Old Growth Forests – Logging Versus Tourism on Vancouver Island

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The passing of resolutions at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention last fall had been quite routine until Councillor Andy MacKinnon from Metchosin stood up. He asked that his resolution – calling for a ban on the logging of old growth forests on Vancouver Island – be moved up in priority to ensure it was discussed and voted on. From then on, things got really interesting. It quickly became apparent that a profound shift in perspective on this issue was taking place among the municipalities gathered in the room.

The logging of old growth forests in British Columbia has been a highly-charged issue, emotionally and politically, since at least the 1970s. This is particularly true on Vancouver Island, home to outstanding old growth stands of the Pacific temperate rainforest. The most well-known example is Cathedral Grove, which the highway to Port Alberni, Ucluelet, and Tofino bisects. If you’ve never experienced this remnant of an ancient Douglas-fir forest, picture walking among trees hundreds of years old, some even reaching to 800 years in age, and towering 80 metres above your head.

Vancouver Island is approximately 32,134 square kilometres (3.2 million hectares) in area. Of this, 1.9 million hectares are publicly-owned forest lands, of which the provincial government has classified approximately 840,000 hectares as old growth forests – that is, having trees over 250 years old. Hence, their estimations of the amount of remaining old growth includes high alpine and low swampy sites where the trees have little or no commercial value.

The magnificent and massive giants found on the richest growing sites have been the mainstay of the coastal forest industry from its earliest beginnings back in the late 1800s. In turn, their liquidation has brought considerable prosperity to island communities. But, decades of logging have left fewer and fewer stands intact.

With environmental groups warning that Vancouver Island’s old growth forests are on the brink of ecological and economic collapse, it’s not surprising that municipalities have begun to pay more attention to what has become an increasingly rare and valuable resource. Many are beginning to realize that they are not getting the most benefit from cutting down the last of the great stands; and, instead, are starting to see greater value in protecting them.

An Important Shift in Thinking
This represents a very significant shift in thinking among the municipalities, as historically they have been strong allies of the forest industry. According to a survey conducted by UBCM in 2015, perhaps as many as 80 percent of their membership considered their communities to be forestry dependent. But, the survey also revealed something much more important and telling. Nearly 85 percent of the respondents expressed deep frustration and anger with the lack of adequate consultation and engagement with their communities by forest companies operating around them. There were simply too many cases where forest companies cut down surrounding stands with no consultation whatsoever, leaving communities to deal with the social, economic, and ecological impacts.

Not surprisingly, forestry was a hot topic at the convention. In fact, an entire session was devoted to forest policy decision making and the need for greater community consultation. More than half of all the convention delegates crowded into the room to hear what was said and to voice their concerns. Additionally, eight of the 55 resolutions in support of existing policy dealt with the impacts of logging on local watersheds and airsheds. As might be expected, all urged the provincial government to involve local government directly in the forestry decision making – and all passed handily.

For its part, the forest industry has been caught off guard by the sudden shift in attitude toward it. The Ahousaht First Nation in Clayoquot Sound may have been the first to lead the shift. In October 2015, their chiefs called for an end to industrial scale logging in its traditional territory. Then, in April of this year, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) passed a resolution at their AGM asking the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan to protect all of Vancouver Island’s remaining old growth forests found on publicly-owned land. Next came the BC Chamber of Commerce, which passed a resolution at their May convention calling for a ban on old growth logging throughout the province, wherever these trees would have greater net economic value left standing.

“It just boils down to basic math,” said Dan Hager, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, who sponsored the resolution. “This is not a comment about logging. It’s about economics and marketing.”

Hager’s resolution arose from personal experience and from that of other business people in the small isolated village on the outer coast of southern Vancouver Island. He and they saw a near instant and large jump in tourism in 2012 with the protection of Avatar Grove – a stunning array of massive red cedars displaying strange twisted and contorted burls. For a town that was largely established on the coat- tails of logging, but had seen the end of the glory days, the steady, year-round flow of tourists keen on seeing big trees is a huge shot in the arm for the community.

Hager figures that the demand for accommodation alone has grown by as much as 75 to 100 percent over the past three to four years.

