Some of you may have already seen the pictures. 

Vast stands of old-growth Douglas firs and cedars, toppled. A grim-looking individual, perched atop a stump, staggering in size, its history harkening back to pre-colonial times, sap oozing beneath their feet. 

British Columbians are near-immune to such images these days, with old-growth clearcutting a common sight and common practice. But something about the images coming out of Vancouver Island’s Nahmint Valley struck a chord.

A photo gallery posted by the Ancient Forest Alliance to Facebook in May of 2018 became a near-immediate viral sensation, being shared more than 4,800 times. 

The organization, during an ancient forest expedition with the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance, found exceptionally large Douglas fir, including the fifth and ninth widest ever recorded in B.C., scattered among the remains of an extensive clearcutting operation.

The groups documented old-growth cedar stumps measuring a staggering 12 feet (3.7 metres) in diameter.

Something felt wrong about the scope and scale of the logging operations in the Nahmint Valley to the expeditioners. 

And they were right.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous, freshly fallen western red cedar in a BC Timber Sales-issued cutblock in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni. Photo: TJ Watt

Before and after images of a massive Douglas fir tree in the Nahmint Valley. According to the B.C. Big Tree Registry, this Douglas fir was the ninth-largest of its kind in Canada. Photo: TJ Watt

Investigations point to government agency at heart of B.C.’s old-growth logging

Following their expedition, the Ancient Forest Alliance submitted a complaint to the compliance and enforcement branch at B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

The findings of two subsequent investigations would confirm a deep-rooted suspicion that BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the government agency responsible for auctioning provincial logging permits, was thwarting protection rules and violating the principles of old-growth management plans.

The results of those investigations, obtained by the Ancient Forest Alliance through a Freedom of Information request, and reviewed by The Narwhal, show BC Timber Sales is not complying with rules designed to ensure sufficient old-growth forest is retained to avoid loss of biodiversity.

One of these investigations, conducted by a compliance and enforcement officer with the Ministry of Forests, recommended logging in the Nahmint Valley be halted, that future harvesting tenures be put on hold and that the agency should be prevented from establishing Nahmint old-growth management areas — which are created to protect old growth and achieve biodiversity targets — while problems are addressed to avoid legitimizing ongoing overcutting.

The second investigation was conducted outside the ministry and came to similar conclusions, documents released through the Freedom of Information request revealed.

Yet despite the clear and unequivocal tone of recommendations made by investigators in the summer of 2018, little change has been effected on the ground, where clearcutting in the Nahmint has continued unabated.

“None of the recommendations have been implemented,” Andrea Inness, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner, told The Narwhal.

Before: An old-growth Douglas fir forest in a BC Timber Sales cutblock in the Nahmint Valley. An estimated 1 per cent of B.C.’s original old-growth Douglas fir remains today. Photo: TJ Watt

After: The same patch of Douglas fir after logging commenced. Photo: TJ Watt

Compliance officer told to ‘close the investigation down’

The ministry report was conducted by senior compliance and enforcement specialist Bryce Casavant, who is no longer working for the provincial government.

“When I left government a few weeks ago, logging was continuing and there were 490,000 cubic metres scheduled to go to market by next spring,” Casavant told The Narwhal.

“Suffice it to say they are planning on extensive logging in that area despite the findings of the report,” he said.

Making the situation more frustrating, Casavant said he was told during the investigation that, in future, the compliance and enforcement branch would no longer investigate BC Timber Sales as government would not charge the organization.

“I got told at one point to close the investigation down and not to write a report and just send an internal memo and they would sort it out,” Casavant said.

BC Timber Sales, which was created in 2003 by the former BC Liberal government, manages 20 per cent of the province’s annual allowable cut, making it the biggest tenure holder in B.C.

An aerial view of the Nahmint Valley, July 2018. Photo: Jens Wieting / Sierra Club BC

When asked whether the compliance and enforcement branch is still able to investigate BC Timber Sales, a ministry spokeswoman, in an emailed response, said “compliance and enforcement can investigate BCTS and they can charge BCTS with infractions.”

But Casavant, who now works for Pacific Wild as a conservation policy analyst, said he was left with no doubt that investigations into the timber sales agency were not welcome. 

BC Timber Sales and the law enforcement services at the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations are closely related and so, when problems arise, the answer is to come up with some fancy spin-doctoring, Casavant said.

“The problem is that there’s no true independence in the law enforcement service and forestry officers. The government will tell you that they are not related to BCTS, but in practice it’s not true. They all work out of the same office, side by side, day in and day out. They share the same deputy minister. There’s no true separation,” he said.

