Exposed

Caycuse Before & After Old-Growth Logging

This is not a series I ever hoped to complete but the following are before and after images of giant ancient cedars cut in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory on southern Vancouver Island. Earlier this month I revisited a magnificent grove that I had explored and photographed earlier this year, only this time it was the stumps of those same trees that would be my focus. Gone were the vibrant flourishes of red, green, and gold. Instead, a bleak, grey landscape lay before, utterly unrecognizable from what I remembered. Heart wrenching as they are, I hope these images stand as stark example of what is still happening everyday across BC everyday and what needs to end now.

We need everyone to SPEAK UP!! Contact Premier John Horgan and demand that the BC NDP show they're serious about saving old-growth by immediately halting logging in the most endangered forests and allocating funding in Budget 2021 for Indigenous protected areas and economic alternatives to old-growth logging.

• Email John Horgan here: premier@gov.bc.ca or here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message
• Phone him at: 250-387-1715

CBC News: Conservationists demand fast action from B.C.'s new forestry minister on protection for old-growth trees
The Guardian: Photography campaign shows the grim aftermath of logging in Canada's fragile forests
The Narwhal: In photos: see old-growth go from stand to stump on B.C.’s Vancouver Island
Outside Magazine: Forest Selfies Are Helping Save BC’s Old-Growth Trees
Treehugger: Photos Raise Alarm Over Old-Growth Logging in British Columbia

Loup Creek: Exploring for Ancient Giants

In March, I identified a spectacular grove of unprotected ancient giants along Loup Creek near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory. This region was heavily logged in the 1970s and 80s, save for a strip of old-growth along the river. Most of the old-growth that remains today along Loup Creek is protected within an Old Growth Management Area and a Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) for marbled murrelets. But a prime section (pictured below) containing dozens and dozens of ancient redcedars, giant amabalis fir, and Douglas-fir trees was left unprotected. While bushwhacking, we also spotted ribbons marked "Falling Boundary" and "Road Location", indicating potential future logging plans by Teal-Jones.

The BC government is currently working to expand WHAs for marbled murrelets. We've recommended to the Ministry of Forests that this grove should be added to the adjacent WHA, ensuring a contiguous stretch of old-growth is protected along the river, but we don't know whether they will listen.

Tell BC Forests Minister Doug Donaldson to enact both immediate and longer-term, science-based solutions for ancient forests by: 1) Emailing him at: FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca. 2) Tagging him on Twitter using @DonaldsonDoug 3) Phoning his office at: 250-387-6240

BC Grandest Old-Growth Forests Being Clearcut in Caycuse Watershed

In mid-April, I documented the logging of massive trees by Teal-Jones along in the Caycuse watershed on Vancouver Island. Over 70 hectares of old-growth located along Haddon Creek in Ditidaht Territory, including monumental redcedars over 11 feet in diameter, are being cut down. Some of these were places that I had previously visited while they were still standing. On one stump I counted 800 rings before giving up. Some trees here were likely over a thousand years old.

Without question, this is (or was) one of the grandest forests on the South Island, rivalling the renowned Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew or the Walbran Valley, which lies a short distance to the south. In 2020, it's completely unethical to be logging globally rare ancient forests such as these and converting them to ecologically inferior tree plantations.

Read our press release for more details and PLEASE SPEAK UP! Contact your local MLA to express your concerns using this handy look up tool here: https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members You can also send an instant message to a number of BC politicians here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message

News coverage: Conservation group cries foul over logging old-growth forest in Caycuse River watershed

Surveying recent old-growth clearcutting. The massive tree behind me is next in line to be logged.

Exposed: New Old-Growth Logging on Edinburgh Mt. Near Port Renfrew

Below are images featuring recent old-growth logging on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew. It took a 17km round-trip hike up the steepest roads I've encountered on the island to access the area, which is on the mountainside above Big Lonely Doug. What we found were two old-growth clearcuts, totaling 34 hectares (almost 40 football fields) in size. Dozens of old-growth western redcedars - some of them 8 feet in diameter -, yellow cedar, western and mountain hemlocks, and very rare, old Douglas-firs (between 500 to 1000 years in age) have been logged. How much further will the BC government allow this industry to go? Plans for four new old-growth clearcuts, one approved and three pending approval, and an expanded road network are also underway. It would seem that no place is currently deemed too rare or important in the destructive race to log the island's last endangered old-growth forests before we have a chance to see them saved. Ecosystems that have taken millennia to form, erased in a blink of an eye, never to be seen again.

A giant old-growth western redcedar log in a Teal-Jones clearcut on Edinburgh Mt. near Port Renfrew - TFL 46.

Standing among three ancient cedar trees on the edge of new logging operations by Teal-Jones. Edinburgh Mountain is one of the largest contiguous tracts of largely unprotected old-growth forest left on southern Vancouver Island, along with the nearby contentious Central Walbran Valley. It is within the traditional territory of the Pacheedaht First Nation band.

Exposed: Big Trees & Big Stumps - Camper Creek Headwaters

In early summer of this year I went for a drive up to the headwaters of Camper Creek in the hills behind Port Renfrew. The road (GR 2000) ended at a deep ditch and a big rock wall but up to the left were signs of recent old-growth logging by Teal-Jones. The cutblock didn't appear like much from the road but upon further inspection it revealed its sad truth. Giant redcedar stumps, some up to 12ft wide, littered the clearcut while slash debris choked the landscape and former creeks. It can be hard to imagine what a forest like this would have looked like just prior to it being logged but a short hike into the neighbouring woods painted a clear picture of the incredible natural beauty and sensitive ecosystem that was lost. Despite current maps and stats that clearly show old-growth forests are highly endangered, the BC Liberal government continues approve cutblocks in forests like these across Vancouver Island and southern BC. And though one can argue that trees will come back, the ensuing second-growth tree plantations (which are typically re-logged every 30-70 years) do not adequately replicate the highly complex and diverse old-growth forests which are lost. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Exposed: Logging in the Walbran Valley - Vancouver Island

I've been a little absent from posting on here over the last while but I've been out in the field shooting a lot and gathering new work. I'll be playing catch up over the next few weeks, sharing with you images of the large-scale old-growth logging that still continues here on Vancouver Island. About 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have already been logged on BC’s southern coast, including over 90% of the valley-bottom ancient forests where the largest trees grow - we have very little time left to save what remains. By continuing to capture and share these photos and maps, I hope to put a tangible face to these remote but incredible valleys and groves. Today's post features old-growth logging by Western Forest Products up road W730 in the Walbran Valley.