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Logging Vancouver Island’s last ancient stands into oblivion

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Before/after photo taken in 2018 in the Nahmint Valley. Photo: TJ Watt

April 2019

We’ve discovered that another swath of rare old-growth rainforest is slated for imminent destruction on Vancouver Island.

And as in the case of last year’s scandalous clearcuts in Schmidt Creek and in the Nahmint Valley, it’s again the responsibility of the BC government’s own logging agency.

BC Timber Sales (BCTS) plans to auction an area the size of more than three Stanley Parks for industrial clearcutting in 2019.

Together with Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF), we analyzed BCTS’ sales schedule and found these proposed cutblocks add up to more than 1,300 hectares. The majority target intact productive rainforest ecosystems that have only a fraction of their original extent remaining. These areas are at high risk of losing the plant and animal species that depend on them.

Many of the cutblocks are near Sproat and Nahmint Lakes in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories close to Port Alberni. Other areas are near Sayward (Ma’amtagila territory) and Gold River (Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory).

Watch Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting discuss the logging plans on Global TV and read the story in the Globe and Mail.

The B.C. government doesn’t share detailed information about how much old-growth remains in each ecosystem, how much is set aside or what a clear logging threshold should be to protect what’s left.

Government data do show, however, that the majority of the 1,300 hectares listed are forests with an age of 140–250 years. This means they have not previously been logged by industry and have most of the features of old-growth stands older than 250 years.

As big trees older than 250 years become increasingly rare, trees older than 140 years become more important to protect as remaining habitat for old-growth dependent species like marbled murrelets and spotted owls.

Yet Sierra Club BC’s data show that industrial old-growth logging continues at a rate of more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

Map of proposed cutblocks on Vancouver Island based on BCTS Sales Schedule 2019 fiscal year

Instead of liquidating the last ancient stands, B.C.’s forest stewardship should be focused on supporting good long term jobs in sustainable second-growth forestry and supporting First Nations that seek to protect more forests in their territories.

Recently, the B.C. government stated that it is working on an old-growth strategy. However, we’ve been waiting for details and timelines for months, including updates on what interim steps will be taken before almost all of the remaining endangered ancient forests are logged.

Despite the rapid ongoing loss of the remaining old-growth, the Minister did not offer any updates on additional protection for old-growth.

The B.C. government has introduced changes to forestry regulation. But it remains unclear whether it will use this opportunity to listen to concerned British Columbians and make the crucial improvements needed to protect endangered old-growth ecosystems and other ecological values from destructive logging.

At the end of March, BC’s Forest Minister Doug Donaldson explained in the B.C. Legislature that “there will be sustainable harvesting in old-growth forests on the coast.” He added that “we’re not considering a moratorium on old-growth logging.”

Unless the provincial government changes course to protect and restore what remains of endangered old-growth, communities will be left with ecologically impoverished tree farms that cannot sustain the species that depend the web of life as we know it. 

That’s why we’re urging the B.C. government to take immediate action for the well-being of Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, for habitat of endangered species, clean air and water, long-term forestry jobs and to save one of the world’s most efficient carbon sinks.

We must start with protecting remaining intact rainforest areas imminently threatened by logging—such as the Central Walbran and East Creek—and using a science-based approach for protecting and restoring the remaining old-growth forest, starting with the most endangered ecosystems.

A comprehensive conservation and forest management plan for Vancouver Island and other parts of B.C. must respect Indigenous rights and interests, enable a transition to sustainable second-growth forestry, support diverse economic activities such as tourism, and reduce carbon emissions.

Take action to defend forests

Feature image by Jens Wieting.

B.C. government agency logging Vancouver Island’s last ancient stands into oblivion, say environmental groups

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More than 1,300 hectares of old-growth clearcuts proposed across the island

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 4, 2019

In a review of BC Timber Sales’ (BCTS) sales schedule, environmental organizations Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) and Sierra Club BC have found the provincial government agency is proposing cutblocks across the last intact old-growth rainforest areas on Vancouver Island adding up to more than 1,300 hectares. The area, equivalent to the size of more than three Stanley Parks, is intended to be auctioned for industrial clearcutting in 2019.

“Vancouver Island’s ancient rainforests have helped sustain Indigenous cultures, a vast array of plants and animals and a stable climate since the last ice age. The province shouldn’t risk eliminating rare species and plant communities across these blocks,” said Ross Muirhead, a forest campaigner with ELF who monitors BCTS’ logging developments. “Destroying the last great old-growth stands is a huge mistake that will be looked back upon by future generations as a huge travesty. Remaining intact forests are needed to create linkages within highly fragmented landscapes and to avoid tipping points when it comes to climate change and species extinction.”