A Larger Scale
With this kind of traction, it was probably inevitable for a similar resolution to be presented at the UBCM convention and that it was sponsored by the Municipality of Metchosin’s Councillor Andy MacKinnon, who had put forward the initial resolution to the AVICC a few months earlier.

It was after voting on the first block of resolutions when Councillor MacKinnon stepped to a floor microphone and asked that his resolution calling for a ban on the logging of old growth forests on Vancouver Island be moved up in priority to ensure it would be debated and voted on.

At the moment, it had been listed as the very last resolution with many others stacked in front of it.

At first, he was told that this wasn’t possible; but then, the chair changed his mind and said this was only possible if the members voted 60 percent in favour of doing so. A vote was quickly held, demonstrating that a large majority supported the escalation in priority. When it came to his turn to speak his resolution, MacKinnon lost no time in calling into question the facts and figures provided by the provincial government and used by the UBCM’s resolution committee to support its recommendation that his resolution be viewed as strictly a regional issue and dealt with at that level.

Drawing on his near 30 years of experience within the Ministry of Forests, MacKinnon suggested that the figures were inflated and not based on any research that he knew of. The reality, he said, was vastly different as any look at satellite photos of southern Vancouver Island makes so startlingly clear. There are no stands of old growth forests on productive sites left on the eastern side of the island, and only a few remain on the more rugged and sparsely populated western side.

During the following debate, three or four members spoke against the resolution. Councillor Charlie Corneld from Campbell River was among them. He reminded everyone that many communities on Vancouver Island were still dependent on the logging of old growth. But, the angriest was Councillor Al Siebring from North Cowichan who fumed: “We wonder why so many of the resolutions we send to senior levels of government get blown off. It’s because we’re not sticking to our knitting.” He made it abundantly clear that he felt that the issue of old growth logging was outside the municipal mandate and shouldn’t be endorsed by the UBCM.

Nevertheless, it was abundantly clear that an overwhelming majority of members supported the resolution, which was well demonstrated in the following vote.

An Ongoing Battle
The passing of this resolution (and the others like it) has delivered a hard gut punch to the forest industry on Vancouver Island. Historically and generally speaking, the members of the UBCM and B.C. Chamber of Commerce have been allies of the industry. From the industry’s point of view, the problem was simply that these people just didn’t have all the “real” facts and needed to be educated. The industry maintains that 55 percent of the B.C.’s coastal old growth forests are already protected, and that this percentage will only increase over time owing to good conservation practices outside of protected areas. MacKinnon disagrees, pointing out that much of what has been protected are high alpine forests of no interest to the forest industry and that less than six percent of Vancouver Island’s old growth forests found on productive growing sites remain. Even those are being cut down at a rate of about 9,000 hectares a year. He notes that it’s just a matter of time before the industry runs out of big trees and is forced to make the transition to harvesting and milling second growth stands of smaller trees. A ban on logging old growth forests on Vancouver Island would speed the transition along.

“Although it wasn’t specially mentioned in the resolution,” he points out, “the idea of natural capital and eco- system services is rejected in the ‘where as’ clauses. At the time, the Gibsons’s approach to natural capital wasn’t widely known. They had a workshop on it as part of the convention, which I attended, and I came away really admiring what they are doing. I think what was going through people’s minds, as they were overwhelmingly supporting the resolution, I’m sure they were thinking about their communities and there is a strong interest in the idea of natural capital among them. So, that discussion is going to continue.”

For the forest industry and provincial government, this discussion likely means more trouble with recalcitrant municipalities determined to protect and maintain natural ecosystems that provide so many benefits to their communities.
 

A ship loaded with raw logs sits docked in Port Alberni on Feb 24

Comment: Rising raw log exports bad for forests, workers

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Events that have recently unfolded near the Crofton pulp mill underscore a troubling development on Vancouver Island, one that should deeply concern all Island residents who care about our shared forests and economy.

To the uninitiated, a massive parking lot beside one of the Island’s remaining pulp mills might be a bit of a head-scratcher. Until, that is, one sees all the raw logs being delivered by truck to the site and the ocean-going freighters waiting nearby.

