Some youngsters joined the protest against Island Timberlands logging operations on Cortes Island this week.

Loggers leave Cortes … but promise to return

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An unofficial time out is being observed in the standoff between Cortes Island environmental activists and Island Timberlands over the company’s plans to log its private land which contains old growth stands.

Last week, Cortes environmentalists, residents and supporters repeatedly blocked Island Timberlands’ crews from beginning logging operations near Basil Creek. Zoe Miles, a member of Wildstands, says the community has attempted to work with the company for more than four years to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry. “The community is now left with no choice but to stand in Timberlands’ path to defend these ecologically significant forests.”

The group lifted its blockade after frustrated logging crews left the island, but the company’s Director of Human Resources Mark Leitao says they are simply assessing their options. One of those options is a court injunction. Behind the scenes efforts were being made to bring the two sides together for talks.

West Vancouver environmental lawyer Joe Spears, who has been hired by the environmentalists, tells the Mirror: “Situation normal, trees standing.”

“This goes way beyond private property rights,” the lawyer says. “There is so little coastal old growth left.” Spears says there needs to be an informed discussion about the best use of the resource – “a source of raw logs for China or deferred forestation that gives rise to carbon credits?”

Ken Wu, Executive Director of Ancient Forest Alliance, says: “What is needed now is leadership from the Liberal government to help resolve the war in the woods by committing funds to purchase endangered ecosystems on private lands, including old-growth forests on Cortes Island.

The alliance is calling for a $40 million annual park acquisition fund. The last time the provincial government had a dedicated land acquisition fund was in the 2008 budget, Wu says.  A similar battle on Salt Spring Island over a decade ago between local residents and a logging company was resolved through funding from the provincial, federal and regional governments and local citizens to purchase the endangered lands around Burgoyne Bay and on Mount Maxwell.

Meanwhile, the Private Forest Landowners Association has taken Cortes activist Leah Seltzer to task for her claim that “privately managed forest companies (do not have) any legally binding regulations on their lands.”

There are more than 30 acts and regulations that apply to managed forest land, the association says, “and successive independent audits show the protection … on private managed forest land meets or exceeds the standard of protection on public lands.”

Seltzer counters: “The industry uses a model of ‘professional reliance’ which means that there is no real government oversight.  So, technically on the books, there is ‘legally binding legislation,’ but ultimately the forest professionals determine what compliance looks like and for us this feels a lot like the fox is watching the hen house.

[Campbell River Mirror online article no longer available]

Old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the Squirrel Cove Ancient Forest on Cortes Island.

Tiny Cortes Island girds for battle with China’s huge CIC wealth fund

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Residents of an idyllic island off the west coast of Canada are facing off against corporate opponents set to include a Chinese sovereign wealth behemoth, the US$480 billion China Investment Corporation (CIC).

Environmental activists and Cortes Island residents last week blockaded land owned by the Island Timberlands (IT) company, in a bid to prevent logging. They object to the environmental impact of felling on the island and fear that jobs and economic benefits will be sent to China.

Cortes Island activist Zoe Miles said that a reported deal for CIC to buy a 12.5 per cent stake in IT was a “huge part of the issue”. She also said that because IT was exporting raw logs to China, not finished products, the bulk of the economic benefits were being exported, too.

With a population of about 1,000, the British Columbia (BC) island is known for its natural beauty and thriving arts community.

“We aren’t anti-logging. We’re opposed to Island Timberlands’ model of industrial-scale logging,” said Miles, who was raised on the island, 160 kilometres north of Vancouver.

“The jobs after the cutting of the trees aren’t staying in BC,” she said. “Our concerns are both ecological and economic. We want to preserve the ecosystem and jobs for locals.”

She said the activists wanted IT to produce a logging plan “that meets the community’s desires”. That included preserving old-growth forest, setting logging back from waterways and not clear-cutting.

Some activists, including Ken Wu from the Ancient Forest Alliance, want the provincial government to protect parts of Cortes by purchasing it.

