Port Alberni & Island Timberlands

In order to understand what's at stake on Cortes Island and elsewhere on BC's coast, one has to travel to Port Alberni to see what's already been lost.

Port Alberni, historically a logging and port town, is currently undergoing intensive logging by Island Timberlands. One might not see it from the main highway, but as soon as you get into the back country logging roads, clear-cuts span from horizon to horizon. It's an awful sight. However, the company likes to point to the fact that everything they do on their private, fee simple lands are totally legal. But how did one private company come to own hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland around Port Alberni, including its Watershed?

All photos from TJ WATT

In 2004, the BC Liberal Government allowed US logging company Weyerhaeuser to remove its private lands from Tree Farm License 44 around Port Alberni, (for a deeper exploration of how these lands became privatized, please check out "The Great Land Grab"). This eliminated many of the environmental protections that were put in place under the public system, some of which included protections for deer and elk winter ranges on McLaughlin Ridge, deemed by government scientists to be some of the last and best habitat left in the region. In total, 2400 hectares of land lost environmental protections in this deal.

Today, these same lands have passed onto logging giant Island Timberlands (IT), now the second-largest landowner in BC (second to TimberWest, who is also logging in the area). Island Timberlands, formerly a subsidiary of investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, is majority owned by the BC Investment Management Corporation – the arms length investment firm of the BC government that manages public sector pension funds. This means that teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and all government employees in BC have their pensions invested in Island Timberlands. Their primary business model is exporting raw logs to markets in the US and Asia, where they can fetch the best timber prices.

Despite Port Alberni's long history as a logging town, there is opposition to Island Timberlands' logging practices. Their culture of vastly over-harvesting, high-grading the last of the old growth, logging in watersheds, and exporting the logs abroad, does not sit well with even some of the most veteran loggers. Thanks to the leadership of the Watershed Forest Alliance and the help of the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Teachers Federation (whose pensions are invested in IT, remember) have passed a motion to oppose IT's logging on Horne Mountain above Cathedral Grove. The Port Alberni city council has also added its name to the list of voices calling on IT to halt its logging in the community watershed.

Ultimately, the only thing that will protect these lands is if they are purchased and protected by covenants. The environmental groups would like to see Island Timberlands stop logging in the most contentious areas – which add up to only 1% of Island Timberlands' land-base – as a sign of good faith and to give them time to fundraise to purchase these lands. But the only institution with pockets deep enough to be able to afford to make this large of a purchase is the BC government – the same government that created this mess. And thus far, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Steve Thomson, has shown little or no interest in righting past wrongs.

Having traveled to these places numerous times and talked to people in the community, who are desperate to see these lands protected, I can attest to the passion and dedication of this small band of citizens who are leading this movement in Port Alberni. I can affirm the sacredness and uniqueness of these tiny pockets of ancient forest that remain. And I can testify to the extent of the carnage that is rampant on Island Timberlands' forestlands. I am encouraged by recent statements made by the Teachers Federation and the Port Alberni city council to give some heed to the future of their forests, their forestry industry, and their drinking water. However, it seems that the stronger the opposition becomes, the more intensely Island Timberlands resolves to continue with business as usual. What BC needs is a dedicated fund to purchase and protect endangered ecosystems on private lands before they are logged. Otherwise, they will fade out of existence forever.

Read more about the Ancient Forest Alliance's campaign to create a BC Park Acquisition Fund. 

Learn more about the Ancient Forest Movement in BC or become a member of the AFA.

Learn more about Island Timberlands' logging in Port Alberni and support the Watershed Forest Alliance.

Hul'qumi'num First Nations & the "Great Land Grab"

Robert Morales represents the six Hul’qumi’num First Nations (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt, Lake Cowichan), whose territories span the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island.

These lands were almost entirely sold off by the Federal government in 1887 to coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, in order to finance the construction of the E&N Railroad from Nanaimo to Victoria, which enabled BC and Vancouver Island to join confederation and become part of Canada.

