Conservationists and Port Renfrew Business Community Welcome Postponement of Old-Growth Logging Plans near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park

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An aerial overview of the old-growth forests where BC Timber Sales proposed to log seven cutblocks totalling 109 hectares. The Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is along the coastline and the town of Port Renfrew in the background.

Victoria, BC – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance and members of the Port Renfrew business community are welcoming the postponement of BC Timber Sales’ plans to auction off 109 hectares of old-growth forest for logging next to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park in Pacheedaht territory on Vancouver Island.

The timber sale auction, which was scheduled to end this Friday, would have seen seven cutblocks, totalling 55,346 cubic metres of old-growth forest, logged next to one of the most spectacular sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail with two cutblocks coming to within 50 metres of the park boundary.

BC Timber Sales, the BC government’s logging agency, advised members of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce yesterday that the timber sale auction had been removed. While there is currently no indication that the BC government are adding any additional protections for the area, the news was welcomed by conservationists and local business representatives alike.

“We appreciate this positive shift and thank Premier John Horgan, the MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, and Forests Minister Doug Donaldson for listening to the Port Renfrew business community and the thousands of British Columbians who have spoken up for the protection of this important area,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “But there is still a lot of uncertainty around the fate of this ancient forest. We hope to see the BC government cancel the timber sale outright and protect the forest in an Old Growth Management Area or, ideally, as an addition to the provincial park.”

“The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce is very encouraged by the news that the province has postponed the auction of the 109 hectares which border our community and the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail,” stated Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President Dan Hager. “We remain hopeful that the absence of notice of a future auction date will mean this old-growth forest will be allowed to remain standing for the foreseeable future.”

“We are mindful there are members of our business community and communities of Port Renfrew and the Pacheedaht Nation who could’ve potentially benefited from the short-term economic activity of this timber sale. However, we have learned from our Avatar Grove experience that the long-term economic benefits of tall tree tourism are substantially greater than the comparatively brief economic activity created by old-growth logging.”

Jon Cash, the owner of Soule Creek Lodge, was particularly concerned due to expected adverse impacts of the proposal which included the construction of 10 kilometres of new road and logging to within 500 metres of his property. Cash is staunchly opposed to the clearcutting of old-growth forests next to his business and Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, one of the region’s biggest tourist draws, and has been outspoken in his opposition to the logging plans due to potential damage to Renfrew’s reputation as eco-tourism destination.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt stands beside a massive redcedar measuring 10’9″ in diameter in one of the cutblocks that was proposed by BC Timber Sales near Port Renfrew.

“Over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow.” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt. “Some of the finest, endangered old-growth stands that still remain are found in the Port Renfrew region, and, if protected, will continue to draw visitors in from around the globe, helping the environment and bolstering the local economy for generations to come.”

“As former resource-based communities like Port Renfrew work to diversity their economies toward more sustainable approaches, the BC government should be supporting and facilitating these efforts and ensuring the benefits of old-growth forest protection are reaped by all community members,” stated Inness.

“To this end, we’re calling on the BC government to support the sustainable development and economic diversification of rural and First Nations communities and to legally recognize, support, and help finance the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas like Tribal Parks.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with other conservation groups, are also calling on the BC government to develop a comprehensive, science-based plan protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry. While such long-term solutions for old-growth forests are developed, the BC government must place and immediate halt on logging in old-growth ‘hotspots’ of high conservation and recreational value to ensure the best of what remains of BC’s ancient forests are protected.

Background information:

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original productive old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Port Renfrew boasts access not only to the popular West Coast and Juan de Fuca trails, but also some of BC’s most popular ancient forest destinations including Avatar Grove, the Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), the San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest Sitka spruce until the top broke off in 2017), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island.

Conservationists condemn BC NDP Government’s plans to log old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park

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Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island – Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are outraged that the BC government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales, is currently auctioning off 109 hectares of old-growth forest adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. The area, located northeast of Botanical Beach and south of Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, borders one of the most spectacular sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail with impressive old-growth forests and stunning waterfalls.

The seven planned cutblocks, of which two come to within 50 metres of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boundary, would see an estimated 55,346 cubic metres of old-growth – the equivalent of over 1,300 logging trucks – leave the region known as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada.”

 

An aerial photo of the old-growth forests where B.C. Timber Sales has seven pending cutblocks totalling 109 hectares. Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is along the coast and the town of Port Renfrew in the background.
Photograph By TJ WATT[/caption]

“It’s outrageous that BC Timber Sales has approved the clearcutting of an area more than two Avatar Groves in size so close to one of Vancouver Island’s most popular provincial parks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “People come from all over the world to hike the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The clearcutting will further degrade and fragment the forest that buffers the park which helps protect the park’s outstanding ecological and recreational values. This is a clear-cut example that BC Timber Sales cannot be trusted to maintain, or even consider, the ecological importance of BC’s ancient forests in its planning.”

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) is the notorious BC government logging agency which manages 20% of the province’s allowable annual cut and which has come under fire across the province for auctioning off old-growth forests to be clearcut in such places as the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island and in Manning Provincial Park’s “donut hole.” Earlier this month, Sierra Club BC and Sunshine Coast-based environmental organization Elphinstone Logging Focus revealed that BCTS plans to auction off more than 1,300 hectares of cutblocks in old-growth forests across Vancouver Island in 2019. (See their joint press release)

“BC Timber Sales is going after some of the most significant tracts of the province’s remaining ancient forests despite the fact that, today, they are worth more standing than they are on logging trucks,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “Port Renfrew, a former logging town, has successfully re-branded itself in recent years as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada” and is seeing a huge increase in eco-tourism, greatly benefiting local businesses. We’re concerned about the impact the logging would have on Port Renfrew’s reputation as an eco-tourism destination in addition to the impact on the environment.”

Falling-boundary tape in one of the seven old-growth cutblocks that were proposed by B.C. Timber Sales near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.
Photograph By TJ WATT

There are also concerns that logging and the construction of over 10 kilometres of new road could impact nearby businesses, such as Soule Creek Lodge, located just 500 metres from one of the cutblocks.

