David Broadland
-
Posts
179 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Gallery
Wildflower families of the Discovery Islands
Forest-related journalism
Ocean-related reporting
Primary forest survey: Quadra Island
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (white-coloured wildflowers)
Loss of forest cover on Quadra Island
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (yellow-coloured wildflowers)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (pink-coloured wildflowers)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Blue-flowered wildflowers)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Red-orange-flowered wildflowers)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (brown-coloured wildflowers)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (purple-coloured wildflowers)
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Marine mammals
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Land mammals
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Marine birds
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Forest birds
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Amphibians
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Reptiles
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Marine Invertebrates
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Fish
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Green-flowered wildflowers)
Logging in the watersheds of Quadra Island
Plant species observed on the Discovery Islands that are endangered, threatened or species of concern
Animal species observed on the Discovery Islands that are endangered, threatened or species of concern
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Trees and Shrubs)
Lichen species of the Discovery Islands
Primary forest survey: Read Island
Primary forest survey: Cortes Island
Primary forest survey: Maurelle Island
Primary forest survey: Sonora Island
Primary forest survey: West Redonda Island
Primary forest survey: smaller islands
Primary forest survey: East Redonda Island
Place names: Quadra Island
Place names: Cortes Island
Place names: Read Island
Place names: Maurelle Island
Place names: Sonora Island
Place names: West Redonda Island
Place names: East Redonda Island
Place names: smaller islands
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Grasses, sedges & rushes)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Aquatics)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Ferns)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Lichens)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Fungi)
Plant species of the Discovery Islands (Mosses and Liverworts)
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Butterflies, Skippers and Moths
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Dragonflies and Damselflies
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Bees, Ants and Wasps
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Beetles
Animal species of the Discovery Islands: Slugs and Snails
Loss of forest cover on Read Island
Loss of forest cover on Cortes Island
Loss of forest cover on Maurelle Island
Loss of forest cover on Sonora Island
Loss of forest cover on West Redonda Island
Loss of forest cover on East Redonda Island
Solutions
Photographic survey
Forest carbon release by logging on the Discovery Islands
Portal: Public subsidization of logging on the Discovery Islands
Loss of forest cover on the Discovery Islands
The cost of the public subsidy of clearcut logging on the Discovery Islands
Impact of clearcut logging on forest-related employment
Loss of forest carbon sequestration capacity due to logging
Forest stewardship plans for area-based forest tenures on the Discovery Islands
History of forest loss on the Discovery Islands
Portal: A paradigm shift in how Discovery Islands forests are managed is urgently needed
Portal: Over-exploitation of BC forests
Portal: Imagining a new relationship with forests
Portal: Loss of primary forest
Portal: Destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity
Portal: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests
Portal: Increase in forest fire hazard
Portal: Loss of carbon sequestration capacity
Portal: Increase in forest carbon emissions
Portal: Plantation failure
Portal: Use of ecologically damaging practices
Portal: Permanent loss of forest to logging roads, landings and quarries
Portal: Soil loss and damage
Portal: Loss of forest-related employment
Portal: Loss of employment resulting from the export of raw logs
Portal: Costs of floods, fires and clearcutting of community watersheds
Portal: The economic impact on communities of boom and bust cycles
Portal: The instability of communities dependent on forest extraction
Portal: Psychological unease caused by forest destruction
Portal: Loss of trust in institutions as a result of over-exploitation of forests
Portal: Social division caused by over-exploitation of BC forests
Portal: Loss of economic potential of other forest-related sectors
Portal: The economic cost of converting forests into sawdust and wood chips
Portal: The need to reform BC forest legislation
Portal: The need to expedite treaties with First Nations
Portal: The need to get informed, organized and ready for change
