Five volunteers with the Ancient Forest Alliance at the first viewing platform they built by Canada’s Gnarliest Tree in the Upper Grove of Avatar Grover in Port Renfrew. There is still more work to be done there but they’re off to a good start.
New maps of the remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland highlight the large-scale ecological crisis underway in B.C.’s woods.
The ecological footprint from logging millions of hectares of B.C.’s grandest ancient forests — an area bigger than many European nations — is at least on par with any pipeline or fossil-fuel megaproject.
New maps of B.C.’s forests put together by conservation groups using provincial government data show 74 per cent of productive old-growth forests has been logged and much of the remaining old growth is made up of small, stunted trees. On the valley bottoms, where the largest old-growth trees grow, 91 per cent has been logged, leaving only nine per cent of the classic old forest with iconic trees, the maps show.
With a provincial election tomorrow, the Ancient Forest Alliance is summarizing the position of BC’s main political parties for its supporters.
No. 4: Bring in legislation to make it illegal to cut any more giant, old-growth trees. The Ancient Forest Alliance alerted the public to plans to log the Avatar Grove, near Port Renfrew, saving it just in time. But the group is now warning the last of B.C.’s ancient trees will soon be lost unless something is done.
“In many ecosystems of B.C., old-growth forest is incredibly scarce — 91 per cent of valley bottom ancient forest growth on the southern coast has been logged of the classic monumental trees. Are you willing to commit to fully ending old-growth logging in any regions or ecosystems of B.C.?”
New maps of BC’s southern coast highlight the ecological crisis in BC’s forests due to old-growth logging. The most conservative figures from the preliminary analysis of Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland reveal that at least 74% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including at least 91% of the biggest, best old-growth stands.
The volume of raw logs exported from B.C. more than tripled between 2002 and 2012, prompting forestry workers to join with the Ancient Forest Alliance to push for more stringent log-export restrictions. During the last decade, 30,000 forest workers lost their jobs and more than 70 mills shut down, said Arnold Bercov, Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada forestry officer.
The Ancient Forest Alliance would like to thank LUSH Handmade Cosmetics for the contribution made through their "Charity Pot" grant program. This great support helps us push forward our major provincial campaign to protect endangered old-growth forests and ensure sustainable second-growth forestry in BC. The Charity Pot program works to fund a diversity of grassroots organizations including ones such as Sea Shepherd.
The following is a graph from Statistics Canada showing the steep decline in forestry employment levels in British Columbia that took place most dramatically during the reign of the BC Liberal Party from 2001 until 2013 (2011 is the last year shown in this graph).
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