China Beach Clear Cut
I’ve stayed at the China Beach campground several times before, but for the first time last Saturday I walked across the street. I was invited to join by the Forest Action Network and a local resident as they went through a clear cut. We were touring Tree Forest Licence #61, owned by Pacheedaht Andersen Timber Holdings Limited Partnership, (PATH) with daily operations managed by Queesto Community Forest Ltd.
When driving up past Jordan River, the log sort that usually sits empty is brimming with logs that have recently been cut, ready to be shipped out. We parked up at the China Beach campground and hopped in a truck. We drove up a logging road that was directly across the road. Right from the beginning we could see the plies of logs, stacked higher than the truck. Huge swaths of land was being deforested at alarming rate by felling machines then de-limbed by another set of machines.
As we travelled up the road we passed the clear cut and went higher up in elevation. We passed old areas that were just starting to recover from the last round of logging. Single specie trees planted in neat little rows on hills that had been completely logged from bottom to top.
Between the patches of clear cuts there were still small parcels of old growth. These areas have served as corridors and refuges for wildlife, some of which can only live in old growth forests. Disturbingly a map of the area has been put out by the timber companies showing the age of the trees – a large portion of the old growth no longer has any protection what-so-ever, making it a prime target for companies looking to make a quick buck.
Overall we saw maybe five machines working. Being generous, I would estimate that there were about a dozen individuals working there. None of the logs are being processed anywhere near where they were cut. These machines rip up the ground and destroy the root systems that hold the soil in place. When they try to replant that area the new trees will have to contend with a poorer quality of soil because of the massive erosion that will end up in the streams that serve as the spawning ground for salmon. This new, weaker, single species forest will be prone to diseases and parasites. Animals will have to contend with a freshly fragmented habitat, which will result in a genetic separation and higher mortality rate.
This clear cutting and the practices used does little to benefit the existing communities in the surrounding area and only serve to help the bottom lines of logging companies. We need to stop impoverishing our forests with clear cuts and stop giving away forestry jobs with raw log exports.
Check out all of the photos from the trip here
James Coccola
Vancouver Island Outreach Coordinator
