Helicopter logging carnage has become common in British Columbia as the ancient temperate forests vanish. Heli logging takes place on steep, unruly and unroaded terrain in remote areas. By highgrading the oldest and biggest trees, maximum profit is made. Hidden from public scrutiny, this surrepticious form of old growth carnage is carried out on private and Crown land. No government regulations exist to protect the mammoth inhabitants of the ancient groves.

Today the last of Vancouver Island's big trees, which hitherto have survived industrial extermination, are under assault. Cathedral Canyon is an intact part of the Cathedral Grove Watershed. Yet the forest industry continues to plunder what little remains. This indicates its desperation to squeeze out the last drops of lucre.

Weyerhaeuser initiated helicopter logging in BC under its "diamond picking program," designed to target the biggest and most profitable old growth trees. Heli logging requires a ground crew to be flown into the remote site. A targeted big tree is climbed by a faller who cuts off its top and strips it of its limbs as he descends. Next he fatally cuts the base of the mutilated stem, leaving just enough holding wood to keep it from falling. When the helicopter arrives, a hanging grapple grabs the top of the stripped pillar, snaps it off, and flies the corpse to the dump for loading onto a truck.

Note: These shameful photos of habitat destruction are unabashed corporate advertising provided by the wood products industry. They were downloaded in 2008 from the website of Canadian Air Crane. This company is a subsidiary of the American owned, Seattle based Ericson Crane Company. The heli logging corp is Weyerhaeuser's corporate partner in the plundering of the remnants of ancient forest habitat on the Northwest Coast.

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