To this day, there are Hul’qumi’num elders who still don’t know how that happened, how they lost their rights to the land. The Hul’qumi’num First Nations never ceded these lands and were never consulted or compensated. Over the years, the lands have changed hands many times amongst various corporate owners. Today they are mostly owned by the “Big Three” private timber companies: TimberWest, Island Timberlands, and Hancock Timber, who are extensively logging the last of the old-growth on these lands and flipping a good portion for real estate development.

Robert is in the unenviable position of having to reach consensus with six different First Nations, while at the same time dealing with the logging companies and both levels of government to try and recover some remedy for what’s been lost. Through internal working groups with Hul’qumi’num leaders, elders, women, and youth, Robert has been entrusted to speak on behalf of these six nations with one voice in their Treaty negotiations with the Governments of Canada and British Columbia.

However, negotiations hit a wall every time because the Federal Government refuses to consider any sort of expropriation, resource sharing, revenue sharing, or any other possible scenario with regards to private lands for the purpose of settling Treaties. When a First Nation sits down at the table with the government to talk about Treaties, the first thing they say is that they are talking about Crown land, not private land. But for Hul’qumi’num, there is very little Crown land within their traditional territories. 85% of their territory is comprised of private E&N rail lands.

Reaching an impasse in their negotiations with the Federal government, Robert and the Hul’qumi’num Nations have had to seek justice outside of Canada. In 2007, they brought a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the basis that Hul’qumi’num’s human rights had been violated, specifically their right to property, and that there were lasting damages still being felt to this day as a direct result of the privatization of these lands. Despite Canada’s objections that Hul’qumi’num had not yet exhausted all their legal remedies in Canada, the IACHR agreed that there were no effective legal remedies in Canada, as no Canadian court had ever recognized indigenous peoples’ rights to property. They are still awaiting a decision on this matter, which will determine whether Hul’qumi’num’s human rights have been violated.

The Klahoose First Nation & Community Forestry

In October 2013 it was announced that the Klahoose First Nation and the Cortes Community Forest Co-Op had been jointly awarded a Community Forest tenure on Cortes Island, which will constitute the majority of the Crown lands on Cortes. 

Their plan is to net out of the equation sensitive ecosystems, riparian zones, areas with very thin soils, and groves of old growth—and do selective, ecosystem-based forestry on what remains of the land base.

This kind of thing has been done before. Eco-forestry gurus Merv Wilkinson and Herb Hammond have proven that one can manage a forest over the long-term, extracting timber and turning a profit, while not harming the overall ecosystem-health or productivity of the forest. But in order to build a forestry economy for the people of Cortes Island, this will also require training the youth and building the infrastructure that will be necessary to mill and process the timber that's being harvested. This will take time and some logs may leave the island, perhaps even the country, in order to maintain the integrity of the business model. But their dream is to eventually curtail log exports and keep the logs on Cortes as much as possible—or at least within BC.

James Delorme, current chief of the Klahoose First Nation, is committed to developing a sustainable economy for his people on Cortes. The band recently purchased an Alaska mill for milling lumber for their own use and for sale off-island. Young people are coming to him asking to be trailed in logging, milling and woodworking, so that they can become involved in the various Klahoose logging operations, both on and off Cortes Island. James sees forestry as being a crucial component of the Klahoose economy that aligns with traditional values.

But the grand plan goes way beyond just the Community Forest. It also involves their small community woodlot on their territory on Cortes, which is separate from the community forest. They recently harvested some trees from the woodlot and, despite grumblings on the island, they were not at the receiving end of any sort of protest actions from the non-native community. They also have a Tree Farm License on their mainland territory, where they are doing larger-scale forestry; they have aquaculture operations in the waters around Cortes; and they have got several tidal power projects up Toba Inlet.