Portal: Surveys
Portal: The case for much greater conservation of forests on the Discovery Islands
Portal: Greater conservation of forests is needed to mitigate climate change
Portal: Retention of old and mature forest is necessary to protect biodiversity
Portal: Compared with old and mature forest, logged areas have a higher fire hazard
Portal: The extraordinary beauty of the Discovery Islands needs to be protected
Portal: We support Indigenous title and rights on the Discovery Islands
Portal: Logging on the Discovery Islands is heavily subsidized by the public
Species at risk on the Discovery Islands
Historical record of forest fires on the Discovery Islands
Lakes and wetlands of the Discovery Islands
Recreation Resources: Morte Lake-Chinese Mountain area
Recreation Resources: Nugedzi Lake-Mount Seymour area
Recreation Resources: Newton Lake-Small Inlet-Waiatt Bay area
Recreation Resources: Mud Lake-Nighthawk Lake area
Recreation Resources: Eagle Ridge-Blindman's Bluff area
Recreation Resources: Heriot Ridge area
Recreation Resources: Shellalligan Pass area
Recreation Resources: Two-Mile Lake-Clear Lake-Hummingbird Lake area
Recreation Resources: Maud Island-Saltwater Lagoon
Recreation Resources: Hyacinthe Point area
Recreation Resources: Raven Lake-Raven Ridge area
Recreation Resources: Main Lake Provincial Park
Recreation Resources: Octopus Islands Provincial Park
Recreation Resources: Darkwater Lake-Darkwater Mountain
Salmon bearing streams
Portal map: Salmon bearing streams of the Discovery Islands
Library: Logging and plantations create higher forest fire hazard
Libary: Conservation of forests needed to protect biodiversity
Library: Conservation of forests is needed to mitigate climate change
Library: Supporting Indigenous title and rights
Central library
Portal: Discovery Islands' place names
Export of raw logs from the Discovery Islands
Log exports from the Discovery Islands
Discovery Islands forest tenures and logging plans
Discovery Islands Protected Areas
Place names of the Discovery Islands
Portal: Calculation of direct local employment
Watersheds of Quadra Island
Watersheds of Read Island
Watersheds of Cortes Island
Watersheds of Maurelle Island
Watersheds of Sonora Island
Portal: Watersheds of the Discovery Islands
Engaging the mindustry
Species at risk of local extirpation
Artistic Expression
Volunteer
Discussion
Project calculations
Definitions
Fisheries surveys of Discovery Islands creeks
Portal: Resolution of forest-use conflicts
Vancouver Island Land Use Plan
About the Discovery Islands Conservation Project
Recent satellite imagery of forest cover loss on the Discovery Islands
Forest planning documents
Sources for April 2023 complaint to Forest Practices Board
Woodlot 2031 (Okisollo Resources)
Herbicide use
DI Forest Bulletin
Sources for 2024 submission on TFL 47 Johnstone Strait FSP
Comments on proposed cutblocks and roads
Blogs
Events
Downloads
Everything posted by David Broadland
-
Opening ID: 1308852 Gross block area: 4.8 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: xxxx cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: xxxx tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1685401 Gross block area: 5.7 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: xxxx cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: xxxx tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1651220 Gross block area: 5.6 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: xxxx cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: xxxx tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1643342 Gross block area: 16.2 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: xxxx cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: xxxx tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1308910 Gross block area: 5.0 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: xxxx cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: xxxx tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1605278 Gross block area: 2.9 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: 3695 cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: 6,000 tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated)
-
Opening ID: 1607038, 1607041, 1607047 & 1606836 Gross block area: 6.8 hectares Estimated volume of wood removed: 6748 cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: 11,000 tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1485750 Gross block area: 28.5 hectares (including contiguous cut to north) Estimated volume of wood removed: 26,826 cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: 44,000 tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Opening ID: 1485750 Gross block area: 28.5 hectares (including contiguous cut to south) Estimated volume of wood removed: 26,826 cubic metres Estimated forest carbon released: 44,000 tonnes CO2-equivalent (See this page for how this is estimated) -
Penstemon serrulatus (Coast Penstemon) Observed by Luna Loiseau on June 4, 2022 near the north end of Gowlland Harbour on Quadra Island. BC List: S5 (yellow) For more information see: http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Penstemon serrulatus Photo by Luna Loiseau. -
