A Marbled Murrelet floats on the sea.

Audio Recording of the Threatened Marbled Murrelet, an Old-Growth Dependent Seabird, taken in the Endangered Central Walbran Valley

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For Immediate Release
July 17, 2015
 
Audio Recording of the Threatened Marbled Murrelet, an Old-Growth Dependent Seabird, taken in the Endangered Central Walbran Valley
 
Two new recordings of the calls of a threatened, old-growth dependent seabird, the Marbled Murrelet, have been taken in the endangered Central Walbran Valley recently and were submitted last Friday to BC’s Ministry of Environment in hopes the new findings will halt logging plans in Canada’s grandest old-growth temperate rainforest.
 
The recordings by TJ Watt and Jackie Korn of the Ancient Forest Alliance were taken on July 4 just before 5 am in the Central Walbran Ancient Forest – just three hundred meters away from a renowned stand of endangered old-growth western redcedars, the Castle Grove, whose upper slopes are currently under threat of logging. The Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group, which logs endangered old-growth forests, including ancient western redcedars, for pulp, paper, and solid wood products, is in the midst of controversy over its plans to log eight cutblocks (clearcuts) in the heart of the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, including in the Upper Castle Grove, as well as plans to log two new cutlbocks in the nearby Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest (see a media release at: https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=903)

 

 
“We hope that finding a species at risk in this endangered old-growth forest – a species in which government scientists state that old-growth logging is the main threat to its survival – will halt the BC government’s approval of old-growth logging permits here. This is particularly important because the rate of old-growth habitat loss of the Marbled Murrelet on western Vancouver Island has been proceeding rapidly due to logging,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner.
 
“While the Walbran has been known as a Marbled Murrelet breeding hotspot for decades, it should also be noted that endangered, lowland ancient forests like these are filled with numerous other species at risk. If the BC government and Teal-Jones keep moving forward to ensure old-growth logging in the Central Walbran, then they are endorsing the annihilation of these species at risk,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.
 
In particular, conservationists are requesting that the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations deny a cutting permit for Teal-Jones for Cutblock 4424 in the Upper Castle Grove, which so far is the only cutblock that the company had applied to cut among 8 proposed cublocks.
 
Birders were perplexed for over a century about the whereabouts of the nesting sites of the Marbled Murrelet in Canada, until the very first nest was located in the Central Walbran Valley by researchers from the University of Victoria in 1990 – in close proximity to where Teal-Jones’ current logging plans are.
 
The Marbled Murrelet is a species at risk that is federally listed by COSEWIC as “Threatened” and by the BC government as a “Blue-listed” species of special concern. It is a robin-sized seabird that catches small fish in the ocean and flies typically up to 50 kilometres inland to nest on the wide, mossy limbs found only in old-growth forests. The primary threat to their populations is cited by scientists to be the destruction and fragmentation of their old-growth nesting habitat by logging (“…the Marbled Murrelet is assessed as Threatened primarily because of inferred population declines due to historical and continued loss of old-growth forest nesting habitat,” – Recovery Strategy for the Marbled Murrelet in Canada, 2014) and several populations have declined over the years.  See a BC Ministry of Environment backgrounder on the species at https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/murrelet.pdf and a recent report by the federal Marbled Murrelet Recovery Team on their habitat needs and conservation status at https://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/plans/rs_guillemot_marbre_marbled_murrelet_0614_e.pdf

 
The BC government has established a limited number of Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHA’s) for the Marbled Murrelet, but with a proviso that the habitat protections for species at risk in general don’t impact the available timber supply for logging by more than 1%. In addition, these WHA’s are often established within existing provincial parks, which are already protected.

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

 
(***NOTE: News media are free to run any video footage and photos, credit to “TJ Watt” where possible. Contact us if you need higher res video or photos)
 
Conservationists are escalating pressure on the BC government and the company through a public awareness campaign of hikes, expeditions, protests, and letter-writing drives. Activists are calling on Teal-Jones to back off from logging the Central Walbran and Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forests, and the BC government to protect them through expanded Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s), core Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHA’s), Land Use Orders (LUO’s), and/or through a proposed new “legal tool” to protect BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves, which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is currently developing.
 
The Walbran Valley is popular for recreationalists, including hikers, campers, anglers, hunters, and mushroom pickers, and is located on public (Crown) lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht Nuu-cha-Nulth territory. 
 
“Teal-Jones seems to be committing to a War in the Woods by aggressively moving forward to log southern Vancouver Island’s most contentious ancient forests. The Walbran Valley was the birthplace of the ancient forest protest movement in Victoria decades ago. Logging there has repeatedly triggered protests, beginning in 1991 and flaring up regularly for more than a decade thereafter. Thousands of British Columbians love the ancient forests of the Castle Grove, Emerald Pool, Bridge Camp, Summer Crossing, and Fletcher Falls in the Central Walbran Valley,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. 
 
“Because of the ideal growing conditions in the region, Canada’s temperate rainforests reach their most magnificent proportions in the Walbran, Carmanah, and Gordon River Valleys. They’re Canada’s version of the American redwoods. Given this fact – and that virtually all of the unprotected ancient forests are either clearcut or fragmented by logging today on southern Vancouver Island – it should be a no-brainer that the two largest, contiguous tracts here, the Central Walbran and Edinburgh Mountain, should be immediately protected”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.
 
The Central Walbran’s old-growth western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and hemlock forests have long been proposed for protection by the environmental movement since the early 1990’s, when the valley was “ground zero” for protests by southern Vancouver Island’s environmental movement. The early Walbran protests played an important role in supporting the build-up towards the massive Clayoquot Sound protests near Tofino on Vancouver Island in 1993.
 
The Castle Grove is considered by many conservationists as the finest, unprotected stand of monumental old-growth western redcedar trees in Canada. It includes a flat section (Lower Castle Grove), currently without any logging plans, and an adjacent mountainside (Upper Castle Grove) that is now under direct threat by Teal-Jones. Teal-Jones had flagged part of the Upper Castle Grove for logging in the 2012, but after a public campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Ministry of Forests reported later than year that the company was not intending to log there – unfortunately, since then, the company is now proposing to place three clearcuts in the Upper Castle Grove. See the video and the media releases from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnG_sC4oms  and https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=515 

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

Ancient Forest Alliance's Jackie Korn stands amongst incredible old-growth redcedar trees in proposed cutblock 4412 in the Central Walbran Ancient Forest.

Canada’s Two Grandest Old-Growth Forests Under Logging Threat by the Teal-Jones Group!

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Port Renfrew –  Surrey-based forestry company, the Teal-Jones Group, is aggressively moving forward with plans to log and build roads into Canada’s two most magnificent old-growth forests, the Central Walbran Ancient Forest (about 500 hectares) and the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest (about 1500 hectares) on southern Vancouver Island. The company is planning eight new cutblocks (clearcuts) and a new road in the Central Walbran, and two new cutblocks and a new road on Edinburgh Mountain. The Walbran Valley is home to perhaps Canada’s finest stand of old-growth redcedars, the Castle Grove, while Edinburgh Mountain is where “Big Lonely Doug” (discovered last year by Ancient Forest Alliance activists to be Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree – alas, completely surrounded by a 2012 clearcut) still stands and where the threatened “Christy Clark Grove” (ie. Lower Edinburgh Grove) is located in the Gordon River Valley. Maclean’s Magazine recently featured the Ancient Forest Alliance’s video of tree-climbers at Edinburgh Mountain scaling Big Lonely Doug among a series of videos featuring “Canada’s greatest people, places, and experiences”

(***NOTE: News media are free to run any video footage and photos, credit to “TJ Watt” where possible. Contact us if you need higher res video or photos)

Conservationists are escalating pressure on the BC government and the company through a public awareness campaign of hikes, expeditions, protests, and letter-writing drives, calling on the company to back off and the BC government to protect the two ancient forests. Teal-Jones Group is a Surrey-based company that logs and sells endangered old-growth forests – including ancient redcedar trees – for pulp, paper, and solid wood products.

