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.”

Media Release: Conservationists Relieved as Forest Company Backs Away from Logging Canada’s Finest Old-Growth Cedar Grove, Vancouver Island’s "Castle Grove" in the Upper Walbran Valley

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For Immediate Release

November 30, 2012

Conservationists Relieved as Forest Company Backs Away from Logging Canada’s Finest Old-Growth Cedar Grove, Vancouver Island’s “Castle Grove” in the Upper Walbran Valley

BC government also moving forward with a “legal tool” to potentially protect BC’s largest trees and monumental groves in spring of 2013 – but more comprehensive “ecosystem-level” old-growth protection also needed

See spectacular PHOTOS of the Castle Grove at: https://16.52.162.165/photos.php?gID=21

(NOTE: Media are free to reprint any photos, photo credit to “TJ Watt” if possible.)

Conservationists are breathing a sigh of relief as Canada’s finest stand of old-growth redcedar trees appears to have been spared the axe – for now. The Castle Grove in the Upper Walbran Valley on southern Vancouver Island (west of Lake Cowichan) had been flagged for logging in August by the Teal-Jones Group and subsequently was the focus of an intense environmental campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance (www.AncientForestAlliance.org). In addition, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations has recently indicated that they intend to follow through on a 2011 promise to create a “legal tool” to potentially protect the province’s largest trees and monumental groves, which the AFA would like to see used to protect the Castle Grove.

“We’re happy that the logging company has given some breathing room for Canada’s finest old-growth redcedar grove – now we need the BC Liberal government to follow up with some legal protection so we don’t ever have to refight this again,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re also pleased to hear that the BC government is finally moving forward with the potential legal protection for BC’s largest trees and monumental groves – whether this actually happens, what legal form it takes, where the protections are located, and how extensive the protections are, won’t be known until the spring. Most importantly however, we need much more comprehensive ‘ecosystem-level’ protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests, which are vital to sustain endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. Sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry is also needed to support BC forestry jobs, as most of our forests in southern BC are second-growth now.”

In several recent emails to the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Ministry of Forests stated that while the forest company, the Teal-Jones Group, is still actively pursuing old-growth logging in other areas in the region, the company has backed down from their logging plans in the Castle Grove. The email stated:

“There is no cutting permit application for the Upper Castle Grove area. Apparently the company did some preliminary work, hence the tape, but has decided not to pursue any harvesting in that area.”

Another email stated:

The Ministry…is currently conducting policy analysis and stakeholder consultation around legal tool(s) that could specifically protect the big trees we are already aware of. The ministry is also exploring the feasibility of a legal mechanism that could protect big trees that have not yet been located …Options are currently being identified and will be thoroughly analyzed…conclusions and recommendations will be brought forward by the spring of 2013. “

For the past several months the Ancient Forest Alliance had been bracing for a major escalation in BC’s “War in the Woods” as survey tape marking the “falling boundary” for logging had been discovered in August in Upper Castle Grove. Subsequently, the organization began a public awareness campaign that included media coverage (see the Vancouver Sun and Times Colonist article), photography and video expeditions, slideshow tours, and a major letter-writing campaign among thousands of environmental supporters.

“Not all old-growth forests are created equal – the Castle Grove tops all remaining ancient cedar forests that we know for its combined qualities of grandeur, geographic size, and intactness. It’s a real life Jurassic Park-type landscape, a global treasure that must absolutely be protected,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Of all places, the Castle Grove is THE place where a legal designation to protect our monumental ancient groves would make the most sense. The existing so-called ‘Special Management Zone’ in the Upper Walbran Valley has resulted in the area’s old-growth forests being turned into Swiss cheese, punctured with major clearcuts throughout.”

The Castle Grove is an extensive stand of densely-packed enormous redcedars, including the “Castle Giant”, a 16 foot (5 meter) diameter cedar that is one of the largest trees in Canada. It sits on unprotected Crown (public) lands within Tree Farm License 46 in the Upper Walbran Valley. Unfortunately much of the grove is not protected by any forest reserve designations such as Old-Growth Management Areas, Ungulate Winter Ranges or Wildlife Habitat Areas. The Walbran Valley has been the focus of protests against old-growth logging for years, and early protests in 1991 there played an important role in the build-up towards the massive Clayoquot Sound protests near Tofino on Vancouver Island in 1993. Most of western Vancouver Island, including the Walbran Valley, is in unceded Nuu-cha-nulth First Nations territory.

See a beautiful photogallery of the Walbran Valley at: https://16.52.162.165/photos.php?gID=7

In February, 2011, former Minister of Forests Pat Bell promised that the BC Liberal government would implement a new legal tool to protect the largest trees and associated groves after a Forest Practices Board report that investigated the logging of an exceptionally grand stand of ancient redcedars near Port Renfrew showed a deficiency in protection levels for productive stands over 400 years in age. The BC government has indicated that they may be looking at using existing legal tools, namely provincial Recreation Sites and Old-Growth Management Areas, to fulfill this function.

See the BC government’s announcement in February, 2011, about creating a new legal tool to protect BC’s largest trees and groves:

Vancouver Sun and Times Colonist: “B.C. looking for new ways to protect ancient trees” (Feb.16, 2011)

“We don’t care if the BC Liberal government uses new or old tools to protect our endangered ancient groves like the Castle Grove. The main thing is they need to actually designate such areas for protection, otherwise it was simply an empty promise for PR purposes at the time,” stated Ken Wu. “Most importantly, the BC Liberal government needs to implement a much more comprehensive Provincial Old-Growth Strategy to protect old-growth ecosystems on a much larger scale across BC.”

