A win for nature and our community!
Part of a beautiful, mature native forest adjacent to the Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park and inside it’s proposed expansion area, was slated for logging by Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF), a logging company 100% owned by the District of Sechelt, but has been removed from their logging schedule after public pressure and scientific evidence the SongBird forest is of high ecological value. The forest is part of the shishalh Nation’s ts’ukw’um swiya and within the Wilson Cr. Watershed, an already heavily logged and hence hydrologically damaged watershed. The blocks removed, EW18A and 18B, comprise a total area of 15.3 ha. of forest cover 160 to 250 years old (Age Class 8). EW19, a third block of similar forest within the park expansion area, remains on their cutting schedule for 2025.
The B.C. government’s Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel had captured the now canceled blocks as “Recruitment Forest” due to the lack of old growth in our area, though there are still no legal requirements to protect such forests. The clearcut logging was to have taken place adjacent to the northwest Mt. Elphinstone Park parcel. When SCCF put these blocks forward for public review, ELF pointed out that the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) through Bylaw 641, supports the expansion of the existing Mt. Elphinstone Park, currently only 139ha in three separate “islands of extinction,” to an ecologically more resilient 2100ha. However, the SCCF Board and Operations initially denied the SCRD’s position impacted their right to log on Crown land and attempted to push the blocks forward.
“When we walked into the proposed blocks in the Winter of 2021, we found evidence of old growth Douglas-fir trees, endangered Western White Pines and a well-established plant community.” Ross Muirhead of ELF says. “We were taken aback that SCCF was prepared to clearcut log in the park expansion area when the public interest is so high for an expanded park. We weren’t prepared to stand back and watch it happen, so we started a protection campaign that resulted in this positive outcome.”
“The name given this forest is an acknowledgment of the thousands of bird nests that quietly get destroyed on the Sunshine Coast every year from clearcut logging and urban expansion. Native forest habitat is critical to preserving the diversity of birds and other species in this inter-urban zone. The Sunshine Coasts low and mid-elevation forests are currently at high risk of permanent biodiversity loss.” Hans Penner of ELF adds. “In support of our own findings, a professional forest ecologist informed SCCF that these two cutblocks contained old forest conditions that made them valuable ecosystems to set aside.”
Thank you, everyone who wrote a protest letter, came to the SongBird hikes and musical events or made their own unique contributions in effort to protect the SongBird Forest. Let’s keep winning!
For additional information on the SongBird Forest, check out our campaign page.
The proposed Mt Elphinstone Park expansion area with the now canceled Sunshine Coast Community Forest cutblocks EW18A and B. EW19 is still slated to be logged by them so the battle continues! Even BC Parks acknowledges on their website that the current park parcels are small and “could be impacted by adjacent development or forestry activities.” We’ll try not to let that happen, nature and this community have already lost too much.
