Old-growth Douglas-fir trees on Cortes Island.
Dec 18 2012

Province forsaken its role on Cortes

A big issue in the Cortes dispute is the extent to which our government regulates activity on private land. The private foresters claim they are governed by more than 30 acts and regulations. However, the environmentalists say companies like Timberlands are allowed to apply a model of “professional reliance” which means that there is little meaningful regulatory oversight. It’s a pity the current administration has all but forsaken its role as steward and peacekeeper in the woods. A measure of leadership would go a long way right about now.

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Dec 18 2012

OUR VIEW: Provincial oversight missing in Cortes logging dispute

The current impasse over logging on private land on Cortes Island is unique by B.C. standards. In a province where wars in the woods have often been bitterly waged, the Cortes standoff stands apart. Cortes environmentalists and Island Timberlands have been debating the company’s logging plans for about four years without coming to serious blows. The islanders are not trying to ban logging altogether, they are asking for Timberlands to adopt an ecosystem-based, selective logging harvesting plan that spares old growth.

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Ancient Forest Alliance
Dec 15 2012

Global TV News – Echo Lake & Bald Eagles

Echo Lake is a spectacular, unprotected, lowland ancient forest near Agassiz, BC on the east side of the Lower Fraser Valley. It is in the unceded territory of the Sts'ailes First Nations band (formerly the Chehalis Indian Band). The area is home to perhaps the largest concentration of bald eagles on Earth, where thousands of eagles come each fall to eat spawning salmon in the Harrison and Chehalis Rivers and hundreds roost in the old-growth trees at night around Echo Lake.

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Giant Douglas-fir trees tower between boulders on Island Timberlands' private lands at Stillwater Bluffs near Powel River
Dec 14 2012

China Investment Corporation Eyes BC Forests, Spells FIPA Danger

The China Investment Corporation (ICI), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, is set to become a powerful landowner in British Columbia if a $100 million deal with Island Timberlands, the second-largest owner of private forests in the province, goes through.

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Flagging tape marked "Falling Boundary" in a threatened area of mature forest of Cortes Island.
Dec 14 2012

Chinese seek stake in BC forestry company as FIPA decision looms

Potential impacts of a  $100 million dollar deal between China Investment Corporation (CIC) and Brookfield Asset Management Inc, the majority shareholder in Island Timberlands (IT), have made headlines internationally and alarmed activists in British Columbia. The story was first reported in early November by the Wall Street Journal.

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Ancient Forest Alliance
Dec 11 2012

Big Trees of Vancouver featured in major Chinese-language newspaper.

Here are a series of articles in the Sing Tao Daily News, a major Chinese-language newspaper in Vancouver, about the biggest trees of Vancouver that also features the Ancient Forest Alliance and our campaign to protect them!

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Dec 10 2012

Political leadership needed to resolve Cortes Island’s "War in the Woods"

Conservationists renew call for BC Liberals to commit to restoring and expanding a “BC Park Acquisition Fund” to purchase and protect endangered forests on private lands.

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Some youngsters joined the protest against Island Timberlands logging operations on Cortes Island this week.
Dec 9 2012

Loggers leave Cortes … but promise to return

Last week, Cortes environmentalists, residents and supporters repeatedly blocked Island Timberlands’ crews from beginning logging operations near Basil Creek. Zoe Miles, a member of Wildstands, says the community has attempted to work with the company for more than four years to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry. “The community is now left with no choice but to stand in Timberlands’ path to defend these ecologically significant forests.”

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Old-growth Douglas-fir trees in the Squirrel Cove Ancient Forest on Cortes Island.
Dec 7 2012

Tiny Cortes Island girds for battle with China’s huge CIC wealth fund

Residents of an idyllic island off the west coast of Canada are facing off against corporate opponents set to include a Chinese sovereign wealth behemoth, the US$480 billion China Investment Corporation (CIC).

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Dec 7 2012

Cortes Island residents seek compromise with loggers

Cortes Island residents who blockaded roads for a week in a fight to modify logging plans say they are hopeful talks with Island Timberlands can lead to a compromise.

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