High in the trees that have been growing in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island for up to 1,000 years, unique colonies of insects and invertebrates are thriving.

Carpets of soil which develop in the massive branches of the old-growth trees contain a plethora of species not found anywhere else on Earth and, since 1995, University of Victoria entomologist Neville Winchester has climbed more than 2,000 trees to document and catalogue this life in the tree-tops.

“These ancient forests are a repository of biodiversity,” said Winchester, who has had more than a dozen beetle mites, aphids and flies named after him and who is giving a public talk this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Victoria.

Together with UVic graduate students, Winchester has conducted one of the most extensive canopy research projects in North America, using ropes to scale trees the equivalent of 18-storeys high in the Carmanah and Walbran valleys.

 “Then I take my mom’s bulb planter and take a sample of the suspended soils, which can be up to 60 centimetres in depth,” he said.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of unique ecosystems, Winchester is fighting a battle he thought had been won two decades ago when massive protests and demonstrations — part of the ‘War in the Woods’ that marked the 1980s and 1990s in B.C. — erupted over plans to log Carmanah Walbran.

At that time, Winchester was already doing canopy research and, when the government of the day responded to overwhelming public opposition and created the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, taking in 16,450 hectares of the old growth forest, he believed the war was over.

But now, part of the Central Walbran, just outside the park boundary, is under threat.

“I have the feeling that ‘here we go again.’ The same issues that were present then have surfaced again. They have been simmering for 20 years,” said Winchester, who finds it difficult to believe that politicians cannot look at the evidence and ban old-growth logging in the area.

“It’s greed, ignorance and arrogance. The scientific evidence is out there and it shows that these areas and these species are essential to protect biodiversity,” he said.

“By taking these trees down or by causing disruption you are committing species to go extinct. . . . Who would feel good about species going extinct just because we have mismanaged a resource? That’s the bottom line.”

Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) Photographer & Campaigner TJ Watt standing beside the Castle Giant in the unprotected Castle Grove.

The province has granted Surrey-based Teal Jones Group a permit for a 3.2-hectare cutblock east of Carmanah Walbran Park.

The cutblock is in the 500-hectare Central Walbran where, unlike the valley further south which is tattered with cutblocks, there is contiguous old-growth.

“It’s where our forests reach their most magnificent proportions,” said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“These are the classic giants. The biggest and the best — and some of the largest remaining tracts and finest old growth western red cedars are in areas such as Castle Grove, together with old-growth dependent species such as the Queen Charlotte goshawk and marbled murrelet,” Wu said, emphasizing the importance of these areas for tourism as well as biodiversity.

Jackie Korn stands beside a large redcedar stump cut by Teal-Jones in the Walbran Valley in 2014. Photo: TJ Watt.

Business leaders in Port Renfrew have called on the B.C. government to immediately ban logging in the unprotected part of the Walbran Valley, saying tall tree tourism is now a multi-million dollar business and the highest value would come from stopping further logging of old growth trees.

At the heart of the problem is the original configuration of the park, said Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee.

A large chunk, surrounded by park and known colloquially as “The Bite,” was left without protection.

“It was a big concession to logging interests. When the park was laid down, there was no consensus or agreement from the environmental side,” Coste said.

Logging has already degraded old-growth on the south side of Walbran Creek, and environmentalists are not happy about Teal Jones plans for seven more cutblocks in that area, but the line in the sand is the approved cutblock on the north side of the river, said Coste, who wants to see the 486-hectare northern section of The Bite protected.

Protests started in the area in November, but, three weeks later, a court injunction restricted access and stopped protesters from interfering with logging operations.

On January 4, in a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, the injunction was extended until the end of March.

Coste said that, although he and the Wilderness Committee are named in the injunction, the role of the group has been to record and advocate, not participate in blockades.

However, he believes the injunction is heavy-handed and designed to discourage people from going into the Walbran Valley.

