Vancouver Island growing away from old growth logging?

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Here’s a very insightful article about the shift underway in the economy and attitudes among the business community and in rural communities (spearheaded by the efforts of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Ancient Forest Alliance, with a growing chorus of voices gathering steam, including the BC Chamber of Commerce and the AVICC) towards favouring increased protection of old-growth forests – in part to support a more sustainable economy! This is worth sharing!
Again take note that the BC government and logging industry’s stats on how much old-growth remains and is protected are deliberately misleading by including stunted non-commercial bogs and subalpine stands on steep rocky mountainsides with the productive stands with big trees targeted by the logging industry, and by combining the northern rainforest (the Great Bear Rainforest) where huge progress in protection levels has occurred as a result of environmental boycotts of logging companies (followed by 15 years of negotiations) along with the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland) where protection levels are very minor, old-growth forests have been much more heavily logged, and the forests are different (ie. different biodiversity, ecosystems, and generally much larger, grander ancient trees), ie. the northern and southern coasts are two very different regions and should not be confused and mixed together, unless your goal is to mislead people…

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It stands at a little more than 70 metres high, 14 metres taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Experts believe it may have been around even longer than the world-famous Italian landmark, which began to take shape nearly 850 years ago.

Big Lonely Doug looms over a clearcut hillside in the Gordon River Valley, surrounded by stumps and scrub brush, maybe 15 kilometres northwest of Port Renfrew.

The second-biggest tree in Canada, this massive Douglas fir is, for some, a a stark reminder of the glory days of Vancouver Island logging, when massive old-growth timber fed myriad sawmills, sparking a booming industry that made towns like Port Alberni and Lake Cowichan rich.

But in the wake of a media blitz in 2014, Doug has found itself with something else in common with the Leaning Tower: it has become a destination.

And with that, it has also become a symbol of a dramatic shift in Island thinking.

Citing the power of old growth trees as a tourism resource, Vancouver Island communities voted in April to seek a total ban on old growth harvesting on the Island’s Crown land.

And they received support this week from a surprising source: the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, which voted to support the same principle across the province in instances where old growth trees “have or can likely have a greater net economic value for communities if they are left standing.”

The Renfrew Tall Trees Experience

Dan Hager runs a Port Renfrew cottage rental business called Handsome Dan’s Accommodations. He is the president of the community’s chamber of commerce and the one who successfully pitched the old growth resolution to the B.C. chamber.

While he lauds old growth for its environmental benefits, he said the main motivations for the chamber motion were dollars and sense.

“It just boils down to basic math. This is not a comment about logging. It’s about economics and marketing,” he said. “Port Renfrew now has a product people can’t get anywhere else.”

In 2012 the Victoria-based environmental watchdog group the Ancient Forest Alliance successfully lobbied to protect an extraordinary grouping of trees near Port Renfrew it dubbed Avatar Grove.

In the months that followed, increasing numbers of visitors began to pour into the community. Hager said the community didn’t do any scientific studies as to why, but conversations and guestbook entries made it obvious: prompted by media reports, they were there to see the majestic trees.

He told the B.C. chamber that since that summer, accommodation providers in Port Renfrew have reported demand for accommodations has increased 75% to 100% annually. And he said the visitor streams continue outside the summer fishing season — typically the only time visitors had previously been coming.

Entirely by accident, the environmental movement had given the 300-resident town an unexpected economic boom.

“Thanks to the trees, Port Renfrew is no longer a one-industry tourism town and has been able to successfully brand itself the Tall Tree Capital of Canada,” he said. “They created Avatar and we benefitted from it.”

Hager said he no trouble convincing the business community this is an opportunity other B.C. regions can and should be taking advantage of. He relayed his message through the following example.

“In 2012 a kayaking company in Discovery Islands did an illuminating economic analysis. It calculated the economic value of 60 hectares of timber scheduled to be logged above and around the kayaking base camp across from the world-famous Robson Bight.

“It was determined that the value of the 60 hectares of timber was worth about $3.6 million. Since the regeneration cycle meant the area could be cut only once every 60 years, the yearly economic value of the timber was $60,000.

“The economic value to the kayaking company, however, was $416,000 per year, or $24.96 million for the same 60-year period. In stark contrast to the approximately 300 person-days employment from logging the 60 hectares just once, the kayaking company provided 20,160 person-days of employment during the 60-year cycle.

“And this simple economic analysis didn’t include the employment and earnings for the 40 other ecotourism businesses using the same area.”

He said it is the government’s role to do what’s best for communities and increasingly that means letting trees stand.

“In Port Renfrew there are maybe a a half-dozen people that gain their living from forestry. A lot more than that get it from tourism.”

Concerned Industry Warns Of Crisis

Hager wants to make it clear: the B.C. chamber did not endorse an old-growth logging ban, what it endorsed was protection for those old growth stands that generate more economic benefits for communities if they are left standing.

But the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities went a step beyond that in April when members voted to ask the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan to protect all of Vancouver Island’s remaining old growth forest on provincial Crown land.

According to David Elstone, executive director of Truck Loggers Association, a ban on old growth logging would devastate the industry.

Elstone was caught off guard by both motions and unclear why there has been a shift in thinking from organizations that have traditionally been in the industry’s corner.

