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‘The start of a broader conservation’: 54 big trees are now protected, but old-growth continues to be a major part of logging on the coast

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Ha-Shilth-Sa
July 30th, 2019

Some of the largest trees in B.C. have gained protection, thanks to an announcement from the provincial government in mid-July, including at least eight giants in Nuu-chah-nulth territory on Vancouver Island.

On July 17 B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development listed 54 trees that were previously unprotected will not be preserved from logging. These trees are on Crown land and among the largest in the province, as they are listed in the Big Tree Registry compiled by the University of British Columbia.

Some of these trees are in Nuu-chah-nulth territory on western Vancouver Island, including a Sitka Spruce near Port Renfrew that measures 62.5 metres in height with a diameter of 3.71 metres, another 49-metre Sitka spruce on the south portion of Meares Island and a western red cedar on the north part of Meares measuring 46.9 metres in height and 5.64 metres in diameter. Also listed among those to be protected is the iconic Big Lonely Doug, a 70.2 metre Douglas fir that was left to be the only tree standing in a clearcut near Port Renfrew.

In a measure to prevent similar scenarios in the future, each of the 54 trees will be surrounded by a one-hectare buffer zone that will also be protected, according to the province.

“These trees represent an important part of B.C.’s natural heritage, and British Columbians have said they want them preserved,” stated Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson. “What we are announcing today is the start of a broader conservation about the future of old-growth management in this province.”

The announcement follows growing concern last year over accelerated old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley south of Sproat Lake. In May 2018 the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered a Douglas fir measuring over three metres in diameter that was logged in the area, dimensions that would rank the tree among the largest of its species in Canada. Over the last three years BC Timber Sales has auctioned over 300 hectares of old-growth in the Nahmint Valley for harvest, including five timber licences that were sold without the consent of the local Tseshaht First Nation.

In November the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council called on the provincial government “to work with them in slowing down, or even stopping, the rapid disappearance of old-growth forests within Nuu-chah-nulth territories.”

“Old growth forests are valuable ecosystems than can never be reproduced,” stated NTC Vice-President Andy Callicum in a media release. “The forests play an important role in protecting wildlife throughout the winter, and for providing Nuu-chah-nulth peoples the medicines and roots contained in them.”

In Victoria last April the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and their supporters celebrated the 35-year anniversary of Meares Island being declared a tribal park. During the event Tla-o-qui-aht carver Joe Martin spoke of the importance of using only what one needs from the forest.

“We’re not allowed to just go and take a tree,” he said. “There’s a protocol with it: you have to go visit that site several times.”

“Sit with it for a long time to make sure there’s no eagle’s nest, wolf dens or bear dens around,” added Martin. “Mother nature will provide for our need, but not our greed.”

But this might not align with the economic aims of BC Timber Sales, which declares its vision as “to be an effective timber marketer generating wealth through sustainable resource management.” BCTS operates in 33 communities across the province and supports over 8,000 jobs through its sales and management of Crown forest land. The logging of old growth continues to be a big part of these operations.

“As with previous years, the amount of harvest being auctioned by BC Timber Sales on the coast this year is approximately 50 per cent old growth and will continue to be for the foreseeable future,” stated a BCTS spokesperson in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa. “This is what the timber supply, economic base and community employment across the coast is based on.”

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Conservationists Welcome NDP Government’s Big Tree Protection Announcement, Set Sights on More Comprehensive Old-Growth Plan

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Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) welcomes the NDP government’s announcement that it will protect 54 of the biggest trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry with buffer zones and hopes for more comprehensive, science-based old-growth forest protection under the BC government’s proposed old-growth strategy.

“We welcome this positive step toward protecting some of the biggest and oldest trees on Earth,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “It’s a small step, but it may signal there’s more comprehensive action to come.”

“The BC government’s old-growth plan must now be scaled up exponentially. We need protection at all spatial scales: at the tree, grove, landscape unit/watershed, and ecosystem level.”

“We’re glad to hear the 54 trees will be protected with buffer zones, which, although small in this case at only one hectare, are vital to minimize the risk of damage due to factors exacerbated by surrounding harvesting activities, such as strong winds, and to enhance ecosystem protection and tourism value.”

“The NDP’s approach to protecting big trees should not be based only on trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry, though, which is a small subset of BC’s biggest trees based on what some big tree enthusiasts have found. Many of BC’s biggest trees are not on the big tree registry.”

The AFA also welcomes the NDP’s commitment to change regulations later this year to protect more of BC’s biggest trees. If effective, such a legal mechanism would help protect the environmental, recreational, and cultural values of BC and could bolster BC’s tourism industry, significantly enhancing the province’s status as a preferred destination for nature-lovers far and wide.

“It’s important they get the details right, though,” stated AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “These regulatory protections must include adequate buffer zones of at least 2 hectares and must avoid loopholes that allow big trees to be logged in certain circumstances. The minimum size thresholds for protection should also be lowered, as 50% of the diameter of the widest trees found still only captures the most extremely rare, exceptionally big trees.”