The timber sales agency is treated more favourably than other logging corporations, Casavant said.

“They are not treated the same as everyone else.”

The second, independent investigation found that planning for old-growth management areas appears ad hoc, “aiming to achieve the bare minimum required legally, rather than following good conservation design.”

“Our assessment suggests that the Nahmint demonstrates failure of professional reliance at maintaining publicly-agreed-upon values and priorities,” the report found.

Inness said it might be a good thing existing draft old-growth management areas in the Nahmint haven’t been legalized.

“The planning that went into the delineation of those OGMAs was flawed. When those areas were mapped, when those lines were drawn on maps, BCTS didn’t even look at ecosystem data or consider best practices,” she said.

An aerial view of logging in the Nahmint Valley. Visible is a fallen Douglas Fir, measured as the ninth-largest of its kind in Canada. Photo: TJ Watt

Inness further suggested those draft areas were designed to support a bigger take for logging companies. 

In addition to the two 2018 investigations, a Forest Practices Board investigation into the Nahmint is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

That investigation means the ministry cannot comment, according to a spokeswoman.

“The Forest Practices Board is currently investigating. That is all the information we can provide at this time,” ministry spokeswoman Dawn Makarowski said in an emailed response to questions from The Narwhal.

Despite investigations, old-growth logging continues in Nahmint Valley

On the ground in the Nahmint Valley — under parcels auctioned by BC Timber Sales — giant trees continue to fall, threatening habitat for species such as the marbled murrelet and northern goshawk. 

The agency has plans underway to auction off more than 400,000 cubic metres of old growth and, despite a specific recommendation to pause such actions, BC Timber Sales is moving to have draft Nahmint old-growth plans legalized.

In the formal complaint, submitted to the Ministry of Forests, Ancient Forest Alliance’s Inness wrote operations in the Nahmint appear to be in violation of the official land-use plan for Vancouver Island. 

The intent of the Vancouver Island Land-Use Plan, established in 2000, is to retain a critical mass of old-growth. 

“After walking through various recent cutblocks planned by BC Timber Sales in the Nahmint Valley, we believe BC Timber Sales’ forest stewardship plan fails to meet the results and strategies set out in the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan … that rare and underrepresented site series and surrogates be represented and protected,” Inness wrote.

The plan identified the Nahmint Valley as a special management zone, which prioritizes “environmental, recreational and cultural/heritage sites” rather than old-growth logging, but the investigation found that, although mapping of the valley’s unique biological features exists, the best available data was not used to protect unique ecosystems, retain biodiversity or protect large diameter trees.

The crystalline waters of the Nahmint River. The valley is a popular outdoor recreation destination. Photo: TJ Watt

The ministry’s internal inspection found logging in the Nahmint suggests a “high likelihood of government noncompliance” with the land use plan.

Investigators concluded that there appear to be “legacy compliance issues” with timber harvesting in the Nahmint — meaning the overcutting probably dates back 18 years. 

This failure to implement proper protections for the Nahmint is what led investigators to warn BC Timber Sales should not legalize new old-growth management zones until those failures have been addressed. 

An email from Bryce Casavant to Don Hudson, BC Timber Sales manager. The email notes the Ministry of Forests investigation found a “high likelihood of government non-compliance” with regards to logging in the Nahmint Valley.

Yet, although there have been tweaks to the system, with small changes to cutblock locations, there is no indication that BC Timber Sales is planning to act on the investigation’s recommendations.

“It seems that eventually they will just carry on with business as usual,” TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder, told The Narwhal.

In the internal documents detailing the investigations, a BC Timber Sales response claimed the agency’s planning is “generally” consistent with best practices and stated that logging in the Nahmint Valley cannot be in violation of the land use plan because the region’s forest stewardship plan was approved by a district manager. 

That defence drew outrage from Inness.

“Approved forest stewardship plans do not override legal orders or government set objectives and can’t be used as a shield to allow non-compliant logging to occur,” she said. 

“This is indicative of a truly corrupt system where, according to BCTS, logging can never be in non-compliance with the law, so long as a district manager signs off on it.”

The justification has Inness worried BC Timber Sales might be out of compliance with land-use plans for other areas of Vancouver Island. 

“This has broader geographic implications as other special management zones and geographic areas managed by BC Timber Sales may have been — and continue to be — similarly mismanaged,” Inness said.

“They have been way over-logging and it opens up Pandora’s box. If it is happening in the Nahmint and they have completely misinterpreted the targets here, where else is it happening?” she asked.

‘This is the way government works’

Many contentious areas controlled by BC Timber Sales have high recreational value or are close to communities, which increasingly puts it at odds with local communities and First Nations. The Nahmint Valley is in traditional territories of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations.

