying the Minister would be open to meeting requests after the New Year. Two more meeting requests have since been made and subsequently ignored by the Minister’s office. The groups did secure a meeting with Forest Minister Doug Donaldson last October to discuss Crown lands; however, the land acquisition fund for private lands is primarily within the mandate of Environment Minister Heyman. Green Party MLAs also met with the Ancient Forest Alliance last summer, shortly after the provincial election, and expressed support for the organization’s various proposals.

“The NDP’s failure thus far to commit even a few dollars in their $55 billion budget to a provincial land acquisition fund and the silence we’re being met with by the Environment Minister are not good signs,” said Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Let’s hope this government doesn’t think they can take the conservation movement for granted and can ignore our calls for long overdue, major policy changes to protect old-growth forests and threatened ecosystems.”

“It’s increasingly clear we now need to significantly mobilize public opinion – even under an NDP government. Otherwise, they may attempt to keep us in the margins,” said Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “Over 3,000 messages have already been sent to the BC government from our supporters, asking them to create a provincial land acquisition fund, enact policies to protect old-growth forests on Crown land, and ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry…yet the NDP government seems unmoved at this point. We need to redouble our efforts, meaning more British Columbians will be speaking up for a land acquisition fund and old-growth forest protection by emailing, phoning, and meeting with their MLA and demanding this issue be made a priority.”

As part of their proposal for forestry reforms, the Ancient Forest Alliance and several other major conservation groups are requesting the BC government implement a series of policy and legislative changes to protect endangered old-growth forests and forestry jobs. Besides a land acquisition fund for private lands, these policies also include a science-based plan to protect old-growth forests on Crown lands, financial support for First Nation sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old-growth logging, and incentives and regulations to ensure a value-added, sustainable, second-growth forest industry. While these long-term solutions are developed, more immediate steps can be taken, including converting “non-legal” Old-Growth Management Areas – those that exist only on paper – into legally-binding protections, implementing the Big Tree Legal Order currently under development by Ministry of Forests staff for the past six years to potentially protect the biggest trees on the coast with buffer zones, and discontinuing issuance of old-growth cut-blocks by BC Timber Sales, the province’s logging agency.

Background Information

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to establish an annual $40 million provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect private lands in BC. The proposed fund would rise to an annual $100 million by 2024 through $10 million increases each year and would enable the timely purchase of significant tracts of endangered private lands of high conservation, scenic, and recreation value to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system.

Such lands could include contentious old-growth forests located on Cortes Island, Horne Mt near the iconic Cathedral Grove, Cameron Valley Firebreak and McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni, and eastern Vancouver Island, as well as endangered grasslands, wetlands, and ecosystems throughout BC on private lands.

Many regional districts in BC have land or “park” acquisition funds, including the Capital Regional District of Greater Victoria (CRD). The CRD’s fund generates about $3.7 million each year and, with its partners, has spent over $35 million to purchase over 4,500 hectares of land since its establishment in the year 2000, ensuring the protection of such iconic natural areas as the Sooke Hills and Potholes, Jordan River surf lands, Mount Maxwell on Saltspring Island, and lands between Thetis Lake and Mount Work. Like the CRD’s land acquisition fund, the proposed $40 million provincial fund could be used as leverage to raise additional funds from private land trusts, environmental groups and private donors.

In 2015, the Ancient Forest Alliance commissioned a report by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre, entitled Finding the Money to Buy and Protect Natural Lands, which detailed over a dozen mechanisms used in jurisdictions across North America to raise funds for protecting land (found online here).

Of these potential revenue streams, the Pop for Parks program is the most readily available funding source in BC. Under this program, the annual $5 to $15 million in unredeemed container deposits that currently go to beverage companies in BC could be readily redirected to protect green spaces for British Columbians to enjoy. According to a report released last year by environmental lawyer Erin Grey, supported by West Coast Environmental Law's Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund, Pop for Parks: How to Fund B.C.’s Urgent Need for Land Conservation and Encourage the Beverage Industry to Improve its Recycling Rates, there are no legal or financial barriers to implementing the Pop for Parks program in BC – only a lack of political will. (See the report online here).