Despite some head-shaking from the locals about their use of industrial practices, revenues from their power-generating projects allowed them to build a new community facility for their band. Aquaculture provides fresh seafood for Klahoose families. And in terms of forestry, they are working a land-base that is orders of magnitude smaller in scale than that of Island Timberlands. They are employing Klahoose men and women and using at least some of the wood to build homes for their members. And the remaining logs are mostly being sold for use in our own bio-region. (However, the band council has been deafeningly silent on the Island Timberlands issue, when they were once the ones leading the blockades against MacBlo in the early 90s. I am very curious to know what has changed in their views since those days.)

So while the Klahoose have been criticized, I have to point out that in the case of their TFL up Toba, this is their traditional territory and if anyone has a right to harvest the timber, it is them. And ultimately, Klahoose members and their descendants are going to have to live in the area for generations to come, whereas the big logging companies can simply flip the land for real-estate once they can't grow any trees anymore, so the Klahoose have a far deeper interest in developing a truly sustainable economy than Island Timberlands.

And lastly, while our culture has been built from cashing in the natural wealth of native lands, it is unfair  to say that First Nations should not have the same opportunity to develop their own culture or make use of their own resources. If you look at the Hul'qumi'num peoples on Vancouver Island, where the vast majority of their lands were privatized and are now owned by big timber companies, most people are dependent on Federal aid for survival. But the Klahoose, who have regained control over a good portion of their territories, are now working towards the ultimate goal of all this economic development, which is to gain independence from the Federal Government. One can only hope that their connection to the land and traditional knowledge will prevent them from making the same mistakes that we did.

Klahoose & Cortes Island Obtain Community Forest

In a historic announcement, the Klahoose First Nation and the Cortes Island Community Forest Co-Op have been granted a Community Forest tenure on 3,700 acres of so-called "Crown" or public land on Cortes.

Their application was rooted in using the most scientifically advanced and socially acceptable methods of forestry, which have been developed to the highest standards of sustainability for the Great Bear Rainforest.

This comes as timber giant Island Timberlands wants to log thousands of acres of private forestlands on Cortes in an industrial model, which would clearcut large swaths of land and sell the raw logs mostly to the US and Asia. Cortesians have been concerned that this model will affect their drinking water, tourism industry, old-growth forests, and quality of life. In response, I.T. has held several public consultations and has made a few concessions to their logging plans, but the plans remain largely unchanged.

In November 2012, Island Timberlands moved to begin logging on Cortes. Cortes activist group, Island Stance — feeling that their concerns had not been adequately addressed — blockaded the entrance to I.T.'s Basil Creek property for several days, until Island Timberlands agreed to return to the negotiating table. They have not returned to attempt to harvest their timber since.This community forest tenure will give the Cortes Island forestry partnership a chance to demonstrate how they want forestry to be done on Cortes Island. They now embark upon a long, hard road of developing a forest stewardship plan that is in line with community values, in an open, transparent way. This process will test the resolve of all those involved with the Community Forest to maintain the delicate partnership that has been forged between the Community Forest Co-Op and the Klahoose First Nation. The partnership will also have to juggle financial and ecological integrity, in order to develop a truly sustainable community forest.

Tosh Harvey: A Young Forest Guardian

I first met Tosh Harvey on a winter excursion through the Children's Forest, an area of forest near Carrington Bay that is owned by Island Timberlands.

I was immediately struck by how at home this boy was in the forest. His eyes weren't looking down at his feet, but were darting around all over the place on the lookout for forest critters and edible mushrooms. He wasn't the most talkative kid, but I could tell he had a deep intelligence about him that came from spending his life climbing over logs, building fires, growing food, and playing in the trees. 

I bumped into Tosh's parents one magical evening on Marina Island, just off the coast of Cortes. His whole family was kayaking at dusk and came out to the island to watch the sun go down. It happened to be the solstice and the night of the super-moon. From a narrow strip of sand jutting out from the island known as Shark Spit, we howled as the sun dipped below the horizon, and fell silent when we turned around to see the full moon rising almost simultaneously. I've never had a more intense feeling of being on a giant orb rotating in space. 

