Old Growth Forests – Logging Versus Tourism on Vancouver Island

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New report says raw logs exports at record levels

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This shipment of raw logs left Port Alberni last week bound for Japan.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is calling for a ban on the export of raw logs from old growth forests.

The think tank is calling for the creation of more log-processing jobs in British Columbia.

Ben Parfitt says B.C. has exported nearly 26 million cubic metres of wood worth an estimated $3 billion since 2013.

“The concern that our organization has, and several environmental organizations, and labour organizations is that that’s a tremendous lost opportunity in terms of creating jobs here in British Columbia.”

This shipment of raw logs being loaded up in Nanaimo is also Asia-bound.

The report says if just last year’s exports had been milled in BC instead of being exported, it would have meant an estimated 3600 more jobs for the province.

“I don’t think we’re going to get there unless we start to take a hard look at the exporting of those raw logs. And figure out what policies we need to put in place to encourage more domestic manufacturing.” The Catalyst mill, in Port Alberni, started a three day shutdown today.

The company blames a shortage of wood chips due to winter weather curtailing logging. But the Union representing pulp mill workers says the export of raw logs also plays a role. Gerald de Jong speaks for the Public & Private Workers of Canada, Local 8. “Things will get worse and worse and worse as things go on if pulp mills can’t find their fibre.They’re going to have to close down because they can’t afford to pay the price for it.”

Last month, NDP leader John Horgan promised to curb the trend, and have more raw logs milled in BC if elected in May. “In my community of spoke increased traffic is coming through town with logs going past where the mill used to be going to Tidewater and going to mills offshore. We need to stop that.”

But BC’s Forests Minister, Steve Thomson, says all raw logs must be offered for sale on the open market within BC before being exporting and a blanket ban would reduce jobs. “Obviously, we’d like to see as many logs manufactured here as possible. But we recognize with the economics of the industry that you need an integrated approach and raw log exports are part of that picture.”

The report recommends a complete ban on exporting raw logs from old growth forests and progressive taxes on second growth logs. The authors claim that would spur investment in BC mills But it also says the province needs to do more to encourage manufacturing in BC to ensure money and jobs aren’t simply being shipped away.

[Link to article no longer available]

Ancient Forest Alliance's campaigner TJ Watt and executive director Ken Wu and Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC) president Arnold Bercov with a giant cedar tree at the Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew

Conservationists applaud Old-Growth Protection Resolution by major BC forestry union

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Victoria – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are applauding today’s resolution by the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), representing thousands of forestry workers across BC, calling on the BC government to protect Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests, while ensuring a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry, an end to raw log exports, and support for First Nations community development. The major forestry union joins thousands of businesses (BC Chamber of Commerce), mayors and city councils (Union of BC Municipalities), First Nations, and conservation groups across BC in calling on the provincial government to increase protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests.

Click here to read the resolution.

“This is a historic leap forward in the snowballing movement to protect the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island. 20 years ago it would’ve been inconceivable that a forestry union would call for an end to old-growth logging anywhere in BC. But the PPWC have always been forward thinking – they realize the future is in the sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry, as second-growth forests now dominate the vast majority of the productive forest lands here. Plus, they’ve always had a strong social and environmental conscience for the broader good of communities, which is how real progress happens. Endangered species, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, the climate, and First Nations cultures will all benefit from keeping Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests alive”, stated Ken Wu, Executive Director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“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 Vancouver Island's endangered old-growth forests at the same time.”

The PPWC, along with Unifor (another major BC forestry union) the Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club of BC, Wilderness Committee, and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, put out a joint call on Monday for an immediate ban to old-growth log exports, progressively higher taxes on second-growth raw log exports to support domestic manufacturing, and additional policies to support sustainable, value-added forestry in rural and First Nations communities. The last 4 years have seen a record breaking volume of raw log exports – over 26 million cubic metres. One-third of which are old-growth and over half of which are from public lands (over the past 5 years), according to new research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). BC could protect its endangered old-growth forests and sustain and enhance forestry employment levels at the same time if it increases the processing and value-added manufacturing of the second-growth logs (ie. doing more with less), while increasing the export of raw, unprocessed logs goes precisely in the wrong direction (ie. doing less with more). See: www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-rising-raw-log-exports-bad-for-forests-workers-1.10577445

The PPWC is over 50 years old and represents thousands of workers in sawmills, pulp mills, and work places across British Columbia. Visit www.ppwc.ca/about/

More information:

The PPWC forestry union joins various Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, and conservation groups across BC in calling on the provincial government to protect BC’s 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: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

The editorial board of the Vancouver Sun, the province’s largest newspaper, also called on the BC government last September to show some conservation leadership around Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests, noting that the status quo of old-growth logging is ramping up conflict and uncertainty in the forest industry and requires government action. They wrote:

“There is a legitimate discussion to be had about the value of old-growth forests, about whether what remains on the South Coast and Vancouver Island is sufficiently protected, about the extent to which the remaining inventory should be protected, and about resource jobs and the rights of companies to do legal business. Surely, however, there is also a clear role for the provincial government, which has duties of both environmental stewardship and resource management, to serve as an intermediary in such conflicts by providing clear, science-based, arm’s-length evidence as the foundation for an even-handed conversation and to help the two groups whose interests it represents to find common ground. More leadership and less lethargy from Victoria, please.” See: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-victoria-must-intervene-in-renewed-war-in-the-woods

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). “It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money and then claiming to be a millionaire, so why curtail spending?” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt.

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://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/ 

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

Comment: Rising raw log exports bad for forests, workers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is not a future British Columbians deserve.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEW Documentary “No Degree of Scarcity” (by Joe Callander) about Big Lonely Doug & Vancouver Island Old-Growth Logging

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Check out this new 8 minute documentary, “No Degree of Scarcity” about Big Lonely Doug and old-growth logging on Vancouver Island by renowned US filmmaker Joe Callander. Callander came to Vancouver Island for a brief stint to follow Ancient Forest Alliance activists Ken Wu and TJ Watt through the clearcut around Big Lonely Doug (Canada's 2nd largest Douglas-fir) by Edinburgh Mountain and to the Walbran Valley, talked with Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president Dan Hager, and filmed Ken writing a media release.

SFU Slideshow on BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests!

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Thursday, February 23, 2017
3:30 – 5:00 pm
AQ 2104
SFU Burnaby Campus

See a spectacular slideshow by the Ancient Forest Alliance's TJ Watt about the ecology, geography, and policies surrounding BC's endangered old-growth forests. Watt will show amazing photos of the Avatar Grove, Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound, Big Lonely Doug, Cheewhat Giant, Red Creek Fir, Walbran Valley, Eden Grove, Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove, and the Echo Lake Ancient Forest.


Find out what YOU can do to help protect these ancient forests in the lead-up to the May provincial election!

Hosted by the SFU Ancient Forest Committee.

THANKS to the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC)!

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THANKS to the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) for recently supporting the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) again most generously in our efforts to expand support among “non-traditional allies” including businesses, faith groups, forestry workers, and many others. The MEC and their hundreds of employees have been one of the great supporters of the Ancient Forest Alliance and our campaigns to protect BC's endangered old-growth forests since our earliest years! See their website at: www.MEC.ca

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ancient Forest Alliance

Ahousaht First Nation applauded for logging ban

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

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

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

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

The goal is to conserve natural landscapes and biological diversity.

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

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

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

[Original article and video no longer available]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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