Ancient Forest Alliance

Conservation Group Releases Pre-Election Summary of BC’s Political Parties’ Policies on Old-Growth Forests and Forest Policies

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VICTORIA – The Ancient Forest Alliance has released a summary of BC’s major political parties’ policy platforms and governance track records (NDP and Liberals) on old-growth forest protection and related forestry issues in BC ahead of the April 9 election.

See the summary infographic and the full analysis here: https://16.52.162.165/2017-provincial-election-summary-bc-party-platforms-on-old-growth-forests-and-related-forestry-issues/

“Forest protection and logging are hot-button topics in many parts of BC, but it’s not always clear where our politicians stand on these issues,” said Ken Wu, the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Executive Director. “We want voters to head to the polls on Tuesday armed with the facts.”

“An informed electorate is key to making democracy work. With the upcoming election, British Columbians have a unique opportunity to influence public policy around the issues that matter, including the health of our forests, wildlife, and watersheds and the creation and retention of sustainable forestry jobs.”

So far, no party has made the protection of old-growth forests a central issue, with the exception of a number of Green Party candidates in certain ridings.

One of the two shining lights of progress that are of interest to the Ancient Forest Alliance is in the Green Party’s forestry platform, where they have committed to identifying and protecting BC’s old-growth forests. Neither the Liberals nor NDP make any mention of old-growth forests in the forestry sections of their platforms.

The other positive light is in the NDP’s environment platform, where they make reference to using the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for old-growth forest management and land use planning in BC. While vague with considerable wriggle room, if interpreted in its strongest, most direct way, such an approach would likely end the logging of old-growth forests across much of the province, such as on Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland where old-growth forests are far more scarce than in the Great Bear Rainforest.

However, the NDP party has not directly stated that they would end old-growth logging anywhere – with the exception of Esquimalt-Metchosin NDP Mitzi Dean, who stated at an all candidates debate recently:
“Within the BC NDP platform we do mention old growth. We are committed to protecting old growth, that is in our platform and we are committed to that. Our strategy around that is that we will use the land planning process to make sure that we will protect old-growth forests. It’s really important to build that plan to protect old-growth forests … Second growth forests will be logged and not old-growth forests and those will be protected …We have it in our platform. We have the intention of protecting old-growth forests. Personally, I am committed to no further old-growth forests being logged as quickly as possible.”

Whether party leader John Horgan will officially commit the party to ending old-growth logging is of interest to the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Alas, the NDP and Liberals’ forestry platforms don’t make mention of old-growth forests and reflect the unsustainable status quo. They both commit to plant more trees, promote more wood construction projects in BC, help expand markets for BC wood, try to get a better softwood lumber deal with the US, and work with forest companies to try to create more jobs. Their forestry platforms state nothing about protecting old-growth forests, restricting raw log exports with specific policies or regulations, or providing incentives for converting old-growth mills for second-growth processing or value-added manufacturing.

As a whole, the NDP’s track record on protecting old-growth forests during their 10 years in power was significantly better than the BC Liberals’ governing track record over 16 years. In that time, the NDP increased protection in BC by 6% systematically across much of the province, while the BC Liberals increased protection by 3%, largely concentrated in the Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii, and Squamish Nation territory, while refusing any new protected areas across most of the rest of the province.

Besides calling for old-growth protection, the Green platform also proposes tax relief for companies investing in wood manufacturing and speaks of an interest in curbing raw log exports, although fails to propose specific mechanisms. Unlike the BC Liberals and NDP however, the Greens have no governing track record to judge them on.

“In summary, the Greens have the strongest platform for old-growth forests and wood manufacturing jobs, but no governing track record, while the NDP has a stronger platform and track record than the BC Liberals regarding old-growth protection and log exports,” stated Ken Wu.

Court rulings also show that the most important governing body for determining the ultimate fate of BC’s old-growth forests are the province’s diverse First Nations, whose unceded lands encompass most the of BC. The provincial government can facilitate old-growth protection by supporting First Nations’ old-growth conservation plans, like the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks and the Ahousaht Land Use Vision; providing financial support for sustainable, economic alternatives to old-growth logging in First Nations communities; and by facilitating a shift from old-growth to second-growth forestry policy across BC.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement comprehensive, science-based legislation to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests while ensuring a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry. Old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures. About 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged on BC’s southern coast, including 90% of the valley bottoms with the largest trees and richest biodiversity.