It was around this time that Tosh's mom Lovena approached me and asked if I would consider interviewing her son Tosh for my film. She said he has a lot to say and will surprise me with his passionate insights. I wholeheartedly agreed, and came the following morning to interview Tosh. As you will gather from the video, this forest child absolutely blew my mind. You can tell when kids are just regurgitating things they've heard their parents say. Tosh did not give me that impression at all. These were all conclusions he had reached of his own accord.

Him and his friends were also building an entire village in the woods from sticks and grasses. They had homes, a cafe, and a sports arena. And man, what a tree-climber this kid is. I've never seen someone get up to the top of a tree so quickly, or swing from limb to limb with such ease. After filming him and his friends play for a while, Tosh went to help his dad Ryan chop wood for the fireplace. As Ryan and Lovena had been in a horrendous car accident a year ago, they were still recovering, so Ryan chopped wood with a mechanical splitter. 

Perhaps the most emotional part of the interview was listening to Tosh talk about his parents' accident, and how the community rallied together to bring them food and support them during this rough time. The conclusion that Tosh drew from this experience was that despite the powerful forces they are up against in the fight with Island Timberlands, he knows they are going to win because they've got love on their side, while IT are only after money.

Timber & Tourism: Discovery Islands

In July, I had the honour of taking a ride through the Discovery Islands with sailor and tour guide Mike Moore on his converted fishing boat, Misty Isles.

Mike makes his living taking travellers on guided tours through the Discovery Islands, where he provides a passionate commentary on the forested isles, diverse marine life, swirling tidal rapids, and conspicuous forestry activity in the region. On this particular journey, we were joined by Vancouver Observer contributor Carrie Saxifrage, who wrote this outstanding article.

Mike took us up to Maurelle Island to see the log dump and logging road that BC Timber Sales recently punched in. Logging is slated to begin this fall. This operation will be happening in the Lower Okisollo channel, one of three yet unblemished corridors that the Discovery Islands Marine Tourism Group has been fighting to protect for its tourism value. Despite acknowledgement from the provincial government’s tourism wing that this area deserves a “higher use plan”—followed by a staunch denial from the Ministry of Tourism that any specific plans had been made—they have been unwilling to intervene in any forestry activity that is already in progress.

With regards to Maurelle Island, it would appear that the BC government has been negotiating in bad faith. The decision seems to have already been made, regardless of what local tourism operators—who contribute millions to the local economy—have to say about it. But this story points to a larger phenomenon. As our political leaders fail to address the concerns of tourism operators and other stakeholders in the forest, a grassroots movement is beginning to emerge. Island and coastal communities are uniting on an unprecedented scale, with a common vision for a more diverse and holistic forest economy that cultivates multiple forest values—not just timber value.

Cortes Island Ancient Forest #4: The Whaletown Commons

Purchase is fundamentally the only legitimate solution that currently exists within the framework of our society to shift private lands back into public hands. 

Once we accept that fact, the next logical step is to determine what the price is going to be. But it is at this point that Cortesians have hit a huge stumbling block. In order for the price of any given piece of forestland to be determined, there are two factors that must be considered: the first being the actual value of the property, and the other being the value of the timber on the land, based on market prices.

A perfect case study is the Whaletown Commons on Cortes Island—60-acres of forestland that the community has been trying to reclaim since the 1990s, and is now owned by Island Timberlands. The Commons retains much of its old-growth characteristics, including giant firs and cedars, an incredible diversity of bird species, and a small stream running through the middle where cutthroat trout come to spawn. This area is also located in close proximity to the Gorge Harbour Marina, where many visitors come to Cortes by boat, which makes this forest a perfect destination for hikers that don’t have a vehicle to get around the island. 

The Whaletown Commons Society was formed specifically to fundraise and lobby for the purchase of this small parcel of land. The Strathcona Regional District (SRD), recognizing the ecological and recreational value of this area, hired an independent appraiser to calculate the value of the land and timber for the area known as the Whaletown Commons. The total that they came up with was $583,000 for the land and timber combined.

