A lack of oversight means Quadra Island’s remnant and future old growth forests are in danger of being logged, according to the Forest Practices Board (FPB).
The FPB investigated operations by TimberWest Forest Corp., Okisollo Resources Ltd. and Younger Brothers Holdings after a complaint from the Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project raised concerns about the island’s last remaining patches of old growth.
The forestry giant TimberWest and the two smaller woodlot operators all violated some forestry regulations — but the greater problem is the absence of provincial government-led old growth management on the island, the FPB reported.
“No one is responsible for monitoring or ensuring that Quadra Island’s old forests are conserved, or that enough mature forests are protected from logging so they can develop into old forest in the future,” said Keith Atkinson, FPB chair, in a press statement.
Provincial estimates suggest only one per cent of Quadra’s forest is older than 250 years due to longtime logging and forest fires, the FPB report said.
There is plenty of mature forest ranging from 80 –120 years old that needs to be set aside to develop and eventually meet the province’s old growth target of nine per cent on the island, FPB added.
However, TimberWest doesn’t have a strategy or plan to ensure enough mature forest is set aside to overcome the significant old-growth deficit on the island moving forward, the report said; the company promised to set aside mature forest to develop into old growth in its forest stewardship plan but failed to outline how it would verify it was taking place as legally obligated.
“Further, the government should not have approved the [plan] without a measurable or verifiable commitment to recruit old forests to at least target levels,” the board said.
TimberWest’s Tree Farm Licence 47, which covers about 45 per cent of Quadra Island’s total land base, includes 9,400 hectares of forest and another 4,200 hectares that fall into parkland.
The 19 smaller woodlots on Quadra Island total 5,400 hectares, but it's a concern that their licences don’t require them to set aside mature forests to meet the province’s old-growth targets, the board said, noting that both Okisollo and Younger Brothers have committed to not harvesting old growth forests in their woodlot licence plans.
The board recommended that TimberWest amend its forestry plan to demonstrate how it will set aside mature forests to meet the required old-growth targets. The company has until Dec. 31 to accept or reject the recommendation and provide the company’s planned course of action, according to provincial law.
The board also found Okisollo violated its wildlife tree retention strategy in its approved woodlot licence plan.
While old growth forests are protected in logging plans through designated areas where harvesting will be avoided, individual large “veteran” trees are expected to be evaluated under the wildlife tree regulations and only logged if an assessment is done and alternatives to removal are considered.
Okisollo didn’t do an assessment of wildlife characteristics, so it’s impossible to know if any of the trees removed from its cutblocks met the definition of a wildlife tree and what alternatives to removal existed or were considered, the board noted.
Younger Brothers woodlot did not comply with its forestry plan when it cleared approximately 200 metres of road right-of-way through an area where harvesting was to be avoided, the FPB said.
Quadra Island should have a forest landscape planning process to identify and conserve old forests and prioritize areas of mature forest to be set aside, the board noted.
“It is up to the provincial government to understand what old-forest values exist in the Quadra landscape unit and ensure that forest licensees’ plans include measurable or verifiable commitments to manage them,” Atkinson said.
However, the board noted that there are no current plans to include Quadra in the landscape planning processes that are underway in the region.
“No one in the provincial government considers it their responsibility to ensure recruitment strategies are in place where a deficit of old forest exists,” the report said.
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer
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