See before and after maps of southwest BC’s old-growth forest cover: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

See a new time lapse video showing logging activities in southwest BC since European settlement: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=1113

See the parties’ election platforms here:

BC Liberal Platform: https://www.bcliberals.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-Platform.pdf
NDP Platform: https://action.bcndp.ca/page/-/bcndp/docs/BC-NDP-Platform-2017.pdf
Green Platform: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/greenpartybc/pages/2300/attachments/original/1493054476/2017-platform-bcgreenparty-print.pdf?1493054476

Ancient Forest Alliance's Ken Wu stands alongside a 14ft wide redcedar stump from an old-growth tree cut down on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

Time Lapse Forest Cover Map Shows the Progressive Demise of Vancouver Island’s Old-Growth Forests over the past Century

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For Immediate Release

Time Lapse Forest Cover Map Shows the Progressive Demise of Vancouver Island’s Old-Growth Forests over the past Century

Victoria – A time lapse map of Vancouver Island has been released showing the demise of the Island’s old-growth forests over a century of industrial logging. Well over 90% of the original, high productivity, low elevation old-growth forests on Vancouver Island with the biggest trees have already been logged, according to the data analysis, while over 75% of the moderate to high productivity old-growth forests (ie. the commercially valuable old-growth forests) have been logged. Conservation groups, businesses and chambers of commerce, forestry workers and unions, naturalist clubs, city and town councils across BC, and many First Nations are calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests. Instead, a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry would support and enhance employment for BC’s forestry workers.

See the time-lapse map sequence here:  https://youtu.be/c9hTF2oxLjo

A series of new maps have been developed and placed in a time-lapse sequence to show the demise of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests for over a century. The maps, developed by Commons BC for use by conservation groups and the public, start in 1900 and end in 2016, and were created through a combination of satellite imagery, government data, and archives of old aerial photos. 

They show that the productive old-growth forests have been progressively clearcut across Vancouver Island, starting with the flat lowlands on southeastern Vancouver Island at the turn of the century and progressing west and north through the mountains, up the major valleys and across steep, rugged terrain in recent decades.

“These maps make it clear how successive governments have overseen and facilitated the demise of the greatest ancient rainforests on earth here on Vancouver Island for over a century – and it’s still going on at a rapid pace today. Our second-growth tree plantations don’t replicate the original ancient forests for species, the climate, water conservation, or for recreation and tourism opportunities, and they are to be logged again every 50 to 80 years. Therefore old-growth forests under BC’s system of logging are a non-renewable resource – we’re mining our old-growth forests. Once they are logged, they are not coming back, and future generations will be shocked to see how governments were thinking in this era to take these ecosystems to the brink of extinction,” stated Vicky Husband of Commons BC.

“Next to the US redwoods, Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests are the grandest on Earth. Here, trees can grow as tall as skyscrapers and as wide as living rooms. Given the fact that they are vital for tourism, endangered species, the climate, clean water, and many First Nations cultures – and that most of our forests are now second-growth today – it should be a no-brainer that the BC government needs to move fast to save what’s left of our scarce ancient forests”, stated Ken Wu, Executive Director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Instead, they’ve continued to spin the tale that old-growth forests are not endangered on Vancouver Island by including vast tracts of the stunted ‘bonsai’ trees growing in bogs and at the tops of mountains in their statistics. It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money, and then claiming to be a millionaire, so why stop spending?”

“The full transition into a purely second-growth forest industry is inevitable when the last of the unprotected old-growth forests are logged. We’re just saying let’s do it sooner, while we still have significant tracts of these ancient forests still standing”, stated Arnold Bercov, President of the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC). “By ending raw log exports and creating incentives and regulations for processing and value-adding second-growth logs, we can sustain and enhance forestry employment levels while protecting BC’s endangered old-growth forests at the same time.”

