VICTORIA – What remains of an 800 year-old Red Cedar lies in the parking area at Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park. Last year, poachers were unsuccessful in an attempt to fall the tree, but had damaged it sufficiently to force BC Parks Staff to bring the ancient cedar down for safety reasons.
Since then, the cedar poachers have returned at their leisure, cut up, hauled out, and taken away much of the tree. Some of this work has been done in recent weeks and has further damaged the environment. Undergrowth in the park is torn and crushed, a ditch is caved in and blocked with debris, small concrete parking stops have been moved or broken, and steel cables are lying around. Only one section of the trunk remains in the forest, along with the stump – which is nine feet in diameter.