“It must also be a comprehensive policy that’s rolled out across BC’s coast and expanded to the Interior.”

The AFA is hopeful the NDP’s big tree protection regulations will also be expanded to include protection of BC’s “grandest groves,” where there is an exceptional number and density of large trees, to ensure ancient forests with the greatest ecological, recreational, and scenic values are conserved for future generations to enjoy.

“BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves truly stand out as some of the province’s most spectacular natural assets and are disproportionately valuable for tourism and often for biodiversity. But much more work is needed to protect old-growth forests on a much greater scale.”

“A more comprehensive, legislated plan is still desperately needed to protect the province’s old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale in order to sustain biodiversity, clean water, and the climate,” stated Inness.

The AFA is hopeful the NDP government’s consultation process and resulting old-growth strategy result in such legislated changes, for example, through amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act in the spring of 2020.

“The next step, however, should be immediate moratoria on logging of old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the highest ecological and recreational value. Otherwise the grandest, most intact forests will continue to be whittled away while the government figures out its old-growth plan.”

“To sustain forestry jobs, the BC government must also ensure the development of a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry and end the export of vast amounts of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.”

“Today’s announcement is like the bang of the starting gun at the beginning of the race. It kicks things off. Let’s just hope there are much more exciting things to come and that the NDP’s old-growth strategy is a sprint, not a marathon that drags on for years. Time is running out for the last of BC’s remaining productive old-growth forests and we need province-wide, science-based solutions fast.”

In the press release accompanying today’s announcement, the NDP government claimed that 55% of the old-growth on BC’s coast is protected. This figure is highly misleading for a number of reasons. The BC government is including vast areas of low-productivity sub-alpine and bog forests with little to no commercial value, which aren’t endangered, and are ignoring largely cut-over private lands, which make up almost 25% of Vancouver Island’s land base. They also lump the Great Bear Rainforest (where 85% of forests have been set aside from commercial logging) in with the south coast, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and where old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

Finally, the BC government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on the south coast: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

“By focusing only on the fraction of old-growth protected of the fraction remaining, the more old-growth forest that’s logged outside the 55% that’s protected, the higher that number rises,” stated Inness. “If all the unprotected old-growth forests are logged, the BC government could then make the claim that ‘100% of the old-growth forests on the coast are protected!’”

ACTION ALERT: Have Your Say on Changes to BC’s Forest Practices Legislation

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The BC Government is currently seeking public feedback on proposed changes to the Forest and Range Practices Act, the main piece of legislation governing forest practices in BC. The amendments will focus on issues like climate change, biodiversity, government oversight, and public trust in forestry management decisions.

This is a rare and critical opportunity for British Columbians to speak up for science-based protection of BC’s endangered old-growth forests!

The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) has reduced government accountability and oversight and put the fox (timber industry) in charge of the henhouse (BC’s public lands, including rare and endangered old-growth forests). It also prioritizes timber supply over all other forest management objectives and includes loopholes around old-growth protection big enough to drive a logging truck through! The results have been a disaster and BC’s ancient forest ecosystems, biodiversity, climate, and communities are paying the price. 

Now is our chance to demand bold and sweeping changes to this outdated law.

Current legislated targets for old-growth protection are set too low and are not based on science, meaning we are losing the species, ecosystem services, tourism and recreation opportunities, and valuable carbon stores that old-growth forests provide. It’s high time the NDP government stopped placating the timber industry and started prioritizing the health and resilience of BC’s forest ecosystems. And it starts with strengthening the Forest and Range Practices Act.

Amendments to FRPA must:

  • Mandate the establishment of higher, legally-binding old-growth protection targets, based on the latest science, to sustain the long-term ecological integrity of old-growth forest ecosystems;
  • Prioritize forest connectivity and climate resilience;
  • Prioritize the management of biodiversity over timber supply across landscapes; and 
  • Close the loopholes that allow much of Earth’s grandest forests and biggest trees to be logged.

Read the BC government’s discussion paper for more information and details on the proposed changes.

Until Monday, July 15th, the BC government is accepting public comments on amendments to FRPA through an online survey. We have provided responses to the survey questions below to make it as easy as possible for you -simply copy, paste, and edit your responses as needed.

SUBMIT YOUR FEEDBACK (suggested survey answers below) Question 1. How should the Province identify opportunities and priorities for adapting forest management to a changing climate, such as mitigating the effects of beetle infestations, drought and fire?

  • Prioritize forest ecosystem health, connectivity, and resilience over timber supply to ensure forest ecosystems and the species that depend on them can cope with the impacts of climate change. Recent studies show that mature and old-growth and older forests are more resilient and can better protect communities from climate impacts like droughts and flooding better than younger forests.
  • Strengthen protection of valuable forest carbon sinks (i.e. old-growth forests).
  • Recognize the BC forest sector’s contribution to provincial greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize management approaches that significantly reduce forestry emissions (for example, by ending slash burning).