More information:Over the past year, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, and conservation groups across BC who have have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

BC’s premier business lobby, the BC Chamber of Commerce, representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution last May calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts across BC, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution last year calling on the province to protect the Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land use plan. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1057

The Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, recently passed a resolution calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=1100

The Ahousaht First Nation band north of Tofino in Clayoquot Sound recently announced that 82% of their territory will be off-limits to commercial logging. They now need provincial legislation and funding to help make their vision a reality.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a comprehensive science-based plan to protect all of BC’s remaining endangered old-growth forests, and to also ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustain unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically over-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 the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://www.ancientfo<wbr

One of several monumental western redcedars located in Jurassic Grove.

CHEK TV News on the Jurassic Grove

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See the CHEK News report to read more and watch the TV coverage: https://www.cheknews.ca/newly-discovered-old-growth-forest-vancouver-island-312417/

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner & Photographer

Logging Battle Looms as New Road is Pushed into one of Greater Vancouver’s last Lowland Old-Growth Forests – Echo Lake east of Mission

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Road construction has started into the endangered old-growth forest of Echo Lake between Mission and Agassiz in preparation for logging.

Conservationists and local landowners are reacting with alarm as a new logging road by C&H Forest Products has progressed over a kilometer into the contentious old-growth and second-growth forests north of Echo Lake as a precursor to logging three planned cutblocks there.

Echo Lake includes some of the last unprotected lowland old-growth forests in the Lower Mainland. It is renowned as the world’s largest night-roosting site for bald eagles, with hundreds of eagles roosting in the old-growth trees around the lake on some nights during the fall salmon run, and is home to much wildlife and several species at risk. The area is also part of a Community Drinking Watershed for local residents and is in the traditional, unceded territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation band, who run the Sasquatch EcoLodge and whose members run eagle watching tours nearby.

See a recent drone video taken at Echo Lake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfLbzncf9Us

And the original campaign video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPstV14oZ6s

“The BC government has shown a blatant disregard towards the environmental values and concerns of local residents by shrugging their shoulders and letting the company move ahead with their road-building and logging plans”, stated Susan Ben-Oliel, a private landowner on the east side of the lake. “They are forcing us to broaden our outreach to new allies in preparation for a battle – a battle which could be averted if the BC government took responsibility for finding a solution here, such as a land swap for the licensee involving second-growth forests outside of Echo Lake. I think the BC public is largely unaware and would be horrified to know that this kind of rare, majestic forest is open for logging”.

“Echo Lake is an environmental jewel that includes lowland ancient forest in a region that overwhelmingly consists of second-growth forests, clearcuts, and tiny scraps of old-growth forests with smaller trees growing on high, steep slopes. Today in the Lower Mainland, to find valley-bottom old-growth giant cedars outside of parks is as rare as finding a Sasquatch. It should be a no-brainer that all of the forests around tiny Echo Lake should be protected”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.

The road building plans and the three cutblocks were approved by the Forest Service earlier this year. The cutblocks are a mix of old-growth stands and mature second-growth stands with a large number of old-growth veteran trees in them. The road is now over a kilometer long and will eventually be as close as 100 metres from the lake’s north shore and also less than 100 meters from the area’s finest redcedar grove. While the company’s forestry consultant has indicated to local landowners that the company will leave the old-growth Douglas-firs standing and only log the smaller second-growth trees around them, the logging will nevertheless fragment an otherwise intact forested area in a region that is already heavily fragmented. In addition, these are voluntary measures that can be modified, since the old-growth on the north side has no legal protection, and the plan includes a loophole that allows the old-growth trees to still be cut if the company deems it necessary for “safety reasons”.

Importantly, the company has not committed to leaving the old-growth redcedars standing unless they are rotten or have dead tops, and plans to log the healthy old-growth redcedars. Most of the large cedars are found in the “Ancient Cedar Valley,” the finest old-growth stand at Echo Lake that is just beyond the scope of the current 5 year logging plan. However, if the current plans are completed, they would bring forestry operations less than 100 metres away from the Ancient Cedar Valley, which could become next in line for logging. Dozens of enormous redcedars grow in this valley-bottom area on the western side of Echo Lake, which is the lake’s most heavily visited area. The giant trees there are heavily featured in numerous online photos and news articles about Echo Lake.