“In general, I am concerned about the tone and the concept. Don’t know if all the facts are being drawn forward,” Elstone said. “I don’t want to fall back on being alarmist, but if you suddenly turn that off there doesn’t take much imagination to see the impact.”

Rick Jeffery, president and CEO of Coast Forest Products Association, agreed and was concerned both the AVICC and the B.C. chamber may have made decisions in absence of all the facts.

“I have no idea on what basis they are making these claims. I just don’t,” he said. “I was surprised they didn’t ask us.

“Our take-home message is that we have to sit down and talk. We will bring facts and figures.”

One message Jeffery wants to get across is that forestry and conservation already co-exist in local forests. Another is that 55 per cent of the old growth on the B.C. coast is already protected, something he says will increase over time due to conservation practices in the unprotected areas.

“Old growth is going to be here forever,” he said. “People don’t understand that.”

Elstone said 45 per cent of the coastal harvest comes from old growth trees. Forestry accounts for 38,000 direct jobs on the Island and the neighbouring coast, and 61,000 across the province.

Would a ban old growth harvesting mean a loss of 45% of the jobs?

“You’d probably lose a lot more than that,” he said.

Jeffery said certain mills are only set up to process old growth and the industry as a whole depends on economies of scale it would not be able to sustain, leading clients to look elsewhere.

“You would have an average allowable cut drop,” he said. “It would put a lot of mills out of business and put pulp mills in jeopardy.”

According to Elstone, the word “crisis” would not be an overstatement.

“It’s a vital part of our history and always will be an integral part of the success of our communities,” he said. “There are still a hell of a lot of communities that rely on forestry. We need to protect our working forests or else there will be significant impact.”

To help determine the degree of that impact, Black Press contacted Susan Mowbray, senior economist with MNP and author 2015’s State of the Island Economic Report.

Her answer is that it is impossible to tell when the economic benefits of an old growth logging halt would exceed those of continued harvesting without further study. One can’t simply subtract the loss of those logs without considering the spin-off effects.

“If, all of sudden, you can’t harvest the old growth (in a certain location), it may not make sense to harvest the low value timber there either,” she said.

She added the lack of consideration of such variables makes her very skeptical that the Discovery Islands kayaking case presented by Hager to the BC chamber painted a realistic picture. For example, every forestry job creates 1.5 other jobs. Tourism jobs don’t have the same impact.

“There are some jobs that get substituted. The difference is forestry jobs are higher-paying,” Mowbray said. “There needs to be a better understanding of what it means. In some communities forestry is all there is.

“More analysis has to be done before I can unequivocally say.”

A shifting community mindset?

A possible test case for such an analysis could be Tofino, the poster child for replacing a resource-based economy with eco-tourism. Mowbray said she has yet to crunch those numbers.

Anecdotally, Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne said embracing and protecting the rainforest certainly seems to working there.

A lifelong Island resident, she agreed the mindset of Island residents has definitely been shifting.

“Yes, I really think it is. Global tourism is on the rise, the role of primary resource extraction has changed.”

While councillors from communities like Port Hardy and Port Alberni spoke out against the AVICC motion — presented by Metchosin — as being too broad, or too damaging to the north Island, she said a majority embraced it as necessary in shaping the direction of the Island’s future.

“I think that 10 or 15 years ago it would have been more contentious,” she said. “When things become rare, we value them more. Frankly it’s something I’ve come to expect from Vancouver Island. There has been much more thinking like an Island, realizing that we are all in this together.”

Port Hardy councillor Fred Robertson believes part of that should also be a recognition that well-managed forests are crucial to a healthy north Island. While he respects the opinions expressed by his neighbours further south, he thinks they have to consider that old growth logging may still have a net benefit in some parts of the Island.

“In my mind it doesn’t have to be an either-or,” he said. “It’s important to understand all perspectives. There is an economic and social impact in communities like ours.”

”You can have working forests and still attract people to a pretty spectacular part of the world.”

Elstone said that as the industry has shrunk residents of some communities may have lost their perspective on its overall importance.

“There has probably been a migration from urban centres into our smaller communities,” he said.

James Byrne, regional managing partner with MNP and another lifelong Island resident, said some may have lost sight of how valuable logging is in communities like Campbell River, Port Hardy and Woss and how the harvest feeds businesses further south.

“Don’t estimate the importance of old growth. Logging is not what it used to be, but it still has a significant impact up and down the Island,” he said.

Sierra Club campaigner Jens Wieting doesn’t dispute that, only its relative significance.

“Logging no longer has the same economic importance,” he said. “We have two trends: there are fewer benefits from logging and increasing benefits of keeping trees standing.”

Wieting echoed Osborne in saying old growth preservation has worth beyond the economy: water conservation, clean air and the spiritual satisfaction of preserving an ecology found nowhere else in the world are values more Vancouver Islanders have embraced.

He said despite the fact 15 per cent of the Island’s forests are protected, only three per cent of its biggest, most iconic trees are safe from harvesting.

“People are still looking for places where they can find intact nature,” he said. “When are we going to make the transition? The time to make the shift on Vancouver Island is overdue.”

Wieting was instrumental in the push that led to protection of 85 per cent of the Great Bear Rainforest. The preservation of Vancouver Island’s remaining old growth forests is the environmental movement’s next big target.

