Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, stands beside a giant Sitka spruce tree in an old-growth forest west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

The Georgia Strait: “Conservation financing is a game-changer for BC’s old-growth forests”

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October 31, 2023
The Georgia Strait – Op-Ed by Ken Wu.
See the original article.

Last week, BC Premier David Eby announced a new $300 million “conservation financing mechanism.” Based on a startup contribution of $150 million from the Province and $150 million from the BC Parks Foundation (the charitable partner of the BC Parks agency), the fund will support First Nations communities to establish new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). This puts BC on the verge of a major protected areas expansion over the next few months and years to reach its minimum projection target of 30 per cent by 2030. Currently about 15 per cent of BC is in protected areas.

BC’s old-growth forests have spawned one of the most passionate and pervasive ecosystem-protection movements in world history, and for good reason. They contain some of the largest and oldest living organisms that have ever existed in Earth’s history: forest giants that can live to 2,000 years old and grow wider than a living room. Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with and that are logged every 50 to 80 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again.

Well over 80 per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests (sites where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and over five million hectares of big trees, rare (by ecosystem type) trees, and the very oldest of old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC; 2.6 million hectares have been identified as the top priorities for logging deferrals by the Province’s appointed panels.

I’ve spent the last 33 years of my life with a continuous focus on protecting old-growth forests in BC, engaged in just about every tactic in the toolbox of environmental activism at one time or another. But over the past six years I’ve focused the vast majority of my time on two key policies that are indispensable for protecting old-growth forests and BC’s diverse ecosystems: conservation financing and ecosystem-based protection targets. These are two fundamental game-changers for stopping old-growth and ecosystem destruction in BC.

Conservation financing is funding for Indigenous communities linked to the establishment of new protected areas and conservation initiatives. In BC, the Province cannot unilaterally establish protected areas and “just save the old-growth” on Crown/unceded First Nations lands; the support of local First Nations governments is a legal necessity in their territories. The establishment of protected areas and deferrals for logging move at the speed of the local First Nations whose territories it is; so, the BC Government’s policies and funding can either facilitate or hinder the abilities of First Nations to protect ecosystems. Conservation financing is a vital enabling condition that can greatly facilitate and speed up the protection of old-growth forests.

Those who believe that the BC Government can unilaterally “just save the old-growth forests” across BC without the consent of the local First Nations (200 different communities) in their unceded territories continue to hold a long outdated and simplistic model of conservation in BC, and therefore fail to understand the centrality of conservation financing.

That is: First Nations communities are in the driver’s seat for new protected areas in their unceded territories. The BC Government must provide the vehicle—the policy framework and the funding—for First Nations to drive to where we all need to go: the protection of the diversity of ecosystems in BC.

Conservation financing is key to meet the needs of Indigenous communities for sustainable economic development alternatives to their old-growth logging dependencies. Many or most BC First Nations have an economic dependency fostered by successive BC governments on forestry, including on old-growth logging, and require support to develop sustainable alternatives in ecotourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products like wild mushrooms, and other businesses. They also need funding to develop the capacity to undertake land-use planning, mapping, engagement of community members, stakeholder and resource licensees, and stewardship and management jobs in new protected areas.

Conservation financing thus paves the path and is the indispensable enabler for new protected-areas establishment in BC; without it, it would simply be impossible to undertake the large-scale protection of the most contested landscapes with the highest resource values in BC.

On BC’s central and north coasts (such as the Great Bear Rainforest), $120 million in conservation financing from the Province, Federal Government, and conservation groups in 2006 resulted in the protection of almost 1.8 million hectares of land (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island), the creation of over 100 businesses, and 1,000 permanent jobs in First Nations communities—and significantly raised the average household income in numerous communities.

The $300 million that has kick-started BC’s new conservation financing fund will over time grow with additional provincial, federal, and philanthropic funding, possibly or likely into the billions over the next several years.

Does conservation financing mean that all problems with BC’s old-growth policies are now solved? Of course not. But it’s an indispensable part of the solution.

Now our battle shifts to several key gaps or loopholes in BC’s old-growth and protected-areas policies.

First, the new conservation financing mechanism needs to be tied to “ecosystem-based targets”—that is, protection targets developed by a chief scientist and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees that ensure that all ecosystems, including the most endangered and contested landscapes such as old-growth forests with the greatest timber values, are protected. Without ecosystem-based targets to guide conservation financing, we’ll see again an emphasis on protecting treeless alpine tundra and subalpine areas with little to no timber values; this largely skirts around saving the big timber in the biologically-rich lowlands that will still get logged. All native ecosystems need and deserve protection—but an emphasis must be placed on the most endangered and least protected ecosystems to tackle the extinction and climate crises happening right now. Potentially, ecosystem-based protection targets may happen via BC’s forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. The Province already has a head start with the Technical Advisory Panel’s identification of the grandest, rarest, and oldest old-growth forests recommended for logging deferrals—recommendations that some bureaucrats seem intent on tossing out now.

Secondly, the province must fund First Nations communities to undertake old-growth logging deferrals in order to help offset their lost logging revenues. This lack of funding for First Nations is the primary barrier to getting the full 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth identified by the Technical Advisory Panel deferred from logging. By way of example, a “solutions-space” fund was used successfully in Clayoquot Sound to enable the greatest stands of old-growth to remain while First Nations undertook land use and protected-areas planning.

Thirdly, we’re watching with great concern as the Province might be looking to establish new “flexitarian” designations: tenuous or fake “protected areas.” These types of “protections” are embodied in several existing conservation regulations in BC such as Old-Growth Management Areas with moveable boundaries, and some types of Wildlife Habitat Areas where commercial logging often still takes place. Instead, Provincial Conservancies and several designations simply termed “Protected Areas” in BC are much stronger. They exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development, and were co-developed by First Nations people to protect their subsistence rights to hunt, fish, forage, and harvest individual old-growth cedars for cultural purposes (totem poles, dugout canoes, masks, etc.), and ensure First Nations co-management to protect their rights and title.