So far, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), numerous municipal councils and the Islands Trust, and 19 environmental and recreation organizations, including the Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club of BC, Wilderness Committee, BC Spaces for Nature, CPAWS BC, and BC Federation of Mountain Clubs, have pledged their support for a provincial land acquisition fund to be funded by the Pop for Parks mechanism.  

Ancient Forest Alliance welcomes new BC Government and Cabinet

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For Immediate Release

The Ancient Forest Alliance looks forward to working with Premier Horgan and Ministers Scott Fraser, George Heyman, and Doug Donaldson to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

The Ancient Forest Alliance welcomes and congratulates the new British Columbia NDP government and its new cabinet after yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony at the Legislature.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is working with diverse partners to protect the province’s old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, value-added forest industry, and is encouraged by Premier John Horgan’s picks for several ministerial positions.

“With this new government, I believe we may be entering a period of rapid progress in environmental sustainability in this province. Green-Social Democratic governing alliances around the world, in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in recent decades have made great strides forward in environmental and climate progress, in the expansion of renewable energy and clean tech businesses, and in social justice,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “The battle over BC’s old-growth forests has been going on for almost 50 years now and it’s time this government finally lay this issue to rest. We look forward to working constructively with this government in the months to come.”

“Old-growth forests are vital for endangered species, many First Nations cultures, tourism, the climate, clean water, and wild salmon. I think today, in 2017, if you were to ask the average British Columbian if they’d like to see our endangered old-growth forests protected while focusing on developing a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, the vast majority would agree. Most people would recognize it as a win-win proposition,” stated Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner.

Of particular interest are three new ministers who are most relevant to the Ancient Forest Alliance’s goals:

The Honourable Scott Fraser is the MLA for the riding of Alberni-Pacific, and has been appointed as the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. Mr. Fraser has worked hard for years to stand up for sustainable forestry jobs in BC, making it his priority to campaign for old-growth forest protection and against raw log exports and the deregulation of corporate-owned forest lands on Vancouver Island. He has advocated for the protection of local old-growth forests in the Port Alberni area, including McLaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Fire Break, and Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove. In 2013 he received the Ancient Forest Alliance’s “Forest Sustainability Award” for his great work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbEH7u2Efc). Financial support from the province for BC’s First Nations communities for sustainable economic development and diversification, including a transition to a value-added, second-growth forest industry by the BC government, is a vital component of any policy to protect old-growth forests. Mr. Fraser’s position may facilitate such a needed policy shift.

George Heyman, the MLA for Vancouver Fairview, is now the new Minister of Environment. Heyman was previously the executive director of the Sierra Club of BC and before that was the president of the BC Government Employees Union. Heyman oversaw the Sierra Club of BC during the bulk of the organization’s negotiations with industry, First Nations, and the province regarding the Great Bear Rainforest (the province’s Central and North Coast), which resulted last year in a final agreement to protect 70% of its forests, including 85% of its old-growth forests, while providing over $120 million to First Nations communities to develop conservation-based economies linked to the increased protection. Under Heyman, the Sierra Club of BC supported the Ancient Forest Alliance’s call for the BC government to purchase and protect endangered old-growth forests on Island Timberland’s private lands on Vancouver Island, and the Sierra Club of BC has joined with 18 other organizations calling on the province to establish a land acquisition fund to protect endangered ecosystems across BC. The Ancient Forest Alliance is looking forward to working with Mr. Heyman in regards to these and other initiatives.

Doug Donaldson, the MLA for Sitkine, is now the new Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. Thus far, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners have not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Donaldson, but understand that he has been involved in environmental advocacy against open netcage fish farms and hydraulic fracking in northern BC, as well as advocating for a stronger environmental impact assessment process. These are positive signs to conservationists and the Ancient Forest Alliance hopes to work closely with the new minister as the key leader who can implement the NDP’s key election promise to use the Ecosystem-Based Management model of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing the province’s old-growth forests.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is excited to work with these new ministers, along with Premier Horgan himself, who during his 2011 bid for the NDP leadership made protecting old-growth forests one of his core policy planks – take note, the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu had endorsed Horgan’s commitment to protect old-growth forests then, but not necessarily all aspects of Horgan’s platform). Horgan also joined the Ancient Forest Alliance to visit the Avatar Grove with the news media in 2010, advocating for the protection of old-growth forests in BC. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02HQc1UEWXw