Getting a majority of Island communities, as well as the provincial business community on side is a big step.

“This is indeed huge. It is a reflection of the shifting landscape,” he said. “I feel very privileged to live in this part of the world. It is really something you can’t find anymore anywhere.”

[Original BC Local News article no longer available]

 

Some say the fate of British Columbia’s old-growth forests rests in the balance

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Here's a new article featuring renowned forest ecologist Dr. Andy MacKinnon about the fate of BC's endangered old-growth forests. Take note that the forest industry and BC government are spinning the situation about old-growth forests to make it appear as if they are not endangered and that they are already well protected – this is completely false, and they do this by including vast areas of stunted marginal non-commercial stands (bog forests, high elevation and far northern old-growth forests on steep rock faces with small trees, etc.) with the productive old-growth stands with big trees that have been heavily logged, and by combining the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland) with its different ecosystems, higher levels of logging, and far lower protection levels, with the northern rainforests (Great Bear Rainforest) where 20 years of boycotts by environmental groups of logging companies in the area resulted in a far greater level of protection in a more intact region of the province, ie. they are two different regions.

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Saanich -— The Douglas fir Andy MacKinnon leans against is 40 metres tall. It’s likely more than 500 years old and its fire-scarred trunk is almost two metres in diameter.

In most other countries, the tree would be the largest in the land, says MacKinnon, a forest ecologist who spent three decades with British Columbia’s government researching old-growth forests.

At Francis/King Regional Park, minutes from Victoria, the park’s trees are protected from logging, but about 150 kilometres west of Victoria, old-growth forests with 1,000-year-old trees twice the size of those in the park are being cut down every day, said MacKinnon.

The world’s largest trees face dangers similar to elephants, whales and bison that have been hunted to the brink of extinction, he said.

Right now, MacKinnon said it’s open season on B.C.’s old-growth forests outside of parks or protected areas.

“You hear debates about how much old growth we’d like out on the landscape and some people will say ‘X’ and some people will say ‘Y,’ but I think most people will agree that when you are down to less than one per cent, that’s too little,” he said.

MacKinnon is behind a push by some communities, business groups and politicians to stop logging in old-growth forests. The B.C. Chamber of Commerce recently endorsed a resolution to increase protection of old-growth forests where they have a greater economic benefit if they are left standing.

Port Renfrew, northwest of Victoria, has reported an increase in tourism in Avatar Grove, a 50-hectare section of old-growth forest named after the Hollywood adventure movie.

The Port Renfrew area is also known for Canada’s largest living trees, including a 70-metre tall Douglas fir named “Big Lonely Doug” by environmentalists because it was the only tree left standing after a logging clear cut.

The B.C. government is taking steps to protect forests, including the Great Bear Rainforest protection agreement. It will protect 85 per cent of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest from logging in an area on the central and northern coast of the province.

There are 1,000-year-old western red cedars and 90-metre tall Sitka spruce trees in the rainforest, which is also home to the white kermode bear.

Environmentalists, forest companies and First Nations cheered the deal as a model of compromise after two decades of protests and difficult negotiations.

The environmental applause continued with a new provincial park east of Prince George that’s the world’s only inland temperate rainforest. Cedar and hemlock trees were slated for logging, but local citizens, First Nations and academics built a series of trails into the area known as the Ancient Forest where thousands now marvel at trees with trunks measuring 16 metres in circumference.

Rick Jeffery, president of Coast Forest Products Association, said 55 per cent of B.C.’s coastal forests are under some form of protection from logging.

The days of leaving one tree in a clear cut are gone, said Jeffery, whose organization represents major forest companies that employ 38,000 forest workers in the province.

“This isn’t a jobs versus environment thing,” he said. “We can have both if we do this smartly.”

Steve Thomson, B.C.’s forests, lands and natural resource operations minister, said the Great Bear and Ancient Forest agreements highlight the government’s commitment to protecting old-growth forests.

“It’s about protecting important values and making sure we have that balance that continues to provide jobs and employment in the forest sector.”

The Ancient Forest is considered a natural wonder, a temperate rainforest inland, hundreds of kilometres away from similar coastal rainforests. The province said it would work with the federal government to declare the forest a UNESCO world heritage site.

“Scientifically, the trees are pretty amazing,” said Darwyn Coxson, a plant ecologist at the University of Northern British Columbia. “They really shouldn’t be there.”

Coxson said because the trees take 1,000 years to grow, it’s prudent to focus on what is in the forests now.

“We have a finite supply and the ones that are out there are realistically all you are ever going to have.”

B.C.’s old-growth forests by the numbers

— British Columbia’s old-growth forests boast huge trees that are more than 1,000 years old, but many fear their days are numbered. Here are some numbers on the trees:

— The government says there are 55 million hectares of forests in B.C.

— Twenty-five million hectares are old-growth forests.

— Four million hectares of old-growth hectares are fully protected from logging.

— The Red Creek fir near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island is listed as the world’s largest Douglas fir tree at 73.8 metres tall and its trunk has a diameter of 4.2 metres.

— The Cheewaht Lake cedar in Pacific Rim National Park on the southwest edge of Vancouver Island has a circumference of 18.34 metres. It is estimated to be between 2,000 and 2,500 years old.