Both the Central Walbran Valley and Edinburgh Mountain are just a few kilometers from the world-famous West Coast Trail of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Both areas are home to Canada’s most magnificent old-growth temperate rainforests of giant western redcedar, Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, and hemlock trees. Species at risk include Queen Charlotte Goshawks, marbled murrelets, screech owls, and red-legged frogs in the forest, while coho salmon and steelhead trout spawn in the rivers. The areas are popular for recreationalists, including hikers, campers, anglers, hunters, and mushroom pickers, and are located on public (Crown) lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht Nuu-cha-Nulth territory.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect these areas from logging through expanded Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMA’s), core Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHA’s), Land Use Orders (LUO’s), and/or through a proposed new “legal tool” to protect BC’s biggest trees and grandest groves, which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is currently developing. The organization is also 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.

“Teal-Jones seems to be committing to a War in the Woods by aggressively moving forward to log southern Vancouver Island’s most contentious ancient forests. The Walbran Valley was the birthplace of the ancient forest protest movement in Victoria decades ago. Logging there has repeatedly triggered protests, beginning in 1991 and flaring up regularly for more than a decade thereafter. Thousands of British Columbians love the ancient forests of the Castle Grove, Emerald Pool, Bridge Camp, Summer Crossing, and Fletcher Falls in the Central Walbran Valley,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Similarly, the Gordon River Valley region where the threatened Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest is located has been in the international spotlight because of the nearby Avatar Grove, a popular, now-protected ancient forest just across the valley, and Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir, which towers by itself in a now-destroyed part of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest. Both the province and the company will be held accountable for what happens in these areas.”

“Because of the ideal growing conditions in the region, Canada’s temperate rainforests reach their most magnificent proportions in the Walbran, Carmanah, and Gordon River Valleys. They’re Canada’s version of the American redwoods. Given this fact – and that virtually all of the unprotected ancient forests are either clearcut or fragmented by logging today on southern Vancouver Island – it should be a no-brainer that the two largest, contiguous tracts here, the Central Walbran and Edinburgh Mountain, should be immediately protected”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.

Of the eight cutblocks that Teal-Jones is proposing to log in the Central Walbran Valley, the company recently applied on June 23 to the Forest Service to start logging one of them near the Upper Castle Grove, Cutblock 4424. Whether the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations grants the permit is to be seen. The Castle Grove is perhaps the most extensive stand of densely-packed monumental old-growth redcedars in Canada, and possibly the world.

At the same time, the company is planning a new logging road and two cutblocks in the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, just a few kilometers away from the Walbran Valley. The old-growth forests of Edinburgh Mountain are significantly more extensive than those of the Central Walbran Valley, making it the largest, primarily intact tract of unprotected old-growth forest left on southern Vancouver Island (south of Bamfield). The proposed new road by Teal-Jones would pierce hundreds of metres into the heart of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest and would even traverse an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA).

The Edinburgh Grove, the most spectacular part of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest on its southwestern side, has also been nicknamed the “Christy Clark Grove” after British Columbia’s premier as a strategy to put her on the spot and in the spotlight to protect it. More than half of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest is open for logging, while other parts are protected as a “core” Wildlife Habitat Area (the “buffer” zone can still be logged, and has already been logged in several areas) for the endangered Queen Charlotte Goshawk, as an Ungulate Winter Range, and as Old-Growth Management Areas.  See an original article about the Christy Clark Grove at https://www.canada.com/story.html?id=5d72d50a-b7b7-4787-b772-323929e0d98cCanada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree, “Big Lonely Doug”, was once part of the Edinburgh Grove until its surrounding neighbours were clearcut in a 2012 cutblock – see https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/canadas-loneliest-tree-around-1000-years-old-still-waiting-on-help/article19064507/.

The Central Walbran’s old-growth western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and hemlock forests have long been proposed for protection by the environmental movement since the early 1990’s, when the valley was “ground zero” for protests by southern Vancouver Island’s environmental movement. The early Walbran protests played an important role in supporting the build-up towards the massive Clayoquot Sound protests near Tofino on Vancouver Island in 1993.

The Castle Grove is considered by many conservationists as the finest, unprotected stand of monumental old-growth western redcedar trees in Canada. It includes a flat section (Lower Castle Grove), currently without any logging plans, and an adjacent mountainside (Upper Castle Grove) that is now under direct threat by Teal-Jones. Teal-Jones had flagged part of the Upper Castle Grove for logging in the 2012, but after a public campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Ministry of Forests reported later than year that the company was not intending to log there – unfortunately, since then, the company is now proposing to place three clearcuts in the Upper Castle Grove. See the video and the media releases from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/>watch?v=lHnG_sC4oms  and https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=515

A portion of the Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest was perhaps the most spectacular old-growth redcedar grove in the world, more densely packed with a greater number of monumental ancient redcedars (13 to 16 feet wide) than perhaps any other cedar grove – until it was clearcut in 2010. The logging of this grove triggered a Forest Practices Board investigation that recommended that the province undertake a new legal tool to protect the province’s biggest trees and grandest groves – which the province is still in the process of developing.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustain 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.

MORE BACKGROUND INFOThe Walbran Valley is about 13,000 hectares in size, with about 5500 hectares of the Lower Walbran Valley protected within the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park and about 7500 hectares of the Upper Walbran Valley remaining unprotected. The unprotected Upper Walbran Valley is divided into two “Tree Farm Licences” (TFL’s): TFL 46, held by Teal Jones, and TFL 44, held by Western Forest Products, on Crown lands in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht Nuu-Cha-Nulth people.

While most of the Upper Walbran Valley has been heavily fragmented by old-growth logging, two major tracts of ancient forest remain largely unlogged there: The Castle Grove (Canada’s finest ancient redcedar forest) and the greater Central Walbran Ancient Forest (currently under potential logging threat) which abuts against the boundary Carmanah/Walbran Provincial Park, spanning about 500 hectares in extent.

While small sections of the Central Walbran Ancient Forest are protected within Riparian Reserves, an Ungulate Winter Range, and Old-Growth Management Areas, the vast majority of the area is open for logging. The Central Walbran Ancient Forest is a popular and heavily used area by recreationalists, where the main boardwalk trails for hiking, riverside camping area, Emerald Pool swimming area, and the spectacular Fletcher Falls are found.

The Central Walbran Ancient Forest, Castle Grove, and adjacent unprotected forests were designated as a “Special Management Zone” (SMZ) by the BC government in 1994. The SMZ is supposed to be managed to maintain its environmental and biodiversity values – however, numerous destructive clearcuts have tattered much of the SMZ over the past 20 years.

Edinburgh Mountain includes about 1500 hectares of intact ancient forest, none of which are included in legislated protected areas. About 60% or more of its ancient forests are open for logging, while about 40% are in forest reserves which prohibit logging (ie. within Old-Growth Management Areas and an Ungulate Winter Range). In addition, all of the Grove is included within a 2100 hectare Wildlife Habitat Area, which still legally allows clearcut logging in almost 90% of the designation itself (ie. in the “buffer”, not the small “core” area). In 2010 and 2012 some of the very largest trees in Canada – some 13 to 16 feet in diameter – were logged within the Wildlife Habitat Area on Edinburgh Mountain. The Lower Edinburgh Grove on its southwestern side has some high concentrations of giant Douglas-firs and western redcedars. The grove once included “Big Lonely Doug”, Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir tree, until the forests surrounding the tree were logged in 2012, and while it still includes the “Gnarly Clark”, a massive redcedar with some giant burls, “General Clark”, a huge, straight redcedar, and the “Clark Giant”, a near record-size Douglas-fir that, at over 30 feet in circumference! The Clark Giant is currently in a forest reserve that is off-limits to logging, but stands close to an area that could be clearcut.

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 the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu.