TimberWest, one of British Columbia’s biggest log exporters, is behind the project. The new blacktop amounts to a massive new delivery area for logs, mainly from the Island. Logs delivered to the site will ultimately run through a machine known as a “debarker,” which strips away the outer layers, leaving logs that are smaller in diameter and primed to run through a sawmill.

Except those logs will never be run through sawmills in B.C., but rather in the United States or China or somewhere else far away.

“Debarking” is sadly what now passes for “value-added” — surely not what sustainable-forestry advocates had in mind after years of imploring the government to move our forestry industry up the value chain.

TimberWest’s shareholders know that under current rules, raw, unprocessed logs can be exported from the province in droves. And that is exactly what has happened with increasing regularity in recent years.

Since 2013, when the current provincial government was elected to a fourth consecutive term, nearly 26 million cubic metres of raw logs valued at more than $3 billion were shipped from B.C.

No provincial administration in B.C. history has presided over the exodus of so much raw natural capital and all the lost jobs it represents.

It is no accident that such exports are on the rise. In 2003, the government under then-premier Gordon Campbell scrapped important clauses that linked a company’s logging access in forests under provincial control to requirements to run logs through local mills.

Those rules — known as “appurtenancy” — were already frayed at the edges before the clauses were scrapped. But without them, sawmill closures skyrocketed and forest-industry employment plummeted.

In the past 10 years, forest companies have shed well over 22,000 jobs, or 27 per cent of their workforce. The largest job losses by far were in mills where men and women make solid-wood products.

At the same time, as revealed in new research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, exports of raw, unprocessed logs have soared.

And for the first time, the majority of the exported logs are coming from public or Crown land (rather than private lands, as was the historic norm).

The nearly 6.3 million cubic metres exported from B.C. in 2016 is enough wood to build 134,000 houses, roughly half of Vancouver’s single-family housing stock. Using a conservative estimate, more than 3,600 B.C. workers could have been employed processing that wood.

The Coast Forest Products Association, which includes large B.C. forest companies such as TimberWest, Western Forest Products and Interfor, actively supports log exports, and its member companies account for nearly half the raw logs that have left B.C. in recent years.

The association says the profits earned from log exports make it possible for mill owners to keep operating the mills they have.

What it doesn’t say is that 100 B.C. sawmills have closed their doors in just 20 years. And it is silent on the most disquieting reality of all: Current rules likely mean further sawmill closures and even more log exports.

This is not a future British Columbians deserve.

That is why two forest industry unions (the Public and Private Workers of Canada and Unifor) and three environmental organizations (the Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club B.C. and Wilderness Committee) are calling on the provincial government to implement a three-point plan to curb the exodus of raw logs and boost domestic manufacturing:

1. Place an immediate ban on all raw-log exports from old-growth forests.

2. Immediately impose progressively higher taxes on raw-log exports from second-growth forests to encourage new investments in domestic mills.

3. Introduce new policies to increase value-added manufacturing and jobs in rural and First Nation communities.

It’s beyond time that the provincial government ended years of policies that remove value from our forests. British Columbians need and want healthy forests and healthy, vibrant rural communities. Our research shows we can get there, and the time to do so is now.

Scott Doherty is executive assistant to Unifor national president Jerry Dias; Ben Parfitt is a resource policy analyst with the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and has recently published new research on B.C. log exports available at policynote.ca; and Ken Wu is executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-rising-raw-log-exports-bad-for-forests-workers-1.10577445

Ancient Forest Alliance

Ahousaht First Nation applauded for logging ban

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The remote Ahousaht First Nation, near Tofino, has more old growth forests in its traditional territory than any other First Nation on the BC South Coast.

Ahousaht Band leaders have decided it needs to be protected and they took steps to do just that this week to preserve those forests for the future.

Under the first phase of the plan, there will no mining or industrial logging allowed in Ahoushat traditional territory.

About 80 per cent of the territory , that’s more than 170,000 hectares, will be set aside as cultural and natural areas.

The goal is to conserve natural landscapes and biological diversity.

The Ancient Forest Alliance says it’s the largest leap in old-growth conservation in the last two decades on Vancouver Island.

The Nature Conservancy is calling it a blueprint for a sustainable future.

Environmentalists say only about 20 per cent of old-growth forests are still standing on Vancouver Island.

