Ancient Rainforests — Pristine Salmon Streams
View of pristine Salmon-rich Clayoquot River, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations Territory, from the Witness Trail.
Fifteen-year fight to preserve this precious heritage continues
Clayoquot Sound is at the centre of a long fight to protect the natural ecology of Earth's ancient temperate rainforests. This 262,000 hectare region of islands, salmon-rich rivers and rainforested valleys on the west coast of Vancouver Island is the largest expanse of low-elevation oldgrowth temperate rainforest left in North America. Of 170 large (over 5,000 hectare) watersheds on Vancouver Island, only twelve are still pristine. Six of these are in Clayoquot Sound. Four of these are big salmon streams--the Clayoquot, Sydney, Ursus, and Bulson--slated for logging. Concern over the fate of Clayoquot's pristine rivers and ancient rainforests has prompted a massive environmental campaign by local activitists and major B.C., Canadian and international enviro-groups.
Within the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council are the Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht and Hesquiaht First Nations, who live in Clayoquot Sound. They have been part of the efforts to bring about a profound change in how resources are managed and protected in order to keep Clayoquot Sound a wonderful place to live for future generations. Here is a chronology of key events in the history of the fight to protect Clayoquot.
- 8,000+ BC to Present - Aboriginal First Nations occupy Clayoquot Sound and sustainably use its resources.
- 1778 - Captain Cook "discovers" the First Nations of the west coast of Vancouver Island and their rich culture based on ceda r and salmon.
- 1955 - New logging company MacMillan Bloedel (MB) granted perpetual Tree Farm License (TFL) with exclusive cutting rights over more than half of Clayoquot Sound.
- 1956 - Cutting rights in almost all the rest of Clayoquot Sound granted to British Columbia Forest Products (BCFP). Forest Minister of the day sent to jail for accepting bribes to grant this license. License subsequently sold to Fletcher Challenge and then, in 1992, to International Forest Products (InterFor).
- 1960s and 70s - Level of clearcutting in Clayoquot Sound continually increases to more than triple the initial rate of cut at time licenses granted. Evidence of damage--especially accelerated soil erosion--grows.
- 1981-82 - First Nations and Tofino residents organize to oppose proposed clearcutting of Meares Island. B.C. government establishes a Meares Planning Team
- 1982 - Ahousaht First Nations oppose MB logg ing on Flores Island. Take MB to court to stop MB log booming in Steamer Cove, claiming bark and debris hurting their aboriginal herring roe fishery and shellfish beds. Judge says Ahousahts are right but rules in favour of MB.
- 1984 - Government ignores Meares Planning Team's recommendation for substantial preservation of Meares and upholds the allocation of timber on Meares to industry. Cutting permits issued. First Nations and environmentalists blockade MB efforts to log. 1985 - Nuu-Chah-Nulth granted an injunction to halt MB's logging of Meares. Leads to court case (still unresolved in 1996) regarding aboriginal claim to Meares' forests.
- Meares is declared a Tribal Park by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. (Ahousaht First Nations signed a revised Meares Island Tribal Park declaration in 1991.)
- WCWC publishes and distributes its first book, Meares Island — Protecting a Natural Paradise, and 50,000 educational newspapers, Meares Island — Peaceful Protest Halts Logging.
- 1988 - Local residents blockade logging road construction along pristine Sulphur Passage--entrance to the Megin Valley, the largest unlogged coastal watershed left on Vancouver Island. Courts grant injunction to logging company. Thirty-five people are arrested, including Hereditary Chief Earl Maquinna George who stated he would not allow logging in the pristine Megin River. WCWC publishes and distributes 60,000 educational newspapers, Time to sustain rather than destroy, about Sulphur Passage. The road is eventually halted.
- September 1989 - More than 200 people from Tofino and Ahousaht First Nations gather on a logging road in the Atleo River watershed in Ahousaht Territory in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the clearcut logging destruction of this salmon-rich stream.
- 1989 - B.C. Premier Bill Vander Zalm announces the formation of the Sustainable Development Task Force for the Clayoquot Sound Area in order to decide which areas should be logged and which should be protected. Environ-mentalists call for preservation of all pristine valleys and islands in Clayoquot Sound, with "ecoforestry" (single-tree selection logging) to be practised in the fragmented areas.
- 1990 - Task Force flounders because continued clearcut logging in areas considered prime candidates for preservation compromises the outcome of the process.