Port Alberni Watershed Forest-Alliance's Jane Morden stands with giant Douglas-fir trees on McLaughlin Ridge

BC Government Must Protect Old-Growth Forests in Port Alberni’s Drinking Watershed

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For Immediate Release
March 31, 2015

Conservationists:  BC Government Must Protect Old-Growth Forests in Port Alberni’s Drinking Watershed

Conservationists call on BC Government to help purchase endangered old-growth forests on Island Timberlands’ deregulated lands, including McLaughlin Ridge in Port Alberni’s drinking watershed,  following BC Teachers Federation motion, Port Alberni city council resolution, and now Island Timberlands’ potential interest in selling McLaughlin Ridge.

Conservationists are ramping-up the pressure on the BC government to purchase and protect endangered old-growth forests owned by Island Timberlands around Port Alberni, including McLaughlin Ridge in the city’s drinking watershed, following rapidly evolving developments. Recently, Island Timberlands has stated that they are potentially interested in selling McLaughlin Ridge, greatly sought by conservation interests, and that they have no plans to log the ridge in 2015. The company’s new stance follows the Port Alberni city council’s support for protecting the old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge and the BC Teacher’s Federation’s motion last month calling on Island Timberlands to divest itself of McLaughlin Ridge so that it can be purchased and protected and to upgrade the company’s forestry practices to the higher, more environmental standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme.The BC Liberal government deregulated McLaughlin Ridge and thousands of hectares of other old-growth forests around Port Alberni in 2004 by removing them from their Tree Farm Licence, opening them up to logging. Public forums, rallies, and letter-writing events are currently being planned by conservationists to help the BC government overcome their reluctance to take responsibility for and to show leadership on this issue.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance are calling on the BC Liberal government to help fund the protection of these old-growth forests – which they deregulated in 2004 by removing them from their Tree Farm Licence (TFL 44), thus removing planned environmental protections for old-growth forests, endangered species, deer and elk wintering habitat, and exposing these lands to clearcut logging.  The conservation organizations are also actively looking at various land trusts and private donors to also contribute to funding the protection of these endangered old-growth forests, including Mclaughlin Ridge, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove.Island Timberlands is owned in large part by the BC Investment Management Corporation or BCIMC which includes the pension funds of public employees including teachers.

“With Island Timberlands indicating that they have some interest in a conservation solution for McLaughlin Ridge, and with the support of the Port Alberni mayor and city council and the BC Teachers Federation for this, it’s time that the BC government also step forward and become part of the solution,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “After all, they originally deregulated these forest lands, causing this whole mess – and now they must fix it. They need to commit to funding or helping to fund the purchase and protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other remaining old-growth forests on these deregulated lands.”

“After years of campaigning, we’ve now reached a juncture that most of the critical parties are in agreement that we need a win-win solution to keep our drinking watershed and key old-growth forests intact by Port Alberni. We’re not there yet, but the BC government can push this into a final solution very quickly if they have the political will,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance.

Conservation groups will be requesting meetings with Vancouver Island MLA’s (Members of the Legislative Assembly) with the ruling BC Liberal party, and holding letter-writing and public awareness events to ensure the protection of these lands if provincial government intransigence persists.

In addition, forest activists are actively searching for options among private land trusts and other donors who may take an interest in helping to purchase McLaughlin Ridge and other lands. Island Timberlands recently worked with local Cortes Island residents to ensure the purchase and protection of the mature and older forests at the Whaletown Commons.

BACKGROUND INFO

Island Timberlands is the second largest private landowner in BC, owning about 250,000 hectares of private forest lands in the province. This includes extremely scarce old-growth Douglas-fir forest, high quality ungulate (deer) winter range, and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk habitat at McLaughlin Ridge, which the company has previously partially cut, although much of the core area remains intact.

  • See recent photos of the logging at McLaughlin Ridge in early July (media are free to reprint, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible): https://on.fb.me/1qeaXhn
  • See older photos of the intact forest and earlier logging in 2011 at McLaughlin Ridge (media are free to reprint all photos, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible): www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=10

McLaughlin Ridge has been recognized by the provincial government’s own biologists as one of the most ecologically important forests. See: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/battle-revealed-over-use-of-sensitive-island-forest-near-port-alberni-1.10365

McLaughlin Ridge is part of 78,000 hectares of land (originally owned by Weyerhaeuser, followed by Island Timberlands) that were removed from Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island in 2004, thereby removing the planned environmental policies and/or regulations intended to protect species at risk (Wildlife Habitat Areas or WHA’s), old-growth forests, deer and elk winter ranges (Ungulate Winter Ranges or UWR’s), and riparian areas; to control the rate of cut; and to restrict raw log exports to protect local mills. The removal of the lands from TFL 44 included the stipulation from the BC government that a follow-up agreement be developed between the company and the government to ensure the protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other intended UWR’s and WHA’s – however, both parties failed to pursue the agreement, and the lands were subsequently partially being logged until Island Timberlands halted operations recently.

In total, about 2400 hectares of endangered old-growth forests originally intended for protection by the BC government as Ungulate Winter Ranges and Wildlife Habitat Areas in TFL 44 are now endangered. These lands also include Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and other areas – about three-fourths of which are estimated to have been logged by now (ie. only about 600 to 700 hectares are estimated to still remain). Most of these areas are within the traditional territory of the Hupacasth, Tseshaht, and/or K’omoks First Nations bands.

Over the past several years conservationists have been asking the BC government to purchase and protect endangered private lands – which the government did at Jordan River for example in 2010 at a popular surfing area at risk due to similar circumstances involving TFL deregulation of Western Forest Product’s private forest lands. Ideally, these purchases would occur as part of a larger, dedicated “park acquisition fund” of millions of dollars each year for this purpose. At this urgent time, simply protecting the last few hundred hectares of the old-growth forests that remain at McLaughlin Ridge, Horne Mountain (above Cathedral Grove), Cameron Firebreak, Katlum Creek, etc. would be the immediate priority.

Protecting these areas would protect vital habitat for endangered species, as well as Roosevelt elk, deer, and other wildlife; ensure clean and abundant water for fish and drinking watersheds; protect hiking, hunting, fishing, and recreational areas; and would provide huge potential for eco-tourism ventures in the area.

 

 

 

 

A Northern Red Legged-Frog spotted during the Echo Lake Bio-Blitz. (listed as a species of Special Concern by COSEWIC and Blue-Listed or threatened provincially)

Diverse and Endangered Species found at Echo Lake Ancient Forest near Vancouver

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For Immediate Release
March 19, 2015

World’s Largest Night-Roosting Site for Bald Eagles, the Endangered Echo Lake Ancient Forest, also Home to Diverse and Endangered Species

Preliminary surveys by biologists reveal diverse, endangered, and new species inhabiting the extremely rare lowland old-growth forest at Echo Lake east of Mission. Conservationists ramp-up call for the BC government to protect the area from logging.

Mission, BC – A biodiversity survey (ie “Bio-Blitz”) of an extremely rare but endangered, lowland old-growth forest between Mission and Agassiz (about a 2 hour drive east of Vancouver), the Echo Lake Ancient Forest, famous for its bald eagles, has revealed that it is also home to a large diversity of flora and fauna. This includes many species at risk such as various species of bats, frogs, snails, dragonflies, and moss. The surveys, conducted over a weekend last year by biologists and naturalists, and coordinated by the Ancient Forest Alliance, have now been compiled and will be submitted to the BC Ministry of Environment’s Conservation Data Centre and Wildlife Species Inventory. Over 2 days, approximately 174 plant, 55 vertebrate, 153 invertebrate, and 38 fungi species were found around Echo Lake.

“These biodiversity surveys show that protecting all of Echo Lake’s surrounding old-growth and mature forests is important not only for saving the largest night-roosting site for bald eagles on Earth, but also for a large diversity of other species, including many species at risk,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “And these new findings are just the tip of the iceberg from just a single weekend of surveys – future surveys will undoubtedly turn up much more. It further re-enforces the fact that it should be a no-brainer for the BC government to protect all of Echo Lake’s surrounding forests.”

