Logging companies still discover new ways to acquire the largest and oldest trees despite the new-age rules surrounding ‘sustainable ecosystem’ that prevents forestry. This rainforest logging takes place mainly in the Great Bear Rainforest on Gilford Island.
Farlyn and Tavish Campbell maintain a deep obligation towards the logging activities in the remote forests and coastal inlets of British Columbia. The twins were brought up on Sonora Island that can be accessed only with floatplanes or boats. From the early age of thirteen, they could take boats in and around the Great Bear Rainforest for a multi-day trip. According to them, things seem wrong in the jewel in the crown of British Columbia. Tavish was the first to acknowledge this and send this message across to other native people.
This B.C. rainforest is a mystical place where ghostly bear spirits tread through the mossy carpeted forest floor. Wolves eat salmon and inquisitive sea otters drift carelessly through the waters and watch kayakers sail by. Humpback whales enter and auklets float around to hunt herring. The coastline is dotted with First Nation villages that comprise of big, greying houses and totem poles surviving for several years.
The Curious Case Of Legal Rainforest Logging
The residents of British Columbia are completely unaware of this magical landscape and the logging activities that take place in the terra incognita. This is mainly because it is extremely difficult to reach the place. If any person wants to access the Great Bear rainforest, they need to conform to strict legal requirements.
However, this severity was spread through word of mouth by industrialists, conservationists, and local government bodies. They informed this when an important agreement was made to preserve this vast forestland. New stringent regulations were enforced for the purpose of resource extraction through rainforest logging almost 4 years back.
This agreement was announced by Christy Clark who enjoys a fan following at the Anthropology Museum of the University of B.C. on 1st February 2016. The conservation was revealed to take three million hectares of northern and central coasts. In addition, it will also conserve an added fifty-five thousand hectares of the jeweled area of B.C. The agreement facilitated this area to be transformed into a new zone that will permit special ecosystem-based rainforest logging.
Prioritizing Industrial Demands Over Environment
Nonetheless, the Campbells and many other locals found an uncanny similarity between this special logging and the adverse rainforest logging. The latter logging activity took place earlier and eventually led to the First Nations and several conservation organizations cry out to preserve the coastal rainforest.
Tavish has informed how devastating such legalized rainforest logging activity is for the locals. He further added that most B.C. people are completely unaware of the loopholes in the agreement that is considered effective. He continues that the industry is allowed to fell valuable, old trees while it advocates forest conservation.
Tavish sadly says that people turn a blind eye to rainforest logging and believes it to be a blessing bestowed by the environmental community. Moreover, individuals and local communities are unable to prevent destructive practices because the industry is supported by legal approval. This further makes people believe that the government is saving the Great Bear Rainforest.
Resource Extraction Causes Rainforest Logging
Farlyn and Tavish took a trip to Gilford Island that witnesses intense logging practices. The logging is conducted by Interfor that is the company that recently announced the shutting down of a sawmill in Vancouver. This is a result of the industry-wide swindling measure the closed many mills and plagued the coastal communities.
The Campbells and many others journeyed deep within the forestland as well as high-up island peaks. They documented that most of the rainforest logging practice is harvesting the huge and aged cedar trees.
These massive cedar trees were utilized by the First Nations to travel across the coastline. Although they were logged by TimberWest, Interfor, and others at an exponentially fast pace towards the latter part of the century. This practice led to grave concerns regarding the resource left in the First Nation.
Jody Holmes is a biologist and director of the project of rainforest Solutions. He informed that the large, old cedars cost way more than the other variety of trees. Consequently, it is obvious why the industries keep constantly targeting these iconic trees.
Logging Iconic Trees
Holmes has further stated that the Great Bear Rainforest was covered with almost 11% by these enormous, iconic cedar, fir, and hemlock trees. Unfortunately, the number has considerably shrunk to a mere 3% since the arrival of logging companies at the high productivity sites.
Holmes also remarks that initially the aim was to genuinely protect the rainforest and the industry will not target the rarest of the rare trees. Yet the agreement was severely morphed by 2016. The companies capitalized on the treatment of the forest as monolithic rather than an essential biodiversity site. Holmes laments how this opened up big loopholes and started impairing the coastal treasure of B.C.
Efforts Of Committed Conservationists
Several conservationists and ecology protectors have pledged to protect the rare and endangered resources of the Great Bear. The forestland is being overharvested as the industry is harvesting not just logs but also prawns, clams, salmons, and crabs which has significantly reduced in quantity this year.
This rainforest logging is against the sustainable practice upheld by government bodies and conservationists. The committed people are seeking ways to undo the loopholes in the agreement. So they need to put acute pressure to rectify and question the achievement of the government and industry regarding the prevalent practice of ecosystem-based logging.