Brandy Lauder, Hupacasath First Nation elected councillor, said she is not surprised that BC Timber Sales is ignoring recommendations to stop logging old growth.

“I am not shocked … This is the way government works,” said Lauder, adding that she is witnessing over-logging of old growth throughout the Alberni Valley, which is affecting the movement of wildlife as habitat is lost.

“Until the province actually tells BC Timber Sales not to log, they are going to continue. It will have to come from (Premier) John Horgan. They will just keep on operating and saying they are working on it. As long as they say they are working on it, they think they can just keep on going,” she said.

Last year, Hupacasath sent an open letter calling on the provincial government to halt old-growth logging in the Nahmint and work collaboratively with the band to protect the area’s old growth and, especially, the biggest trees and monumental cedars.

The letter to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation called on the government to immediately extinguish all approved cutblocks in Hupacasath traditional territory and establish “best management practices for coastal legacy, monumental and old-growth trees.”

In July the province announced new protections for 54 old-growth trees listed in the B.C. Big Tree Registry, four of which are in the Alberni-Clayoquot region. But the plan drew criticism from those concerned with the scale of old-growth logging in some of the last intact zones on Vancouver Island.  

In its announcement for the big tree protections, the province claimed 55 per cent of old-growth forests on Crown land in B.C.’s coastal region are protected from logging. Yet the majority of that protection exists in the Great Bear Rainforest while on Vancouver Island 1,300 hectares of new old-growth cutblocks have been approved in 2019.

A map of pre-existing forests in Southern British Columbia. Map: Ancient Forest Alliance

A map of remaining old-growth forest based on satellite data from 2012. Map: Ancient Forest Alliance

Long-time environmental advocate Vicky Husband, who worked to tighten up the Vancouver Island land-use plan before it was adopted in 2000, said she always feared the plan lacked teeth.

“We got some important changes, but not nearly enough was fully protected and now the ancient forests are in fragments over most of the island,” she said

“Nahmint is very, very contentious and what BCTS is doing, with the B.C. government’s backing, is promoting logging in some of the last areas left.”

Forests are being gutted and government can be misleading about how much ancient forest is left on Vancouver Island, Husband said.

“We have protected only 5.5 per cent of the original extent of ancient, big, old tree forests on Vancouver Island and just about one per cent of the dry Douglas fir forest. Imagine how we, a so-called progressive society, have done so little to protect the amazing forest heritage that we inherited,” she said.

“I am appalled. The public must act now to save what is left and then work to restore these incredible forest ecosystems.”

Inness said it appears government agencies are either willfully ignoring or misinterpreting B.C.’s already inadequate forestry rules.

“We have such a desperate need in this province for forestry to be done differently and they can’t even follow their own laws,” she said.

Casavant said ecologically rich places like the Nahmint Valley suffer irreparable harm when the province ignores its own rules. 

“In today’s society it’s completely unacceptable for government to be involved in what should be classified as unlawful activities,” he said.

“If you are in non-compliance you can’t just say, ‘well maybe there’s a problem, but we are just going to go ahead.’ If you are in non-compliance and your plan requires you to follow the legislation, it is just wrong to go ahead.”

Casavant argues there should be legislation to ensure an impartial law enforcement service can investigate BC Timber Sales’ activities and charge them when necessary.

“BCTS should be treated, instead of a branch of the ministry, as a stand-alone Crown corporation,” he said.

Having an investigative branch embedded within the ministry is “absolutely ludicrous,” he added. 

“We can’t have everybody working in the same office right from the planning stage to the approval stage to the investigation when something goes wrong.”

The government agency at the centre of B.C.’s old-growth logging showdown

During the summer the province asked for public feedback on the Forest and Range Practices Act, with changes expected over the next two years, but many fear changes will come too late to save the sizeable swaths of old growth needed, especially to protect biodiversity.

A report from the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre says that, in high productivity areas such as valley bottoms, less than 10 per cent of the original old growth remains.

“On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original, productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than 30 per cent of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last 25 years,” it says.

(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "https://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })()

(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "https://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })()

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The expanse of ragged stumps, stretching up a steep slope beside Schmidt Creek, on northeast Vancouver Island, serves as a graphic example of controversies over old-growth clearcuts approved by BC Timber Sales and a growing push-back from those who want better protection for intact forests.

The clearcut, above the world-famous Robson Bight orca rubbing beaches, has drawn the ire of conservation groups, whale biologists and First Nations provoking questions about how BC Timber Sales is assessing parcels of old growth for auction.

