The first day of a new solar year brings the end of the darkening season, the light starting to return.  Team Against the Dark spent that first day yesterday running the Walbran in cold and wet, through to Anderson Lake and back.  An inspiring and wonderful achievement!

I can’t possibly improve on Rumon Carter’s words following the run:

Of the many things that came out of today, near the top of the list is a reflection on what small groups of people can achieve when they band together and put their hearts into projects that matter. So I’m so happy to have had the chance to connect and share the trail with the ragtag Against The Dark team pictured in this photo (at the bridge across the Walbran following our run). At least equally, I’m inspired to have had the chance to connect with theFriends of Carmanah/Walbran team and other members of Walbran Central, bearing witness out there, sitting through days and nights in the cold, rain and snow to tell the story of what’s being done out there, away from the public’s eyes, to our ecological and cultural heritage, to the last of southern Vancouver Island’s low elevation old growth, to 1000 year old trees that can never be replaced – all for one company’s profit.

Thank you to those teams, and to those who have supported us and them.

Let’s keep working together – the run’s over, but we’re far from done.

On Saturday, 60 stout-hearted folk took a stand out in hammering December West Coast downpour, on the first of a series of Mass Mobilizations to PROTECT the Walbran Valley from the rampant industrial logging assault on the heart of this endangered watershed.  This continuing outrage, with the full knowledge of the BC Government, is advancing daily along the park boundaries. Photographed here is Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones speaking for the rainforest within his traditional unceded territory at a small rally before mobilizing to the front lines of destruction.  We witnessed the heart-breaking sight of hundreds of clearcut and limbed ancient trees, stacked by the roadside, ready to be trucked to Nanaimo and set on tug-booms to the Teal Cedar mill in Surrey. Work crews were retreating for the day when we arrived at noon and some welcome constructive dialogue with heli-logging operators and road-builders occurred, reinforcing hopes that logging of the highly controversial first Central Walbran cutblock 4424, in the steep fog-shrouded hill country of ancient forest wilderness north of the river, might be avoided without confrontation. But the new heli-landing area built this week directly across the valley from 4424, gives us perhaps stronger grounds for skepticism.

A warm and very hearth-felt Thank You to Zoe, Olivier, Kate, Jon and Charlie (as well as our good friends at the Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network) for putting together a warm place to meet and rest in the valley.  This shelter will be very welcome as colder and wetter weather of winter settles in.

All friends and visitors to the Central Walbran are welcome, indeed encouraged,  to stop in, warm up and share the warmth of your company and experience with whomever else may be there!

I’m sure I’ve missed naming some of you who have contributed to this accomplishment, but your part of this too is very much appreciated.

The Friends of Carmanah/Walbran would like to extend a very warm thank-you to the wonderful organizers of Against the Dark and Patagonia for hosting an inspiring evening of information, camaraderie, good beer and cheer for the threatened ancient forests of the central Walbran valley, last night in Victoria. We wish the dedicated group of forest advocates running through Carmanah/Walbran Provincial Park on the winter solstice, all the best and again are grateful for all you do to help bring awareness to the plight of our last great rainforest, here on the south island.

This group has expressed a welcome to those fit and bold enough to join them on this epic run through the forest in the wettest time of year! We will be there with warm food and a blazing wood stove in our winterized wall tent at the FOCW Central Walbran Visitor’s Centre, welcoming your runners when they come through.  Thanks for giving Bobby the opportunity to speak for the forest last night; you can find his full presentation here.

This past week, Friends of Carmanah/ Walbran volunteers have begun re-purposing the six-week witness camp at the bridge over Walbran river, into the Central Walbran valley Visitor’s centre, in the heart of the magnificient  Walbran valley, a still unprotected area of 500-1200 year old trees, spectacular waterfalls, emerald pools and low- elevation ancient forest hiking and camping opportunities, unrivalled anywhere on Vancouver island.

This wilderness facility will provide a base for on- going volunteer trail- building, campsite construction, development of interpretive displays and a welcoming destination for back- country visitors of all ilks: youth groups, outdoor clubs, elders, media, scientific researchers, hikers, campers, fishers, day- trippers, journalists, international tourists, film-makers, artists, wearied frontline activists and urbanites seeking R and R……all joined in the quest to visit the valley with a desire to experience and help out in gaining protection for the 485 hectare unfragmented ancient forest wilderness adjoining the park in the Central Walbran valley.

 A kitchen area including four-burner propane stove, shared sink and counter space is available for public use and plans are underway to build more spacious and attractive common space for folks to enjoy, through the winter season and beyond.

 Please make time to visit the Central Walbran valley Visitor’s Centre!

