Logging McLaughlin Ridge: Watershed advocates say logging threatens city’s water source

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Jane Morden and the Watershed Forest Alliance (WFA) have been fighting against logging at McLaughlin Ridge for close to half a decade now, but with city council’s unanimous decision on Monday night to support their efforts they may be one step closer to a solution.

Sarah Thomas, a volunteer with the WFA, presented the group’s concerns to city council and called on the city to support the WFA’s efforts to pause the logging at McLaughlin Ridge and have a conversation with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations as well as landowners Island Timberlands.

The company owns McLaughlin Ridge and is legally permitted to log the old growth trees located there. The area represents a few hundred hectares of the 250,000 ha that Island Timberlands owns.

According to Thomas, the Mclaughlin Ridge old growth lands were identified by the province as areas that should be protected. However by 2004, the lands were removed from the Tree Farm Licence (TFL) and while promises were made to come to some agreement about how the lands would be protected, this never happened.

McLaughlin Ridge, which is about an hour southeast of Port Alberni, is home to a couple of hundred hectares of old growth Douglas Fir as well as the China Creek Watershed, the city’s main water source. Currently, the watershed meets Island Health’s 4-3-2-1-0 water requirements but the concern is that if the old growth is cut down, that might not be the case anymore.

“It’s important to protect [the China Creek Watershed] because you can always treat water but this costs a lot of money and it’s never as good as the original. We would like to make sure that nothing really bad happens to that water,” said Edna Cox of the Save Our Valley Alliance, a public education group.

“It’s designated a community watershed so we’re asked to stay out of the area and yet logging continues,” said Thomas at city council.

While the city does have other, secondary sources of water in Bainbridge Lake and Lizard Lake, China Creek is the best water source that Port Alberni has due to the filtration that the old growth up McLaughlin Ridge provides.

“The water comes down very, very slowly and it’s really well filtered [by the old growth]. If it comes of a bare slope or washes a lot of silt down then it’s not such high quality water,” said Cox.

If a lot of silt is washed down, the amount of sediments in the water increase, as does the turbidity.

“When there’s turbidity there’s a problem because you can’t even treat the water, it doesn’t help,” Cox said.

The old growth also helps keep the city’s water supply steady throughout the year. With the old growth there, the snowpack up on the ridge melts a little slower.

“The forest acts as a sponge so you don’t have all the water coming down in the spring melt and then no water in the summer.

“We’ve had low water conditions now for over a year; we didn’t have much of a snowpack last year either,” said Jane Armstrong, also from the WFA.

Armstrong is not sure what the future holds for Port Alberni’s water supply, but she thinks that with climate change happening that drought conditions will stick around and that instead of rain throughout the year, the watershed will be filled up by occasional huge downpours.

[“If this happens] the forest is a natural solution for helping to control the flow of water,” Armstrong said.

Clearcutting also has another, more immediate danger; landslides. In 2006, clearcuts in the Beauforts, followed by a large amount of precipitation, were thought to have caused landslides that affected Beaver Creek’s water and brought gravel in debris into people’s homes.

There’s a chance that clearcutting on McLaughlin Ridge could lead to the same.

While Island Timberlands is required to replant trees that they cut down—and states that they typically do so within nine months —the high elevation of McLaughlin Ridge means that it will be generations until those replacement trees are big enough to serve any purpose, says Morden.

“This area is at a higher elevation, we’re talking about a thousand metres up, so it’s not going to grow back at a fast rate. Up there, you can have a 20-year-old tree that’s not anywhere much above your waist, said Morden, “and when the roots start to decompose from the huge [old growth trees,] then your chances of landslides are going to increase.”

In an e-mailed statement, Morgan Kennah, Manager of Sustainable Timberlands and Community Affairs for Island Timberlands, said that they “have and continue to work cooperatively with the city to ensure water quality is maintained in China Creek. In cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, we have installed a continuous water quality monitoring station in the watershed to ensure we meet the applicable water quality objectives.”

However, Cox doesn’t think that this is good enough because while “drinking water is protected [that] protection will take precedence when there’s an imminent threat, when it’s basically too late.”

According to Coun. Cindy Solda, the issue has been brought up at the Association of Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) and the Alberni-Clayquot Regional District (ACRD) and that a main goal of these government-led bodies is to change the way private land is regulated.

“One main goal is to get private land and Crown to be the same… we want to have more say,” Solda said.

