To our supporters:
After a concerted effort to save all of the ts’ukw’um Healing Forest (formerly known as the Elk Refuge Forest), ELF with the consent of Shíshálh hereditary Chief hiwus Calvin Craigan, came to an agreement with Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SSCF) allowing the majority of the “older forest” in the prescribed Block EW24 to be secured as a protected area which included a number of probable archeological sites. The lower section of the block, which was commercially thinned in the 1990’s, will be logged by SCCF’s contractor.
Old growth Douglas fir next to a mature red cedar in the Healing Forest, a now locally rare native forest in Wilson Creek.
ELF had sought protection for all of the proposed ts’ukw’um Healing Forest, in part because the Provincial government’s own Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel had previously mapped the entire cutblock and surrounding mature forest as “Recruitment Forest” due to the dire lack of old-growth in the Chapman landscape unit at lower elevations. Additionally, we discovered a number of probable First Nations archaeological finds within it that led hiwus Craigan to try and see it conserved as a National Healing Forest with recognition and a grant through the David Suzuki Foundation. It’s a place where he feels his ancestors and is close to his clans historical village site.
ELF had to resort to a two day roadblock to stop the logging contractor from gaining access to the Healing Forest. On October 28th, SCCF’s Operations Manager and Executive Director appeared at the road block and presented ELF with a proposal to protect an area where future archaeological assessments are to take place. They had temporarily deferred the area from logging pending the assessments, but now no matter what the findings yield, it will be permanently protected. ELF understood that this area also contained the best older forest conditions and agreed to remove the roadblock to allow logging of an area that had been previously commercially thinned knowing that an important mature, native forest stand would remain intact. We were prepared to accept “mitigation” as the next best option to an extended confrontation with SCCF that could have ended up in a legal battle that we would have had difficulty winning as nature still has little legal protection in B.C. The final location and boundaries of this proposed ts’ukw’um Forest are still to be determined through future consultations with all stakeholders.
A rock cairn with a heavy layer of moss and then other stones of interest across the site.
“Last spring when we walked into Blk EW24 we were very concerned about the possibility of more landscape fragmentation in the Wilson Creek Watershed. What we discovered were well established Elk trails, towering Douglas-firs, interesting stone formations and a sensitive old-growth zone to the east.” Ross Muirhead of ELF says. “The new protected area adds another 2.2 ha (5.4 acres) of the best forests to other areas retained by SCCF that were acknowledged as having older forest conditions. This outcome could signal a new working relationship with SCCF that ELF hopes will lead to the protection of additional older forests in their tenure and bring certainty to their long-term planning.”
Though pleased that this small portion of his clans ancestral land and archeological history will be conserved, hiwus Craigan shares “It’s discouraging that just when the second growth is becoming old-growth again, they are cut down. It’s short term thinking, we have to preserve whatever forest is left. Our land is still being raped and pillaged and we are standing at the side witnessing what’s happening with one blind eye.” Though the SIB receives a small percentage of the profit from any logging on public lands within their swiya he states “We’re paid nickels and dimes and our people are accepting that, but the value of old-growth is more meaningful.” He envisions a future where his great-grandchildren can maintain their spiritual connection to the forest, hunt and gather traditional foods and medicines in old- growth close to their communities once again. It’s a vision ELF supports.
For more information contact:
Ross Muirhead, Lead Forest Campaigner
loggingfocus@gmail.com
Map showing the SCCF Blk EW24. The purple areas were added to the original plan to secure an Old Growth area to the east and wrap around connecting zones to a WTRA (wildlife tree retention area) which is also fully protected. The latest change is the addition of the “EW24 Temp. Deferred” area to the other protected zones. Logging is now occurring in the white areas inside the solid yellow line.