BC Timber Sales, which was created in 2003 by the Liberal government, manages 20 per cent of the province’s annual allowable cut, making it the biggest tenure holder in B.C. This year, the government agency plans to auction off about 600 hectares more old-growth forest on Vancouver Island, an area about 1.5 times the size of Stanley Park.  The agency has plans to auction off another 8,800 hectares in future years.

Old-growth trees are at least 250 years old and are prized by timber companies. As they become increasingly rare, BC Timber Sales is auctioning off parcels close to communities or recreation areas, meaning conflict is more likely, said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s forest and climate campaigner.

“They are running out of places to find timber where they can log without conflict, so they end up pursuing what I call extreme old-growth logging,” Wieting told The Narwhal.

Floods, droughts and fires are also shining a spotlight on the impacts of climate change, made worse by logging.

“These forests provide clean water, clean air and carbon storage,” Wieting said.

The mandate for BC Timber Sales puts the standalone agency in a straitjacket, Wieting said.

“Auction 20 per cent of B.C. volume no matter what. So, instead of using BC Timber Sales to develop and implement best practices in the midst of climate and species emergencies, they behave like a machine designed with a single purpose: find the fibre,” he said.

That is not how BC Timber Sales sees its mandate and, in an emailed response to questions from The Narwhal, a spokesperson said forestry practices are rooted in the precautionary principle and failing to auction off 20 per cent of the allowable annual cut would “put the integrity of the timber pricing system at risk.”

Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste in a BC Timber Sales old-growth clearcut in Thursday Creek, Upper Tsitika Valley. Photo: Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee

‘This is being done by the government of B.C.’

Still, there is no doubt that many recent logging decisions made by BC Timber Sales have provoked community outrage.

In addition to the Schmidt Creek logging, controversies include clearcut logging in the Skagit Doughnut Hole, beside Manning Park, which brought protests from the U.S and accusations that B.C. was breaking an international treaty; plans to log the old growth adjacent to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, a proposal that is now on hold to allow consultations with the operator of a nearby eco-lodge; and clearcut logging in the Nahmint Valley, west of Port Alberni, where one of the biggest Douglas fir trees in Canada was felled, despite objections from conservation groups.

“The fact that this is being done by the government of B.C. should make everyone’s blood boil,” said Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

At the Schmidt Creek site, the immediate fear is that landslides and silt will harm the beaches where threatened northern resident killer whales rub themselves on the smooth pebbles.

“When you take that much wood and forest off a hillside, it’s a physical certainty that there will be earth erosion either from a major rainfall or from cumulative erosion,” said Mark Worthing, a Sierra Club BC climate and conservation campaigner, who visits Schmidt Creek regularly and dives in the water around the rubbing beaches.

When Worthing visited Schmidt Creek in June he was horrified to see the aftermath of logging, which had been carried out by Lamare Group of Port McNeill. The timber rights had been bought at auction last year from BC Timber Sales by Super-Cut Lumber Industries of Langley for more than $13 million.

“It was like a punch in the gut. They are just hammering this poor little valley,” Worthing said.

Renowned killer whale researcher Paul Spong, whose OrcaLab research station is on nearby Hanson Island, believes the logging will inevitably affect the rubbing beaches, which he describes as a massage parlour for whales, and he fears the cultural activity, passed down through generations of whales, could be disrupted.

There are already changes to the beaches and observers say whales are visiting for shorter periods of time.

Sierra Club BC campaigner Mark Worthing in a clearcut at Schmidt Creek. Photo: Torrance Coste / Wilderness Committee

Sierra Club BC campaigner Mark Worthing in old-growth rainforest slated for auction by BC Timber Sales in Tessium Creek. Photo: Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee

‘It’s business as usual’

It is difficult to understand why BC Timber Sales would approve logging in the area, especially as the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve was created in 1982 largely to protect the rubbing beaches, Spong said.

“We are very concerned because it is so central to the whales. … It’s outrageous that they are logging old-growth trees on steep slopes. I think they should just be left alone. It’s just common sense when you’re coming to the last of the old growth,” Spong said.

“I totally expected an NDP government to do things differently and, with respect to forestry and logging old growth, they are not doing things differently. It’s business as usual. It’s beyond disappointing.”

Logging in Schmidt Creek. Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee

In an emailed statement, BC Timber Sales told The Narwhal  the beaches were examined in 2016 by a regional geomorphologist who concluded that “carefully planned harvesting in Schmidt Creek is unlikely to affect the rubbing beaches.”

Initial observations suggest the beaches are eroding due to wave action, likely because of sea-level rise and severe storms, and there is no evidence of sediment affecting the beaches, the statement says.