In 2013 the BC government protected 55 hectares or over half of the old-growth forests around Echo Lake in an Old-Growth Management Area (OGMA) on Crown lands primarily on the lake’s south side. However, they left out about 40 hectares or so of old-growth and mature forests from the OGMA on the north and west side of the lake within a Woodlot Licence where the ancient trees can be logged. See the media release from 2013: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=565

See spectacular images of Echo Lake Ancient Forests at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=20

See a Youtube Clip at: https://youtu.be/HPstV14oZ6s

Echo Lake is the largest night-roosting site for bald eagles on Earth, where as many as 700 bald eagles roost in the ancient Douglas-fir and cedar trees around the lake at night during the fall salmon runs. Along the nearby Chehalis and Harrison Rivers, as many as 10,000 bald eagles come to eat the spawning salmon during some years, making the area home to the largest bald eagle/ raptor concentration on Earth.

The area is in the traditional, unceded territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation band, who run the Sasquatch EcoLodge and whose members run eagle watching tours nearby.

Among the hundreds of species identified in the survey, some of the more interesting finds include:

Species at Risk including:

  • Little Brown Bat (listed as Endangered by the federal government’s COSEWIC)
  • Northern Red Legged-Frog (listed as a species of Special Concern by COSEWIC and Blue-Listed or threatened provincially)
  • Barn Swallow (listed as Threatened by COSEWIC, Blue-listed provincially)
  • Olive-Sided Flycatcher (listed as Threatened by COSEWIC, Blue-listed provincially)
  • Brotherella roellii (type of moss) (COSEWIC status Endangered, Red-listed or endangered provincially)
  • Monadenia fidelis or Pacific Sideband (type of snail) (Blue-listed provincially)
  • Epitheca canis or Beaverpond Baskettail (type of dragonfly) (Blue-listed provincially

A newly-recorded species for the first time in BC:

  • Theonoe stridula (type of spider)

Other species found through the survey or observed at other times at Echo Lake include Vaux’s swifts (a swallow-like bird associated with old-growth forests), pileated woodpeckers (Canada’s largest woodpecker, associated with older conifer forests and deciduous forests), red-breasted sapsuckers (associated with older forests), osprey, turkey vultures, river otters, beavers, black bears, bobcats, cougars, mountain goats, black-tailed deer, and bald eagles. 

“The BC government so far has shown itself to be stubborn and intransigent on protecting the north and west sides of Echo Lake, which will lead to heightened conflict. Instead, they need to work with the local Woodlot Licencee, First Nations, adjacent private land owners like myself, and conservationists to ensure the area’s legal protection. This would entail shifting the Woodlot Licence boundaries – perhaps just 40 hectares or so of the existing 800 hectare tenure – into a second-growth forest in the vast region with an equivalent timber value, and then expanding the Old-Growth Management Area to encompass all of the forests around Echo Lake,” stated Stephen Ben-Oliel, a private landowner on the eastern shore of Echo Lake.

Stephen and his wife Susan are planning to organize an August 8-9 Echo Lake Festival filled with natural history tours, musicians, art performances, tree-climbing workshops, and other activities to celebrate and help promote the protection of the remaining endangered forests around the lake. Updates on the festival will be posted in the future at www.ProtectEchoLake.com 

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

  • A Provincial Old-Growth Plan based on science that would protect the remaining old-growth forests in the province in the regions where they are endangered (eg. Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, BC Interior).
  • Ensuring sustainable logging of second-growth forests, which now constitute the vast majority of forested lands in southern British Columbia.
  • Ending the export of raw logs to foreign mills in order to ensure a guaranteed log supply for BC mills and value-added manufacturers.
  • Supporting the retooling of old-growth mills and the development of value-added processing facilities to handle second-growth logs.

In the Lower Mainland, about 80% or more of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including about 95% of the valley bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow and most biodiversity is found. See maps and stats of the old-growth forests on BC's southern coast at: www.ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-maps.php 

“How many jurisdictions on Earth still have trees that grow as wide as living rooms and as tall as downtown skyscrapers? What we have here is something exceptional on the planet. Our ancient forests make British Columbia truly special – while we still have them,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “More than ever we need the BC government to have the wisdom to protect our incredibly rare and endangered old-growth forests like at Echo Lake”.
 

BC’s Oldest Forest Conservationist, 104 Year Old Al Carder, Receives Forest Sustainability Award For Decades of Service Documenting, Researching, and Promoting BC’s Old-Growth Trees

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For Immediate Release
November 26, 2014

BC’s oldest forest conservationist, Dr. Al Carder, received public recognition last night for his decades of service to document, research, and promote the conservation of BC’s old-growth trees. The 104 year old Carder is the recipient of the 2014 “Forest Sustainability Award” from the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) www.AncientForestAlliance.org, a British Columbia-based conservation group working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. Dr. Carder’s children, Judith, Mary-Clare, and Andrew, received the award last night on behalf of their father, who is currently ill with pneumonia, at the AFA’s “end of year” forest conservation event in Victoria last night.

“Dr. Al Carder was researching and raising awareness about BC’s biggest trees years before old-growth forests became an issue of popular concern in this province. Carder, a humble and dedicated researcher, was never ‘out there’ in the public spotlight himself very much. However, his work decades ago on the most iconic parts of our old-growth forests, their unbelievably huge trees, helped to lay the foundation of public awareness that fostered the rise of the subsequent ancient forest movement,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “The Ancient Forest Alliance is very grateful for his decades of work and consider him to be a very deserving recipient of this award.”

Along with his books, Carder is perhaps best known for his work in the 1970’s to highlight the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest known Douglas-fir tree located in the San Juan Valley near the town of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. The champion tree was found in 1976 by local loggers, who notified Carder about the tree. Carder measured the tree and recognized it for being the largest of its species on Earth, and worked to promote its protection.

The Red Creek Fir is now within a Forest Service Recreation Area, and is also listed in BC’s Big Tree Registry, run by the University of British Columbia – see https://bigtrees.forestry.ubc.ca/ Since then, Port Renfrew has become known as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada”, with tourists from around the world coming to visit the Red Creek Fir and the nearby Avatar Grove, Big Lonely Doug (the second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada, measured earlier this year by AFA campaigners), San Juan Spruce, Harris Creek Spruce, and Walbran and Carmanah Valleys.

Carder’s early work helped to inspire the late Randy Stoltmann, another renowned BC conservationist who often worked with Carder (52 years his senior) in the 1980’s and ‘90’s to research and promote the protection of BC’s biggest trees and endangered old-growth forest ecosystems.

Al Carder's love of giant trees began when he was 7 years old, helping his father measure a tall tree near their home in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia in 1917, and stayed with him all his life. Wherever he was, if there were tall trees nearby he would be glancing up, estimating their height.

It was so working in northern Alberta, studying in eastern Canada and Wisconsin where he obtained his doctorate in plant ecology becoming Canada's first agrometeorologist. Before this, while in England, he admired the huge hedgerow elms and he did not relinquish this habit of viewing giant trees even when he was on the firing line during World War II.

After retiring from Canada's federal agriculture service, Al and his wife, Mary, set off on a World Big Tree Hunt – Mary often being used as “scale” next to giants in Al's photos. This was productive, years later resulting in the publication of two books: Forest Giants of the World, Past and Present (1995) and Giant Trees of North America and the World (2005) with Al's “to scale” drawings.

Al continued researching, writing and self-publishing information into his 101st year with The Blooming of the Earth: A Brief History of the Advent of Plants and Man and finally Reflections of a Big Tree Enthusiast about his beloved giant Douglas-firs of the Northwest Coast. Having proved the Red Creek Tree to be Canada's largest tree, it is Al's belief that if British Columbia's Douglas-fir stands had been harvested responsibly, they would now be the world's tallest trees.

Last year’s recipient of the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Forest Sustainability Award was Scott Fraser, the Member of the Legislative Assembly in BC for the Alberni-Pacific Rim riding, for his work to protect old-growth forests and sustainable forestry jobs around Port Alberni, and to highlight the deregulation of forest lands on Vancouver Island.  