The NDP’s 2017 election platform states that “In partnership with First Nations and communities, we will modernize land-use planning to effectively and sustainably manage BC’s ecosystems, rivers, lakes, watersheds, forests and old growth, while accounting for cumulative effects. We will take an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” (see page 61 of their platform at: https://action.bcndp.ca/page/-/bcndp/docs/BC-NDP-Platform-2017.pdf). If taken literally and seriously, this would almost certainly result in the protection of the remaining old growth forest on BC’s southern coast and in the BC Interior, where old-growth forests are far scarcer and more endangered than in the Central and Northern Coast (Great Bear Rainforest) where 70% of the forests and 85% of the old-growth forests were protected under the Ecosystem-Based Management plan there.

The NDP minority government has been sworn-in to replace the previously governing Liberal party after signing a governing agreement with the 3 Green Party MLAs, who have spoken with the Ancient Forest Alliance that old-growth forest protection and value-added forestry jobs will be central features of their agenda.

More Information on Old-Growth Forests

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

Over the past year, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, and conservation groups across BC who have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

BC’s premier business lobby, the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution last May calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts across BC, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution last year calling on the province to protect the Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land use plan. See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

The Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, recently passed a resolution calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

The Ahousaht First Nation north of Tofino in Clayoquot Sound recently announced that 82% of their territory will be off-limits to commercial logging. They now need provincial legislation and funding to help make their vision a reality. See: [Original article no longer available]

The Ancient Forest Alliance calling on the BC government to implement a comprehensive science-based plan to protect all of BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests, and to also ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the previous BC Liberal government’s PR-spin typically over-inflated the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with smaller, stunted trees, lumped in with the productive old-growth forests, where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/ 

Port Alberni, Vancouver Island’s Forestry Capital – Sustainability Champion?

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In recent years, there has been considerable public concern in Port Alberni over logging in its China Creek drinking watershed, in particular over McLaughlin Ridge’s magnificent old-growth Douglas-firs which shelter wintering deer and is also home to endangered species.

 

Additional concerns have also erupted over proposed logging along “The Hump’s” forested highway buffer, at the “Lookout”, on Mount Horne above Cathedral Grove, and at the Cameron Valley Firebreak – which is akin to a “second Cathedral Grove” with its rare ancient Douglas firs and herds of Roosevelt elk. All of these stands are owned by Island Timberlands.

 

McLaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, and Mount Horne were all intended to be protected as Ungulate Winter Ranges for wintering deer and/or elk until negotiations between the B.C. government and Island Timberlands fell apart, subsequent to the lands’ removal in 2004 from their Tree Farm Licence (TFL). These lands, along with another 78,000 hectares, were once regulated to stronger public standards within their TFL’s – their removal thereby deregulated most of the environmental laws that otherwise would have protected the scenery, riparian zones for water quality and wild salmon, deer and elk winter ranges, endangered species habitats, and many old-growth stands, as well as restrictions on raw log exports.

 

However, hundreds of Port Alberni residents have attended public forums in recent years to speak out about the fate of these forests, and hundreds more have attended rallies against raw log exports where forestry workers and conservationists have stood together in solidarity. The Port Alberni city council has also passed a resolution calling for the protection of McLaughlin Ridge in the drinking watershed and has met with Island Timberlands over the past year seeking a conservation solution. During the same period, Island Timberlands seems to have taken pause at McLaughlin Ridge and has indicated that they are open to potential buyers – for how long, we don’t know.

 

The fact that so many Port Alberni residents are standing up for both environmental protection and sustainable forestry jobs today seems quite incredible if you remember the early 1990’s. During the era of the Clayoquot Sound protests, Alberni had a reputation among environmentalists as the town to avoid while hitch-hiking to Tofino. Today, Port Alberni has become a major centre of environmental concern for forests. For those who’ve experienced the history, it may seem quite remarkable – but not if you realize that it’s in the interest of forestry workers to ensure a sustainable industry that retains jobs, and for environmentalists to support sustainable forestry jobs in order to transform the economic and political forces causing the environmental destruction.

