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Nahmint Valley, Port Alberni - Huge Tree Logging

Hupacasath First Nation calls on BC Government to Halt Logging of Old-Growth Forest in Nahmint Valley on Vancouver Island

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Efforts to halt the logging of some of Canada’s largest old-growth trees in the Nahmint Valley, approved by the BC NDP government’s own logging agency, BC Timber Sales (BCTS), have taken a leap forward with the Hupacasath band council in Port Alberni releasing an open letter calling on the BC government to “pull” the old-growth cutblocks and to work collaboratively with the band to ensure the protection of the area’s old-growth forests, biggest trees, and monumental cedars.

The logging of over 300 hectares of ancient forest in the Nahmint Valley has resulted in overwhelming criticism of the BC NDP government for planning and auctioning off the old-growth forest cublocks through BC Timber Sales.

In an open letter from Band Council Chief Steven Tatoosh received by the AFA last week, the Hupacasath Nation expressed concerns about the recent, “unnecessary” harvesting of old-growth in their traditional territory, which, as Tatoosh stated, contradicts the NDP’s 2017 election platform and undermines government to government consultation with the Hupacasath Nation.

The letter, addressed to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, calls on the BC government to immediately extinguish all approved cutblocks in the Nahmint Valley and to collaborate with the Hupacasath First Nation to review existing licenses and establish “best management practices for coastal legacy, monumental, and old-growth trees” in Hupacasath traditional territory, which have “immense cultural, spiritual and emotional value” to the Hupacasath Nation.

Hupacasath band member, Brenda Sayers, has spearheaded a group of band members working on developing solutions for protecting old-growth forests in their territory. Sayers was recently featured in a video documentary clip by the Ancient Forest Alliance which can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw4BToE48Ew&t=2s

“We support the Hupacasath First Nation band in their request to the BC government to halt BC Timber Sales’ plans for logging of some of Canada’s largest and oldest trees,” stated Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner. “We also encourage the provincial government to move forward on its commitment to modernize land use planning in partnership with First Nations, and we urge the government to pair that process with funding for the sustainable economic development and diversification of First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging.”

Old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley has continued through much of the summer, despite the major public outcry, including major media coverage and viral social media attention, after the Ancient Forest Alliance and local Port Alberni conservationists uncovered the logging of some of Earth’s grandest ancient forests and near record-sized trees – including the felling of what was the ninth widest Douglas-fir tree in Canada – in the Nahmint Valley in May (see AFA press releases here and here).

Maps obtained from BCTS show planned future logging throughout the valley, including in two large areas within an intact section of forest on the west side of Nahmint Lake; the slope below the west side of Gracie Lake, adjacent to an Ungulate Winter Range forest reserve; a low slope west of Nahmint Mountain; and on the northern slope at the upper end of the valley.

“British Columbians are outraged by the logging of endangered ancient forest ecosystems that’s taking place in the Nahmint Valley – and throughout many regions of BC – and are speaking out strongly in favour of old-growth protection,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt. “Thousands of concerned people have sent messages to the BC government, asking them to implement science-based policies to protect old-growth while ensuring a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. Unfortunately, so far it seems the NDP government would prefer to stick its head in the sand, engage in PR-spin, and carry on with business as usual.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is encouraging BC residents to continue to express their views to the BC government on old-growth logging, including in the Nahmint Valley, and on the need for interim protections for intact areas while science-based solutions and old land use plans are modernized to include First Nations land use plans.

“The Ministry of Forests says it intends to hold a public comment period on the new logging plans for the Nahmint Valley sometime soon,” stated Inness. “It will be a good opportunity for British Columbians to speak up to BC Timber Sales, forests minister Doug Donaldson, and Premier Horgan, calling on the NDP government to direct BCTS to stop issuing cutting permits in old-growth forests and to start supporting old-growth conservation solutions instead.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee, are calling on the BC government to enact a series of policy changes, including a science-based plan to protect old-growth forests, the use of regulations and incentives to ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, and financial support for the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities linked to their development of land use plans that protect old-growth forests.

Background Information

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 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 Nahmint Valley is considered a “hotspot” of high-conservation value old-growth forest by conservation groups, with some of the largest tracts of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island outside of Clayoquot Sound, 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 Nahmint Valley is located in the territories of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations.

The BC 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 are protected in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island where old-growth logging occurs at a scale of about 11,000 hectares a year (in 2016). 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,these figures leave out the approximately 800,000 hectares of heavily logged-over private forest lands on Vancouver Island (which are still managed under provincial authority). The 520,000 hectares they reference also includes about 360,000 hectares of low-productivity forest (i.e. stunted, marginal forests that grow in bogs, on steep rocky mountainsides, and in the high sub-alpine zones where the trees are smaller and generally of low to no commercial value). Finally, the BC government fails to mention the context of how much old-growth has previously been logged: almost 80%, or about 16 million hectares of the original 20 million hectares, of productive old-growth forest on Vancouver Island and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (i.e. the very rare “classic” monumental stands of giants being logged in the Nahmint right now).