Read more: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/some-say-the-fate-of-british-columbias-old-growth-forests-rests-in-the-balance

Ancient Forest Alliance

Editorial: Good ecology is good economics

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What’s good for the environment is good for the economy. That’s a concept most British Columbians embrace and it’s what the B.C. Chamber of Commerce appears to have decided in seeking protection for some old-growth forests.

The chamber voted this week to ask the province to expand protection of old-growth forests in areas where they have, or likely would have, greater economic value if left standing.

The resolution also called on the province to enact new regulations — incorporating such strategies as an old-growth management area, wildlife-habitat area or land-use order — with an eye on eventually legislating permanent protection through provincial-park or conservancy status.

The doesn’t mean the chamber of commerce has suddenly become an environmental-advocacy group — it still has its eye firmly on the economy. The proposal applies only to old-growth forests in areas accessible for tourism — the chamber still supports loggers’ rights to harvest timber for more remote forest stands, even if they have ecological value.

Still, it’s an acknowledgment that forests can have value beyond the amount of timber than can be taken out of them.

Natural resources have always been important to B.C. — logging, mining and fishing have long been mainstays of the province’s economy. But B.C. is also known for its incredible natural environment, and the province’s two aspects often collide.

The conflict between the economy and the environment reached a peak in the mid-1990s, when protests and blockades were set up to prevent the clear-cutting of old-growth forest in Clayoquot Sound. It was a tipping point that brought about a major shift in policies and attitudes.

The timber industry was no longer “king” in B.C., and non-aboriginals began increasingly to see through the eyes of peoples for whom the forest has been home for millennia. It moved us closer to a balance between protecting the environment and sustainably harvesting its resources.

It’s an uneasy balance and, sadly, is often not achieved, but at least “sustainability” and “environmentally friendly” are widely accepted as worthwhile goals. It’s becoming more widely accepted that a healthy environment and a healthy economy are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, as the B.C. Chamber of Commerce indicates in its motion, protecting the environment can be good for business.

Old-growth forests and other pristine areas of B.C. attract an increasing number of visitors, and will continue to generate jobs forever. When an area is logged off, the jobs are gone until the forest regenerates, and that takes a long, long time. We should remember, too, that forests are about more than esthetics or recreation — they are vital to the health of our watersheds and even the air we breathe.

Businesses are increasingly recognizing that environmental sustainability is not only good business, it is essential. More and more investors are demanding that corporations be environmentally responsible as well as fiscally responsible.

They have recognized what we must all recognize — that if we don’t look after the environment, we won’t have an economy.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-good-ecology-is-good-economics-1.2268661

B.C. Chamber of Commerce hugs old-growth trees

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The largest business-advocacy organization in B.C. has voted to protect old-growth forests while still also supporting loggers’ access to valuable resources.

In a move environmentalists are calling a “historic shift,” the B.C. Chamber of Commerce voted this week in favour of a motion calling on the province to expand protection of old-growth forests in areas where they have, or likely would have, greater economic value if left standing.

“It’s a huge, huge tectonic shift in the politics of land use in B.C.,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“It changes the narrative for a lot of the province, especially rural B.C., where the traditional belief has been that if you protect old-growth forests, you undermine the economy. But the opposite is being shown to be true now.”

The resolution also called on the province to enact new regulations — incorporating such strategies as an old-growth management area, wildlife-habitat area or land-use order — with an eye on eventually legislating permanent protection through provincial park or conservancy status.

The proposal would apply only to accessible old-growth forests and not to isolated forest stands, even if they have ecological value.

Dan Baxter, spokesman for the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, said the members took a balanced approach, recognizing that natural resources, forestry and mining remain the foundation of the economy.

“I think our membership took a holistic look at the issue and recognized that there are certain situations and communities where old-growth forests are a viable, long-term economic generator,” Baxter said.

“At the same time, our membership does recognize that we need to have certainty and predictability accessing land, so we have a resolution that also passed that looked at ways to ensure that we don’t unduly impact access to timber harvest lands, either.”

Dan Hager, president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, said his community’s economy has shifted from logging to tourism — first sport fishing, but more recently as a big-tree destination with draws like Big Lonely Doug and the Red Creek Fir.

Since Avatar Grove was protected in 2012, area accommodation providers report increased demand of about 75 to 100 per cent each year, Hager said. And while tourism used to drop significantly in winter months — off-season for sport fishing — activity has steadily increased even when fishing charters are not operating.

“Thanks to the trees, Port Renfrew is no longer a one-industry tourism town and has been able to successfully brand itself the ‘Tall Tree Capital of Canada,’ ” said Hager, who co-owns Handsome Dan’s cottage rentals. Hager sponsored the old-growth protection resolution.

Both Wu and Hager expressed hope that the resolution might push the province to give regulatory protection to 3.2 hectares of Crown land in the Central Walbran Valley, where forest products company Teal Jones Group has a cutblock permit.

The old-growth forest already draws hikers and visitors. But B.C. Supreme Court granted the logging company an injunction extension to keep environmental activists from impeding its work.

Forests Minister Steve Thomson was not available for comment and a ministry spokesman did not say whether the province would consider the chamber’s resolution.