Question 2. What factors should be considered in the planning of forest operations to reduce the risks of wildfire around your community?

  • Logging and clearcuts that readily dry out have been shown to make landscapes more prone to fires. Protecting more forests around communities and curtailing forestry around communities will help reduce the frequency of fires.
  •  Forest operations must aim to minimize activities that exacerbate climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, and landslides.
  • Silvicultural practices must be changed to reduce wildfire risks near communities. This can be done, for example, by planting climate appropriate tree species and actively reducing fuel build-up in second-growth forests via thinning and controlled burns.

Question 3. A vital step in landscape-level planning is understanding what is important to the public. Based on what is important to you or your community, what information on the condition of resource values (such as species-at-risk habitat) do you think is necessary to support the planning process?

  • The current amount, in hectares and percentages, of protected and unprotected old-growth forest that remains in each landscape unit, by ecosystem type and productivity level, compared to their original extent (pre-European colonization).
  • Maps showing the geographic location of these remaining old-growth forests and their existing land use designations, both legislated (Parks, TFLs, Private, Crown, etc.) and regulatory (OGMAs, WHAs, etc.).
  •  Information on biodiversity (at all scales), including biodiversity hotspots for species richness, endangered species concentrations, underrepresented plant communities, and rare element occurrences.
  • Various species at risk habitat, including critical habitat.
  • Freshwater quality and salmon stock data and trends.
  • Forest industry and other industry tenures, leases and activities over the landscape.

Question 4. How would you like to be involved in the planning process?

  • Members of the public should be given meaningful, timely opportunities for public engagement at all levels of forest planning, including online commentary.
  • Landscape planning must be well-funded and be done quickly.
  • Landscape planning must also be multi-stakeholder processes (including environmental non-governmental organizations, among others) and co-managed by provincial and Indigenous governments.

Question 5. Resource roads are a valuable asset in the province as they provide access for the forest industry, ranchers, other resource users, and the public for commercial and recreation purposes. Yet, these same road networks are costly to maintain and have potential negative impacts on wildlife, water quality and fish habitat. What values do you believe are important to consider when planning new roads, road use and maintenance, and deactivation in your area?

  • Minimize on road construction wherever possible. Road densities may be the single largest source of lasting environmental degradation in landscapes.
  • Maintaining habitat connectivity and supporting species that rely on large tracts of undisturbed forest for survival.
  • Maintaining sufficient interior forest habitat and reducing the amount forest edge ecosystem.
  • Maintaining access to areas that provide valuable recreation and tourism opportunities while ensuring habitat connectivity and ecological integrity take priority.
  • Ensuring minimal impacts to freshwater quality, especially in drinking watersheds and salmon-bearing waterways.

Question 6. How can the Province improve transparency and timelines of information regarding proposed operational and landscape-level objectives, plans and results?

  • Provide meaningful, timely opportunities for public engagement at all levels of forest planning.
  • Forest Stewardship Plans must be more detailed on specific cutblock plans and roads, be publicly available online, and require public consultation spanning at least 120 days (twice the current 60-day period) to allow ample time for public comment.
  • Require licensees and provincial decision-makers to demonstrate how public comment substantially informed proposed plans, operations and approval decisions.

Question 7. What information will help inform your feedback on plans that may impact you, your community or your business (e.g., maps of cutblocks and roads planned in your area, hydrological assessments, wildlife habitat areas or recreation opportunities, etc.)?

  • Maps of planned cutblocks and roads, forest reserve designations (e.g. OGMAs, WHAs), old-growth forest ecosystems (at the BEC zone and, where possible, site series level) and productivity classes, species-at-risk habitat, recreation opportunities, and information such as surveys, assessments, and studies relied on by licensees to demonstrate consistency with government objectives, approval tests, and statutory requirements should all be made publicly available in order to inform feedback on proposed plans.

Question 8. What additional values should be considered in FRPA that will allow us to manage forest and range practices in a better way?

  • Science-based old-growth forest retention on a scale sufficient to ensure their long-term ecological integrity must be added as a management objective.
  • Through FRPA, the BC government must establish an independent science panel to: a) Evaluate the conservation status of all forest ecosystems, b) Establish evidence-based old-growth and other biodiversity targets to be applied through landscape level planning with associated, legally-binding timelines.
  • These targets must take ecosystem types, forest productivity, and elevation distinctions into account and must not be based on representation alone, but also on landscape ecology and conservation biology principles to ensure long-term ecological integrity.