[Original article and video no longer available]

‘No’ to industrial mining and logging, say Ahousaht Ha’wiih

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Tofino —There will be no mining or industrial logging in Ahousaht traditional territory. That was the message the Ahousaht Ha’wiih (hereditary chiefs) delivered at a special event in Tofino on Jan. 25 as they revealed their Ahousaht First Nation Land Use Vision Plan.

“We will not allow mineral extraction from our Hahoulthlee. There will be no mining. That is clear direction (we received) from our people,” said Tyee Ha’wilth Maquinna Lewis George through his speaker.

The plan was developed under the leadership of Ahousaht Ha’wiih with extensive community input. According to Tyson Atleo, the work began in 2012 and since that time there were three rounds of community engagement meetings with Ahousahts living in Port Alberni, Victoria, Nanaimo and Maaqtusiis.

The end product was developed with technical assistance from the Nature Conservancy and Dovetail Consulting. It was recently presented to members living in Ahousaht where, according to Atleo, it received full endorsement.

“This vision was fully supported by both leadership and the community of Ahousaht,” said Atleo, adding that the enthusiastic audience in Ahousaht gave the Ha’wiih a standing ovation for their work.

Atleo gave highlights of the plan, which essentially divided Ahousaht territory up into seven land/marine use management designations. Each designation took into account natural resources historically enjoyed by Ahousaht people and sustainable use and/or protection of the area.

One of the designations is called Wiklakwiih, which means never to mistreat.

In the English language this area is known as Ahousaht Cultural and Natural Areas, and it represents 81.6 per cent of Ahousaht land territories.

This area, under the plan, is set aside to conserve biological diversity, natural landscapes and wilderness. In other words, it will be left in its natural state.

“The management intent for all Ahousaht land use designations is to promote the long-term stewardship of Ahousaht Ha-houlthlee, and to provide lasting social and economic benefits for the Ahousaht muschim and others,” said the Ha-wiih in a media release.

In order to protect the future of Ahousaht cultural and heritage resources, the Ha’wiih stated that industrial logging and mining are prohibited in their territory.

“We are prohibiting uses which may negatively impact Ahousaht community harvesting and that may include finfish aquaculture,” said Atleo, adding that may require further review.

The salmon farming industry has been operating in Ahousaht territory for about 40 years. Cermaq Canada has a protocol agreement with Ahousaht Ha’wiih and provides employment to Ahousaht people.

Maquinna told Ha-Shilth-Sa there will be community engagement about the future of salmon farming in Ahousaht Ha-houlthlee that will include members employed by the industry.

Ahousaht co-owns Iisaak Forest Resources Ltd. (IFR) along with four other Nuu-chah-nulth nations: Hesquiaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Yuucluthaht and Toquaht. More than 80 per cent of IFR Tree Farm Licenses are located in Ahousaht traditional territory and, according to Maquinna, the business is not doing well.

Maquinna hopes the nations will soon come to an agreement on the future of their forestry company.

The announcement was followed by words of praise from environmental organisations.

“This is an incredible achievement by Ahousaht Ha’wiih and people; it is the basis of sustainable economic development and community wellness,” said Hadley Archer, executive director of the Nature Conservancy Canada.

Valerie Langer, Strategic Projects Director at STAND, said she arrived in Tofino in 1988 and was in awe of the natural beauty. It wasn’t long before she became involved in the logging protests of the day, eventually being arrested at a protest.

She recalled one particular protest that took place in Ahousaht territory 29 years ago. She stood with then Tyee Ha’wilth Earl Maquinna George, Lewis’s father.

“He told the logging company back then that this land was not just a TFL (tree farm license) to him; that it was his land,” she recalled.

Langer praised Ahousaht leaders saying they’ve stepped up to the 21st century requirements of leadership. She vowed to support Ahousaht if needed.

“Thank you, Ahousaht, for one of the best days of my life,” said Langer.

The land use plan represents Ahousaht First Nation’s first phase of their long-term sustainable economic development plan.

In the summer of 2016 BC Premier Christie Clark came to Ahousaht territory to sign a new relationship protocol. The agreement will bring $1.25 million in economic development funding to Ahousaht over five years.