BC Timber Sales (BCTS), a division of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, is the BC government’s logging agency that plans and directly issues logging permits for about 20 per cent of the province’s merchantable timber on Crown lands, which fall outside of forestry tenures. The BC government retains full control over which cut blocks are auctioned each year through BCTS and can therefore use this control to quickly phase out issuing timber sales in old-growth forests in these areas.

“The forests minister assures us that sufficient old-growth is protected in the Nahmint Valley, but it’s a question of quality, not just quantity,” stated Andrea Inness, AFA campaigner. “Most of the valley’s monumental groves, growing at lower elevations on the richer sites, have long since been logged and much of the remaining old-growth forests outside of current approved and planned cutblocks are comprised of smaller trees growing on low and medium productivity sites, including most of the forests protected in forest reserves. The BC government is skewing the numbers to hide the fact they’re auctioning off the grandest forests with the biggest trees while protecting forests of much lower commercial value that often lack the biodiversity of the richer, grander stands.”

“Fortunately, it’s not too late for the Nahmint Valley,” stated TJ Watt, AFA campaigner. “There are still significant tracts of old-growth forest left in the area and very high environmental and recreational values that are worth protecting. The BC government has an opportunity right now to turn things around and do the right thing, for which they will certainly gain public approval.”

VIDEO: Clayoquot Tribal Parks and First Nations Old-Growth Protection

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Check out this most important video clip about the inspiring, cutting-edge First Nations-led efforts of the Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht, and Hupacasath people to protect Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests! 25 years ago, on August 9, 1993, over 300 people were arrested trying to protect the old-growth forests in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, out of almost 900 people who would be arrested that summer. The Tla-o-qui-aht have declared most of their territory as Tribal Parks and the Ahousaht have developed a Land Use Vision that protects 82% of their territory from industrial logging, while the Hupacasath are speaking up for the protection of ancient forests in the Nahmint Valley. The BC government has yet to officially recognize and support these initiatives, and has not committed to undertaking conservation financing for these communities or elsewhere across most of BC at this time, while still supporting old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley and in large regions of the province. However, there is hope – with your support for these First Nations conservation initiatives!

See the original video by filmmaker Darryl Augustine here.

Jane Morden of the Port Alberni Watershed Forest Alliance photographs giant Douglas-fir trees in the Cameron Valley near Port Alberni.

B.C. moves to protect forests ‘jam-packed’ with species at risk

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The B.C. government announced Friday that it is protecting nearly 1,000 acres of Coastal Douglas fir forests, a move lauded by the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“This is a major positive step,” said Ken Wu, executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “The Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is one of the top most endangered ecosystems in Canada and the remnants are scarce and endangered, so an extra 1,000 hectares is a big deal.”

Most importantly, the ecosystem is “jam-packed with species at risk.” It’s one of the top four endangered ecosystems in Canada.

The new land use order applies to public lands in 19 different lots near Bowser, Qualicum Beach, Nanoose Bay and Cedar on Vancouver Island as well as forests on Galiano and Salt Spring islands. The areas are mostly second-growth, so would be less than 140 years old, but contain veteran old-growth trees, Wu said.

Most importantly, the ecosystem is “jam-packed with species at risk,” Wu said in an interview with National Observer. Species at risk in the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem include Garry oak trees, sharp-tailed snakes, alligator lizards, and Vancouver Island screech owl and pygmy owl subspecies, the AFA said in a news release. It’s one of the top four endangered ecosystems in Canada.

Just nine per cent of the 256,800 hectares of Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem in British Columbia is provincially owned, the government said in a news release. Now, more than 11,000 hectares are protected from logging.

But most of the endangered ecosystem is found on private land, much of which is facing pressure from agriculture and urbanization, Wu said. Fully 80 per cent of the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem is privately owned on unceded First Nations Coast Salish territory, AFA said in a news release.

 

 

 

 

 

Vancouver Island’s original ancient forest shown in green. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

Remaining ancient forests shown in green, logged areas in magenta. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

Earlier this spring, National Observer reported that the government had approved logging of old-growth trees in the Nahmint Valley. The Ancient Forest Alliance took shocking photos of massive stumps from trees that would have been between 500 and 1,000 years old. At the time, the AFA called for new laws to protect these irreplaceable trees.