Fourthly, thousands of hectares of some of the finest old-growth forests have been excluded from the roster of priority deferral areas due to data errors. The Province has thus far forbidden the addition of misidentified stands to the list, yet is removing thousands of hectares of misidentified sites that were included (as in: they only allow for the subtraction, not the addition, of misidentified stands from deferral areas due to their mistakes).

So, there is still a lot to do to protect old-growth forests. But make no mistake: the conservation financing mechanism is a huge victory for ecosystems and communities.

Ken Wu is the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and was the former co-founder and executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and the executive director of the Wilderness Committee’s Victoria chapter. He has been working to protect old-growth forests for over 30 years in BC.

The Times Colonist: BC’s $300M old-growth fund puts First Nations ‘in the driver’s seat’

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October 26, 2023
Times Colonist
By Stefan Labbé

$300-million investment aims to save BC’s old-growth forests by offering First Nations sustainable economic alternatives to industrial logging.

The BC government and BC Parks Foundation have teamed up to provide $300 million to protect old-growth forests across the province — a move environmental groups have described as a critical step in turning local economies away from unsustainable logging.

Praise for the new green funding came from all sides. Ken Wu, executive director of Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the new fund will put First Nations “in the driver’s seat.”

“If you don’t have the funding for the nations… it’s like asking them to jettison their primary source of revenues and jobs,” said Wu.

“It’s the fuel that will actually allow old growth to get saved.”

On the coast, the BC government defines old-growth trees as those more than 250 years old, while in the Interior, the designation depends on the type of forest and can range from more than 140 years to more than 250 years old. Such old-growth forests make up roughly 20 per cent of BC’s forests, according to the province.

Under a new conservation financing mechanism, the money will go toward building alternative economies so First Nations can build revenue outside the harvesting of old-growth trees. That could include anything from ecotourism, clean energy projects and sustainable seafood operations to non-timber forest products like wild mushrooms and jobs managing new protected areas, Wu said.

Earlier Thursday, Premier David Eby said conserving nature is “one of the most important things we can do to protect against the worst effects of climate change.”

Terry Teegee, a board member of the BC Parks Foundation, said many nations are looking for alternatives to transform jobs into a sustainable economy.

“First Nations have always believed that if we take care of nature, it will take care of us,” said Teegee, who is also a regional chief with the BC Assembly of First Nations.

“This funding will help support nations who have a vision of abundance in their territories. That will benefit everyone.”

The announcement was also lauded by other environmental groups.

“This conservation financing mechanism puts major wind in the sails for the protection of old-growth forests in BC,” added TJ Watt, a campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Torrance Coste, national forest and climate campaigner for the Wildness Committee, said the money was one of the “missing ingredients” in protecting old-growth forests in BC, but that the province has yet to “stand up to logging corporations.”

Linda Coady, president of the BC Council of Forest Industries, said it supported the new fund, describing it as a “new and innovative BC-based approach.”

“These last three years have been challenging for the BC forest sector since the November 2021 provincial announcement to defer old-growth logging. While temporary, the uncertainty about the future of the deferral areas impacts forest sector jobs and communities across BC,” the industry group, which represents some of BC’s biggest forestry companies, said in a statement.

The conservation financing mechanism will be managed by an oversight committee independent of the BC government, according to the Ministry of Forests.

It is meant to work alongside forest landscape plans meant to establish new objectives around how to manage old-growth trees, climate change, wildfire risk and biodiversity. Plans under that framework have been confirmed in the Bulkley Valley, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Vancouver Island.

This year, the BC government pledged to protect 30 per cent of BC’s land base by 2030. But just how it will do that has not been clear. The latest announcement offers a long-term source of money Wu says will grow as it’s matched through crowd-sourcing, and federal, provincial and philanthropic funding agreements still under negotiation.

Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can do so through the BC Parks Foundation.

Wu, who has been one of the leading advocates of the funding scheme since 2017, says there remain at least three big gaps in how the province intends to protect its oldest and most vulnerable forest ecosystems.

First, he said the conservation financing mechanism has yet to be tied to specific ecosystem-based targets, which would ensure the most endangered and least represented ecosystems are protected. Consider big-treed valley bottoms, he said. It’s a lot harder to protect them than a sparsely treed alpine area.

“Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like sending in the fire crews to hose down all the non-burning homes while the houses on fire get ignored,” Wu said.

A second gap, according to Wu, is a lack of money to support First Nations economic activities while old-growth deferrals are in place over the next couple of years. Without that, he said there’s no room to figure out what to do next.

Third, Wu pointed to the province’s failure to uphold standards for the areas it chooses to protect. His worry is that it could lead to loopholes where protected forests still face unsustainable logging.

“The concern here is that the province may be looking at flexitarian protected-area standards — sort of like a vegetarian who still eats chicken and pork and beef,” he said.

Despite the long road ahead, Wu remained hopeful.

“This is a big lead forward. Let’s make no mistake: it’s a great day.”

See the orginal article.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, stands beside a giant Sitka spruce tree in an old-growth forest west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

BC Launches Vital Conservation Financing Mechanism to Protect Old-Growth Forests and Ecosystems

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For Immediate Release
October 26, 2023

Starting with an initial $300 million of provincial and philanthropic funding, the indispensable fund that will “fuel” or power the creation of new protected areas by supporting First Nations protected areas initiatives will continue to grow with additional federal, provincial, and private funds. Conservationists give thanks to Premier Eby for fulfilling a key commitment.