FRPA amendments must also:

  • Establish biodiversity as a high management priority in all forest ecosystems through an explicit FRPA objective.
  • Remove the constraint “without unduly reducing the supply of timber from British Columbia’s forests” from all FRPA legal objectives and from the Government Actions Regulation and add the constraint “without unduly reducing the resilience of ecosystems” to timber and other ‘use’ objectives.
  •  Include a hierarchy of old-growth forest reserve establishment where old-growth forests take priority over second-growth and high productivity forests take priority over low.
  • Restrict the movement of Old Growth Management Area boundaries.

Question 9. In what ways should the Province strengthen government oversight and industry accountability regarding forest and range activities to better address the challenges of climate change and the interests of all British Columbians?

  • Require licensees to provide sufficient information for provincial decision-makers to evaluate operational plans and proposed forest operations for consistency with legal objectives and require government approval of site-level plans.
  •  Require that decision-makers provide written reasons to the public demonstrating how proposed logging and road-building are consistent with statutory tests, legal objectives, Indigenous rights and public comment.
  • Require provincial decision-makers to determine whether proposed forest operations are consistent with:  a) maintaining and where necessary restoring healthy, fully functioning forest ecosystems that support ecological, social and cultural resiliency, and  b) the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Remove existing, lengthy bureaucratic steps required to set objectives and give government the authority to set objectives, informed by public input, for a particular area.

Thank you for submitting your feedback! Can you go a step further?

Send an email to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, Premier John Horgan, and other decision-makers telling them the 2020 Forest and Range Practices Act amendments must include science-based protection of old-growth forests! 

New Old-Growth Clearcut Mars the Scenery from the Popular Gordon River Bridge at Avatar Grove

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Before-and-After Photos Reveal Logging Destruction on Edinburgh Mountain, a “Hotspot” of Exceptional Old-Growth Forest near Port Renfrew

Port Renfrew, BC – Old-growth clearcutting approved by the NDP government has now marred the scenic view from the popular bridge over the Gordon River by the Avatar Grove, one of the most popular nature tourism destinations in BC. Before-and-after images taken by conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance highlight the destructive impacts of recent clearcut logging by the Teal Jones Group on Edinburgh Mountain, a “hotspot” of high conservation, scenic, and recreational value near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. The photos, taken before logging commenced and then after most of the clearcutting was completed, reveal the felling of exceptional ancient forest, including giant redcedars and rare, ancient Douglas-fir trees within a 15.6 hectare cutblock.

“These images provide a glimpse into the shocking situation that’s playing out all over BC’s south coast,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt, who captured the images. “Old-growth forests once teeming with life and some of Canada’s largest trees are being destroyed, never to be seen again in our lifetime. The logging on Edinburgh Mountain adds to the approximately 75 hectares of ancient forest already logged by Teal Jones that has further fragmented what was once almost 1,500 hectares of stunning, intact ancient rainforest. Two new logging roads are also under construction on the mountain as we speak. To top it off, now they have started to mar the view from the Gordon River Bridge with their old-growth clearcutting, a bridge where hundreds of thousands of tourists view the scenery of what was previously a contiguous old-growth and second-growth forest canopy.”

The clearcutting came to within approximately 50 feet of an enormous Douglas-fir tree, tossing trees and debris around its base. The giant tree measures 33’9″ft (11.4m) in circumference or 10’8″ft in diameter, making it the sixth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada according to the BC Big Tree Registry (seventh widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley), and is not protected.

Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, as it’s known by conservationists, located in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, is home to Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, which stands alone in a clearcut at the base of the mountain, and is important habitat for endangered northern goshawks and threatened marbled murrelets. It also contains one of the finest and most endangered lowland, valley-bottom, old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island: the spectacular Eden Grove.

The area is one of about two dozen old-growth forest “hotspots” on Vancouver Island identified by conservationists, which represent some of the island’s last remaining, exceptional, intact, and unprotected old-growth areas. Others include the spectacular Nahmint and Central Walbran Valleys, East Creek Rainforest, and Nootka Island.

“These hotspots are in need of immediate protection by the BC government,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “Most of them are actively being logged and time is running out to prevent them from becoming tattered fragments, like the majority of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth. While the BC government assures British Columbians that they’re working on an old-growth strategy, they have yet to reveal any details and continue to send the wrong signals. In the meantime, failure to protect these old-growth hotspots will result in considerable losses in terms of biodiversity, ecological processes, opportunities for tourism, and First Nations cultural values, and could spark significant conflict.”

In the case of Edinburgh Mountain, significant opportunities are lost with each cutblock that’s logged, including potential tourism revenues for the nearby town of Port Renfrew, which has been dubbed the Tall Tree Capital of Canada having capitalized on the outstanding old-growth forests and record-sized trees in the region.