Now, Wu says the government has shown exactly how they could do it — by using a similar land use order to specifically protect old-growth trees.

“It’s a quicker, more efficient way to keep those trees standing so that options can be negotiated, including hopefully the legislated, permanent protection of those areas into the future,” Wu said. “They could do a scattering of them throughout the area, which would be a precursor to the creation of a provincial conservancy.”

The Ancient Forest Alliance is also calling for the government to establish a $40-million annual land acquisition fund to buy up and protect more of B.C.’s endangered forests.

“That may sound like a lot, but remember that the B.C. provincial budget is over $50 billion a year, so we’re talking about …less than one-tenth of one per cent of the provincial budget for doing the most important thing that can exist, which is to protect the environment and save the diverse land base of the province,” Wu said.

Land acquired through the fund could be turned into provincial conservancies or tribal parks, Wu said.

B.C.’s minister of forests Doug Donaldson was not immediately available to comment on last week’s protection order or whether a similar idea could work in other areas, but ministry staff sent a statement saying that there are some areas of old growth forests in B.C. that are protected, such as the lands that are in designated parks.

In the meantime, Wu says he thanks the NDP government for this first step.

“We do want to give a clear commendation and thanks to the provincial NDP government for doing the right thing,” Wu said.

After seeing the devastating photos of giant old-growth trees cut down by logging approved by the provincial government, I agree that this protection is a very positive beginning. I hope there is more to come.

Read the original article here.

Clayoquot Sound protesters at a blockade in 1993.

It’s not safe forever: Clayoquot Sound logging protesters reflect on 25 years

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WATCH the CHEK News piece here.

It’s been 25 years since thousands of protesters fought to protect an ancient forest from being logged on Vancouver Island.

Clayoquot Sound is home to more than 250,000 hectares of some of Canada’s most pristine old-growth forest.

More than 10,000 people participated in the mass blockades in what would become the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

The outcry was sparked by the government’s decision to allow for two-thirds of the area to be logged.

Valerie Langer was one of the main organizers of the demonstrations in 1993.

“Most people don’t expect in their lives to organize the biggest protest in Canadian history,” Langer said in a Skype interview from Vancouver.

The nearly three-month-long movement gained support from people around the world.

Australian rock band, Midnight Oil, flew to Vancouver Island to perform during the demonstrations.

“The facts are very clear,” said lead singer Peter Garrett in an interview with CHEK News in August 1993. “Your old-growth forests are getting cleared willy-nilly. There are a lot of Canadians and people in other parts of the world who don’t think that ‘s the right thing to be happening and it’s as straightforward as that.”

The protests led to the arrests of more than 800 people including dozens of children.

Despite the arrests, many say their efforts prevented the rainforest from being clear cut.

The area was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000.

Ken Wu with the Ancient Forest Alliance says the demonstrations helped strength the environmental movement.

“It also strengthened First Nations’ rights in regards to forestry and land-use policy,” explained Wu. “It resulted in a huge torrent of new protected areas as well.”

Even 25 years later, Langer says their work to protect B.C.’s forests isn’t over.

“Just because something happened 25 years ago doesn’t mean it’s safe forever,” Langer said.

223 international scientists call for urgent action to protect British Columbia’s endangered temperate rainforests

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Ashland, OR —The Government of British Columbia must take urgent and immediate action to protect the globally unique ecological values of BC’s remaining primary and intact coastal and inland temperate rainforest, say 223 prominent scientists from around the world in a letter released today.

The scientists specifically call for action to protect temperate rainforests along BC’s south coast and Vancouver Island, and inland rainforests on the windward side of the Columbia and Rocky Mountains, all of which remain at risk with insufficient conservation.

The letter was organized by Dr. Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist at the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and author of Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation (Island Press). According to DellaSala, “BC’s temperate rainforests are globally rare, they offer habitat for many imperiled species and globally the vast majority of these unique rainforests has already been logged. Protection of remaining intact tracts of these carbon-rich, climate saving forests is a global responsibility and can help Canada to contribute to the 2020 UN biodiversity targets and the Paris Climate Agreement.” Recently, the ninth largest Douglas-fir in Canada was cut down in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni. The tree, which was 66 metres tall and three metres in diameter, was in an old-growth cut block auctioned off by the BC government.

Temperate rainforests are rare, constituting just 2.5 per cent of the earth’s forests. British Columbia is home to one quarter of that total and BC’s inland rainforests are one of only two such areas worldwide.

“It is hard to overstate the cultural significance of these rainforests to the Indigenous peoples who have inhabited this part of the world for millennia,” said Dr. Barbara Zimmerman, Director of the International Conservation Fund Canada. “Their loss would be an enormous blow to all Canadians and all people of the world. Destruction of the last remnants of ancient old-growth forest with their magnificent trees and complex web of life is a rapidly unfolding tragedy and the vast majority of Canadians are unaware that it is even happening.”