“My business relies heavily on tourists coming to Port Renfrew to admire big trees and old-growth forests and to visit Botanical Beach and other parts of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Soule Creek Lodge owner John Cash. “I’m deeply concerned that all the noise from months of logging operations is going to drive customers away. People come here for peace and quiet and to connect with nature, not to listen to blasting, chainsaws, and trees crashing in the distance.”

“Instead of facilitating old-growth clearcutting right up to a provincial park boundary, the BC government should be helping rural communities like Port Renfrew transition to more diverse and sustainable economies. In this case, the government needs to use its control over BCTS to cancel the old-growth timber sales before the closing date of April 26th and expand the protected area system to buffer the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park,” stated Watt.

“We need to see leadership and vision from Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, not more status quo old-growth clearcutting. He and the BC government must stop using misleading statistics that hide the fact that old-growth forests are endangered on Vancouver Island and start implementing a science-based plan to protect them where they’re endangered across the province,” stated Watt.

Watt recently explored the old-growth forest within one of the proposed cutblocks and found old-growth redcedar trees measuring six to seven feet in diameter with one cedar measuring ten feet, nine inches in diameter, making it eligible for protection under BC Timber Sales’ Coastal Legacy Tree Policy which aims to retain ‘legacy trees’ that exceed certain size thresholds. However, a BCTS representative stated in an email that the agency had conducted a review of the proposed cutblocks and that “no legacy trees were identified.”

 

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt stands beside a massive redcedar measuring 10’9″ in diameter in one of the cutblocks that was proposed by BC Timber Sales near Port Renfrew.

“BCTS’ Legacy Tree Policy failed to prevent the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in Canada from being felled in the Nahmint Valley last year,” stated Inness. “Not only does the policy leave big trees standing alone in clearcuts with no buffer zones, BCTS clearly can’t be trusted to fully implement it. The BC government needs to quickly implement its long-overdue Big Tree Protection Order originally meant to protect BC’s biggest trees with buffer zones and which the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development has been working to develop since 2012.”

Background information:
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original productive old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Port Renfrew boasts access not only to the popular West Coast and Juan de Fuca trails, but also some of BC’s most popular ancient forest destinations including Avatar Grove, the Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), the San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest Sitka spruce until the top broke off in 2017), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island.

In 2016, The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce signed a resolution calling on the BC government to increase protection for old-growth forests to benefit the economy. The Sooke and WestShore Chambers of Commerce have also spoken up for the protection of the old-growth forests in the Walbran Valley, while the BC Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution calling for the increased protection of old-growth forests in BC to support the economy. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC) and the councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino have all passed resolutions for the protection of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island or across BC.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests, including an interim halt to logging in old-growth “hotspots” – areas of high conservation value, such as the Nahmint Valley – to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact; a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across the province; conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging; and a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.

New IMAX Film by Renowned Canadian Video Artist to Highlight Vancouver Island’s Endangered Old-Growth Forests

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The magnificent but endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island are about to get a large-scale national audience on IMAX screens across Canada as the film Embers and the Giants premieres at the Images Festival in Toronto this week (Thursday, April 18) and later this fall in IMAX cinemas across Canada in Victoria, Sudbury, Edmonton and Montreal.

The film is part of a program of work entitled Outer Worlds, a series of five IMAX commissions from leading Canadian media artists, each of whom have created films in a cinematic genre typical of IMAX films: larger-than-life landscapes. Two of the films will feature the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island near the town of Port Renfrew, in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band:

Embers and the Giants, by internationally renowned Canadian artist Kelly Richardson, a professor of Visual Arts at the University of Victoria and on the board of advisors of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, presents an endangered old-growth forest during last light, articulated by thousands of floating embers of light. Initial impressions may be that we are witnessing a rare, exceptionally beautiful display of fireflies. Then again, human intervention may be at play, suggesting a time when we’ll need to amplify the spectacle of nature in order to convince the public of its worth.

An endangered old-growth forest during last light in Kelly Richardson’s IMAX art film, Embers and the Giants

Richardson is known for creating hyper-real digital films of rich and complex landscapes that have been manipulated using CGI, animation and sound. Her projects have received major international acclaim, having been featured in the National Gallery of Canada, in galleries around the world, in an official Canada 150 exhibition, and in the upcoming IMAX film series.

Her most recent project and work has previously been highlighted in various news media:
See: : https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/capturing-the-art-of-nature-and-change-1.23144042
and https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/port-renfrews-avatar-grove-featured-in-national-imax-series/
and https://www.cheknews.ca/victoria-artist-showcase-port-renfrew-old-growth-forests-imax-project-405493

Forest, by Leila Sujir, Chair of the Studio Arts Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University, is another feature of the project. Her subject will be the Central Walbran Valley, an area on Vancouver Island that is scheduled for clear-cut logging. Over the past decade, Sujir has been experimenting with stereoscopic 3D video, extending the viewer into the space of the moving image.

Over the years, Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests have drawn considerable attention from the artistic community, including Emily Carr who produced pieces depicting the old-growth trees, giant stumps, and forests of the region in the first half of the 20th century; scores of renowned artists who contributed to the best-selling art book “Carmanah: Visions of an Ancient Forest” (300,000 copies sold) in 1990; and increasing numbers of artists and filmmakers in recent years featuring the ancient forests around Port Renfrew, including Richardson and Sujir.

“I relocated to Victoria in 2017 after living and working in England for 14 years in order to be closer to the magnificent old-growth forests. After visiting Avatar Grove during a work trip in the fall of 2016, I was overwhelmed by my experience of those ancient stands, which was a huge influence in my decision to apply for a professorship at the University of Victoria where I now work. My most recent project, Embers and the Giants, features the old-growth forests in this region. Through my partners with the Outer Worlds IMAX project, I hope I can contribute to efforts to raise awareness about their outstanding beauty and the plight to protect what remains.”