“While some communities on Vancouver Island have successfully diversified their local economies more into tourism, many are still heavily dependent on forestry,” a ministry spokesman said.

“Given that old-growth forests make up 45 per cent of public coastal forests, it is not possible to fully stop logging in old-growth forests without having a severe negative impact on local employment.”

Seventy-five per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on B.C.’s southern coast, according to the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Read more: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-chamber-of-commerce-hugs-old-growth-trees-1.2267701

‘Insane Damage’: Activist Accuses Logger of Breaking Disclosure Law

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An environmental activist says that for six months Lemare Lake Logging Ltd. has failed to meet the legal requirement to show him the company's plans for logging on publicly owned land in the East Creek valley on northern Vancouver Island.

British Columbia's Forest and Range Practices Act says that companies must make their site plans “publicly available on request at any reasonable time” at their offices.

“I've been asking for that for six months,” said Mark Worthing, a biodiversity and forestry campaigner with the Sierra Club of B.C. “They're barring access to us, obviously because they don't like us.”

A company official took a message from The Tyee on Wednesday, but the call was not returned by publication time.

A forest ministry spokesperson said the province is keeping an eye on the logging in East Creek and that it's being done properly.

Worthing wants to see for himself. He said he's had a representative visit Lemare's office in Port McNeill unannounced and he's tried setting up meetings ahead of time, but so far has not been shown a site plan. “We were given the run around for half a year,” he said. “In that time they've managed to log like it's 1920.”

Scrutiny needed, says activist

East Creek borders Mquqᵂin / Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park on the west side of northern Vancouver Island. Logging in the area has been controversial since at least 2003, when the Wilderness Committee campaigned to protect it.

Worthing said the area is ecologically rich, with one of the last unprotected old growth forests on Vancouver Island. It is home to northern goshawks, marbled murrelets, five species of Pacific salmon and many other plants and animals, he said.

“This is untouched rainforest,” Worthing said. “Generally speaking, logging it at all is heinous.”

But when he and others visited East Creek in October, the logging they observed wasn't up to modern standards, he said. Roads were poorly built, streams were damaged and culturally modified trees may have been logged.

“As soon as we saw it, it was pretty insane,” he said. “Everything [there] is grand in scale and so is the damage.”

Worthing tried to look further into the plans for the area, but those attempts were frustrated by the company's refusal to share the site plans, he said. “Civil society or the public can't even do their job to scrutinize what's happening on Crown land,” he said. “Without public access, there can't be public scrutiny.”

He said he complained to the government, but that they never reported back to him on what they did. A couple weeks ago he also complained to the Forest Practices Board, he said.

Ongoing inspections, says gov't

Steve Thomson, the minister for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, was unavailable for an interview.

The minister can levy up to a $10,000 fine for a failure to provide access to a site plan under the Forest and Range Practices Act, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. In this case, however, the ministry believed the matter had been resolved, he said.

“In January, the ministry's Compliance and Enforcement branch had discussions with the Sierra Club,” the statement said. “At that time, Sierra Club indicated that while they had initial problems getting access to the site plans, arrangements had been made with the licensee to visit with them in their office and view the plans.”

Worthing said there was a meeting arranged, but the company cancelled it and rescheduled, then cancelled again and rescheduled. “I proceeded to get the run around,” he said.

The ministry spokesperson also said that the government has been actively monitoring logging in the area. “So far in 2016, the ministry's Compliance and Enforcement branch has conducted over 10 inspections in the East Creek area including road maintenance and construction, streams and riparian reserves, culturally modified trees, timber transport and scale site inspections,” he said.

While inspectors found a few “non-compliances” with regulations for timber marking and roads, the licensee has addressed the issues, he said, adding that ministry staff will continue inspections in areas where there is active logging.

There are targets for the amount of old growth to be protected throughout the 5,012 hectare watershed, and sections of the valley are protected as marbled murrelet habitat (896 hectares, plus another 151 hectares proposed) and ungulate winter range (93 hectares), he said. There's also a 744 hectare wildlife habitat area that includes the creek itself.

Sierra Club wants science-based plan

Jens Wieting, a forest campaigner with the Sierra Club, said that for Vancouver Island there is no science-based plan for forestry like the one that was recently agreed to for the Great Bear rainforest on B.C.'s mid-coast.

“It's like night and day,” he said, noting the land use plan covering East Creek is from 1993 and outdated. “We have almost no conservation based on science on Vancouver Island.”

He said logging in East Creek, which he estimates is at about 100 hectares a year, is an “extreme example” of what's wrong with forestry on Vancouver Island. “[We are] asking the B.C. government to take action to put logging on hold in the area because it's clear there's no due diligence whatsoever.”

The Sierra Club's Worthing said that at the current rate of logging there will be no old growth forests left on Vancouver Island in another 20 years, so it would make sense for the government to act now to save what's left.

“They have no plan for the end of old growth logging,” he said. “They're literally just going to log it until it's gone.”

Read more: https://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/27/East-Creek-Valley-Cuts/

Ancient Forest Alliance

ELF sets up new protest camp, wins backing from Sierra Club

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The Elphinstone Logging Focus is working to stop a BC Timber Sales (a BC government-directed logging cutblock) cutblock in the biologically rich mature forests on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone near Gibsons. You can see their website here: www.loggingfocus.org

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Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) is making another effort to stop, or at least delay, the auctioning of a BC Timber Sales (BCTS) cutblock on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone.