According to recent estimates by Sierra Club BC, logging of old-growth temperate rainforest is currently destroying 10,000 hectares per year on Vancouver Island—the equivalent of two soccer fields per hour, 24 hours per day. Productive old-growth rainforests in lower elevations have been reduced to less than 10 per cent of their original extent. Plants and animals that depend on these rainforests are not just losing habitat, but also are suffering climate change impacts such as extended droughts, extreme rainfall and severe storms, threatening to push ecosystems to limits. Similar losses are occurring in the inland rainforest region where logging of old-growth rainforest has been extensive and is contributing to the demise of mountain caribou.

“BC has inspired the world with conservation solutions in Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest. The province should take similar action to safeguard what remains of these globally outstanding ancient forests in other parts of the province,” said BC forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon. “The provincial government should follow through on its promise and take action for old-growth conservation using the same model and its multiple benefits for biodiversity, communities and the climate.”

Forests absorb atmospheric carbon through the process of photosynthesis and store it in long-lived plants and soils. In doing so, they help to cool down the planet. Cutting down forests releases most of their stored carbon as a global warming pollutant.

The experts are urging the provincial government to follow through on the promise to use the ecosystem-based management approach implemented in the Great Bear Rainforest to safeguard British Columbia’s endangered old-growth rainforest.

The signatories to the letter live and work in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, the United States and Scotland.

Read the original media release here. [Original article no longer available]

Ancient yellow cedar slated for logging in Schmidt Creek

BC Government Targets Another Old-Growth Rainforest Forest For Clearcut Logging

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VICTORIA, Unceded Lekwungen Territories – After visiting and documenting Schmidt Creek, the next valley slated for logging by government agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS), environmental organizations and Indigenous leaders are ramping up the call for the agency to discontinue logging permits in remaining endangered old-growth rainforests. The documentation of new BCTS logging roads in Schmidt Creek follows the recent discovery by the Ancient Forest Alliance of BCTS logging of endangered rainforest in the Nahmint Valley, near Port Alberni, including near record-sized ancient giants, wider than the biggest Douglas-fir in Cathedral Grove.
Schmidt Creek, located in Tlowitsis-Ma’amtagila territories on northeast Vancouver Island between Sayward and Telegraph Cove and adjacent to Johnstone Strait, contains several cutblocks slated for imminent logging. Last week, representatives from Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee visited several of these cutblocks and new logging roads, which are located on steep slopes in the valley with a high risk of landslides and potential impact on globally unique orca rubbing beaches near the mouth of Schmidt Creek.
“For too long resource extraction companies have got away with taking from our shared territorial lands and waters,” said Rande Cook, Head Chief Makwala, Hamatam (Seagull) House, Ma’amtagila. “Non-Indigenous governments need to understand that this type of reckless logging is not sustainable or respectful to the land itself.  Furthermore, this is not being done in the spirit of meaningful consultation with the proper Kwakwaka’wakw nations.”
“If this logging goes ahead it will destroy some of the last old-growth rainforest on Vancouver Island, which is outrageous and exactly what we need to be moving away from,” said Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. “The fact that this has been signed off on by the provincial government is something everyone in the province should be ashamed of.”
BCTS is a stand-alone agency of the provincial forests ministry that manages around 20 per cent of the annual cut on provincial land. The agency is one of the operators that supported and implemented ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest but continues to log the most endangered ancient rainforests in B.C., such as old-growth Douglas-fir ecosystems on Vancouver Island.
Last year, Sierra Club BC, the Wilderness Committee and the Ancient Forest Alliance called on forests minister Doug Donaldson to protect endangered old-growth rainforest including interim protection for remaining intact areas. One of the groups’ most straightforward recommendations is to direct BCTS to start by discontinuing the issuance of cutblock permits in old-growth rainforests. The minister rejected this request, and his ministry has yet to commit to any significant changes to forest management to ensure the survival of old-growth ecosystems.
“Anyone in their right mind knows it’s wrong to blast a road through an old-growth forest, yet that’s exactly what the BC government is doing, right near a park boundary,” said Mark Worthing, Conservation and Climate Campaigner with Sierra Club BC. “There has already been huge damage done in the valley by LeMare Lake Logging, and when a major rain event occurs it could send sediment onto critical orca rubbing beaches.”
In its 2017 election platform, the BC NDP promised to “apply an evidence-based scientific approach to land-use planning, using the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing old-growth forests.” The B.C. government has not yet made any progress toward implementing this election commitment.
“We are running out of time to protect B.C.’s most productive ancient forests, where some of the biggest, oldest trees on Earth are found,” stated Andrea Inness, campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “After a century of logging, less than 10 per cent of these forests now remain and yet B.C. Timber Sales is still issuing logging permits in rare and endangered ancient forest ecosystems. When is the government going to realize this is not okay and start living up to its promise to manage old-growth sustainably, based on the scientific evidence?”
Schmidt Creek is in Tlowitsis-Ma’amtagila territories and is adjacent to the world-renowned Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, famous for its orca rubbing beaches.
TJ Watt beside an enormous