Penstemon davidsonii (Davidson's Penstemon) Observed by David Broadland at the east end of Raven Ridge on May 23, 2021. BC List: S5 (Yellow) For more information see: http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Penstemon davidsonii Photo by David Broadland. -
IN ORDER TO MAKE THE CASE to government for protecting a greater fraction of the Discovery Islands from clearcut logging, this project is undertaking a comprehensive survey of forests and logging on publicly owned land on the islands—and what is being lost. Can you help? The Discovery Islands, lying at the intersection of eight different provincial ecosections, are a biodiversity hot spot. At the same time, the mild, moist climate is ideal for growing large trees that can live for several hundred years, relatively safe from fire, making this area ideal for a protected carbon reserve. The spectacular physical nature of rugged, mountainous islands and deep fiord-like channels also makes this place uniquely physically attractive to nature-focussed research and tourism. This project will initially focus on gathering as much information about these attributes as possible. Some of the islands are quite remote and have few or no people living on them. So the period of time required to create an accurate physical survey will depend on how much volunteer help can be marshalled from the more populated islands. Here’s a summary of some of what we are currently working on: 1. Using satellite imagery and drones to identify potential areas of primary forest (old growth) 2. Ground-truthing, photographing and measuring trees in these areas 3. Recording species of plants and animals 4. Photographing (including videography) scenic areas 5. Cataloguing existing and potential recreational resources 6. Cataloguing locally-used place names 7. Cataloguing salmonid-bearing streams 8. Surveying areas of mature and old forest where logging is planned 9. Photographing and cataloguing road-building and forest cover loss 10. Processing the above information and adding it to this website 11. Analyzing information from provincial government databases, spreadsheets and other documents relevant to this project 12. Perhaps you have some special skill that you know this project could use? If you can help, we’d love to hear from you!
-
We invite writers, poets and visual artists to express themselves on the subject of forests. Contact us.
-
See the full record of engagement here. THE OVERWHELMING PHYSICAL PRESENCE of the logging industry in populated areas of BC is hard to escape: it takes place almost everywhere except built-up urban areas, agricultural land and BC’s small system of protected areas. And even though employment in the industry has dwindled to 50 percent of what it was 20 years ago, the area of BC that gets clearcut each year is growing. That’s because the average size of the trees being cut is getting smaller and smaller as younger and younger trees are logged. To keep volumes up and remain competitive in the international market for wood, more and more land gets clearcut as time goes on. This is, of course, is subject to year-to-year market fluctuations, but the general trend is toward a greater area being cut in a given period of time. As the area being cut each year increases and awareness of the problems created by clearcut logging grows in the public mind, the conflict over how publicly-owned forests are used is growing. One avenue through which that conflict gets expressed is in letters of complaint written to what some of us think of as the “mindustry.” Let me define that term. “Mindustry” is shorthand for the alliance of people who have an economic interest in maintaining the logging industry at the maximum possible size. It’s that maximization that provides those folks with the greatest degree of job security. Included in the alliance are, on the one hand, employees of the BC Ministry of Forests and, on the other, employees of the logging industry. By “logging industry,” we mean the industry that plans logging roads and cutblocks, builds the roads and cuts the trees down, trucks them to mills or export terminals, and then mills the logs into wood products or loads raw logs onto ships. The mindustry includes the folks who replant the clearcuts and the educators employed to train foresters, forestry technicians and equipment mechanics at educational institutions like UBC and BCIT. And it includes businesses that supply the industry with the equipment, supplies and services required to remove forests. That’s the mindustry. Every job in the mindustry is made more secure if the current level of logging is maintained. Any suggestion of significantly lowering that cut threatens the long-term job security of everyone in the mindustry, from government to industry to educational institutions. There is no other industry in BC that is so sensitive about its collective job security. That’s because there is no other industry that does so much physical damage to our life support systems. When a conflict arises over proposed logging on a specific area of Crown land, those opposed to the logging will often put their objections in written form and send them to the company proposing to do the logging, and/or to ministry employees. In neither case is anyone in a