“We’re excited that such high-caliber artists and film producers will feature the endangered old-growth forests of Vancouver Island through the most spectacular medium – IMAX technology – on a national scale,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. “The old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, still largely endangered, are clearly continuing to impress increasing numbers of people -not only tourists, but acclaimed artists as well.”

Internationally renowned Canadian artist, Kelly Richardson, working on IMAX art film near Port Renfrew.

“The old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, referred to these days as Canada’s ‘Tall Trees Capital’ that attracts thousands of tourists from around the world, are an international treasure with some of the largest and oldest living organisms on the planet. Sadly, most are on the verge of being turned into giant stumps. All large-scale exposure and awareness raising, including through creative media, are greatly welcome!” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer.

The campaign to protect the old-growth forests around Port Renfrew, in the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Jurassic Grove, Eden Grove (adjacent to “Big Lonely Doug”), Edinburgh Mountain, and Mossome Grove, has enlisted a ground-breaking alliance of environmental activists and diverse allies involving numerous businesses, labour unions, city and town councils, artists, conservation groups, and others, calling on the British Columbian provincial government to protect old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, second-growth forest industry.

More BACKGROUND Information on BC’s Old-Growth Forests

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 79% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/). Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

The BC government regularly spins the statistics on how much old-growth remains on Vancouver Island by:

  • Including vast tracts of marginal, low-productivity bog and subalpine forests with small stunted trees of low to no timber value; failing to include contextual stats on how much used to originally exist (ie. How much has already been logged…ie.80%) of the productive old-growth forests
  • Removing vast tracts of cut-over private corporate forest lands (still under provincial management) from their logging stats
  • Combining stats of Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests of the milder, southern coast with the old-growth forests of the colder, northern coast (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest) which are different (eg’s. they lack most of the really big trees and some of the biodiversity and ecosystem types found farther south; are far more extensive due to a more recent history of logging and more rugged terrain; and have largely been protected in recent times as a result of massive international forest products boycotts by Greenpeace in the 1990’s followed by almost 2 decades of negotiations, which has not occurred for most of Vancouver Island’s forests).

In recent times, the voices for old-growth protection have been quickly expanding, including numerous Chambers of Commerce, mayors and city councils, forestry unions, conservation groups, and First Nations across BC who have been calling on the provincial government to expand protection for BC’s remaining old-growth forests.

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, Ancient Forest Alliance, and BC conservation groups are calling on the BC government to develop science-based legislation to protect old-growth forests, to enact regulations and incentives to ensure a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry, and to support First Nations land use plans and the sustainable economic development and diversification of the communities as an alternative to old-growth logging.

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner TJ Watt stands atop an 8ft wide old-growth redcedar stump in a recent clearcut by Teal-Jones on Edinburgh Mt near Port Renfrew.

On International Day of Forests, conservation groups call on B.C. government to immediately halt logging of last intact old-growth areas

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VICTORIA, BC – Environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee are calling on the B.C. government to stop issuing logging permits in B.C.’s last remaining intact old-growth forest “hotspots” and endangered old-growth ecosystems and to implement legislation to protect endangered ancient forests. The call coincides with the International Day of Forests (March 21), declared by the United Nations as a day on which to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of Earth’s forests.

“The BC NDP government has stated that they’re working on a strategy to protect endangered old-growth forests and are making changes to forestry laws,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “While we are looking forward to hearing about details and timelines, we’re extremely concerned that the business-as-usual liquidation of old-growth forests is continuing in the last remaining intact old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the greatest conservation, cultural, and recreational values.”

About two dozen hotspots have already been identified on Vancouver Island. These include the Nahmint Valley in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories near Port Alberni, where the B.C. government has direct control over BC Timber Sales, the provincial agency responsible for planning and issuing logging permits. The Central Walbran Valley and Edinburgh Mountain in Pacheedaht territory close to Port Renfrew and East Creek rainforest in Quatsino territory on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast are also considered critical hotspots.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands on top of a giant redcedar stump in a clearcut on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

“After decades of destruction, ancient forests and the web of life that depends on them are close to the brink,” stated Sierra Club BC senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “Business as usual will result in species loss and leave communities with ecologically, culturally, and economically degraded landscapes. We need a halt on logging in critical areas to allow options for land use planning and time to strengthen regulation before it’s too late.”

Recent research mapping by the Wilderness Committee revealed that, in just five months, the B.C. government approved 314 new logging cutblocks with a total area of 16,000 hectares in critical southern mountain caribou habitat in B.C.’s Interior. This is despite the Province simultaneously working on a conservation plan to protect the highly threatened species.

“A ‘talk-and-log’ scenario is unacceptable given the ecological emergency we’re currently facing in B.C. The B.C. government must stop issuing logging permits in critical old-growth areas before more species fall through the cracks,” said Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste. “The NDP government needs to quit dragging their heels and show they’re serious about mountain caribou and endangered old-growth forest protection. They need to come up with both immediate and long-term solutions while there are still intact ancient forests left to protect.”

 Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands next to a giant redcedar tree in Eden Grove on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

Old-growth forests are integral for their cultural values for many Indigenous Nations, as habitat for endangered species, and for climate stability, tourism, clean water and wild salmon. B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Outside the Great Bear Rainforest, the vast majority of provincial old-growth forests have been reduced to small percentages of their original extent. Logging continues with little legal safeguards to ensure a minimum protection based on science. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness stands beside a freshly fallen old-growth redcedar tree in BC Timber Sales cutblock in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

The environmental organizations are calling on the B.C. government to implement a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, in line with the NDP’s 2017 election platform commitment to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model,” support Indigenous Nations’ sustainable economic development and land use plans, and ensure long-term forestry jobs in improved second-growth forest management and value-added manufacturing.