Environmentalists accuse B.C. government of fudging the numbers to log some of the world’s biggest trees

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Environmentalists have accused the B.C. government of lying about the amount of majestic, centuries-old trees left standing in the province.

The National Observer reported last month that the B.C. government, through B.C. Timber Sales, had approved permits for logging that saw some of the world’s biggest red cedar and Douglas fir trees cut down in the Nahmint Valley on Vancouver Island.

The government responded, by saying that more than 55 per cent of Crown old growth forests on B.C.’s coast is protected, and that on Vancouver Island more than 40 per cent of Crown forests are considered old growth, including 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.

But those numbers are “deliberately misleading,” said Vicky Husband, a B.C. environmental activist for decades who has been awarded both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for her work.

“The forests ministry really plays with numbers, and they talk about how much old growth we’ve got left and actually, they really lie,” Husband said in an interview

“They’re trying to claim that of the coastal forest we’ve protected 55 per cent. We haven’t. That’s not true at all.”

 

 

BC old growth map - Supplied by Commons BC

Original ancient forest shown in green. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

Ken Wu, executive director with the Ancient Forest Alliance, which documented the May cutting of the massive trees in the Nahmint Valley, says it makes no sense to include the forests that will never be logged — those with small, stunted trees growing in bogs or on rocky, steep slopes — when discussing the percentage of forest that has been logged.

“It’s like including your Monopoly money with your real money and then saying you’re a millionaire,” Wu said. “It’s a disingenuous approach and it’s total spin. It’s so much spin that the marbled murrelet and the deer are dizzy.”

The marbled murrelet is a small, endangered seabird that lives in the north Pacific region and that needs coastal old-growth trees for nesting, a B.C. Ministry of Environment document shows.

 

Logged areas of Vancouver Island - Map supplied by Commons BC

Remaining ancient forests shown in green, logged areas in magenta. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

Wu also takes exception with the government taking private lands out of the equation, even though the government regulates what can be logged on those lands. Also, so called low-productivity forests, those that would never be logged, should not be counted in the total, he said.

“Otherwise it’s just complete spin, precisely designed to make people think there is no problem, that there is a lot there and a lot that is protected, which is total f***ing bull****,” Wu said.

“If the NDP government doesn’t want to continue the war in the woods, they have to stop the spin.”

B.C. government is masking an ‘ecological emergency’

Jens Wieting, a forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC, made similar arguments about how the government misrepresents the numbers.

“They are masking the problem, the ecological emergency,” Wieting said. “By allowing continuing logging in these small, intact areas, that’s like burning down libraries, because we know, based on science, that we are losing a web of life that depends on these old growth forests and that’s the responsibility of the current government.”

 

Protected areas of Vancouver Island - map supplied by Commons BC

Most ancient forest is not protected, shown here in red. Green indicates old growth under protection. Map by Vicky Husband/Commons BC, 2018

 

Ministry of Forests responds

The B.C. Ministry of Forests says there are about 55 million hectares of forests around the province, of which 25 million hectares are considered old-growth and four million hectares are protected.

When asked specifically about what definition of old growth the province uses and whether low productivity lands are included, the ministry said “old growth is consistently defined as productive forest, or forest management land base, so swamp, scrub, bog, alpine forest, etc., are all excluded from the province’s calculations.”

Even low productivity sites have larger trees, the ministry said in a written statement, adding that one such site in the Sproat Lake area has a 252-year-old, 22-metre-tall tree.

“By law, a specified amount of the forests that reflect the definition of old growth must be retained to meet biodiversity needs,” the ministry said in its statement. “Generally, the approximate age at which old growth characteristics and structure are apparent in coastal ecosystems is 250 years, whereas Interior ecosystems are 140 years.”

The Forest and Range Practices Act and its regulations are the main set of laws governing forest practices, the ministry said.

Private land covers about one-quarter of Vancouver Island and the province doesn’t include it because it says it has “very limited jurisdiction over private land harvesting.”

When asked specifically how much of the province is protected, the ministry said 15.8 per cent of the Crown land in the province is protected, including legal old growth management areas, which make up about two per cent of Crown land.