The majority of the proposed cutblocks target intact productive rainforest ecosystems that have only a fraction of their original extent remaining. These areas are at high risk of losing the plant and animal species that depend on them.

The B.C. government does not share detailed information about how much old-growth remains in each ecosystem, how much is set aside or what a clear logging threshold should be to protect what’s left. Sierra Club BC data shows that industrial old-growth logging continues at a rate of more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

“B.C.’s forest stewardship amounts to flying blind into terminating the old-growth web of life,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s senior forest and climate campaigner. “Instead of liquidating the last ancient stands, B.C.’s forest stewardship should be focused on supporting good long term jobs in sustainable second-growth forestry and supporting First Nations that seek to protect more forests in their territories.”

The groups analyzed BCTS’ sales schedule for October 2018 to September 2019. Government data show the majority of the 1,300 hectares listed are forests with an age of 140–250 years. This means they have not previously been logged by industry and have most of the features of old-growth stands older than 250 years. As big trees older than 250 years become increasingly rare, trees older than 140 years become more important to protect as remaining habitat for old-growth dependent species like marbled murrelets and spotted owls.

The largest concentration of proposed cutblocks is near Sproat and Nahmint Lakes in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories close to Port Alberni. Other areas are near Sayward (Ma’amtagila territory) and Gold River (Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory).

“Logging 1300 hectares of scarce, carbon-rich, old-growth forest is about the worst action a B.C. government agency could take for climate change mitigation and forest resilience on Vancouver Island. These clearcuts will release hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide and destroy more temperate rainforest and diverse forms of life.” said Dr. Jim Pojar, ecologist and author of a milestone 2019 report on forestry and carbon.

Sierra Club BC and a number of other environmental organizations are calling for immediate action to protect remaining intact old-growth in order to safeguard threatened species, Indigenous values and a liveable climate. The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” But the B.C. government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

Recently, the B.C. government stated that it is working on an old-growth strategy. However, environmental organizations have been waiting for details and timelines for months, including updates on what interim steps will be taken before almost all of the remaining endangered ancient forests are logged.

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For more information:

2018 aerial photographs of clearcut logging on Vancouver Island: https://www.flickr.com/photos/94279740@N07/sets/72157698359993961

Map of proposed cutblocks on Vancouver Island based on BCTS Sales Schedule 2019 fiscal year: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/BCTS_Map.jpg

Background on BCTS logging in Schmidt Creek near orca rubbing beaches in 2018:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/enviro-groups-and-indigenous-leaders-condemn-logging-of-rare-old-growth-rainforest-by-bc-government/

Sierra Club BC Vancouver Island’s state of the forest “White Rhino” map and data:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

Sierra Club BC report Hidden, ignored and growing: B.C.’s forest carbon emissions: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/SCBC-Forest-Emissions-Report-Jan-19.pdf

Dr. Jim Pojar report on forestry and carbon in B.C.: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/7-myths-about-forests-carbon-and-climate-change/

Media contacts:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
(604) 354-5312
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca

Ross Muirhead, Forest Protection Campaigner, Elphinstone Logging Focus
(604) 741-5392
loggingfocus@gmail.com

Dr. Jim Pojar, Ecologist
jpojar@telus.net

On International Day of Forests, conservation groups call on B.C. government to immediately halt logging of last intact old-growth areas

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 21, 2019

 

VICTORIA, B.C. – Environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and the Wilderness Committee are calling on the B.C. government to stop issuing logging permits in B.C.’s last remaining intact old-growth forest “hotspots” and endangered old-growth ecosystems and to implement legislation to protect endangered ancient forests. The call coincides with the International Day of Forests (March 21), declared by the United Nations as a day on which to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of Earth’s forests.

“The B.C. NDP government has stated that they’re working on a strategy to protect endangered old-growth forests and are making changes to forestry laws,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “While we are looking forward to hearing about details and timelines, we’re extremely concerned that the business-as-usual liquidation of old-growth forests is continuing in the last remaining intact old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the greatest conservation, cultural, and recreational values.”

About two dozen hotspots have already been identified on Vancouver Island. These include the Nahmint Valley in Hupacasath and Tseshaht territories near Port Alberni, where the B.C. government has direct control over BC Timber Sales, the provincial agency responsible for planning and issuing logging permits.  The Central Walbran Valley and Edinburgh Mountain in Pacheedaht territory close to Port Renfrew and East Creek rainforest in Quatsino territory on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast are also considered critical hotspots.