Block A87125 is in the area ELF calls “Twist and Shout Forest.” It’s also within the boundaries of what the group is hoping will someday become an expanded Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park.

ELF’s Ross Muirhead told Coast Reporter a 24/7 camp was set up last weekend on an old spur road that accesses the cutblock. He said the group plans to hold events at what they’ve dubbed “Elphinstone Forest Protection Camp” throughout the summer.

The group has backing from Sierra Club BC, which issued a statement Wednesday calling for the province to “rescind the auctioning of this cutblock and commence a comprehensive park expansion/connectivity implementation process through engagement with the Squamish and shíshálh nations and local communities.”

ELF was instrumental in getting BCTS to delay the auction of the cutblock last year.

In a Factsheet published May 18, the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) said, “A87125 comprises second-growth forest on Mount Elphinstone, and specific measures incorporated into the design of A87125 that go above and beyond legal requirements include: buffering a popular mountain bike trail from harvest; placing additional setbacks on streams; and retaining veteran Douglas-fir trees that survived historical fire and logging.”

FLNRO also notes that “the province has no plans to expand the existing park,” and it’s been talking with First Nations, local governments and community groups since it added A87125 to its harvesting plan.

ELF released a statement just before setting up the protest camp, quoting a 2015 study it commissioned from biologist Wayne McCrory that concluded the area is worth preserving.

“If this cutblock is allowed to proceed it will take out approximately 30 hectares [74 acres] of prime older forests that’s already in between two former cutblocks,” ELF’s Hans Penner said in the statement. “We encouraged BCTS to look to the north outside the 2,000 hectare [4,942 acre proposed park expansion] across the Sechelt-Dakota Forest Service Road where harvesting can take place in actual tree farms. This reasonable request has been met with silence.”

The public comment period on the cutblock auction ended April 18, and the bidding is scheduled to end June 3. According to FLNRO, the successful bidder will have 11 months to start logging before the licence expires.

Read more: https://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/elf-sets-up-new-protest-camp-wins-backing-from-sierra-club-1.2263907

A crisis in Island’s old-growth forests

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The current state of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island is now being classified by some as an ecological emergency. Putting this in context, over 90 per cent of the biggest and most productive low-elevation old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have now been logged. Of the remaining 9-10 per cent roughly three per cent is protected in parks or Old Growth Management Areas. The rest of it is up for grabs by logging companies.

There are a number of reasons why we should care deeply about this issue, and take steps to protect our old growth forests. First, they provide habitat for many species and, importantly, they are a crucial habitat to a number of species at risk including the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. Second, these forests are substantial carbon sinks and actually take in more carbon than young forests do. Finally, as anyone who has visited Cathedral Grove can attest, they can play a strong role in local eco-tourism efforts.

Unfortunately, productive old-growth forests are also the most profitable to cut down. While the province has a process in place for old-growth management, the problem is that the approach does not distinguish between high and low-productivity forests. This means that they end up protecting small mountaintop trees and let logging happen in the valley bottoms.

Recently there has been a substantial outcry against the proposed logging that could occur in the Walbran Valley. This is the only contiguous prime ancient forest in southern Vancouver Island large enough to provide habitat for certain species at risk. It is exactly the type of forest we need to be protecting.

While the Walbran is a well-known area, there are a number of old growth forests on Vancouver Island that are at risk including: Nootka Island, East Creek, Edinburgh Grove, Tsitika Valley, Nahmint Valley, Southwest Nimpkish, Echo Valley, Maclaughlin Ridge, Horne Mountain and the Cameron Valley Fire Break.

The reality is that most people and local governments on Vancouver Island support increased protection of our remaining old growth forests. City councils, chambers of commerce and the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities have all called for a limit or for increased protections to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island, yet we have not seen anything concrete from our provincial government.

I have written to the minister on this subject and have proposed some solutions, including that the government designate more old-growth forests as off-limits to logging.

In order to see movement on this issue, we need to have open and inclusive conversation with everyone involved. I will continue to raise the issue at every opportunity and I am ever hopeful that we can start down the path of more sustainable development in our forestry industry on Vancouver Island.

Read more: https://www.saanichnews.com/community/a-crisis-in-islands-old-growth-forests/

Overwhelming beauty: Almost every inch of Port Renfrew, B.C., inspires awe

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There’s a certain romance in wondering what lies at the end of the road, and when the road in question is so intriguingly serpentine, sharply twisting and turning its way through the dense forest that runs parallel to the Juan de Fuca Strait off Vancouver Island, there’s a thrilling whiff of adventure in the air too. What lies at the end of the West Coast Highway – or Highway 14, to give it its rather more prosaic name – is Port Renfrew. Or, as I’ve taken to describing it: Tofino 20 years ago.

There’s that same arresting, wild West Coast scenery: wind-blasted Sitka spruce, pristine beaches, softly sloping hills bristling with Douglas fir and hemlock, and those awe-inspiringly huge waves breaking on the shore. But unlike Tofino – farther up the Vancouver Island coast – there are no surf shops or art galleries, no youth hostels or ritzy resort hotels, and very little in the way of, well, anything at all, really. Just endless natural beauty and – thanks to a recent renovation – a rather good pub, and surprisingly stylish seaside cottages.