“It’s frustrating to see the BC government’s outdated forest policies threaten Port Renfrew’s growing tourism economy,” stated Watt. “Thousands of tourists come to see Renfrew’s spectacular old-growth forests and ancient giants each year. The destruction of Edinburgh Mountain undermines the town’s image as an eco-tourism destination, particularly because it’s so visible. While driving along the Gordon River bridge on the way to Avatar Grove, where you once saw a beautiful, fully intact old-growth forest on the mountainside, there’s now a big ugly clearcut that spoils the view. Tourists must shake their heads when they see how BC manages its globally rare old-growth forests.”

“The NDP government has an economic and ecological imperative to cultivate a forest industry for the future that supports sustainable jobs and conserves the many values ancient forests provide like biodiversity, carbon storage, cultural values, and clean water,” said Inness. “The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with other conservation groups and the BC Greens, are calling on the NDP government to take immediate action to protect old-growth hotspots while there’s still time and develop long-term, science-based solutions for BC’s endangered old-growth forests while supporting the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities whose unceded territories these are.”

“Meanwhile, the NDP government needs to facilitate a shift to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry using incentives and regulations to phase out raw log exports and support retooling of mills to handle second-growth trees.”

“We have a global responsibility to safeguard BC’s ancient forests, given the climate emergency and unprecedented global biodiversity decline that we’re faced with. A shift to a science-based approach that also maintains forestry jobs is entirely possible. It just takes political leadership.”

Background Information

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the second-growth forests they’re replaced with and are a non-renewable resource under BC’s forest system, where forests are logged every 50-80 years, never to become old-growth again.

The BC government often states that 520,000 hectares of old-growth forests are protected on Vancouver Island and will never be logged and that 55 percent of the old-growth on BC’s coast is protected, but these figures are misleading. These figures include vast areas of low-productivity forest – stunted, marginal forests that grow at high elevation or in bogs and are therefore at low to no risk of being logged. They also leave out enormous swathes of largely cut-over forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority. Finally, the BC government fails to consider how much old-growth has already been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

For more information, see our December 2018 media release marking the commencement of the logging on Edinburgh Mountain by Teal Jones Group: https://16.52.162.165/new-logging-operations-underway-on-edinburgh-mountain-an-old-growth-forest-environmental-hotspot-near-port-renfrew-on-vancouver-island/

 

Conservationists condemn BC NDP Government’s plans to log old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park

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Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are outraged that the BC government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales, is currently auctioning off 109 hectares of old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. The area, located northeast of Botanical Beach and south of Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, borders one of the most spectacular sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail with impressive old-growth forests and stunning waterfalls.

The seven planned cutblocks, of which two come to within 50 metres of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundary, would see an estimated 55,346 cubic metres of old-growth – the equivalent of over 1,300 logging trucks – leave the region known as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada.”

 

An aerial photo of the old-growth forests where B.C. Timber Sales has seven pending cutblocks totalling 109 hectares. Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is along the coast and the town of Port Renfrew in the background.
Photograph By TJ WATT[/caption]

“It’s outrageous that BC Timber Sales has approved the clearcutting of an area more than two Avatar Groves in size so close to one of Vancouver Island’s most popular provincial parks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “People come from all over the world to hike the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The clearcutting will further degrade and fragment the forest that buffers the park which helps protect the park’s outstanding ecological and recreational values. This is a clear-cut example that BC Timber Sales cannot be trusted to maintain, or even consider, the ecological importance of BC’s ancient forests in its planning.”

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) is the notorious BC government logging agency which manages 20% of the province’s allowable annual cut and which has come under fire across the province for auctioning off old-growth forests to be clearcut in such places as the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island and in Manning Provincial Park’s “donut hole.” Earlier this month, Sierra Club BC and Sunshine Coast-based environmental organization Elphinstone Logging Focus revealed that BCTS plans to auction off more than 1,300 hectares of cutblocks in old-growth forests across Vancouver Island in 2019. (See their joint press release)

“BC Timber Sales is going after some of the most significant tracts of the province’s remaining ancient forests despite the fact that, today, they are worth more standing than they are on logging trucks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “Port Renfrew, a former logging town, has successfully re-branded itself in recent years as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada” and is seeing a huge increase in eco-tourism, greatly benefiting local businesses. We’re concerned about the impact the logging would have on Port Renfrew’s reputation as an eco-tourism destination in addition to the impact on the environment.”

Falling-boundary tape in one of the seven old-growth cutblocks that were proposed by B.C. Timber Sales near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.
Photograph By TJ WATT

There are also concerns that logging and the construction of over 10 kilometres of new road could impact nearby businesses, such as Soule Creek Lodge, located just 500 metres from one of the cutblocks.

“My business relies heavily on tourists coming to Port Renfrew to admire big trees and old-growth forests and to visit Botanical Beach and other parts of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Soule Creek Lodge owner John Cash. “I’m deeply concerned that all the noise from months of logging operations is going to drive customers away. People come here for peace and quiet and to connect with nature, not to listen to blasting, chainsaws, and trees crashing in the distance.”