“You ultimately have to buy the private land that you want protected,” said Wu, whose group wants to re-establish a BC parks acquisition fund. “The government isn’t going to expropriate it.”

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that CIC was negotiating with Brookfield Asset Management to buy one-eighth of IT. Brookfield, with US$150 billion in assets under management, is a general partner and “significant majority shareholder” in IT said Brookfield senior vice-president for communications, Andrew Willis.

Willis said he could not comment on the reported US$100 million CIC deal. He said other investors in IT currently include Canadian provincial retirement funds. CIC did not respond to a request for comment.

The blockade last week resulted in IT withdrawing work crews sent to carve out logging roads. IT, the second-largest private landholder in BC, owns about 1,000 hectares on Cortes.

Mark Leitao, director of human resources at IT, said the firm was considering its next move, but still intended to log its land. “At the moment we are taking a rest and exploring our options … but our plan is to harvest those two blocks, safely,” he said.

IT workers were blocked last week by protesters lying in front of vehicles. Some protesters brought placard-waving children to the site.

Leitao said that the land in question was not virgin forest, having been through “at least one rotation” of logging, perhaps as long as 100 years ago. He said the firm was committed to saving “veteran” trees older than 250 years old.

He said that the land would not face clear-cut logging, in which most or all trees are razed.

“We are managing this tree by tree,” Leitao said. “We believe we have done right.”

Although the goal was to replant, he said that some of the felled land could be sold for property development.

Miles, the activist, said that singling out old trees to be saved was not good enough. “We’d draw a distinction between saving individual old growth trees and saving the old growth forest as a whole,” she said.

Link to original online article.

Cortes Island residents seek compromise with loggers

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Cortes Island residents who blockaded roads for a week in a fight to modify logging plans say they are hopeful talks with Island Timberlands can lead to a compromise.

But Mark Leitao, a spokesman for the company, said Thursday no commitment has been made to meet with the islanders, who are organized under the banner, Wildstands Alliance. The group lifted its blockade Wednesday, after logging crews withdrew from the island. But Mr. Leitao said the crews will be back.

“We’re resolute that we’re going to harvest and continue to manage our properties on Cortes over the long term,” he said. “At this point we’re sitting back and assessing our options.”

Mr. Leitao said the company has considered an injunction against the blockaders, if necessary, but isn’t in a rush.

“We’ll be on Cortes for the long term, and so a week here and there is not going to really affect the overall long-term scheme of things,” he said. “First and foremost we want to make sure that when we go to harvest, that we can do that safely.”

Island residents blocked roads to protest company plans to log privately owned forest lands on Cortes Island, which is in the Strait of Georgia, east of Campbell River. About 1,000 people live on the bucolic island, which is home to Hollyhock Farm Ltd., a well-known retreat that features workshops on writing, dance and yoga among other things.

Leah Seltzer, of the Wildstands Alliance, said the group took down the blockade with the expectation that a meeting with the company would follow.

“We hope that will happen in the near future,” she said, adding that island residents are not asking for an end to logging, just that plans be changed to ensure sensitive areas are protected. “We are definitely a community that is made up of people that includes loggers. We are interested in some logging … but it has to be selective logging.… We want their forests to be managed in a way that maintains ecological integrity.”

Ms. Seltzer said she is concerned the lack of dialogue between residents and Island Timberlands will worsen if a reported deal goes through in which China Investment Corp. is proposing to purchase timber assets from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. The Toronto-based company owns Island Timberlands, which is headquartered in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.

“It is hard enough to communicate with them now. Imagine if their offices were in China,” she said.

Ron Croda, a long-time resident, said a bitter battle was fought over the forest lands on Cortes Island in 1991, when MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. sought to log the area. “We put it off for 20 years,” he said. “That was a measure of some success.”

Mr. Croda said the battle divided the community then, and may do so again, because the issues are the same: The company has the legal right to log its forest lands, but many in the community want to protect the natural beauty of the island. “This is an example of corporate exploitation where the law is entirely on their side – but it’s leading to an environmental tragedy,” he said.