“Old growth management areas, wildlife habitat areas, ungulate winter ranges, and ecological reserves are additional areas that contain old growth protection measures in addition to parks,” the ministry said.

B.C. government may lose social license over logging, forestry dean says

It’s not just the government and the environmentalists who disagree on how to classify forests. The problem of defining exactly types of forests should be considered old growth is complicated, said John Innes, professor and dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia.

“This is actually quite a big debate that is going on internationally right now,” Innes said. “People are struggling with this and trying to work out how to talk about this and how to define these different types of forests.”

When Innes hears the term old-growth, he envisions large, old trees – like those found in Cathedral Grove, a provincial park on Vancouver Island that contains an ancient Douglas fir ecosystem. However, technically, he says, the government’s use of the term is not wrong.

“In boggy areas, the trees are so widely spaced and so thin and spindly that they’ve got no commercial value, so they’re not going to be harvested anyway, but that doesn’t mean to say they’re not old growth,” Innes said.

At the same time, he says B.C. Timber Sales should stop issuing licenses to cut down massive, old trees on Vancouver Island except in exceptional situations.

“As a general principle, on Vancouver Island, where there is now a limited supply, … we need to be careful and steward what’s left,” he said.

Innes has also heard that First Nations people now have difficulty finding trees big enough to make canoes.

Innes first learned about the big trees being cut down in the Nahmint Valley from the National Observer story and said he was surprised.

“The B.C. government is at risk of losing social license over this,” Innes said. “I do not consider it to have been a very clever move on the part of B.C. Timber Sales, but I don’t know the full situation.”

Even though the logging was legal, Innes said the move was bound to be controversial.

“I don’t think we should be cutting that size of tree down if there are alternatives,” Innes said.

 

 

The largest Douglas fir in the world, the Red Creek fir near Port Renfrew. Photo July 2016 by Ancient Forest Alliance

Besides the fact that tourists and locals alike love to visit the majestic old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, there are also scientific reasons for saving these grand old trees, Innes said.

“Every time there is some sort of a severe stress in a population, some of that population will be killed and if you’ve got trees that are 1,400 or 1,500 years old, they have survived an awful lot of those stresses, which means they must be pretty good at it,” Innes said.

“If we’re worried about the future and the future stresses on trees, those very old trees may hold the gene reservoir that we need for future forests.”

Technology is advancing so fast that soon, environmental groups may be able to count the exact numbers of large trees left in the province using drones, and track them when they are logged, Innes said.

Legislative and regulatory changes are needed now, campaigner says

The relatively new NDP government needs to make changes now, Wieting said.

“The current B.C. government is not responsible for forest management over the previous 16 years on Vancouver Island, but we have an emergency now as a result of that,” Wieting said.

“They are responsible for the losses that will happen now, because there is now so little left that species like the marbled murrelet are disappearing … and mosses, lichen and fungi that depend on old growth ecosystems. This is now getting worse as a result of climate change.

 

 

Jens Wieting from Sierra Club BC - photo supplied.

Jens Wieting, a forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC, says the government’s numbers mask an ‘ecological emergency.’ Handout photo

The longer the government denies a problem on Vancouver Island, the worse the ecological and cultural damage will be, Wieting says.

“This new government continues to use the same rhetoric and the same superficial information like the previous government and that’s no longer acceptable because it’s not based on science and we are now in an ecological emergency and it’s getting worse every day,” Wieting said.

Wieting would like to see interim steps put in place, based on precaution.

“The government should stop issuing permits for old growth logging in some of these areas that I refer to as precautionary areas – relatively intact areas with significant potential for ecosystems, for species habitat for cultural value, for tourism and carbon value. We have record high carbon storage in these areas,” Wieting said.

He would also like to see legislation to protect endangered rainforest by ecosystem.

“It’s not okay to have logging continuing in some of the last relatively intact old growth areas because that means that we will have foregone conclusions, we will have a situation after the fact where there are no intact old growth forests left to consider,” Wieting said.

All that’s left is a tree museum, activist says

Husband says now is the time to stop logging the ancient forests of Vancouver Island.

“This is the last flailing gasp of the dinosaur swinging his tail,” Husband said. “If you drive through Tofino and Cathedral Grove, that’s what we have to show what those Douglas fir forests used to look like. That’s all we have – it’s a tree museum.”

Wu would like to see a land acquisitions fund so that the government can buy land from private owners to protect it from logging.

“For example, the mountain side above Cathedral Grove – the most famous old-growth forest in Canada – is privately owned and slated for logging,” Wu said. “People don’t realize that the mountainside above that stand of trees that millions come to see, can actually get logged and already has a logging road punched through it.