Today, the BC government made good on a vital conservation commitment made last December by Premier David Eby to develop a conservation financing mechanism to fund Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) by funding First Nations’ economic, capacity, stewardship, and management needs linked to protecting ecosystems. The new fund consists of a $150 million provincial contribution and $150 million to be raised by the BC Parks Foundation, the official charitable fund of the province’s BC Parks agency, for a total of $300 million to start. The fund is likely to grow quickly with major federal protected areas funding soon, additional provincial protected areas funds (conjoined with the federal funds via the BC Nature Fund and BC Old-Growth Funds, two additional funds currently under negotiation), funds from the international philanthropic community, and contributions from private citizens over time.

“This is a vital step forward to protect nature in British Columbia on a major scale — Premier Eby should be thanked for this. Conservation financing is the indispensable ‘fuel’ to power along the establishment of new protected areas in BC — without it, the large-scale protection of the most endangered and contested ecosystems, such as those with the largest trees and greatest timber values, would be largely impossible,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. “Since 2017 my colleagues and I have been calling on the province to undertake conservation financing, and three years ago we launched the main campaign with diverse allies calling for federal and provincial conservation funding to protect old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems – and today Premier Eby has delivered. This is a huge conservation victory for the many thousands of people who’ve spoken up for years for this.”

“This conservation financing mechanism puts major wind in the sails for the protection of old-growth forests in BC. After we’ve spent years relentlessly focusing on the centrality of conservation financing to support First Nations’ protected areas initiatives, Premier Eby has delivered on one of his three big commitments now. His other major commitments include doubling the protected areas in BC from 15% now to 30% by 2030 — this funding will make it possible as the fund grows — and targeting protection for biodiverse areas, which we interpret to mean the potential development of ecosystem-based protection targets which haven’t happened yet. We will continue working to ensure these commitments come to fruition,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner & Photographer, TJ Watt, stands beside an unprotected old-growth redcedar tree in the Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner & Photographer, TJ Watt, stands beside an unprotected old-growth redcedar tree in the Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

In BC, it’s important to note that the province cannot unilaterally establish protected areas and “just save the old-growth” on Crown lands — the support of local First Nations governments is a legal necessity in their unceded territories. Protected areas establishment and logging deferrals move at the speed of the local First Nations whose territories it is. The BC government’s policies and funding can facilitate or hinder, help speed up or slow down, the abilities of First Nations to protect ecosystems. Conservation financing is a vital enabling condition that can speed up the protection of old-growth forests.

Across BC, First Nations have an economic dependency on forestry jobs and revenues, including in old-growth logging — a dependency fostered and facilitated by successive BC governments. Many First Nations also have an economic dependency on other resource industries, including mining and oil and gas. Hence, conservation financing to fund First Nations’ sustainable economic alternatives in ecotourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products (eg. wild mushrooms), and other industries, linked to the establishment of new protected areas, is vital for First Nations to be able to transition from their dependency on old-growth logging revenues and jobs and other resource industries in endangered ecosystems. Without conservation financing, the establishment of new protected areas in areas with high timber values would be like asking First Nations to simply jettison their main source of revenues and jobs — something that no major human population would do without economic alternatives and support.

On BC’s Central and North Coasts (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest), a conservation financing investment of $120 million in 2006 ($30 million from the province, $30 million from the federal government, $60 million from conservation groups) for First Nations sustainable economic development and stewardship needs, resulted in the protection of about one third of the region, about 1.8 million hectares. The initial investment, as a result of interest and carbon offsets, has ended up providing over $300 million in investments to First Nations’ owned businesses and stewardship initiatives, supporting over 100 First Nations-owned businesses, funding over 1000 jobs, and raising the average per household income substantially in First Nations communities.

Several loopholes or gaps remain in the BC government’s protected areas and conservation financing initiatives that the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance will continue to work to close.

  1. Just as conservation financing was linked to protection targets (specific valleys and ecosystem retention targets) in the Great Bear Rainforest, the new conservation financing mechanism needs to be tied to “ecosystem-based targets”, that is, protection targets developed for each ecosystem that ensure that all ecosystems, including the most endangered and contested landscapes such as “high productivity” old-growth forests with the greatest timber values, are protected based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. These targets should be developed by a Chief Ecologist (similar to BC’s Chief Forester, but with an ecological lens) and various science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees – new positions that are currently under consideration as the province develops a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. The province already has mapped the most at-risk old-growth forest types via their Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) and it’s vital that these conservation financing funds are linked to those deferral targets as priority, potential protected areas. Linking the conservation financing mechanism to the development of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF), (in particular should it develop ecosystem-based protection targets) is vital once the initiative is finalized.
  2. The province’s conservation funds (and/or other provincial funds currently under development) should also be used to immediately provide funding for First Nations to help offset lost logging revenues when being asked to accept logging deferrals in their unceded territories as identified by the government’s old-growth science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). This “solutions-space” funding, as was used successfully in Clayoquot Sound, will be critical in helping ensure the deferral of the roughly 1.4 million hectares (more than half) of priority old-growth deferrals that remain outstanding from the original 2.6 million hectares.
  3. Ensuring that conservation financing supports only protected areas that meet the standards and permanency of true protected areas – meaning supporting designations that exclude commercial logging (while protecting First Nations cultural harvesting of individual trees, such as monumental cedars for dugout canoes and totem poles), mining, and oil and gas developments, and whose boundaries cannot be readily shifted. Provincial Conservancies and a few other provincial designations termed “Protected Areas” are designations that exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development, but that protect First Nations subsistence and cultural rights (hunting, fishing, gathering, cultural cedar harvest), co-management authority, and rights and title, and would have the standards and permanency of real protected areas. Conservation regulations such as Old-Growth Management Areas (which allow moveable boundaries to let companies log the biggest trees, to be replaced by “protecting” areas with smaller trees) and Wildlife Habitat Areas (which can still allow commercial logging, for example in Spotted Owl and Northern Goshawk ‘buffer’ areas) would not meet the threshold of real protected areas unless their loopholes are closed.