Background information:
For detailed Vancouver Island old-growth mapping and statistics, see:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

The B.C. government has often stated that “over 55% of Crown old-growth forests on B.C.’s coast are protected,” but fails to mention that the vast majority of coastal old-growth forests that are protected from logging are in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

The government also claims that “on Vancouver Island, over 40% of Crown forests are considered old-growth, with 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.” However, the government hides the fact that the majority of this total area is low-productivity forest (i.e. stunted, marginal forests that grow along the outer coast, in high elevation, or in bogs and are therefore not at risk of being logged).

These numbers also ignore heavily logged forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority.

Finally, the B.C. government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

Conservationists disappointed Budget 2019 fails to prioritize protection of endangered old-growth forests

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For immediate release
February 20, 2019

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is disappointed the NDP government’s provincial budget, released yesterday, fails to allocate urgently needed funding for the protection of endangered old-growth forests.

“Despite the ecological and climate crisis engulfing BC’s productive ancient forests, the NDP government’s 2019 budget is bereft of meaningful solutions,” stated Forest Campaigner Andrea Inness. “For example, the budget lacks even modest funding for a desperately-needed provincial land acquisition fund to protect endangered old-growth forests and other ecosystems on private lands.”

Many of BC’s most endangered and biologically rich ecosystems, including old-growth forests, drinking watersheds, and areas of high scenic and recreation value, are found on private lands, which make up only five percent of BC’s land base, including over 20 percent of Vancouver Island.

Without dedicated, annual provincial funding to acquire private lands and add them to the province’s protected area system, ancient temperate rainforests such as the mountainside above the world-famous Cathedral Grove, along with hundreds of other endangered forests, wetlands, and grasslands across the province, remain vulnerable to development.

“The NDP government has a unique opportunity right now to obtain matching funds from the federal government’s $1.3 billion investment in conservation partnerships and protected area expansion, announced last year,” stated Inness. “This money could go to purchasing private lands or expanding protected areas on Crown lands, but no additional funding is allocated for conservation in Budget 2019. The BC government is missing out on a first-rate opportunity.”

“We’re encouraged by the government’s commitment in last week’s throne speech to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and by their new, three-year $297 million revenue sharing agreement with BC First Nations, which includes support for environmental protection, although much of that funding will go to investments in infrastructure, health, and housing for First Nations communities.”

“A much greater funding commitment is needed to enable the sustainable development and diversification of First Nations economies while adequately supporting land-use planning processes and Indigenous protected areas that include old-growth forests.”

Background information
The Ancient Forest Alliance is proposing the BC government create a dedicated provincial land acquisition fund, starting with an initial $44 million annual commitment and rising to an annual $100 million through $10 million increases each year, to enable the timely purchase of significant tracts of endangered private lands of high conservation, scenic, and recreation value to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system. The group is asking the province to explore dedicated funding mechanisms, such as redirecting the province’s unredeemed bottle deposit funds (worth an estimated $5 to $15 million/year) toward private land acquisition.

The AFA is also calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests on Crown lands, including a comprehensive, science-based plan similar to the ecosystem-based management approach used in the Great Bear Rainforest; conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging; and regulations and incentives to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry in BC.

Conservationists locate what may be Canada’s most magnificent and photogenic old-growth forest on Vancouver Island

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The Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaigner and photographer TJ Watt by BC’s ninth widest bigleaf maple, the Woolly Giant, completely draped in hanging moss and ferns, in the Mossome Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

The “Mossome” Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) consists of giant, prehistoric-looking, shaggy bigleaf maples with tall, straight Sitka spruce, and is found near Port Renfrew

Conservationists in British Columbia have recently located what may very well be the most magnificent and awe-inspiring old-growth forest in the country on Vancouver Island. The spectacular, largely unprotected grove, with several near record-size trees, highlights the need for new policies by the BC government to protect BC’s biggest trees, grandest groves, and old-growth forest ecosystems. The BC government has recently stated that they are currently developing a new set of policies to manage BC’s old-growth forests but have not revealed any details yet.

The 13 hectare grove of immense old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns, nicknamed the “Mossome Grove” (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove), was initially located in October and explored again in late December by conservationists Ken Wu of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and TJ Watt, Andrea Inness, and Rachel Ablack of the Ancient Forest Alliance. The grove is located on Crown land in the San Juan River Valley near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island in the unceded territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band. Most of the grove is unprotected, with a small portion, about four hectares, lying within an Old-Growth Management Area and in the riparian reserve along the San Juan River.

“This is perhaps the most magnificent and stunningly beautiful old-growth forest I’ve ever seen, and I’ve explored a lot of old-growth forests in my time,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and former executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Wilderness Committee’s Victoria office, who has 28 years’ experience exploring and campaigning to protect BC’s old-growth forests. “This is the first time in Canada we’ve located a prominent stand of this rare forest type, with old-growth spruce and maple trees growing together. The combination of giant Sitka spruce, as tall and straight as Roman pillars, and huge, ancient, bigleaf maples draped in hanging mosses and ferns, resembling prehistoric shaggy monsters, makes this perhaps the most photogenic forest in the country. Hollywood could not make a more stunning, picture-perfect forest than this one. This is the best example of ‘charismatic megaflora’ that I’ve ever seen. Of all of BC’s ancient forests, this one deserves protection not only due to the scarcity of its ecosystem type, but because of its sheer unique beauty.”

The Mossome Grove stands on Crown lands in the operating area of BC Timber Sales, with a portion within a Woodlot Licence allocated to the Pacheedaht band and the rest under the regulatory authority of BC Timber Sales. BC Timber Sales is the notorious BC government logging agency which has come under fire across the province for auctioning off old-growth forests to be clearcut in such places as the Nahmint Valley and Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island, as well as in Manning Provincial Park’s “donut hole”.

Several of the Mossome Grove’s largest trees are near record-sized, including a Sitka spruce that would rank the ninth widest in comparison to those currently listed on the BC Big Tree Registry (with a diameter of 3.1 meters or 10 feet & 1 inch) and a bigleaf maple that would rank the ninth widest on the registry (with a diameter of 2.29 meters or 7 feet & 6 inches). The massive maple, nicknamed the “Woolly Giant”, also may very well have the longest horizontal branch of any tree in British Columbia, measuring 23.1 meters (76 feet) long – more than the height of many second-growth trees – and is covered in thick mats of hanging mosses and ferns, resembling a prehistoric monster.

The Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaigner Rachel Ablack by a huge Sitka spruce among then sword ferns in the Mossome Grove (short for “Mossy and Awesome” Grove) near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

Along with its “charismatic megaflora”, the Mossome Grove is also home to “charismatic megafauna”, including significant numbers of Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, wolves, and cougars, who inhabit the productive San Juan River Valley. Old-growth forests on Vancouver Island in the area are also important habitat for the marbled murrelet, northern goshawk, pygmy owl, screech owl, Vaux’s swift, and long-eared bats.

Old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple stands are best known in the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault Valleys in the Olympic National Park in Washington State, where millions of tourists visit to marvel at the mossy giants. In Canada, such ancient spruce/maple stands are essentially unknown by the conservation movement and tourism industry for the simple reason they are virtually non-existent here, except for this newly-identified stand and possibly a few small patches scattered around southwestern Vancouver Island. At the time of European colonization in BC, there would have been more extensive but still limited old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples stands in the San Juan, Nitinat, and Fraser Valleys. However, virtually all have been logged or converted to agriculture or urban sprawl (in the case of the Fraser Valley where Vancouver stands today).

“This is like a combination of the monumental Sitka spruce stands of the Carmanah Valley and the gorgeous bigleaf maples of the Mossy Maple Grove that we popularized a few years ago near Lake Cowichan. The two combined are essentially the apex of the grandeur and beauty that could exist in a forest”, stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “Photogenically, this grove should be a new poster child for BC’s endangered ancient forests – and the urgent need to protect their beauty. We need old-growth protection at all spatial scales at this time, to save the biggest trees, grandest groves, and old-growth forest ecosystems on a vaster scale.”

Due to its limited size, the scarcity of this forest type, and the fact that there are no trails, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance are not publicly revealing the Mossome Grove’s location at this time until it can be safeguarded from excessive trampling, and most importantly, from future commercial logging.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development since 2012 has been working to develop a “Big Tree Protection Order”, a policy originally aimed at protecting the largest trees and grandest groves in BC. Successive governments, including the NDP, have dragged out the policy’s development and implementation and appear to be leaving out the most important facets of the proposed policy, that is, to include buffer zones around the largest trees, to include the grandest groves (concentrations of exceptionally large trees), to make the threshold sizes for protection reasonable (instead of protecting only the very few largest trees), and to make the policy legally-binding rather than voluntary. Currently the policy is being piloted in selected parts of Vancouver Island and also in areas managed by BC Timber Sales, where it is called the “Coastal Legacy Tree” policy. The Coastal Legacy Tree policy recently failed to protect the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in BC in the Nahmint Valley. See: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/old-growth-logging-1.4689648

“Without buffer zones to surround and protect the largest trees, and without also protecting the grandest groves, the BC government’s currently proposed big tree protection policy is essentially a ‘Big Lonely Doug policy’ that will leave a few sad giants standing alone in clearcuts scattered around Vancouver Island,” stated Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner, referring to Canada’s 2ndlargest Douglas fir, nicknamed ‘Big Lonely Doug’ by AFA campaigners who identified the tree in 2014. “The largest trees and grandest groves are like the ‘icing on the cake’, while protecting old-growth ecosystems on a larger scale, that is, saving the ‘rest of cake’, is ultimately the most important task. But it would be a shame to lose the icing…without it, a cake is not quite the same.”

More background info

While an effective Big Tree Protection Order would be particularly important in cases like the Mossome Grove, more important would be science-based legislation to protect BC’s remaining old-growth forest ecosystems on a much more comprehensive scale. While new legislation and updated land use plans are being developed, moratoria on the most intact and highest conservation value old-growth forests like at the nearby Edinburgh Mountain and Upper Walbran Valley need to be implemented in places, while the BC government needs to also implement incentives and regulations for the development of a value-added, sustainable second-growth forest industry.

Conservation financing support from the provincial and federal governments is also needed for BC’s First Nations communities to help foster sustainable businesses and jobs in the communities based on eco- and cultural tourism, clean energy development, non-timber forest products (e.g. wild mushroom and berry harvests), sustainable seafood harvesting, and value-added second-growth forestry.

To ensure the protection of all ecosystem types, federal and provincial “Endangered Ecosystems Acts” are also needed to establish science-based protection and recovery targets for all ecosystems across Canada, including rare plant communities such as old-growth Sitka spruce and bigleaf maple groves like Mossome Grove.

In the interim, the federal government has committed to protecting 17% of Canada’s land and freshwater ecosystems by 2020 and must greatly step up its prioritization and activity to achieve this target (currently Canada is at 10.6% protection). In particular, most of the provinces, including British Columbia, must still commit to meeting the 17% target, and conservation groups will be lobbying the province to adopt this target shortly.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas. Old-growth forests, with trees up to 2,000 years old, are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.

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

Due to the popularity of nearby old-growth forests for large numbers of visitors from across the world, the former logging town of Port Renfrew has rebranded itself in recent years as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada.” Not only is the town located near Mossome Grove, but is also near many of the province’s most popular ancient forest destinations including the Avatar Grove, Central Walbran Valley, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s 2nd largest Douglas-fir), Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir), Harris Creek Spruce (an enormous Sitka Spruce), San Juan Spruce (previously Canada’s largest spruce until the top broke off last year), Eden Grove, and Jurassic Grove. These ancient forests and trees attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, strengthening the economy of southern Vancouver Island. Environmental groups encourage visitors to stay in local accommodations, buy food and groceries in local stores, and camp in the Pacheedaht-run campground to help boost the local economy with eco-tourism dollars.

