fbpx

Tag Archive for: old growth

Posts

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

/in , , , /by

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.

-30-

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

/in , , , /by

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

Vancouver Island’s ancient rainforests destroyed three times faster than Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

/in , , , , , /by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 3, 2019

As Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro acted immediately to remove protections for the country’s rainforest after taking office this week, Sierra Club BC called for increased protection of globally important rainforests and warned that Vancouver Island’s productive ancient rainforests are being destroyed three times faster than Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

Global concern about the future of the Amazon is growing as President Bolsonaro has declared he wants to open large areas of the rainforest for extraction of natural resources and limit further protection of the lands of Indigenous peoples.

As of 2018, about eighty per cent of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest remains intact (compared to pre-1970). In the last twenty-five years, close to ten per cent of the rainforest was destroyed (3.7 million square kilometres remained in 1993 and 3.3 million square kilometres remained in 2018).

On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than thirty per cent of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last twenty-five years (684,000 hectares or thirty-one per cent in 1993 and 469,000 hectares or twenty-one per cent in 2018).

“Bolsonaro’s rise to power is a huge threat for the future of rainforests, biodiversity, Indigenous rights and our climate. It’s also a reminder that B.C. is not taking its global responsibility seriously. Like Brazil, we need to safeguard remaining intact rainforests and the life support systems we all depend on before it’s too late,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s senior forest and climate campaigner.

“The world needs to push back on Bolsonaro’s assault on Indigenous rights and Brazil’s globally significant rainforests. One thing we can do here in B.C. is to set a strong example of rainforest protection that respects Indigenous rights and title while creating new jobs and improving second-growth forestry. The Great Bear Rainforest Agreements showed solutions for healthy rainforests and healthy communities are possible.”

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

Globally, the loss of primary forests—forests that are largely undisturbed by human activity—is threatening species, carbon storage, clean air and clean water. In some countries this is mainly due to deforestation; in other countries such as Canada, this is mainly through the replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest.

BC’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 34 soccer fields per day.

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.

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.

– 30 –

Editors/Producers:

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

Map showing Vancouver Island old-growth rainforest logging 1993-2018:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/VI_25_Years_of_Logging-1.pdf

2018 Sierra Club BC data table showing loss of productive coastal old-growth temperate rainforest and levels of protection on Vancouver Island and Clayoquot Sound:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Clayoquot-Sound-Anniversary-Data-Table_SCBC.pdf

Amazon figures are based on estimates by the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for roughly sixty per cent of the Amazon rainforest. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/deforestation_calculations.html

Media contact:

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

200,000+ people stand tall for ancient rainforests

/in , , /by

Hitting the streets with our canvass team in Vancouver. Photo by Shannon Elmitt

By Jens Wieting

November 1, 2018

Thanks to wonderful people – including you! – we’ve made incredible progress working to defend Vancouver Island’s last endangered ancient forests. Here are just a few highlights of what you’ve helped accomplish in the past 12 months on our old-growth forests campaign:

  • We’ve surpassed our goal of 10,000 letters sent by BC residents!
  • 223 scientists have called for protection of BC’s old-growth
  • We released a detailed map showing intact rainforest and recent destruction
  • We’ve welcomed more than 100 volunteers into our forest campaign
  • We hosted 13 events to talk forests with communities
  • Our forest team had a presence at more than 35 events
  • 171 phone calls have been made to BC’s forests minister
  • 125 days have been spent outdoors canvassing on forests
  • We released shocking images of recent logging destruction on Vancouver Island taken during a flyover by our campaigner Jens Wieting
  • BC-born celebrities Bryan Adams, Alexander Ludwig and Rachel Roberts have endorsed our campaign
  • We published a Forest Action Taker’s Guide for people who want to dive even deeper on forests
  • On the 25th anniversary of the historic Clayoquot Sound mass arrest, we released data showing more than 30% of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth rainforest in 1993 was destroyed in the past 25 years
  • We held a very successful forest action volunteer training weekend in October to take our campaign to the next level
  • We wrote to 437 candidates running in municipal elections on Vancouver Island asking them to step up to the plate for ancient rainforests
  • On October 25, Sierra Club BC and our German partner group Rainforest Rescue delivered a petition from more than 185,000 names of people around the world calling for the protection of ancient rainforests

Extensive logging in the Sarita River watershed. Note the clearcut extending nearly to the edge of the river.
Aerial photographs of southern Vancouver Island taken by Sierra Club BC Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting in July 2018. Find more photos of destruction here

The international call for protection is echoed by tens of thousands of British Columbia residents who have already signed petitions launched by Sierra Club BC, the Wilderness Committee the Ancient Forest Alliance and Leadnow.

