Originally published on the Cortes Tideline (2014)
I believe that most of us now realize that a mature forest ecosystem is a complex community of interconnected, interdependent organisms demonstrably capable of developing, expanding and sustaining itself. To appreciate this, we only have to consider the forests that existed in much of North America and, more specifically, on our Pacific Coast, when we Europeans arrived.
Continue reading A Mature Forest EcosystemThe health of BC’s forest cover is not good. In many parts of the province, our forests are emitting carbon, rather than absorbing it.
According to a story in the Times Colonist, “the province’s own data (shows that) net carbon dioxide emissions from forestland in 2011 were 34.9 million tons, equivalent to more than half of B.C.’s total official emissions for that year. However, only carbon emissions from deforestation and afforestation (new or replanted forests) are included in the province’s official total.”
Cortes Island activist and biologist, Sabina Leader Mense, takes Wilderness Committee Vancouver Island campaigner, Torrance Coste, on a tour of the Basil Creek Watershed—a spectacular grove of unlogged, ancient forest, and the very first area on Island Timberland’s cut-block.
Continue reading Cortes Island Ancient Forest #1: The Basil Creek Watershed