BC and Ahousaht will work on a collaborative approach to resource management and permitting within Ahousaht traditional territory.

Commercial activities permitted where suitable in the land-use plan include low impact commercial and no-commercial recreation and tourism, run of the river hydroelectric development, intensive tourism (lodges, resorts, marinas), forestry (harvesting timber/non timber resources), restoration and silviculture.

Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS) CEO Trevor Jones says Ahousaht will be working in partnership with BC Parks and will have a management role at Maquinna Provincial Park at Hot Springs Cove where they hope to deliver four full-time seasonal jobs at the campground made possible by a Canada 150 grant.

Ahousaht Ha’wiih will be in Ahousaht Feb. 22 for an update meeting with their people. They will be reporting on the activities of MHSS (Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society). They will start the day with the official opening of a new fuel station in Ahousaht’s inner harbour.

Read more: https://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2017-01-26/%E2%80%98no%E2%80%99-industrial-mining-and-logging-say-ahousaht-ha%E2%80%99wiih

This First Nation Just Banned Industrial Logging and Mining from Vancouver Island Territory

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Connection to the land and ocean has guided the Ahousaht people throughout their history and that bond is now at the root of a new sustainable economic development plan for the First Nation whose territory spans the heart of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Under the first phase of the plan, announced Thursday, there will be no mining or industrial logging in Ahousaht traditional territory and about Tweet: 80% of 171,000 hectares of #Ahousaht traditional territory will be set aside as cultural & natural areas https://bit.ly/2kvGsTu #bcpoli80 per cent of almost 171,000 hectares will be set aside as cultural and natural areas “to conserve biological diversity, natural landscapes and wilderness and to provide to Ahousaht continued spiritual, cultural and sustenance use.”

During recent years there has been controversy in Ahousaht territory over a proposed open pit copper mine on Catface Mountain on Flores Island and over old-growth logging, which was halted after Ahousaht hereditary chiefs declared a moratorium in 2015.

Another source of dissention has been salmon farms, which have operated in the area for several decades and employ Ahousaht members, and there will be community discussions before any decision is made on their future, hereditary Chief Maquinna Lewis George said at the announcement in Tofino.

The plan says no uses will be allowed that undermine community food fish resources.

“The economic sustainability of our community must be underpinned by sustainable marine and land use planning and that is where we are starting today,” Maquinna said.

The land use vision is the culmination of two years of community work led by the Maaqutusiis Hahoutlhee Stewardship Society, which represents the Ahousaht hereditary chiefs, with technical support from The Nature Conservancy, which has committed to raise a stewardship endowment fund to help implement the land use vision.

“This is the largest leap forward in old-growth forest conservation in over two decades on Vancouver Island,” Ken Wu, executive director of Ancient Forest Alliance, told DeSmog Canada.

The Ahousaht First Nation has more old-growth forests in their traditional territory — both in terms of percentage and in terms of remaining hectares — than any First Nation band on B.C.’s southern coast, he said.

“Their plan raises the bar for conservation across Vancouver Island…where only about 20 per cent of the remaining old-growth forests still stand.”

Nature Conservancy executive director Hadley Archer said the plan is “a blueprint for a sustainable future rooted in sacred cultural values and protective of a globally significant ecosystem.”

Ahousaht, which has about 2,000 members with one-third living on reserve, also received a financial boost last summer when Premier Christy Clark announced $1.25 million in economic development funds for the community over the next five years.

Hereditary Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo said the vision of a more diversified, sustainable local economy, with development of tourism opportunities and community forestry reaffirms traditional teachings that the Ahousaht people are inextricably linked to the natural world.

“This bold vision brings certainty to the future of old-growth forests and ensures functioning marine and aquatic ecosystems into the next millennia. It is a proud day to be Ahousaht,” he said.

The plan divides the territory into seven land use management areas that are designed to protect Ahousaht cultural and heritage resources, maintain and enhance the Ahousaht way of life, protect and maintain biological diversity and natural environments and provide community development opportunities.

Possible activities in the different zones include community infrastructure construction, light industrial development, run-of-river hydro-electric development, tourism and hospitality development, silviculture, food and community timber harvesting.

The plan is being applauded by environmental groups who praised Ahousaht leaders for taking a principled stand to protect their territory.

