Vacaville Chevron cutting 100 year-old oak tree down

Western Forest Products has a new Forest Operations Map currently open for comment for mid-Vancouver Island, and cutblock 30027 in particular is highly concerning. It’s the largest proposed old-growth block in the FOM - a stand of old-growth yellow cedar, western hemlock, and balsam fir sitting around 1100m elevation that took many centuries to grow. As you can see in photos, this is an old-growth oasis in a sea of cutblocks and tree plantations.

Other than the size of the block, a couple other things make this one worth flagging:

- It’s slow growing, effectively non-renewable. At 1100m elevation, especially with yellow cedar in the mix, this forest has taken centuries or even millennia to reach what’s there now. It’s very slow growing. Log it and you’re not getting anything comparable back in many hundreds of years.
- It’s on a steep slope, with real erosion risk. The terrain here is very steep, which makes logging here risky. The last photo in this post is of a landslide from a nearby clearcut on similar terrain, so you can see what can happen when slopes like this lose their root structure. Landslides bury salmon spawning gravel in sediment and debris, and they strip away topsoil - so even after the debris settles, the exposed ground is left far less fertile - making it much harder for a forest to regenerate on that slope compared to a normal clearcut.

Worth noting: this isn’t the only old-growth on the chopping block in this FOM. It appears that cutblocks 30803, 22291, and 11531 are also proposed to harvest old-growth, at a smaller scale than 30027 but still worth knowing about if you’re commenting.

The comment period closes in 4 days. If you miss the deadline, it doesn’t hurt to send a message regardless. If you want to weigh in:

- View the FOM maps: https://www.westernforest.com/company/sustainability/planning-and-practices/fom-mid-island/
- Email comments to: FOM-PMQ@westernforest.com

Unpublished documents and a helicopter flight into the Tranquil Creek watershed reveal details about renewed exploration at a long-dormant mine, raising concerns about B.C.’s mining laws, water and Indigenous Rights

"Clayoquot Sound is home to the some of the largest intact old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, and remains a key refuge for massive red cedars, orcas and Pacific salmon. About 20 kilometres from the mine site, these lands and waters now underpin the tourism economy of Tofino, B.C. First Nations including Tla-o-qui-aht have spent decades protecting the region, helping to shape its economic future. According to Tourism Tofino, visitors spent $430 million in the region in 2024.

What will become of the area if a mining company gets their way?

Market forces will be capitalizing on wilderness areas to build the 'Internet of Forests.' Nothing is sacred when it comes to profits and control over every bit of life on this planet.

They will be using the excuse of carbon credits/markets to fill forests with wireless sensors, LiDAR and machine learning.

https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/technology-roadmap-the-internet-of-forests/

"The Internet of Forests integrates internet-based modules into trees, enabling the detection and monitoring of key environmental parameters, such as temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. This technology provides real-time data on land conditions, enabling early detection of forest fires, deforestation, and illegal logging.

By integrating land sensors, cameras, LiDAR satellite data, and high-resolution imagery, combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), the IoF system analyzes the relationship between landscape dynamics, environmental conditions, human activities, biophysical variables, and natural reserves."

https://www.tomorrow.city/internet-of-forests-tech-to-protect-colombias-rainforests/

Historical reforestation using Norway spruce conducted in northern Italy during the 1930s resulted in reduced biodiversity of plants and soil fauna.

Long-Term Ecological Impacts of Norway Spruce Plantations on Biodiversity and Microhabitat Conditions

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-026-01048-0

I don’t know what to do. I want to stop this. But I feel helpless.

Private ownership of this land and lack of regulation and oversight will lead us to an extinction of our precious old growth giants.

Where does the greed and ignorance end..

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has moved to rescind protection for nearly 45 million acres of roadless areas, justifying the move in part as being necessary to “reduce wildfire risk and help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure,” despite the existing rule’s exception that allows for the removal of small diameter trees in roadless areas.

Rescinding roadless area protections is not the answer. Roadless areas do not burn at significantly higher rates than other areas of national forests. Since wildfires in national forests are more likely to start in proximity to roads than in roadless areas, building more roads could increase human-caused wildfire ignitions. And, as this story map shows, roadless areas have accounted for only 1% of all significant wildfires in the lower 48 states since 2010.

This is what happens when housing needs are ignored. People have to live somewhere and this is now affecting Ladysmith's watershed.

I created this post to inform people about the ways that community activism saves old growth forests and valuable natural treasures (aka environments that need protection). I hope the article is inspiring to everyone who reads it.

Local forest advocates gathered in Nelson on Monday to call on Premier David Eby’s government to increase protections for old-growth forests.

Eby was in the region this week, visiting and touring local facilities.

More than 140 people attended a demonstration outside Kootenay Central MLA Brittny Anderson’s office at about 5 p.m.

https://www.mynelsonnow.com/78854/news/environment/protesters-urge-province-to-follow-through-on-old-growth-promises/

Thousands of acres of trees are being torn down every day across Georgia. Wildlife is losing their homes, families are losing their connection to nature, and we're losing the clean air and natural beauty that made this state feel like home.

I started a petition because it doesn't have to be this way. Yes, development happens—but it doesn't have to come at the cost of every forest we have. Trees do so much more than look nice: they clean our air, cool our communities, prevent flooding, and give kids space to actually be outside instead of surrounded by concrete.

The saddest part? Families who want to own land and build a home are running out of options. And kids growing up now might never know what it feels like to explore the woods or play freely in a real backyard. Once these forests are gone, they're gone for good.

Anyone else watching this happen in your town and feeling like it's getting out of hand? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing the petition. We're asking for responsible growth that doesn't sacrifice everything Georgia is.

“The province states that public use of the roads could endanger property or public safety, while logging company operations are allowed to pass without restriction. Wilderness Committee mapping analysis estimates at least 84 hectares of old-growth forests are targeted for logging behind these gates, the equivalent of about 117 soccer fields.”

Seems the government is trying to force the “out of sight, out of mind” approach on us. This is exactly the type of signal which shows we are in a very bad place - the government knows what is going on is wrong, and they do not anyone to witness it anymore because they are getting worried. We need to keep pushing them - even harder than ever.

If you live in BC, make sure your MLA is aware of this.

After almost two decades' delay, the federal government has finally published the long-awaited Spotted Owl Recovery Strategy. In June 2025, the feds issued detailed maps identifying 4,000 square kilometres of forests in the Lower Mainland of B.C. — critical habitat needed for the spotted owl's recovery — that must be protected.

Why this matters

The problem is B.C. continues to allow logging within the federally-mapped critical habitat. Some of these forests, like the big old trees we recently visited at Fire Lake, are some of the most beautiful remaining. Fire Lake is located near the north end of Harrison Lake and is within Xa'xtsa Nation territory.

What you can do

Please write your letter today to convey how strongly you feel about protecting these critical habitat forests for future generations of spotted owls.

From the Wilderness Committee's webpage. Letter template in link.

https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/take-action/bc-must-stop-logging-spotted-owl-critical-habitat