A new plan plotting the course of the logging industry on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast over the next five years has placed a treasured forest, home to some of Canada’s oldest trees and an unofficial bear sanctuary, on the chopping block. The logging plan for the Elphinstone area, released by BC Timber Sales in late March, includes an abnormally high number of cutblocks for auction for the planning period, according to local conservation group Elphinstone Logging Focus. “We haven’t seen this many blocks in a five-year period before,” said Ross Muirhead, a forest campaigner with Elphinstone Logging Focus, which counted an unprecedented 29 blocks slated for clearcut logging from 2020 to 2024.  Because of the area’s sensitivity, BC Timber Sales has usually limited logging to about one block a year. Muirhead is calling on the B.C. government to cancel 63 hectares of cutblocks …where he believes Canada’s oldest tree may be located.

Greg Hemphill

City of Powell River Council has approved $957,530.50 to be withdrawn from the Powell River Community Forest reserve fund to be distributed to 18 different projects. …For the spring 2020 allocation, community forest president Greg Hemphill appeared without the grant recipients in the era of social distancing. He said with the larger dividends of the past few years, the community forest has planned separate spring and fall allocations. He added that normally, community forest announces spring grants and disburses the majority of funds then, but with the uncertainty going forward, the community forest board’s feeling is that it will make the majority of funds available in the fall.  “Directors would normally be the first ones to say, ‘let’s get this money in the community, let’s get it working,’ but, with COVID-19, there is a level of uncertainty on what restrictions there will be and how that will affect different projects,” said Hemphill.

Fort St John council will get an update Monday on how the city plans to spend $100,000 this year counting trees and figuring out where to plant more. Council has already approved the spending in the 2020 capital budget, part of a broader urban forest strategy to grow and manage the city’s tree canopy. According to the draft strategy going before council June 8, trees cover just 12% of the city, or about 295 hectares, and much of that is in undeveloped areas. “An average canopy cover of 12.3% is relatively low compared to other municipalities in BC,” states the report, drafted by Urban Systems. “The undeveloped industrial, commercial, and residential lands are acting as urban forest ‘holding’ areas and are subject to new development that could significantly reduce the urban forest canopy. Measures such as tree protection bylaws and tree planting requirements can mitigate urban forest loss.”

Gina Thomas

…Gina Thomas is from Tlowitsis First Nation. In her culture — like in many coastal First Nations throughout British Columbia — western red cedar is known as “the tree of life.” For thousands of years it’s been used to make homes, clothing, canoes, masks, poles, and much more. But here, in northeastern Vancouver Island, the tree of life is dying. Leaves are turning brown. Saplings aren’t making it past their first years. Alarm within leadership has prompted local First Nations to create new policies to protect cedar for future generations. The plight of cedar is a concern among scientists too. Research is underway to confirm what community members are seeing: western red cedar is not getting enough water during the summer growing season. “Last summer, there was not enough rain, and now you’re seeing the effects,” Thomas said. Eighty per cent of the island’s old-growth forest has already been logged.