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Fighting to save the last of Canada’s giant trees

A century of commercial logging has placed primeval forests, and their thriving ecosystems, on the cusp of extinction.

Old growth temperate rainforests once blanketed the entire Pacific Northwest coast of North America. Some of the largest western red cedars, Sitka spruces and Douglas firs ever recorded have been found on valley bottoms and lower mountain slopes of southwestern BC - some exceeding over 1,000 years in age. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Old growth temperate rainforests once blanketed the entire Pacific Northwest coast of North America. Some of the largest western red cedars, Sitka spruces and Douglas firs ever recorded have been found on valley bottoms and lower mountain slopes of southwestern BC - some exceeding over 1,000 years in age. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
By John Zada
11 May 2017

Vancouver Island, British Columbia – Canada‘s temperate rainforests, found on British Columbia’s Pacific coast, contain some of the largest trees in the world – after California’s redwoods and sequoias. The oldest of those trees are located in the southwest of the province where prodigious rainfall and mild winters allow relentless growth.

But more than a century of unrelenting commercial logging has placed primaeval old-growth forests – and the delicate ecosystems that thrive within them – on the cusp of extinction. Only a handful of the largest trees remain on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland areas of British Columbia.

Government regulation of logging activities in British Columbia has been lax. So responsibility for protecting old-growth forests from the most egregious logging practices has fallen to environmentalists, and at times, local indigenous communities. Protests and conservation campaigns, beginning in the 1980s, resulted in protection for a few areas. Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island and the Great Bear Rainforest on the central and north coast, are a few of the better known examples.

But as the commercial logging industry pushes to find and cut down the last remaining tracts of old-growth, concern for those forests is widening among regular citizens who see greater value and meaning in big trees than as just an industrial commodity.

The commercial logging industry has been a mainstay of the local economy for more than a century, employing thousands of people, but it comes at a heavy price. Over 90 percent of the lower elevation ancient forests have vanished from southwestern British Columbia. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
The commercial logging industry has been a mainstay of the local economy for more than a century, employing thousands of people, but it comes at a heavy price. Over 90 percent of the lower elevation ancient forests have vanished from southwestern British Columbia. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
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The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a conservation group advocating the end of old growth deforestation and a more sustainable second growth logging industry. Their strategy is to engage a wider support base, including business and municipal groups, forestry workers, unions, and ethnic and faith groups. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) is a conservation group advocating the end of old growth deforestation and a more sustainable second growth logging industry. Their strategy is to engage a wider support base, including business and municipal groups, forestry workers, unions, and ethnic and faith groups. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
In 2012, after a two-year campaign led by the AFA, Avatar Grove, in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, near the town of Port Renfrew, on Vancouver Island, was designated as protected. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
In 2012, after a two-year campaign led by the AFA, Avatar Grove, in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, near the town of Port Renfrew, on Vancouver Island, was designated as protected. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Dan Hagar, the president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, says: 'It makes plain good business sense to leave those majestic trees standing because they have a lot more economic value, over and over again, as a draw for tourists, than cutting them down and making stuff out of them.' [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Dan Hagar, the president of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, says: 'It makes plain good business sense to leave those majestic trees standing because they have a lot more economic value, over and over again, as a draw for tourists, than cutting them down and making stuff out of them.' [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Some people in British Columbia's diverse First Nations communities benefit from logging revenues and don't support greater restrictions on their commercial logging rights. Others are in favour of increased conservation, particular if other sustainable economic opportunities are created. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Some people in British Columbia's diverse First Nations communities benefit from logging revenues and don't support greater restrictions on their commercial logging rights. Others are in favour of increased conservation, particular if other sustainable economic opportunities are created. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
In 2012, a 69-metre tall Douglas fir, the second largest in Canada, was found by the AFA in an old-growth clear-cut at the base of Edinburgh Mountain, also in Pacheedaht territory. Dubbed 'Big Lonely Doug,' the tree has become an iconic symbol of the plight faced by the last of Canada's giant trees. The tree was used as an attachment anchor for giant steel cables to transport the old-growth logs. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
In 2012, a 69-metre tall Douglas fir, the second largest in Canada, was found by the AFA in an old-growth clear-cut at the base of Edinburgh Mountain, also in Pacheedaht territory. Dubbed 'Big Lonely Doug,' the tree has become an iconic symbol of the plight faced by the last of Canada's giant trees. The tree was used as an attachment anchor for giant steel cables to transport the old-growth logs. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
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The threatened Eden Grove is one of the last lowland valley bottom primaeval forests left on Vancouver Island. It's also home to bears, cougars, wolves, deer, elk, and bird species, like the northern goshawk and marbled murrelet. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
The threatened Eden Grove is one of the last lowland valley bottom primaeval forests left on Vancouver Island. It's also home to bears, cougars, wolves, deer, elk, and bird species, like the northern goshawk and marbled murrelet. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
TJ Watt, AFA cofounder and photographer, is seen here holding flagging tape marking the route of a logging road slated to pass through Eden Grove. 'It’s a bit of a race against the logging companies,' he says. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
TJ Watt, AFA cofounder and photographer, is seen here holding flagging tape marking the route of a logging road slated to pass through Eden Grove. 'It’s a bit of a race against the logging companies,' he says. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Andrew McKinnon, at his home on Vancouver Island, is a forest ecologist and local politician. 'These are among the largest trees on Earth and among the largest organisms that have ever lived on the planet,' he explains. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Andrew McKinnon, at his home on Vancouver Island, is a forest ecologist and local politician. 'These are among the largest trees on Earth and among the largest organisms that have ever lived on the planet,' he explains. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Another threatened forest is located at Echo Lake, situated 90 minutes east of Vancouver, near the town of Harrison Mills, in the territory of the Sts'ailes First Nation. For a few months in late autumn, the area sees the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Another threatened forest is located at Echo Lake, situated 90 minutes east of Vancouver, near the town of Harrison Mills, in the territory of the Sts'ailes First Nation. For a few months in late autumn, the area sees the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Cathedral Grove, near the town of Port Alberni, has become a national icon for big trees. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Cathedral Grove, near the town of Port Alberni, has become a national icon for big trees. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Workers at pulp and paper mills, like this one in the background in Port Alberni, are also seeing the need for more sustainable practices. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]
Workers at pulp and paper mills, like this one in the background in Port Alberni, are also seeing the need for more sustainable practices. [John Zada/Al Jazeera]

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