 

Port Alberni in the 1970’s was reputed to have the highest per capita income of any town in Canada due to numerous high-paid, unionized forestry jobs based on the “green gold” – vast stands of accessible, valley-bottom giant Douglas firs, Sitka spruce, and red cedars in the region. By 2014, with the best old-growth stands long since depleted, Port Alberni was ranked at the bottom of MoneySense magazine’s annual list of the best places to live in Canada. Port Alberni residents have been understandably irked by the label, given the down-to-earth kindness of many of the local people and the area’s natural beauty.

 

The situation in Port Alberni, from extreme economic prosperity to significant collapse, has been shared by many of B.C.’s coastal communities over the past two decades – and in fact, by communities around the world as a result of the pattern of unsustainable, high-grade resource depletion.

 

B.C.’s forest industry was historically built on logging the biggest and best old-growth stands in the valley bottoms and lower slopes. Over time, the remaining trees have become smaller in size, lower in value and more expensive to reach on steep slopes at high elevations, far away in valley headwaters. Today on Vancouver Island, over 90% of the productive, valley-bottom old-growth forests that historically built the forest industry have now been logged. This has resulted in diminishing returns for the forest industry as expenses have gone up and revenues have declined, resulting in the closure of old-growth dependent sawmills everywhere and the loss of thousands of forestry jobs. In the mid 1990’s almost 100,000 people were directly employed in B.C.’s forest industry – today, about 60,000 remain.

 

Around the world – whether one looks at fishing down the food chain or old-growth logging – this pattern of high-grade resource depletion of taking too much, too fast of the biggest and best, has resulted in the collapse of both ecosystems and of resource dependent communities. Not only do we lose the biodiversity – and water quality in this case – we lose the jobs.

 

The decline in forestry employment has particularly been exacerbated as the B.C. Liberal government has largely deregulated the forest industry, removing the local milling requirement in 2003 that – had it remained – would have mandated that companies convert their old-growth mills to handle the maturing second-growth stands. Instead, as the original mills shut down, there has been a mass exodus of raw, unprocessed logs leaving the province for foreign mills, facilitated by the B.C. government which has been marketing our logs and last old-growth stands in China.

 

However, the people of Port Alberni are speaking up today for their drinking watershed, their last old-growth stands, and for sustainable, second-growth forestry jobs. An individual of particular note is Jane Morden, the coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, and her team of concerned residents who have worked hard to bring these issues to the forefront of municipal and provincial attention in recent years. Over the past year there have been talks between the municipality and the company towards a possible resolution for McLaughin Ridge – although nothing is ever certain until there is legislation and funding, which will require provincial leadership now.

 

In a move that could bolster the local momentum, 16 major conservation and recreation organizations, including the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance and the Ancient Forest Alliance, signed a statement in January calling on the B.C. Liberal government to establish a $40 million/year Natural Lands Acquisition Fund that would help to purchase and protect private lands of high environmental value – for example, McLaughlin Ridge and Mount Horne by Port Alberni.

 

In other words, there is hope – Port Alberni, long known as the forestry capital of Vancouver Island, could become the forest sustainability capital of Vancouver Island if we all keep working for a better future.

Read more: https://www.albernithrive.com/#!Port-Alberni-Vancouver-Island?s-Forestry-Capital-?-Sustainability-Champion/cjds/56c1e29d0cf2fc0bb780741a

Conservation groups plan a provincial fund to buy new parks

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Island Tides, a great newspaper serving the Gulf Islands, has printed the full article on the 16 conservation and recreation groups in BC calling on the BC government to establish a $40 million/year land acquisition fund to purchase and protected endangered ecosystems on private lands. Places like McLaughlin Ridge in Port Alberni's drinking watershed, Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak (similar to a 2nd Cathedral Grove but unprotected), the Koksilah, Muir Creek, Stillwater Bluffs, the Day Road Forest…and hundreds of other endangered areas on private lands could benefit from such a fund.

