A man and woman looking at mature second growth forest with some old growth
Forests, History

A brief history of Cortes, Forestry and Mosaic

(De Clarke produced the audio version of this story, which is part of the March 15th Cortes Currents broadcast.)

The people living on this island have had a long and deep history with its forests. First Nation people lived here at least 4,000 years ago with new research pushing that date back to 10,000 years and perhaps even more.

In 1896 the first European settlers arrived and began clearing the forest for their homesteads. By the 1920’s, there were 120 families on this island making a living from logging so that by the 40’s and 50’s, much of the easily accessible old growth forests were already fallen. Today on any walk in the woods, you can still see those massive, ancient stumps.

Map showing the Island Timberland properties Mosaic is managing on Cortes Island.
Cropped screenshot from – ‘Heartwood: Cortes Island Ancient Forest #2 The Carrington Bay Children’s Forest

The logging company Macmillian and Bloedel began buying up homesteads in the 1950’s at prices ranging from $25- $75 per acre. Mac and Blo ended up owning about 20% of the Cortes Island land base as private forestry land.

Eventually the residents of Cortes Island became aware that all was not well in the forests and in 1988 the Cortes Island Forest Committee formed to unify opposition to industrial logging. In April 1990, about 100 islanders, both Klahoose and settlers successfully blockaded Mac and Blo in Squirrel Cove to protect the forest from clear cutting. In response, Mac and Blo started experimenting with smaller cutblocks and partial retention of trees. The Siskin Lane lands are one example of where this was done.

Things heated up again in November 1998, when the Ministry of Forests gave the cutting rights for the Crown Land forests to Canfor, violating the protocol regarding First Nations treaty negotiations. In January 1999 the Cortes Ecoforestry Society was formed in reaction to Mike Jenks’ logging on Twin Island and then the clearcutting of the Seaford Y and Lewis Channel cutblocks. That summer, the Cortes Ecoforestry Society and Klahoose signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to create an ecologically managed community forest encompassing 2/3 of the island. The Cortes Ecoforestry Society began negotiations to purchase 1,600 hectares of forest land from Mac and Blo while Klahoose started negotiating an exchange of private land for Crown Land as an interim treaty measure. In the midst of all this, the American logging company Weyerhaeuser buys out Mac and Blo but with the condition from the Ministry of Forests that they continue to work cooperatively with the community  towards transfering the Squirrel Cove Lands to Klahoose and the Cortes Island private lands to the Cortes Ecoforestry Society.

The next year in 2000, a Cortes Initiative was presented to the BC government. In exchange for land of equal value off of Cortes, Weyerhaeuser’s private holdings would be converted to Crown Land and joint tenure of all Cortes Crown Lands would be given to Klahoose and the Cortes Ecoforestry Society. The BC NDP government accepted this initiative but unfortunately, the NDP lost the election and a change in the Chiefs at Klahoose put an end to this deal that would have put our local forests under the management of Cortes Islanders.

In 2004, Weyerhaeuser sold out to Brookfield Asset Management, the parent company to Island Timberlands. The agreements between the Ministry of Forests and Weyerhaeuser to work cooperatively with the community did not get passed along with the sale to IT. Forestry parcels began to be sold off to gypo loggers. As the Bartholemew Rd cutblocks were being cleared, the logger attempted to get approval to subdivide but the Cortes community pushed back against “Log and Talk” tactics. Through public meetings and a petition, the community was able to block the rezoning of these lands so that they would stay zoned as forestry and not be subdivided into residential lots. 

Screenshot from Heartwood: Cortes Island Ancient Forest #3: Delight Lake Watershed

Then in the summer of 2008, Island Timberlands informed Cortes that they would start industrial logging as soon as the timber markets improved. This starts another flurry of community action that over the course of the next 4 years;

  • Produced Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory mapping and found that there are ecologically sensitive areas that were at risk from logging
  • We re-invigorated the push for the Community Forest Application by Klahoose and the Cortes Ecoforestry Society with the Ministry of Forests
  • The community organization Wildstands was formed
  • The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes was established
  • A petition with 6,500 signatures was delivered to 6 Brookfield head offices worldwide including in Hongkong, Sydney and London.
  • We attracted major media coverage including MTV filming for the show Buried Life and Ramshackle Pictures producing the Heartwood films
  • And ongoing negotiations with IT were carried out for the Children’s Forest, Whaletown Commons and sensitive areas of Delight Lake and Basil Creek

Finally on November 27, 2012, IT crews arrived to start logging at Basil Creek but they were met there by the community group Island Stance. Media outreach and communications went into hyper drive. The press arrived on the island, interviews were given, a colourful floatilla symbolically blocked the entrance to the Gorge accessing the log dump and the blockade at Basil Creek prevented the loggers from working.

It went away, they labelled Cortes as Socially Inoperable and things have remained quiet ever since. There have been negotiations regarding the Children’s Forest and the successful purchase of the Whaletown Commons in the interim but it remained quiet until this January when Mosaic announced that they will begin roadbuilding and logging on their private lands. Mosaic now manages forestry operations for Timberwest and Island Timberlands. 

At their Jan 27 zoom presentation Colin Koszman from Mosaic said that they are a new company just starting to learn about their Cortes Island holdings.They seem to exhibit no corporate memory. But we as a First Nation and settler community have a long and deep history with the forests of this island we call home.

path through the forest
Screenshot from Heartwood: Cortes Island Ancient Forest #4: Whaletown Commons (land subsequently sold to the Regional District for a park)

Mosaic stated that they are aiming to extract 6000-8000 cubic metres per year over the next 3 years. According to the ecosystem based management of forestry, this is too much volume for Mosaic’s forestry landbase to support. This would lead to an overall degradation in forest health and quality. And there is no indication of their ongoing plans after 3 years.

The rudimentary maps that they have shared with us have their proposed cutblocks encompassing sensitive and wet areas. They have yet to provide us with accurate maps, ecological impact assessments and reports. They have promised public consultation and they have asked for our input. We, as a community, need to once again get organized and give it to them!

Cortes Island, what’s your answer to Mosaic going to be?

Top image credit: Screenshot of Sabina Leader-Mense and Torrance Coste from the Wilderness Committee looking at Island Timberland’s holdings in upper Basil Creek (2013) – from ‘Heartwood: Cortes Island Ancient Forest #1’ The Basil Creek Watershed

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