Mosaic Forest Management and Vancouver Island University say that a program that offers Indigenous grads with internships is bearing fruit. The program, created in 2019, has its roots from the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the B.C. Assembly of First Nations and the B.C. Business Council, according to a press release, and Hayden Leo, an intern and forester in training, has been one of the beneficiaries of the program, hoping to parlay his experience to work with Lil’wat Forestry Ventures LP, near Mount Currie, B.C. …Jeff Zweig, Mosaic president and CEO, said the program is valuable, as working with Indigenous partners helps “develop the next generation of forest stewards, marrying the latest science and Indigenous knowledge to produce better outcomes.” …Deborah Saucier, university president, said her institution sees this as “a critical piece” of furthering truth and reconciliation and said VIU has paired 58 interns with high-quality internship opportunities.

Earlier this week, a giant tree being trucked on one of Vancouver Island’s major highways went viral when Nanaimo resident Lorna Beecroft snapped a quick pic to share with Facebook friends. If the photo stunned and saddened you, you’re not alone. If it made you curious about the giant trees that may be lurking — alive — in your backyard, you’re in luck. The University of British Columbia faculty of forestry is home to the BC BigTree Registry, which was initiated in the 1980s by Randy Stoltmann, and eventually made its way to UBC in 2010. The registry tracks the largest trees for each native species in B.C. Anyone can nominate a big tree, and some species — including mountain alder, balsam poplar and Sitka willow — are still awaiting their first big tree nomination.

The mayor of Lake Cowichan is worried about growing divisions in the small community, where many are employed in forestry, as the area sees an influx of activists protesting old-growth logging. …Mayor Bob Day said protesters who have been released are being met by large groups of supporters, and they’re gathering in a parking lot close to retail businesses and apartments. Neighbours have complained about noise late into the evening, he said. Day is worried about reports that more activists are heading to the area from other parts of the province to join blockades in the Caycuse watershed in an attempt to block logging. “There’s places to make policy and change policy, and it isn’t out in the forest where people are trying to make a living,” he said. “It isn’t in communities that are accepting of that. Don’t bring the war here, please.” 

…CHEK News has learned the massive log seen in the picture was on its way to a specialty mill near Port Alberni. “We purchased it in Vancouver at a dryland sort over there and then we had the boom of logs towed over in the water,” said Ed Dicks of Acoustic Woods Ltd. Acoustic Woods Limited is a small family-owned sawmill that makes acoustic guitar soundboards and wooden components for musical instruments. The small company has clients around the world. Dicks said he purchased the Sitka spruce as part of package buy without seeing any of the logs beforehand. …He says the log is the bottom part of the tree measuring about seven feet in diameter and is about 25 cubic metres. It will make about 3,000 guitar soundboards. …The Ministry of Forests confirms to CHEK News the tree is a spruce from the North Island, cut between March and mid-August of 2020.

The life and groundbreaking work of a UBC forestry professor is headed for the silver screen. Arrival star Amy Adams is set to portray forest ecology professor Suzanne Simard in an upcoming film co-produced by Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. …“There was a ton of interest and I think it’s because this is a story of the times, losing our old-growth forest, and then climate change. We are at a crisis point and we are making these bone-headed decisions for reasons of the past.” …Simard said she hopes the movie raises people’s awareness of how interconnected forests are, and how necessary old-growth trees are for biodiversity. She believes current clear-cut logging practices and old-growth harvesting are both unsustainable and incompatible with that interconnectivity, something else she’s hoping to communicate to audiences.

Alastair Singh-McCollum

Harry Brechner

Beth Walker

As faith leaders, we have a reverence for nature and an obligation to respond to the climate emergency. We are highly concerned about new research issued by the Wilderness Committee showing that the BC government allowed a 43 per cent increase in the cutting of old-growth trees over the past year. While talking about preservation, the government permitted logging companies to cut even more old-growth! …We need immediate deferrals of logging of endangered old-growth forest, real economic alternatives for First Nations, as well as generous support for logging industry workers and communities transitioning to restorative forestry throughout B.C. No one would advocate destroying cathedrals to get building supplies. Old-growth forests are nature’s cathedrals. Why are we destroying them?

VICTORIA — Hundreds of protesters showed up at the constituency office of B.C. Premier John Horgan on Friday, calling for an end to old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. The demonstration was happening as the RCMP continued to make arrests at logging road blockades in the Fairy Creek and Caycuse watersheds on southern Vancouver Island. By last count on Thursday night, the Mounties had arrested 133 people as part of their enforcement of a B.C. Supreme Court injunction against the protesters… Forestry company Teal Jones…said in a statement Friday that it “respects peaceful protest and welcomes constructive dialogue” about logging in the region. “Our work in Tree Farm License 46 is important and responsible, vital to sustaining hundreds of jobs in the province and producing products we all rely on every day,” the company said. “Teal Jones has a decades-long history of engagement with First Nations, responsible forest management, and value-added manufacture in B.C.” 

