The British Columbia government has approved a legal order to extend temporary protections to an old-growth forest on Vancouver Island even as Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar acknowledges RCMP are investigating reports of tree spiking in the Fairy Creek watershed.
Parmar says he was informed of the reports last week, calling the news of tree spiking — which involves inserting a metal rod or spike at the base of the trunk where a logger may cut — “incredibly alarming.”
He says the act is a “dangerous criminal activity” that puts health and safety of forestry workers at risk, adding that the province immediately notified both the forestry licensee and the local First Nation, while confirming the RCMP is investigating.
Work with local First Nations
Parmar also said the extended deferral is “consistent with government’s commitments to reconciliation and to protecting British Columbia’s oldest and rarest forest ecosystems.”
The logging deferral was initially made in 2021 at the request of Pacheedaht First Nation, whose territories encompass the entire watershed, and against the backdrop of ongoing protests and arrests, which have been cited as among the largest in Canadian history.
It was first extended in June 2023 until Feb. 1 of this year.
Parmar says the B.C. NDP government is continuing talks with the Pacheedaht in order to “build a strong, robust and sustainable forest sector for the next 100 years.”
The deferral protects just under 12 square kilometres of timber on Crown land within the watershed.
When it announced the initial deferral in 2021, the province said the postponement to old-growth logging would allow Pacheedaht titleholders time to build resource-stewardship plans for their lands.
Almost 1,200 opponents of old-growth logging were arrested at Fairy Creek after an injunction preventing interference with harvesting operations was issued and then extended in 2021, prompting then-B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau to call the protest the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
The B.C. Prosecution Service has since withdrawn contempt charges against several of those accused of violating the injunction and is expected to drop more charges after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled RCMP made arrests without properly informing demonstrators of the injunction’s details.
The protection of Fairy Creek was part of the most recent co-operation agreement signed by the B.C. NDP and B.C. Green Party in December, following last year’s provincial election.