There is a great need for eyes on the ground and for British Columbians to let the province know that it is not acceptable to log some of the last low-elevation old-growth on southern Vancouver Island, he said.

The Milky Way cradled by silhouettes of ancient redcedars in the Central Walbran Valley. Photo by TJ Watt.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said in an e-mail that the ministry facilitated a meeting between the company and environmental groups in December to discuss how concerns could be addressed and another meeting is scheduled for next month.

The 3.2-hectare area that Teal Jones plans to log is part of a special resource management zone, which limits cutblock size to five hectares, and the company will use helicopter harvesting, meaning there will be no trails, roads or use of heavy equipment, the province said.

Conserving old growth and biodiversity are important parts of the province’s long-term resource management plans, said the spokesman.

“Of the 1.9 million hectares of Crown forest on Vancouver Island, 840,125 hectares are considered old growth, but only 313,000 hectares are available for timber harvesting,” the e-mail reponse read.

Coste remains hopeful that the province will have a change of heart.

“Nowhere else on Vancouver Island do we have the opportunity to protect such a large tract of contiguous old-growth,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity we absolutely can’t afford to miss.”

Winchester is hoping science will convince the government of the need for protection and he will publicly share findings from his years of research at a lecture Friday Jan.29, 6.30 p.m. at the University of Victoria Student Union Building Upper Lounge.

Admission is by donation with proceeds going to the Friends of Carmanah/Walbran campaign to protect the Central Walbran Ancient Forest.

Main Image: Looking up an ancient redcedar tree in proposed logging cutblock 4405. Central Walbran Ancient Forest. TJ Watt.

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.

This is a guest post by filmmaker Daniel J. Pierce.

The Wilderness Committee and other forest activists were in court in Victoria on Monday to limit Teal Jones' latest attempt to obtain a new injunction against logging protesters in the Walbran Valley.

Despite appeals from activists and a packed gallery of Walbran supporters, Teal Jones was awarded the injunction, which expires at the end of March, rather than September as they had requested.

The injunction creates 50-meter "bubble zones" around Teal Jones' machines, vehicles and work crews in the Walbran Valley, prohibiting the public from coming within 50 meters of any logging activities within the company's Tree Farm License 46.

The Central Walbran Valley from Ramshackle Pictures on Vimeo.

Justice Jennifer Power acknowledged that the Walbran Valley is an area of high public value, but she settled on the conclusion that Teal Jones does have the right to harvest timber in the area — and the public does not have a right to interfere with the company’s operations.

Activists started blockading Teal Jones' road-building and forestry activities in the Walbran Valley in early November 2015, when the B.C. government approved cut-block 4424 north of the Walbran River.

This highly contentious ancient forest — which is unfragmented by logging — falls within an area known as “the bite.” Environmental groups are calling on the government to include “the bite” into the adjacent Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park.

The Wilderness Committee fears that the scope of this new injunction is overly broad and will interfere with lawful conservation activities in the Walbran, discouraging people from witnessing the logging or experiencing these ecosystems.

“This injunction might scare people away from going to the Walbran Valley to see the ancient forest, and it could chill public discussion about the logging and civil disobedience that has been occurring in the area,” said Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.  

But the Wilderness Committee vows to continue to engage in its public awareness campaign in the Walbran Valley.

“We’ll continue to monitor the Valley, take photographs and bring people in to see this world-class ecosystem up close,” Coste explained.

“Teal Jones’ own lawyers told the court there is nothing wrong with citizens being in the Walbran in accordance with the injunction, so we encourage people to get up there, conduct themselves lawfully and witness what’s happening.”

Image: Daniel J. Pierce

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.

This is a guest post by Daniel J. Pierce.

The early 1990s was a pivotal time for the forest industry and for forest activism in British Columbia. Massive demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience resulted in hundreds of arrests in Clayoquot Sound in response to large-scale clear-cutting on the west coast of B.C. and Vancouver Island. International protests and market campaigns forced the government to strengthen forestry regulations and establish new parks and protected areas.

