IN JULY AND AUGUST 2019, a contractor working for the license-holder of Woodlot 2031 cut old forest on a 3-hectare cutblock on the north side of Hummingbird Lake.
In April 2023, the Discovery Islands Forest Conservation Project submitted a complaint about the logging to the BC Forest Practices Board. We initially estimated at least 33 trees with ages greater than 250 years had been cut.
As part of the evidence that these were healthy, old-growth trees that were growing at a density great enough to qualify as a stand of “old forest”, we photographed and measured the stump of each felled tree (not including snags) that had a diameter greater than 100 centimetres (3.3 feet).
According to the Guidelines to Support Implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Order with Respect to Old Forest and Listed Plant Communities (which is applicable, for example, on Sonora Island, about 9 kilometres north of Hummingbird Lake) a density of 10 veteran overstorey trees per hectare is enough to give the maximum score of 3.0 points under the Forest Attribute Score methodolgy used to determine whether a stand of old forest qualifies for conservation.
In the 3-hectare cutblock at Hummingbird lake, we found:
• 17 veteran overstorey trees had been retained by the licensee
• 38 stumps with diameters greater than 3.3 feet
• at least one stump with a diameter greater than 3.3 feet had been buried under a burn pile (not measured)
• an estimated 4 such stumps had been buried under the roads in the cutblock, which cover approximately 10 percent of the area of the cutblock
Based on those numbers, there had been—before roadbuilding and logging occurred—approximately 60 old-growth Douglas firs and cedars growing in the area that was logged.
The density of veteran overstorey trees was, therefore, approximately 20 stems per hectare, twice as high as necessary for the stand to receive the highest points possible under the Forest Attribute Score.
The stand had also contained many standing snags and abundant large downed trees on the forest floor, both necessary attributes to qualify the stand as “old forest” suitable for conservation status.
Below are photographs of those 38 stumps within the 3-hectare cutblock that had diameters greater than 3.3 feet and whose cut surfaces were visible. Of the 38 stumps, rot was visible in 6 cases:
1. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.0 feet, tree was sound
2. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.9 feet, tree had some rot at core
3. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.7 feet, tree was sound
4. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.4 feet, tree was sound
5. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.2 feet, tree was sound
6. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.6 feet, tree was sound
7. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.0 feet, tree was sound
8. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.0 feet, tree was sound
9. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.7 feet, tree was sound
10. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.7 feet, tree was sound
11. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.8 feet, tree was sound
12. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.7 feet, tree was sound
13. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.8 feet, tree was sound
14. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.3 feet, tree had some rot at core
15. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.1 feet, tree was sound
16. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.2 feet, tree was sound
17. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.6 feet, tree was sound
18. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.4 feet, tree was sound
19. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.2 feet, tree was sound
20. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.7 feet, tree was sound
21. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.2 feet, tree was sound
22. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.7 feet, tree was sound
23. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.7 feet, tree was sound
24. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.9 feet, small area of rot at core
25. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.6 feet, tree was sound
26. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.9 feet, tree was sound
27. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.4 feet, tree was sound
28. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.2 feet, tree had rot at core and out to one side
29. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.2 feet, tree had some rot at core
30. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.5 feet, tree was sound
31. Red cedar stump, diameter 6.3 feet, tree had rot at core
32. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.9 feet, this appears to have been a standing snag
33. Douglas fir stump, diameter 5.1 feet, tree was sound
34. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.9 feet, tree was sound
35. Douglas fir stump, diameter 3.0 feet, tree was sound
36. Red cedar stump, diameter 6.1 feet, tree was sound
37. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.4 feet, tree was sound
38. Douglas fir stump, diameter 4.5 feet, tree was sound