BC Old Growth Forest Update

by | Jul 7, 2025 | Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Community Trees, Nature & Conservation | 0 comments

Dear friends and forest protectors,

The Oceanspray (or Ironwood), KÁȾEȽĆ in SENĆOŦEN, is just past its full bloom. It’s strong and enduring. Like us. Strong and enduring and just past our bloom.

We are still here, still loving the forests of this land, still working to protect them. Still here, knowing each time we walk among the trees that we belong to one another, that we need the forests for our survival, and that they need committed human protectors for their survival.

We’re still here, despite the turn of the NDP government towards increased lumber extraction and their eager willingness to feed what’s left of primary forests to voracious industry (which is grabbing the last it can before it decamps to the southern US, where trees grow faster and profits are greater.)

Still here.

In the lead-up to the NDP government passage of Bill 15, which gave it greater powers to ignore environmental and Indigenous interests, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the BC Assembly of First Nations and First Nations Leadership Council vigorously opposed the Bill and threatened lawsuits: Bill 15 is now law. B.C. First Nations leaders say it’s a step back for reconciliation.

In this issue we are focusing on some of the visionary and valiant efforts of First Nations to protect forests, lands and waters through declarations of land title and jurisdiction and with concrete steps towards establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, or Tribal Parks. We recognize that this focus is limited and does not include, for example, the incredible resistance of the Wet’suwet’en to protect their territory.

Following the article titled ‘Indigenous Nations Lead with Signs of Resistance and Hope’, Joe Karthein reflects in ‘Thoughts on the Relationships among Government, industry and First Nations’. This section wraps with two good-news stories arising from environmentalist and Indigenous pressure to protect caribou habitat.

Then, as always, we wade into the deep system problems: within the forests, with government and industry forest ‘management’. Check out:

  • An important action you can take to press for reform of BC Timber Sales (See Not-so-Easy Action)
  • Trouble in the Headwaters, a new documentary linking flooding to clearcuts
  • Jennifer Houghton of Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society: passionate words about floods, salvage logging and wildfires, and the need for a new Forest Act
  • BC’s Urban Trees under Threat—from new provincial legislation

As always, we suggest actions, report on court cases and link you to more media resources.

May your summer be nurturing and smoke-free. Your forest kin await your presence.

Yours,
Jackie, Susan and Bill

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Easy Actions

Sign on to letters to support old growth protection and biodiversity:

Not-so-easy but Very Important Action: Support BC Timber Sales Reform

In May, the BC government appointed the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council (PFAC) to examine forestry practices in BC, especially the operation of BC Timber Sales (BCTS). They are coming to the end of their deliberations, and this is the LAST CHANCE to submit your thoughts.

The Save What’s Left Conservation Society has just published Public Forests, Public Trust: Reforming BC Timber Sales in a Time of Ecological and Economic Urgency. This comprehensive, 50-page report lays out 24 critical issues with BCTS governance, operations, and policy alignment. Reforming BCTS is the most practical starting point for meaningful change in BC forestry.

Here are the main failings of BCTS, as identified by Save What’s Left Conservation Society:

  • It ignores modern climate science and relies on outdated mapping and data.
  • It greenwashes clearcutting under labels like “wildfire mitigation” and “salvage logging.”
  • It justifies its operations through the discredited, industry-backed SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative).
  •  It continues the use of toxic glyphosate herbicides by aerial spray.
  • It excludes environmental and public values from its decision-making.
  • It provides little meaningful support for First Nations pursuing alternatives to industrial logging.
  • It undermines local voices and community-driven forest solutions.

Please take the time to write a message—it can be short—explaining that you expect better from a public agency. BCTS must be held to a higher standard, one that respects ecosystems, communities and future generations.

Send your message to BCTS.Review@gov.bc.ca, asking that they forward your letter to PFAC (Provincial Forestry Advisory Council), and respond to your email to let you know that the letter has indeed been forwarded.

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Upcoming Events

June 28, 9-5 pm, Cumberland Forest Annual Garden Tour. This is a fundraiser for the Cumberland Community Forest Society. Of special note: the Steller Raven Ecological Farm, 3177 Kentwood Rd., Royston. Come see how well nature and agriculture can mix to create a healthy and lush environment. Displays of mulching, construction of low-cost, home-made greenhouses and cold frames. Plants, preserves, and herbal teas will be on sale. SOFT-CV (Save our Forests Team—Comox Valley) will distribute information, along with other environmentally friendly groups. Get your tickets here.