“Instead of facilitating old-growth clearcutting right up to a provincial park boundary, the BC government should be helping rural communities like Port Renfrew transition to more diverse and sustainable economies. In this case, the government needs to use its control over BCTS to cancel the old-growth timber sales before the closing date of April 26th and expand the protected area system to buffer the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Watt.

“We need to see leadership and vision from Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, not more status quo old-growth clearcutting. He and the BC government must stop using misleading statistics that hide the fact that old-growth forests are endangered on Vancouver Island and start implementing a science-based plan to protect them where they’re endangered across the province,” stated Watt.

Watt recently explored the old-growth forest within one of the proposed cutblocks and found old-growth redcedar trees measuring six to seven feet in diameter with one cedar measuring ten feet, nine inches in diameter, making it eligible for protection under BC Timber Sales’ Coastal Legacy Tree Policy which aims to retain ‘legacy trees’ that exceed certain size thresholds. However, a BCTS representative stated in an email that the agency had conducted a review of the proposed cutblocks and that “no legacy trees were identified.”

 

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt stands beside a massive redcedar measuring 10’9″ in diameter in one of the cutblocks that was proposed by BC Timber Sales near Port Renfrew.

“BCTS’ Legacy Tree Policy failed to prevent the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in Canada from being felled in the Nahmint Valley last year,” stated Inness. “Not only does the policy leave big trees standing alone in clearcuts with no buffer zones, BCTS clearly can’t be trusted to fully implement it. The BC government needs to quickly implement its long-overdue Big Tree Protection Order originally meant to protect BC’s biggest trees with buffer zones and which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development has been working to develop since 2012.”

Background information:
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast 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.

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Port Renfrew boasts access not only to the popular West Coast and Juan de Fuca trails, but also some of BC’s most popular ancient forest destinations including Avatar Grove, the Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), the San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest Sitka spruce until the top broke off in 2017), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island.

In 2016, The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce signed a resolution calling on the BC government to increase protection for old-growth forests to benefit the economy. The Sooke and WestShore Chambers of Commerce have also spoken up for the protection of the old-growth forests in the Walbran Valley, while the BC Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution calling for the increased protection of old-growth forests in BC to support the economy. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC) and the councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino have all passed resolutions for the protection of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island or across BC.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests, including an interim halt to logging in old-growth “hotspots” – areas of high conservation value, such as the Nahmint Valley – to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact; a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across the province; conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging; and a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.

The Cheewhat Giant, Canada's largest tree

3 ways to celebrate & support ancient forests this month

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1. Big Tree Poster Giveaway

 

From now until Earth Day (April 22nd, 2019), we’re giving away our Big Tree poster set featuring the San Juan Spruce, Canada’s Gnarliest Tree, and the Cheewhat Giant (valued at $25) for FREE! Pick up your poster set by visiting our Victoria office (303-620 View St) on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 11am to 4:30pm, order online (S&H fee applies), or call us at 250 896 4007 to arrange for shipping.

2. Get your 2019 Calendars – NOW ONLY $15!

There’s also still time to order your 2019 AFA calendar featuring spectacular photos of the Nahmint Valley, Meares and Flores Islands, the McKelvie and Caycuse watersheds, wildlife, and more – all taken by the AFA’s TJ Watt. We’ve dropped the price from $25 to $15, with all proceeds going toward our ancient forest campaigns!

 

3. Celebrate Earth Day with our AFA T-shirt photo challenge

Our new AFA t-shirts are a big hit and we want to see photos of you wearing yours in the great outdoors!

 

Snap a photo in a forest wearing your AFA t-shirt and share it on or before Earth Day (Monday, April 22nd) on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter using the hashtag #AFAEarthDay2019 (and make sure your post is public).

 

Order your t-shirt online by Tuesday, April 16th to allow time for shipping before Earth Day or stop by our office to pick one up in person.

 

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner TJ Watt stands atop an 8ft wide old-growth redcedar stump in a recent clearcut by Teal-Jones on Edinburgh Mt near Port Renfrew.

On International Day of Forests, conservation groups call on B.C. government to immediately halt logging of last intact old-growth areas

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VICTORIA, BC – Environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee are calling on the B.C. government to stop issuing logging permits in B.C.’s last remaining intact old-growth forest “hotspots” and endangered old-growth ecosystems and to implement legislation to protect endangered ancient forests. The call coincides with the International Day of Forests (March 21), declared by the United Nations as a day on which to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of Earth’s forests.

“The BC NDP government has stated that they’re working on a strategy to protect endangered old-growth forests and are making changes to forestry laws,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “While we are looking forward to hearing about details and timelines, we’re extremely concerned that the business-as-usual liquidation of old-growth forests is continuing in the last remaining intact old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the greatest conservation, cultural, and recreational values.”

