From the Rainforest: Clayoquot Sound - Still Not Saved

December 2002 - January 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Dan Lewis

Pretty Girl Cove in Clayoquot Sound. What will be left for the future?
Photo by Jacqueline Lindh

It's been a bit of a freaky fall here in Clayoquot Sound. Instead of the usual waves of storm fronts bringing copious amounts of rain, we've had day after day of warm, sunny and calm weather. Kind of like August, but without the afternoon westerly winds. The salmon are holding near the mouths of the creeks, waiting for rain to swim upstream.

While lighting the wood stove the other day (we don't read newspapers - we just burn them, although I have been known to take up to half an hour to get a fire lit), I read that the world's glaciers will all be gone within twenty years, according to Dr. David Schindler, one of Canada's most distinguished scientists. It seems that global warming is upon us.

One of the things we can do to slow global warming and mitigate its effects is to protect the world's remaining ancient forests. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) issued a report in 2001 entitled "An Assessment of the Status of the World's Remaining Closed Forests." Working with NASA and the US Geological Survey, they completed a satellite-based survey of the planet's remaining closed-canopy forests, which include old growth and naturally-regenerated woodlands.

They found that over 80 percent of the remaining closed forests in the world are located in just 15 countries (Canada is one of the four industrialized nations on the list). "88 per cent of these vital forests are sparsely populated, which gives well-focused and well-funded conservation efforts a real chance of success," said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP. "Knowing it is unlikely that all forests can be protected, it would be better to focus conservation priorities on those target areas."

Meanwhile, in BC, International Forest Products (Interfor) is gearing up for a major assault on one of the world's major candidate protected forests. They have just submitted a ten year plan for their tree farm license here in Clayoquot Sound. There are some serious flaws with it, including the scale of logging proposed, the high grading of big old cedars, and the contentious location of many of the proposed cut blocks.

In the old school of industrial logging, the amount of timber to be cut is determined, then cut, and it is hoped that some forest values and habitat will survive at the end of the day. The Clayoquot Sound Science Panel tried to turn forestry on its head. They stated that the forest ecosystem should first be inventoried, then a determination be made of how much wood could be removed without damaging the ecology of the forest. Interfor is currently trying to stockpile 800,000 cubic metres of approved cut, before any scientific plans are completed. Clearly, Interfor intends to try to maintain a regime of industrial-scale logging here in one of the world's most contentious forests.

Interfor is high-grading ancient cedars from Clayoquot Sound and all of their proposed cut blocks are in the oldest age category. This practice leaves behind an inferior forest, while giving the appearance of having retained forest values. Observations of the variable retention (the new style of clear-cutting calls for "retaining" a variable amount of trees within the cut block) in Interfor's past cuts indicates that the patches of trees "retained" are mostly unmarketable young hemlocks and dead snags, and that cedar has been logged from within many of those retention patches.

This is the first time since the mass arrests of 1993 that a logging company has tried to go into so many contentious areas at once. Sulphur Passage is one of the places now on the chopping block. This spectacular pristine area is located at the north end of Clayoquot Sound, and is a favourite passage for kayakers and yachters heading up to Hot Springs Cove. It is the gateway to the largest intact rainforest left on Vancouver Island - the complex of valleys including the Sydney, Pretty Girl, Megin, Watta and Moyeha. Sulphur Pass also stands as a buffer between this large expanse of wilderness and the logged-out Atleo River and Shark Creek. In 1988, after failed negotiations, First Nations, the fledgling tourism industry, and local environmentalists finally blockaded road-building in Sulphur Pass. Now Interfor proposes to build 14 kilometres of road in Sulphur Pass. This is sure to rekindle conflict.

Other contested areas on the chopping block include Kennedy Flats, which is the area between Kennedy Lake and Pacific Rim National Park (Long Beach). PRNP has been listed as one of Canada's ten most endangered parks. Logging immediately outside its boundaries is one of the primary threats. The Park supervisor concedes that the park is too narrow to sustain its own ecological integrity and is therefore dependent on the old growth outside its boundaries.

And finally, there's Satchie Creek, a small watershed flowing into Hesquiat Lake, at the extreme north end of Clayoquot. This is the only pristine valley left in Hesquiat First Nations territory. The surrounding area of Hesquiat Harbor and the Escalante River has been stripped bare by logging companies. The area has seen millions of dollars worth of restoration efforts, but now the money has dried up. It would cost far less to protect this one last valley than to fix it up after logging.

Nearly ten years after the mass arrests of the 1993 blockades, it is time to look back and ask if the issues here have been resolved. The fundamental environmental issue here in Clayoquot Sound - protection of the intact ancient temperate rainforest - has never really been addressed. The government and the logging companies seem determined to get the big trees out of here at any cost. Their obstinance is sure to be met with resistance. Check out the Friends of Clayoquot Sound website (www.ancientrainforest.org) to see how you can get involved. You can check out the UNEP report at http://www.na.unep.net/reports.php3.

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