Saving the Valleys of the Stoltmann Wilderness
Photo credit: Jeremy Williams
Squamish Nation artist Aaron Nelson-Moody carved this seven-foot-tall statue entitled "Cedar Woman" over the summer of 2000. He used a sand bar in the Sims Valley as his work area. Hundreds of Witness Gathering participants watched her shape emerge from the cedar log over the months it took to carve her. She now stands on Bear Bluffs in the Elaho Valley, accessed by a short trail from the end of the logging road. She is a symbol of healing and caring for the land. She overlooks the massive Interfor clearcuts of the Lower Elaho Valley. At her back is the pristine wilderness of the Upper Elaho Valley. Since she was placed on Bear Bluffs, no additional logging roads or clearcuts have been pushed further up the Elaho Valley.
When it came time for the Squamish Nation people to carry Cedar Woman to the top of Bear Bluffs they invited everyone, including eco-activists and the RCMP, to lend a helping hand. All joined in together. Carrying Cedar Woman helped the healing begin.
Big redcedar trees, like these in the Sims Valley, are a vital component of Squamish Nation culture. Over 100 years of clearcutting has made them rare in Squamish territory. With the collapse of markets for hemlock lumber, BC coastal timber companies like Interfor are rapidly liquidating the last of the oldgrowth redcedar groves. The Sims is a Squamish Nation Wild Spirit Place and according to their land use plan, is off limits to logging.
This Douglas fir tree and others nearby along the Wilderness Committee hiking trail in the Upper Elaho Valley are amongst the oldest of their species in Canada. Some are estimated to be at least 1,300 years old. When the BC Forest Service inventoried the Squamish Region for similar groves of thousand-year-old trees they found that there weren't any! The Stoltmann Wilderness is the only place where they still exist - the rest have been logged out. A hiking map of the Elaho trail is available to guide you to these trees (see back page). The Upper Elaho is a Squamish Nation Wild Spirit Place where no logging is allowed.
Photo credit: Hebe Kelly
Interfor's burning piles in the Elaho Valley. Every Autumn, after clearcutting the ancient forest, Interfor piles up the "waste wood" and sets fire to the remnants of some of Earth's last remaining thousand-year-old trees until all the piles burn down and all that remains are ashes.
With permission from the BC Forest Service, a WCWC volunteer cuts off the top of a stump of a thousand-year-old redcedar tree that had been felled by Interfor in the Sims Valley in 2000. The redcedar round, 3.5 meters in diameter, was shipped to Japan as an educational environmental display documenting the destruction of BC's ancient forests to feed Japanese demand for redcedar lumber.
Ainsworth's logging road scars in the Upper Bridge Valley are seen in the left side of the photo. Ainsworth is rapidly roadbuilding up the valley even though it is critical grizzly bear habitat as evidenced by the ironic Forest Service sign. Such destruction of grizzly habitat would never be allowed in the US.
Meager Creek Hot Springs bathing pools have been beautifully reconstructed using local stones. These world famous hot springs are located in the Meager Valley which is rapidly being clearcut. It's time to stop the chop to protect this precious recreation and tourism "hotspot".
Photo credit: Joe Foy
The ancient forests of Boulder Valley north of Pemberton are still intact - but for how long? Equally as beautiful, but more endangered is the neighboring Salal Valley. Whistler and Pemberton must act now to ensure these rare and endangered wild spaces of the Stoltmann Wilderness survive into the future.
If things go as planned ... in 2010 this oldgrowth hemlock forest in the Callaghan Valley will be a source of wild wonder to Whistler Winter Olympics visitors - if these trees are not cut down first. The Nordic events ski site for the Winter Olympics being proposed for the Lower Callaghan is estimated to cost $100 million.
It's a big investment in the future! Whistler needs to ensure that the wild forests of the Callaghan Valley are protected from industrial clearcut logging so that the valley retains its wilderness qualities for Olympic visitors and for generations of future visitors. By honouring the Squamish Nation's desire to see the west Callaghan Valley designated a Wild Spirit Place and by protecting the ancient forests in the rest of the valley, this can be accomplished in the spirit of cooperation towards a bright future.
Scenic views like this are getting harder to find in the Lower Soo Valley as ongoing clearcut logging scars this Whistler area landscape. The Upper Soo Valley is still roadless and pristine - a rare gem in today's world. The upper valley is a marvelous mix of oldgrowth forest and riparian wetlands. Located just up the road from downtown Whistler, this is the kind of real wilderness other resort communities would dearly like to claim for their own - but can't because it's all gone in their region. But every year the logging pushes further up the valley. Whistler has a right and a responsibility to see that this destruction is halted and the Upper Soo Valley is protected.
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Shel Neufeld
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Joe Foy
Photo credit: Joe Foy
