IN APRIL 2023, the Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project filed a complaint with the BC Forest Practices Board about the logging and degradation of “old forest”—forest that contains trees greater than 250 years of age—on Quadra Island.
Investigators from the Board spent a number of days on Quadra in July. They have said it will take 6 months to a year (from the time we filed our complaint) to release an investigation report.
One of the aspects of our complaint was that Okisollo Resources logged 3 hectares of old forest on the north side of Hummingbird Lake in July 2019, contrary to promises the company made in its woodlot plan.
While we were waiting for the investigators to come to Quadra Island, we made a second survey of the old-growth stand Okisollo Resources logged, including measuring the number and diameter of the trees that were cut in 2019 that were greater than 100 cm. We found 38, only 6 of which contained any sign of rot in the stump, which suggests the stand was in good health.
We also did ring counts of two of the stumps. Because of weathering that has occurred since 2019, this required sanding a strip across the diameter of the stump so that the growth rings could be photographed at high resolution. The images were then tiled and the growth rings counted at high magnification (see image below). The two stumps we examined showed 443 years and 420 years of growth.
In BC, forests containing trees greater than 400 years of age are considered to be “ancient”, not just “old-growth”, and are now extremely rare.
Growth rings of one of the 38 old-growth trees logged in a 3-hectare cutblock at Hummingbird Lake on Quadra Island in 2019 (click image to enlarge).
(2023-04-04) Complaint to the Forest Practices Board regarding logging of old forest on Quadra Island
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IN APRIL 2023, the Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project filed a complaint with the BC Forest Practices Board about the logging and degradation of “old forest”—forest that contains trees greater than 250 years of age—on Quadra Island.
Investigators from the Board spent a number of days on Quadra in July. They have said it will take 6 months to a year (from the time we filed our complaint) to release an investigation report.
One of the aspects of our complaint was that Okisollo Resources logged 3 hectares of old forest on the north side of Hummingbird Lake in July 2019, contrary to promises the company made in its woodlot plan.
While we were waiting for the investigators to come to Quadra Island, we made a second survey of the old-growth stand Okisollo Resources logged, including measuring the number and diameter of the trees that were cut in 2019 that were greater than 100 cm. We found 38, only 6 of which contained any sign of rot in the stump, which suggests the stand was in good health.
We also did ring counts of two of the stumps. Because of weathering that has occurred since 2019, this required sanding a strip across the diameter of the stump so that the growth rings could be photographed at high resolution. The images were then tiled and the growth rings counted at high magnification (see image below). The two stumps we examined showed 443 years and 420 years of growth.
In BC, forests containing trees greater than 400 years of age are considered to be “ancient”, not just “old-growth”, and are now extremely rare.
Growth rings of one of the 38 old-growth trees logged in a 3-hectare cutblock at Hummingbird Lake on Quadra Island in 2019 (click image to enlarge).