The SRD put $500,000 on the table—alongside the remainder that was raised bythe Whaletown Commons Society—and offered to purchase these lands from Island Timberlands, in order that they could become a regional park. Despite only having paid approximately $100,000 for these lands from the previous owners in 2005, I.T. rejected the offer and countered with over $1.5 million—almost three times the appraised value of the land and 15 times what they had paid for it. This discrepancy between the two parties’ land valuations, according to IT’s director of planning and forestry, Bill Waugh, is that the SRD had used domestic timber pricing in their metric, whereas Island Timberlands is in the business of raw log exports, which fetch much higher prices on the international market.

The Strathcona Regional District formally withdrew its offer and refused to pay more than the fair market value of the land based on domestic prices. What started off with great excitement about the prospect of finally regaining control over the Whaletown Commons, ended in disappointment and uncertainty yet again for the people of Cortes. However, the funds still remain available for the purchase if Island Timberlands decides to change its mind. And so they have no choice but to play the waiting game until either Island Timberlands decides they want to sell, or that they want to log.

But there are some folks on Cortes who are strong proponents for a little-known tool in the local government’s arsenal—and that is Eminent Domain. This is where a government may expropriate private lands for the benefit of the public by forcing the landowner to sell at the appraised value. This technique has been seen most often in public works projects, such as the building of roads, mines, or oil and gas pipelines. Most recently it is being seen in Texas, along the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands crude to refineries on the gulf coast. But there are no known cases that I have found of Eminent Domain ever being used for the creation of a park. And thus far, the Strathcona Regional District has not considered being the one to set that precedent.

Perhaps what is so subversive about this idea is that it questions the sanctity of private property. While landowners get paid, they are being forced to sell against their will, which opens up a whole can of worms about the powers of government, the rights of private landowners, and what we choose to value in our society. But if timber companies are going flaunt the very real needs of the communities they work around; if they are going to continue to disregard the effects their logging has on soil and drinking water; and if they are going to make it as difficult as possible for communities to purchase these forests for the purposes of conservation—then perhaps it is a can of worms that is worth opening.

Cortes Island Ancient Forest #3: Green Valley Watershed

One of the challenges that communities such as Cortes Island face when negotiating with logging companies on behalf of the forests is that they are often not even speaking the same language.

The timber companies think in terms of cost-benefit analyses, risk management, and cubic meters of timber—terms that are quantifiable and can be translated into quarterly returns for shareholders.To them, the forest itself is just a store of value that gradually appreciates as the forest grows bigger each year. The timber companies cannot actually realize that value until the timber is harvested and the resource is liquidated. According to the Wall Street Journal, in these times of volatile markets, ultra-wealthy investors are looking to timberlands—not for recreational purposes—but as a hedge against inflation.

If this way of thinking about the forest seems foreign to you, imagine how it must feel for rural communities that have inhabited these forest lands for over a century—not to mention First Nations, who have been nourished by the forest for millennia. Many Cortesians that I have met possess an almost mystical connection with the forest—one that is unquantifiable and deeply spiritual. Forest communities also have a heightened awareness of the innumerable ecological services and non-monetary qualities of a healthy living forest.

Take for instance the Delight Lake Watershed, which has been purifying the water for the inhabitants of Cortes Island—human and otherwise—since the last ice age. When the rains fall, the water is filtered through the roots of the trees, as well as the underground network of mushroom mycelium, and collects into wetlands and lakes. This matrix of mycelium—what mycologist Paul Stamets calls, “the interface between life and death”—is also busy decomposing organic matter and transforming it into nutrients and fertile soil, from which life is able to spring once again. Meanwhile, the tree roots are holding the topsoil together, preventing it from being washed away from the solid bedrock into the ocean. And aboveground, the trees are busy cleaning the air by breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen—one of our best defenses against climate change.