“We’re watching with great concern as the province might be looking to establish new ‘flexitarian’ designations – tenuous or fake ‘protected areas’ that still allow logging or boundary shifts to occur. These types of loopholes can easily result in the high-grade logging within such ‘protected areas’ of the very geographically limited monumental old-growth stands and the most endangered ecosystems, which can often constitute one or two percent or less of any major landscape area,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, beside an old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, beside an old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

“The big campaign now will be for ecosystem-based protection targets — without them, we’ll see a massive number of hectares of new protected areas in alpine and subalpine areas with little to no timber value, and that skirt around saving the big timber that will still get logged. Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like calling in fire trucks to hose down all the houses that are not burning, while the houses on fire get ignored. Ecosystem-based targets means you aim protected areas establishment right, to save the most endangered and least represented ecosystems”, stated Ken Wu, EEA executive director.

“Premier Eby has done something great today and we thank him. We still have to close several gaps and loopholes, related to linking conservation financing to ecosystem-based targets and the most at-risk old-growth, to ensure protected areas integrity moving forward, and to ensure deferral funding comes from various government sources. But make no mistake, this is a very good day,” stated TJ Watt, AFA campaigner.

Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with and that are logged every 50 to 70 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again. Well over 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests (medium to high productivity sites where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and over 5 million hectares of big tree, rare (by ecosystem type), and very ancient old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC.

Watch this small video series by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu explaining conservation financing, BC’s old-growth policy progress and remaining loopholes, and ecosystem-based targets.

See the news article and the media release that launched the campaign in 2020 for conservation financing from the provincial and federal governments.

The Canadian Press: Poor data hinders B.C. old-growth logging deferrals, advocates say

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October 22, 2023
By Brenna Owens
The Canadian Press
Published in The Globe and Mail – Read the original article.

Irreplaceable ancient forests that should meet criteria for interim protection are being left open to logging in British Columbia due to outdated and inaccurate government data, advocates and an ecologist who advised the province say.

“The deferral process was intended to stop the bleed,” said Karen Price, an ecologist who served on the provincially appointed panel that identified 2.6 million hectares of high-priority old growth and recommended it be set aside from logging.

“It was intended to be a quick and dirty stopgap so First Nations and everyone could get together and do sensible planning, and it has not worked that way.”

In November 2021, B.C. announced a process to temporarily defer harvesting in those priority forests, provided First Nations agreed with the proposal in their territories, allowing time for longer-term planning.

It followed an earlier pledge by the province to implement the recommendations from an old-growth strategic review, which urged B.C. to act within six months to defer harvesting in ecosystems at high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.

The Forests Ministry did not provide the latest deferral numbers. Staff are working on an update that’s expected in the coming weeks, a spokesperson said.

In a statement last July, the ministry said deferrals had been implemented across 1.2 million hectares identified by the panel, while an estimated 11,578 hectares of proposed deferrals were logged between November 2021 and December 2022.

But Price said old growth remains unidentified and open to logging due to “problematic” data that underestimates its age, especially for ancient forests.

The advisory panel worked with provincial data, specifically the vegetation resources inventory, based mostly on aerial images, Price explained.

AFA’s Ian Thomas beside a 10 foot wide cedar stump cut in an area missed for logging deferral on northern Vancouver Island, BC.

But the expert panel had access to on-the-ground data from nearly 7,000 sites throughout B.C. and used it to confirm the remote data.

The panel found the accuracy of projected age of trees in the database dropped “considerably” for stands older than 200 years, Price said.

The discrepancy increases with age, so “ancient forests are severely under-represented in the inventory data,” the panel said in a supplementary report.

That means B.C.’s deferral process is missing areas that should meet the criteria for high-priority old growth at risk of permanent loss, Price said.

A statement from the Forests Ministry this month said a total of 2.33 million hectares of old-growth forests have been “deferred or protected,” a figure that includes areas identified by First Nations in addition to the advisory panel.

B.C. is improving data collection on forests, it said. That includes the use of light detection and ranging technology, known as LiDAR, to help governments, First Nations and resource-based companies make better decisions, the ministry said.

TJ Watt, a photographer and co-founder of the Ancient Rainforest Alliance, said he recently visited a cut block on northern Vancouver Island, where he saw a three-metre-wide stump in a stand classified by the province as being 212 years old.

“Walking into the forest, one could tell this is a highly productive ancient forest filled with giant cedar trees,” Watt said of the area in Quatsino First Nation territory.

Many trees in the grove were likely at least 500 years old, he said.

An incredible trio of ancient cedars at risk on northern Vancouver Island, BC.

B.C. hasn’t publicly stated which nations have agreed to the proposed deferrals, but Watt said the area wasn’t captured by the deferral mapping in the first place.

Details contained in B.C. government mapping show the “interpretation date” for the area’s vegetation data was January 2000, nearly 24 years ago, he said.

Watt said he isn’t aware of any process for the public to flag potentially misclassified old-growth for deferral consideration.

The old-growth advisory panel used three categories to identify areas of high priority for potential deferral: ancient, remnant, and big-treed.

B.C. classifies ancient forests as 250 years and older in ecosystems that experience more frequent natural disturbances, such as wildfire, and 400 years and older in moist or high-elevation areas where such events are rare, Price said.

It’s in those less-frequently disturbed areas, often found along the coast, where the issue of ancient forests missing from B.C.’s data is “widespread,” she said.

“There’s a lot that would be classified as ancient, and in some of these regions there’s very little,” Price said, referring mostly to coastal areas.

