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Old growth near Cathedral Grove set for imminent logging: activists

Mar 13 2013/in News Coverage

An old-growth forest, close to Cathedral Grove and formerly protected as a critical wildlife corridor, is ringed with logging tape and conservation groups fear harvesting is imminent.

The marked 40-hectare cutblock, part of Island Timberlands private lands that government agreed could be removed from a tree farm licence in 2004, is about 300 metres from the boundary of MacMillan Provincial Park on the Alberni Highway. It is one of Vancouver Island’s most popular tourist attractions because of giant Douglas firs.

Island Timberlands did not return calls Monday or Tuesday, but company spokeswoman Morgan Kennah wrote in an email: “We have no comment on the planned story.”

The logging tape and road markings were found by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance. Ken Wu, founder of the environmental group, said logging would affect tourism and wildlife populations.

Wu wants both the Liberals and NDP to commit to re-regulating lands removed from the more stringent rules of tree farm licences.

“And we want to see a provincial park acquisition fund of $40 million a year to purchase endangered ecosystems on private land,” he said.

Alliance campaigner TJ Watt said Cathedral Grove is B.C’s iconic old-growth forest.

“It’s like the redwoods of Canada,” he said.“The fact that a company can just log the mountainside above Canada’s most famous old-growth forest underscores the B.C. government’s deep failure to protect our ancient forest heritage.”

The cutblock intersects the Mount Horne Loop Trail, which connects with Cathedral Grove.

“It’s a circle trail, so a lot of people walk up it,” said Jane Morden of Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance.

The planned logging is the latest in a series of proposed cutblocks on lands that were supposed to be protected as critical habitat for wintering deer and other species.

When the government agreed to allow then-owners Weyerhaeuser to remove 88,000 hectares of private land from Tree Farm Licence 44, the province insisted that critical winter habitat should be protected for two years and a committee should then decide on further levels of protection, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request by Alberni-Pacific Rim NDP MLA Scott Fraser.

But, after the private lands went to Island Timberlands, meetings with the government were “terminated” by the company in 2009, with government biologists saying the company’s harvesting plans were not science-based, the documents show.

There is no doubt that logging in the winter range would have an adverse effect, said independent biologist Mike Stini, a former government contractor.

“They are totally wrong to do this,” he said. “Habitat means it is the animals’ home. If someone takes your house away and you have to live on the streets, you won’t die right away, but your life will be short and your reproductive chances are going to be slim.”

Fraser, who has met with Forests Minister Steve Thomson about the breakdown in the original protection agreement, said the government signed the document and must take responsibility for enforcing it.

“The government gave away public control and that’s what caused this problem,” he said.

Fraser acknowledges it will be tough to regain control of private lands, but, if the NDP forms the next government, he would like to see changes to the Private Managed Forest Lands Act, possibly giving more say to local governments, and more public representation on the Private Managed Forest Lands Council, which is now made up of two industry representatives, two government appointees and a chair chosen by the other four members.

“But some of this might be very simple. Having a government that protects the public interest may be all it takes,” he said.

Environmentalists approve Liberal move on forest tenure

Mar 13 2013/in News Coverage

Environmentalists are breathing a sigh of relief now that the BC government has backed off making changes to forestry licences.

Ken Wu with the ancient forest alliance says part of Bill 8 would have seen the logging rights to vast sections of public land granted to private companies.

“So it would have made it harder to establish new protected areas, to protect scenery and tourism opportunities. It would have made it more lengthy and difficult and complex to settle First Nations treaties, and it would have also taken away a lot of lands that communities would have wanted for community forestry.”

Wu says this proves the environmental movement is in fact a big player in BC politics — seeing as the Liberal government backed down with only days to go in the current session.

Logs to be processed are pictured at Interfor's Acorn Division mill in Delta

Tourism in the Discovery Islands feels the force of logging

Mar 13 2013/in News Coverage

Images of narrow sea channels backed by towering, thickly forested mountains have long been featured in government ads promoting tourism under the slogan: Super, Natural British Columbia.

While the government maintains that branding is being protected through careful forest management, ecotourism businesses in the Discovery Islands say a prime part of the pristine landscape on which Beautiful B.C.’s image rests is rapidly being ruined by logging.
“It’s heart-wrenching,” Ralph Keller, a spokesman for the Discovery Islands Marine Tourism Group, said Tuesday. “The Discovery Islands are probably the most geographically spectacular islands in the world … [but] in some places we have gone from beautifully forested shorelines to industrial logging … these channels have just been nuked.”

Forests Minister Steve Thomson was not immediately available for comment, but he said in an e-mail his government values the economic contributions of both tourism and forestry. He said the government, through its entity BC Timber Sales, has been trying to minimize the impact of logging on ecotourism by avoiding clearcut harvesting and doing more selective cutting.

“BC Timber Sales has been working closely with the local tourism operators and to ensure there is limited visual impact from the water of their proposed cutblocks,” he said. “BC Timber Sales has also agreed not to log during the summer kayak season.”

Mr. Keller, however, notes that the Discovery Islands, an archipelago north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island’s east coast, are the second most popular marine tourism destination in the province. Only the Tofino-Long Beach area on the west coast of Vancouver Island draws more visitors. He said the Discovery Islands support 120 tourism businesses, including lodges, resorts and nature tour operations, employing 1,200 people and generating $45-million in revenue annually.

Despite that, he said, the government is managing the area primarily for its logging values – and that is starting to hurt ecotourism.

“The Internet is great for getting your message out to the world,” he said. “But at the same time, when our clients see these logged areas they can post negative reviews just as quickly. You get TripAdvisor sending out bulletins that the place has been worked over, or it’s overrated as wilderness, and that really hurts you.”

Mr. Keller said the government had been protecting “view corridors” until 2003, when “they rewrote the rules” and relaxed controls over coastal logging, allowing it to take place in key wilderness tourism zones. “We had higher visual quality objectives 10 years ago,” he said. “The government reduced them because the forest companies were having a hard time [finding timber]. So they started approving logging along the shorelines and now there are cuts all over the place.”

He said when members of the Discovery Islands Marine Tourism Group complained to the government, they were told to take their concerns directly to the logging companies, several of which operate in the area. “But when you go to the licensees, their opening comment is ‘this cut block has been approved’ [by the government]. The licensees aren’t interested in talking to us … they just want to go about the business of logging.”

Mr. Keller said logging should be stopped until stakeholders have worked out a land use plan for the Discovery Islands.

NDP tourism critic Spencer Herbert said the government is damaging tourism and putting B.C.’s brand at risk. “We’re Super, Natural British Columbia,” he said. “One of our main marketing values has always been the wilderness, the unspoiled outdoors, and that’s something we have to protect.”

Mr. Herbert said wilderness tourism and logging can co-exist, but the government has to facilitate a dialogue between the parties to find solutions. “You don’t kill off one business to support another,” he said.

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