About two dozen hotspots have already been identified on Vancouver Island. These include the Nahmint Valley in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories near Port Alberni, where the B.C. government has direct control over BC Timber Sales, the provincial agency responsible for planning and issuing logging permits. The Central Walbran Valley and Edinburgh Mountain in Pacheedaht territory close to Port Renfrew and East Creek rainforest in Quatsino territory on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast are also considered critical hotspots.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands on top of a giant redcedar stump in a clearcut on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

“After decades of destruction, ancient forests and the web of life that depends on them are close to the brink,” stated Sierra Club BC senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “Business as usual will result in species loss and leave communities with ecologically, culturally, and economically degraded landscapes. We need a halt on logging in critical areas to allow options for land use planning and time to strengthen regulation before it’s too late.”

Recent research mapping by the Wilderness Committee revealed that, in just five months, the B.C. government approved 314 new logging cutblocks with a total area of 16,000 hectares in critical southern mountain caribou habitat in B.C.’s Interior. This is despite the Province simultaneously working on a conservation plan to protect the highly threatened species.

“A ‘talk-and-log’ scenario is unacceptable given the ecological emergency we’re currently facing in B.C. The B.C. government must stop issuing logging permits in critical old-growth areas before more species fall through the cracks,” said Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste. “The NDP government needs to quit dragging their heels and show they’re serious about mountain caribou and endangered old-growth forest protection. They need to come up with both immediate and long-term solutions while there are still intact ancient forests left to protect.”

 Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands next to a giant redcedar tree in Eden Grove on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

Old-growth forests are integral for their cultural values for many Indigenous Nations, as habitat for endangered species, and for climate stability, tourism, clean water and wild salmon. B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Outside the Great Bear Rainforest, the vast majority of provincial old-growth forests have been reduced to small percentages of their original extent. Logging continues with little legal safeguards to ensure a minimum protection based on science. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness stands beside a freshly fallen old-growth redcedar tree in BC Timber Sales cutblock in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

The environmental organizations are calling on the B.C. government to implement a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, in line with the NDP’s 2017 election platform commitment to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model,” support Indigenous Nations’ sustainable economic development and land use plans, and ensure long-term forestry jobs in improved second-growth forest management and value-added manufacturing.

Background information:
For detailed Vancouver Island old-growth mapping and statistics, see:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

The B.C. government has often stated that “over 55% of Crown old-growth forests on B.C.’s coast are protected,” but fails to mention that the vast majority of coastal old-growth forests that are protected from logging are in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

The government also claims that “on Vancouver Island, over 40% of Crown forests are considered old-growth, with 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.” However, the government hides the fact that the majority of this total area is low-productivity forest (i.e. stunted, marginal forests that grow along the outer coast, in high elevation, or in bogs and are therefore not at risk of being logged).

These numbers also ignore heavily logged forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority.

Finally, the B.C. government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

B.C. ancient tree lovers unveil ‘Mossome’ grove as part of bid for new protections

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CBC News
January 12, 2019

The most ‘stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,’ says conservationist

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt poses with a bigleaf maple outside of Port Renfrew B.C. The group considers the tree the ninth largest of its kind in B.C. and has nicknamed it the Woolly Giant. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists on Vancouver Island have documented a unique grove of ancient trees which it wants protected from logging due to its ecological value.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the conservation group, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

Wu, 44, has been exploring forests on Vancouver Island to campaign for their protection for the past 28 years.

The latest find, a 13-hectare parcel on public land, is located near Port Renfrew along the San Juan River and within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness poses with a series of giant Sitka spruce snags and bigleaf maples outside of Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

Wu and campaigners with the conservation group, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), have nicknamed the grove ‘Mossome Grove,’ a blending of the words “mossy” and “awesome.”

They first walked through the area in October 2018 and returned in December to document it.

Several of the grove’s trees are near record size. Based on B.C.’s Big Tree Registry, one Sitka spruce would rank in the top 10 in the province with a diameter at chest height of 3.1 metres.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director Ken Wu poses by a huge, old bigleaf maple outside Port Renfrew B.C. in December 2018. One of its branches is 23.1 metres in length. (Ken Wu/Endangered Ecosystems Alliance)

One of the bigleaf maples, which campaigners have named the “Woolly Giant,” has a horizontal branch 23.1 metres in length. Wu says it may be the longest branch in B.C.

“Of all of B.C.’s ancient forests, this one deserves protection not only due to the scarcity of its ecosystem type, but because of its sheer unique beauty,” said Wu.

No ‘imminent’ logging
The province says there are no imminent plans for logging in the area and it is reviewing a map of the area provided by the AFA to determine what protections may already be in place.

Wu says roughly four hectares of the area is in a Pacheedaht woodlot, which could be logged by the nation, but is unlikely. The nation has its own sawmill, but mostly processes cedar logs, which it harvests based on a conservation strategy.

Another four hectares has some provincial protection according to Wu, while the remaining four could be auctioned off for logging by the government’s timber agency.

