In the Walbran Valley, in southern Vancouver Island, a group of protestors blocks a logging road.

As the gate opens, a hanging bridge drops, and a truck with two camp members is let in. A boy walks with his mom to their car outside of the camp, while a woman in the field kitchen announces, “Dinner’s ready!” Everyone receives a plate of stir-fry noodles. They sit in a circle enjoying their meal. A large black dog carries a stick through the gate. Above him, three men cheerfully build a drawbridge, fully engaged in the process.

A cougar sculpture, crafted from cedar driftwood, marks this protest as the “Cougar Camp.” These peaceful protestors are trying to protect land rich with history and life.

They have been issued a prohibitory injunction (a judicial order placed on a group to stop their actions) by the BC Supreme Court of Justice. This injunction was granted to Tsawak-qin Forestry Ltd. Partnership, a joint cooperation between the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and Western Forest Products, who have been protesting in this area for many years.

You may remember the Fairy Creek protests that began in 2020 at the park in Port Renfrew. These protests–spreading to nearby Walbran Valley–fight for trees that are up to 1000 years old, and remain ongoing. Naturally rich watersheds like these are crucial for the Island’s ecosystems.

Prior to Fairy Creek, in 2019, the province assigned Garry Merkel and Al Gorley, who are both professional foresters and resource experts, to develop an Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR) to deal with the controversial issue of logging old growth.

A year later, Merkel and Gorley used their examined data to conclude that “we can no longer continue to harvest timber and manage forests using the approaches we have in the past while also conserving the forest values we cherish,” calling for an immediate delay in logging operations.

After publication, OGSR was seemingly ignored by the province, and plans to log in Fairy Creek were made. In response, Fairy Creek became overwhelmed by protests.

85-year-old Elder Bill Jones of the Pacheedaht First Nation stands at the forefront of the protest once more, after years of standing against logging in Fairy Creek. Elder Jones, who was once a logger himself, grew up in these forests and was taught by his grandfather to honour the forest as sacred, as the spirits of past and present reside there. Naturally, Jones plays a large role in the Pacheedaht community.

However, in June 2025, he was not consulted when the Pacheedaht First Nation gave permission to log the upper Walbran Valley. So, five years after the OGSR was published, Cougar Camp was set for protest.

“The old growth is the original ecosystem that has existed from the time immemorial. Nature is at the breaking point right now because there is so little left,” one protester says. She explains how clearcutting can lead to the exhaustion of ecosystems, which is why locals have become so “distraught.”

Another protester, who is Anishinaabe and an activist, was directly asked for help by Elder Jones. She has requested to remain anonymous. “If we log the Walbran Valley, it’s going to flood lower Walbran and cause devastation for our medicines and ways of life,” she says.

“When [the land] becomes sick,” she explains, “people become sick.”

“The West Coast peoples themselves include animals and trees in their worldview as relatives, recognizing the spirit they hold. So this is an attack on our people, it’s continuing the genocide … West Coast cedar is a valuable medicine and needs to be saved,” she says.

However, not everyone is supportive of the camp and what it stands for. On the other side of the scale, Chief Councillor of the Pacheedaht First Nation, Arliss Daniels, allowed for the logging in the upper Walbran Valley. She explained in an interview with the Times Colonist that logging is a part of the Pacheedaht economy.

“The protesters’ blockade undermines our Nation’s authority to govern our Traditional Territory and disrupts the important work we are doing to protect and manage our lands responsibly,” Chief Daniels says in her statement.

Forests are critical for our well-being. Covering as little as 10 percent of the earth’s surface, rainforests absorb carbon dioxide, store it in the soil, and account for close to one-third of the world’s oxygen production.

Vancouver Island is known for its lush rainforests filled with trees, rivers, and active wildlife. Some islanders are afraid that ongoing logging activities threaten the place we live in. But the forestry industry, as many VIU students can attest to, supports up to 15,335 workers in British Columbia and 37,470 workers Canada-wide.

British Columbia is home to nearly half of North America’s coastal rainforests and close to 25 percent of the world’s temperate rainforests.

Nearly all of the logging operations on Vancouver Island are hidden from eyesight. One must drive down logging roads in remote areas to catch a glimpse of the clearcuts. If it were otherwise, community members might start asking more questions.

When the ancient forests are logged, there is no way back. No matter what kind of innovation or protection plans we come up with, the forests will be
forever changed.

Despite efforts like the Old Growth Strategic Plan, the North Cowichan city council voted four to two, passing legislation that moves to consider opening dedicated areas of conservation to logging. This decision has been made despite a formal agreement of collaboration to protect municipal forest, signed by the North Cowichan municipality and the Quw’utsun Nation in August 2021. Despite a huge local community backlash in the Cowichan Valley, council members and developers are set on pushing their agenda forward.