While opponents of the clearcutting say silt will inevitably wash down on to the beach, BC Timber Sales says the logging is taking place in a side valley on slopes that are not directly above the beaches and that the Ecological Reserve includes 467 upland hectares, which protect the orca habitat.

The thorny question of Indigenous consent

Chief Rande Cook. Photo: Spartan Media Group Inc

Then there is the complicated question of Indigenous consent, with critics claiming that logging companies and BC Timber Sales are picking and choosing which Indigenous groups to consult.

Chief Rande Cook, known as Makwala, who heads the Ma’amtagila First Nation, said Schmidt Creek is in Tlowitsis-Ma’amtagila territory and he was devastated by the logging.

“I have never seen so many yellow cedar logs and there were some culturally modified trees that were cut down,” said Cook, who was not consulted about the logging plans.

There are long-standing differences of opinion between the Tlowitsis and Ma’amtagila people, Cook said.

“These people only want to consult with the First Nations they know they can get a pro-business outcome with,” he said.

In a statement, BC Timber Sales said the area had an archaeological overview assessment, a member of the Tlowtsis First Nation took part in field work during preliminary field reconnaissance and no culturally modified trees or areas with archaeological potential were identified.

The statement also said BC Timber Sales has adopted strategies to protect suitable red and yellow cedar for cultural purposes and to protect the province’s biggest trees, meaning more than 300 cedar and 66 legacy trees have been protected from harvesting, says the statement.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

Jobs and money are at the heart of many of the decisions and BC Timber Sales says that “approximately 8,000 people are directly and another 10,000 people are indirectly employed as a result of BCTS’ auction of timber, as well, the net revenue generated from these auctions are returned to the government so as to support many of the programs the government offers the citizens of B.C. Curtailing BCTS operations would have significant impacts on all British Columbians.”

But, more than twice the number of British Columbians work in tourism than in forestry and, on the streets, there are demonstrations demanding that the province halt old-growth logging, backed by a petition organized by Sierra Club BC and Leadnow, signed by 20,000 people. A letter last year from 223 international scientists urged the province to take immediate action to protect B.C.’s temperate rainforest and the B.C. Green Party is among the groups asking for a moratorium on old growth logging on Vancouver Island.

Sonia Furstenau, Green Party house leader, finds it disappointing that old-growth logging is continuing at the same rate as under the previous Liberal government.

“While there seems to be an acknowledgement that the world and conditions have changed very quickly, the practices aren’t (changing),” Furstenau told The Narwhal.

She’d like to see community forests form the basis of future forest policy.That would allow decisions to be made with input from residents and First Nations so the community is not undermined by decisions made at the provincial level, Furstenau said.

Climate change also needs to  be factored into all decisions, she added.

“We can’t just continue with business as usual and then see what happens. We know what’s going to happen,” she said.

The B.C. government is asking for input until July 15 to improve the Forest and Range Practices Act and the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre, in a report for Sierra Club B.C., is calling for the same level of protection used in the Great Bear Rainforest to be used as a model for all the province’s forests — something the NDP included in its election promises.

The report also asks for more Indigenous input with agreements incorporating traditional ecological knowledge in all decisions.

“The B.C government should partner with the federal government to enable Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and contribute to the international and national commitment to protect 17 per cent of the land by 2020,” it says.

Many are puzzled that logging practices have not changed under the NDP. TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, believes one difficulty is that there have been few staff changes within the Forests Ministry.

“I think the NDP is being given the same information around the incorrect idea that old-growth forests aren’t endangered and there’s nothing to worry about … when, in fact, we know that is not the case,” he said.

Furstenau agrees there has been little change within the ministry. “It’s very hard to change course in a radical or transformative way when you are still getting advice from the same people,” she said.

Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee

Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee

Estimates of the remaining old growth in B.C and the amount that is protected differ wildly, mainly depending on how old growth is defined.

The Environmental Law Centre report says that, across the province, in high-productivity areas, such as valley bottoms, less than 10 per cent of the original old growth remains and an even smaller amount is formally protected.

“On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than 30 per cent of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last 25 years,” it says.

Many of the contentious areas are on Vancouver Island and Forests Minister Donaldson has said that 50 per cent of old growth on Vancouver Island, or more than 520,000 hectares, is protected. But Wieting counters that Donaldson is referring to half the remaining old growth — therefore, in a bizarre twist, the more old growth that is logged, the higher the percentage of protected forest.

Watt said provincial figures include low-productivity forests that grow at high elevation or in bogs.

“Almost 80 per cent of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90 per cent of the low-elevation, high-productivity stands where the largest trees grow has already been logged,” Watt said.

This article was produced in partnership with the Small Change Fund.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.