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July 7, Elder Bill’s 85th Birthday! Writer Karen Moe and beloved Elder Bill Jones are writing a book about Elder Bill’s life and legacy: Flying the Coop: Fairy Creek and the Life of Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones.

They have a publishing contract and hope to get the book to press in 2026. But they need money to get this done—an ideal birthday gift for Elder Bill.

With almost 900 folks on this Callout list, if half of us donate $20 each, we would be contributing close to $9,000. Let’s do it! Donate here!

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Indigenous Nations Lead with Signs of Resistance and Hope

In this Callout issue, we bring focus to the inspiring efforts by First Nations to protect lands and waters in the face of colonial destruction; doing so with very limited government assistance. Despite the challenges and obstacles involved in developing an Indigenous Preserved Conservation Area (IPCA), some determined Nations are working through the long, arduous process.

For each story, we’ve given you an intro and some links, if you’re drawn to get the fuller picture. This compilation is not complete and it covers only some forms of land protection. Please let us know about other initiatives.

Haida Nation
Although Haida leaders have kept a potential court case in their back pocket all these years for leverage, they ultimately haven’t needed it. In April 2024, the Haida Nation and the province of British Columbia announced the Gaayhllxid/Gíihlagalgang “Rising Tide” Haida Title Lands Agreement, in which the BC government formally recognizes Haida ownership of all the lands of Haida Gwaii.

This is the first time in Canadian history that the colonial government has recognized Indigenous title across an entire terrestrial territory, and it’s the first time this kind of recognition has occurred outside of the courts. Experts say it marks a new path toward Indigenous reconciliation.

These agreements, along with supporting legislation, acknowledge Haida rights and pave the way for collaborative land and resource management. “It’s groundbreaking, really,” says John Borrows, a member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation and an expert in Indigenous law at the University of Toronto in Ontario. For more see In Coastal British Columbia, the Haida Get Their Land Back | Hakai Magazine.

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Kanaka Band
The Kanaka Bar Indian Band (ƛ̓əq̓ƛ̓áq̓tn̓mx), a Nlaka’pamux First Nation located about a three-hour drive from Vancouver, has been working since 2020 to establish the 320km2 T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in their ancestral watersheds. Five years later, they’re still working on it. Watch this 5-minute video for more.

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Kaska Nation
For decades, the Kaska Nation in the northwest of the province has been working to protect its homelands. The nation has proposed a 4-million-hectare Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) called Dene K’éh Kusān. The hope is that the province will formally recognize the IPCA in the final land-use plan for the area.

The B.C. government is simultaneously undertaking land-use planning processes with the Kaska Dena, Tahltan, Taku River Tlingit, Gitanyow and Nisga’a nations. The timeline is ambitious. For more follow this link to The Narwhal: ‘This land holds everything we love’: hope grows for Indigenous conservation in northwest B.C.

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Saik’uz First Nation
The Saik’uz nation is located an hour’s drive west of Prince George. In 2021, fed up with the cumulative effects of development—farming, mining, logging—that are now causing the forests and the moose to disappear and the lakes to become toxic, the Saik’uz announced that logging in their territory would proceed only with its consent.

Will they succeed, despite the logging licences held by Canfor? And despite the recent BC directive to raise BC’s logging this year by 30%? To learn more read The Tyee, How One First Nation Is Taking Back Control of Their ‘Devastated’ Lands.

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Tla-o-qui-aht Peoples Tribal Parks
In 1984, the Tla-o-qui-aht Peoples declared the Meares Island (Wanachus-Hilthuu’is) Tribal Park as a practice of Iisaak (respect) to protect the territory from rampant clearcut logging.

The Nation’s entire territory is now included in four Tribal Parks. These parks are an Indigenous Watershed Governance methodology to promote environmental security and sustainable livelihoods and a key strategy of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation in their ongoing struggle to uphold traditional rights and responsibilities in their traditional territories. For more detail follow this link.

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Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation: Title for Healthy Forests
Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation is advancing an Aboriginal title claim to protect their territory from unsustainable forest practices and, as a result, mitigate the effects of climate change. The case will bring jurisdiction back to the people who know their land best. Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation – Raven Trust

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Salmon Parks IPCA—Mowachaht/Muchalaht and Nuchahtlaht First Nations
With a focus on salmon-bearing watersheds, Salmon Parks are an Indigenous-led conservation tool to restore wild salmon by recovering key watersheds in Nootka Sound, on Vancouver Island’s west coast.