Canada’s Grandest Rainforest at Risk from Old-growth Logging as Survey Tape is discovered in the Heart of the Walbran Valley

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November 19, 2014
For Immediate Release

Canada’s Grandest Rainforest at Risk from Old-growth Logging as Survey Tape is discovered in the Heart of the Walbran Valley

Port Renfrew, British Columbia – One of Canada’s most iconic and grandest old-growth temperate rainforests is under threat as signs of potential logging have been discovered in the heart of the Upper Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island. Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) activists TJ Watt and Jackie Korn recently documented survey tape marked “Falling Boundary” and “Road Location” in the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, one of the last, largely-intact sections of the unprotected portion of the valley.

See new photos of the threatened Central Walbran Ancient Forest, including new “Falling Boundary” survey tape, as well as a recent clearcut a few kilometres farther up the valley at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/central-walbran-ancient-forest/

NOTE: Media are free to reprint any photos (photo credit to “TJ Watt” if possible. Contact us if you need higher resolution shots at info@16.52.162.165).

The Surrey-based logging company, the Teal Jones Group, has the logging rights to the area currently at risk.

While most of the Upper Walbran Valley has been heavily fragmented by old-growth logging, two major tracts of ancient forest remain largely unlogged there: The Castle Grove (Canada’s finest ancient redcedar forest) and the Central Walbran Ancient Forest (currently under potential logging threat) which abuts against the boundary Carmanah/Walbran Provincial Park.

“Because of the ideal growing conditions in the region, Canada’s temperate rainforests reach their most magnificent proportions in the Walbran and Carmanah Valleys. It’s our version of America’s redwoods. Unfortunately, the upper half of the Walbran Valley remains open for logging. The area currently threatened, as well as the Castle Grove, make up the most ecologically significant and intact sections left in the Upper Walbran Valley. They must be protected”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.

So far, Teal Jones has not applied for any cutting or road building permits in the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, according to an email from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations to the Ancient Forest Alliance. However, the flagging tape clearly denotes the company’s interest in potentially logging the area, although the company appears to still be in “survey and assessment” mode.

The Walbran Valley is about 13,000 hectares in size, with about 5500 hectares of the Lower Walbran Valley protected within the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park and about 7500 hectares of the Upper Walbran Valley remaining unprotected. The unprotected Upper Walbran Valley is divided into two “Tree Farm Licences” (TFL’s): TFL 46, held by Teal Jones, and TFL 44, held by Western Forest Products, on Crown lands in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht Nuu-Cha-Nulth people.

“Across southern Vancouver Island, the remaining unprotected old-growth forests are heavily tattered. The Central Walbran Ancient Forest is still largely intact and represents some of the ‘last of the best’ old-growth temperate rainforest in Canada – to let it get logged would be a national travesty. The BC Liberal government should immediately take steps to protect this area in the Upper Walbran Valley, which has been Ground Zero for the ancient forest movement on southern Vancouver Island for over two decades,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.

The new flagging tape is on a largely intact mountainside – with the exception of one clearcut logged in 1992, referred by local conservationists as “Miller’s Monstrosity” – that is several hundred hectares in extent. While small sections of the Central Walbran Ancient Forest are protected within Riparian Reserves and Old-Growth Management Areas, the vast majority of the area is open for logging. The sections of flagging tape identified at this time are primarily to the southwest of the existing Miller’s Monstrosity clearcut, with a small section of tape on the north side of the clearcut, across the river from the famed Castle Grove. The Central Walbran Ancient Forest is a popular and heavily used area by recreationalists, where the main boardwalk trails for hiking, riverside camping area, Emerald Pool swimming area, and the spectacular Fletcher Falls are found.

The area’s old-growth western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and hemlock forests have long been proposed for protection by the environmental movement since the early 1990’s, when the Walbran Valley was “ground zero” for protests by the environmental movement on southern Vancouver Island. The early Walbran Valley protests played an important role in supporting the build-up towards the massive Clayoquot Sound protests near Tofino on Vancouver Island in 1993. Conservationists are calling for the area’s protection through a new provincial conservancy designation.

The area currently under threat, the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, includes the Tolkien Giant, a 16 foot (5 metre) diametre redcedar that is one of the largest trees in the province, growing within the Tolkien Grove of dozens of giant redcedars. While the Tolkien Grove is protected within an Old-Growth Management Area, the new flagging tape indicates that potential logging could occur on the adjacent mountainside above the grove and come to within a few dozen meters of it, threatening the area’s wildlife habitat with fragmentation and erosion/siltation from the mountainside during heavy rains.

The Central Walbran Ancient Forest, Castle Grove, and adjacent unprotected forests were designated as a “Special Management Zone” (SMZ) by the BC government in 1994. The SMZ is supposed to be managed to maintain its environmental and biodiversity values – however, numerous destructive clearcuts have tattered much of the SMZ over the past 20 years.

Across the river from the new flagging tape is the Castle Grove, the finest, unprotected stand of monumental old-growth western redcedar trees in Canada. Teal-Jones had flagged part of the Castle Grove for logging in the summer of 2012, but after a public campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance, it was reported in November of 2012 that the company was not intending to log the Castle Grove. See: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=515 and video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnG_sC4oms

Ecological surveys done in the Walbran Valley have revealed the presence of species at risk including marbled murrelets, Queen Charlotte goshawks, red-legged frogs, Vaux’s swifts, and Keen’s long-eared myotis, as well as cougars, wolves, black bears, elk, black-tailed deer, steelhead and coho salmon.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustain 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 over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. See maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/

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

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically 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 the Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu.

Recent old-growth logging by Island Timberlands on McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni.

Major Environmental, Labour, and Community Organizations call on Island Timberlands and the BC Government to Halt the Destruction of one of BC’s Finest Old-Growth Forests at McLaughlin Ridge

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For Immediate Release

July 21, 2014

Major Environmental, Labour, and Community Organizations call on Island Timberlands and the BC Government to Halt the Destruction of one of BC’s Finest Old-Growth Forests at McLaughlin Ridge on Vancouver Island

Diverse organizations, including a major forestry workers union, BC’s largest environmental organizations, and community organizations, have signed a statement calling on Island Timberlands to immediately cease and desist from logging the endangered old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge, one Canada’s most ecologically significant old-growth forests near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, and for the BC Liberal government show leadership and ensure the forest’s protection – before it’s too late.

Organizations that have signed on include the: Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC) union, ForestEthics, Canopy, Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club of BC, Canadian Parks And Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Wilderness Committee, Island Stance, Alberni Environmental Coalition, Arrowsmith Parks and Land-use Council, Port Alberni Council of Canadians, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Save the Day, & Valhalla Wilderness Society.

“We’re excited that the ecological significance of McLaughlin Ridge and the environmental emergency caused by Island Timberlands’ logging of this magnificent ancient forest has been recognized by so many diverse organizations. This includes the province’s most powerful environmental organizations that have succeeded in protecting significant tracts of ancient forests in BC; local ‘kitchen table’ environmental groups of citizens who hold meetings in their homes, engaged in similar struggles against Island Timberlands in their neck of the woods; one of the largest forestry workers unions in BC; and other important community groups. The company and the BC government really need to heed the call of so many diverse organizations, otherwise the controversy will only continue to grow,” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, which is spearheading the campaign to protect old-growth forests around Port Alberni, including McLaughlin Ridge.

Island Timberland is the second largest private landowner in British Columbia, with over 258,000 hectares of private forest lands in BC. The controversial logging corporation’s rapid cutting of extremely scarce old-growth Douglas-fir forests, high quality ungulate (deer) winter range, and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk habitat at McLaughlin Ridge risks escalating a wider conflict in the War in the Woods.

See older photos of the intact forest and earlier logging in 2011 at McLaughlin Ridge (media are free to reprint all photos, credit to “TJ Watt” if possible): https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/mclaughlin-ridge/

Conservationists raised the alarm recently when they discovered earlier this month that Island Timberlands has begun a road-building and logging spree into the heart of McLaughlin Ridge. The company had logged a 100 meter wide or greater swath of old-growth trees, traversing almost the entire span of the previously intact section of McLaughlin Ridge’s old-growth forest.