position of authority going to do anything more than write a polite letter in response, which basically will say: “Thank you for your input.” Ocassionally, a company will agree to postpone logging of a small area, but that logging is simply shifted to some other nearby area. The actual rate at which a company is cutting on an area-based tenure will only change based on market conditions and the company’s own needs. The company is required by the ministry to cut a certain volume within a certain timeframe. So the question arises: What is the point of complaining about proposed logging? The easiest answer is that if we remain silent, the government will understand that as consent. If we don’t speak out against the destructive use of the forest, then the company and Ministry of Forests will interpret that as tacit agreement with what they are doing. Since we don’t agree, we must express our disagreement. This project is advocating a significant reduction in the amount of logging done on the Discovery Islands, which goes far beyond objecting to the logging of specific cutblocks. We understand that the mindustry—the alliance of economic interests described above—will be opposed to this direction, perhaps vehemently. Writing to them and asking for their support would be futile. Yet engagement with government is essential since only government has the authority to change the status of publicly-owned land. Engaging with the rest of government—the Ministry of Environment, the Climate Change Secretariat, the Ministry of Tourism, the new Ministry of Land Stewardship, and so on—is where this project will need to take its powers of persuasion in order to be successful in reversing the ecological degradation, the immense release of forest carbon, the loss of carbon sequestration capacity, the increase in forest fire hazard and the suppression of forest-related employment that is occurring as a result of authority for management of island forests resting mainly in the hands of the mindustry. This project will keep a record of letters and other submissions from people and groups engaging with the mindustry and with other government agencies. If you have written about some aspect of forest management on the Discovery Islands, please send it to us and we will add it to that record (please include the reply you received). See the full record of engagement here.
-
This is a work in progress.
-
This is a work in progress.
-
This is a work in progress.
-
This is a work in progress.
-
This is a work in progress.
-
Quadra Island Cortes Island Read Island Maurelle Island Sonora Island
-
Little Main Lake (foreground) with Main Lake in the background BC provincial government description of why Main Lake Provincial Park was created: -
Ministry of Forests’ records suggest 80 to 90 percent of the cut on Quadra Island is exported as raw logs by Mosaic Forest Management—all to support government employee pensions. At one time in BC, the damage done by logging forests was considered an acceptable cost for the jobs provided. In 1965, for example, for each 1000 cubic metres of wood harvested, there were 1.69 people employed in logging, milling and allied industries. But by 2019, that number had fallen to less than a full job—.79 person per 1000 cubic metres. That’s less than half of what it was in 1965. Ouch. Of that .79 person per 1000 cubic metres in 2019, only .33 was in “forestry and logging with support services.” In areas of BC where clearcutting is followed by raw log exports, .33 person per 1000 cubic metres is all there is in terms of jobs. Both TimberWest and Island Timberlands log on the Discovery Islands, and, as “Mosaic Forest Management,” they are BC’s largest exporter of raw logs. How much of the volume that TimberWest cuts on Quadra is exported as raw logs? We don’t know for sure, but the likelihood that most of the logs cut on Quadra Island—from TimberWest’s TFL 47 and from the 11 woodlot licences—end up being exported as raw logs is evident from Ministry of Forests’ records. In 2019, for example (the last year for which data is available on the total volume of logs exported), TimberWest advertised the availability of about 89,000 cubic metres from Gowlland Harbour. (Companies wishing to export raw logs must advertise them to BC buyers before the logs can be exported.) The total volume cut by all tenure holders on Quadra in 2019 was 98,143 cubic metres. So it appears that 90 percent of the volume logged on Quadra that year was intended for export as raw logs. The Ministry of Forests’ records also show that 84 percent of the total volume that was advertised in 2019 was exported, so it’s very likely that 80 to 90 percent of the trees logged on Quadra Island in 2019 were exported as raw logs. (This situation likely applies to logging in TimberWest’s TFL 47 on Sonora, East Thurlow and West Thurlow, too.) That high level of log exports would put the jobs per 1000 cubic metre measure very close to .33 (one-third of a job per 1000 cubic metres)—only one-fifth the level of employment per 1000 cubic metres that the industry provided in 1965. What seemed like an acceptable trade-off back in 1965 is now one-fifth of an acceptable trade-off. Back in 1965, though, the logging industry’s contribution