Tag Archives: Teal Jones

Opinion, Politics, Tourism

How BC will be directly impacted by a Trump presidency

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Very few people voted in it, but dollars to donuts, many people across BC had their eyes, last night and into the early morning hours, on the American election. No matter who was going to win, the economic and trade policies of the next and 47th US president were going to impact life on the Island. Had Kamala Harris won, those impacts would have been less stark, less worrisome. From culture to immigration, to trade, the outcome of a Trump presidency will be felt in ways we can’t yet fully anticipate.

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Forests

Fairy Creek: A Litigious Aftermath

In 2020, logging company Teal Jones was engaged in cutting irreplaceable, old-growth, temperate rainforest in the Fairy Creek area of their lease on Vancouver island. In response, substantial numbers of “forest defenders” gathered to protest and obstruct the old growth cut… and local history was made.

Protestors blocked the access road to Teal Cedar‘s cut blocks from 2020 through early 2021. The number of people arrested exceeded 1100 — which, according to CBC, made it “the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.”

Cortes Currents has followed the story of the Fairy Creek protest as it developed; many Cortes residents spent time at the protest encampment, or are closely connected to people who participated. We continue that coverage now, with an update on the highly litigious aftermath of the blockade action.

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Animals, Forests

‘Birders, not blockaders’ ask B.C. to protect old-growth in Fairy Creek to save marbled murrelets

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Birders and biologists are banding together to urge the B.C. government to protect ancient forests on southwestern Vancouver Island in a bid to save threatened marbled murrelet nesting sites.

Around a dozen citizen scientists are documenting the rare robin-sized seabird, which raises its young in old-growth forest found in tree farm licence (TFL) 46, which includes the Fairy Creek region near Port Renfrew, said team leader and avid birder Royann Petrell.

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Environment, Indigenous Nations

The keepers of Cheewaht: Restoring an ecosystem for generations to come

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Cheewaht Lake, BC – Off the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, inland from the West Coast Trail, is a quiet and remote lake brimming with vibrant ecosystems. From trumpeter swans to black bears, the Cheewaht Lake watershed provides a home for dense and rare biodiversity.

The Cheewaht Lake watershed is on the traditional territory of Ditidaht First Nation, who, for thousands of years, managed the area from villages along the coast at the mouth of the Cheewaht River.

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Forests, Justice

Police officer quits task force over concerns about RCMP tactics at Fairy Creek

By Jen Osborne / Rochelle Baker, National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At least one police officer joined protesters, journalists and politicians raising alarm bells over RCMP enforcement tactics during the peak of conflict at the Fairy Creek old-growth blockades in B.C. during the summer of 2021.

The officer, a former member of the RCMP’s specialized team that deals with resource extraction protests, resigned from the task force over concerns about “unjustifiable” police behaviour during an August crackdown on activists, a freedom-of-information (FOI) request shows.

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