Another cluster of large, impressive 140+ year old redcedars have also been marked for potential logging near the start of the Echo Lake trail just beyond the boundaries of the private lands on the lake’s east side. Such a move would be another major source of conflict with local landowners.

Currently the company’s cutting permits have expired for the three planned cutblocks, but the company is likely to reapply shortly.

In 2013, after a campaign by local landowners and the Ancient Forest Alliance, the BC government protected 55 hectares of the old-growth forests on the Crown lands on the south side of Echo Lake in an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA). However, they left out a similar amount of old-growth and mature forests from the OGMA on the north and west sides of Echo Lake within a Woodlot Licence where the ancient trees are now threatened with logging.

More Background Info

Landowners Stephen and Susan Ben-Oliel, who own a private land parcel on one side of the lake, and who draw their drinking water from the area, were informed last summer by consultants hired by C&H Forest Products that the logging company was planning to begin construction of a 1400 metre long logging road in their Community Watershed. The planned road on Crown lands leads to stands of old-growth redcedars and Douglas-firs on the northwest side of Echo Lake. The couple also discovered a series of recently flagged and spray-painted old redcedars alongside the main trail by Echo Lake in preparation for logging. Over a thousand people have now hiked the trail around Echo Lake since 2013, when the Ancient Forest Alliance began organizing guided tours through the area. In 2015, Forest Minister Steve Thomson stated that there were no logging plans for Echo Lake – See Global TV at: https://globalnews.ca/news/1906359/clear-cutting-threatens-echo-lake-eagle-colony/

See spectacular images of Echo Lake Ancient Forests at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/echo-lake/

See various news media articles about Echo Lake from the Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, Global TV etc. at the bottom of the campaign page at: www.ProtectEchoLake.com

“The BC government needs to work with the local Woodlot Licensee, First Nations, the adjacent private land owners like myself, and conservationists to ensure the area’s legal protection. This could entail shifting the Woodlot Licence boundaries into an area of second-growth forest with an equivalent timber value and then expanding the Old-Growth Management Area around all of Echo Lake,” stated Susan Ben-Oliel. “The Ministry of Forests has changed the boundaries of the Woodlot Licence in the past, in the 1990’s, and they can do it again if they want to avoid the escalation in the conflict”.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is also calling for a larger provincial plan to protect the remaining endangered old-growth forests across BC while ensuring sustainable second-growth forestry jobs.

In the Lower Mainland, about 80% or more of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including about 95% of the high productivity, valley bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow and most biodiversity is found. See before and after maps for BC’s southern coast (Southwest Mainland and Vancouver Island) at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/.

Avatar Grove's Old-Growth Trees

Land of the giants: A wet and wild trip to Port Renfrew

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Check out this major travel feature in the Times Colonist newspaper about visiting Avatar Grove! The article highlights how the Ancient Forest Alliance's campaign to protect old-growth forests has become a major economic driver for Port Renfrew, which has now billed itself as the Tall Trees Capital of Canada!

See the article from the Times Colonist: https://www.timescolonist.com/life/travel/land-of-the-giants-a-wet-and-wild-trip-to-port-renfrew-1.16451897

Environmentalists rally with forestry workers at a rally at the provincial legislature organized by the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and the Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC) before the 2013 provincial election.

Sustainable Forestry Rally Today in Victoria

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TODAY, Wednesday, April 12
12:00 noon
Legislative Buildings, Victoria

Speakers will include:

Arnold Bercov (President) and Cam Shiell (Forest Resource Officer) of the PPWC
Ken Wu – Executive Director, Ancient Forest Alliance
Andy MacKinnon – Forest Ecologist and Councillor, Metchosin
Dr. Judith Sayers – Sustainability Consultant, Hupacasath First Nation band member
Torrance Coste – Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
Unifor representative


A brief noon-time rally today organized by forestry workers with the PPWC will be attended by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) holding several giant banners against old-growth logging and raw log exports, while the AFA's executive director Ken Wu will be among the invited speakers.