Ken Wu, a director of the Ancient Forest Alliance, called on the provincial government to end the dispute before it grows into a bigger confrontation. “Without the government taking action this will escalate into a war in the woods,” he said. “The BC Liberal government needs to show some leadership. They should not keep their heads down on the Cortes Island issue.”

Mr. Wu urged the government to set aside $40-million a year for park land acquisition.

Read more:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/cortes-island-residents-seek-compromise-with-loggers/article6071710/

Flagging tape marked "Falling Boundary" in a threatened area of mature forest of Cortes Island.

Cortes Island residents rejoice as Island Timberlands temporarily withdraws logging crew

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Link to Vancouver Observer article.

Cortes Island forest activists and residents celebrated today as Island Timberlands (I.T.) withdrew crews and announced that they would not attempt to move forward with operations for at least a week.Tensions on the island had been rising since the residents gathered to stage a logging blockade broke at the end of last week.

“We are feeling pleased that our efforts have kept these forests standing, which is a win for the community,” community organizer Leah Seltzer said.

“But we are also aware that I.T. crews could return to the island as early as next week.  We are continuing to organize on the ground, expand the movement and prepare for all possibilities.”

The protests were the latest in an ongoing effort by Cortes Island residents to stop logging on their island, which was originally scheduled to begin in January.

Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island Timberlands.

Island Timberlands expressed a desire to return to negotiations with Cortes Island residents, and their lawyers will be meeting with legal counsel from Straith Litigation Chambers of West Vancouver, who have been retained by Cortes community stakeholders.

Residents of Cortes Island, BC and supporters from across the province began the blockade in late November, in response to the arrival of contractors.

“This follows years of attempts to get Island Timberlands to join us in an ecosystem-based approach to forestry,” Cortes-raised forest activist Zoë Miles said.

“But we have not been met with willingness on the part of I.T.  In fact, their logging plans have consistently failed to meet the wishes of the community.”  Islanders’ stated wishes are to conserve provincially designated sensitive ecosystems and old-growth stands, protect wetlands and salmon-bearing streams, and agree to no clear-cut logging.

Many Cortes residents have made it clear that they not categorically opposed to all types of logging: they said they would support it if done in a sustainable manner.

At stake are some of the last 1 per cent of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir forests, a number of documented threatened species, and provincially designated sensitive ecosystems.  Also at stake is a local and provincial economy that could use the long-term forestry jobs, say residents who believe I.T.’s industrial forestry model employs few locals, and only for the short term, while shipping most of their logs raw to Asian markets.

Community members hope that the situation can be resolved in a way that meets local needs.  Until then, islanders will be standing in the way of the equipment, and keeping a close eye on any further signs of I.T. activity on the island.

Flagging tape marked "Falling Boundary" was discovered over summer in the Upper Castle Grove.

Province has no plans to cut old-growth stand in Walbran, near Port Alberni

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[Times Colonist online article no longer available]

A stand of massive old-growth red cedars in the Upper Walbran Valley has escaped the axe, and the province is now looking for ways to protect unusually big trees.

Environmental groups were preparing for another round of the war-in-the-woods after logging tape was found this summer near Castle Grove and the “Castle Giant.” The western red cedar has a five-metre diameter and is listed in the BC Big Tree Registry as one of the widest in Canada.

But Teal Jones Group of Surrey, which holds the cutting licence, will not be logging that area, a Forests Ministry spokesman said in an emailed response to questions Thursday.

Teal Jones has not applied for a cutting permit in that location and “advised that they were not interested in harvesting in that area,” says spokesman Brennan Clarke.

Teal Jones could not be reached Thursday.

The province is also looking at options for protecting big trees and will be consulting with stakeholders, Clarke said. “Those discussions will also examine ways of providing legal protection for big trees that have not yet been located.”

The recommendations are expected in the spring, he said.

Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance, which launched a campaign to save the grove, said he is relieved Teal Jones is not planning to cut.