One of the most famous stand-offs occurred at a bridge crossing into the Central Walbran Valley, one of the most spectacular ancient temperate rainforests left on Vancouver Island, in Pacheedhat First Nation territory, an hour north of Port Renfrew on bumpy logging roads.

Activists launched blockades, tree-sits, hunger strikes and international demonstrations that forced the B.C. government to create the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, which protected over 16,000 hectares in the Carmanah and Walbran Valleys. (This conflict was the subject of one of Velcrow Ripper’s early documentaries called “The Road Stops Here.”)

However, for whatever reason, the heart of the watershed — where several streams converge and the biggest and best trees grow — was left out of the park. This relatively small area (only 486 hectares, a little bigger than Vancouver’s Stanley Park) came to be known as “the bite” because if you look at the area on a map, it looks like someone took a bite out of the park.

For 25 years “the bite” has been designated as a special management zone and no logging companies have attempted to log in the Central Walbran Valley. However, in September, the B.C. government issued logging permits to Surrey-based Teal Cedar Products, allowing them to begin harvesting in the Central Walbran in the face of widespread opposition.

This prompted independent activists to erect a witness camp at the very same bridge over the Walbran River where activists in the early 90s made their stand. A few of these activists have even begun blocking road-building work that is currently going on south of the river. But for environmental groups the Wilderness Committee and Friends of Carmanah-Walbran, the real fight is for the virtually untouched area north of the river, which lies just outside the park.

So it seems like we are right back where we started, with some of the same environmental groups — plus a new generation of activists — fighting for the same tract of ancient forest that they fought for in the early 90s. Only this time they are out to finish what they started and are pushing to have “the bite” included into the park, where it will be safe from logging forever.

Watch the video about the Central Walbran Valley:

The Central Walbran Valley from Ramshackle Pictures on Vimeo.

Teal Cedar obtains injunction

When independent activists began blocking Teal Cedar’s road-building operations in early November, the company went to court to seek an injunction (court order) to have activists who stood in the way of their operations arrested by the RCMP and brought before the court.

Wilderness Committee (WC) campaigner Torrance Coste was surprised to find that he and the WC had been named by Teal Cedar in a civil suit and accompanying injunction, despite the fact that the Wilderness Committee does not endorse or organize civil disobedience.

The Wilderness Committee challenged Teal Cedar in court, stating that they had nothing to do with organizing the blockades. They argued that the language was overly broad, as to prevent them from engaging in their lawful conservation and educational activities in the Central Walbran. The judge agreed to vary the injunction to allow lawful activities to continue in the area, so long as they did not interfere with Teal Cedar’s harvesting operations.

When the injunction expired on December 14^th, Teal Cedar returned to B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in an attempt to extend the injunction against the Wilderness Committee and the other activists, aiming to restrict public access to the area for the next nine months.

Judge issues mixed decision

The judge chided Teal Cedar’s lawyers for not bringing this case to court in Victoria, where arguably more people with an interest in this issue — including some individuals named in the injunction — would be more easily able to attend. The judge declined to expand the injunction to the scope that Teal Cedar requested, but did grant an extension of the current injunction to January 4^th in order to allow the company to finish their current operations. Teal Cedar will then have to reapply to the court in Victoria for the more expansive injunction it is seeking.

“We’re glad to see that this injunction will be lifted early in the new year, and that it won’t be restricting public access to this incredible old-growth forest for several months as the company requested,” said Joe Foy, National Campaign Director with the Wilderness Committee. “We will continue to travel to the Walbran to take photos, share videos and educate the public about the fight to save this spectacular ancient forest,” he said.

Government opens door to rare old growth logging

While Teal Cedar has been logging in the Walbran Valley for years, its operations had been limited to the highly fragmented areas south of the Walbran River. However, tensions started ramping up when the B.C. government approved the first of eight proposed cut-blocks, which would create a ring of clear-cuts in the pristine and highly cherished area north of the river.