McLaughlin Ridge is part of 78,000 hectares of land that were removed from Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island in 2004, thereby removing the planned environmental policies and/or regulations intended to protect species at risk, old-growth forests, ungulate winter ranges, and to control the rate of cut; as well as those designated to protect riparian areas and restrict raw log exports to protect local mills.

“By all measures, McLaughlin Ridge is of the highest conservation priority – as ungulate winter range, for species at risk, for scarce old-growth Douglas-fir groves, and as part of Port Alberni’s drinking watershed. McLaughlin Ridge was supposed to be protected as part of the agreement to remove the lands from the Tree Farm Licence in 2004, but the BC government and Island Timberlands dropped the ball on the subsequent negotiations. We need Island Timberlands to cease and desist immediately from their old-growth logging operations, and for the BC government to ensure a conservation solution for this endangered ancient forest,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner.

“Island Timberlands is a corporation that is constantly wading into controversy – more than any other BC logging company it seems. They are charging forward to log their most contentious, environmentally significant old-growth forests and socially-valued lands, despite the fact that these hot spots constitute a minuscule fraction of their 250,000 hectares of private forest lands in BC. This is a bad business model in this province, and I’d recommend they take a new approach. The current situation will be a lose-lose for everyone. But there are solutions, including some possible creative ones, that can be developed. However, it will require that the company immediately halt its logging operations at McLaughlin Ridge so this whole thing doesn’t become a moot point soon, and for the BC government to show their willingness to be leaders to implement a solution. But time is short and options for McLaughlin Ridge will run out soon if the corporation continues to cut out the heart of its ancient forest,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.

MORE BACKGROUND INFO

McLaughlin Ridge has been recognized by the provincial government’s own biologists as one of the most important habitats for the red-listed Queen Charlotte Goshawk (an endangered bird of prey) and as one of the finest ungulate wintering ranges for coastal black-tailed deer on Vancouver Island. See: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/battle-revealed-over-use-of-sensitive-island-forest-near-port-alberni-1.10365

The area was originally intended for protection by the provincial government as an Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) and Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA), until the province’s plans changed when it removed the lands from Tree Farm Licence 44. The removal of the lands from TFL 44 in 2004 included the stipulation from the BC government that a follow-up agreement be developed between the company and the government to ensure the protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other intended UWR’s and WHA’s – however, both parties failed to pursue the agreement, and the lands are now being logged.

In total, about 2400 hectares of endangered old-growth forests originally intended for protection by the BC government as Ungulate Winter Ranges and Wildlife Habitat Areas in TFL 44 are now endangered. These lands also include Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and other areas – of which, about two-thirds of the total area are estimated to have now been logged. Much of the lands are within the traditional territory of the Hupacasath band. At the current pace of falling, much of McLaughlin Ridge could be logged within a few weeks.

Despite the company’s recent logging incursion into the heart of McLaughlin Ridge, a few hundred hectares of extremely endangered old-growth forests and mature second-growth forests still stand on the slope – for now. This includes major stands of old-growth Douglas-fir trees, the overwhelming majority of which have been logged on BC’s coast.

Over the past several years conservationists have been asking the BC government to purchase and protect endangered private lands – which the government did at Jordan River for example in 2010 at a popular surfing area at risk due to similar circumstances involving the removal of Western Forest Product’s private forest lands from their TFL’s. Ideally, these purchases would occur as part of a larger, dedicated “park acquisition fund” of millions of dollars each year for this purpose. At this urgent time, simply protecting the last few hundred hectares of the old-growth forests that remain at McLaughlin Ridge, Horne Mountain (above Cathedral Grove), Cameron Firebreak, Katlum Creek, etc. would be the immediate priority.

Protecting these areas would protect vital habitat for endangered species and Roosevelt elk, deer, and other wildlife; ensure clean and abundant water for fish and drinking watersheds; protect hiking, hunting, fishing, and recreational areas; and would provide huge potential for eco-tourism ventures in the area.

In addition, forest activists will start looking at options among private land trusts who may take an interest in helping to purchase McLaughlin Ridge and similar lands. Island Timberlands has recently been in conversation with local Cortes Island residents and the Strathcona Regional District about potentially selling some of its contentious forest lands on Cortes: https://www.campbellrivermirror.com

Recent old-growth logging by Island Timberlands on McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni.

Island Timberlands Rips into the Heart of one of British Columbia’s Finest Old-Growth Forests

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For Immediate Release
July 16, 2014

Island Timberlands Rips into the Heart of one of British Columbia’s Finest Old-Growth Forests

Controversial logging corporation’s rapid cutting of extremely scarce old-growth Douglas-fir forest, high quality ungulate (deer) winter range, and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk habitat at McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni risks escalating wider conflict in the War in the Woods

  • See recent photos of the logging at McLaughlin Ridge in early July (media are free to reprint, credit to “TJ Watt”).
  • See older photos of the intact forest and earlier logging in 2011 at McLaughlin Ridge (media are free to reprint all photos, credit to “TJ Watt”).

Port Alberni, Vancouver Island – Conservationists are raising the alarm as Island Timberlands has rapidly undertaken a road-building and logging spree into the heart of one of BC’s most ecologically significant old-growth forests at McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni. Last week conservationists were greatly dismayed to discover that the company had logged a hundred or more metre wide swath of old-growth trees, traversing almost the entire span of the previously intact section of McLaughlin Ridge’s old-growth forest.

The Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance and the Ancient Forest Alliance are calling on Island Timberlands to immediately cease and desist from logging this high conservation value forest, and for the BC Liberal government – who largely deregulated the land in 2004 – to show leadership by working to ensure a conservation solution for McLaughlin Ridge and other endangered old-growth forests jeopardized by Island Timberlands.

“This is one of the most devastating sights I’ve ever seen. This magnificent old growth forest is being reduced to stumps, logs and huge amounts of waste that will most likely end up in massive burn piles. Anyone who sees this area now will never be able to imagine the centuries old forest that once stood here, nor will the forest ever grow back the same. It is a tragic loss for not only the wildlife that depended on it, but also for future generations. It was recognized by the province’s own biologists as one of the most important old-growth wildlife habitats on Vancouver Island.” stated Jane Morden, coordinator of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance. “What’s going on right now is a first rate environmental emergency in this province.”

“By all measures, McLaughlin Ridge is of the highest conservation priority – as ungulate winter range, for species at risk, for scarce old-growth Douglas-fir groves, and as part of Port Alberni’s drinking watershed. McLaughlin Ridge was supposed to be protected as part of the agreement to remove the lands from the Tree Farm Licence in 2004, but the BC government and Island Timberlands dropped the ball on the subsequent negotiations,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner. “We need Island Timberlands to cease and desist immediately from their old-growth logging operations, and for the BC government to ensure a conservation solution for this endangered ancient forest.”

Despite the company’s recent logging incursion into the heart of McLaughlin Ridge, a few hundred hectares of extremely endangered old-growth forests and mature second-growth forests still stand on the slope – for now. This includes major stands of old-growth Douglas-fir trees, the overwhelming majority of which have been logged on BC’s coast. McLaughlin Ridge has been recognized by the provincial government’s own biologists as one of the most important habitats for the red-listed Queen Charlotte Goshawk (an endangered bird of prey) and as one of the finest ungulate wintering ranges for coastal black-tailed deer on Vancouver Island. See: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/battle-revealed-over-use-of-sensitive-island-forest-near-port-alberni-1.10365

McLaughlin Ridge is part of 78,000 hectares of land that were removed from Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island in 2004, thereby removing the planned environmental policies and/or regulations intended to protect species at risk, old-growth forests, ungulate winter ranges, and riparian areas; to control the rate of cut; and to restrict raw log exports to protect local mills.

McLaughlin Ridge was intended for protection by the provincial government as an Ungulate Winter Range (UWR) and Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA), until the province’s plans changed when it removed the lands from Tree Farm Licence 44. The removal of the lands from TFL 44 included the stipulation from the BC government that a follow-up agreement be developed between the company and the government to ensure the protection of McLaughlin Ridge and other intended UWR’s and WHA’s – however, both parties failed to pursue the agreement, and the lands are now being logged.