The BC government’s PR-spin inflates the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including hundreds of thousands of hectares of marginal, low productivity forests growing in bogs and at high elevations with smaller, stunted trees, lumped in with the productive old-growth forests (where most logging takes place). “It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money and then claiming to be a millionaire, so why curtail spending?” stated Ken Wu.

These low productivity forests are extensively protected and are disproportionately represented in parks and regulatory-protections compared to the productive, big-treed forests. The government’s statistics also fail to reveal the context of the remaining old-growth forests, that is, how much of these forests once remained across Vancouver Island, including on the vast corporate-owned private lands on eastern Vancouver Island that until recent years were managed as public lands (until the Tree Farm Licenses were removed, thus deregulating the lands) and where about 95% of the old-growth forests have been logged.

On Vancouver Island, satellite photos show that about 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley-bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow and most biodiversity resides. Only about 10% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s). Of 2.3 million hectares of original, productive old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, about 1.7 million hectares have now been logged. Of the remaining 600,000 hectares of productive old-growth forests, just over 200,000 hectares are protected in parks and regulatory protections like OGMA’s.

See maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government and the NDP Opposition to commit to implementing a BC Old-Growth Strategy that will protect old-growth forests wherever they are scarce (such as on Vancouver Island, in the Lower Mainland, in the BC Interior, etc.). The AFA is also calling for the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which constitute most of the forests in southern BC, and to ensure a guaranteed log supply for BC mills and value-added wood manufacturers by ending the export of raw logs to foreign mills.

Victoria Outreach Intern Position – Apply Now!

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The AFA is looking for a volunteer intern for 2 months to work at least 15-30 hours a week to staff our holiday season booth to assist in the sale of calendars, cards, and posters sales in December, and to assist in outreach to our supporters to help protect BC’s old-growth forests. Interns will also gain insights about important forest policies and environmental campaigning skills. This position starts ASAP.

To apply, please contact Joan Varley:  joan@15.222.255.145

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.

Echo Lake and the surrounding ancient forests.

Echo Lake Ancient Forest – Follow-Up Letters Needed! Please WRITE!

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Recently, over a thousand of you wrote letters to the BC government asking for the full protection of the Echo Lake Ancient Forest near Mission (see www.ProtectEchoLake.com), an extremely rare, lowland old-growth rainforest that is also the world’s largest night-roosting site for bald eagles.  The BC government is proposing to protect about 45 hectares, or about half, of the old-growth forests around Echo Lake as an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA). Unfortunately, the government’s proposal excludes spectacular stands of old-growth redcedars and Douglas firs on the west and north sides of the lake.
 
These unprotected forests are within a Woodlot License, a smaller logging tenure on Crown lands, which the BC government states is not subject to the creation of new Old-Growth Management Areas. However, it is within the government’s power to shift the Woodlot License boundaries to another second-growth forest area among the thousands of hectares of Crown lands in the region.
 
PLEASE write a follow-up letter asking the BC Liberal government to:

  • Please work to make a solution that will legally protect all of the old-growth forests around Echo Lake, including the 30 hectares or so of old-growth and mature forests on the north and west sides of the lake that are excluded from the proposed Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA). Voluntary measures on the part of the logging licensee will not suffice.
  • Such a solution could entail shifting the Woodlot License boundaries on the north side of the lake into second-growth forests elsewhere, among the thousand hectares of second-growth Crown lands available for harvesting in the Chilliwack District.
  • Enact a provincial Old-Growth Strategy to protect endangered old-growth forests across BC, such as in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and southern Interior.
  • Ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry and end the export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.

 
*** Be sure to include your home mailing address so they know you are a real person.
 
Write to:
 
Steve Thomson, BC Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations
FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
 
And CC your letter to:
 
Enrique Sanchez, Chilliwack District Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s) – Public Review Coordinator
Enrique.Sanchez@gov.bc.ca
 
Terry Lake, BC Minister of the Environment
ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca
 
Christy Clark, Premier of BC
Premier@gov.bc.ca
 
Norm MacDonald, BC Opposition Forests Critic
Norm.MacDonald.mla@leg.bc.ca

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/

Cortes Island resident and activist

Wildstands – A Cortes Community Alliance

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As Island Timberlands’ incursions on to Cortes Island heats up the battle to protect its old-growth forests heat up, please follow their campaign by going to their website:
https://wildstands.wordpress.com/

Island Timberlands road crews were on the island today (Nov 27), with security and police presence. Cortes community members have begun to block the road. Peaceful protest is underway. Please stay tuned for more info, and hold off on making travel plans – we will let you know when your presence is needed.

 

 

 

 

 

Giant old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the Wilson Creek forest.

Elphinstone Logging Focus – Wilson Creek forest under threat

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Citizens on the Sunshine Coast in Roberts Creek are fighting against
imminent logging in the Wilson Creek Forest – please visit the website
of Elphinstone Logging Focus for more details at:  https://www.loggingfocus.org/

The Wilson Creek Forest is a key forest area providing connectivity across the lower slopes of the Mt. Elphinstone area. This never-before-logged area is just a 10 minute drive from Roberts Creek and has a wonderful community trail that winds down to the pristine and untouched forest edges of Wilson Creek. It is the key western forest within the Elphinstone Park Expansion boundaries – NOW SCCA supported. Among its many important features, are a number of groves of the threatened Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem which the government states are threatened province wide.  THIS FOREST IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF BEING LOGGED- WE NEED YOUR HELP.

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