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WaldAktion BC

WaldAktion BC

WaldAktion BC is an impromtu educational programme for British Columbia (BC) wilderness protection initiatives by members of the German forest activist network ArbeitsKreis noerdliche urwaelder (AKU). During the Fall of 2008 AKU hosted Ingmar Lee, who conducted a lecture tour on the Great Bear Rainforest; "Beauty and Destruction of Canada's Last Ancient Forests." Intact rainforests in BC which have never before been commercially exploited are vanishing. And as they are forever destroyed for pulp, paper and wood products, the BC government engages in idle environmental rhetoric. One of the worst offenders, Western Forest Products, is currently wrecking havoc in contested native territories. Heiltsuk Nation has built a bighouse at Koeye and is asserting Aboriginal Title and Rights (right).

Bighouse, Heiltsuk Territory, 2008
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Glditas Daqvu In July 2008 members of the Heiltsuk Vickers Family travelled to Glditas Daqvu (Ingram - Mooto Watershed) and erected signs: "No Commercial Development Or Use Will Be Tolerated" (left). Located 52 km north of Bella Bella, this is an important and ancient Heiltsuk fishing ground. During his Fall 2008 lecture tour, Ingmar Lee provided a frontline report about the encroachment on Glditas Daqvu by Western Forest Products and explained how the global market in old growth pulp is behind the extermination of ancient forests. For more on the "Beauty and Destruction of Canada's Last Ancient Forests," click on the tour programme (far left). See also: Vortraege 2008 von Ingmar Lee.

Kahlschlag in Kanada BC's wild ancient forests are vanishing while corporate greenwash continues to cover up industrial crime against nature and the abuse of Aboriginal Title and Rights. AKU runs a campaign against German paper products produced from unethical old growth forest pulp: Kahlschlag fuer Deutschland.

WaldAktion BC A European tour of Germany, Sweden and Denmark was organized for forest activist Ingmar Lee in 2003. He spoke on how fifty years of industrial clearcut logging in BC has resulted in a massive loss of ancient temperate rainforest biodiversity. In Hannover, capital city of the State of Lower Saxony, Ingmar Lee met with Green Party members and was invited by party leader Stefan Wenzel to attend a parliamentary session (right). In 2004 Colleen McCrory, then deputy leader of BC's Green Party, was by Wenzel during a second WaldAktion BC.

Stefan Wenzel & Ingmar Lee, 2003.
Photo: Karen Wonders

WaldAktion BC has been aided by the generous help of Green Party Leader Stefan Wenzel (right). In an unpublished letter (below) to the editor of the Vancouver Sun, Wenzel expressed his personal concern over BC's vanishing ancient forests and big trees which he called the "incomparable heritage of humankind" and he criticized the government's unsustainable policies of industrial deforestation.

Stefan Wenzel poster, Goettingen, 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

The record sized Douglas fir "Big Betty" (left), discovered by Ingmar Lee in 2003 grows in the Upper Walbran, an ancient forest remnant on Vancouver Island that is being clearcut logged. Wenzel correctly characterizes such mad acts of nature destruction: "BC is selling part of its soul, the part which belongs to all human beings."

The Bear Mountain Treesit began on 11 April 2007 when forest activists led by Ingmar Lee established a protection camp at the site of the planned Bear Mountain Interchange in the municipal district of Langford, 20 minutes by car from the Provincial Legislature in Victoria, British Columbia (BC). The area is part of the Goldstream Watershed, famous for its big trees and wild salmon, the only place in the world where an ancient rainforest remnant survives so close to an urban centre. Shockingly, this ecological jewel is endangered by the surreptitious subdivision for real estate of surrounding forestlands. This sleazy deal with Western Forest Products within the metropolitan watershed of Victoria exposes the BC government's hypocrisy in promoting the province as a nature paradise while pursuing its policy of degradation.