In response to a request for comment, the Forests Ministry said the panel worked with higher-level mapping and “acknowledged that the modelling would need to be verified and that some areas may turn out not to be what they had thought.”

Eddie Petryshen, a conservation specialist with Wildsight, an environmental charity based in southeastern B.C., said he has also seen firsthand the discrepancy between the province’s data and the true ages and types of forests he has visited.

In one example from last July, he said the data for two approved cut blocks north of Revelstoke, B.C., showed the area had trees that were about 245 years old, missing the threshold for the ancient classification in the Interior by five years.

“I went in there and, you know, it was beautiful old-growth inland temperate rainforest with trees that are in the one- to two-metre diameter range, the largest cedars. I would expect those trees to be 300 to 500 years old,” Petryshen said.

It takes longer for cedars to grow to that width in the globally unique inland temperate rainforest than it does on B.C.’s coast, he noted.

“These are ancient trees.”

Petryshen said the forests in those cut blocks should have been captured by B.C.’s deferral process, especially as provincial mapping shows they overlap with a deferral area where the cedar-leading forest was classified as being 265 years old.

A man in a blue jacket walks along a logging road that forks between scattered patches of old growth redcedars and Sitka spruce and adjacent cutblocks.

AFA’s Ian Thomas walks along a logging road between scattered patches of old growth and adjacent cutblocks.

He said the B.C. government is allowing old-growth ecosystems to be logged without fully understanding what it is that’s being lost forever.

“We’ve been making really heavy-handed decisions that are based on prioritizing timber for a long time without really good data,” he said.

In looking at the forests B.C. defined as ancient, Price said the panel also found some areas aligned with management boundaries rather than ecological ones, suggesting the criteria hadn’t been equally applied by those doing the analysis.

“There’d be a district line and on one side there would be this forest that was all marked as ancient, and on the other side it wasn’t,” she said.

“The data actually demonstrated that some people were more interested or capable of defining ancient forest than others.”

The cut blocks north of Revelstoke represent the kind of situation that Petryshen said should be addressed through B.C.’s field verification process.

The advisory panel had recommended “precautionary interpretation” of provincial data and local validation before any potential logging of high-priority forests.

But Price said they were concerned from the start that field verification would result in more forests being removed from the deferrals than old growth.

“There’s nobody who’s trying to add to the deferrals, but there’s a whole bunch of people who have an economic incentive to take the deferrals out,” she said.

A provincial guidance document says field verification can be used to both add and remove areas from the deferral mapping in forests where logging is planned.

When an area is removed from the deferrals through field verification, the guidance says another area with the same type of old forest must replace it.

“In most, but not all cases, they seek replacements of equivalent forest,” the ministry statement said of the forest operators carrying out the assessments.

It said field verification has resulted in the identification of 262 hectares as “eligible to be removed” while 103 hectares have been deemed suitable replacements.

“The majority of the 159 hectares … that were removed but not replaced were areas that were burnt to such a significant degree that they no longer qualified as priority at-risk old-growth so (they) did not need replacing,” the statement said.

 

Ancient Forests Under Threat After Being Missed for Logging Deferral Due to Government Data Errors

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For Immediate Release
October 23, 2023

“You can only subtract; you can’t add”: BC government currently only allows for incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth forests to be subtracted from rather than added to logging deferral areas. This constitutes a significant conservation loophole that must be closed while the BC government progresses with major policy progress.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are highlighting the urgent need for the BC government to proactively identify what are likely thousands of hectares of at-risk old-growth forests that were missed during the deferral process due to forest inventory errors. These areas were thus left open for logging, and the AFA is calling on the BC government to ensure the addition of these forests for deferral where identified by scientists, citizens, and industry. New photos and drone footage taken by the AFA photographer and campaigner TJ Watt have once again revealed the ongoing destruction of rare, “big-tree” old-growth forests on northern Vancouver Island in Quatsino territory.

In the Summer of 2023, Ancient Forest Alliance members TJ Watt and Ian Thomas documented road construction, giant stumps from recently felled trees, and ancient forests flagged for imminent logging in a remote area of Quatsino Sound where Western Forest Products (WFP) has approval to cut 36.5 hectares (roughly 68 football fields) worth of endangered old-growth forest. This threatened area, located on Crown/public lands within Tree Farm Licence 6, is just a few kilometers away from where the pair captured shocking images and videos of old-growth logging in 2022, sparking outrage and garnering international media coverage.

A fresh cedar stump measuring over 10 feet wide.

The inability to add misidentified at-risk old-growth stands to priority logging deferral areas constitutes one of the major gaps in the BC government’s old-growth policy as it moves forward to overhaul the conservation and management of these iconic forests.

Under relentless pressure from the Ancient Forest Alliance and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, the BC government has made a number of commitments toward expanding the protection of old growth in BC, including protecting 30% of land area by 2030, developing a conservation financing mechanism to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and creating a BC Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework that potentially could include the office of a Chief Ecologist who develops science-based protection targets for all ecosystems with Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees — major commitments that we commend.

However, critical policy and funding gaps still remain, including the government only allowing the subtraction and not the addition of incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth stands (like the recently cut stands in Quatsino territory highlighted here) to deferral areas, and other key issues.

“It was a shock but sadly not a surprise to see more logging underway just across from where we’d documented the destruction of hundreds of giant trees only a year before,” stated AFA photographer and campaigner, TJ Watt. “We arrived to find roads being blasted into a highly productive ancient forest filled with massive cedar trees, the stump of one measuring more than 10 feet (3 meters) across. A simple on-the-ground assessment would have likely determined that this is an old-growth forest that meets the criteria for priority logging deferral, however, there is currently no government policy in place to ensure this happens despite repeated requests to the ministry from our organization. If the BC government cares about truly protecting these forests wherever they occur on the landscape, they must address this gap immediately.”

