North Vancouver virgin forest, circa 1918. All old growth forests below 1,000 feet elevation in the Lower Mainland, like this one, have been eliminated. Photo credit: Vancouver Public Library Archive photo no. 5928
Pocket Wilderness Coalition Formed
Logging moratorium achieved in two areas
Early in 1987, a number of outdoor an environmental organizations banded together with local people to form the Pocket Wilderness Coalition of British Columbia (PWC). The PWC's aim is to ensure that some pockets of old growth forest are preserved in each an every one of the watersheds that surround the Lower Mainland. This was an idea whose time had come. Organizations like SPEC, Western Canada Wilderness Committee and Valley Outdoor Association backed the coalition immediately. Within weeks of forming, Pocket Wilderness support grew to number several thousand-and with good reason. The people of Lower Mainland communities were sick and tired of seeing favorite weekend-accessible wilderness areas in the Chilliwack, Chehalis, Mamquam, Squamish and other local watersheds, succumb to clear-cut logging, one by one.
Some of the oldest members of our communities can remember a time when old growth forests stretched from saltwater to horizon. By 1930 we were arguing over whether or not to preserve the last old growth stand in Surrey. We didn't. Today, in 1987, the staggering elimination of old growth forests has progressed far beyond surrey. It's time to save the few pockets left.
The coalition adopted a "Pocket Wilderness Concept" to show the B.C. Forest Service(BCFS), who controls logging in the our local watersheds, how it's possible to preserve forested wilderness, while maintaining an acceptable level of the timber supply to the forest companies. The Pocket Wilderness Concept is based on the use of natural land forms, associated with mountainous areas, to preserved and "insulate" small areas of highly valued wilderness, while allowing logging to proceed in adjacent areas.
Forested bowls containing small lakes or valley-ends make excellent pocket wilderness candidates, providing the opportunity to preserve a self contained wilderness retreat. Small side valleys and forested ridges may also have wilderness insulating qualities, and may be used to link several pocket wildernesses together. Such a network of pocket wildernesses differs from true wilderness found in major areas like Garibaldi Provincial Park, in being much smaller and more numerous.
Pocket Wildernesses, though permanently preserved, should not be considered parks, and are not meant to take their place. Rather, they are a means to preserve forested wilderness ecosystems outside of parks much in the same manner as fish or wildlife resources are preserved outside of parks. 1200 year old yellow cedars, 500 year old firs or 8,000 year old wilderness forest ecosystems should not be completely eliminated from any local watershed, any more than should mountain goats, deer or trout.
Pocket Wildernesses are meant to be enjoyed by people. While many forms of worthwhile outdoor recreation take place on previously logged land in second growth forests, wilderness recreation and enjoyment require a natural environment, relatively unaltered by man and his machines. Pocket Wildernesses provide a means to preserve the wilderness destinations people rely on for this special form of outdoor recreation.
Because of logging road access, Pocket Wildernesses can be enjoyed in day or weekend trips and are often suitable of family outings. Hiking towards a Pocket Wilderness through second growth can be a pleasant build up to the moment when a hiker steps into the ancient world of the old growth forest.
You Know A Pocket Of Lower Mainland Wilderness Needing Protection?
In the pages that follow six of the most important pocket wilderness areas, 'prime candidates for preservation, are profiled in one page. On the map, 20 pocket wilderness areas found in the Lower Mainland-Fraser Valley, including the six considered in depth in this paper, are presented on a full-spread map. None of the areas have any form of protection from industrial development and all commercial forests within them are scheduled to be logged -if not next year, eventually. Scarce timber, high market demands, and future advances in logging technology will make even the scrubbiest and remotest forests economic to log.
This list of Pocket Wildernesses is based on brief research by a small group of volunteers, and is by no means complete. Many other valuable areas worthy of protection exist in our local watersheds, and all concerned groups and individuals need to be involved in identifying them and bringing pressure to bear on the Forest Service to protect them. Contact the Pocket Wilderness Coalition if you know of a place that should be protected and preserved.
After completing a preliminary survey of important local pocket wilderness areas, the PWC went to BC Forest Service District Offices in the Vancouver Fraser Valley region to see which areas were in imminent dander of being lost to logging. A Proposal to postpone logging in six endangered potential pocket wildernesses until a case could be made for preservation, resulted. This proposal was then forwarded to the Maple Ridge Forest District Office and circulated amongst conservation, outdoors and environmental groups. The proposal was endorsed by the Stein Alliance, Canadian Society For The Protection of Heritage Forests, Steelhead Society, North Shore Hikers, Silva Ecosystems Consultants Ltd., Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, Valley Outdoor Association, Western Canada Wilderness Committee and many concerned people throughout the Lower Mainland.
As a result of the Pocket Wilderness Coalition's proposal, the Maple Ridge District Forest Service placed a logging moratorium on some of the pocket wilderness candidate areas.
Eagle Mountain, near Buntzen Lake, north of Port Moody, was to have been clear-cut in 1988. Logging plans have now been set back until 1991, gibing time for the community to lobby for permanent preservation of this much used and loved wilderness area.
Bonzai lake, northeast of Mission, was to have been clear-cut this year. Logging plans were completely cancelled.
Negotiations continue on all the other proposed logging sites, except one, EAGLE CREEK, in Chehalis country, northwest of Harrison Hot Springs. The request for postponement of logging, due to start this summer, was flatly denied.
Eagle Creek reminds us of the situation faced in Surrey in the 1930s, where after a period of argument, the last stand of old growth forest in the area was logged. The Stanley Park sized stand of old growth forest contained in the bowl shaped valley of Eagle Creek is the last remaining valley bottom virgin forest in the vast region between Stave and Harrison Lakes. This huge area of typical cut over valley bottoms, with its second growth forests interspersed with poorly regenerated or recently cut "moonscapes," is 800 square kilometers in size, larger than Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster and Vancouver combined.
The case of Eagle Creek illustrates the great political power of the major forest companies. Even though the Forest Service may have wanted to preserve this last remnant of rare valley bottom wilderness forest, they had to give in to pressure from the forest company involved, CanFor.
Some of the last giant Douglas firs ready for the mill. Big Silver Creek log dump, Harrison Lake, BC January 1987. Photo credit: Paul George
At this writing CanFor is quickly preparing to bulldoze a mad up the little valley before the public can be notified.
Such is the nature of the logging industry today. In some ways little has changed since 1930, except, of course, the forested wilderness. There's a lot less of it!
The Pocket Wilderness Coalition feels that the BC Forest Service is receptive to the idea of a network of small wilderness preserves located in the local water-sheds. Such a plan could come under BCFS's newly announced "Integrated Resource Management Plan for Provincial Forests" and the rumoured legislative change in the Forest Act, both of which provide for preservation of wilderness by the Forest Service.
The PWC is in the process of for-warding Pocket Wilderness Proposals to the Chilliwack and Squamish Forest District Offices. Intense public pressure is needed to counteract industry's behind the scenes political manipulations. Forest companies appear to think they alone own the public forest land. They have clearly demonstrated their intent to clearcut all local old growth forest into extinction.
