Whistler's 1,300-Year-Old Douglas Firs
Thousand-year-old Douglas fir logs from "Serenity Grove" in the Stoltmann Wilderness. Photo credit: Jeremy Williams.
What do the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the prophet Mohammed and a grove of Douglas fir trees near Whistler, British Columbia, Canada have in common? They were all born about 13 centuries ago. Today, these fir trees are still with us, thriving in Lava Creek Grove in the Upper Elaho Valley of the proposed Stoltmann National Park.
But how much longer will these trees live and will the rare temperate rainforest ecosystem that they are a vital part of survive? Will the greed of some people prevail and succeed in destroying this ancient living wonder of planet Earth?
Your actions--or inaction--and those of thousands of other citizens from all parts of Canada and around the world will ultimately determine the park proposal's fate. As will the ability of our democratic system to respond and rapidly act to protect the threatened forest.
Less than 10 percent of the 5,000 sq. km. proposed Stoltmann National Park has commercially valuable forests. The rest is beautiful alpine, rock and glaciers. The Stoltmann's oldgrowth forests are the living heart of the region; important for grizzly bear migration, to sustain ungulates in winter, and as essential habitat for most of the area's biodiversity. These forests are also the highly desirable and most accessible areas for recreational use.
The best and most unique part of the proposed Park's oldgrowth forest is being rapidly destroyed. The situation is desperate. For the past four years, International Forest Products (Interfor), a large Vancouver-based timber company with logging rights in the area, has been systematically targeting the finest ancient forests of the proposed Stoltmann National Park. Every time conservationists have identified a particularly beautiful or ancient grove of trees, Interfor has ruthlessly bulldozed in a road and mowed them down.
In 1997 Interfor clearcut Magic Grove in the Sims Creek Valley. Tree ring counts of the redcedar stumps showed that the giants were over 800 years old -- about the same age as many of the great Cathedrals of Europe.
In 1998 Interfor cut down most of the huge old redcedar trees in Grizzly Grove, an important bear denning area leaving a few token trees claiming they "had preserved the grove," isolated in a surrounding clearcut. In late 1998 all the thousand-year-old Douglas fir trees in Serenity Grove were levelled. Now Interfor machinery is grinding its way towards the grove that contains the oldest known living Douglas fir trees in Canada.
With each new logging season, the forest corporation has penetrated further into the Upper Elaho -- the largest tract of intact oldgrowth rainforest left in Vancouver's Lower Mainland -- and diminished the biological heartland of the proposed National Park.
Now it's a race against time. It's our last chance to preserve a rare and spectacular ancient landscape within Canada's foremost proposed National Park.
Charles Caccia, a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) will be presenting a Private Member's Bill to the Canadian Parliament in the fall of 1999 calling for National Park protection. Whistler Councillor Ken Melamed, has called for immediate National Park protection. Squamish Nation Chief Bill Williams has been hosting weekend "Witness" campouts in the proposed National Park, introducing people to its beauty and educating people about First Nation's ancient connection to this land.
However, it is B.C.'s Premier Glen Clark who alone holds the power to order an immediate halt to logging the ancient forests of the Stoltmann Wilderness. Interfor's cut could come from elsewhere in their Tree Farm Licence 38. This would give the Federal Government an opportunity to negotiate a fair compensation package for Interfor's logging rights in the National Park - before the big trees are cut.
In the mean time, people are taking matters into their own hands, hiking into the ancient grove to camp amongst the big trees in the fervent hope that their presence will embarrass Interfor into delaying long enough for the politicians to act.
Read on, see the forest for yourself if you can, and do what you can to help save it.