Home to scores of giant trees, many of which are likely 500+ years old, this particular grove — and surely hundreds of others — was not recommended for logging deferral by the government’s independent old-growth science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) due to the forest being incorrectly labelled as 212 years old in the province’s forest inventory database (38 years younger than the province’s 250-year-old threshold for being considered old growth on the coast and to be included in deferral mapping).

A giant redcedar tree under threat of logging by Western Forest Products.

“When it comes to verifying forests for logging deferral, the BC government is currently playing a game of old-growth subtraction in favour of the timber industry, facilitating more old-growth logging rather than less,” stated Watt. “Instead, it should be working hard to identify at-risk old-growth forests that have been missed for deferral, such as this one, so they have a chance at being left standing and protected. To help identify these at-risk stands, forest engineers should be legally bound to field-verify planned logging cutblocks against the TAP deferral criteria and report any discrepancies to the BC government so adjustments can be made. Citizens and scientists should also be able to submit the locations of key old-growth stands they’ve identified. Government data gaps, such as simple age misclassifications, are leading to the loss of irreplaceable ancient forests vital to support endangered species, First Nations cultures, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and tourism.”

To date, about 1.2 million hectares, or 46%, of the 2.6 million hectares of recommended priority deferral areas have been agreed upon by First Nations (whose consent and support are necessary for any new deferrals or protected areas). This leaves more than half of the forests identified as most at-risk forests open to logging, not including areas such as this one that were missed entirely. To close this gap, conservationists argue that the BC government must become advocates for protecting the most endangered old-growth forests and ensure that conservation funding for First Nations links the deferral and protection of these stands to sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging.

“Ultimately, the final decision around whether a forest gets deferred or not lies in the hands of First Nations, which is why immediate funding is needed from the province in the short-term to help nations offset any potential lost revenues from forgoing logging in the high-value, big-tree stands they’re being asked to defer,” explained Watt. “After more than a century of colonial exploitation, the province has an opportunity and obligation to ensure the much-anticipated conservation financing streams include long-term economic funding for Indigenous-owned sustainable businesses, such as tourism, sustainable seafood, clean energy, non-timber forest products, value-added second-growth forestry, etc., linked to new protected areas, as alternatives to an economic dependency on old-growth timber revenues and jobs.”

Old-growth fragmentation. The forest in the background of this image is now on the ground.

Conservationists underscore the urgency of securing logging deferrals by pointing to the staggering loss of productive old-growth forests in BC. The San Josef Landscape Unit on Vancouver Island (where this recently documented logging is taking place) has been hit extremely hard by industrial logging in recent decades, with less than 25% of its productive, “big-tree” old-growth forests remaining. Conservation biologists agree that when ecosystems fall below 30% of their original extent, they become at high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.

“The BC government, under the leadership of Premier David Eby, has set the stage to vastly expand the protection of old-growth forests, for which he should be thanked. After decades of mismanagement, we may finally be on the verge of real transformation,” noted Watt. “However, it’s still possible that the BC government’s promised “paradigm shift” could fall short of its full potential as certain old-school timber bureaucrats and politicians within the Ministry of Forests try to constrain change in favour of the destructive status quo. Eby needs to pick up the pace and close the gaps as the yardstick of success will ultimately be measured by the survival of the endangered forests themselves. As we’ve seen here on northern Vancouver Island, any loopholes left open will allow for further destruction of many of the biggest and best stands that remain, never to be seen again.”

An incredible trio of ancient cedars in an at-risk old-growth forest on northern Vancouver Island, BC.

Background information:

In November 2021, the BC government agreed to, in consultation with First Nations, implement temporary logging deferrals in 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests (big-tree, ancient, remnant) in BC to prevent irreversible biodiversity loss while long-term land use plans are developed. These priority deferral areas were identified and mapped by the BC government’s independent old-growth science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP).

The TAP specifically mentioned the issue of inventory errors in its report (see pages 9, 10, & 13), making clear recommendations to the BC government that on-the-ground assessments should be used to identify and defer big-tree old-growth forests that were missed in its preliminary analysis. Thus far, the BC government has only used field verification to remove deferral areas that don’t meet the TAP criteria (which are then supposed to be replaced with those that do, when possible) in order to facilitate logging — a blatant and outrageous bias toward the old-growth logging industry.

Progress is being made toward the protection of old-growth forests, however, major policy and funding gaps still remain, including funding for First Nations sustainable economic development linked to new protected areas, developing protection targets for all ecosystems that include forest productivity distinctions, maintaining strong protected areas standards, and allowing for the addition of unmapped old-growth stands into deferral consideration that meet the Technical Advisory Panel’s criteria for at-risk old-growth.

Major funding for old-growth protection is expected to arrive in the near future as well, including the province’s conservation financing mechanism and the BC Nature Fund (a potential $1.2 billion in federal-provincial funding) and BC Old-Growth Fund ($164 of federal-provincial funding) currently under development and negotiation (between the federal, provincial, and First Nations governments). So far the BC government has indicated they will fund the needs of First Nations regarding community capacity (eg. land-use planning), stewardship jobs, data collection, monitoring, and enforcement regarding old-growth protection, but has not said yet whether the funding will support Indigenous sustainable businesses that are necessary to provide the long-term revenues to permanently supplant income from old-growth logging — the fundamental barrier for many First Nations protecting old-growth forests.

Conservation financing is an approach that was successfully used on BC’s Central and North Coasts, where $120 million was committed by the provincial and federal governments and conservation groups to support First Nations business development and economic alternatives to old-growth logging. The result was a globally significant conservation achievement, with 80% of what is now known as the Great Bear Rainforest being reserved from logging.