The muwač̓atḥ (Mowachaht/Muchalaht) First Nation is working to protect the waters and surrounding forest habitat and secure a healthy future for salmon for everyone by managing the Ḥaḥahuułi (ha-ha-hoolthee) of the Ha’wiih in a sustainable way, consistent with Nuu-chah-nulth values, knowledge, and guiding principles. Learn more about Salmon Parks here.

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Mary Hill Tribal Park Vision: Indigenous-Settler Collaboration
On the southern tip of Vancouver Island approximately 176 hectares of land has been closed to public access and sheltered from the impacts of development as a result of its ownership by Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND). Today Indigenous-settler collaboration has a new vision committed to reconciliation.

Giant firs, red arbutus, and twisted Garry oaks provide a habitat for more than a dozen endangered species that thrive in this unique space. Mary Hill lies in the heart of a waterfront natural wildlife corridor that extends from Race Rocks to Roche Cove, in the Metchosin community.

These are the traditional lands of the SC’IA⁄NEW (Beecher Bay) First Nation whose stewardship was interrupted by DND land seizure in WWII. For more detail follow this link.

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More Good News—from the IPCA Knowledge Basket

IPCA Knowledge Basket documents many land and water protection initiatives by First Nations across Canada. Explore for yourself. You will need to set up an account—easy, free and definitely worth it. Here are som highlights.

June 5, 2025, Tŝilhqot’in Nation signed a historic agreement with the province and Taseko Mines Limited requiring the free, prior, and informed consent of the Nation for any mining activity in the area. For more context on the tireless efforts of the Tsilhqot’in National Government to safeguard their traditional territory, read this earlier article.

2024, Wei Wai Kum First Nation declared the Homayno Indigenous Protection and Conservation Area (IPCA) on Vancouver Island.

2024, Mamalilikulla First Nation signed an agreement with British Columbia to collaboratively manage the Gwaxdlala/Naaxdlala Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) and Mamalillikulla Marine Refuge.

2024, Tang.ɢwan-ḥačxʷiqak-Tsig̱is Marine Protected Area (MPA) was officially recognized. The MPA was created by the Haida Nation, Pacheedaht First Nation, Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, and Quatsino First Nation in partnership with the Government of Canada.

2023, The Ḵwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w Ha̱xwa’mis First Nation declared Hada and Kakweikan (Bond and Thompson sounds) an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA). The unilateral declaration invokes the nation’s inherent rights and title, jurisdiction and decision-making authority to protect more than 41,000 hectares of its land and waters “from mountaintop to seafloor” as a breadbasket for its people. For more detail read The Narwhal: New ‘mountaintop to seafloor’ Indigenous protected area in B.C.

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Thoughts on the relationships among Government, Industry and First Nations

by Joe Karthein

Let’s reflect on the complex relationship between modern forestry and First Nations. These conversations must be had—thoughtfully, respectfully, and with a commitment to truth.

First, First Nations voices must be prioritized over settlers. Second, we must not judge Indigenous decisions. They have endured centuries of oppression, which continues today.

Key facts to consider:

  • Government and industry portray these partnerships as equal, but they are revenue-sharing agreements—money exchanged for social licence to log. First Nations face an impossible choice: accept logging and receive compensation or reject it, and logging happens anyway. If this isn’t colonialism, what is?
  • If a Nation chooses Indigenous stewardship or conservation over status quo logging, few mechanisms exist to support it. The Ministry of Forests facilitates logging, not conservation.
  • Sustainable forestry relies on either tenure holders voluntarily following FN stewardship principles or the slow process of applying for Indigenous Protected Conservation Area (IPCA) status—entirely outside the Ministry of Forests. Settler conservationists must recognize most FNs are not anti-forestry; they want improved forestry aligned with their stewardship responsibilities.
  • Many FNs feel excluded from parks, especially federal ones, where their past presence is unrecognized. These areas are often overrun with recreation and entrepreneurs, compromising hunting, gathering and biodiversity. As a result, many Nations prefer IPCAs, where they have more control.
  • Revenue-sharing agreements with the Ministry of Forests vary. Hundreds of millions of dollars in agreements with individual Nations are listed here: BC Government First Nations Agreements. Integrating Indigenous knowledge into current practices to achieve more sustainable forest stewardship has good potential, but how well such an approach may be bridged with status quo logging practices remains to be seen.