The PPWC and Unifor are two of BC's main forestry unions, and are calling on the BC government to enact policies and regulations to curtail raw log exports to foreign mills and for a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. Last month the PPWC also passed a resolution calling on the province to end old-growth logging on Vancouver, a historic leap forward in the forest politics of the province – see the media release at: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

Old-growth forests are vital to sustain unique endangered species, tourism, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

See maps and stats on the remaining old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically over-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 the large trees grow (and 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.

The BC government has allowed on average over 6 million cubic meters of raw logs to leave the province each year over the past 4 years. If BC is to protect its remaining old-growth forests while sustaining forestry jobs at the same time, it must ensure through policies, regulations, and incentives that second-growth logs are manufactured in BC instead of being exported to mills in the US and Asia. See: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=1101

The BC government's spin that logs must first be offered to BC mills before they can be exported, a policy known as the “surplus test”, is considered by many to be a disingenuous PR-line, as they've facilitated the closure of most coastal mills in BC over the past 15 years by removing the local milling requirement of logging companies, while not enacting any major incentives or regulations in its place to attract new manufacturing investments. Given that they've help shut down most of the mills, of course most log exports are now surplus to the domestic milling capacity. In addition, many BC mills have been hesitant to bid on domestic logs about to be exported, for fear of being cut out of future direct sales agreements with logging companies (who often want to export their logs) where they can get a more secure log supply to run their mills. “Due to the corporate concentration in BC's forests where a few major logging companies have most of the logging rights, there is a loophole in the surplus test large enough to drive a log barge through”, stated Ken Wu. 

Signage at the start of the Avatar Grove trail

Avatar Grove Lower Loop Trail Reopened!

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After second weekend of hard work, the Lower Loop Trail at the Avatar Grove has been reopened! AFA Boardwalk Coordinator TJ Watt and a team of volunteers spent long hours in wet conditions last weekend, clearing huge debris piles and fallen trees from the trail after a storm damaged the area last October. More work still needs to be done to repair the broken boardwalk and add additional sections in areas that were impacted but it is possible to walk the trail again now.

A huge thanks goes out to the amazing arborists at Bartlett Tree Experts in Vancouver who volunteered their weekends to cleanup the trail! Thousands of people will now once again have the opportunity to experience this amazing forest!

Click here to view our photo gallery of the Avatar Grove trail clean-up: https://bit.ly/2mXtMK2 

Aerial photo of East Creek logging in 2015

New AFA Photo Gallery Reveals Clearcutting of Rare, Intact Old-Growth in East Creek

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Check out our Facebook photo gallery revealing the fragmentation of the East Creek Valley, one of the very last intact primary watersheds on Vancouver Island until the BC Liberal government allowed the industrial logging of the upper valley starting in 2002 and then the lower valley in 2015 and on. These photos were captured by AFA photographer TJ Watt in the summer and fall of 2015. https://bit.ly/2mXhKQM

Aerial photo of East Creek logging in 2015

East Creek Investigation Finds Clearcutting Rare Intact Old-Growth on Vancouver Island in Compliance with Laws, Highlighting BC Government Failure to Protect Endangered Rainforest

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VICTORIA—The BC government’s Forest Practices Board (FPB) released its findings today regarding Sierra Club BC’s May 2016 complaint about Lemare Lake Logging Ltd.’s logging practices in the East Creek area. East Creek is located adjacent to the Mquqᵂin – Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park, in Kwakwaka’wakw territory and forms part of the largest remaining contiguous ancient rainforest on northern Vancouver Island.

Sierra Club BC visited East Creek in the fall of 2015 and documented the devastation of ancient rainforest, including the use of blasting charges, in an area known as important habitat for salmon, marbled murrelet and northern goshawk and important First Nations cultural values, leading to the complaint and investigation.

