Logging underway in Vancouver Island鈥檚 Nahmint Valley threatens one of the last prime spots of B.C. old-growth habitat and points to the NDP government鈥檚 failure to honour its election promise, says an Island-based conservation group.
Ancient Forest Alliance led a media tour last week to examine a freshly felled Douglas fir estimated to be 800 years old.
鈥淭his is a monumental screwup,鈥� said Ken Wu, alliance executive director. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e just cut down the ninth largest Douglas fir.鈥�
Group researchers identified the living tree earlier this month as chainsaws buzzed with logging activity on surrounding mountainsides. They assumed the big fir was protected and were astonished to find it felled a couple of weeks later.
Wu said their concerns relate not only to the felled fir but to the area as a whole. Nahmint Valley, 40 km west of Port Alberni, is known as an all-too-rare 鈥渉ot spot鈥� of old-growth in the province.
He holds the NDP government directly responsible because the logging is administered by its own agency, B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS). BCTS has auctioned cut blocks that overlap areas of ancient old growth, the group contends. Extensive logging in the area began this spring.
Mike Stini, a Port Alberni conservationist, said he spoke with the mill owner responsible for the cut block and was told the contractor was specifically told not to fall the big Douglas fir in question.
鈥淭here are so few of the giant firs left,鈥� Stini said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to do something.鈥�
Giant firs and cedar are the crux of Nahmint habitat critical to species such as Roosevelt elk, marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. The picturesque valley is also a popular destination for recreationalists. Wu compared the felling of the fir to the slaughter of endangered elephants or the last of a species.
鈥淚t really is like blowing away the last remaining black rhinos,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he crazy thing is, most of the region is second growth.鈥�
The Nahmint Valley is largely virgin forest yet there is plenty of second- and even third-generation forest available for harvest, he noted. In comparison, highly productive old-growth represents less than 10 percent of Island forests.
Not far from the site of the downed fir stands another that has been labelled the 鈥淎lberni Giant,鈥� an even larger Douglas fir believed to be 800-900 years old. That tree remains protected in a zone designated for ungulate winter range. Other old growth is not similarly protected.
鈥淭his is not isolated,鈥� said TJ Watt, a photographer who uses satellite imagery and provincial mapping to identify surviving old-growth trees. His work led him to the Douglas fir and others in the Nahmint.
鈥淚t鈥檚 happening all over the Island all of the time,鈥� Watt said. 鈥淥ld-growth logging is not a thing of the past.鈥�
Trees several hundred years old, larger than those in Cathedral Grove, are still coming down in the face of the B.C. government鈥檚 new 鈥渂ig tree policy鈥� established in January, the group said. They were told by regional staff of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations that the Nahmint cut blocks were laid out five years ago.
Forest Alliance posted photos of the felled tree on Facebook last week, triggering widespread condemnation unlike any the decade-old lobby group has seen.
鈥淲hat has changed is not government policy,鈥� Wu said. 鈥淭he NDP government has exactly the same policy as the Liberal government. The change is in the moment because there are so many log exports and because there are second-growth alternatives. Businesses and people in general realize that we shouldn鈥檛 be logging the last of the remaining old growth forest. We can have all the jobs and keep all the old growth, too.鈥�
They鈥檝e met with Forests Minister Doug Donaldson on the issue and want to take the old-growth issue straight to Premier John Horgan since cutting contradicts the NDP pledge to adhere to an ancient growth model.
鈥淲e have raised the issue that the Nahmint really is a hot spot area and that they have to instruct B.C. Timber to stop auctioning old-growth cut blocks,鈥� Wu said. 鈥淐ertainly don鈥檛 place cut blocks in old-growth stands where logging is allowed. They don鈥檛 mandate a buffer zone and as a result they鈥檙e still logging 12-foot cedars.
鈥淗opefully there is some movement on the government鈥檚 part to change from the status quo,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 take for granted the support of the environmental movement.鈥�
A call to MLA Scott Fraser鈥檚 office was referred to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, which hadn鈥檛 responded by press time.
- Mike Youds/Special to Black Press