Bear Mountain Treesit, Victoria, BC, 2007.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Bear Mountain Treesit, 12 August 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

To stop the Bear Mountain Interchange and its associated destruction of the forest, six platforms were erected in the Douglas firs next to the Trans Canada Highway, and a "tree village" of dedicated treesitters was established in the woods (left). Some platforms originated at the Cathedral Grove Treesit (2004 - 2006) such as "Procyon Lotar" with its striking abstract racoon motif (above). Like Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island (and Stanley Park in Vancouver), Goldstream Park has an ancient forest ecology and aboriginal heritage that barely survives due to increasing encroachment by highways and other such forms of urban sprawl. Bear Mountain Treesit activists are demanding the protection of the aboriginal features of the interchange site: the culturally modified cedars, the Garry oak meadow and the 80 m karst cave.

SPAET destroyed by Bear Mtn Resort, 2008.
Photo: Goldstream Watershed Coalition

In recent years the most serious long term ecological damage to Goldstream Watershed has been caused by the dynamiting of steep slopes for uncontrolled real estate subdivisions. An example is the ugly gaping excavation pit (left) being blasted for the "elite" Quigg condo towers, part of the Bear Mountain Resort.

Skirt Mountain was named by the first colonial surveyer in BC. It is properly known as SPAET, a traditional resource region shared by Coast Salish peoples. The Saanich and Songhees First Nations have treaties dating from 1852, from the very earliest colonization of BC, which guarantee the protection of their hunting, gathering and fishing grounds. With no regard for Aboriginal Title and Rights, the developers and their political cronies are not only wrecking environmental havoc on SPAET but also destroying its aboriginal heritage.

The environmental devastation that is going on in Langford, some 20 km north of the BC provincial legislature in Victoria makes a mockery of the supposed "new relationship" with First Nations initiated by the government in 2004. Developers in BC act with impunity, backed by infrastructure expansion policies that serve big business. Endless greenwash accompanies the "sustained" development frenzy while it profits from the robbing of First Nations. Also non native communities are being deprived by corporate greed of sustainable economies. Blasting off mountain tops, destroying sacred aboriginal caves, eradicating native flora and fauna for luxury homes surrounded by toxic golf wastelands is not progress, as Kalanu, an activist with the Bear Mountain Treesit states in his graphic collage (right).

From its current population of 23,000, Langford is projecting a growth of 300 percent in the next 20 years. Planned are subdivisions in the Goldstream Watershed: Bear Mtn (10 - 14000); Skirt Mtn (5 - 7000); and West Hills (12 - 15000). This developers' bonanza is occurring at a gung ho pace, before environmental costs have been properly calculated.

Gnarled ancient Arbutus tree, SPAET.
Photo: Lotus Johnson

"This Is Not Sustainable." Bear Mtn Resort.
Protest collage: Kalanu, 2008

Among the many losses of natural and aboriginal heritage due to the degradation of the Goldstream Watershed are the Arbutus groves which flourished on SPAET (Skirt Mountain). The Arbutus is the only broadleaved evergreen tree native to Canada and it occurs in three red listed (endangered) plant communities in BC. This strikingly beautiful red barked tree is threatened by urban sprawl, clearcut logging, agriculture, fire suppression and invasive species. According to a Coast Salish legend, the Saanich People (whose traditional lands include SPAET and the Goldstream Watershed) survived a great flood by tying their canoes to an Arbutus tree on top of Lauwelnew (Mt Newton), and thereafter refused to cut or burn the species as a sign of respect.

The destruction of the once abundant native Arbutus (Arbutus menziesii) groves by the developers of Bear Mtn Resort has been documented by Cheryl Bryce, lands manager of Songhees First Nation. She stands aghast at one subdivision site in 2007 (right) on SPAET, where the Arbutus grove has been blasted and leveled along with the mountainside. Documentary photos show how scores of Arbutus trees have been bulldozed into huge piles and burned as slash, an act of ecological vandalism against an endangered species, calling for international condemnation.