“The scope and scale of the ancient rainforest destruction in this incredible watershed is unimaginable. They were logging more than one Cathedral Grove in the last two years alone,” said Mark Worthing, Sierra Club BC’s Forests & Biodiversity Campaigner. “The liquidation of East Creek’s ancient rainforest is being permitted for government revenue in form of stumpage fees between $0.33 and $1.33 per cubic metre. This is a terribly short-sighted decision.”

The FPB investigation considered two questions: whether the licensee complied with the Forest Range Practices Act (FRPA) and the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan (VILUP) and whether the licensee provided the complainant with reasonable access to site plans (SPs). The Board concluded that the licensee complied with FRPA and VILUP while conducting its operations. On the second question, the licensee was found to be in non-compliance in not providing the the complainant with reasonable access to SPs “on request at any reasonable time” as required by FRPA.

“British Columbians have the right to know what’s happening in the forests around us, yet it took us six months to access the information the public is legally entitled to. This makes it impossible for the public to document ecological and cultural values that could be at risk as a result of proposed logging. We’ll be waiting to see what action the government takes to respond to this violation of FRPA,” said Worthing.

Sierra Club BC is very concerned but not surprised about the conclusion of the FPB that East Creek logging is in compliance with FRPA and VILUP. “The East Creek investigation confirms what we feared: while blasting roads and clearcutting approximately 1,000 hectares of the last intact old-growth rainforest on Northern Vancouver Island in the last 10 years is inconsistent with good forest management practices, it is consistent with BC’s Forest Range Practices Act and the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s Forest and Climate Campaigner. “Provincial laws and the Vancouver Island land use plan are failing to protect forest integrity and we urgently need additional protection and improved forest management to safeguard the web of life as we know it.”

There is growing support for protecting the remaining endangered old-growth rainforest and shifting to sustainable second-growth forestry on Vancouver Island, including from municipalities, chambers of commerce and a number of First Nations and unions. Sierra Club BC warned in 2016 that a 12 per cent increase in the annual old-growth logging rate on the island (recently at 9,000 hectares per year) will lead to an ecological and economic collapse.

The most productive types of rainforest ecosystems, with the biggest trees, unique habitat and tourism values are now in their single digits of remaining old-growth. At the same time second-growth forests are being clearcut at a young age, often at less than sixty or eighty years, allowing no recovery of old-growth characteristics across vast areas on Vancouver Island.

“The East Creek investigation shows everything that is wrong with rainforest conservation and management on Vancouver Island – BC’s forestry regulation has no consideration of how little intact rainforest is left on the island and there is no legal impediment to logging the last old-growth trees outside of protected areas,” said Wieting.

“The East Creek investigation makes clear that we have no regulatory framework to protect the last of the last remaining intact coastal temperate rainforest,” said Wieting. “Whoever forms the next government has their work cut out to prevent the unfolding ecological and economic catastrophe on the island. We need a moratorium to safeguard biodiversity hotspots as new protected areas and new conservation tools to set aside critical endangered rainforest stands and habitat aside across the landscape.”

Solutions for healthy forests and healthy communities similar to those developed in the Great Bear Rainforest are needed along the entire BC coast, not just one part of it. East Creek and the Central Walbran are among the most important examples of intact, unprotected, productive coastal old-growth on Vancouver Island that need immediate action or will be lost forever.

Sierra Club BC supports sustainable second growth harvesting and local, value-added processing that creates a higher number of jobs per cubic metre, such that we can sustain healthy forest-based communities and local forestry jobs into the future.

To read more, visit https://sierraclub.bc.ca/east-creek-investigation-highlighting-bc-government-failure-to-protect-endangered-rainforest/

A Sustainable Forestry March & Rally Port Alberni hosted by the Pulp

April 12: Rally for Sustainable Forestry in Victoria (12 noon, Legislature)

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Hey Vancouver Island friends! Come join the Ancient Forest Alliance, as we support the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC – formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada) who are organizing a sustainable forestry rally in Victoria on Wednesday, April 12 (Legislature, noon) to protect old-growth forests, ensure a value-added sustainable second-growth forest industry, and to end the export of raw logs from BC! Thanks to PPWC forestry officer Cam Shiell, president Arnold Bercov and their PPWC team for organizing this! See more details: https://bit.ly/2nJPPEi