“[Water] is a human right, we really need to have water,” said Coun. Wendy Kerr, “the forest companies have to know that they don’t own that water, they’re only renting the space, nobody owns this planet but we need to start taking care of it now.”

With that, Kerr raised motions to give city council’s support to the WFA and support the organization’s request to pause the logging at McLaughlin Ridge as well as to request a meeting between council, the WFA, Island Timberlands and the provincial forestry ministry.

City council carried the motion to applause from meeting attendees.

Quick facts:

◆ The first cut done at McLaughlin Ridge was four to five years ago, with a large cut occurring in 2011. Jane Morden of Watershed Forest Alliance says 50 per cent of the old growth remains.

◆ Port Alberni gets its water from the China Creek Watershed, located an hour southeast of the city. McLaughlin Ridge is located at the northern edge of the watershed boundary.

◆ There are two water intake sources within the China Creek Watershed: a creek intake off of China Creek at the western edge of the watershed and a lake intake off of Bainbridge Lake, located slightly northwest of the watershed boundary.

◆ The city primarily uses the creek intake due to its marginally higher water quality. However, if anything were to happen to the creek intake water quality, the city could use the lake intake.

Those two water intakes represent the redundancy in the city’s water supply, which means that it is unlikely that the two sources would both be unusable at the same time, city engineer Guy Cicon said.

◆ Port Alberni’s water is treated with chlorine before being stored in reservoirs. The city is currently in phase one of upgrading their water facilities by adding UV disinfection at a cost of $4 million. There is also the possibility of later adding a filtration system at an additional $3 million.

Read more: https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/logging-mclaughlin-ridge-watershed-advocates-say-logging-threatens-citys-water-source/

Groups push to halt old-growth harvesting

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The City of Port Alberni has joined a push initiated by environmental groups to halt old-growth harvesting on privately-owned McLaughlin Ridge. Council unanimously voted to support the Watershed Forest Alliance’s letter to Island Timberlands CEO Darshan Sihota and Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. McLaughlin Ridge is within the China Creek Watershed, Port Alberni’s source of drinking water.

In a presentation to city council on Monday, Sarah Thomas of the Watershed Forest Alliance said large sections of forest removed from the watershed eliminate the natural filtration provided by trees, placing expensive demands on the municipality to clean water through a treatment plant.

“As the water percolates into the system the trees act as a sponge and help to hold water so that it can be let out slowly over time, as opposed to having a runoff and rushing down the slopes and into the creek,” said Thomas, adding that a logging ban was lifted from McLaughlin Ridge in 2004.

The group says a few hundred hectares of extremely endangered old-growth forests still stand for now in McLaughlin Ridge near Cathedral Grove, including “major stands of ancient Douglas-fir trees, the overwhelming majority of which have been logged on B.C.’s coast.”

Prior to Thomas’s presentation to council, a succession of locals stepped up to the microphone to support the halting of oldgrowth logging.

“We have to stand up for our rights to clean, healthy water in Port Alberni and on Vancouver Island,” said Dan Cebuliak.

Jacques Savard said the watershed has been “raped and ravaged” by Island Timberlands. McLaughlin Ridge is privately owned by the forestry company, the result of regulatory changes to land within Tree Farm Licence 44 in 2004.

The handling of private forest is overseen by the Private Managed Forest Land Council, who have recently concluded in a report that Island Timberlands’ activities in McLaughlin Ridge does not increase the turbidity (cloudiness) of water in the China Creek Watershed, said Morgan Kennah, Island Timberlands’ manager of community affairs.

“Their report concluded that our practices are above average for coastal operations,” said Kennah.

“The study noted that although harvesting activity has increased in the area in the past decade, the hydrological capacity for the watershed to balance this harvesting with current forest cover and regenerating forests is below the threshold for best management in watersheds.”

Privately owned forest is currently regulated differently than the standards of Crown land, which is enforced by the Ministry of Forests.

“This creates problems,” said Coun. Cindy Solda, who also serves as chairwoman of the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District. “We’re getting really tired of this. The rules aren’t the same for private land and we’re not happy with that, One main goal is to get private land and Crown to be the same, so that they are equal.”

Coun. Hira Chopra encouraged the Watershed Forest Alliance and residents to work with the city to lobby for the laws to be changed.

“We need all of the help, everything that we can find to justify that government is wrong,” he said. “Those standards are raised by the B.C. provincial government. We have to push the government to keep their promise up.”