“After decades of destruction, ancient forests and the web of life that depends on them are close to the brink,” stated Sierra Club BC senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “Business as usual will result in species loss and leave communities with ecologically, culturally, and economically degraded landscapes. We need a halt on logging in critical areas to allow options for land use planning and time to strengthen regulation before it’s too late.”

Recent research mapping by the Wilderness Committee revealed that, in just five months, the B.C. government approved 314 new logging cutblocks with a total area of 16,000 hectares in critical southern mountain caribou habitat in B.C.’s Interior. This is despite the Province simultaneously working on a conservation plan to protect the highly threatened species.

“A ‘talk-and-log’ scenario is unacceptable given the ecological emergency we’re currently facing in B.C. The B.C. government must stop issuing logging permits in critical old-growth areas before more species fall through the cracks,” said Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste. “The NDP government needs to quit dragging their heels and show they’re serious about mountain caribou and endangered old-growth forest protection. They need to come up with both immediate and long-term solutions while there are still intact ancient forests left to protect.”

Old-growth forests are integral for their cultural values for many Indigenous Nations, as habitat for endangered species, and for climate stability, tourism, clean water and wild salmon. B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Outside the Great Bear Rainforest, the vast majority of provincial old-growth forests have been reduced to small percentages of their original extent. Logging continues with little legal safeguards to ensure a minimum protection based on science. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

The environmental organizations are calling on the B.C. government to implement a science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, in line with the NDP’s 2017 election platform commitment to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model,” support Indigenous Nations’ sustainable economic development and land use plans, and ensure long-term forestry jobs in improved second-growth forest management and value-added manufacturing.

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PHOTOS: https://cp.sync.com/dl/666a597d0/tn8yt9q7-8p9wddx4-bb87y4ca-sufc4vk9

Captions for photos are below. Media are free to reprint images. Credit to “TJ Watt” when possible.

1) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands next to a giant redcedar tree in Eden Grove on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

2) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands on top of a giant redcedar stump in a clearcut on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

3) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt sits on top of a giant redcedar stump on Edinburgh Mountain near Port Renfrew.

4) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt holds falling boundary tape in the Central Walbran Valley old-growth hotspot.

5) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness sits next to an unprotected 14-foot-wide redcedar tree in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

6) Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness stands beside a freshly fallen old-growth redcedar tree in BC Timber Sales cutblock in the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni.

7) An aerial photo of old-growth logging in the East Creek Rainforest on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

VIDEO: Media are free are free to use.

1) B-roll footage from Edinburgh Mt. old-growth hotspot: https://cp.sync.com/dl/09755ae90/zytycxg4-mmfz55ed-bbvjct6i-ru4h5bau

2) B-roll footage from Nahmint Valley old-growth hotspot: https://cp.sync.com/dl/0bfd79e10/nhy4yj5b-ja6r67bd-56ekp6n7-fv8pqr9c

Background information:

For detailed Vancouver Island old-growth mapping and statistics, see:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

The B.C. government has often stated that “over 55% of Crown old-growth forests on B.C.’s coast are protected,” but fails to mention that the vast majority of coastal old-growth forests that are protected from logging are in the Great Bear Rainforest, not on Vancouver Island, where old-growth forests are highly endangered and old-growth logging continues at a scale of about 10,000 hectares a year.

The government also claims that “on Vancouver Island, over 40% of Crown forests are considered old-growth, with 520,000 hectares that will never be logged.” However, the government hides the fact that the majority of this total area is low-productivity forest (i.e. stunted, marginal forests that grow along the outer coast, in high elevation, or in bogs and are therefore not at risk of being logged).

These numbers also ignore heavily logged forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority.

Finally, the B.C. government fails to mention how much old-growth has previously been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands (e.g. the very rare, monumental old-growth stands currently being logged in the Nahmint Valley and other hotspot areas).

 

For interviews, contact:

Andrea Inness, Forest Campaigner, Ancient Forest Alliance

Ph: 778-953-5983, Email: andrea@ancientforestalliance.org

 

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC

Ph: 604–354-5312, Email: jens@sierraclub.bc.ca

 

Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
Ph: 250-516-9900, Email: torrance@wildernesscommittee.org

Oldest living trees in Canada placed on the chopping block as communities stand up for local forests

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Jens Wieting with speakers at the Secrets of the Six Mountains forest event. Photo by Mark Worthing.

By Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner

March 2019

Communities along the BC coast are taking a stand to protect treasured local forests at risk of being logged.

On March 5, I spoke at ‘The Secrets of the Six Mountains’ – an event in Duncan aimed at sparking dialogue on the future of forests in North Cowichan. More than 500 citizens attended, taking a stand for ecological integrity, community well-being, Indigenous rights and improved forest management.