Destruction by Bear Mtn Resort, 2 March 2008.
Photo: Goldstream Watershed Coalition

Songhees Cheryl Bryce, Bear Mtn, 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

To bring public attention to the ongoing devastation of the forest lands on the southern slopes of Goldstream Watershed, protesters organized a community hike up SPAET (Skirt Mountain) on 2 March 2008. There they saw slash and burn piles on fire, distinctly red coloured from Arbutus trees and root mass that makes up the topsoil (left). Topsoil is relatively scarce on the BC coast due to past glaciation; and the deliberate ruining of this fragile basis for irreplaceable biodiversity is heartbreaking and irresponsible to future generations.

Arbutus menziesii and Quercus garryana (Garry Oak) are two unique native trees that often grow together (right) as codominant species. The Garry Oak grows well over 1,000 years in age and up to widths of up to 6 metres. It is internationally known as the foundation for an ecosystem type that is both endangered itself and serves as habitat for many other endemic plants, animal and invertebrates at risk. Conservation groups dedicated to its protection include: GOERT (Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team); GORP (Garry Oak Restoration Project - Saanich); Garry Oak Meadows (Capital Regional District); Garry Oak Habitat at Risk (Ministry of Environment); Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society.

Despite the proliferation of such groups, the extermination of the Garry Oak continues apace in BC, mostly due to urban encroachment. First Nations people cultivated Garry Oak meadows for edible plants such as camas lilies and they ate the oak's acorns as well, mashing them into a paste and boiling them in water. Like culturally modified cedars that have been bark stripped for traditional purposes, Arbutus and Garry Oaks are vital to aboriginal heritage, and it is shocking that they are not fully protected under BC law.

Arbutus and Garry Oak habitat, SPAET.
Photo: Lotus Johnson

"Stop the madness," 25 February 2008.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Ingmar Lee describes the disgraceful scene (right) that characterizes forest politics in BC: "Two devoted local forest activists attempted to protect a beautiful Garry Oak tree (which was in full bud and was just about to release its leaves) from being destroyed by chainsaws. The oak could not be felled from the ground because of its proximity to powerlines and had already been severely damaged by fallers who had climbed up its central limb and top roped down to cut off all its lateral branches. . . Lurch stayed up in the damaged tree all day, but when he finally climbed down, two undercover RCMP officers ran out and tackled him."

The two valiant forest defenders and conscientious objectors, one of them a veteran Cathedral Grove treesitter, were arrested for trying to save the Garry Oak meadow and hauled off to jail. One arrestee was released on condition of staying out of the designated "red zone," the other was kept in jail overnight, choosing to not cooperate, sign release forms or identify himself. Refusing to be intimidated, the protesters later regrouped on the highway by the Garry Oak and upheld their constitutional right to protest.

Until recently, one third of the 1,200 acre Bear Mtn property was publicly owned land, a big chunk of which was intended to be protected as part of the Goldstream Watershed. Now urban sprawl is degrading this habitat on which the world famous big trees and salmon of Goldstream Park depend. With callous disregard, developers are wiping out Arbutus and Garry Oak groves as well as culturally modified trees. On 25 February 2008 crews began destroying a Garry Oak meadow for the Bear Mtn Interchange. Enraged protesters gathered at the Trans Canada Highway site (left).

Garry Oak defenders, 25 February 2008.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

On 13 February 2008 Langford launched a massive pre dawn paramilitary SWAT style police operation on the handful of sleeping treesitters and charged them with mischief. When the feller buncher machine later arrived to destroy the forest it was blocked by two frontline forest activists. They were jumped on by police officers, wrestled to the ground, handcuffed and arrested (above). Both were taken away in high security prisoner vans and thrown into filthy solitary confinement jail cells overnight in Victoria. The overkill police operation ordered by Langford's mayor continued for three days; the forest was declared an off limits "red zone" while crews proceeded to destroy a huge 20 acre swath of it in preparation for the Bear Mountain Interchange. The resulting clearcut across the Trans Canada Highway (right) goes within four metres of the entrance of Langford Lake Cave and less than a tree length from the downslope wetland ecosystem: Spencer's Pond.

