BC Timber Sales License TA2381 with clear-cut 41 hectares of old growth forest on steep slopes above Nahmint Lake west of Port Alberni. BCTS is planning on auctioning this forest in the third quarter of fiscal year 25 meaning that it will likely be up for auction in early 2025. This massive cut block targets a forest identified as suitable Marbled Murrelet by the BC government's 2018 Marbled Murrelet habitat suitability map. It would clear-cut forest directly above wildlife habitat area 1-729. This area is one of the most intact forests on Southern Vancouver Island, the steap hillside is blanketed in old growth forest from the top of the mountain to the shores of Nahmint Lake, and the sale area includes a small tributary to Nahmint Lake which is entirely intact and has never seen logging. This timber sale would also require the expansion of the Riverside Main logging road to sneak around steep cliffs on a slope that is currently roadless, and allow for the destruction of several small wetlands. This cut block contains 8.1 million board feet of timber (19,000 m³) which, given the amount of roadbuilding involved in this timber sale will probably sell for several million dollars at most. It's insane that BCTS is continuing to target old-growth forest despite repeated commitments from the NDP that they are "protecting" old growth.
Nahmint Lake Timber Sale TA2381 (BCTS)
Bavis Creek - TA2406
Bavis Creek enters the San Juan river from the south and contains the only large section of high productivity old-growth south of the San Juan river and North of the San Juan Ridge, it extends from the top of the ridge down a steep slope towards the San Juan river, just miles away from the biggest Douglas fir tree on earth. Timber Sale license TA2406 would clear cut the heart of this forest if BC Timber Sales chooses to move it to auction.
Gain Creek #LCN37 & Logging
Gain Creek on Pacheedaht Territory is home to some of the worst government approved clear-cut logging on Vancouver Island. The old growth forests of Gain creek are being targeted for ~corporate gain~ by Pacheedaht Andersen Timber Holdings. This watershed is unseeded territory and public land, part of TFL 61 near the Jordan River. For the past several years logging has pushed up into the Gain Creek watershed which flows off of the San Juan Ridge. The company has clear cut through the creek in multiple places and newly approved cut blocks would clear cut through waterfalls to target some of the last old-growth forests of the area.
Gordon 4000 #LP06
Cut Block #LP06 is located in the tenure of the Qala:yit partnership, which supplies logs to the Pacheedaht Mill Port Renfrew. This cut block contains massive yellow cedar trees that are likely over 1000 years old, it is also home to a population of Oldgrowth Specklebelly Lichen. As of March 2024 logging contractors have constructed a road into the forest and clearcutting seems eminent.