The land use visions “steps up to meet the environmental and social imperatives of the 21st century with solutions for rainforest conservation and community benefits within their famous territory, located in one of the most beautiful and ecologically rich landscapes in the world,” said Valerie Langer of Stand.earth.

Nuu-chah-nulth political scientist Eli Enns, North American regional coordinator for the Indigenous Peoples and Community Conserved Territories and Areas Consortium, said the agreement is part of a pattern of hereditary chiefs working for sustainable use of their territories.

The Ahousaht people always managed their territory in a sustainable fashion, but, in recent decades the community faced the frustration of seeing the decline of the fisheries and forestry sectors because of reckless decisions made by the provincial government, Enns said.

There was also the irritation of being left out of the booming tourism industry in other parts of Clayoquot Sound, such as Tofino, he said.

“A lot of the emotion of the last 15 to 20 years has been because of trying to transition, but also it has been a call for support,” Enns said, pointing out that many community members continue to struggle with the fallout from residential schools.

“I think the most important story here is resilience. People still know who they are and they still have their values,” he said.

Read more: [Original article no longer available]

Seven Iconic Canadian Trees

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Canadian Geographic has listed “Canada's Gnarliest Tree”, the burly redcedar in Avatar Grove, and the San Juan Spruce near Port Renfrew, which the Ancient Forest Alliance have popularized, as two of the most iconic trees in Canada! Take note that the San Juan Spruce is no longer the 2nd largest spruce in Canada in timber volume, as a large part of its main trunk broke off in a severe storm not long ago. Nonetheless it is still a spectacular tree worth visiting!

See the article and illustrations at: https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/seven-iconic-canadian-trees#.WCx8KMGM4WI

Comment: Tla-o-qui-aht demand protection of ancient forest

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Here's an amazing article by Tla-o-qui-aht band members Tsimka and Gisele Martin, speaking on behalf of the Tla-o-qui-aht Initiative for Interconnected Community Health, calling for the protection of the remaining old-growth forests in Tla-o-qui-aht territory in Clayoquot Sound and focused on concerns about logging at the Kennedy Flats (near the highway on the way to Tofino) and potentially at Tofino Creek.  Their territory also includes the famous Meares Island, home to some of the largest trees on Earth, the Clayoquot Valley, Kennedy Lake, and Kennedy Valley.

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Nuu-chah-nulth people, since time immemorial, have always maintained respectful relationships with ancestral lands and waters. These relationships are the foundation of Nuu-chah-nulth cultural life — ways carefully nurtured according to ancient teachings, for the benefit of all generations and all forms of life.

The forest ecosystem was tended as a garden. It still is recognized as a living entity, with its own set of complex relationships among its many inhabitants, including people who continue to rely upon it for life.

Countless generations of Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations people have maintained abundant economies and ecosystems, until this way of life was interrupted by Canada’s colonialism, which introduced unrestrained resource extraction, commodification and exploitation of nature. This was accompanied by cultural genocide, widespread environmental devastation and severe impacts to First Nation economies that continue today.

British Columbia’s forestry policies and practices are founded on a colonial worldview that assumes there will always be more trees to cut and more profits to be made.

In 1984, the conflict between Nuu-chah-nulth people and the timber industry supported by the Canadian government reached a dramatic climax when the ancient cedar forests of Meares Island were threatened with clearcut logging.

Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht were not consulted about plans to log within ancestral territories. At that time, Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht became determined to uphold ancestral values and teachings of care, and to defend ancestral lands and waters.

In response to the planned logging, the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations sought an injunction from the court, which eventually worked its way to the B.C. Court of Appeal. The court recognized the logging plans’ interference with aboriginal rights and title, and placed an injunction on the island that would halt the logging until land-claim issues were resolved between Canada and the Nations.

In 1984, the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht declared Meares Island a Tribal Park. The island represents a mere fraction of the unceded territories. First Nations played a pivotal role in the 1980s movement to protect the forests. In the summer of 1993 the Clayoquot Blockades became known as the largest peaceful civil disobedience event in Canadian history.