Another motion passed to ask Island Timberlands representatives to present to council on their operations in the area.

Coun. Rob Cole cautioned of the need to closely consult with the forestry company to find a solution.

“Lobbying can be a lot stronger when we’re in communication with those groups. We have to see all sides of the picture,” he said. “If we totally push away the industry that has control of that land now legally in our country, then we can also not get very far.”

Read more:[Original article no longer available]

Environmental and labour organizations call on Island Timberlands to stop logging old-growth forest

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The Council of Canadians, Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC) union and various environmental organizations have signed a joint statement calling on Island Timberlands to halt logging the endangered old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni, BC. They asked the BC Liberal government show leadership and ensure the forest’s protection.

“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,” said Jane Morden from the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, which is spearheading the campaign to protect old-growth forests around the region, including McLaughlin Ridge.

Island Timberland owns over 258,000 hectares of private forest lands in BC. Environmental advocates have criticized the company for logging Douglas fir forests and endangered Queen Charlotte goshawk habitat at McLaughlin Ridge.

McLaughlin Ridge is part of 78,000 hectares of land that were removed from Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island in 2004, which exempted the area from the environmental policies and/or regulations designed to protect species at risk, old-growth forests, ungulate winter ranges, and riparian areas.

“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,” said Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and campaigner TJ Watt in a news release.

Ancient Forest Alliance executive director Ken Wu said Island Timberlands was “charging forward to log their most contentious, environmentally significant old-growth forests and socially-valued lands” despite strong opposition to the project.

He said “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.”

Read more: https://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/environmental-and-labour-organizations-call-island-timberlands-stop-logging-old-growth-forest 

Groups fear fragile B.C. area logged

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Environmental groups and labour organizations on Vancouver Island are demanding the province lend protection to a section of forest being logged near Port Alberni — except the company in question denies it’s logging fragile areas.

McLaughlin Ridge sits about one hour southeast of Port Alberni in a 78,000-hectare parcel, including a swath being logged by Island Timberlands.

Environmental groups are concerned habitat used by deer and elk in winter is being compromised.

TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance said part of the area is valuable ungulate winter habitat, and the province was supposed to follow up with an agreement to protect parts of it after a 2004 decision to open it up to logging.

“They failed to pursue that agreement, so now Island Timberlands has moved ahead with logging these areas,” Watt said.

Meanwhile, local MLA Scott Fraser of the BC NDP said the government has ignored its own scientists, who recommended the ungulate habitat not be logged.

The land was removed from the Timber Forest License under Weyerhaeuser, and eventually acquired by Island Timberlands but, said Fraser, Victoria signed nothing more than an agreement recognizing the land was important.

“They made a big deal of signing a memorandum of understand assuring that those key values would be protected and then they didn’t do it,” he said.

But Island Timberlands said the land it has already logged is not in the area marked as ungulate territory.

“There are specific areas mapped and discussed at length across McLaughlin Ridge noted as good winter habitat for deer and elk during heavy snowfalls,” said Morgan Kennah of Island Timberlands.

“We are currently not harvesting within these mapped areas,” Kennah said. “We have no immediate plans to harvest within these areas at this time.”

The Ministry of Forests said as far as it’s concerned the land is private, adding it was told by Island Timberlands the sensitive area is not being logged.

Watt said he finds the claims they are not in the ungulate areas “questionable.”

Among those asking the government to protect the region are the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and Valhalla Wilderness Society.

Read more: [Original article no longer available]

Tsilhqot’in ruling means Douglas Treaty Implementation, says Kwakiutl Chief

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Tsaxis, Kwakiutl Territory (Port Hardy), BC, July 2, 2014 /CNW/ – Kwakiutl First Nation Chief Coreen Child says the Tsilhqot'in court victory on Thursday, June 26, 2014, proves that Vancouver Island First Nations with Douglas Treaties already demonstrated Aboriginal Title over 160 years ago.

“We are deeply moved by the resolve of the Tsilhqot'in people. The ruling will have far reaching impacts on First Nations and the Crown governments. For Kwakiutl, the Supreme Court of Canada's declaration reaffirms that the 1851 Douglas Treaty proves Aboriginal title—and that the Government has not lived up to its promises,” says Chief Child.

Kwakiutl First Nation intervened on the Tsilhqot'in case to address two fundamental issues—the proper test of Aboriginal title and the application of provincial legislation on Aboriginal title lands.