This is where one finds the famous Castle Grove, one of the most densely packed groves of old-growth western red cedars on Southern Vancouver Island. This is all part of Teal Cedar’s Tree Farm License 46, which includes one of the largest tracts of old-growth temperate rainforest on earth, containing massive red cedar, spruce and hemlock trees, as well as fragile limestone formations known as karst.

This area north of the river is contiguous with Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, making it more ecologically valuable for wildlife than the area south of the river, which has been heavily fragmented by logging over the years.

Ancient forests provide vital ecological services

Vancouver Island campaigner for the Wilderness Committee Torrance Coste argues that intact ancient forests like these have more value standing than as timber. 

“Compared to second growth forests, old-growth provides better habitat for endangered species, purifies drinking water more effectively, provides the resources integral to First Nations culture, and holds high economic potential for tourism. Additionally, old growth absorbs and stores carbon and is therefore a critical tool in the fight against climate change,” he writes.

One of the last of its kind

However, “96 per cent of the low-elevation old-growth forests have been logged on Southern Vancouver Island,” points out Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt. “Today, the Central Walbran represents some of the finest of that last 4 per cent that we need to protect.”

Jens Wieting, forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club B.C. agrees: “In many parts of Vancouver Island and the South Coast there are few old-growth and other truly intact rainforest areas left and the risks of climate change impacts like drought, flooding and landslides are increasing. This means that we have to double our efforts to protect forests, improve forest management and reduce forest carbon loss,” he notes.

Business group calls for halt to old-growth logging

In nearby Port Renfrew — a former logging town that now bills itself as the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada” — the local Chamber of Commerce, representing 73 businesses in the region, has issued a statement calling on the B.C. government to prevent any further old-growth logging in the Walbran Valley.

“Big tree tourism has increased the total flow of dollars spent in Port Renfrew in our rental accommodations, restaurants, grocery stores, and businesses in general,” says Chamber president Dan Hager. “Along with sport fishing, old-growth forest tourism has become a staple of our local economy.”

According to Ancient Forest Alliance executive director Ken Wu, the Walbran is “virtually unmatched for recreational and scenic grandeur in the world. It’s just the perfect place to visit and to riddle the whole area with clearcuts and giant stumps would be the lowest, worst use of a place like this,” Wu adds.

Forestry workers demand change

The Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada have also come out swinging against the forestry establishment. “We need to transition out of [cutting] the old growth. It’s a sucker’s game,” says PPWC President Arnie Bercov at a rally in Duncan.

“We want to make sure that our union isn’t part and parcel of destroying the forest. We want to be good partners in managing the forest. We want to work with the environmental movement. We are starting to work with a lot of First Nations… We need to maintain healthy ecosystems, wildlife corridors, we need to respect indigenous rights, and we need to cut trees. Can we have it all? We can have it all.”

A new landscape for forest activism

Looking back on what was known as the “War in the Woods” of the early 1990s, while some things have remained the same, much has changed. What was once a staunch conflict between environmentalists and loggers now includes a diverse array of stakeholders.

Tourism operators, First Nations, teachers, business leaders, mountain bikers, artists, and even forestry workers themselves want to see an end to harmful old-growth logging and a transition to a sustainable second-growth forestry industry in B.C.

But one thing that hasn’t changed is that companies like Teal Cedar still have the legal right to cut these ancient trees in the Walbran and elsewhere on the west coast. And so far, Christy Clark’s provincial government has thus far refused to intervene.

Teal Cedar could try to cross the bridge at any time to begin cutting north of the Walbran River. But you can rest assured that when they do show up, this diverse and ever-growing movement is going to be there waiting — and they are not going to make life easy for them.

By Daniel J. Pierce

Blog image credit: TJ Watt

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.