BC - 2021

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Heli Camp Grove (Granite Creek)

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Heli Camp Grove in Granite Creek is one of the richest sections of the Fairy Creek Rainforest. Just across the ridgeline from Fairy Creek and right next to cut block 8022 and the area known as “Heli Camp” this section of at-risk ancient forest is the most intact 4orest east of Fairy Creek. It is separated from Cut block 8022 by an alpine stream and runs as a contiguous forest from Granite Creek to the mountaintop that divides the slope from the Fairy Creek Watershed. 

Teal Jones has approval to build a 1 km long section of road into this ancient forest however any attempt to start work on this road approval would almost certainly reignite the war in the woods and the blockades at Fairy Creek.

This area is home to a population of Oldgrowth Specklebelly Lichen, the largest of only 53 documented in British Columbia. Elder Bill Jones of the Pacheedath Nation has called for the protection of this entire area. This area is also home to a massive population of endangered Marbled Murrelet with 115 birds documented nearby. Western Screech Owls have also been documented in this section of Granite Creek (I was lucky enough to document one of them in the middle of Teal Jones’ planned cut block.) 

During the height of the Fairy Creek Blockade protesters used this forest as a staging ground for "cops and loggers,” “hide and go creek” and other tactics meant to slow the logging of the neighboring cut block.

 
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Klanawa Valley #764321, #764328 & #764431

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Cut blocks #764321, #764328 & #764431 were listed as deferral candidates under the old growth strategic review however, despite news coverage to the contrary the Huu-ay-aht Dand Council did NOT accept deferrals on their territory. The band council excepted 96% of deferral areas, which sounds good until you realize that the 4% that they left out were the exact areas like this one that they intended to clear-cut in the near term. They received the PR victory while still being able to partner with Western Forest Products in clearcutting this area.

Everybody has heard about mountaintop removal coal mining, but cut blocks #764321, #764328 & #764431 are what I like to call mountaintop clear-cut logging. When I first visited this forest in 2021 the area had already seen dramatic amounts of logging, including to the edge of a small lake at the base of the mountain, upon returning to the area in the summer of 2022 the scale of devastation was shocking, loggers were camping there overnight and helicopters were hauling logs off of the mountain. 

The transformation of a sacred place of beauty into a desecrated moonscape is hard to witness.

Before

After

 
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Looper Creek #774428

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These are the spectacular cedar groves of Looper Creek cut block #774428 Looper Creek is a tributary to the Caycuse River and contains the largest most extensive old growth forest in the entire watershed. Cut block #774428, which has been approved by the provincial government despite being a deferral candidate, will take a massive chunk out of the richest section of this forest. The last five images in this gallery are of trees in the contiguous forest outside of the cut block.

As of October 2022 roads have not yet been built to this cut block, however western forest products is clear cutting just upslope in a neighboring old growth Heli block.

 
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Edinburgh Mountain #7165

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Old growth cut block #7165 appears to be second growth at first glance but once you enter the forest, situated at the end of Truck Road 11 on Edinburgh Mountain you find some insane trees. I nicknamed one of the trees in this cut block “Eldest” she’s 10 feet thick and is insanely beautiful. Teal Jones spent 2022 constructing roads into this cut block.

As of October 2022, this cut block hasn’t been logged, however, the block has been approved by the provincial government.

 
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Nahmint Valley #F015C4CV

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Cut block #F015C4CV in the Nahmint Valley was clear-cut in 2021 by Wenstob Timber Resources, and its destruction was featured on the Netflix show “Big Timber.” Big timber is marketed as entertainment, however, the impact of Wenstob Timber on BC‘s old growth forests is very real. Netflix shouldn’t be in the deforestation business.

 
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Nahmint Valley #F025C3YY

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Cut block #F025C3YY in the Nahmint Valley was sold by BC timber sales to Wenstob Timber Resources in 2020 and will more than likely be featured on the third season of “big timber” on Netflix as it is destroyed. The cut block is almost 30 hectares, sprawling over the side of Mount Anderson about 30 minutes from Port Alberni. The cut block contains old growth Douglas fir forest which is one of the rarest habitat types on Vancouver island.

As of October 2022 cut block # F025C3YY is approved and Wenstob Timber Resources is actively roadbuilding into the forest.

 
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Walbran Valley (Sad Lake) #4559

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These are images of cut block #4559 near Sad Lake in the Central Walbran Valley. The cut block is made up of three separate units totaling only a few hectares.  I visited this forest back in 2018 and found that even though the area Teal Jones is targeting was small it contains a spectacular cedar forest with trees exceeding 10 feet in diameter. Despite being located in the central Walbran, the deferral affecting the central valley did not protect this cut block. Teal Jones has plans to build a 5 km road on the ridge line above this cut block as well as to the northeast in the area referred to as the “camper bowl.”

This cut block was approved in 2018, however, it still hasn’t been logged.

 
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Edinburgh Mountain #4452

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I visited cut block #4452 back in 2018 while Teal Jones was doing roadbuilding. It was the first old growth cut block I visited as a kid, while I was there I wanted more than anything to climb into the trees to stop the logging.

This forest is gone now.