These are just a few examples (that we are aware of) of the ecological services that a forest provides. And it does all this naturally, asking for nothing in return—except to be allowed to stand. But none of these values factor into Island Timberlands’ equations, because they cannot translate them into revenue. And although the land is their “private property”, they certainly are not living anywhere near it, so they are not connected to it in the same physical way that Cortesians are. What little stewardship is being done is not done in the spirit of cultivating a healthy forest ecosystem, but with the sole intention of maximizing timber value.

That is why some forest advocates have begun to quantify some of these ecological services in order to be able to make an economic argument for leaving a forest standing. For instance, how much would it cost to build a water treatment facility on Cortes, and to transport in healthy topsoil, and to clean the air, and all the other things that a living forest does for humans? Or another argument I have heard is, how many people come to Cortes each year to experience the wildness of Cortes Island’s forests? How much money do these visitors spend on food, gas, shelter, and ecotourism? This number likely far exceeds the value that stays on Cortes when raw logs are taken from the forest and exported to foreign mills.

When you do the math, there really is a strong economic argument to be made for leaving ecosystems in tact and allowing them to continue providing the services that they naturally provide. And for some more economically minded folks out there, this argument may be very persuasive. Those who maybe aren’t as ecologically aware sometimes need to have those services quantified to be able to understand their value. But I truly believe that one walks a slippery slope when attempting to make an economic argument for preserving ecosystems.

The reason why big investment firms like Brookfield Asset Management, don’t consider the value of these ecological services in the first place is because they are non-monetary services. As long as the forests are standing, these services will continue to do their work for free. While the community may benefit, there is no profit that can be extracted. But what is to stop some savvy investor from harvesting the timber, contaminating the water supply, then starting up a bottled water company in order to sell bottled water to this new market that just opened up? This may seem far-fetched, but it’s the same logic of the oil and gas companies that are now drilling in the arctic—where global warming has melted the ice, revealing new petroleum deposits that were previously inaccessible.

So you can see how making a business case for preserving ecosystems may be a solid argument for forest communities that are thinking in terms of generations, but for shortsighted business tycoons that are being spurred by immense debt pressures, fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders, and straight up greed, there is always going to be some other profit-making scheme that looks more attractive in the short-term, and will generate bigger quarterly returns.

At the end of the day, one can only quantify what one already understands or is aware of, and the more we learn about the old-growth forest, the more we realize how little we actually know. For one, there are thousands of species of mycelium living in the ground and in the trees that have yet to be categorized or even discovered. These rare or unknown mushrooms may hold the cure to untold diseases. Who knows what we have yet to discover about our ancient forests—what other profound services they provide to humans, of which we have yet to become conscious. And how does one even begin to quantify the psychic and spiritual healing that can be derived from a long walk in the woods?The answer is simply that these qualities of the forest are unquantifiable. So perhaps the right way to move forward is not for forest communities to try and speak the language of the timber companies, but for timber companies to learn the language of the forest—a more holistic language. And with new words come new ideas, whole new ways of thinking, and ultimately new business models.

Cortes Island Ancient Forest #2: The Carrington Bay Children’s Forest

There is very little common ground between Island Timberlands’ methods and how the community would like forestry to be done on Cortes—but as this is private managed forestland, there’s not a whole lot they can legally do about it.

And, as long as the province is benefitting from these operations through their investment wing, the BC Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC)—which manages all of the public sector pension funds—there will continue to be a disturbing incentive for them to maintain the status quo, regardless of what communities may want.

According to Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA), "Ultimately, if these lands are going to be protected, they need to be purchased." But despite the fact that Brookfield Asset Management purchased their coastal timber holdings for bottom dollar, they are now insisting on highly inflated prices. (We will discuss a concrete example of this in two weeks when we explore the Whaletown Commons.) How on earth are humble Cortesians supposed to purchase these forestlands for such astronomical prices?

One option is to engage a Land Trust organization. BC has two provincial land trusts to choose from: Nature Trust and The Land Conservancy. And then there are some smaller, more localized land trusts, such as the Islands Trust. These groups raise tens of millions of dollars each year for the preservation of special areas that happen to fall on private land. But once the lands are purchased, how does a community ensure that those lands remain protected in perpetuity?