The Tsilhqot'in win reinforces a BC Supreme Court decision, made on June 17, 2013, which found the Province of British Columbia had breached its legal duties by denying the existence of Kwakiutl's inherent title & treaty rights. Further, the BC decision found that BC and Canada had failed to implement and respect the Crown's 163 year-old Douglas Treaties, and 'encouraged and challenged' the governments to begin fair negotiations “without any further litigation, expense or delay.”

“”The Supreme Court of Canada rejected the “small spots” strategy argued by Canada and recognized and affirmed that First Nation view of Territorial Title is the basis for engagement with First Nations”,” says Councillor Davina Hunt.

Since 2004, the BC government has been granting the removal of private lands from Tree Farm licenses located within Kwakiutl territory without Kwakiutl consent. Consequently, businesses, companies, and governments have exploited Kwakiutl lands with impunity.

“BC forestry decision making is one example of Treaty infringement,” says Councillor Jason Hunt. “In 163 years, the Crown, first as Colony, then as BC and Canada, built entire economies on North Vancouver Island without First Nations consent. They have exploited our lands and waters, and marginalized our people.”

The Kwakiutl believe that Crown governments and industry will have to meaningfully engage on a deeper level with respect to Aboriginal title and Treaty when proposing to make decisions or conduct business on First Nations territories.

“The recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling reflects the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) in that a First Nation views and perspectives of Territorial Land Use must be dealt with in all government decisions consistent with Free, Prior and Informed consent” says Chief Bob Chamberlin, Union of BC Indian Chiefs Vice President and states further “that the Federal and Provincial Governments must engage with full recognition of the scope and intent of the Douglas Treaty as the basis of the relationship with the Kwakiutl First Nation.”

Chief Perry Bellegarde, Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief and portfolio holder for Treaties, supports this position. “The Crown has suspended its legal obligations to the Kwakiutl for nearly two centuries. Given that the historic Tsilhqot'in Supreme Court ruling confirms the principle of Aboriginal title, it is essential the Crown fulfills its covenant with the First Peoples of Canada. We strongly urge the federal and provincial governments to act definitively, and act now, in executing their duties to consult and accommodate with First Nations within the intended spirit and intent of Treaties.”

Read more: https://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1382055/tsilhqot-in-ruling-means-douglas-treaty-implementation-says-kwakiutl-chief

Island Timberlands logs old-growth forests near Port Alberni

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Conservationists expressed alarm over a logging company’s logging of rare old-growth Douglas Fir trees near Port Alberni. Island Timberlands had reportedly logged a hundred-metre wide section of old-growth trees in the previously intact part of McLaughlin Ridge’s forest.

The Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance have urged the BC government — which deregulated the land in 2004 — to work toward conservation of McLaughlin Ridge and other endangered old-growth forests jeopardized by Island Timberlands.

“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,” said Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance coordinator Jane Morden.

“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…What’s going on right now is a first rate environmental emergency in this province.”

Logging by Island Timberlands was also at the centre of controversy on Cortes Island, where protesters tried to block loggers’ access to the island’s forests.

“By all measures, McLaughlin Ridge is of the highest conservation priority…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,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance 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.”

A few hundred hectares of endangered old growth forests and mature second-growth forests remain in the area, but activists worry they, too, may soon be cut down. 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.

Big Lonely Doug: Canada’s loneliest tree still waiting on help

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Big Lonely Doug, perhaps the loneliest tree in Canada, stands in the middle of a clear-cut on the west coast of Vancouver Island, surrounded by a field of huge stumps.

The giant red cedars and Douglas firs that once surrounded it were cut down and hauled away by loggers two years ago.

Big Lonely Doug was left standing alone, Ken Wu of the Forest Alliance says, because it was either designated as a wildlife tree, or it was left to provide cones for the reseeding of the forest.

Either way, it makes a rather sad sight sticking up out of a raw landscape of logging debris – and it serves as a reminder of just how inadequate British Columbia’s forest regulations are at protecting old, giant trees.

Recently, Mr. Wu’s group, which for years has been campaigning to save old trees like this, teamed up on a climbing expedition with Matthew Beatty of the Arboreal Collective, another organization that works to save trees.

They wanted to get to the top of Big Lonely Doug to see how tall it really was. It had been estimated at 70 metres. And they wanted to get some photographs to highlight the need to protect B.C.’s rapidly disappearing old growth.

