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Territorial acknowledgment
This project is conducting its research on the unceded traditional territories of the Wei Wai Kai First Nation, Kwiakah First Nation, Homalco First Nation, Klahoose First Nation, the K’ómoks First Nation and the traditional territory of the Tla’amin Nation. It is our intention to work with these nations to increase the general level of settler knowledge about the land and our connection to it. For more information about the Indigenous Peoples of the Discovery Islands, see this page.
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maxinuxw (Kwakwaka’wakw name for humpback whale), off Hill Island. maxinuxw means “side by side tribe”.
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The project
Clearcut logging is degrading the ecological integrity of the Discovery Islands, contributing to the climate and biodiversity crises and substantially raising overall forest fire hazard. Yet the economic value of the few jobs this form of industrial forestry provides on the Discovery Islands is more than offset by the cost of public subsidization of the industry. What can be done to restore ecological integrity and create a more prosperous forest-based economy?
The Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project has undertaken to quantify the physical impacts of logging on these ecologically sensitive islands, as well as the economic costs and benefits. We’re gathering leading-edge thinking about the creation of a new relationship with forests in which conservation and restoration of the ecological services provided by forests is the primary lens through which they are viewed. We are examining how these ideas could be applied here.
A caveat about the information and ideas found here: This is a work in progress and although we are using information based largely on provincial government records and scientific studies, some of the concepts we are applying, such as a full accounting of the carbon emissions resulting from clearcut logging, are still evolving. We will update numbers as more information is received.
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The Octopus Islands
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The case for greater conservation of Discovery Islands forests
Proceed through the slideshow below (use the white arrows) and click on an image to learn more about each issue that the project is addressing through research, observation and access to information requests.
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Project surveys
What do we need to know to make the transition to a new paradigm in which forests are valued for all the services they provide? This project has begun to collect information about the current state of Discovery Islands forests and how we are using them. These are all works in progress. Click on any image to see what we’ve found so far.
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Actions we support:
• Accurate information gathering and dissemination of that information to the community.
• Creation of a public interest action group that is free of logging-industry influence.
• Engagement with government and industry over specific future logging plans.
• Persuasion of government ministries to move toward much greater protection of Discovery Islands’ Crown land from clearcut logging and road building. We are in alignment with the Nature Needs Half initiative and believe 50 percent of the Discovery Islands area should be protected by 2030.
• Until greater protection is legislated, defending specific areas of Crown land against efforts to build roads in—or log—those areas. This includes, for example, areas of primary forest, areas of old forest, areas of mature forest required for old forest recruitment, areas needed by species at risk of extinction or local extirpation, areas of high recreational potential, and areas where logging and plantations would create a higher fire hazard.
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