“Now we need the BC Liberal government to follow up with some legal protection so we don’t have to refight this again,” he said.

It is good news that the government is looking at legal protection for BC’s largest trees and monumental groves, Wu said. “Most importantly, however, we need much more comprehensive ecosystem-level protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests.”

Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park was established in 1990. The lower half of the Walbran Valley and the Upper Carmanah Valley were added in 1995.

Environmentalists have continued to push for protection of the valley’s remaining 7,500 hectares.

The Upper Walbran watershed, where Castle Grove is located, is considered a special management zone, Clarke said. “Management in that area is focused on sustaining and conserving the area’s unique ecological areas.”

Some youngsters joined the protest against Island Timberlands logging operations on Cortes Island this week.

Human shield stalls Cortes logging for third day

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[Campbell River Mirror article no longer available]

A Cortes Island blockade of Island Timberlands went into its third day Thursday as swelling ranks of environmentalists, residents and their children maintained a human shield against the logging company’s crews and equipment.

Zoe Miles, a member of Wildstands, says, “For more than four years, community members have attempted to work with the company to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry.  As road-building equipment moves in, the community is now left with no choice but to stand in its path to defend these ecologically significant forests.”

On Tuesday Island Timberlands trucks were stopped at a logging road gate at Basil Creek by two protesters lying on the ground. Company personnel filmed the protesters, likely in preparation for an application for a civil injunction, Miles told the Mirror. On Wednesday, a number of children joined the cause waving placards.

Protester Leah Seltzer says the ranks of the blockaders are swelling daily with the arrival of off-islanders and offers of financial and legal support are coming in.

“People are here because they want to make it known that the industrial forestry model doesn’t work for local communities and it doesn’t work for the province. Island Timberlands will destroy ecologically-sensitive ecosystems and leave nothing beneficial in its wake. We will be left with devastated ecosystems, a contaminated water supply and no long-term jobs. All the benefit is going to people who live far away and who aren’t aware of the cost of their profits to our community and our province.”

Island Timberlands’ Director of Human Resources Mark Leitao says access to “our private property” has been blocked and the company is reviewing its options. He will not say whether those options include seeking an injunction.

“As a result of community feedback we have made significant changes to our logging plans,” Leitao says. “We will log outside the tourist season. We’ve reduced the size of the blocks and changed the configuration of the openings. We plan to retain the veteran old growth trees – which are by government definition 250 year old trees – where it is safe and operationally feasible to do so.”

Activist and Cortes Island land-owner Tzeporah Berman says, “The majority of their logging is traditional clear-cut logging with devastating ecological implications that result in either a change of land use or a dramatically weakened and simplified ecosystem. Cortes resident and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler agrees: “There’s no excuse for industrial-scale logging in these times. Forward looking and economically viable alternatives exist that are based on community health and ecosystem health. Residents have sought Island Timberland’s participation in this kind of forestry model but have been met with disregard.”

Miles says the community protesters hope the blockade does not escalate.

The scarred landscape of an Island Timberlands clearcut along the McLaughlin Ridge from Oct. 2011. Approximately 400 hectares of the original 500 HA of old-growth remains along the ridges' core.

Alberni groups protest McLaughlin logging

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More than 80 people gathered at Echo Centre Monday for a meeting hosted by the Watershed-Forest Alliance in its quest to protect an old-growth forest at McLaughlin Ridge and in the China Creek Watershed.

Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser and retired government scientist Doug Janz were guest speakers at the event.

The pair were resolute: that the forest range needs to be protected with enhanced regulations.

“McLaughlin Ridge is critical winter range for deer and elk. Weyerhaeuser and Mac Blo saw this and left it untouched,” Fraser said. “The area is a unique system for many different species.”

Fraser retraced the history of the issue.

McLaughlin Ridge was removed from a tree farm licence in 2004 by then-owners Weyerhaeuser and is now considered privately managed forest land.

Provincial officials wanted critical winter habitat protected for two years and a committee would subsequently decide the form of protection.