Following the Clayoquot blockades of 1993, the Clayoquot Sound Science Panel was convened to develop recommendations for more sustainable forestry practices in Clayoquot Sound. While the recommendations are an improvement to the previous clearcut logging, they do not measure up to the practices of Nuu-chah-nulth ancestors in terms of sustainable forestry.

Following the 1993 protests, a joint venture involving five First Nations in the Clayoquot and Barkley Sound regions assumed control of the tree farm licences in Clayoquot Sound. The venture formed into a logging company with the stated intent of implementing the scientific panel recommendations.

B.C. law requires logging companies to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual fees to maintain a logging licence. The pressure to pay these fees means that a company holding a tree farm licence must cut large volumes of trees to maintain financial solvency and retain the required logging licences.

The Canadian government continues to allow the timber industry to threaten and impact ancient forest ecosystems, cultural lifeways and Nuu-chah-nulth people’s existence.

Old growth within Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory is now under serious threat. This September, damaging logging practices in the Kennedy Flats area were observed and documented by Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation citizens.

A petition is circulating asking elected and hereditary leaders to do what they can to stop any industrial logging of old-growth forests in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory. Recent interviews and forums confirm that the majority of Tla-o-qui-aht members (interviewed to date) want all our existing old-growth forests protected.

Nuu-chah-nulth jurisdiction supersedes the colonial laws of British Columbia and Canada. Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members have not been properly consulted and have not given consent for the current logging plans in Tla-o-qui-aht territory.

We, as Tla-o-qui-aht members, are committed to upholding our responsibilities to protect and defend the forests of our ancestral home to ensure that the sacred relationship with life-giving nature continues. There is grave concern within the Tla-o-qui-aht community that logging in the Tofino Creek area is beginning.

All remaining old-growth forest in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory must be permanently protected from any industrial logging.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-tla-o-qui-aht-demand-protection-of-ancient-forest-1.2660515

Bring On the Drones

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This past March, B.C. conservation photographer TJ Watt captured something incredible on camera: the ascent of three climbers up Canada’s second-largest known Douglas-fir tree. The tree, affectionately known as “Big Lonely Doug,” 216 feet high and 12.4 feet in diameter, stands in a clear-cut north of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island in a place known as Eden Grove.

Watt captured the climb using a DJI Phantom 3 Pro Drone. The video, made public in August, has already garnered more than 70,000 views on Facebook. The striking video is part of an emerging trend of using technology such as drones to bring more mainstream attention to environmental and wildlife issues.

“It’s a great way to bring to life these remote yet truly special areas, and bring them into people’s living rooms,” Watt said.

The climb, which was done by the Ancient Forest Alliance and Arboreal Collective, served several purposes: to highlight the grandeur of “Doug” using drones, bring awareness to the issue of logging and old-growth forests, and to document the climb for a cross-Canada book project celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday.

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGbiW_Q2lCU

Read more: https://thetyee.ca/News/2016/11/12/Bring-On-Drones-Big-Doug/

Echo Lake’s Old-Growth Forest and Eagle Roost Under Threat!

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Near Harrison Mills, Echo Lake is a magnificent, unprotected lowland ancient rainforest, in a region where almost all such forests have long since been logged. Located by the Chehalis-Harrison Estuary near the Lougheed Highway, the region is home to one of the greatest salmon runs and perhaps the largest concentration of bald eagles on Earth –  as many as 10,000 in some years, with hundreds roosting in the ancient trees of Echo Lake at night. As such, Echo Lake is one of the great natural wonders in the province – and perhaps one of the least visited so far.

There is a reason why so few people have seen Echo Lake. The lake is surrounded by steep mountains on three sides, with private lands encompassing the flats on the remaining side by the road. Only through the permission of private landowners or via organized tours can you traverse the private lands on its east side in order to access the old-growth forests on the Crown lands on the west side. This difficulty of access has helped to keep Echo Lake as one of the last enclaves of lowland ancient forest left in the region – until now.  Echo Lake is in the unceded territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation band, who run eagle-watching tours in the area, and whose leadership has expressed concern about the fate of the old-growth cedars around Echo Lake.