Bear Mtn Interchange clearcut, 17 Feb 2007.
Photo: Rob Bowen

Bear Mountain protester, 16 February 2008.
Video: CHEK News (red text added)

Undeterred by Langford's heavy handed assault against democracy and nature, the protesters took a pledge of environmental awareness: "At a time of unprecedented ecological crisis, it is the moral obligation of the entire human community to take immediate action to prevent unnecessary harm and destruction to the natural world and all its inhabitants; and to reverse developments that systematically destroy the life - support systems of the earth for profit" Hundred Voices of Conscience. More concerned citizens joined the movement and they continued to stage protests against the degradation of Goldstream Watershed by Bear Mtn Interchange and its deliberate ruining of endangered ecosystems and aboriginal heritage (right).

Another act of forest defence was taken by historian and two time mayoral candidate Dr. Ben Isitt on 16 February 2008 when he evaded SWAT team members who were dressed in bullet proof vests (left). Isitt bravely blockaded a gigantic feller buncher, successfully stopping its destruction for the day. A video recording of the scene and a later interview with Isitt (inset) were featured in the TV news. Youtube: Victory at Bear Mtn Interchange.

Bear Mtn protesters, 23 February 2008.
Photo: anon

Bear Mountain Interchange, 11 March 2008.
Photo: Pete Rockwell

Langford Mayor Stew Young's "great victory over the environment" (left) is described by Ingmar Lee: "The Bear Mountain Interchange was needed to facilitate expansion of the sprawling Bear Mountain golf and condo development which was exceeding the capacity of existing access infrastructure . . . No sooner had the cops secured the 10 month protest site, giant tree chomping faller bunchers immediately tore into the forest . . . guarded by a 24/7 RCMP roster which was said to have consisted of 300 officers on rotating shifts. Motorists watched as tracked machines clamped hydraulically onto mature, budding Garry oaks and tore them right out of the ground. Now all the 'overburden' has been stumped and scraped right off, and is ready for blasting" Wasteland.

Protest was not quelled by Langford's display of police force: on 29 February 2008 an early morning peaceful rally against nature destroying urban sprawl was organized. The small group of idealists came under attack by over 100 aggressive Bear Mountain Resort construction workers and thugs who had been paid to intimidate and provoke the protesters with physical abuse, false accusations and sexual insults.

A math professor (right, in red) had his banner ripped to shreds by the raucous mob whose orgy of jeering and bullying was video recorded CHEK news team. Surprisingly, police patrolling the event took no action against the mob to protect the professor or the other mostly women protesters. Clearly justice in BC is designed to serve corporate big shots and people who befriend local governments.

Thugs hired by Bear Mtn Resort.
CHEK News: 29 February 2007

Two cedars, 450 - 500 years old, Goldstream Park.
Photo: anon

A sign at Goldstream Park (above) notes that the two red cedars "were here when Europe was awakening from the Middle Ages." An ecological jewel of rainforest biodiversity that is part of humanity's world heritage, over 95 percent of this ancient big tree ecosystem has been destroyed by industrial logging, much of it during the past 50 years. It seems beyond belief that in this troubled age of habitat devastation, Goldstream Watershed is being plundered and degraded by the actions of a few greedy individuals.

The era when logging barons like H. R. MacMillan (MacMillan Bloedel) and Herb Doman (Doman Industries and Western Forest Products) were treated like heroes for deforesting BC is over. Concerned citizens today demand that people like Bob Flitton, former deputy BC minister of lands and government relations manager for Doman, be made accountable for the central role he played in the ecological calamity brought about by the Bear Mtn Resort developers' consortium that currently employs him as its spokesman. See his profile of murky dealings: Robert D. Flitton.

The public does not yet fully understand how their beloved Goldstream Park has been negatively impacted by the self serving back room dealing of local politicians, sleazy logging companies and development "cowboys." In a shocking act of profiteering, 243 acres of publicly owned (Crown) land originally slated for Goldstream Provincial Park was virtually given to the Bear Mtn Resort developers without public disclosure or open tendering. Furthermore, 35 acres of land in the Goldstream Watershed were removed from the Forest Land Reserve, and 180 acres were sold by Langford councillor John Goudy for subdivision.

Goldstream River and Park, 2007.
Photo: anon

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