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Ken James of the Youbou TimberLess Society (YTS)

Tree-Huggers and Tree-Cutters Celebrate 10 Year Alliance

Jan 13 2011/in Media Release

Activists commemorate formation of “Tree-Huggers and Tree-Cutters Alliance” on 10 year anniversary of Youbou sawmill’s closure on Vancouver Island

The closure of the Youbou sawmill on Vancouver Island 10 years ago and the resulting formation of the historically important environmentalist and forestry workers alliance, the “Tree-Huggers and Tree-Cutters Alliance” are being commemorated by activists next week. The Youbou TimberLess Society (YTS) will be hosting a film screening of their documentary videos “Stump to Dump”, and “Log Exports” produced by Lake Cowichan Secondary students, at the Duncan United Church Hall on Jan 20^th at 7pm. A discussion with YTS members and Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance will follow.

“The closure of the Youbou sawmill in 2001 because TimberWest wanted to export raw logs instead of processing them in the community set the stage for a historically important alliance between the workers and environmentalists, who both opposed the mill’s closure and the export of raw logs to foreign mills,” states Ken James, President of the Youbou TimberLess Society. “Who knew it would have set the stage for a much larger cooperation between environmentalists and forestry workers?”

“Ken James, Roger Wiles, Darreld Rayner, and the whole Youbou TimberLess Society crew are seriously historically important figures for the betterment of this province,” states Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director. “Prior to them coming on board, environmentalists and forestry workers were typically pitted against each other, often in extreme conflicts, while the forest companies went laughing to the bank with profits from liquidating our endangered ancient forests and eliminating BC milling jobs.”

On January 26, 2001, TimberWest closed its Youbou sawmill on the shores of Lake Cowichan, throwing 220 workers into unemployment. The company claimed the mill was unprofitable, a claim contested by many, and upon its closure subsequently continued to log at breakneck speeds while exporting the unprocessed logs to US and Asian sawmills. TimberWest is the largest exporter of raw logs from BC.

A few months before the mill’s closure, sawmill worker Ken James and environmentalist Ken Wu (at the time the executive director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee’s- WCWC- Victoria chapter, now with the Ancient Forest Alliance) were invited to speak together at a forum at the BC Government Employees Union building in downtown Victoria to an audience of a hundred forestry workers and environmentalists. The two groups found much in common in their perspectives to end raw log exports and to ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry. Subsequently the two groups started to attend and speak at each other’s rallies and events.

The cooperation between the Youbou TimberLess Society and the Victoria WCWC paved the way for further cooperation between environmentalists and the Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC) union in Nanaimo and Crofton on Vancouver Island, led by Arnie Bercov, and forestry workers with the Save Our Valley Alliance (SOVA) in Port Alberni. Environmentalists also started to work on specific projects and speak at events with the United Steelworkers (USW) union, BC’s main logging union, which took over the International Woodworkers of America – IWA union around the same time, and with the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) union against increasing raw log exports and the deregulation of the forest industry through the so-called “Forestry Revitalization Act” in 2004.

“The cooperation between environmentalists and forestry workers that we pioneered has dismantled much of the ‘jobs versus the environment’ framing of BC’s forestry debate” states Ken James.

“Today, the vast majority of people support saving jobs and the environment by protecting our last old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, ensuring sustainable second-growth forestry, and ending the export of raw logs to foreign mills. The only problem is the BC government still doesn’t get it. But they will have to, not long from now,” states Ken Wu.

2 MOST IMPORTANT LETTERS to WRITE for ANCIENT FORESTS

Jan 13 2011/in Take Action

***FIRST LETTER to WRITE***

First Rate Opportunity with leaderless BC Liberal and BC NDP parties –
WRITE your MLA!

Right now, the ruling BC Liberal Party and the opposition BC New
Democratic Party are holding leadership contests after each of their
party leaders resigned a few months ago. This rare and unusual
situation presents a first rate opportunity to push both parties to
commit to new, strong policies to protect BC’s endangered old-growth
forests and forestry jobs.

The BC Liberals currently contend that BC’s old-growth forests are not
endangered and raw log exports should continue, while the NDP is
calling for a provincial old-growth strategy (how much protection this
would entail they have not specified yet) and increased restrictions
on raw log exports. The Green Party is calling for a phase-out of
old-growth logging and to ban raw log exports.

Of all times, your BC Liberal or NDP provincial MLA (Member of the
Legislative Assembly) representative in your political riding needs to
hear from YOU, loud and clear, that you expect them to:

– Commit their party to new forest policies to end logging of
endangered old-growth forests. Old-growth forests are important for
sustaining endangered species, the climate, tourism, recreation, water
quality, and First Nations cultures.
– Ensure sustainable second-growth forestry. Second-growth stands now
constitute most of the forested lands in southern BC.
– End raw log exports to foreign mills in order to sustain BC forestry jobs.

Be sure to include your home mailing address so they know you are a
real person and that you live in their riding.