In total, about 2400 hectares of endangered old-growth forests originally intended for protection by the BC government as Ungulate Winter Ranges and Wildlife Habitat Areas in TFL 44 are now endangered. These lands also include Horne Mountain above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, the Cameron Valley Firebreak, Katlum Creek, and other areas – about two-thirds of which are estimated to have been logged by now. Most of these areas are within the traditional territory of the Hupacasth band. At the current pace of falling, much of McLaughlin Ridge could be logged within a few weeks.

Over the past several years conservationists have been asking the BC government to purchase and protect endangered private lands – which the government did at Jordan River for example in 2010 at a popular surfing area at risk due to similar circumstances involving TFL deregulation of Western Forest Product’s private forest lands. Ideally, these purchases would occur as part of a larger, dedicated “park acquisition fund” of millions of dollars each year for this purpose. At this urgent time, simply protecting the last few hundred hectares of the old-growth forests that remain at McLaughlin Ridge, Horne Mountain (above Cathedral Grove), Cameron Firebreak, Katlum Creek, etc. would be the immediate priority.

Protecting these areas would protect vital habitat for endangered species and Roosevelt elk, deer, and other wildlife; ensure clean and abundant water for fish and drinking watersheds; protect hiking, hunting, fishing, and recreational areas; and would provide huge potential for eco-tourism ventures in the area.

In addition, forest activists will start looking at options among private land trusts who may take an interest in helping to purchase McLaughlin Ridge and similar lands. Island Timberlands has recently been in conversation with local Cortes Island residents who are working to raise funds and the Strathcona Regional District about potentially selling some of its contentious forest lands on Cortes Island.

“Island Timberlands is a corporation that is constantly wading into controversy – more than any other BC logging company it seems. They are charging forward to log their most contentious, environmentally significant old-growth forests and socially-valued lands, despite the fact that these hotspots constitute a minuscule fraction of their 250,000 hectares of private forest lands in BC. This is a bad business model in this province, and I’d recommend they take a new approach. The current situation will be a lose-lose for everyone. But there are solutions, including some possible creative ones that can be developed. However, it will require that the company immediately halt its logging operations at McLaughlin Ridge so this whole thing doesn’t become a moot point soon, and for the BC government to show their willingness to be leaders to implement a solution. But time is short and options for McLaughlin Ridge will run out soon if the corporation continues to cut out the heart of its ancient forest,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director.

Tree-Climbers Scale to the top of “Big Lonely Doug,” Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, to highlight BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

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For Immediate Release
June 6, 2014

Tree-Climbers Scale to the top of “Big Lonely Doug”, Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-fir Tree, to highlight BC’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are collaborating with the Arboreal Collective, a group of professional tree-climbers working to raise awareness, facilitate research, and help protect British Columbia’s biggest trees and endangered old-growth forests.

Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – “Big Lonely Doug”, the recently found, second-largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada, has been scaled by a team of professional tree-climbers. The climbers with the Arboreal Collective are collaborating with the Ancient Forest Alliance, a BC-based conservation organization, to highlight, research, and document the largest old-growth trees and grandest groves in British Columbia. Big Lonely Doug stands alone in a 2012 clearcut, hence its name.

See spectacular photos at: https://16.52.162.165/new-photo-gallery-climbing-big-lonely-doug-round-2/ (News media are free to reprint photos. Credit to “TJ Watt” if possible)

Watch On YouTube here (News media are free to reuse.)

“We hope that our work to help highlight, research, and document the biggest trees and grandest groves in British Columbia will aid in their legal protection,” stated Matthew Beatty, spokesman with the Arboreal Collective. “Colossal trees like Big Lonely Doug are like the ‘redwoods of Canada’ that inspire awe in people around the world due to their unbelievable size and age. BC’s endangered old-growth forests urgently need protection before they become giant stumps and tree plantations.”

The Arboreal Collective’s Matthew Beatty, Tiger Devine, Dan Holliday, and the Ancient Forest Alliance’s TJ Watt, were also joined by Will Koomjian from Ascending the Giants, a similar research and awareness-raising organization of tree-climbers based in Portland, and by photographer James Frystak. The Arboreal Collective also collaborates on research with the BC Big Tree Registry, run by the University of British Columbia, a register of the largest measured trees in the province. See: https://bigtrees.forestry.ubc.ca/

“The Arboreal Collective have provided us with the unique ability to photograph and document these giant trees and their surroundings from a birds-eye view, 200 feet up in the canopy!” stated Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt. “It’s a humbling experience exploring the tops of centuries-old trees and in a place no human has been before. I hope the novel images that come from this initiative to climb and document the largest trees and grandest groves in BC will help to ignite the interest and raise awareness of people around the world about these highly endangered ecosystems. The BC government must act to save our last unprotected ancient forests, which are a global treasure.”

The group recently climbed to the top of Big Lonely Doug in order to directly measure its height by dropping a line from the top of the tree down to its base. Big Lonely Doug was found to be 66 metres (216 feet) in height, slightly shorter than its previously measured height of 70 meters (230 feet) using a clinometer (a tree-height measuring device taken from the ground using trigonometry – less accurate than direct measurements, of course). However, Big Lonely Doug still remains as the second largest Douglas-fir tree in Canada in total size. Big Lonely Doug’s width has been officially measured to be 12 meters (39 feet) in circumference or 4 meters (12 feet) in diameter by BC Big Tree Registry coordinator Dr. Andy MacKinnon. See: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=782

The climbers also collected samples of moss and canopy soil accumulated on the massive limbs of Big Lonely Doug, which have been given to entomologists (bug biologists) who will examine the sample for new species of spiders, insects, and mites (arthropods). Many unique species of arthropods have been found only in the old-growth forest canopies of Vancouver Island, where thick matts of mosses, ferns, and other plants form layers of soil on the branches high up in the forest canopies.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer, TJ Watt, also climbed the giant tree once the ropes were set-up, and has taken phenomenal, birds-eye view photos of the tree, the tree-climbers, and the surrounding clearcut landscape.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to protect our endangered old-growth forests, ensure the development of a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry (second-growth forest now constitutes the vast majority of productive forest lands in BC), and to end the vast export of raw, unprocessed logs to foreign mills.

“The days of colossal trees like Big Lonely Doug are quickly coming to an end as the timber industry cherry-picks the last stands of unprotected, lowland ancient forests left in southern BC where giants like this grow. Today the vast majority of BC’s remaining old-growth forests are at higher elevations, on rocky sites, and in bogs where the trees are much smaller and in many cases have low to no commercial value”, stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “We’re really encouraging the BC government to move forward with its proposed legal protection of the biggest trees and grandest groves in BC, as well as to ultimately protect old-growth ecosystems across the province on a more comprehensive scale to support endangered species, the climate, clean water, tourism, and many First Nations cultures.”

BACKGROUND INFO

Big Lonely Doug grows in the Gordon River Valley near the coastal town of Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island, known as the “Tall Trees Capital” of Canada. It stands on Crown lands in Tree Farm Licence 46 held by the logging company Teal-Jones, in the unceded traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. It was first measured and recognized as exceptionally large by Ancient Forest Alliance campaigners in March of this year.

Big Lonely Doug stands alone among dozens of giant stumps – some 3 meters wide – of old-growth western redcedars and Douglas-firs, in a roughly 20 hectare clearcut that was logged in 2012. One of its largest branches was recently torn off in a fierce wind/snow storm in February, with a 50 centimeter wide base (the size of most second-growth trees) and still fresh needles lying on the ground adjacent to the tree.

The world’s largest Douglas-fir tree is the Red Creek Fir, located just 20 kilometers to the east of Big Lonely Doug in the San Juan River Valley. The Red Creek Fir has been measured to be 13.28 meters (44 feet) in circumference or 4.3 meters (14 feet) in diameter, and 73.8 meters (242 feet) tall.

Big Lonely Doug was likely left behind as a seed tree or as a wildlife tree, and was also used by the loggers as a cable anchor to yard other trees across the clearcut, judging by the long horizontal lines scarred into its bark. Judging by the growth rings on nearby stumps, Big Lonely Doug may be 1000 years in age.

The BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is currently working on following up on a 2011 promise by then-Forests Minister Pat Bell to develop a new “legal tool” to protect the province’s biggest old-growth trees and grandest groves. Such a legal mechanism, if effective and if implemented, would be a greatly welcome step forward towards protecting BC’s finest stands. More comprehensive legislation would still be needed to protect the province’s old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale, to sustain biodiversity, clean water, and the climate, as the biggest trees and monumental groves are today a tiny fraction of the remaining old-growth forests.

The stand of ancient trees in which Big Lonely Doug grew was part of a 1000 hectare tract of provincially-significant, largely intact old-growth forest on Edinburgh Mountain, home to species at risk including the red-listed or endangered Queen Charlotte Goshawk. While some of the area has been reserved as a core Wildlife Habitat Area for the goshawk and as an Old-Growth Management Area, more than half of the forests there – including the finest, valley-bottom stands with the largest trees, such as the stand where Big Lonely Doug once grew in – are open to clearcut logging. This area was nicknamed the “Christy Clark Grove” in 2012 after BC’s premier to put her on the spot and in the spotlight to have to take responsibility for the fate of this spectacular ancient forest. So far, the premier has failed to ensure the area’s full protection.

Government data from 2012 show that about 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast (Vancouver Island and Southwest Mainland) have been logged, including over 90% of the highest productivity, valley bottom ancient stands where the largest trees grow. 99% of the old-growth Douglas-fir trees on BC’s coast have also been logged. The BC government often grossly overinflates the amount of remaining ancient forests in BC by releasing statistics that include vast tracts of bog and subalpine forests consisting of small, stunted old-growth trees of little to no commercial value, combined with the less extensive tracts of the large, old-growth trees growing on more productive sites at risk of being logged. See recent “before and after” maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/photos-media/

BC’s old-growth forests are important to sustain numerous species at risk that can’t live or flourish in second-growth stands; to mitigate climate change by storing two to three times more atmospheric carbon than the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with; as fundamental pillars for BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry; to support clean water and wild salmon; and for many First Nations cultures who use ancient cedar trees for canoes, totems, long-houses, and numerous other items.

A photo of a burnt Vancouver Island clearcut - where an old-growth temperate rainforest once stood - has been chosen for exhibition in the international photography competition

Photo of Burnt Vancouver Island Clearcut Chosen for Exhibition in International Photography Competition in London

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Photo of Burnt Vancouver Island Clearcut Chosen for Exhibition in International Photography Competition in London

Tragic photo of a logged and burnt old-growth forest on Vancouver Island, taken in January by Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt, highlights the environmental destruction taking place in British Columbia’s “Tree Farm Licences” (TFL’s). The BC government’s plan to expand TFL’s to give exclusive logging rights to major logging companies on BC’s public lands is in its final week of public input.

A tragic photo of a person standing among giant, burnt stumps in an old-growth clearcut on Vancouver Island taken by Victoria-based photographer and conservationist TJ Watt has been chosen by the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition to be featured in an exhibition this summer at the Royal Geographical Society in London and around national forest venues across England. Exhibited photos will be further judged to potentially win first prize in the competition. See the photo here: https://16.52.162.165/pic.php?pID=797

The photo is currently being circulated in social media to show the unsustainable forestry practices in BC’s Tree Farm Licences where large logging companies have exclusive logging rights over vast areas of public forest lands – a designation that the BC government is looking to expand, pending the finalization of public input at the end of this week on May 30. See the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign website at www.BCForestMovement.com

The photo was taken in January of this year in a former old-growth red cedar and hemlock forest on public (Crown) land in the Klanawa Valley in “Tree Farm Licence 44”, an “area-based licence” held by Western Forest Products, a few kilometers from the West Coast Trail on southern Vancouver Island (south of the town of Bamfield). The BC government states: “It is in the best interests of the licence holder to ensure the long-term sustainability of the area to secure future harvests,” in their discussion paper promoting an expansion of Tree Farm Licences in BC (see BC Government’s “Discussion Paper: Area-Based Forest Tenures”, page 8 – https://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/files/2014/03/Forest_Tenure_Discuss_Paper.pdf)

“This photo highlights the brutal mismanagement of BC’s old-growth forests – in fact the annihilation of these forests – in Tree Farm Licences on public lands. It’s such a tragic place, when you see the contrast between what would’ve been lush green rainforest, and what it is today – a charred and barren landscape of blackened stumps, not unlike a scene from the end of the world” stated TJ Watt. “I hope this photo provides a striking reminder of the ongoing destruction of British Columbia’s last endangered old-growth forests within Tree Farm Licences – a designation shown throughout the coast to be rife with environmentally disastrous forestry practices.”

The clearcut was likely burnt due to an accident. Clearcuts are more prone to fires as the dead wood and vegetation dry-out when exposed to the direct summer sunshine without overhead canopy, while sparks caused by logging equipment, as well as human carelessness and lightning, can readily ignite dried-out clearcuts. Companies also set intentional burns to reduce waste wood.

The photo will on display at the competition in London from June 23 – July 4, 2014, followed by a tour to forest venues nationally, supported by Forestry Commission England. The Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best in environmental photography and film. The exhibition will feature the top picks including Watt’s burnt clearcut photo, among a large number of entries from around the world, with the winning entry receiving a £5000 prize for the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year award. Over 10,000 images were submitted for judging.

In April, the BC Liberal government revived their plans to allow major logging companies to receive exclusive logging rights over vast areas of public forest lands through the expansion of Tree Farm Licences. Despite being killed by widespread public opposition in 2013, they’ve resurrected this “forest giveaway scheme” like a zombie, in a bid to increase property rights for timber corporations on our public lands. These lands are vital for wildlife, recreation, scenery, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations, and smaller forestry operators.

This proposal would increase the compensation rights to be paid for by BC taxpayers to logging companies with Tree Farm Licences in lieu of new parks, protected areas and First Nations treaty settlements. Thus, it would make it harder to protect forests and settle First Nations land claims, as well as to diversify forestry in BC to communities and smaller operators in a way that truly supports forestry-dependent communities. Ultimately, it will further entrench the status quo of massive overcutting in BC by large corporations that is resulting in the collapse of human communities and ecosystems – a process well-advanced on BC’s southern coast, and now underway in BC’s interior.

THOUSANDS of people have already spoken up against the plan and many more will likely speak up during this final week of public input. Those who want to write-in must do so by 12 noon on May 30, to Jim Snetsinger, public engagement coordinator on TFL expansion, at: forest.tenures@gov.bc.ca (Cc. a copy to Forests Minister Steve Thomson at FLNR.minister@gov.bc.ca). See the official government website on participating on their Blog site at: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/

The public consultation process itself is considered a flawed or “rigged” process, as the terms of reference ask “how” not “whether” or not Tree Farm Licences should be expanded. Government info sheets only list “potential benefits” but no “potential problems” of expanding Tree Farm Licences.

“The public relations claim that major timber companies will operate in an environmentally sustainable manner if they are given greater property rights is contradicted by the actual evidence – let’s remember that much of the southern coast has had Tree Farm Licences for decades. Corporations are not communities, they are not tied to the land, looking at the long term – they are highly mobile, buying and selling their Tree Farm Licences regularly after logging what they want, and moving on. Nor is it in their financial interest to manage the forests for biodiversity, recreation, water quality or wild salmon, as they don’t make money from such things – they make money from the timber alone,” stated Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Some of the province’s most notorious examples of massive overcutting, landslides, destruction of salmon streams, annihilation of old-growth forests, locked gates, and ruined scenery and recreational opportunities, are in the province’s Tree Farm Licences. This current plan is the BC Liberal government’s attempt to facilitate the last great timber grab by the major companies to log until the end of the resource – at the expense of communities and ecosystems.”

See the Ancient Forest Alliance’s media release and links to various articles and the BC government’s website at: https://16.52.162.165/news-item.php?ID=772