Highlighting the area is the latest move by campaigners as they hope to push the province to improve protections for old-growth areas in the province.

B.C.’s Ministry of Forests says it is currently working with key stakeholders, including conservationists like Wu, to refine its old-growth strategy. It has not said when that process will be completed.

The province is also updating the makeup of forests on Vancouver Island and monitoring the effectiveness of a new policy to protect big trees.

That policy, if followed by loggers, would result in the preservation of the Sitka spruce in the Mossome Grove because it meets a threshold in size.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer, TJ Watt, poses by what the organization calls the the 9th widest Sitka spruce in B.C. outside Port Renfrew on Southern Vancouver Island. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Conservationists are concerned the policy will only end up protecting individual trees, not whole areas of trees and their ecosystems.

The ministry says it has taken steps since July 2017 to protect wildlife habitat areas for animals like marbled murrelets and northern goshawks, which nest in old-growth forests.

It also has protected around 1,000 hectares, or 10 square kilometres, of the unique coastal Douglas fir ecosystem.

See original article here

Conservation groups discover ancient old-growth forest near Port Renfrew: Grove home to record-size Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple trees

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Sooke News Mirror
January 9, 2019

Two Victoria-based forest conservation groups recently discovered an ancient grove near Port Renfrew that they’re calling the “the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old growth forest in the country.”

TJ with the largest spruce in the grove, which measures 10’1″ in diameter!

Members of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and the Ancient Forest Alliance found the unprotected grove, with several near-record trees, in the San Juan River Valley in October.

Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the largest trees in grove are near-record size, including a Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple that would rank as the ninth widest on the B.C. big tree registry.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve explored a lot of old-growth forests in my time,” said Wu on Wednesday.

He said finding an unprotected forest is significant because many similar areas on Vancouver Island and elsewhere on coastal B.C. have been logged.

The forest has been nicknamed Mossome Grove, short for Mossy and Awesome Grove, because of the trees which are draped in hanging mosses and ferns. The grove is located on Crown land and managed by B.C. Timber Sales.

There are no plans to log the area, but B.C. Timber Sales has come under fire for auctioning off old-growth forests for logging in areas of the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island and Manning provincial park.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance are calling on the B.C. government to reimplement a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests.

“Without buffer zones to surround and protect the largest trees, and without also protecting the grandest groves, the B.C. government’s currently proposed big tree protection policy is essentially a Big Lonely Doug Policy’ that will leave a few sad giants standing alone in clearcuts scattered around Vancouver Island,” said Andrea Inness, an Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner.

See the original article here: www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/conservation-groups-discover-ancient-old-growth-forest-near-port-renfrew/

*Note: Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with some (3-4 hectares) protected in an Old-Growth Management Area and riparian reserve, a portion (3-4 hectares) unprotected within a Woodlot Licence allocated to a forestry company, and the rest is unprotected, falling under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. There are no logging plans for the grove at this time.

Push is on to protect Mossome Grove

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My Campbell River Now
January 9, 2019

EEA’s Ken Wu alongside The Wolly Giant! This bigleaf maple ranks as the ninth widest on the Big Tree Registry with a diameter of 2.29m or 7’6″. It also may very well have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in BC, measuring 23.1m (76ft) long!

Conservationists in B.C. have located, what they say could be, the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old-growth forest in the country on Vancouver Island.

Ken Wu, executive director with Endangered Ecosystems Alliance says the grove consists of giant, prehistoric-looking, shaggy bigleaf maples with tall, straight Sitka spruce, and it was found near Port Renfrew.

“Its about 6 hectares in size. Two hectares are off limits in the old growth management area and the riparian reserve but the other four hectares, most of the growth including the biggest trees are not protected and they could be logged and B.C. Timber Sales actually has a history of putting cutblocks and logging the very biggest trees in the province like up in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni in the summer when they cut down the ninth widest douglas fir in the country.”

Wu says the push is on to get the grove, which conservationists are calling “Mossome Grove”, which is short for “Mossy and Awesome”, protected.

To do that, Wu is asking people to contact their MLA or make a request through the Ancient Forest Alliance website.

“The previous government actually protected Avatar Grove within a year and a half time span of us campaigning to save the Avatar Grove, the old growth forest closer to Port Renfrew. This is a small area, it should not be a hard thing for them to do. The last remnants of old growth., especially something like this, their highest and best use is not two by fours, or pulp and paper and toilet paper.”

The BC government is developing a new set of policies to manage BC’s old-growth forests but have not revealed any details yet.

See article here: https://www.mycampbellrivernow.com/31290/push-is-on-to-protect-mossome-grove/

*Note: Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with some (3-4 hectares) protected in an Old-Growth Management Area and riparian reserve, a portion (3-4 hectares) unprotected within a Woodlot Licence allocated to a forestry company, and the rest is unprotected, falling under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. There are no logging plans for the grove at this time.