So, what can we do? 

  • Stand with First Nations to ensure their stewardship responsibilities are respected.
  • Advocate for fair alternatives reflecting Indigenous stewardship or conservation.
  • Push media and environmental NGOs to engage in difficult conversations.
  • Challenge corporations like Interfor, Canfor, West Fraser, and BC Timber Sales when they tout FN partnerships.
  • Inform MLAs and Premier David Eby about corporate capture in BC forestry and remind the government that until viable options exist for Indigenous-based stewardship, the government is complicit in colonialism.

This isn’t an easy conversation, but it’s a necessary one. Let’s have it!

[Joe’s advocacy efforts are focused on transforming BC Timber Sales (BCTS). He is the owner of a small excavation business and believes in a truly sustainable forestry industry: saving what is left of our undisturbed forests AND more forestry jobs.]

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Public Pressure Works on BC Timber Sales!

Conservation North
In late May, Conservation North launched a short video on the Walker Wilderness in collaboration with Evan Dux Media. The film features late Lheidli T’enneh elder Edie Frederick, longtime Walker Creek resident Hugh Perkins, and expert botanist Curtis Bjork. The launch event attracted 80 people, 50 of whom wrote letters to BC Timber Sales requesting that they cancel their ‘plan blocks’ in the Walker and Humbug drainages.

Public pressure works! Three days before the launch event, BC Timber Sales contacted Conservation North to say they had dropped five blocks, including the largest proposed block on Walker Creek. Approximately ten proposed blocks remain that Conservation North is pushing to be cancelled for the sake of the Mountain Caribou and myriad other life forms in the area. Watch Dzulhyun-The Walker Wilderness here.

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Protecting Caribou and Old Growth near Revelstoke
B.C Timber Sales, a government lumber agency, is halting all new forestry projects in critical caribou habitat across the Revelstoke-Shuswap region. The environmental organization Wildsight says this announcement is particularly a win for Revelstoke-Shuswap’s Columbia North herd, which, due to deforestation and human-caused climate change, has dwindled over the decades to about 200 caribou.

Follow this link for more detail. And read the Salmon Arm Observer: B.C. timber agency halts new logging on caribou land near Revelstoke and Business in Vancouver, May 20: BC Timber Sales pauses logging in threatened caribou habitat.

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Trouble in the Headwaters – How Clearcuts Cause Floods

by Susan Gage

Thanks to the Narwhal Magazine, on June 12, I—along with a theatre full of other viewers—was able to watch the screening of Trouble in the Headwaters, an important new documentary by filmmaker Daniel Pierce.

We were drawn by The Narwhal’s description: UBC hydrology professor and researcher Dr. Younes Alila takes us to the headwaters of the Kettle River Basin to uncover how clearcut logging has led to destructive flooding in Grand Forks, BC.

Not only did we get to see dramatic footage of the 2018 flooding and the relentless clearcut logging of the Kettle Valley watershed that was the primary cause; we got to hear Dan Pierce and Dr. Alila talk about the film and the science behind it. In multi-year research carried out in the Kettle Valley watershed, Dr. Alila and his two local guides (retired forestry workers) drove over 24,000 km of logging roads to analyze the factors behind the flooding.

In the last 30 years, 2/3 of the Kettle Valley watershed has been clearcut. This process was sped up by the pine beetle infestation, which led the province to drop all limits to the size of clearcut blocks, allowing the logging companies to do ‘salvage logging’. As has been discussed in previous issues of the Callout, salvage logging gives logging companies licence to remove healthy as well as infected trees.

In the case of Kettle Valley, this led to huge clearcut areas on relatively flat land. The film slowly pans over a clearcut of 600 hectares, about 15 times what is supposed to be the maximum cutblock size. With no shade and no trees to mitigate the rate of snow-melt, huge areas melted at the same time and flowed into the Kettle River.

Dr. Alila pointed out that government hydrologists have for decades based their decisions on faulty hydrology research, which severely under-estimates the effects of clearcutting on hydrology. And, of course, the rapid snow-melt and subsequent flooding also lead to drought in the summer, which leads to—guess what?—fires.