The province and Island Timberlands disagreed on critical issues and the company ceased meeting in 2009. Harvesting plans were not science-based, government biologists said. “We asked Island Timberlands not to go into McLaughlin but at the end of the day it was their land,” Fraser said.

Groups have a bit of breathing room as logging has thus far occurred only in the lower areas and not on the upper ridge. And logging isn’t expected to start again until next spring, Watershed-Forest Alliance chair Jane Morden said.

The group will continue talks with Island Timberlands about stalling logging in the area.

The group doesn’t have a beef with the company, Morden said. “Island Timberlands has the legal right to do what it’s doing,” Morden said. “But the government erred in not following through with its intent to pursue winter ungulate ranges.”

Original article no longer available:  https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/180526621.html

Cortes Island citizens prepare for logging protests

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Lanky, clean cut Cec Robinson is pretty sure the RCMP has been following him on Cortes Island.  What danger does this quiet oyster farmer and family man pose? He intends to defend his island from industrial logging by Island Timberlands because he thinks it is the right thing to do for his community and for the planet.

Here are his words:

I am 62 years old, and for the last 23 years, a full time resident of Cortes Island, where my wife and I raised our daughter and son. This truly rare place is still a tapestry of diverse, healthy ecosystems, and I will peacefully block any industrial style logging on Cortes.

As a self-employed shellfish grower, I appreciate free enterprise. I say yes to modest sustainable timber harvest that protects sensitive areas and keeps most of the economic benefit within our community.

I also know that we must all be subject to reasonable constraints in order to protect society from carelessness and greed. In the case of corporately owned forest lands in BC, there are no such constraints. Our government ignores its responsibility, and instead allows these multi-national corporations, such as ‘Brookfield Asset Management’, to self-regulate.

Brookfieldwants to take our environment and convert it into cash for their distant shareholders. They want only to take! To take far too much and far too fast, and when will they give back? Back to the living earth that provided their excessive wealth, and back to my home, Cortes Island. With the last truckload of raw logs exported to China, what would Cortes Islanders be left with? A divided community with a degraded environment, reduced natural resources, tourism dollars lost. All this when climate change is bringing our children a greater need than ever for their environment to be as healthy, productive and abundant as possible.

It may be legal, but it is highly unjust for a corporation to do this to our community and environment.  We’ve written the letters and we’ve had the meetings. The corporation responded poorly, and the government, even less so. That leaves only you and me, until we have new legislation which determines that logging be more sustainable.

I love this earth, and I love our children, and I will fight to defend what I love. I will stand in the way, peacefully, 100 per cent, arrest or not. I will not be alone, and we will be there until we have achieved something wonderful.

Who is this sincere, upstanding citizen pitting himself against? Island Timberlands, which plans to industrial log Cortes Island is owned by Brookfield Asset Management with $110 billion in managed assets and bcIMC with $92 billion in managed assets. Most recently, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund which manages China’s foreign exchange reserves and has $410 billion in assets, has negotiated for a 12.5 per cent stake in Island timberlands.

These institutional owners first extract profits from forest liquidation and then from conversion of forests to residential development, known in corporate vernacular as a “higher and better use.” At its current rate of logging, Island Timberlands will destroy all its Douglas fir forest holdings within 25 years.

Cec is not the only islander to think that Cortes is caught up in a larger trend of destruction that serves no one who depends on the Earth for healthy existence.  More immediately, dozens of island business owners have made it clear that Island Timberland’s industrial logging will occur at the expense of their livelihoods.

Cortes Islanders have historically advocated truly sustainable forest management for high end wood working markets. In contrast, Island Timberlands uses  the discredited “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” certification, an industry scheme that bears no relation to the more stringent and credible “Forest Stewardship Certification.”

Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition asking Island Timberlands to stand down from industrial logging on Cortes Island. That petition resulted in a delay of Island Timberlands’ logging plans for 10 months of negotiations and a temporary commitment to not cut some of the old growth. But IT ultimately refused to meet the substance of the petition which sought permanent protection for old growth, water sheds, listed species and sustainable selective logging.

