Tag Archives: Clearcutting in BC

Cortes Community Forest’s First Five Years

British Columbia’s old growth forests fertilize themselves as efficiently as a farmer looking after his fields. The tree plantations that are fast replacing them lack this ability. If this trend continues, the province’s vast forests may be a memory in the next two or three centuries. The inhabitants of one tiny island are trying to change this. In this morning’s program one of the directors, Bruce Ellingsen, tells me about Cortes Community Forest’s first five years of operations.

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British Columbia’s Fight For Sustainable Logging

By Roy L Hales

When Island Timberlands arrived in 2012, they found Cortes island residents waiting behind a blockade. The Vancouver Observer sent a young film maker to cover the story, but Daniel Pierce found more than just another clash between a logging company and local environmentalists. He is still documenting British Columbia’s fight for sustainable logging.

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Inside One Of British Columbia’s Disappearing Old Growth Rainforests

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Most of us have seen historical photographs of the great forests that once stood in British Columbia. Though his family has worked in the forestry sector for a century, Damien Gillis’ first view of a forest like this came during a six-day-trek into the Incomappleux Valley. The award winning Campbell River documentary film maker (Fractured Land, Oil in Eden) says, “it was like nothing I’ve seen before, just the way the ecosystem is really a cycle of life, death and rebirth right before your eyes.” Some of the trees he saw had been saplings around the time of the Roman Empire. The resulting documentary, Primeval: Enter the Incomappleux offers viewers a rare glimpse inside one of BC’s disappearing old growth rainforests.

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How Fungi Could Help Replenish Forests After Logging

Originally published on Heartwood, Field Notes

The small community that lives on Cortes Island, a remote and richly forested spot off the British Columbia coast, is known for fiercely protecting its trees. It’s been successful in the past at fending off big timber companies, yet Cortes still hasn’t been entirely spared the chainsaw. Just like the rest of the province, clearcuts are scattered about the island in various states of partial regrowth. Only isolated groves of old growth trees remain.

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Cool Clean Water Comes From Healthy Forests

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Though Cec Robinson has been a recognized personality in the logging blockades, he would rather work in his garden, or go fishing. Only there is a lot at stake. Speaking as one of Cortes Island’s streamkeepers, Cec said you need cold, clean  water for healthy streams. Cool clean water comes from healthy forests.

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