Various chambers of commerce, starting with the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, have called for increased protection of BC’s ancient forests. The BC Chamber of Commerce, BC’s premier business lobby representing 36,000 businesses, passed a resolution in May of 2016, calling on the province to expand protection for BC’s old-growth forests to support the economy, after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew, Sooke, and WestShore Chambers of Commerce. See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional districts across BC, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the province to protect Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land use plan. See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

The Private and Public Workers of Canada (PPWC), formerly the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada, representing thousands of sawmill and pulp mill workers across BC, passed a resolution in 2017 calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

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

In order to placate public fears about the loss of BC’s endangered old-growth forests, the BC government’s PR-spin typically over-inflats 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, in with the productive old-growth forests, where the large trees grow (and where most logging takes place). See a rebuttal to some of the BC government’s PR-spin and stats about old-growth forests towards the BOTTOM of the webpage: https://16.52.162.165/action-alert-speak-up-for-ancient-forests-to-the-union-of-bc-municipalities-ubcm/

New Logging Operations Underway on Edinburgh Mountain, an Old-Growth Forest Environmental “Hotspot” near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island

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Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are dismayed that new logging has commenced on Edinburgh Mountain, an old-growth “hotspot” of high conservation value near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory on western Vancouver Island. A 15.6 hectare cutblock, featuring old-growth forest with monumental redcedars and Douglas-firs, is being logged by Teal Jones Group and adds to the over 75 hectares of old-growth forest the company has logged on Edinburgh Mountain since 2016.

Ancient Forest Alliance’s Rachel Ablack (left) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu (right) sit atop the 2 metre (7 foot) wide stump of a freshly cut western redcedar tree on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew

Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) campaigners visited the cutblock over the weekend and found scores of giant trees cut down, including two-meter (seven-foot) wide cedars and an extremely rare, two-meter-wide, old-growth Douglas-fir, which had previously been photographed by AFA campaigner TJ Watt while still standing.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance is highly concerned about the future of this magnificent area, which includes almost 1,500 hectares of intact old-growth forest,” stated AFA Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt. “Edinburgh Mountain is one of the largest contiguous tracts of unprotected ancient rainforest on southern Vancouver Island south of Barkley Sound and, without legislated protection, this spectacular forest is being whittled away, clearcut by clearcut.”

The Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, as it’s known by conservationists, is the location of Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, which stands alone in a clearcut at the base of the mountain, and is important habitat for endangered northern goshawks and marbled murrelets. It also contains one of the finest and most endangered lowland, valley-bottom, old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island: the spectacular Eden Grove.

60 percent of Edinburgh Mountain is available for logging, with the remaining 40 percent in tenuous forest reserves such as Old Growth Management Areas, whose boundaries can be adjusted to allow logging companies access to commercially valuable forests as they run out of timber elsewhere. The government contends that the removal of such protections requires the protection of other, similar forests, but often it results in the protection of lower quality stands with smaller trees than the original stand.

Just 50 meters away from the active cutblock stands a Douglas-fir tree that is the 6th widest Douglas-fir tree on record, according to the BC Big Tree Registry, and the 7th widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley. While the near record-sized tree is located within a Wildlife Habitat Area, it remains vulnerable to future logging, as the designation legally allows clearcut logging in almost 75% of the reserve. In fact, in 2010 and 2012, some of the largest trees in Canada were logged within this Wildlife Habitat Area.

“The logging of Edinburgh Mountain not only threatens the ecological integrity of the area, it also extinguishes future tourism opportunities for Port Renfrew, a former logging town that has rebranded itself as the Tall Tree Capital of Canada,” stated Watt. “Hundreds of thousands of tourists have come from around the world in recent years to visit ancient forest groves, such as Avatar Grove, and some of Canada’s largest trees near the town. These visitors expect to see ancient forests, not clearcuts. If kept intact, Edinburgh Mountain could offer spectacular and long-term tourism and recreation opportunities for those visitors. Once it’s logged, those economic opportunities disappear too.”

The new logging on Edinburgh Mountain comes at a time when conservationists are still waiting on the BC NDP government to formulate a plan to implement its 2017 election platform commitment to use the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest to sustainably manage old-growth forests across the rest of the province.

“Old-growth ‘hotspot’ areas of high conservation and recreational value, like Edinburgh Mountain, will be reduced to tattered fragments if immediate action isn’t taken,” stated AFA Campaigner Andrea Inness. “The government needs to place an interim halt on logging in hotspots to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact, while developing comprehensive science-based legislation to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests. The province’s long overdue Big Tree Protection Order must also be implemented to protect BC’s biggest trees with buffer zones and the province’s grandest groves. Finally, the government needs to create a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands.”

 

Background Information:

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

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

The AFA is calling on the BC NDP government to protect the ecological integrity of BC’s old-growth forests while maintaining jobs and supporting communities by: implementing a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests; providing financial support for First Nations’ sustainable economic development as an alternative to old-growth logging and formally recognizing First Nations’ land use plans, tribal parks, and protected areas; and curbing raw log exports and providing incentives for the development of value-added, second-growth wood manufacturing facilities to sustain and enhance forestry jobs.

In 2016, The Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce signed a resolution calling on the BC government to increase protection for old-growth forests to benefit the economy. The total flow of dollars spent in Port Renfrew in rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery stores, and businesses in general has increased with Big Tree Tourism. The Sooke and WestShore Chambers of Commerce have also spoken up for the protection of the old-growth forests in the Walbran Valley, while the BC Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution calling for the increased protection of old-growth forests in BC to support the economy. The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC) and the councils of Victoria, Metchosin, and Tofino have all passed resolutions for the protection of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island or across BC.

Conservationists call for halt on old-growth logging in Vancouver Island’s spectacular Nahmint Valley in light of forestry watchdog investigation

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Arborist-conservationist Matthew Beatty stands atop a massive redcedar log in the Nahmint Valley

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are concerned that old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley is continuing and that future logging is being planned for the area by the BC government, despite the fact a Forest Practices Board investigation is underway into whether the logging by BC Timber Sales fails to comply with legal orders.