Rainforest Rescue spokesperson Mathias Rittgerott pointed out that the ongoing destruction of BC’s ancient rainforest undermines the positive image of Canada internationally—particularly the shocking fact that Vancouver Island’s last old-growth rainforest is being destroyed faster than in rainforests in tropical countries.

The international call for action and the ongoing clearcutting this old-growth rainforest worry Island tourism operators and experts. At the petition delivery, Scott Benton of the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC expressed significant concern that opportunities to experience old-growth forests are becoming increasingly rare in BC and particularly on Vancouver Island.

Scott Benton of the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC speaks about importance of ancient forests to tourism operators in BC. To his right, Oriana Smy of Outer Shores Expeditions joins in the call for protection. Watch a livestream of the petition delivery here.

Brian White, Professor at the Royal Roads University School of Tourism and Hospitality, said he is seeing growing disappointment and disbelief among tourists, who see the devastation of old-growth forests on social media. Vancouver Island has a reputation as a world class tourism destination partly due to its magnificent ancient forests, but this reputation is getting damaged and this has an impact on tourism businesses.

City of Victoria Councillor Laurel Collins pointed out that if the provincial government is serious about protecting species habitat and water, meeting climate targets, and supporting long term jobs in resource based sectors and tourism in rural communities, it must protect endangered ancient rainforest.

Most of the concerned citizens who signed the petition are from Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Australia and Argentina.

In addition to jeopardizing BC’s tourism economy, the destruction of BC’s globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests also threatens biodiversity and Indigenous cultural values. These big trees provide some of the best carbon sinks on the planet and irreplaceable long term economic value for tourism, recreation and businesses seeking locations with a high quality of life.

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.” Following through on this promise would benefit the well-being of communities, biodiversity, clean air and water, long term forestry jobs and one of the world’s most efficient carbon sinks.

But one year into taking power, the BC government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

Sierra Club BC asked the BC government to receive the petition two days earlier. The petition was received by Forest Minister Doug Donaldson’s assistant without offering any comment.

We take this as another signal that the provincial government does not take the old-growth forest crisis very seriously and that it will take a lot more pressure from British Columbians to change this.

We are committed to building strong support for protecting old-growth forests with our call for action at www.rainforestisland.ca.

Please join us in the fight.

 

Feature image by TJ Watt

25 years after the Clayoquot Sound protests, Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth rainforest is still disappearing

/in , /by

August 2018

While many of BC’s trees are going up in flames, the most resilient provincial forests that are less prone to fire – intact old-growth rainforests – continue to be clearcut in most parts of the province.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic Clayoquot Sound mass arrest, a new Sierra Club BC map and data show more than 30 percent of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth rainforest in 1993 was destroyed in just the last twenty-five years. Only about a fifth remains intact.

Many British Columbians and people around the world believe to this day that the Clayoquot Sound protests resulted in a massive victory for rainforest protection for the whole province. But the reality is different. The protests improved the fate of the rainforest in Clayoquot Sound but not for most other parts of the province. The other ninety per cent of Vancouver Island was relentlessly logged, with severe impacts on coastal economies.

Recently, Sierra Club BC campaigner Jens Wieting did an aerial tour of southern Vancouver Island to photograph the destruction. The footage highlights how much of the Island has been logged since the historic Clayoquot protests 25 years ago. More photos can be seen online here:

Explore photos

In 1993, sixty per cent of the rainforest in the Clayoquot Sound region – the territory of the Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and Hesquiaht First Nations – was still intact. Although only part of the region (seventeen per cent) received formal protection after the protests, the vast majority of its old-growth rainforest remains intact today. First Nations have gained greater decision making power and are engaged in planning to determine long term land use designations.

But the situation couldn’t be more different across the remainder of Vancouver Island. There, only twenty-nine per cent of intact productive old-growth rainforest remained in 1993 and this number is now reduced to a shocking nineteen per cent. The amount protected remains dismal at less than six per cent.

The protests in Clayoquot Sound, led by Indigenous leaders and supported by thousands of concerned citizens, made international headlines as the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of Canada. August 9, 1993 is considered a peak date of the protests with more than 300 people arrested (out of a total of more than 900 arrested).