Old-growth forests support endangered species, First Nations cultures, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and tourism. Under BC’s current system of forestry, second-growth tree plantations are typically re-logged every 50–60 years, never to become old-growth again.

AFA is Now a Registered Charity!

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We’re elated to announce that Ancient Forest Alliance is officially a registered charity!

When Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) was originally founded as a non-profit society in 2010 by Ken Wu and TJ Watt, we chose to forgo charitable status as laws at the time would have constrained our freedom of speech and critical advocacy work, limiting the effectiveness of the organization.

However, changes in legislation since then mean that we’re now able to become a charity while remaining as effective as before, except with the added bonus that we can now issue tax receipts for donations!

We know that every dollar counts these days and we hope that this new milestone will make it easier to support us as we lead the push to protect endangered old-growth forests in BC. We thank the many thousands of you who have supported us right from our humble beginnings.

Make a tax-deductible donation today!

And, thanks to 13 years of relentless pressure fueled by your generous support, our campaign efforts are paying off.

The BC government is currently developing a number of new policies that have the potential to vastly expand the protection of old-growth forests and other endangered ecosystems in BC. Many of these, such as the commitment to create a conservation financing fund, are a direct result of AFA’s work.

It’s still possible that the BC government’s promised paradigm shift could fall short of its full potential though as some old-school timber bureaucrats and politicians try to constrain change in favour of the destructive status quo. That is why we still need your help at this most critical time.

Still needed from the province is funding for First Nations’ sustainable economic development linked to new protected areas, developing protection targets for all ecosystems, and maintaining strong protected areas standards.

These measures will ensure that the most endangered ecosystems are protected while sustainable, conservation-based economies are established that support prosperous communities and vibrant cultures.

We will get there with your support!

All Donations Made in 2023 are Tax Deductible!

Our charitable status (charity #82123 3657 RR0001) came into effect this summer, however, all donations made to AFA in 2023 will receive a tax deduction receipt, so if you donated from January 1, 2023 onward, your receipts will be consolidated and distributed by early 2024. In order to stay as paper-free as possible, please ensure we have your updated email address. Please note that AFA merchandise is not tax-deductible.

Ancient Forest Alliance relies on the generosity of our community in order to carry out our most important work and we’re incredibly grateful to the broad base of individuals, businesses, and organizations who have chosen to contribute to the cause since our inception.

From securing the protection of Avatar Grove in 2012 to bringing about the major changes in forest policy and protection we see on the horizon, we’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve together. Thank you most gratefully.

For the forests,

The Ancient Forest Alliance team

(left to right) Nadia Sheptycki, Joan Varley, TJ Watt, Kristen Bounds, Coral Forbes, and Ian Thomas

The Independent: Rare tree hunter in Canada finds ‘freak of nature’ 1,000-year-old cedar

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October 8, 2023
By Josh Marcus
The Independent UK

BC government has vowed to protect old-growth forests, but logging is on the rise

An explorer who focuses on location and preserving old-growth trees has encountered what is one of the oldest old-growth trees ever documented in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Last summer, TJ Watt was bushwhacking through a remote forest in Flores Island, part of Clayoquot Sound, in the territory of the Ahousaht First Nation off the west coast of Vancouver Island, when he came upon a magnificent site.

A massive red cedar appeared, whose trunk seemed to grow wider the farther up it went.

“It was incredible to stand before it,” he told The Washington Post. “I’d describe it as a freak of nature because it actually gets wider as it gets taller. As I looked up at it, I felt a sense of awe and wonder.”

“I’ve found thousands and thousands of trees, and I’ve shot hundreds of thousands of photos of old-growth forests,” he added. “But I’ve never seen a tree as impressive as this one.”

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt beside the gargantuan redcedar on the day he first found it.

After happening upon the tree, he consulted with members of the Ahousaht, who have lived in the territory for thousands of years. As part of the nation’s plans to protect over 80 per cent of their Clayoquot Sound lands as Ahousaht Cultural and Natural Areas, the Ahousaht will protect the giant tree Mr Watt experienced.

The western red cedar measures 151 feet tall and 17 feet wide, and is thought to be over 1,000 years old. Its exact location is being kept secret to protect its sensitive habitat from overuse.

“People would have seen this tree for hundreds of years — my people would have interacted with it for as long as it’s been here,” Tyson Atleo, a representative of the nation, told the Post. “Today we covet these large trees because there are so few of them left.”

Old-growth forests are key reserves of biodiversity and resilience in the face of the climate crisis.

In 2020, the government of British Columbia embarked on what it promised would be a paradigm-shifting new approach to managing these vital forests.

The following year, it consulted with 204 First Nations on whether they supported deferring logging of these forests for the next two years while officials formulated “a new approach to sustainable forest management that prioritizes ecosystem health and community resiliency.”

Critics argue the effort to preserve the forests hasn’t been adequately funded and implemented thus far.

Outlets like Mongabay have documented clear-cutting on Vancouver Island forests slated for protection.

According to analysis of public data, logging of these forests actually increased between 2020 and 2021 by around 13 per cent, CBC reports.

“These are the most resilient forests we have left with a fighting chance to withstand climate change like drought, fire and flooding,” Sierra Club’s Jens Wieting told the outlet. “If we continue to nibble away at the last old-growth we will be left defenceless.”

Read the original article.

The Washington Post: ‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer

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October 8, 2023
By Cathy Free
The Washington Post – Read the original article.

Tree Hunter TJ Watt found the cedar in British Columbia standing 151 feet tall and about 17 feet in diameter

TJ Watt has spent half his life as a forest explorer, a self-described “tree hunter” in British Columbia. He wades deep into endangered forests to find pristine towering trees that are hundreds of years old and massively wide but have never been photographed or documented.

