On Canada Day the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) held a camp-out near Chilliwack Lake. The purpose was to attempt to save The Owl Forest Wildlife Habitat Area from the proposed logging operations of Tamihi Logging Co.

By Glen Thompson.
Many people in Chilliwack are familiar with the camping ban known as Section 58 in the lower Chilliwack River Valley (CRV). It was put in place to control garbage, wild parties and squatters from the Vedder Bridge to Tamihi; but did you know, that it is illegal to open a campground in much of the upper Chilliwack River Valley beyond Section 58 above Tamihi?

The upper valley includes a long stretch that is inside the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). The origin of this designation is unknown; some suspect it is compensation for an ALR removal elsewhere. The result is non-productive land being inside the protection and restrictions of the ALR; restrictions that prohibit land uses such as campgrounds.

The Spotted Owl

The ALR protection in the upper Chilliwack blocked the opening of a campground at Larsen’s Bench. Ironically, across the street from the rejected campground site, sits an open pit gravel mine. It was approved under the ALR rules. Gravel mining is considered to be an approved non-agricultural land use that is legally permitted within the ALR. The Agricultural Land Commission that oversees the ALR needs to rethink the upper Chilliwack designation.

A short distance beyond the gravel mine, the Wilderness Committee is holding an informational Camp Out across from Post Creek. The issue is land use within another protected area. Less than 1 km from Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park is an officially designated Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) known as The Owl Forest WHA. It was created for the protection of Northern Spotted Owl habitat. The provincial government designated The Owl Forest and avoided the federal court from forcing them to establish habitat protection, as it did has done with other species, such as the Woodland Caribou.

The Owl Forest WHA has the strongest protection imaginable. However after 3 years of negotiation, Tamihi Logging Co. has been granted exemptions to the protection that allow them to log 80% of the biggest trees in 3 cut blocks adjacent to the provincial park. Some of the best remaining old growth in CRV will be processed this fall or next spring. At a public meeting Tamihi Logging told Post Creek residents, noise won’t be a big problem; they can be done with the stand in 2 or 3 weeks.

CRV is being stripped bare of its natural legacy for 5 to 10 jobs at the gravel mine, and 2 or 3 weeks of logging. It’s time for a proper land use plan to correct this. Our natural legacy needs protection. Let’s legalize campgrounds in the upper Chilliwack, preserve the Owl Forest and give meaning to Chilliwack’s slogan The Great Outside.

To download a copy of the WCWC, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Forest Watch of BC, Global Forest Watch Canada report ‘Logging to Extinction – The Last Stand of the Spotted Owl in Canada’ simply Click Here.