After residents discovered they owned 5,000 hectares of coastal Douglas fir forest and a logging company in 2018, hundreds of community members have come together to advocate for consultation on the future of the area.

North Cowichan’s municipal council heard the request for a pause on logging pending further public consultation. On February 15, the council took a step forward in the evolution of a forestry practice plan that could make the area a world class example of community forestry.

A new Forest Advisory Committee has been formed, and the community has much work to do together to define a vision for its forests. You can learn more on the website of the “Where Do We Stand” initiative.

This outpouring has been a reminder of community power and that a better future for BC’s forests is entirely possible. Though not everyone agrees on what should be done, there is sincere commitment to working together and engaging in the difficult conversations needed to find solutions. Deep gratitude is owed the countless local organizers, concerned citizens, speakers and others in North Cowichan, inspiring people across the province.

Meanwhile, on the Sunshine Coast, some of Canada’s oldest living trees remain under immediate threat.

BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the BC government’s own logging agency, is proposing to log a cut block containing stands of ancient trees, one of which has been found to be 1,036 years old.

Located in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) territory, an area known as the “Dakota Bowl Bear Sanctuary” contains hundreds of red and yellow cedar trees that could qualify as “Coastal Legacy Trees” and “Monumental Trees” under BCTS’ own guidelines for best management practices, considering their age, size and cultural significance.

The forty-six hectare area is known to have a high density of black bear den sites.

Measurements in the area in 2014 showed the oldest recorded tree was 1,036 years old and the next oldest was 675 years old. Eleven trees meet the BCTS definition of “Legacy Trees.” Photos of the ancient trees can be found here.

Dakota Bowl Bear Sanctuary – Giant Yellow Cedar, One of the Oldest Living Trees in Canada – 1500 years plus. Photo courtesy of Elphinstone Logging Focus.

Yellow cedars are known to be some of the oldest living trees in the world because they are disease resistant and tend to grow in sub-alpine zones where they are not subject to forest fires. The oldest recorded tree in Canada was a 1,835 year old yellow cedar that grew in the Caren Range on the Sunshine Coast before it was cut in the 1980s.

“To gain access to this remote area would involve roadbuilding on very steep slopes. This remoteness has protected the area all this time, creating a cultural and natural time capsule,” says Ross Muirhead, forest protection campaigner with Elphinstone Logging Focus. “This forest has several overlapping values all documented by professionals that make it unique—to log it would be a travesty.”

BCTS planned this block before it developed rules to set aside legacy and monumental trees. Since the block has not been sold yet, BCTS should act on its own best practices and guidelines that call for retaining large cedars and work with local First Nations who depend upon large cedar trees as part of their culture.

Sierra Club BC and Elphinstone Logging Focus have called for the province to cancel logging plans for Block 87126 and set it aside as an Old Growth Management Area with permanent boundaries to ensure long term protection. BCTS has stated that a number of the ancient trees will not be logged. However, this response is inadequate as it does not provide any detail about how much logging is planned. Ancient trees such as these should be protected as part of the forest, not as standalone trees in clearcuts.

Logging these ancient trees would be irresponsible economically, ecologically and morally. In 2019 targeting rare, endangered forests like the targeted stands on the South Coast is akin to the trophy hunting of rare and endangered animal species. It is an unacceptable way for the government to put money in public coffers.

These types of forests are exactly what we need to leave standing for climate resiliency and carbon storage. Logging these last stands of ancient forest is nothing less than a climate crime. With the best available science telling us otherwise, to log these rare trees is a complete contradiction of the government’s own commitments and mandate.

Solutions are possible. By implementing a science-based conservation and ecosystem-based management approach that respects Indigenous rights and title, the government can support sustainable forestry jobs while conserving intact forests to defend communities from increasing climate impacts like floods and wildfire.

Send a letter to help defend ancient forests

Feature image courtesy of Elphinstone Logging Focus

20,000-strong demand for old-growth forest protection delivered to MLA offices across B.C.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 6, 2019

Together with concerned local residents, representatives of Sierra Club BC and Leadnow today delivered a letter signed by more than 20,000 B.C. residents to government MLA offices across B.C.

The letter makes an urgent call for the protection of the last intact stands of unprotected old-growth on Vancouver Island and immediate protection of endangered old-growth forests across the province. Eighteen months after taking power, the government has yet to take meaningful steps to protect endangered ancient forests.

The letter was delivered to the constituency offices of Premier John Horgan, Environment Minister George Heyman, Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley (Nanaimo office), Courtenay-Comox MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard and North Island MLA Claire Trevena.