See the full article in the Island Tides at: https://islandtides.com/assets/reprint/environment_20160128.pdf

Conservationists Call for Innovative Fund to Buy New Parks

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Victoria, 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:

  • $10 to $15 million per year by simply recapturing the windfall that the beverage industry enjoys when consumers fail to redeem container deposits, an approach nicknamed “pop for parks”.
  • Many millions more could be raised by emulating the most important mechanism for park funding in the US – a special tax on non-renewable resources like oil and gas. Numerous North American governments have ruled that it is fair to require industries using up non-renewables to compensate future generations – and permanently protect other natural resources.
  • Funds from a tax on real estate speculation. Currently Vancouver real estate is becoming unaffordable because of speculation in the housing market. Some are proposing a specially designed tax to curb speculation. Fortuitously, such a speculation tax could provide generous funding for acquisition of natural areas – areas which will be needed to serve our growing population.

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:

  • Mount Horne, the mountainside above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, Canada’s most famous old-growth forest. Island Timberlands has roaded the mountainside above the park in preparation for potential logging.
  • McLaughlin Ridge, an endangered old-growth forest in the drinking watershed of Port Alberni, home to the endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk and considered the finest deer wintering range on southern Vancouver Island. Owned by Island Timberlands.
  • Muir Creek’s old-growth forest, near Sooke, and the Koksilah River old-growth forest near Shawnigan Lake, owned by TimberWest.
  • The Stillwater Bluffs and Day Road Forest, owned by Island Timberlands, on the Sunshine Coast.

…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.

Port Aberni water fight has political implications

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PORT ALBERNI – Gaze west from this city’s quay over the lovely silver-flecked vista of Alberni Inlet and steep, forest-clad ridges frame the horizon.

Behind those ridges is Henderson Lake, wettest place in North America.

Can a town barely 20 kilometres as the raven flies from where 8.9 metres – yes, that’s metres, not millimetres – of rain has been recorded annually be worrying about its domestic water supply?

Yes, it can. Vancouver Island’s mountain snowpack is the lowest in 30 years. Around Alberni, snow accumulations are zero. This has dire implications for streams flows, the recharging of aquifers and domestic water supply for communities.

Possible water rationing is already front page news for the Alberni Valley Times. Last year, water ran short in August, this year, perhaps June.

To complicate matters, Port Alberni doesn’t control its water source. The watershed is owned by Island Timberlands LP, a private company that generates annual revenue of $16.5 million from more than 250,000 hectares of private forest, 75,000 hectares of which surround the town.

Timber prices are up. Island Timberlands responded by accelerating cut in the watershed from which Port Alberni draws drinking water.

Now, even here in a gritty town with deep roots in the forest industry, opposition to business as usual is heard.

Back in 2013, a group of 23 organizations, foresters, scientists and local MLA Scott Fraser signed a letter expressing concern that 60 per cent of old growth – some designated by provincial scientists as critical winter range for deer and elk under the tree farm licence from which they were removed in 2004 — had been logged in the upper watershed.

Old growth there also serves as a filtration system for the town’s high quality water.

“Logging on these steep old-growth slopes has a high potential to alter the quality and rate of water flow and the streams’ courses,” Fraser warned in a letter last October to the Managed Forest Council which oversees logging practice on private lands. Watershed cutblocks above China Creek “should never have been logged,” he said.

The MFC reviewed. Timberlands exceeded standards for logging in community watersheds, it ruled. Besides, it was second growth forest.

Fraser wrote again in November asking a second review. Old growth was indeed being logged on the ridge, he said. Roads cut across steep erosion-prone slopes. He asked to personally accompany the next MLF survey.

Port Alberni has just upgraded its water treatment with a $4-million disinfection system. It fears that if turbidity increases, a full water treatment plant might be needed with costs in the $70-million range– a bitter pill for a small community struggling to adapt to economic decline.

“Every $125,000 increase in budget here is equivalent to a one per cent increase in tax rates,” says Jane Armstrong. She retired to Port Alberni after 25 years working in Ottawa.