Logging replanted trees (secondary growth) is how the industry remains sustainable, but logging companies make less money doing this.

“Forestry is still a big part of our local economy here in the Cowichan region,” Rob Douglas, Mayor of North Cowichan, says. He explains that the Valley’s largest employers are Domtar (Crofton Pulp Mill), Western Forest Products (Chemainus Saw Mill), and other large forestry-based companies. “Collectively, they employ 700 workers and add almost 8 million dollars a year in property taxes. They pay the municipality which we use to fund services, infrastructure upgrades, and many other things in our community.”

“If you look at how we build our houses, wood is a sustainable material. When we look at some of the alternatives whether it is concrete or steel, there are certainly environmental impacts from those materials that rely on wood,” Mayor Douglas says.

Forestry is still a big part of the economy in the North Cowichan region, and it has been struggling in recent months and years. The Chemainus Sawmill, which employs approximately 150 workers, has been down in production since June 2025 and is reported to be shut down at least till the end of the year. Cowichan Bay Sawmill is also currently shut down until at least October 20, 2025.

David Buxton is a long-time resident of Cowichan Valley and a hydraulics engineer on heavy-duty equipment in the industry.

“Those who want to see a diminished activity don’t have a clue about the lumber industry,” Buxton says. He argues that people don’t have a realistic idea of where the lumber comes from to build their homes, furniture, and other necessities. “The lumber doesn’t magically appear! Do they boycott that industry? Of course not!”

“Trees are a 50-75 year crop. They get harvested just like wheat or soybeans. [Trees are] replanted and harvested again once mature enough,” Buxton says. There is a longer cycle of regrowth, but it is the same process. “As for the old growth, an awful lot of those trees are in poor condition to begin with
due to their age, and the space provided after they are cycled allow for
more plantings.”

Forestry is a renewable industry, but only when replanted trees are harvested. The problem is, once the old growth is gone, it will never have time to regrow, losing the history, life, and structural integrity of the land that was once there. Advocates for protecting the old-growth forests argue that it is not worth destroying this part of the land when there are many other areas that are already in the process of harvesting and replanting.

“I would say sustainable logging is what makes forestry a renewable resource,” Forestry Technician graduate Molly Blais says. “We’re growing new forest[s] to replace the trees that have been cut.”

Nearly all of the forest surrounding southern Vancouver Island is secondary growth. To qualify as an old-growth forest, trees have to be 250 years old for the West Coast and interior wet-belt regions.

“I think a lot of people misunderstand the difference in government distinction between old growth and ancient forest. Which might have been strategic on their part, as there’s a lot of outrage about cutting old growth,” Blais says.

“A lot of these trees have very large diameters and we can’t regrow that size of tree in our lifetime.”

Logging companies must pay tax on the stumpage, which is the basal area of the stumps left behind. It is a part of their agreement to prepare the area and plant new trees, and ensure that they will grow without any intervention. This process is overseen by the Ministry of Forests.

Forestry practices in BC must comply with the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC), which is an annual amount of timber that can be harvested on a sustainable level set by the province. The goal is for all the trees that are harvested to equal the amount of volume of new trees that are planted or are already growing.

Most logging companies do not own the land where they operate. There is often a lease or tenure agreement, which means that the volume that’s cut
must be replaced.

This raises an important question: can the newly planted trees replace ecosystems and biodiversity? Can they store as much carbon as the centuries-old trees that are being cut?

Regulations introduced by the Ministry of Forests government officials in 2020 were designed to protect big trees on public land, but they have little impact and seem to have been designed that way.

There are a lot of nuances that go into planning a future forest, but ultimately, we are not able to grow trees to replace old growth or ancient trees. Logging is a massive industry in BC and Canada, but as the world’s climate and environmental demands change, the industry is expected to pivot and adapt.

“B.C.’s forestry sector is currently experiencing substantial changes due to efforts to ‘modernize’ forest management practices in response to ecological concerns,” according to the Government of Canada. Canada’s 2030 emissions reduction plan and commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 is promised to create new job opportunities in a variety of fields, including renewable energy and sustainable forest products.

While logging may be somewhat sustainable, the industry is the third-highest emitter of carbon dioxide in Canada.

The Government of Canada refers to a ‘sustainable job’ as “any job that is compatible with Canada’s path to a net-zero emissions and climate
resilient future.”

Logging is an integral part of the economy in British Columbia. The forestry industry here supports thousands of workers across the province, but the sustainability of renewable logging is a challenge. We need the lumber for our homes, but the clearcutting does have a negative impact on the land over time.

Old-growth forests are indispensable and are known for their remarkable carbon storage capacity, directly influencing the health of local ecosystems and, in turn, our planet. We are lucky to have this wealth in BC, and it is important to protect it.