You can find your MLA’s email address by going to:
Link no longer available

Good News: John Horgan, an NDP leadership candidate who has been an
outspoken advocate for protecting the Avatar Grove (see
https://www.johnhorgan.ca/files/images/John_Horgan_October_2010_E-Newsletter.pdf – article no longer available
), led the charge this week among contending NDP leadership hopefuls
for a stronger environmental direction on forestry (please let him
know if you support this at john.horgan.mla@leg.bc.ca). The Public Eye
Online (Jan.11) stated that at his campaign launch:

“Mr. Horgan took a strong anti-corporate line while articulating his
commitment to preserve old growth forests. ‘Our commitment, as New
Democrats, is to use our second growth forests to create jobs here, in
our communities, not offshore. Old growth forests will be the bedrock
of our tourism industry. Second growth forests will be the bedrock of
a value-added forest industry that creates jobs here in British
Columbia for British Columbians in the public interest – not in the
interest of shareholders in Toronto or Bermuda but people right here.’”

Lets push ALL NDP and Liberal MLA’s and candidates to take a strong
stance to save BC’s endangered ancient forests and forestry jobs!

***SECOND LETTER to WRITE***

Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound threatened by logging!

Flores Island, perhaps the most beautiful place in Canada and the
largest island in Clayoquot Sound by Tofino, is at risk of being
logged.

See our SPECTACULAR PHOTOGALLERY of Flores Island by AFA photographer
TJ Watt at: https://ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/

Flores Island is one of the largest contiguous tracts of old-growth
rainforest left on BC’s southern coast and is certainly among Earth’s
most stunningly scenic places. The largely unlogged island is home to
large populations of cougars, wolves, bears, and deer in its ancient
forests and gray whales, humpback whales, porpoises, orcas, sea
otters, and sea lions in its marine waters.

Spectacular old-growth redcedar and Sitka spruce stands have been
recently surveyed and flagged for logging on eastern Flores Island,
which has some of the densest stands of giant trees in the world, and
landing pads for heli-logging have been carved into the forest.
Logging could begin as soon as early 2011.

Please take action and write a letter to the BC Liberal government.
For full details, visit the Friends of Clayoquot Sound webpage.

Example of spectacular temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island contrasted with nearby logging of old-growth forest.

Poor BC Logging Practices "add to gas emissions"

Jan 13 2011/in News Coverage

Massive emissions of greenhouse gases are coming from BC’s coastal forests because of poor logging practices and inadequate management, according to a new report by environmentalists.

The carbon from coastal rainforests, much of which comes from Vancouver Island, is not counted in BC’s official emissions tally as, at the international level, Canada and the provinces decided against including forests.

If they were included, emissions numbers for BC would increase by 24 per cent, said Jens Wieting, coastal forests campaigner for Sierra Club BC and author of the group’s report, “Restoring the Balance for Climate and Species.”

“These emissions are not caused by the mountain pine beetle or large fires, as in other parts of BC. They are mainly produced by inadequate logging practices and insufficient management, and it’s time for that to change,” Wieting said.

Coastal rainforests have the ability to store massive amounts of carbon, which should make them a key asset in the fight against global warming, he said.

“We are throwing away a tremendous opportunity and our best defence against climate change.”

Clearcutting in old-growth forests, that have accumulated carbon for thousands of years, is pushing species to extinction, Wieting said.

Vancouver Island has the most forest ecosystems at a very high risk for species extinction and the lowest level of overall protection — only 13.2 per cent — he said.

Making matters worse, about 45 per cent of the 42,000 hectares of new Vancouver Island Old Growth Management Areas, although a step in the right direction, consists of poor- productivity ecosystems, Wieting said.

“Vancouver Island belongs in the ICU [intensive care unit]. It is in the worst shape with the risk of species extinction and protection of productive ecosystems,” he said.

New areas off-limits to logging are not chosen on the basis of ecosystems with the highest risk for species extinction and only six per cent would meet the high productivity criteria, the report says.

Climatologist Andrew Weaver, University of Victoria Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis, said the report underlines the need to think about the bigger picture when it comes to forest plans.

“The Sierra Club is absolutely spot-on that forests are a huge potential source and potential sink of carbon and it’s a lot better to use them as a sink rather than turning them into a source,” he said.

Weaver said he does not know whether it is feasible for carbon emissions from forests to be included in Canada’s reports to the international community on greenhouse gas emissions, a recommendation of the report. “But what matters is not the UN bookkeeping perspective, it’s the climate care perspective. … The atmosphere doesn’t really care how you account for carbon, it cares about what goes up,” he said.

Other recommendations in the report include shaping forest policy around using forests as carbon sinks. To do that there must be increased conservation, improved forest management and measures to reduce the risks of fire and pests, it says.

NOW HIRING: Forest Campaigner

Mar 3 2026

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is hiring a passionate Forest Campaigner to join our team and help protect old-growth forests in BC!

Employment

It’s AFA’s 16th Birthday!

Feb 26 2026

On Tuesday, February 24th, we’re celebrating 16 years of working together with you, our community, to ensure the permanent protection of old-growth forests in BC. To mark the date, will you chip in $16 or more to support our work?

Announcements

Budget 2026 Shortchanges Nature Protection and Sustainable Forestry Transition At a Critical Time for British Columbia

Feb 20 2026

BC’s Budget 2026 fails to provide the funding needed to secure lasting protection for endangered ecosystems and at-risk old-growth forests in the province.

Media Release