News Coverage

To the Nanoose First Nation, District Lot No. 33 is a prime piece of forest in the middle of its traditional territory, rich with towering old-growth Douglas firs over which the band holds legal timber harvesting rights.

To neighbours, environmentalists and municipal officials throughout the region, DL 33 is a pristine example of the endangered coastal Douglas fir ecosystem found only in B.C.’s Georgia Basin and Washington State’s San Juan Islands.

“I was absolutely shocked to find out our provincial government, which says it wants to protect these rare ecosystems, would hand over this area for harvesting,” said Helga Schmitt, whose home borders the 65-hectare parcel of Crown forest land in the hills above Nanoose Bay. “It’s the headwaters of Nanoose Creek and the watershed for the whole area. It’s quite a significant and special piece of land.”

When surveying ribbons began appearing on the property last fall, Ms. Schmitt made some inquiries and learned that the province issued a timber harvesting licence in November.

The timber licence, part of an “interim measures” agreement reached during treaty negotiations in 2008, allows the band to harvest up to 15,000 cubic metres of wood from the site over the next five years.

Staff with the public affairs bureau confirmed this week that the band has applied for a cutting permit but said there are “no immediate plans for logging.”

“The cutting permit must be approved before logging can proceed,” said Ministry of Forests communications officer Cheekwan Ho.

However, the mere prospect of a forest licence has generated plenty of concern among government officials in the region.

In January, the Town of Qualicum Beach passed a resolution calling for DL 33 to be protected from logging. The Regional District of Nanaimo followed suit with a similar declaration in February.

And in early April, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities, which includes 51 B.C. municipalities, passed an emergency resolution demanding “proper public consultation” before the start of logging.

“We want due process served, but also given the sensitivity of the land … I think it’s fairly well implied we want it protected,” said association vice-chair Barry Avis, a Qualicum councillor. “I personally feel very strongly about that. There’s so little of this land left.”

Nanoose First Nation staff said Thursday Chief David Bob is not commenting on the band’s logging plans and directed all inquiries to chief administrator Brent Edwards. Mr. Edwards did not respond to several requests for comment left on his voice mail this week.

Ms. Schmitt described DL 33 as a large elevated basin, a spongy, boggy wetland full of swamps and ponds. “You’d pretty much have to destroy the wetland to get in there with logging equipment,” she said.

A Ministry of Forests report from 2006 identifies the “coastal Douglas fir moist maritime subzone” as one of the four most endangered ecosystems in Canada.

The ministry’s integrated land management branch is reviewing a proposal to protect about 1,600 hectares of coastal Douglas fir habitat on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. However, ministry staff were unable to confirm what, if any, impact those discussions will have on the Nanoose Bay land.

Ken Wu, executive director of the Victoria-based Ancient Forest Alliance, said his group supports the principle that native bands have a right to harvest timber in their traditional territory, “just not in places with endangered eco-systems.”

Ms. Schmitt said the province “put the band in an awkward position” by offering it such an eco-sensitive piece of land to harvest.

“First nations deserve to be compensated for their land,” she said, “but this is sort of like asking them to kill something they’ve always held in high regard.”

Special to The Globe and Mail

I recently visited Avatar Grove, a spectacular area of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew. This area is not only devastatingly beautiful but also provides important wildlife habitat and is prime location for eco-tourism.

But the area has recently been flagged for logging and while specific logging plans are unknown, the threat is a real one, just as it is for most of the remaining old-growth of Vancouver Island and B.C.’s south coast.

When will the B.C. government support our future and that of our wilderness, rather than pushing stubbornly forward with short-term corporate profit?

Logging Avatar Grove would be senseless — the immediate destruction of an ecosystem that has been forming for hundreds of years. We can’t let this happen. We need a strategy to protect our endangered old-growth forests and ensure sustainable logging of second growth, as well as a ban on raw log exports to support sustainable forestry jobs.

Many people stand behind Avatar Grove, supporting its protection not only in its own right but as a symbol of other such areas that are currently threatened. With enough public support, we can ensure that Avatar Grove and other endangered old-growth forests remain standing.

Hannah Carpendale

Vancouver

You don’t have to drive hours out of Victoria to find old-growth trees or, for that matter, politicians who are hanging onto their seats by a thread.

Environmental activist Ken Wu, of the Ancient Forest Alliance, led media representatives into Mount Douglas Park on Friday to see a 400-year-old Douglas fir measuring two metres in diameter.

The tree is located in the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where Liberal Ida Chong edged out the NDP candidate in last year’s election.

Environmental activist Wu chose this particular Douglas fir in this particular swing riding to launch a new campaign to save old-growth forests in B.C. The Ancient Forest Alliance is not a charity and therefore is permitted to condemn or endorse politicians and political parties.

“Whoever would think that we have an old-growth forest in the heart of urban Victoria and in the swing riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head?” said Wu.

The group is calling on the Liberal government to protect remaining old-growth forest, ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forest, ban raw log exports, and assist in retooling of old-growth sawmills for value-added wood manufacturing.

The dozen or so swing ridings in B.C. are the focus of the group’s campaign, he said. “All it would take would be a shift of seven or eight ridings in the province to cause this government to lose power,” Wu said. “What we’re doing today is taking the ancient forest movement to a whole new level.”

Without the neutral approach required by charities, he said, “we can go straight now to their sensitive areas … so they’ll either have to change their policies or lose the election.”

The organization will focus on public education and will not break the law in order to get its point across, Wu said.

As one of the 80 hikers who visited Avatar Grove on March 28 with the Ancient Forest Alliance, I find it somewhat ironic that the Vancouver Olympics showcased the natural beauty of B.C.’s old-growth forests.

Majestic cedar trees, salmon and orca whales were all images seen in the Opening Ceremonies. How is it that we can value and promote these wonderful aspects of our province to the entire world, while at the same time allowing the fast-paced destruction of our natural ecosystems?

The logging of old-growth forests continues every day at unprecedented rates. We must make a transition into sustainable second-growth logging, ban raw log exports and re-tool B.C. mills to provide and ensure forestry jobs in perpetuity.

Ending old-growth logging and forestry jobs can co-exist in B.C. Old-growth forests, such as the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island (part of Teal Jones’ TFL 46), are not only a part of our heritage in B.C., but they also provide habitat for animals of all shapes and sizes: bacteria, fungi, insects, amphibians, fish, birds, and land and ocean mammals. These forests provide carbon storage, are important to First Nations cultures and are evidently fundamental for B.C.’s tourism industry (as witnessed in the promotional imagery of the Olympics). Let’s end old-growth logging for the well-being of all British Columbians.