“The company has been sitting on it for several years because of our campaign to see where this is going to go. The government could buy that old-growth forest and add it to the park with a land acquisition fund.”

In the meantime, Wu would like to see an immediate end to the B.C. government issuing permits through B.C. Timber Sales for logging of old growth forests.

“The BC NDP can end the war in the woods, that can be their legacy,” Wu said. “They just have to do what the rest of the western world has moved to now, which is moving towards a second growth forest industry. We want them to do it sustainably, and let’s keep the remnants of the old growth for endangered species, for tourism, for the climate, for clean water and wild salmon.”

Hear, hear. I couldn’t agree more.

Read the original article here.

BC's 9th widest Douglas-fir cut down in the Nahmint Valley

B.C. “legacy tree” policy under review after ancient fir logged

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B.C. Timber Sales is reviewing its best management practices for legacy trees with the intent of strengthening a policy brought into question by old-growth logging near Port Alberni.

The Crown agency (BCTS) and the B.C. government have been roundly criticized in recent weeks by conservationists and local First Nations for continuing to allow logging of ancient fir and cedar in the Nahmint Valley.

Researchers aligned with the lobby group Ancient Forest Alliance pinpointed the logging last month of what was the ninth largest Douglas fir. They maintain that it’s one of many old-growth giants still being levelled in Vancouver Island forests.

READ: Blame for felled Nahmint giant placed on NDP

“Although it should be a no-brainer to protect B.C.’s biggest trees, what we ultimately need is protection for endangered forest ecosystems, which are under siege by commercial logging. Almost 11,000 hectares of old-growth forests were cut on Vancouver Island in 2016,” said Andrea Inness, an alliance campaigner. “And where better to start protecting old-growth than at the government’s own logging agency, B.C. Timber Sales?”

Immediately west of Port Alberni, the valley contains some of the most extensive stands of old-growth forest on Vancouver Island left standing outside of Clayoquot Sound. The area lies in the territory of Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations.

The Crown agency is overseen by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, which confirmed that the old-growth Douglas fir cited by Ancient Forest Alliance was part of Crown lands auctioned off before new policy was in place.

“With regard to the specific tree mentioned in the (Ancient Forest Alliance) news release, BCTS’ best management practices on legacy trees came into effect after that specific timber sale was laid out,” the ministry stated. “BCTS is also reviewing this policy to make it stronger.”

In its current form, policy requires any Douglas fir wider than 2.1 metres and any cedar wider than three metres to be left standing. The felled Nahmint fir was three metres in diameter.

Since August 2016, BCTS has awarded five timber sales totalling 319 hectares in the valley. The ministry noted, however, that there are 2,760 hectares of old growth protected in the “Nahmint landscape unit.”

BCTS has identified 250 old-growth cedar trees to be spared from logging in the Nahmint, the ministry said. As well, the ministry maintains that old growth forest is not far from a rare commodity on the Island, representing 43 percent of 1.9 million hectares of Crown forest on the Island. A large proportion of that old growth — 520,000 hectares — is protected.

Despite reassurances, conservation groups insist that government is exaggerating the extent of highly productive old growth, specifically trees ranging from 500 to 1,000 years old. Cut blocks in the Nahmint Valley auctioned by BCTS extend into areas where those oldest trees are found and don’t provide enough buffer to retain old-growth ecosystems, the alliance says.

Mike Stini of the Port Alberni Watershed Alliance was among those who identified the fir when it was still standing this spring.

“To see it lying on the ground two weeks later was devastating, especially since these big, old Douglas firs are now endangered after a century of commercial logging,” Stini said. “There are less than one percent of the old-growth Douglas-firs on the coast remaining. It’s like finding a huge black rhino or Siberian tiger that’s been shot. There are simply too few today and logging the last of these giants shouldn’t be allowed to happen anymore in B.C.”

Link to original article: www.vicnews.com/news/b-c-legacy-tree-policy-under-review-after-ancient-fir-logged/

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous

The fall of giants: irreplaceable trees logged

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“These are some of the biggest, oldest living creatures that have ever existed in Earth’s history. It’s ethically wrong, it’s ecologically destructive”, Ken Wu, executive director, Ancient Forest Alliance

After decades of campaigning to save old growth forest giants on the west coast, activists are shocked that it’s still happening.

Members of the Ancient Forest Alliance and other environmental groups discovered several giant trees felled this month in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.

The provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) government is being blamed for the action through its agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS). The agency auctioned off a 300 hectare section (cutblock) which includes some of the biggest old-growth Douglas Fir and western red cedar trees in the province.