- - WCWC publishes and distributes 150,000 educational Save the Wild Side of Vancouver Island newspapers and a beautiful 144-page coffee-table book entitled Clayoquot - On the Wild Side (currently out of print).
- 1991 - New Task Force formed. Logging in Clayoquot continues. Environment and tourism representatives eventually walk off this Task Force in protest.
- April, 1993 - B.C. government announces its Clayoquot Sound land use decision. Most (over 70%) of the area's big-tree forests are to be clearcut. Megin watershed is preserved. Government creates a Scientific Panel to explore and recommend how Clayoquot Sound should be logged.
- - B.C. Ombudsman says Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations not consulted properly regarding Clayoquot land use decision.
- Government and Central Region Nuu-chah-nulth begin negotiatin an Interim Measures Agreement .
- - Clearcut logging continues at a reduced rate in Clayoquot.
- - Local people begin blockading MB logging operations near Kennedy Lake. People from across Canada come to support them. Over 900 peaceful protesters eventually arrested.
- - WCWC begins construction of the Clayoquot Witness Trail in Clayoquot Valley with permission of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and raises funds so that Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations can boardwalk the Big Cedar Trail i n Meares Island Tribal Park. WCWC publishes and distributes 200,000 news-papers Save Clayoquot Sound - a heritage worth protecting.
- March 1994 - Interim Measures Agreement (IMA) signed by B.C. government and Nuu-chah-nulth Central Region First Nations. Agreement gives First Nations right to review and veto proposed resource development plans in Clayoquot. October 1994 - WCWC completes the Witness Trail in Clayoquot Valley and begins a joint research project in the Ursus Valley with Ahousaht First Nations.
- January 1995 - Ahousaht First Nations and WCWC publish a 45 page report, Preliminary Investigations of Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs) by Aboriginal Use of the Ursus Valley in Ahousaht Territory of Clayoquot Sound.
- March 1995 - WCWC publishes and distributes 100,000 Protect Ursus Valley - Ahousaht Territory newspapers.
- May 1995 - Ahousaht First Nations and WCWC conduct joint research expedition into Easter Watershed and Young Bay and publish a report titled Preliminary Investigations of Cultural and Recreational Features of Easter Watershed in Ahousaht Territory of Clayoquot Sound.
- July 1995 - Government accepts all 128 recommendations of the Clayoquot Scientific Panel including a moratorium on logging in pristine watersheds so inventories of all values can be conducted. Panel details new logging rules that enviro-groups hope will "end clearcutting in Clayoquot."
- October 1995 - Hereditary Chief Earl Maquinna George publicly states he will not allow logging or roadbuilding in the pristine Ursus River Valley.
- January 1996 - Heavy rainfalls trigger over 100 landslides in Clayoquot Sound, most of them in clearcut areas.
- February 1996 - Canada Youth Services funds joint Ahousaht Band-WCWC Ahousaht Wild Side Heritage Trail and Eco-Tourism Project to train youth in eco-tourism and clear an ancient trail to the outside beaches on Flores Island.
- March 1996 - WCWC publishes An analysis of the landslides which occurred during heavy rainstorms in Clayoquot Sound in mid-January 1996 concluding that land-slides occurred up to 20 times more frequently in clearcut areas and logging-induced slides damaged salmon streams.
- April 1996 - Interim Measures Agreement (IMA) renegotiated and extended for 3 more years.
- June 1996 - Greenpeace and Friends of Clayoquot Sound blockade to stop logging in pristine Bulson Watershed. First Nations persuade them to suspend blockade and meet with logging companies to negotiate a solution to the conflict.
- July 6, 1996 - All stakeholders meeting chaired by First Nations discusses future of Clayoquot's pristine watersheds.
Pristine Ursus River, one of four large unprotected watersheds in Clayoquot, has steep mountainsides and many kilometres of excellent spawning channels. All 5 species of salmon spawn there. MB wants to hurry up studies and start road building in this pristine valley in 1997-98.
Kanim Lake, a sockeye lake located near the mouth of Hesquiat Harbour, Hesquiaht Territory, is still filled with deleterious suspended silt one month after January 1996 storm-induced slides. Note how slides originate from clearcuts and roads on the mountainsides above.
Rae Lake, a sockeye spawning lake in Hesquiaht Territory, is choked with silt one month after a rainstorm. Note extensive clearcut logging on the steep mountain slopes and multiple landslides originating from these disturbed mountainsides.