In addition to raising funds, land trusts also help with the legal process of placing conservation covenants on privately held land. A conservation covenant is when a private landowner makes a legally binding promise to protect the land in specific ways of his or her choosing. The land trust agrees to monitor the covenant and ensures that its promise is being upheld. Covenants are very flexible as to what one can specify to be protected or restricted on the land, and they are attached to the land title forever—regardless of who owns it in the future.Or, you could do what they did on Cortes and create your very own Trust. The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island was just incorporated this past summer, with the sole purpose of purchasing and protecting with covenants what is known as the Children's Forest. This area lies at the mouth of Carrington 

Lagoon, adjacent to Carrington Bay Regional Park. It contains some of the only stands of old sitka spruce trees on the island. James Creek runs right through the forest and supports spawning salmon. The origin of the name comes from the area's history of being a place where students would come and learn about forest stewardship, ecology, mushrooms, wildlife, and salmon enhancement.Island Timberlands, to its credit, has acknowledged the uniqueness of this area and has left it off its immediate logging plans. The company has engaged in a process with the Children's Forest Trust to allow them some time to raise the necessary funds to be able to acquire the property. The next step is to agree on a fair price—which could number in the tens of millions. If Cortes Island is going to achieve this seemingly unatainable goal, they are going to need a lot of help from the outside world.

But with just two provincial land trusts in BC, there are not a whole lot of places that they can turn to. But even if they are able to get the funds they need to save this forest, the reality is that private land trusts will never be equipped to purchase all these endangered private lands fast enough to save them from liquidation. The only organization in BC with a budget large enough to make these purchases is the provincial government.Up until 2008 the province had a land acquisition fund. However, since the recession, a fund has not been included in the budget. That is why the Ancient Forest Alliance has authored a petition calling on the provincial government to establish a BC Park Acquisition Fund of $40 million a year—or about 0.1% of the annual provincial budget.

Over ten years this fund would add up to $400 million and could be used to purchase lands with important ecological, cultural, and recreational value, to be added to the BC parks system. The petition also points out that, “For every $1 invested by the BC government in our parks system, another $9 is generated in the provincial economy through tourism revenues.” Not to mention the ecological services that a forest provides in purifying our air and water. (We will discuss ecological services next week in Green Valley.)

There is a compelling economic argument to be made for investing in a standing forest—simply to allow it to continue doing its job as a forest. But before that can happen with the Cortes Island Children's Forest, Island Timberlands will have to agree to sell the land at fair value. And even if that does occur, the province will have to start making the acquisition of private forestlands a priority if communities like Cortes are going to survive, let alone purchase these lands. And no matter what, the Children's Forest Trust is going to have a huge amount of fundraising on their hands.

But perhaps most importantly, for all the land that is going to remain in the hands of the corporations, there is a need for stronger regulations and enforcement of violations on Private Managed Forestland. Sensitive ecosystems and species at risk do not understand property lines. And the long-term effects of industrial logging practices have innumerable downstream consequences for neighboring communities. So the whole argument that says, “It’s their private land, they can do whatever they want.” Well, therein lies the problem—and I don’t buy it.

Cortes Island Ancient Forest #1: The Basil Creek Watershed

My first field trip to Cortes Island in January 2012 was a life-altering event. 

Meeting the people of Cortes—learning about their mammoth struggle with far-away investment firms that want to cash in on their forestlands—influenced the course of my life for years to come.

I returned to Cortes in late November after an IT representative left a cryptic message on the Cortes Island website that said they would "begin forest harvesting and related activities the week of November 26."One thing I didn’t fully grasp in my previous excursions was the full extent of Island Timberlands’ land holdings on Cortes, because there were no identifying markers. But this time, as I drove along the main east-west road that connects the villages of Manson’s Landing and Whaletown, I could see that both sides were lined with Island Timberlands' Private Property signs.