By comparison, Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria own their watersheds. Commercial logging is restricted.

Conflicted feelings permeate Port Alberni. On the one hand, this is the masculine heartland of West Coast logging. Fallers drop “sticks” larger in diameter than your average pickup truck.

It’s one of those places where encounters with burly men in a plaid shirts, orange suspenders and stagged pants (hacked off to above ankle level to avoid snags in the slash) are commonplace.

Still, even here opposition is expressed regarding what’s happening up China Creek and along McLaughlin Ridge, which rises at a steep 60-degree angle between Port Alberni and its signature peaks, Arrowsmith and Moriarty.

Mayor Mike Ruttan, born and raised in Alberni, is frank. The city needs “total control” of its water supply, whether in the watershed or from a new source. Letters to the two newspapers bristle with warnings that Alberni can “kiss your water quality goodbye” if the logging of old growth on the steepest slopes of its watershed continues.

When talk like this blooms in Loggerville, politicians in the capital should take note.

Read more: https://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Stephen+Hume+Port+Alberni+water+fight+political+implications/10988862/story.html

Port Alberni Watershed Forest-Alliance's Jane Morden stands with giant Douglas-fir trees on McLaughlin Ridge

BC Government Must Protect Old-Growth Forests in Port Alberni’s Drinking Watershed

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For Immediate Release
March 31, 2015

Conservationists:  BC Government Must Protect Old-Growth Forests in Port Alberni’s Drinking Watershed

Conservationists call on BC Government to help purchase endangered old-growth forests on Island Timberlands’ deregulated lands, including McLaughlin Ridge in Port Alberni’s drinking watershed,  following BC Teachers Federation motion, Port Alberni city council resolution, and now Island Timberlands’ potential interest in selling McLaughlin Ridge.

Conservationists are ramping-up the pressure on the BC government to purchase and protect endangered old-growth forests owned by Island Timberlands around Port Alberni, including McLaughlin Ridge in the city’s drinking watershed, following rapidly evolving developments. Recently, Island Timberlands has stated that they are potentially interested in selling McLaughlin Ridge, greatly sought by conservation interests, and that they have no plans to log the ridge in 2015. The company’s new stance follows the Port Alberni city council’s support for protecting the old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge and the BC Teacher’s Federation’s motion last month calling on Island Timberlands to divest itself of McLaughlin Ridge so that it can be purchased and protected and to upgrade the company’s forestry practices to the higher, more environmental standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme.The BC Liberal government deregulated McLaughlin Ridge and thousands of hectares of other old-growth forests around Port Alberni in 2004 by removing them from their Tree Farm Licence, opening them up to logging. Public forums, rallies, and letter-writing events are currently being planned by conservationists to help the BC government overcome their reluctance to take responsibility for and to show leadership on this issue.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance are calling on the BC Liberal government to help fund the protection of these old-growth forests – which they deregulated in 2004 by removing them from their Tree Farm Licence (TFL 44), thus removing planned environmental protections for old-growth forests, endangered species, deer and elk wintering habitat, and exposing these lands to clearcut logging.  The conservation organizations are also actively looking at various land trusts and private donors to also contribute to funding the protection of these endangered old-growth forests, including Mclaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove.Island Timberlands is owned in large part by the BC Investment Management Corporation or BCIMC which includes the pension funds of public employees including teachers.

“With Island Timberlands indicating that they have some interest in a conservation solution for McLaughlin Ridge, and with the support of the Port Alberni mayor and city council and the BC Teachers Federation for this, it’s time that the BC government also step forward and become part of the solution,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “After all, they originally deregulated these forest lands, causing this whole mess – and now they must fix it. They need to commit to funding or helping to fund the purchase and protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other remaining old-growth forests on these deregulated lands.”

“After years of campaigning, we’ve now reached a juncture that most of the critical parties are in agreement that we need a win-win solution to keep our drinking watershed and key old-growth forests intact by Port Alberni. We’re not there yet, but the BC government can push this into a final solution very quickly if they have the political will,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance.

Conservation groups will be requesting meetings with Vancouver Island MLA’s (Members of the Legislative Assembly) with the ruling BC Liberal party, and holding letter-writing and public awareness events to ensure the protection of these lands if provincial government intransigence persists.