Among them was the ninth widest tree in all of British Columbia (3 m/10ft), and one of the tallest(66m/216ft) according to the “B.C. Big Tree Registry”

“There are fewer than 1% of the old-growth Douglas-firs on the coast remaining. It’s like finding a huge black rhino or Siberian tiger that’s been shot. There are simply too few today and logging the last of these giants shouldn’t be allowed to happen anymore in BC” – Mike Stini of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance

Environmentalist Mike Stini said he spoke to the mill owner responsible for the cut block as was told the contractor was advised to leave that specific tree alone.

There is a provincial policy to protect such ancient trees, but activists say it’s not being enforced. In a statement by the Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner T.J. Watt said, “According to BCTS’ policy, Douglas-fir trees over 2.1 meters (7 feet) wide and western red cedars over 3 metres (10 feet) wide located within BCTS-issued cutblocks should be left standing, In spite of this policy, they still cut down Canada’s 9th widest Douglas-fir tree that was 3 meters (10 feet) wide – far larger than their minimum protection size – and we saw several fresh cedar stumps wider than 3 metres. In addition to it being a weak policy to begin with, with plenty of loopholes and lacking buffer zones for the biggest trees, they aren’t even implementing it in the Nahmint Valley. BCTS’ ‘best practices’ didn’t even save the ninth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada”.

Environmentalists are also upset because as they say there is plenty of second growth trees available for logging and therefore no need to cut down the ancient trees.

People are angry with the NDP government which had made election promises to protect old growth forests. Forestry Minister Doug Donaldson says there are 3,000 hectares of protected old growth forest in the valley, “so it’s a balancing act…and we’re working on addressing those concerns”.

Read the original article here.

The AFA's Ken Wu and local Port Alberni conservationists stand atop Canada's 9th-widest Douglas-fir tree

NDP blamed for failing to save Vancouver Island old-growth giants from logging

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Environmentalists on Vancouver Island are calling on the NDP government to deliver on an election promise to protect old-growth forests.

The demand follows the recent felling of huge, ancient trees in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

The Ancient Forest Alliance says in late May trees up to 70 metres tall and as wide as three metres in diameter were cut down as part of logging on Crown land made possible by the government agency B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS).

“These are some of the biggest, oldest living creatures that have ever existed in Earth’s history,” said Ken Wu, executive director for the alliance. “It’s ethically wrong, it’s ecologically destructive.”

The organization says the Nahmint Valley, which lies in the territory of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations, has extensive stands of old-growth forests similar to those in Clayoquot Sound.

Hupacasath member Brenda Sayers says she was dismayed upon learning that trees that big were being logged.

“I was horrified,” said Sayers, a former federal Green Party candidate.

She often visits the area and describes it as magnificent and magical. She also says it has cultural significance as a sacred site for her nation.

“We are caretakers of the land,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to safeguard what is there for future generations.”

Sparing legacy trees

In January, the BCTS implemented a best practices management plan for coastal legacy trees, which it describes as exceptionally large and old trees.

The document says the specimens are a unique feature of B.C.’s coastal forests that help with habitat conservation and support ecotourism.

It sets guidelines for loggers to spare yellow cedar, coastal Douglas fir, sitka spruce and western red cedar. For example, a Douglas fir with a diameter of at least 2.1 metres must be preserved.

The alliance says a Douglas fir felled in the Nahmint Valley was larger than this and is surprised it wasn’t saved — but the BCTS document also includes operational factors, such as safety hazards, that allow legacy trees to be felled.

“Right now it’s generally legal to log these old-growth forests. It doesn’t make it right,” said Wu.

Focus on second-growth

Environmentalists on Vancouver Island have for years campaigned to have B.C. stop the practice of logging old-growth forests and focus solely on second-growth instead.

As part of its 2017 election platform, the NDP promised to partner with First Nations to modernize land-use planning.

That included using the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.

In 2016 an agreement was struck to protect 85 per cent of the forest — 3.1 million hectares — from industrial logging.

Wu says that, so far, the NDP has not committed to its election promise.

“I think they’re trying to figure out their position as we continue to push and as there’s a massive old-growth logging industry lobby that is also pushing them,” he said.

Old growth protections

A statement from the Ministry of Forests said BCTS has awarded five timber sales worth 319 hectares since August 2016 in the Nahmint Valley, and that logging continues to support jobs in places like Port Alberni.

The ministry says there are 2,760 hectares of old growth protected in the valley and that there are 520,000 hectares of old-growth forests that will never be logged on Vancouver Island.

“Government is continuously reviewing practices to ensure healthy ecosystems and that logging is sustainable,” said Forests Minister Doug Donaldson in the statement.

The NDP committed $16 million over three years in its latest budget to modernize land-use planning. It says there will be an update on progress in the fall.

Read the original article here.