Following the 2018 flooding, the BC government spent $50-60 million constructing dykes to protect Grand Forks. However, Dr, Alila points out that in the meantime clearcutting of the headwaters has continued. This brings increased sediment down the river, which raises the level of the river-bottom. He expresses doubt that as long as clearcutting continues, the dykes will hold. “Water will always win.”

Citizens are fighting back. In Grand Forks they have launched a class action lawsuit against the BC government and the logging companies, which will be heard soon. Dr. Alila will be a key witness in this case. In Chemainus, the Halalt First Nation has filed a class-action suit, asserting that negligent forestry practices caused three catastrophic flooding events that took place along the Chemainus River between 2020 and 2022.

Perhaps the Ministry of Forests, which appears to continue on unperturbed by scientific evidence of the harm caused by clearcuts, will finally be called to account.

You can watch Trouble in the Headwaters here.

For more on salvage logging:
Aug 14, 2024, The Narwhal, Logging after B.C. wildfires is a hot industry. Could it do more harm than good?
Aug 29, 2024, The Narwhal, 5 things to know about B.C.’s lucrative salvage logging industry

For more about drought in the Kettle Valley:
Sep. 4, 2021, The Narwhal, Life in the heart of BC’s summer drought
For farmers and foresters alike, the extreme dry conditions in the Kettle River watershed have forced a reckoning with the region’s intensive clearcut logging and what people across the region can do to remedy decades of human impact to sensitive ecosystems.

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Wildfires & the Need for a New Forest Act

BC’s Forest Crisis: It’s Already Burning the Budget

Jennifer Houghton is the force behind the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society, which has done extensive work on developing a  New Forest Act proposal that would benefit both the environment and forestry workers. Below is Jennifer’s recent submission to the BC Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services.

“Hi everyone, and thank you for the chance to speak with you. I know you’ve been hearing a lot about financial pressures. We get it. I’m here with a proposal that can save BC money, create jobs, and prevent some of the massive costs we’re already paying for, especially in rural communities.

And it starts in our forests. Every year, BC shells out more to deal with wildfires, floods, drought, and damaged infrastructure. These aren’t just climate events. They’re man-made disasters, driven by how we’re managing forests. The science is clear. The increased frequency and magnitude of these disasters is directly related to the loss of natural forests.

Industrial logging and road building have stripped away the natural systems that once stored water, cooled the land, and slowed fires. All those disasters are costly, but let’s hone in on wildfires. The clearcuts and tree plantations that now dominate the BC landscape are hyper-flammable, fast burning and spreading fire risk across the province.

Fires have surged across BC over the last decade and tree plantations are the most flammable forest type. BC firefighting costs more than doubled in just five years, from $1 billion to over $2 billion. But disasters aren’t the only cost. A detailed analysis using government data found that it costs British Columbians $365 million per year on average to allow forest companies to log publicly-owned forests. Over ten years, that’s $3.65 billion lost—public money funding practices that make disasters worse.

Meanwhile, the forestry sector is shrinking. GDP contribution is down to less than 2 percent. Mills keep closing. And 55,000 direct forestry jobs have disappeared in the last two decades. So we’re not getting value or protection. But we are getting the bill, year after year. So why is this happening?

Well, the root problem is the law. BC’s forestry legislation is outdated. It treats forests like a corporate profit supply, not as public assets meant to serve communities and long-term stability. The current forestry laws aren’t broken. They’re built that way, to serve corporations first.

We need a full legislative overhaul. Until we replace the laws, BC will keep spending billions reacting to disasters instead of preventing them. We’ll keep losing forests, losing water security, and watching small towns dry up. That’s why we, Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society, created a new Forest Act proposal, The Power of Forests: Protecting Communities and Nature with a New Forest Act. It’s a full legislative blueprint, rooted in science, Indigenous knowledge, and fiscal responsibility.

And I want to be clear: we’re not anti-forestry. We are pro-future, pro-forest, pro-jobs, and pro-British Columbia. The New Forest Act is grounded in ecological integrity. Because forests that still work— forests that hold water, cool the land and store carbon—save us billions and protect our communities.

The solution is simple. Replace the laws, protect what’s left, and restore what we’ve lost. This means protecting primary forests, the ones that regulate water, defend against fires, and cool the climate. It means restoring damaged forests, so they can once again stabilize watersheds. It means using forests wisely, through selective, low-impact, stewardship-based logging, through regional log-sort yards, value-added mills, and diversified local economies. It’s smart, and it’s made for the realities BC is facing now.