In addition, forest activists are actively searching for options among private land trusts and other donors who may take an interest in helping to purchase McLaughlin Ridge and other lands. Island Timberlands recently worked with local Cortes Island residents to ensure the purchase and protection of the mature and older forests at the Whaletown Commons.

BACKGROUND INFO

Island Timberlands is the second largest private landowner in BC, owning about 250,000 hectares of private forest lands in the province. This includes extremely scarce old-growth Douglas-fir forest, high quality ungulate (deer) winter range, and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk habitat at McLaughlin Ridge, which the company has previously partially cut, although much of the core area remains intact.

  • See recent photos of the logging at McLaughlin Ridge in early July (media are free to reprint, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible): https://on.fb.me/1qeaXhn
  • See older photos of the intact forest and earlier logging in 2011 at McLaughlin Ridge (media are free to reprint all photos, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible): www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=10

McLaughlin Ridge has been recognized by the provincial government’s own biologists as one of the most ecologically important forests. See: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/battle-revealed-over-use-of-sensitive-island-forest-near-port-alberni-1.10365

McLaughlin Ridge is part of 78,000 hectares of land (originally owned by Weyerhaeuser, followed by Island Timberlands) that were removed from Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island in 2004, thereby removing the planned environmental policies and/or regulations intended to protect species at risk (Wildlife Habitat Areas or WHA’s), old-growth forests, deer and elk winter ranges (Ungulate Winter Ranges or UWR’s), and riparian areas; to control the rate of cut; and to restrict raw log exports to protect local mills. The removal of the lands from TFL 44 included the stipulation from the BC government that a follow-up agreement be developed between the company and the government to ensure the protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other intended UWR’s and WHA’s – however, both parties failed to pursue the agreement, and the lands were subsequently partially being logged until Island Timberlands halted operations recently.

In total, about 2400 hectares of endangered old-growth forests originally intended for protection by the BC government as Ungulate Winter Ranges and Wildlife Habitat Areas in TFL 44 are now endangered. These lands also include Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and other areas – about three-fourths of which are estimated to have been logged by now (ie. only about 600 to 700 hectares are estimated to still remain). Most of these areas are within the traditional territory of the Hupacasth, Tseshaht, and/or K’omoks First Nations bands.

Over the past several years conservationists have been asking the BC government to purchase and protect endangered private lands – which the government did at Jordan River for example in 2010 at a popular surfing area at risk due to similar circumstances involving TFL deregulation of Western Forest Product’s private forest lands. Ideally, these purchases would occur as part of a larger, dedicated “park acquisition fund” of millions of dollars each year for this purpose. At this urgent time, simply protecting the last few hundred hectares of the old-growth forests that remain at McLaughlin Ridge, Horne Mountain (above Cathedral Grove), Cameron Firebreak, Katlum Creek, etc. would be the immediate priority.

Protecting these areas would protect vital habitat for endangered species, as well as Roosevelt elk, deer, and other wildlife; ensure clean and abundant water for fish and drinking watersheds; protect hiking, hunting, fishing, and recreational areas; and would provide huge potential for eco-tourism ventures in the area.

 

 

 

 

Environmentalists explain importance of old growth

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With logging in the Alberni Valley not showing any signs of slowing down, Jane Morden and Sarah Thomas of the Watershed Forest Alliance and local biologist Mike Stini spent several hours on Sunday, Feb. 15 showing Coun. Chris Alemany and his wife, Theresa, and kids, Jade and Josh, around the Cameron Firebreak.

While the area is not a part of the city’s watershed, the old growth and steep terrain make it similar to McLaughlin Ridge, a steep slope above China Creek. China Creek is Port Alberni and Beaver Creek’s main drinking water source, with current turbidity levels low enough that that the city is applying for a filtration waiver. According to city engineer Guy Cicon, current water conditions make him confident that the city will receive the waiver.

The WFA is concerned that if old growth in McLaughlin Ridge is logged, the natural filtration it provides will be lost.

Read more: https://www.albernivalleynews.com