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC NDP government to halt further logging in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni while investigations into potential non-compliance by the BC’s government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales (BCTS), are currently underway.

Nahmint Valley – BC’s 9th widest Douglas-fir tree – BC Timber Sales

In May 2018, the Ancient Forest Alliance exposed the logging of some of the world’s largest trees by BCTS in Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations territory in the Nahmint Valley. Over 300 hectares were auctioned off for logging with some cutblocks being 30 hectares – or about 30 football fields – in size. Thousands of old-growth trees have since been cut, including a Douglas-fir tree measuring 3 metres (9.9 feet) in diameter, which ranked 9th on the BC Big Tree Registry’s list of the widest Douglas-firs in the province.

“After exploring and documenting various old-growth cutblocks planned by BCTS throughout the Nahmint Valley, we submitted a natural resource violation complaint to the Ministry of Forests in June, alleging that BC Timber Sales’ Forest Stewardship Plan fails to meet the results and strategies set out in the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan Higher Level Plan Order that rare and underrepresented plant communities be represented and protected,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt.

“We also pointed out that one of the primary land use objectives for the Nahmint Valley in the Vancouver Island Summary Land Use Plan includes the retention of a ‘high proportion’ of old forest, including large, old-growth Douglas-fir trees. In addition, the three-metre-wide Douglas-fir that was felled in May, which we estimated to be at least 800 years old, was in violation of BCTS’ “Best Management Practices for Coastal Legacy Trees” policy, which states that the minimum size for retention of Douglas-firs is 2.1 meters. We believe other western redcedars and Douglas-firs in the BCTS-issued cutblocks also exceeded the minimum threshold size for protection.”

An investigation by the Ministry of Forests ensued as a result of the AFA’s complaint, but the results of that investigation have not been made public. The AFA has also yet to receive any information in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request submitted in September, seeking information on the ministry’s investigation, despite the investigation having been completed and the due date for response to the FOI having passed in late November. The Forest Practices Board also recently launched an investigation into the logging in the Nahmint Valley. Meanwhile, BC Timber Sales released its 2018 West Coast Operating Plan in October, outlining additional old-growth timber sales in the Nahmint Valley that have yet to be auctioned off.

“We are deeply concerned about the potential violation, given the abundant ecological, tourism and recreational, and cultural values of the Nahmint Valley and possible negative and long-term impacts on these values,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness. “We are also concerned that BCTS is continuing to engineer future logging cutblocks for the Nahmint Valley despite the results of the ministry’s investigation not having been released and the Forest Practices Board now conducting their own investigation. Given there’s a possibility that the BC government’s logging agency is in violation of its own land use regulations, these future logging plans should be placed on hold until it is determined the law isn’t being broken.”

“Ultimately, however, what’s needed is for the BC government to use its control over BC Timber Sales to discontinue issuance of old-growth timber sales altogether. The ongoing logging of some of Canada’s largest trees and most spectacular ancient forests in the Nahmint Valley is proof that BCTS cannot be trusted to sustainably manage BC’s endangered old-growth forests.”

 

Background Information:
The Nahmint Valley is considered a “hotspot” of high-conservation value old-growth forest by conservation groups and is home to Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, cougars, wolves, and black bears, as well as old-growth associated species like the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. The area also supports significant salmon and steelhead spawning runs. The Nahmint is considered by many people to be one of the most scenic areas in BC, with its ancient forests, rugged peaks, gorgeous turquoise canyons and swimming holes, and large and small lakes, and is heavily used by hikers, campers, anglers, and hunters.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to implement a series of policy changes to protect endangered old-growth forests, including an interim halt to logging in old-growth “hotspots” – areas of high conservation value, such as the Nahmint Valley – to ensure the largest and best stands of remaining old-growth forests are kept intact. It also includes the implementation of the province’s long-overdue Big Tree Protection Order, meant to protect the country’s largest trees with buffer zones; a provincial land acquisition fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands; a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests across the province; and conservation financing support for First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging.

Conservationists applaud old-growth protection resolution signed by Wilderness Tourism Association of BC

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A grizzly bear walks a shoreline in BC’s iconic Great Bear Rainforest. A sailboat operated by wilderness tourism company Maple Leaf Adventures is anchored in the distance.

Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance are celebrating a recent resolution by the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC (WTABC), representing 2,500 businesses across BC, calling on the BC NDP government to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests, support First Nations sustainable economic development, and ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

Click here to read the resolution.

“Many of BC’s wilderness tourism businesses, including my own, rely on healthy, functioning old-growth forests to provide the extraordinary wilderness experiences that people are looking for when they visit BC,” stated Kevin Smith, President of WTABC’s Board of Directors and President of Maple Leaf Adventures, a Victoria-based eco-tourism company that runs expedition cruises along British Columbia’s coast. “The WTABC strongly supports provincial policies that ensure BC’s remaining endangered ancient forests stay intact.”

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness welcomed the position taken by the WTABC. “BC’s appeal as an outdoor tourism destination is largely due to the many recreational activities that old-growth forests support like wildlife viewing and recreational fishing. Increasing numbers of people are also visiting BC specifically to see our old-growth forests, home to some of the biggest and oldest trees on Earth,” stated Inness. “We applaud the WTABC’s decision to stand up for old-growth forest protection for the sake of BC’s eco-tourism operators and the broader economy.”

The Wilderness Tourism Association joins thousands of businesses (BC Chamber of Commerce), mayors and city councils (Union of BC Municipalities), First Nations, unions (the Public and Private Workers of Canada forestry union) and conservation groups across BC in calling on the provincial government to increase protection for BC’s endangered old-growth forests.

“BC’s business community is starting to realize that, far from hampering development in rural economies, many of which are suffering from decades of decline in forestry jobs and revenues, protecting old-growth forests can be a boon for business,” stated AFA Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt.