to climate instability, biodiversity collapse, its detrimental impact on salmon fisheries and its amplification of forest fires and flooding were not well understood. Neither was the industry’s need to be subsidized by the public. (We have estimated the public subsidization of logging on Quadra Island on this page.) Using the 0ne-third of a job per 1000 cubic metres—which is the provincial average—we have estimated the employment each tenure has provided over the last 12 years. The provincial average includes thousands of small woodlot licence tenures like those on Quadra Island, so the small scale of those tenures is already reflected in the number we are using. However, it is possible that some or all of the woodlot tenures on Quadra are, for some unknown reason, particularly labour intensive. This project invites individual tenure holders to provide documentary evidence of higher full-time equivalent employment, and we will adjust our numbers to reflect that information if we get it. One way in which Quadra Island tenures are quite different from the average BC tenure is in the stumpage they pay. In the graph below, the average stumpage paid by Quadra tenure holders over a 12-year period is shown in comparison with the average that was paid across BC (you can see a breakdown for each individual tenure at this page). As you can see, the Quadra Island woodlots are paying far less stumpage than the provincial average. If Quadra tenures do have a slightly higher level of full-time equivalent employment per 1000 cubic metres than the provincial average, that social benefit is almost certainly going to be offset by the much lower level of stumpage paid by these tenures. Note that in only 2 of the last 12 years did TimberWest pay a rate of stumpage that was higher than the provincial average for the volume it cut on Quadra Island. So the jobs it provides, too, are being subsidized by lower stumpage payments. Keep in mind that the stumpage, logging taxes and export fees collected by the BC government for all logging across BC fell far short of even covering the basic cost of forest management provided by the Ministry of Forests. Over the 12 years shown above, that shortfall amounted to almost $1 million each day. This does not include the cost of other, hidden subsidies. The bottom line is that any employment generated by logging on Quadra Island—and all of the Discovery Islands for that matter—is highly subsidized by BC taxpayers. But that logging is absolutely necessary, right? Without that logging, the people of BC wouldn’t be able to build and maintain their houses and develop other infrastructure necessary for a healthy economy. Right? Nope. Depending on the year and the strength of the international market for forest products, between 80 and 90 percent of the forest harvested in BC is exported in some form. That includes everything from raw logs to wood pellets, pulp to paper, panels, timbers and lumber. If none of the 27,600 truckloads of logs that were removed from Quadra Island over the last 12 years had been cut, that would have had no impact on the availability of wood products for building in BC. The same applies to 80 to 90 percent of logging across BC. Once an important part of BC’s colonial economy, the now-highly-mechanized and export-dependent industry has lost 50 percent of its workforce in just the last 20 years and now contributes less than 2 percent of the province’s GDP. As it runs out of old-growth and cuts younger and younger trees, the industry’s viability, especially in light of the huge uncounted costs and the low level of employment, is seriously in doubt. The tenuous economic nature of the industry is illustrated by a statement made by Mosaic Forest Management’s Chief Forester Domenico Iannidinardo. In 2020, as reported by The Globe and Mail’s Justine Hunter, Iannidinardo claimed that “the company’s cost of harvesting usually exceeds what local mills are paying for logs.” Mosaic made that claim even as it pressured the federal government to remove all restrictions on the export of raw, unprocessed logs to overseas markets. Is all of this really being done to fund the pensions of former government employees? Yes. TimberWest is owned by the BC Investment Management Corporation and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, both of which manage funds that are used to pay government employee pensions—including those of the former Ministry of Forests personnel who made the decision to liquidate the forests on the Discovery Islands. All of this points to the need for completely rethinking what we are doing to forests on the Discovery Islands. The trade-off between the damage done and the jobs provided is no longer acceptable. Below: TimberWest-Mosaic Forest Management’s log dump at the north end of Gowlland Harbour on Quadra Island
-
Placeholder
-
A summer moonrise over Texada Island. The south end of Cortes Island is on the left, Quadra Island’s Rebecca Spit is on the right. (Photo by David Broadland) Library: Conservation of forests is needed to protect biodiversity Library: Conservation of forests is needed to mitigate climate change Library: Logging and plantations create higher forest fire hazard Library: Indigenous title and rights