 

Please send an email for the forests of Cortes:

IT CEO Dashan Sihota:  dsihota@islandtimberlands.com

IT Operations Planner Wayne French:  wfrench@islandtimberlands.com

IT Director of Forest Operations Bill Waugh:  BillWaugh@islandtimberlands.com

IT Public Relations Morgan Kennah:  MKennah@islandtimberlands.com

bcIMC contact:

CEO/CIO, bcIMC:  doug.pearce@bcimc.com

Brookfield Asset Management contact:

BAM CEO Bruce Flatt:  bflatt@brookfield.com and kvyse@brookfield.com

 

Read more:  https://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/cortes-island-citizens-prepare-logging-protests

Will logging of ancient forest be halted before it can begin?

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Residents of Cortes Island have formed a blockade to stop the BC based timber company, Island Timberlands (I.T.), from beginning logging operations in one of BC’s last stands of old growth coastal Douglas-fir forest. For over four years, community members have attempted to work with the company to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry. As road-building equipment moves in, the community is now left with no choice but to stand in it’s path to defend these ecologically significant forests.

Yesterday, Island Timberlands trucks were stopped at a logging road gate by two protesters lying on the ground. Company personnel filmed the protesters, likely in preparation for an application for a civil injunction. The protesters did not respond to their questions and community members remained on the site until the end of the day.

Adjacent landowners were among the community members present. One couple explained that they have a water license on Basil Creek which runs through Island Timberlands’ property. I.T. plans to log in the riparian area and within 30 feet of the wetland that feeds the salmon-bearing creek. They wrote to Morgan Kennah, Island Timberland’s Manager for Community Affairs, stating their concerns about water supply and contamination. “I thought I would get a letter from Morgan assuring me that my water supply would be safe,” the landowner stated, “but that never happened. I got no response.” Another community member showed up with Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree to lighten the protesters’ spirits.

Leah Seltzer explained the situation in this way, “People are here because they want to make it known that the industrial forestry model doesn’t work for local communities and it doesn’t work for the province. Island Timberlands will destroy ecologically sensitive ecosystems and leave nothing beneficial in its wake. We will be left with devastated ecosystems, a contaminated water supply and no long-term jobs. All the benefit is going to people who live far away and who aren’t aware of the cost of their profits to our community and our province.”

The threatened lands contain some of the last 1% of old-growth Coastal Douglas-fir forests, and, according to Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), are some of the most extensive stands remaining in the endangered “Dry Maritime” forests along BC’s southern coast. The forests also contain a number of documented threatened species and sensitive ecosystems.

At this time, I.T. has contracted several local workers but these jobs will only provide short-term employment. More than 60% of I.T.’s raw logs are shipped out of the province to be processed overseas. Standing exclusively to profit are I.T.’s corporate shareholders, which include Brookfield Asset Management and the BC Investment Management Corporation, the pension fund for provincial employees.

While I.T. claims to use sustainable forestry practices, long-time forest activist and Cortes Island land-owner, Tzeporah Berman, warns us not to be fooled: “The majority of their logging is traditional clearcut logging with devastating ecological implications that result in either a change of land use or a dramatically weakened and simplified ecosystem. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) that Island Timberlands touts does not ensure strong environmental standards and has little support from First Nations or environmental organizations.”

Cortes resident and Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler agrees. “There’s no excuse for industrial-scale logging in these times,” he says. “Forward-looking and economically-viable alternatives exist that are based on community health and ecosystem health. Island Timberlands’ plans are a step backwards. Cortes Island is moving forward.” Residents have sought Island Timberland’s participation in this kind of forestry model but have been met with disregard.

Community members hope that the situation will not escalate, and that I.T. will recognize that Cortes holds a rare opportunity to work with a willing community to create a forestry model that benefits everyone. Until then, islanders will be standing in the way of the equipment, and keeping a close eye on any further signs of I.T. activity on the island.

Read more:  https://wildstands.wordpress.com/