As a result of the protests, the BC government had to change course and give up its plan to allow logging of the majority of the region’s old-growth rainforest. In 2017, the Ahousaht First Nation announced a land use vision seeking Indigenous protected areas for the majority of their territory.

The destruction of BC’s globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests threatens biodiversity, Indigenous cultural values, carbon storage and other environmental services, and a diverse economy. BC’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. When left intact, they are also considered relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests.

Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, equivalent to the area of nearly two soccer fields per hour.

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 one year into taking power the BC government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

The province has still not committed concrete support to the Ahousaht and other First Nations on Vancouver Island who are seeking long term solutions to save the remaining unprotected old-growth rainforest.

It’s time for the provincial government to step up. Please call on Forests Minister Doug Donaldson to protect the last ancient stands of Vancouver Island.

Send a letter

You can also phone Doug Donaldson’s office to register your support for protecting old-growth forests:

Call now

All photos by Jens Wieting

On Clayoquot Sound anniversary, Sierra Club BC map shows more than 30 per cent of Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth rainforest destroyed since protests

/in , /by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 9, 2018

While many of BC’s trees are going up in flames, the most resilient provincial forests that are less prone to fire – intact old-growth rainforests – continue to be clearcut in most parts of the province. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic Clayoquot Sound mass arrest, a new Sierra Club BC map and data show more than thirty per cent of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth rainforest in 1993 was destroyed in just the last twenty-five years. Only about a fifth remains intact.

“Many British Columbians and people around the world believe to this day that the Clayoquot Sound protests resulted in a massive victory for rainforest protection for the whole province. But the reality is different,” said Jens Wieting, senior forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC. “The protests improved the fate of the rainforest in Clayoquot Sound but not for most other parts of the province. The other ninety per cent of Vancouver Island was relentlessly logged, with severe impacts on coastal economies.”

In 1993, sixty per cent of the rainforest in the Clayoquot Sound region – the territory of the Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and Hesquiaht First Nations – was still intact. Although only part of the region (seventeen per cent) received formal protection after the protests, the vast majority of its old-growth rainforest remains intact today. First Nations have gained greater decision making power and are engaged in planning to determine long term land use designations.

But the situation couldn’t be more different across the remainder of Vancouver Island. There, only twenty-nine per cent of intact productive old-growth rainforest remained in 1993 and this number is now reduced to a shocking nineteen per cent. The amount protected remains dismal at less than six per cent.

The protests in Clayoquot Sound, led by Indigenous leaders and supported by thousands of concerned citizens, made international headlines as the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of Canada. August 9, 1993 is considered a peak date of the protests with more than 300 people arrested (out of a total of more than 900 arrested). As a result of the protests, the BC government had to change course and give up its plan to allow logging of the majority of the region’s old-growth rainforest. In 2017, the Ahousaht First Nation announced a land use vision seeking Indigenous protected areas for the majority of their territory.

“Clayoquot Sound is a forest oasis in the troubled landscape of Vancouver Island,” said Valerie Langer, one of the leading figures of the Clayoquot protests of 1993. “In one small region, most of the old-growth still exists and conservation solutions continue to drive toward ever better outcomes. But across the vast majority of the Island, the old-growth is mostly gone and the data shows that an antiquated mindset is driving the remaining forests over the edge. It’s time for provincial leaders to finally step up to the plate and support solutions for forests across the Island and the province.”

The destruction of BC’s globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests threatens biodiversity, Indigenous cultural values, carbon storage and other environmental services, and a diverse economy. BC’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. When left intact, they are also considered relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, equivalent to the area of nearly two soccer fields per hour.

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 one year into taking power the BC government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest. The province has still not committed concrete support to the Ahousaht and other First Nations on Vancouver Island who are seeking long term solutions to save the remaining unprotected old-growth rainforest.

– 30 –

Editors/Producers:

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

Map showing Vancouver Island old-growth rainforest logging 1993-2018: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/VI_25_Years_of_Logging-1.pdf

Data table showing loss of productive coastal old-growth temperate rainforest and levels of protection on Vancouver Island and Clayoquot Sound: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Clayoquot-Sound-Anniversary-Data-Table_SCBC.pdf

 

Media Contacts:

Jens Wieting

Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner

Sierra Club BC

(604)354-5312

 

Valerie Langer

(604)307-6448

MENU