At least seven additional deliveries were made by individual concerned citizens to MLAs across the province including the ridings of Victoria-Swan Lake, Surrey-Walley, North Vancouver-Lonsdale, Vancouver-Hastings, Powell-River Sunshine Coast, Port Coquitlam, Parksville-Qualicum, Cowichan Valley and Penticton.

“The plight of B.C.’s old-growth, especially in the context of the growing climate crisis, has become an ecological emergency,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s senior forest and climate campaigner. “We need to safeguard remaining intact old-growth and the life support systems we all depend on before it’s too late.”

B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

The most endangered old-growth rainforest with the biggest trees now only cover 6.5 per cent of the Island.

“These ancient trees provide some of the best carbon sinks on the planet,” said Jolan Bailey of Leadnow. “In today’s rapidly changing climate, if we cut them down, they will never return as we knew them. Now is the time to act.”

On average, temperate rainforests store more carbon than tropical rainforests, helping to slow down global warming. When left intact, they are relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests.

“One thing we can do here in B.C. is to set a strong example of old-growth protection that respects Indigenous rights and title while creating new jobs and improving second-growth forestry,” said Wieting. “The Great Bear Rainforest Agreements showed solutions for healthy rainforests and healthy communities are possible.”

B.C.’s forests used to absorb more carbon than they released. But as a result of destructive logging practices, pine beetle outbreaks and wildfires, they became a net source of carbon pollution beginning in the early 2000s.

This trend has gotten much worse in the last two years. Both the 2017 and 2018 wildfires burned more than 1.2 million hectares of the province, eight times more than the ten year average. B.C.’s 2017 fires caused an estimated 190 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. 2018 will be similar.

Sierra Club BC is calling for immediate action to protect remaining intact old-growth and endangered ecosystems to safeguard threatened species, Indigenous values and a livable climate.

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” But the B.C. government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

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Attachments:

2018 aerial photographs of clearcut logging on Vancouver Island:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/94279740@N07/sets/72157698359993961

Sierra Club BC’s “White Rhino” map showing Vancouver Island’s most endangered old-growth rainforests and recent old-growth logging:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/white-rhino-map-shows-vancouver-islands-most-endangered-old-growth-rainforests/

Sierra Club BC’s report Hidden, ignored and growing: B.C.’s forest carbon emissions: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/SCBC-Forest-Emissions-Report-Jan-19.pdf

Media contacts:

Jens Wieting
Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner
Sierra Club BC
(604) 354-5312

Tim Pearson
Communications Director
Sierra Club BC
(250) 896-1556

EVENT: Ancient rainforest day of action

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Take a stand for old-growth forests
February 6, 10:00am
In communities across BC

Join us on Wednesday February 6 for a day of action for forests!

We’ll be delivering letters to MLA offices across the province to send a message to the BC government: immediate, decisive action must be taken to enact a moratorium on old-growth logging in critical hotspots like the Central Walbran. Protection for Vancouver Island’s last ancient rainforests must be combined with strong support for First Nations and good long term forestry jobs.

With help from Leadnow, Sierra Club BC has helped 15,000 old-growth forest supporters send a letter telling Forests Minister Doug Donaldson they expect strong action for ancient rainforests. Now it’s time to increase the pressure and make sure all BC MLAs get the message.

Sierra Club BC will be leading delivery events in Courtenay-Comox, Nanaimo, Langford and Vancouver. We’d love for you to join us or to deliver a letter to your own MLA on the same day.

To add an event in your area or do a letter delivery to your MLA, please contact galen@sierraclub.bc.ca. We’ve created a toolkit with suggestions, talking points and images you can print out for your visit. We’ll also add your town to the list of MLA visits on our media release!

10:00am – Gather outside
10:30am – Media conference

Vancouver: MLA George Heyman’s office (642 West Broadway), Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory

RSVP in Vancouver

Langford: Premier John Horgan’s office (#122 – 2806 Jacklin Road), Lekwungen territory

RSVP in Langford

Nanaimo: MLA Doug Routley’s office (#112-50 Tenth Street), Snuneymuxw territory

RSVP in Nanaimo

Courtenay-Comox: Ronna-Rae Leonard’s office (437 5th Street), K’ómoks territory

RSVP in Courtenay-Comox

Campbell River: MLA Claire Trevena’s office (908 Island Highway Campbell River), Kwakwaka’wakw territory

RSVP in Campbell River

Not on Facebook?

RSVP by emailing galen@sierraclub.bc.ca

Haven’t sent your own letter yet or want to know more about the crisis in ancient rainforests?

We’ve got a handy letter tool and links to resources.

Learn more and sign now
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