But change is coming to the sleepy town, thanks to developer Ian Laing and family, who last year bought the pub, cabins and commercial land – essentially most of the town – from the former owner of Harlequin Enterprises (of romance-novel fame). They have big plans for the area, including a gift shop, gas station and commercial zone.

However, right now, with no cell signal, and just a two-hour drive from Victoria, it’s the perfect break for city types seeking a West Coast experience without the crowds. I’d gone looking for storms to watch and trails to hike and found them both in spades. However, I didn’t know that it was possible for rain to be this wet – sure, I was in a rain forest, but c’mon! I could feel it soaking through my usually impenetrable Canada Goose parka, a steady stream from my waterlogged tuque dripping down my face. No wonder it’s nicknamed Port Rainfrew.

After settling in at my cabin at Wild Renfrew, which featured a kitchen, bathtub and huge windows overlooking the ocean, I drove to the Botanical Beach Loop Trail, a part-boardwalk hike deep through the forest on a trail constructed by the youth of the Pacheedaht and T’Sou-ke First Nations.

In the heart of winter, plenty of leafy greenery was still on display; ferns glossy from the rain curled on each side of the trail, and mossy old man’s beard hung wispily from the soaring Douglas firs and chunky western red cedars. I was alone among the trees, and for a while, the only sound was the steady thrumming of torrential rain on the forest canopy and the squelch of my boots along the trail, until I started on a downhill section and heard the sea pounding the rocks below.

When I arrived on the beach, I shrieked with delight: Sitka spruce hunched low by the water determinedly growing in the gaps between the rocks – and oh, what rocks. Frilled like a mille-feuille pastry, ridges of shale and quartz jutted through black basalt and smooth sandstone, where centuries of relentless waves had worn deep tidal pools. I’d have loved this as a kid; this wasn’t a sandy beach where you’d build castles and lie snoozing in the sun. This was a beach to wear rain boots in all weathers, puddle-jumping and exploring the miniature world of the tidal-pool aquariums that trapped all kinds of fascinating marine life: urchins, starfish and chiton, until the tide rolled back in again.

Still, on a soaking day like this, I contented myself with picking over the rocks for an hour or so, before climbing the stairs back to the trail. Dried off and warmed up later, I tore into crisp, battered, juicy halibut and piled-high poutine with a decidedly fancy wine-kissed gravy at the Port Renfrew Pub. No ordinary middle-of-nowhere boozer, behind the bar there was an excellent selection of locally distilled spirits from the nearby Sheringham Distillery, and wine from small B.C. suppliers such as Unsworth Vineyards in Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley.

Sleepy after my feast, I curled up by the fire in my wooden cottage and watched entranced as plumes of rain-forest mist swirled up from the trees on the far-off hills, while the waves lashed the beach beyond my window. That night I was lulled to sleep by the sound of rain beating down on the roof, and I could hear the howl of the wind and the crash of the ocean outside.

The stormy deluge continued the next day and I ran through a sudden hailstorm to meet Drea Gibson for a guided hike through Avatar Grove to find “Canada’s Gnarliest Tree.” An ex-local, now living in nearby Shirley, “Day Trip Drea” runs guided hikes and camping trips around the area, and she proved a fun fount of knowledge.

There’s a fascinating back story to Avatar Grove, which only got its name a few years back after the Ancient Forest Alliance campaigned to have the area saved from logging and it was declared a protected area in 2012. Named after James Cameron’s epic 2009 movie, it’s home to some of the most ancient trees on Vancouver Island and just a few minutes drive from Port Renfrew. Unlike Cathedral Grove, a protected old-forest area on the way to Tofino, Avatar Grove is no simple stroll. Although the AFA has been laying down boardwalk to protect the root systems of the trees, there’s still plenty of clambering over logs and navigating slippery slopes before you reach the famous Gnarly Tree. You spend so much time looking where you’re going, in fact, that when you finally stop and look up, it’s more than a little overwhelming. Thoughts crash through your mind in rapid succession: Oh wow, that’s so beautiful. Oh man, that’s so big! And, most importantly: How the hell did anyone even think about logging this treasure?

As Gibson and I stop to take in the jaw-clanging abundance of arboreal beauty, we talk about the attractions of the area: “The really big draw is that there is nothing to do,” she says with a grin. “It’s wild and it’s rugged; you can hike, swim, fish and just have your own spot here.” Throughout the summer, Gibson says, the little town transforms again as the handful of other businesses open for the season, and the cabins and campgrounds are full of visiting families. “It still feels pristine and untouched,” Gibson adds. “I love Port Renfrew because it’s quiet and quaint and gorgeous.”

As we clamber back down to the road again, the rain finally dries up and I’m rewarded with an extraordinary, vivid rainbow emblazoned across the sky.

Later that day I explore the sandy beach at the Pacheedaht Campground; again I’m the only person there to watch bald eagles wheel overhead as I perch on an orange arbutus log. As magic hour swings around, the light turns the gun-metal grey sea into a golden-apricot swath of silk shimmering between the mountains and the shoreline. I sigh with contentment and happiness – and rainbows – found at the end of the road.