And put plainly, this is a financial win. It reduces public costs. There’s less disaster cleanup. It creates more jobs through restoration work, Indigenous guardians, tourism, non-timber products, and more. It helps rural communities become more self-reliant. And it supports water security, which we’re going to need a lot more of in places like the Okanagan.

Now, this isn’t a theory or vague environmental idealism. It was created with the help of scientists, former ministry staff, and professional foresters. The environmental case is undeniable. The economic case is clear. This is forestry reform that pays for itself.

Here’s the bottom line: until we change the legislation, we’re stuck with the same practices that got us into this mess. The New Forest Act gives us a blueprint for fixing it. It’s a plan that saves money, protects people, and creates livelihoods. Everything’s in the materials we’ve submitted. Clear numbers, solid science, and legislation that’s ready to lead.

Take it, run with it, bring it to cabinet, put it in the budget. Every year that we wait costs more. But with the New Forest Act, BC can get ahead of the curve and finally start saving money, forests and communities. Alright, so that’s the heart of it.”

More on causes and impacts of wildfires:
The Forestry Practices Board has just released a 42-page report, Help or Hinder? outlining the many ways the BC Government is failing us when it comes to supporting policies to reduce the wildfire risk, and making recommendations for improvement. If you’re pushed for time, here is a short summary.

Jun 24, The Tyee, A Wildfire Threatened Squamish. Your Town Could Be Next

Jun 17, BIV, 16% of Fraser River water quality impacted by wildfires, finds study: Contaminants may start to negatively impact fisheries, shellfish farms and humans that consume them.

Jun 16, Kelowna Capital News, B.C. is Burning to premiere in Kelowna, Vernon: News about a new film. Make sure you scroll down to watch the trailer.

May 7, CBC News, Planned burn could have killed trapped firefighters, says B.C. safety report | CBC News

Dec 25, 2024, The Tyee, BC’s Wildfire Failures Could Bankrupt the Province

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BC’s Urban Trees under Threat

Trees help with heat dome effects
June 23 marked the 4th anniversary of the 2021 Heat Dome, an occurrence that most of us remember vividly. What we may not be aware of is that the Chief Coroner of BC investigated the reasons for the 619 resultant deaths, publishing Extreme Heat and Human Mortality: A Review of Heat-Related Deaths in B.C. in Summer 2021.

One of its key recommendations is to increase urban tree canopy, a major heat-protector. “A number of deaths occurred in neighbourhoods with large roads, large buildings, high density, and low greenness.”

How has the provincial government reacted? Bills 44 and 47 (Build, Build, Build!) not only lack any incentives or provisions for tree protection, but actually prevent municipalities from enforcing their tree-protection bylaws. A 2024 email from Katherine Brandt, Senior Planning Analyst with the Ministry of Housing, confirms this: “A tree bylaw cannot prevent a landowner from using their land per the permitted use and density in the zoning bylaw… The only way for a municipality to impose greater restrictions is if it provides compensation to the landowner.”

Sierra Club BC and CAPE (Canadian Physicians for the Environment) have crafted a letter on this issue which they plan to submit to David Eby’s office. If this issue concerns you, please craft your own letter and send it off to Premier Eby and his various ministers.

David Eby, Premier of British Columbia – premier@gov.bc.ca
Kelly Greene, Minister of Emergency Management & Climate Readiness – EMCR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Brittny Anderson, Minister of State for Local Government & Rural Communities – Brittny.Anderson.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing & Municipal Affairs – HMA.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Josie Osborne, Minister of Health – HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Adrian Dix, Minister of Energy & Climate Solutions – ECS.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment & Parks – ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca

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Save Our Sequoia!
On a related theme, June 12 saw hundreds of people gathered in front of the giant Sequoia tree in Victoria’s Centennial Square to protest its planned removal. The tree and the square’s fountain would both be removed in a proposed $11.2-million redesign of the square.

To quote a June 12 article in the Times Colonist: “The city has said the tree is being removed due to the need for better sightlines and that it could threaten underground power, ­telecom and water lines if it is not removed. The city said the redesign will include a net gain of 14 trees, planted with an eye toward appropriate scales and root management.”

The Sequoia has, for many CRD residents, come to symbolize all that is wrong with municipal and provincial attitudes towards trees: the misperception that old trees and old forests can be ripped down and easily replaced by newly-planted trees.

