The Looper Creek headwaters contains some of the last pristine old growth forest on Southern Vancouver Island and is critical habitat for the endangered Marbled Murrelet seabird. Western Forest Products holds logging approvals across the area and has been actively logging for the past several years.
Looper Creek #783307
Cut block #783307 is a small patch of forest in one of the most intensively log sections of Looper Creek, a tributary to the Caycuse Valley. The cut block is at the headwaters of the creek and contains hundreds of monumental cedar trees. I explored this forest in the summer of 2022 and while I was there Wester Forest Product surveyors were in the cut block in preparation for logging.
In early November 2022, this cut block was logged.
Klanawa Valley #871327
Cut block #871327 is a mountaintop removal logging operation. Western Forest Products in partnership with the Huu-ay-aht Band Council received approval to destroy much of the last remaining old growth forests on this unnamed mountain in early 2022, by September much of the Logging had already taken place. We visited this forest in time to see a few of its gentle giants. Only a few weeks after we witnessed their majesty they were cut down.
Klanawa Valley #764325
As of November 2022 cut block #764325 in the Klanawa Valley has been approved. Western Forest Products has obtained approval to build a 5 km road along the Klanawa River to access this spectacular stand of rare and endangered valley bottom old growth red cedar forest, but work hasn’t started. This forest is listed as a deferral candidate under the old growth strategic review however, despite news coverage to the contrary the Huu-ay-aht Band 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.
Valley bottom old growth logging is almost over, nearly all of the high-productivity valley bottoms have been destroyed and the fact that a forest such as this remains along a major river on southern Vancouver Island is something of a miracle. It deserves protection. While we explored this old growth forest we were surrounded by the sounds of helicopters dragging logs off of a nearby mountain and of trees crashing down in the distance, the same fate awaits this forest if no one intervenes.
Caycuse (Hidden Valley)
In 2019 the Teal Jones Group began a massive wave of clear-cut logging in the Caycuse valley which took down almost all of its iconic stands. The photographer TJ Watt documented the loss of some of the biggest trees in his famous before and after series.
This forest is just across the mountain from where those before and after photographs were captured, it's a hidden side Valley in the upper Caycuse Valley and has the highest site index of any old growth forest south of Port Alberni. (Site index is a forestry term referring to the productivity of a section of old growth forest.) The site index of this forest is 26. This Hidden side valley, along with Looper Creek in the lower Caycuse, are the only sections of this valley that remain somewhat intact. Looper Creek is being actively logged and parts of this side valley are flagged for logging.
Sassin #774221
These are images of cut block #774221 that was defended by Sassin Camp through 2021. Western Forest Products began clearcutting this Forest in early 2021 which prompted the creation of Sassin camp, even though Sassin camp is now gone western Forest products hasn’t tried to clear-cut the rest of this cut block.
As of October 2022 the forest is on borrowed time.
Klanawa Valley #764321, #764328 & #764431
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
Looper Creek #774428
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.