Mr. Wu says 99 per cent of the old-growth Douglas fir trees in B.C. have been logged and 75 per cent of the original old growth forests on B.C.’s southern coast have been cut down.

Mr. Wu’s group has been frantically searching out the biggest trees and lobbying to protect them. A few years ago, they found the Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, which the government did set aside, and which is now a tourism attraction. In the same area, they also identified what they named Lower Christy Clark Grove, in the hope the Premier would set it aside. Parts of that area were later protected, not to honour Ms. Clark, but as wildlife habitat because of the presence of endangered Queen Charlotte goshawks.

But Mr. Wu and his colleague, T.J. Watt, didn’t see Big Lonely Doug when they were hiking through the thick forest in the area, and the grove of giants it stood in didn’t get flagged for protection. When they returned in March, it was impossible to miss, however, sticking up all alone like that.

Members of the Arboreal Collective put climbing ropes up the tree and Mr. Watt, a photographer clambered up. Way up. From the top, they dropped a line – Big Lonely Doug is 66 metres tall, not quite as big as first estimated, but still the second largest Douglas fir in Canada.

“It was incredibly humbling,” said Mr. Watt of what it felt like up there in the tree. “It’s like climbing a living skyscraper. You only get a true sense of its mass once you are up there in the canopy and you see the trunk is still 6-, 7-, 8-feet wide. It’s almost unfathomable how large it is.”

From near the top, swaying in the wind, Mr. Watt looked out over the valley and felt a sense of wonder at how long the tree has been there. Ring counts of nearby stumps showed many of the neighbouring trees were 500 years old. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be 1,000 years old.

From his vantage point atop the tree, Mr. Watt’s colleagues seemed tiny on the ground below. Across the valley, he could hear chainsaws and see trees falling as logging continued in the area.

“It was odd to be standing in this giant, record-size tree in the middle of a clear-cut and watching stuff fall not too far away,” he said.

Mr. Watt said it was “kind of sad” too, because he suspected there were more trees like Big Lonely Doug that might be stumps by the time his crew finds them.

“It shows the need to have legislation in place as quickly as possible to protect remaining old-growth forest so we don’t have to keep coming across these things too late,” said Mr. Watt.

Three years ago, the provincial government promised it would bring in regulations to protect the best and biggest groves of B.C.’s dwindling stock of giant old-growth trees.

Mr. Watt, Mr. Wu, and Big Lonely Doug are still waiting.

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/canadas-loneliest-tree-around-1000-years-old-still-waiting-on-help/article19064507/

Tree Climbers Scale Canada’s 2nd Largest Douglas-Fir

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Many of us have climbed a tree or two in our lives, but how many of us can say that tree was as tall as an 18-storey building?

A group of professional tree climbers scaled Canada's second-largest Douglas-fir — fondly referred to as Big Lonely Doug — and there are some amazing photos to prove it.

Climbers from Arboreal Collective partnered with Ancient Forest Alliance, a B.C.-based conservation organization that discovered Big Lonely Doug, to complete the ascension of the tree near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

“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,” Matthew Beatty, spokesman for Arboreal Collective, said in a press release.

“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. B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests urgently need protection before they become giant stumps and tree plantations.”

The tree stands 70.2 metres high and has a diameter that is almost as long as a mid-sized car, according to the B.C. Big Tree Registry. Big Lonely Doug is estimated to be as much as 1,000 years old.

View gallery and read more at: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/06/06/tree-climbers-big-lonely-doug-photos_n_5461824.html

Climbers scale Canada’s ‘Big Lonely Doug’

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For a few hours last month Big Lonely Doug was a little less lonely.

On may 25, a group of climbers and environmentalists scaled the giant tree, which was confirmed as Canada’s second-largest Douglas Fir earlier this year.

“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 B.C. will help to raise awareness… about these highly endangered ecosystems,” said T.J. Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

While atop the tree, the climbers conducted additional measurements, pegging Doug’s height at 66 metres. That’s four metres less than the original estimate.

“However, Big Lonely Doug still remains as the second-largest Douglas Fir tree in Canada in total size,” the group said in a statement.

Soil and moss samples from the fir’s canopy were also taken, and will be tested for new species of insects.

https://metronews.ca/news/victoria/1058117/video-climbers-scale-canadas-big-lonely-doug/