If you want to chime in on this issue, sign the Save the Sequoia petition.
And you can write to Victoria mayor and council: mayor@victoria.ca, jcaradonna@victoria.ca, ccoleman@victoria.ca, mdell@victoria.ca, mgardiner@victoria.ca, shammond@victoria.ca, skim@victoria.ca, kloughton@victoria.ca, Dave.Thompson@victoria.ca.

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What’s Up in the Courts?

Rainbow Eyes Still Waits for Results of her Sentence Appeal.
While she waits she is not required to serve her sentence.

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Teal Cedar Bankruptcy Proceedings
June 27 is the court date for Teal Cedar. Until then, the fate of the Fairy Creek 15—being sued for millions by Teal Cedar—hangs in the balance. The case against them is suspended during the bankruptcy proceedings. Also hanging in the balance is the logging of TFL 46. Currently, there are reports of logging in the region.

Meanwhile, Teal-Jones has won the right to sell a Fraser Valley forest licence, leaving endangered spotted owl habitat open to logging before the province consults First Nations.
Jun 20, BIV, B.C. logging deal sparks clash over Indigenous rights and endangered owl.

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Friends of Fairy Creek Society (FOFCS) Legal Case
FOFCS has persevered through various court levels in forwarding their case that the Migratory Birds Treaty prohibits the destruction of old-growth forests throughout Canada, and in particular in Fairy Creek where the threatened Marbled Murrelet nests. The FOFCS original hearing was in October 2023. It took almost a year for the judge to deliver his decision, which was to strike down the case. Undeterred, FFC appealed, and their appeal was finally heard on May 15, 2025. They are still waiting for a verdict – keep posted!

To help with FOFCS legal costs, either donate via gofundme to Save Marbled Murrelet and their nests, Old Growth or send a cheque, to receive a tax receipt, to BC Nature, 1620 Mt. Seymour Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7G 2P9, noting  it is for Friends of Fairy Creek Society. And please let FOFCS know that you’ve donated by emailing michaelandjenica@gmail.com.

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In the News

Jun 26, Times Colonist, B.C. judge rejects class-action lawsuit over Fairy Creek old-growth protests

Jun 17, National Observer, In ‘serious omission,’ G7 leaders release wildfire charter with no mention of climate change 

Jun 11, The Guardian, ‘Win-win’: new maps reveal best opportunities for global reforestation. New study shows regions with best potential to regrow trees and suck climate-heating CO2 from the air.

May 13, The Tyee, It’s Not Just Trump’s Tariff War Hurting BC’s Forest Sector. The inimitable Ben Parfitt examines the legacy of provincial policies and industry decisions on the current decline of BC’s forest industry.

Apr 30, The Narwhal, B.C. failing to protect 81% of critical habitat for at-risk species: government docs. The failure to meet federal protection standards, according to a government briefing document, is due to industrial logging.

Apr 17, The Tyee, Forestry Giant Not Owed Compensation, BC Supreme Court Rules. A precedent-setting decision lets the logging companies know they can’t expect compensation if the province removes some of their TFL.

Apr 14, Times Colonist, Protecting B.C. old-growth forests could yield $10.9B in benefits, report finds. That number could quadruple to $43.1 billion over the next century if 100% of old-growth trees were protected in the Okanagan and Prince George timber supply areas.

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Resources

Exposing British Columbia’s Lumber Business. So you thought BC was finished with shipping out raw logs? This video produced by the Ancient Forest Alliance clearly shows otherwise.

Counting on Canada’s Commitments: To halt and reverse forest degradation by 2030, Canada must first admit it has a problem. This extensive report by the National Resources Defense Council and the David Suzuki Foundation shows that despite Canada’s claims that its laws protect the ecological integrity of its forests, forest degradation has occurred across Canada with insufficient government acknowledgement, scrutiny or recourse.

Walking among the Ancients: Honouring a rare old-growth forest in peril. A great CBC Ideas podcast on walking through the last 1% of the endangered  Wabanaki-Acadian old-growth forest of Eastern North America.

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Inspiration!

Christi Belcourt’s The Night Shift depicts the intricate web of connections between night pollinators and the species that depend on them.

Christi Belcourt (apihtâwikosisâniskwêw / mânitow sâkahikanihk) is a Métis visual artist, community organizer, environmentalist, social justice advocate, and avid land-based arts and language learner. Her ancestry originates from the community of Manitou Sakhigan (Lac Ste. Anne) Alberta.

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