He draws attention to the enormous old-growth trees to show the importance of saving the natural wonders from logging.

The day he approached a gargantuan western red cedar he’d been trekking with a friend for several hours in a remote area on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound in Ahousaht territory off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“After bush whacking for a while in the woods, we started to see some really large cedars, then suddenly, up ahead, we could see the looming trunk of this giant tree,” he said. “It was so large that at first, we almost thought we were looking at two trees.”

As he drew closer to the tree, Watt said he was overcome with disbelief: He was dwarfed by a tree standing 151 feet tall and 17 and a half feet in diameter.

The tree, believed to be more than 1,000 years old, was the find of a lifetime. It’s one of the largest old-growth cedars ever documented in British Columbia, Watt said.

“I feel humbled every time I think about it,” said Watt, 39. “I nicknamed it ‘The Wall,’ because it can only be described as a literal wall of wood.”

An aerial view over the old-growth forests of Flores Island in Ahousaht territory, Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

He said this was a first in his 20 years of tree hunting.

“I’ve found thousands and thousands of trees, and I’ve shot hundreds of thousands of photos of old-growth forests,” he said. “But I’ve never seen a tree as impressive as this one.”

Watt felt humbled by the discovery.

“It was incredible to stand before it,” he said. “I’d describe it as a freak of nature because it actually gets wider as it gets taller. As I looked up at it, I felt a sense of awe and wonder.”

He found the tree in June 2022, but he didn’t alert the public about it until the end of July this year because he wanted to make sure the tree was thoroughly documented, and also wanted input from Ahousaht First Nation members who have lived in the territory for thousands of years.

“It was decided that we should keep the tree’s location a secret because these are sensitive areas, and everything could get pretty trampled if word got out where to find it,” Watt said.

The Ahousaht First Nation has about 2,400 members, with 1,100 living on Flores Island, said Tyson Atleo, a hereditary representative for the nation, someone who is a caretaker of the nation’s cultural traditions and history.

Atleo said he didn’t know about the colossal cedar until Watt took him to see it.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt and Ahousaht hereditary representative Tyson Atleo with the ancient western red cedar tree that is among the largest ever documented in British Columbia. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

“The tree leaves you with a sense of wonder about the natural world and the universe,” said Atleo, 37. “There is so much about that tree and the life it upholds that we will never understand. When you look at it, it hits you like that.”

He said the Ahousaht people would have admired it over the ages.

“People would have seen this tree for hundreds of years — my people would have interacted with it for as long as it’s been here,” he said. “Today we covet these large trees because there are so few of them left.”

Canada’s largest tree, widely recognized as the Cheewhat Giant, was first documented in 1988 measuring about 19 feet in diameter and 182 feet in height, according to the Ancient Forest Alliance. It’s located in the protected Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

While it is protected, about 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have been logged, satellite photos show, according to the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Too many old-growth trees have been cut down for timber rather than being recognized for their value providing habitat for wildlife and storing vast amounts of carbon, Atleo said. An old-growth forest is typically described as a forest containing trees that have developed over hundreds of years, with unique characteristics that are not found in younger forests.

British Columbia has a plan to protect its old-growth forests, but many conservationists have found government implementation of the plan to be slow, said Watt.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

Atleo said his nation now operates an eco-cultural tour company to showcase some of the territory’s old-growth trees (the tree found by Watt won’t be included), and his community is working to get financing to save more ancient forests. The nation has protected 80 percent of its Clayoquot Sound lands on Vancouver Island’s western coast, and the nation will now protect the large tree that Watt documented, he said.

Tyson Atleo is a hereditary representative of the Ahousaht First Nation. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

“We need to acknowledge that our community is reliant on some [logging] employment in the forest sector, but we are envisioning doing it in a better and new way,” Atleo said. “TJ’s work is helping raise public awareness and inspiring people to feel connected to these forests.”

Watt said he undertook the Flores Island tree-hunting expedition as an explorer for National Geographic and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, through a grant provided by the Trebek Initiative, a group that funds photographers and others who contribute to Canadian wildlife projects.

Watt shares photos of the giant trees on social media and his Ancient Forest Alliance website.

“I was excited to post the photos because I knew people would be as blown away by the tree as I was,” he said, adding that he also shared some of his first photos of the enormous cedar with the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

These 2020 photos show TJ Watt with a giant red cedar tree before and after it was cut down by loggers in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht First Nation territory on southern Vancouver Island. The tree was close to 150 feet tall and 10 feet wide in diameter, Watt said, adding that he hopes to save other old-growth trees from the same fate through his conservation photography work. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Watt lives in Victoria, where he grew up in the small town of Metchosin, climbing trees and playing in the woods, he said.

“It was a lush place with forested hillsides — you had the fog rolling through the forest, sunbeams coming in and moss hanging off everything,” he said.

Watt honed his photography skills, he said, and in 2010 he co-founded the Ancient Forest Alliance nonprofit to both document the trees and try to preserve them.

He said he’s now in the woods every chance he gets to explore and photograph some of the most rugged landscapes in British Columbia.

“I look at maps and study satellite imagery of forests to pick an area, then I pack my bags with cameras and communication gear and that’s when the fun starts,” Watt said.

He is often exploring for days at a time and usually takes somebody with him.

“We’ll drive on the back roads, then get out and walk into the woods, and that’s the magic of it,” he said.

TJ Watt grew up with forests in his backyard, and he now spends most of his time documenting old-growth trees. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)

Although he’d visited Flores Island before, he said he was looking forward to exploring more of the island’s 96 square miles of forests. He’s still stunned by what he found there.

“I know I’m not the first person to see this big tree — the Ahousaht people have inhabited this area since time immemorial,” he said. “But I feel honored in modern times to be the first to notice and document it.”