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/overwhelming-beauty-almost-every-inch-of-port-renfrew-bc-inspiresawe/article29583454/

Vancouver Island’s old-growth forest an ‘ecological emergency’: Sierra Club

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Looking down from an elevation of 400 kilometres or so, Vancouver Island appears to be covered by a mostly intact jade-green forest from one end to the other. Using a Google Earth mapping tool that incorporates logging data, however, the Sierra Club of B.C. has created a different image – one showing just a few remaining pockets of rich old-growth forest.

“This can be described as an ecological emergency,” said Jens Wieting, forest campaigner for the Sierra Club of B.C. “The last big, contiguous old-growth areas with giant trees, such as the Walbran on the southern island and East Creek on the northern island, should be considered as rare as white rhinos.”

Just one-tenth of Vancouver Island’s most productive old-growth rainforest with the tallest trees remains unlogged, he said, and some of that is currently approved for logging.

The B.C. government states that on Vancouver Island, 46 percent of the forest on Crown land is still covered by old-growth forest, but Mr. Wieting said that figure is inflated because the province includes less productive ecosystems such as bogs or sparsely treed high elevations. What remains, he said, is a patchwork of forests that are too small to ensure biodiversity.

“For Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s south coast, we believe it is urgent to develop a new conservation plan to safeguard the remaining intact areas and to restore older second growth so that we can have some connectivity,” he said in an interview.

In February, environmentalists celebrated an agreement to protect the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.’s central coast. That historic pact ensures that 85 per cent of the old growth will not be logged, includes economic benefits for First Nations and provides the forest industry with a green seal of approval for the timber it is allowed to harvest in the region.

With that agreement completed, environmental campaigns have shifted to other regions. The Sierra Club of B.C. has highlighted logging of old growth just outside the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park on southern Vancouver Island, and Mr. Wieting said the province should be looking at the objectives of the Great Bear Rainforest there as well.

The province has set aside 1.8 million hectares of old-growth forests on the coast for protection as parks or other conservation areas. Under the Forest and Range Practices Act, it sets targets for old-growth preservation within geographic and biological regions that range from 1 to 28 per cent. It maintains that those parcels are large enough to maintain biodiversity.

However, the independent Forest Practices Board has questioned the government’s stance. In a 2012 report, the board said the province has improved its old-growth forest management plans but concluded there is “a compelling need for government to undertake comprehensive effectiveness monitoring to determine whether or not efforts to protect biodiversity in these areas are actually effective.”

The provincial Forests Ministry issued a written statement noting it has since pledged to increase tracking and monitoring of old-growth forests.

Richard Hebda, the Royal B.C. Museum’s curator of botany and earth history, said in an interview the Sierra Club’s Google Earth mapping tool confirms what his own research has suggested – that there is not much old-growth forest left on Vancouver Island, and that what is left is not well connected.

That is troubling, he said, because B.C.’s intact coastal forests will be crucial in adapting to climate change: “Healthy forests are going to play an important role in our future.”

Dr. Hebda said the most resilient forests are those that have been intact for thousands of years, weaving together a complex system of hydrology, soil formation, nutrient cycling and more into an ecosystem that is more capable of surviving changes in climate.

Logging doesn’t just remove the trees, he said, but unravels that living fabric that holds those systems together.

“We need a hard-nosed investigation of what we want these forests to be doing: Do we want to protect biodiversity? Do we want them to be very good at storing carbon? Then we can decide how much forest we actually need,” he said. “I think the answer will be a much higher percentage than we now have.”

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouver-islands-old-growth-forest-an-ecological-emergency-sierra-club/article29427393/

Council endorses Pop for Parks

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Saanich council has put their support behind Pop for Parks, an initiative calling on the provincial government to direct unclaimed bottle deposits into a land acquisition fund.

On Monday, council voted 8-1 in favour of the resolution, which is to be submitted to the AVICC and the UBCM. If approved, B.C. residents could see $10 to $15 million annually put toward creating and protecting green spaces in the province.

The recommendation was brought to council in a joint report by Couns. Fred Haynes and Vic Derman. Haynes noted that about 20 per cent of bottles and cans are not returned, creating windfall profits for the beverage industry.

“What we’re seeking in this resolution is attention to that fund, and it might be that part of the fund is used for parks,” said Haynes. “The aim is to raise this issue and have that fund looked at as a possible source of revenue for parks.”

Likewise, Derman acknowledged that the money would do a lot of good for the local environment, even if it wasn’t entirely used to acquire green spaces.

“I think there is an opportunity to mandate that a fair amount of this unredeemed deposit on the part of the public should go to something like parks,” said Derman.

Coun. Leif Wergeland voted against the proposal, but only because he wanted council and residents to consider if there are other options where the money would be better spent.

“The acquisition and protection of ecologically sensitive private lands in B.C., I don’t think anyone around this table or in this room can really argue with that,” he said. “The question I think we have to ask ourselves and the greater community is, if these funds are accessible to us, acquiring and protecting parkland, is that the most important issue facing us? It could well be, but I think we should look at that before we just look at one area and say we’d like to put money into this.

“For that reason only, I support the environment, but on this issue, I’d like to be sure this is where our residents and council really want to put the money.”

Read more: https://www.saanichnews.com/community/council-endorses-pop-for-parks/