Judge refuses request to block WCWC trail building
The world tallest Sitka spruce deserve protection
Carmanah Valley is renowned as the location of Canada's tallest trees and the world's tallest Sitka spruces. Now it is also famous as the place where British Columbia citizens legally affirmed their right to access and recreationally use provincial Crown land.
In May of 1998, a determined group of Western Canada Wilderness Committee volunteers and directors began building trails in Carmanah Valley, despite verbal and written requests to cease and desist from the largest forest company operating in British Columbia.
MacMillan Bloedel Ltd's (MB) Tree Farm License (TFL) 44 includes the entire Carmanah drainage. The company, which currently makes more than $1 million per day in profits, obviously did not want the public to see Carmanah's virgin forest, which is one of the most spectacular in the world. It wanted to quickly clear cut log the best stands of trees there before the public became aware of what it would lose.
In two months with lots of hard work from volunteers, the Wilderness Committee built 8 km of trails winding from grove to grove in the valley's mid section. A route was also scouted to the 95 metre tall Carmanah Giant, the tallest known Sitka spruce, which grows near the boundary of Pacific Rim National Park.
MB, realizing that the Wilderness Committee was becoming successful in its campaign to draw public attention to the Carmanah forest, first offered to save two areas with big trees totaling 99 ha. Conservationists pointed out that this 1.4 percent of the valley was totally inadequate to protect the spruce ecosystem. Even the few big trees MB intended to spare within these reserves would be undermined by erosion and blow down.
Carmanah Valley.Click on map to enlarge.
Next the company sought an injunction to stop the Committee's trail work. After two days in court, MB's case failed on all points of law. For the first time since Tree Farms were established 30 years ago, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the public has the right to enter and enjoy Crown lands under TFL tenure. These exclusive licenses to harvest timber currently encumber nearly 30 percent of B.C.'s land base.
Court upholds public right to use crown lands
"We are at a critical point in our efforts to save the entire Carmanah Valley," said Ken Lay, a WCWC director. "We have three important tasks on our plate. Over the next few months we must continue to defend our legal rights on Crown land. We must conduct needed research on Carmanah's forest ecology. Most importantly, we must complete our trail system in Carmanah Valley to National Park standard. The main thing holding us back is the lack of money."
"The court battle was particularly costly for our committee," said Lay. "We have spent more than twice as much on legal fees as on trail work so far. We need another $50,000 to successfully conclude our Carmanah campaign."
Confident that the public will respond with the needed donations, the Committee is proceeding full steam ahead with research and trail work in Carmanah.