After a mere sixty-years years of industrial logging by an industry operating on a policy aimed at liquidating diverse native forest ecosystems and their giant timber, fetching prices of an average $40,000 per tree on the global softwood market and replacing them with uniformly-aged

The large green area on the 2012 map indicates the Carmanah/Walbran rainforest

monoculture tree plantations, only five percent of the primary low-elevation ancient temperate rainforests of Vancouver island–some of the most biologically productive forests, attaining higher levels of plant biomass than any ecosystem, on earth–still remain. Continue reading →

On 9 November, after six weeks of camping out in the west coast wilderness, bearing witness to the irreplaceable beauty of the Walbran Valley ancient rainforest and it’s on-going destruction, forest protectors acting independently from any established group, took their witness to the point of direct action, at a checkpoint.  They turned away road building crews constructing logging roads in the Glad Lake area of the Walbran valley.

The Walbran River watershed has long been known as ground zero in a twenty-five year old battle to protect one of the last large wilderness areas of ancient temperate rainforest on the Island.

After weeks of enduring inclement weather, the early morning noise and clatter of industrial machinery, chainsaws, road-blasting equipment, and the repetitive buzzing of company helicopters circling low overhead their rudimentary camp at Walbran River, three people – Dave Cascagnette, Trevor Schinkel and Jennifer Whitehouse have initiated a stand that may very well be a straw that breaks the camel’s back in attracting more people to directly defend the forest.

At the heart of a major public controversy is the approved logging in the pristine Central Walbran ancient forest of an area of steep hill country habitat of 500-800 year old trees, immediately above the salmon-bearing river.  The actions today, targeting logging activities outside the Central Walbran area, are a strong sign of the growing public opposition to the continued industrial destruction of this threatened rainforest watershed.

Friends of Carmanah/ Walbran confirmed that these actions are committed by a group of individuals acting on their own behalf, in a focus area outside of their current campaign to protect the wilderness north of the river from logging encroachment. They also acknowledge that the feelings of frustration from witnessing the environmental degradation from logging and road-building is a valid reason for individuals taking such actions on their own behalf, to protect the old growth landscape heavily impacted by industrial activity.

Hey, it’s time to get the government to wake up to the environmental urgency and wisdom of protecting the rare and irreplaceable ancient forests of the Central Walbran valley, imminently slated for further industrial destruction!!!

All friends of the rainforest, please join the Friends of Carmanah/Walbran at:

Wake up!!! for the Walbran Valley!!!

Tuesday, November 10^th

Ministry of Forests, 820 Blanshard St, Victoria

 8 am (set-up: 6:30 am)

Tuesday morning we will serve coffee and pancakes to the public, and to the Ministry workers as they arrive in the morning to begin the day’s toils.  It’s an opportunity to interact with them, explain our concerns and dreams, and listen to their own. The breakfast will be followed by a noise procession!  This is going to be fun, a chance to let your inner child express him/herself!

Please bring placards, pots and pans, your own cutlery, and any noisemakers with which you would enjoy the opportunity to express your pent frustrations!  (For me that’s going to have to be something really loud.)

See you there!

In direct response to government approval for Teal-Jones’ logging of cutblock 4424 in the intact old-growth rainforests of the unprotected Central Walbran Valley, Friends of Carmanah/Walbran established a witness camp on September 24th, 2015, located at the bridge over Walbran River.

The purpose of the camp is to maintain a continuous wilderness presence, enable the public to see the natural beauty of forests slated for logging and to serve as a gathering place to facilitate community vigil against Teal Jones logging incursions into this rare and endangered ancient temperate rainforest wilderness. The camp is monitoring the start-up of logging activities in the pristine forest area and is maintaining regular communications with concerned citizens in town.

A flood of generous donations and hands-on labour have been provided by supporters from communities across the south island, from Victoria, Gulf Islands, Shirley, Duncan, Port Renfrew, Cowichan Lake, and Nanaimo. This is another encouraging sign of the widespread support for the Central Walbran Ancient Forest, a small 485 hectare area, in the heart of the Walbran valley.

All members of the public sharing concern for the fate of the old- growth forests of the Walbran Valley are welcomed to participate in witness camp activities. These include guided group hikes into threatened forest groves, co- operative work parties building camp infrastructure, public access trail repairs, scientific research efforts and big tree measurements.

The camp supports people’s rights to witness the destruction of these public lands, with its purpose aimed at protecting the forest from further industrial destruction. The camp is directed by a code of conduct that encourages peaceful and constructive activities, commits to safety and respect for all participants and forestry workers and fosters a drug and alcohol- free environment.

To ensure the ecological integrity of the watershed and Carmanah/ Walbran Provincial Park (whose boundaries were drawn up in 1995) this area is urgently requiring protection from acquiescence to timber interests intent on liquidating some of the world’s last giant, millennial western red cedars.

On a warm, rainy Wednesday the Wilderness Committee dropped by the BC Legislature to deliver a message to the Premier and to the Minister of Forests.  And what did vox populi have to say?  It was a resounding “Don’t cut the Central Walbran Valley!”, in the form of about 5300 (yes, really!) postcards bearing this message, and signed by individuals from across this province and beyond.  Well done, Wilderness Committee!!

And well done to you, the people of BC who signed one of these postcards!  May your grandchildren see this valley as majestic and green as it is today.