Logging operations for Teal-Jones near Port Renfrew, taking place amid blockades and mass arrests, are facing new scrutiny as the Ministry of Forests launches a search for the location of endangered wildlife during the critical breeding season. The ministry is now dispatching its own biologists to hunt for western screech owl nests in old-growth trees, after independent biologists and birders confirmed sightings. The owls are federally listed as threatened, and under the B.C. Wildlife Act, all active nests are protected. If a nest is found in an area where Teal-Jones is logging, it would mean at least a suspension of operations. …“It’s looking for a needle in the haystack and hardly ever have we been able to find nest sites, even in the best of conditions,” said David Muter, assistant deputy minister for Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. 

Roughly 100 people gathered around a huge chalk circle in downtown Revelstoke on May 30. The ring was to visualize the largest known tree in Canada. …The gathering was a rally to protect old growth forests, in particular in Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island. …One of Premier John Horgan’s fall campaign promises was to protect more old growth forests and transform the forest industry to be more sustainable. “He has done almost nothing. The ancient trees continue to fall all across British Columbia,” said Emma Atkinson, organizer of the rally in Revelstoke. …While the rally did focus on Fairy Creek, several people said old growth is also threatened locally. Councillor Tim Palmer addressed the crowd, saying local government can make a difference and help lobby the province for change.

Nearly two weeks after RCMP started enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction to remove activists blocking access to a cut block near Port Renfrew, the Surrey-based logging company at the centre of the battle… says it just wants to return to work. “I just don’t understand why they’re still targeting us after the courts ruled that what they’re doing is illegal,” Jack Gardner, a log purchaser for Teal-Jones Group, said. …“We do everything the right way, we engage with the local First Nations, we log responsibly and moderately, and definitely within the government regulations.” …The Pacheedaht First Nation approved cutting permits issued to Teal-Jones, and also negotiated an agreement with the province in 2017 to receive revenue from all timber cut on its land.

VANCOUVER — The company at the centre of old-growth logging protests on southern Vancouver Island is speaking out about the effect those protests are having on the company and its workers.  Jack Gardner is a log purchaser for Teal Jones, which holds licenses allowing it to log in the Fairy Creek Watershed, where protesters have been camped out since last summer to prevent logging in what they call the South Island’s last unprotected old-growth forest.  Gardner says his company has been unfairly maligned by the protesters and their supporters. He says Teal Jones is a responsible forestry company and a model within the industry.  “This is a family-run company that’s helped build this province since the 1940s,” Gardner told CTV News Vancouver Island in an interview Saturday. “We responsibly log, put good jobs out there, and we do a lot of value-added manufacturing, and I think it’s really important to get our story out there.”

Jim Hilton

While I have always thought this advice was rather self evident, it is a real challenge in some aspects of forestry.  This is very apparent in the ongoing battles over the old growth harvest on the B.C. coast. As is the case in many complex issues coming up with basic definitions and ground rules is often the first challenge.  For example a report by the Ecosystem Based Management Working Group published in 2008 titled: “Defining old growth and recovering old growth on the coast.” The legal objectives define old growth forests by a simple and somewhat arbitrary age criterion: 250 years or older for the north and mid-coast and 180 years or older for the South Central Coast. This approach is acknowledged by all to fail in terms of using ecologically appropriate definitions.

Old growth trees — one of British Columbia’s most iconic natural symbols — are once again grabbing international attention as hundreds of protesters are willing to be arrested rather than see the trees cut down for their economic value.  These massive trees have long been an important part of the province’s forestry sector. But the logging of old growth trees, some of which have stood for 800 years or more, often comes with criticism that their harvest harms B.C.’s biodiversity and ability to deal with climate change. …The province defines coastal forests to be old growth if they contain trees that are more than 250 years old, while forests in B.C.’s Interior are considered old growth if the trees are at least 140 years old. …The province says there are currently 13.7 million hectares of old growth in British Columbia, and 10 million of those hectares are protected or not economical to harvest. 

Forestry workers and their families gathered along a road leading into the Fairy Creek watershed on Saturday in a bid to protect their right to make a living in the forestry sector, which they say is under threat.  The gathering was a counter rally to the blockades and arrests that are ongoing near Port Renfrew. B.C, about a two-hour drive west from Victoria.  Protesters there say they are willing to defy a court injunction allowing logging activities in the area by Surrey-based company Teal Jones in order to protect ecologically valuable old growth trees.  Since enforcement began on May 17, 137 people have been arrested for breaching the injunction or obstruction.  Forestry sector workers and their families who gathered near Mesachie Lake on Saturday tried to speak with people in vehicles heading toward the blockades and handed out information leaflets explaining the importance of the forestry sector to the province and how it supports families.

This weekend Western Forest Products took to social media to provide an update about the big log that’s created so much debate online. Posts to Instagram and Facebook garnered 63 and 51 Likes respectively and were shared via their followers to many more.