Port Renfrew on western Vancouver Island is a textbook example of the benefits of big trees to small businesses. Since Avatar Grove, an exceptional grove of ancient forest, was protected in 2012, the town has seen a major increase in revenue in rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery, stores, and other businesses, as visitors come from around the world to experience the grove and nearby record-sized trees.

Communities across the province stand to benefit from protecting nearby ancient forests. In fact, studies have shown that keeping old-growth forests standing can provide a greater overall economic benefit than cutting them down when factoring in their value in supporting tourism, recreation, carbon offsets, water conservation and filtration, recreational and commercial fisheries, and non-timber forest products (e.g. wild mushrooms and medicinal herbs).

“Nature-based tourism is one of the top three drivers of BC’s tourism and rural economy, supporting 26,000 direct full-time jobs and some 40,000 jobs in total,” stated Scott Benton, Executive Director of the WTABC. “Demand for wilderness tourism is increasing in the province, creating opportunities for new business ventures, so the provincial government needs to take swift action to protect the intact natural landscapes, such as old-growth forests, on which these businesses depend.”

 

Background Information:
Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. At present, over 79% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s southern coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the NDP provincial government to implement a science-based strategy to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests; support First Nations land-use planning and sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old growth logging; ensure the sustainable logging of second growth forests (which now constitute the majority of forest lands in southern BC); and implement regulations and incentives for the retooling and development of BC mills and value-added facilities to handle second-growth logs.

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

The BC Chamber of Commerce, BC’s premier business lobby, representing 36,000 businesses passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the BC government to increase protection for BC’s old-growth forests to benefit the economy after a series of similar resolutions passed by the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, the Sooke Chamber of Commerce, and the WestShore Chamber of Commerce.
See: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=1010

The Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), representing thousands of forestry workers across BC, passed a resolution in 2017 calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island and an accelerated transition to a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry.
See: https://16.52.162.165/conservationists-applaud-old-growth-protection-resolution-by-major-bc-forestry-union/

Both the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), representing the mayors, city and town councils, and regional district councils across BC and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), representing Vancouver Island local governments, passed a resolution in 2016 calling on the province to protect Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth forests by amending the 1994 land-use plan.
See: https://16.52.162.165/media-release-ubcm-passes-old-growth-protection-resolution/

Acclaimed Documentary, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Depicts Beauty and Destruction of BC’s Old-Growth Forests

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Cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier filming in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

For immediate release
October 18, 2018

The widely acclaimed documentary film entitled Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, which premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, highlights the profound impact humanity has had on planet Earth, including the destructive logging of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests.

Anthropocene is the final installation in a series of three films that includes multiple-award-winning films Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013) by renowned filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier and photographer and artist Edward Burtynsky. The film, which had shoots in 43 locations in 20 different countries, features scenes of Avatar Grove, a now-famous old-growth forest that the Ancient Forest Alliance successfully campaigned to protect, and old-growth logging near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island as an example of the extent to which humans have altered the natural world and its ecological processes.

“Having grown up on Vancouver Island, it was very important to me that we showcase both the beauty and the destruction of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests in the film,” stated Anthropocene Co-Director, Jennifer Baichwal. “Of the many dramatic examples of humanity’s impact on the natural environment that we documented across the world, the logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island was deeply disturbing.”

“These incredible ecosystems evolved over many thousands of years and yet, in a little over a century, we’ve managed to wipe out about 80% of the original, productive old-growth forest in southwest BC and well over 90% of the highest productivity forests with the biggest trees and most biodiversity. Witnessing this destruction first-hand was devastating and made me want to fight for a complete moratorium on old-growth logging in BC and Canada, period. There is plenty of second-growth available for industry and logging old-growth is cynical, greedy, and deeply short-sighted. When will we stop? When there are no trees left?”

The film artfully explores the theory proposed by the Anthropocene Working Group, an international body of scientists, that we have entered a new geological epoch wherein humans are the primary cause of planetary change. It is also part of a larger body of work called The Anthropocene Project, which includes exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, featuring photographic prints, high-definition murals, film and augmented reality (AR) installations. One of the three AR installations allows viewers to experience Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second-largest Douglas-fir tree which stands alone in a clearcut on Vancouver Island, at or near actual scale.

Anthropocene also includes footage by Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt, including the logging of some of Canada’s finest old-growth forest in the Nahmint Valley, as well as a shipment of raw logs exports leaving Port Alberni for overseas markets. Watt worked with the filmmaking crew for several days over the course of two years while they were shooting for the film, guiding them to big trees and clearcuts around the Port Renfrew area.“It was an amazing opportunity,” said Watt. “For more than a decade I have looked up to renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky and I’m honoured to have worked alongside him and the rest of the talented team on this powerful film. It’s been a great reminder that, on a global scale, the ancient forests of BC are some of the most precious and threatened places on the planet.”

“Seeing the destruction of Vancouver Island’s ancient forests depicted alongside the world’s largest and most polluting mines, most destructive machines, iconic endangered species like Sumatran tigers, and coral bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef really puts the situation into context,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness.

“BC’s old-growth temperate rainforests are globally significant. Not only are they admired and visited by millions of people from around the world, they are an important component in the fight against dangerous climate change. They store more carbon per hectare than any forest on Earth. Continuing to log these carbon sinks – particularly in light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent findings – is downright foolish.”

“The BC government has a window of opportunity right now to protect the last remnant tracts of productive old-growth in BC before they’re lost, but first they need a major wake-up call. BC decision-makers need to listen to the messages that films like Anthropocene are sending: that our extractive, resource-based economy has done irreparable damage to the planet and that we need to apply our ingenuity towards innovative and truly sustainable solutions.”

 

Background information on old-growth forests
Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/).

Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2,000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.The Ancient Forest Alliance is recommending comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, policies that ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, and support for First Nations land use plans, Indigenous Protected Areas, and sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old-growth logging.

Despite their 2017 election platform promise to use the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing old-growth forests across the province, the BC NDP government has yet to take any meaningful action toward this commitment.