In the past few weeks, images presented by the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), an old-growth forest conservation organisation based out of Vancouver Island, Canada, have been sweeping across the world’s media, generating international coverage in outlets like The Guardian and The Times Colonist.

As an aspiring forester and keen ecologist, naïve of these controversies, in late 2018 I travelled to Vancouver Island and took up work as a forest surveyor, otherwise known as a timber cruiser. Timber cruisers are the initial explorers in forest operations, pushing into virgin forest from the existing roads, ‘flagging’ tape around block boundaries and potential roadways, setting the stage for road builders and chainsaw operators, or ‘fallers’, to come in and extract the trees.

On my second day, my boss turned to me “you’ll like where we’re headed to today, Jack, it’s an old-growth block”. After battling through the bushy, dense, Christmas tree like second growth forest of the previous day, I welcomed the news. However, within minutes of entering the forest, a lead weight had formed in my belly, and I felt a growing sense of dismay and confusion. This forest was not the uniform, commercial forests I had witnessed the day before. Instead, gargantuan cedars, the like of which I had never seen, rose like the columns of the Sagrada Familia. The high roof gave way to a complex understory of blueberry bushes, ferns and deep moss that gave the ground a sponge like quality. Game trails snaked through this complex web of life. Observing my awe, my employer commented, “bet you don’t have trees like this back home, would you like a picture to send your family?” Embarrassed, I stood beside the nearby cedar and forced a grim smile.

I had entered an industry that represents the backbone of the British Columbian economy, generating $12 billion GDP every year and supplying 145,000 jobs. However, in recent decades, the sector has gone into decline, with mill closures and an estimated 32,000 provincial jobs lost between 2003-2016. With the finger being pointed at low timber prices, wage strikes, decreased demand from international markets and increased government fees. On Vancouver Island, between 2012-2017, 47.7% of the trees were harvested from old growth areas. Advocates claim that a ban on old-growth logging would be a final nail in the sector’s coffin, resulting in severe economic and social deterioration of forest dependent communities.

One morning, as we traversed an alpine valley scarred with clear-cuts and recently developed roads, the driver, Jay, stated “look at this, this is all us”, letting out a cackle of mirth. My employer even gave a wry smirk. When asked outright if he thought we should keep logging the old growth, Jay replied “well, it can’t all be a park”. Yet he acknowledged that the forests were not being managed sustainably. Once we had stepped into the forest, Jay commented that “we never would have even looked at this piece a few years back”. Revealing how loggers were pushing into low productivity, alpine old growth areas due to exhausting high productivity, lowland forests.  

The subsequent strategic review of management of BC’s old forest, compiled by seasoned foresters Gorley and Merkel, echoed the words of the scientists, supplying 14 recommendations for action, which included: greater engagement with first nations, defer development of high-risk ecosystems “white rhinos”, a shift to prioritising ecosystem health, biodiversity and support for forest workers during the transition. 

In response to these influential publications, the provincial government deferred logging in 9 areas, totalling 352,739 hectares of forest. The initial actions also include protecting up to 1,500 of the largest trees in the province, adding to the 2019 “big tree registry”.  

However environmental groups argue that the new announcement won’t actually slow down logging, as parts of the deferred land are already in some form of protection or non-forested, such as rocks and swamps. Critics believe that at-risk areas, like northern boreal forest and inland rainforest, are severely underrepresented. Even describing the big tree protection as a “drop in the bucket”, compared to the number of trees harvested in the province every day.

Reacting to public outcry regarding the continued logging of old growth, the Provincial government recently appointed a task force to conclusively document the condition of British Columbia’s forests. In their report, titled ‘BC’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity’, the researchers confirmed Jay’s point. Despite there being 13.2 million hectares of old forest left in the province, only 3% supports large trees, with the majority being small trees in forests of low productivity. Furthermore, only 3% of BC land mass is able to grow large trees, of these sites, logging pressures have reduced the proportion of old forest to 2.7%. These figures reduce the areas in BC with big trees to 0.081%, making these ecosystems “the white rhino of old growth forests”. The report’s message was clear “Immediately place a moratorium on logging in ecosystems and landscapes with very little old forest”.

Groups like the AFA are calling for the full implementation of the 14 reccomendations from the strategic review, with whole ecosystem protection, without which, business as usual will “liquidate the remaining endangered old-growth”. Since the settlers first began harvesting big trees in British Columbia, to my own experiences in the last few years, productive old growth has been reduced to a tiny fraction of forested land. At what point will we start to recognise that the true value of these ecosystems may not be in the timber, but in their ecological services and cultural significance. When will we decide it is time to save BC’s remaining unprotected white rhinos?
 

Key references

BC Lumber Trade Council. Industry facts. Available at: https://bclumbertrade.com/facts#:~:text=BC's%20forest%20industry%20contributes%20about,all%20three%20levels%20of%20government

Gorley, A. and Merkel, G. A new future for old forests: a strategic review of how British Columbia manages for old forests within its ancient ecosystems. Available at: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/oldgrowth/

Price. K, Holt. F and Daust, D. BC’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity. Available at https://ecoreserves.bc.ca/2020/06/06/bcs-old-growth-forest-a-last-stand-for-biodiversity/

TJ Wyatt. Ancient Forest Alliance photography campaign. Available at https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/photo-gallery-before-after-logging-caycuse-watershed/