In 2012, the Ancient Forest Alliance contacted the local landowners Stephen and Susan Ben-Oliel, whose private properties abut against the lake’s east side. Together we started organizing public tours, letter-writing campaigns, slideshows, outreach to attract provincial and national news media, and lobbying efforts.

In February 2013, the BC government protected 55 hectares in an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA) primarily on the south side of Echo Lake, encompassing some impressive old-growth Douglas-fir stands. Unfortunately, the OGMA left out another 40 or 50 hectares of old-growth and mature stands on the west and north sides, within the Woodlot License of C&H Forest Products. The excluded area includes a spectacular “ancient red cedar valley” with some of the biggest trees. One tree, the East Side Giant, is almost 4 metres, (13 feet) wide. While the area at risk also includes second-growth stands, the BC government has tried to depict the entire area as a second-growth forest with just a smattering of veteran old-growth trees – which is far from the truth for those who’ve been there to marvel at the stands of giant red cedars and Douglas-firs.

In July, the Ben-Oliels discovered that C & H Forest Products had flagged a series of large red cedars near their property for logging and had been given the go-ahead to construct a 1400 metre road to access planned cut blocks on the lake’s north side. As Echo Lake is also part of the drinking watershed for local people, there are concerns about the risk to the supreme water quality in the area posed by road-building and logging.

The race is now on to mobilize concerned citizens to speak up to the provincial government, particularly in the lead-up to the May 2017 provincial election. The province could enact a Land Use Order, expand the Old-Growth Management Area, or implement some other protective designation at Echo Lake, while potentially finding an area of equivalent timber value in second-growth forests elsewhere for the licensee – something that the province is so far reluctant to do.

Already 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged in the southwest mainland of BC, including over 95% of the high productivity, valley bottoms with the largest trees. The Ancient Forest Alliance is working for a science-based provincial plan to protect all of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, and to ensure a sustainable second growth forest industry.

The protection of Echo Lake would be a vital step in the right direction.

Please speak up! Write a letter or email to your local Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), as well as Premier Christy Clark (premier@gov.bc.ca) and Forests Minister Steve Thomson (steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca) at the Legislative Buildings, Victoria, BC, V8V 1X4. Ask them to protect ALL of the forests around Echo Lake – for the eagles, wildlife, drinking watershed, scenery, tourism, and because lowland old-growth forests are now extremely scarce in the Lower Mainland.

Read more: https://www.footprintpress.ca/pdf/FootprintPressIssue18.pdf

Avatar Grove boardwalk damaged by windstorm

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Winter storm damage has closed a portion of Port Renfrew’s famed Avatar Grove and delayed the opening of a recently completed boardwalk.

Hurricane-force winds ripped through the area on Oct. 15 resulting in 30 trees crashing down over the Avatar Grove Trail in the lower grove area, damaging sections of the boardwalk.

None of the grove’s famed ancient Western redcedars or Douglas fir fell during the storm.

The Ancient Forest Alliance completed the boardwalk a week before the storm, in a project that took three years and involved hundreds of volunteers.

“After anticipating the launch of the boardwalk’s completion, this is undoubtedly a bit of a disappointment and set back, but it’s only temporary,” said TJ Watt, the Ancient Forest Alliance’s coordinator of the boardwalk project.

The Ancient Forest Alliance began construction of the Avatar Grove Boardwalk in 2013 to protect the tree roots and understory vegetation from excessive trampling, enhance visitor access and safety, and support the local eco-tourism economy.

Volunteers will work on the boardwalk over the fall and winter with an eye to reopening next spring.

The entrance to the lower Avatar Grove has been cordoned with no public access while the upper grove boardwalk remains open and in “decent condition,” Watt said.

A 20-minute drive from Port Renfrew, the Avatar Grove is one of the most spectacular and easily accessible stands of monumental old-growth trees in B.C., protected in 2012. Thousands of tourists from around the world now come to visit the Avatar Grove, hugely bolstering the regional economy with so-called Tall Tree Tourism.

“The Avatar Grove boardwalk’s real significance is to serve as an example for other communities that protecting old-growth forests is good for the economy, hugely supporting local businesses and jobs,” said Ken Wu, the Ancient Forest Alliance’s executive director.

“The Avatar Grove has been the most important catalyst in the movement to B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests in recent times.”