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WaldAktion British Columbia

We Need a Paper Revolution!

WaldAktion BC

WaldAktion BC (British Columbia) is an impromtu educational programme and wilderness protection initiative by members of the German forest activist network "ArbeitsKreis noerdliche urwaelder" (AKU). In 2008 AKU hosted Ingmar Lee, who conducted a lecture tour on the Great Bear Rainforest; "Beauty and Destruction of Canada's Last Ancient Forests." Intact rainforests in BC which have never before been commercially exploited are vanishing. And as they are forever destroyed for pulp, paper and wood products, the BC government engages in idle environmental rhetoric. Many of the worst offenders, such as Western Forest Products, have an extensive track record of wrecking havoc in contested native territories. To halt this unethical practice, Heiltsuk Nation has built a bighouse at Koeye, where it is asserting Aboriginal Title and Rights (right).

Bighouse, Heiltsuk Territory, 2008.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Glditas Daqvu In July 2008 members of the Heiltsuk Vickers Family travelled to Glditas Daqvu (Ingram – Mooto Watershed) and erected signs: "No Commercial Development Or Use Will Be Tolerated" (left). Located 52 km north of Bella Bella, this is an important and ancient Heiltsuk fishing ground. During his 2008 lecture tour in Germany, Ingmar Lee provided a frontline report about the encroachment on Glditas Daqvu by Western Forest Products and explained how the global commerical market in old growth wood products is behind the extermination of the ancient forest biodiversity of British Columbia. For more on the "Beauty and Destruction of Canada's Last Ancient Forests," click on the tour programme (far left).

Kahlschlag in Kanada BC's wild ancient forests are vanishing while corporate greenwash continues to cover up industrial crime against nature and the abuse of Aboriginal Title and Rights. German paper products produced from unethical old growth forest pulp have been targeted by environmental groups in market campaigns.

WaldAktion BC 2003 A European tour of Germany, Sweden and Denmark was organized for forest activist Ingmar Lee. He spoke on how fifty years of industrial clearcut logging in BC has resulted in a massive loss of ancient temperate rainforest biodiversity. In Hanover, capital city of the State of Lower Saxony, Ingmar Lee met with Green Party members and was invited by party leader Stefan Wenzel to attend a parliamentary session (right). Also Colleen McCrory, then deputy leader of BC's Green Party, was invited by Wenzel during a second WaldAktion BC in 2004.

Stefan Wenzel & Ingmar Lee, 2003.
Photo: Karen Wonders

WaldAktion BC has been aided by the generous help of Green Party Leader Stefan Wenzel (right). In an unpublished letter (below) to the editor of the Vancouver Sun, Wenzel expressed his personal concern over BC's vanishing ancient forests and big trees which he called the "incomparable heritage of humankind" and he criticized the government's unsustainable policies of industrial deforestation.

Stefan Wenzel poster, Goettingen, 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

The record sized Douglas fir "Big Betty" (left), discovered by Ingmar Lee in 2003 grows in the Upper Walbran, an ancient forest remnant on Vancouver Island that is being clearcut logged. Wenzel correctly characterizes such mad acts of nature destruction: "BC is selling part of its soul, the part which belongs to all human beings."

A treesit was set up to stop urban sprawl on 11 April 2007. Forest activists established a protection camp at the site of the planned Bear Mountain Interchange on the Trans Canada Highway in the municipal district of Langford, 20 km from the capital city of Victoria, British Columbia (BC). The contested area is part of the Goldstream Watershed, famous for its big trees and wild salmon, the only place in the world where an ancient rainforest survives so close to an urban centre. This precious ecological jewel is threatened by the surreptitious subdivision for real estate of surrounding forestlands. To facilitate the reckless Bear Mountain Resort developer, the government made a murky deal with Western Forest Products corp, underscoring the policy of habitat degradation that defines politics in BC.

Bear Mountain Treesit platform, 2007.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Bear Mountain Treesit base campt, 12 August 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

Treesitters demanded the protection of the aboriginal features of the interchange site: including culturally modified cedars, Garry Oak meadows and a 80 meter long karst cave. Like Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, and Stanley Park in Vancouver, Goldstream Park has an ancient forest ecology and aboriginal heritage that barely survives due to encroachment by highways and other such forms of urban sprawl.

Activists made a courageous attempt to stop the monster Bear Mountain Interchange and its associated destruction of the forest. Six platforms were erected in the Douglas firs next to the Trans Canada Highway, and a "tree village" of dedicated treesitters was established in the woods (left). Some platforms originated at the Cathedral Grove Treesit (2004 – 2006) such as "Procyon Lotar" with its striking abstract racoon motif (above).

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Bear Mt. Enterchange - Bridge to Nowhere, 2012.
Photo: Karen Wonders

Garry oak habitat on Skirt Mt. for sale, 2012.
Photo: Karen Wonders

Destroyed by Bear Mt Resort, 2008.
Photo: Goldstream Watershed Coalition

The most serious long term ecological damage to the Goldstream Watershed is caused by the dynamiting and excavating of steep slopes for uncontrolled real estate subdivisions. An example of this Appalacian style mountain top removal is the ugly gaping pit blasted into the rock face of Skirt Mountain for the massive Quigg condo tower complex (left) adjacent to Bear Mt Resort.

SPAET The first colonial surveyer in BC called the aboriginal landmark Skirt Mountain (left). Originally it was a traditional resource area shared by Coast Salish peoples. The Saanich and Songhees First Nations have treaties dating from 1852, from the very earliest colonization of BC, which guarantee the protection of their hunting, gathering and fishing grounds. With no regard for Aboriginal Title and Rights, the Bear Mt developers and their political cronies wrecked environmental havoc on SPAET and destroyed its ancient heritage.

The environmental devastation that is going on in Langford, a short distance from the BC legislature in Victoria makes a mockery of the supposed "new relationship" with First Nations initiated by the government in 2004. Developers in BC act with impunity, backed by infrastructure expansion policies that serve big business. Endless greenwash accompanies the "sustained" development frenzy while it profits from the robbing of First Nations. Also non native communities are being deprived by corporate greed of sustainable economies. Blasting off mountain tops, destroying sacred aboriginal caves, eradicating native flora and fauna for luxury homes surrounded by toxic golf wastelands is not progress, as Kalanu, an activist with the Bear Mt Treesit states in his graphic collage (right). From its current population of 23,000, Langford is projecting a growth of 300 percent in the next 20 years. Planned subdivisions in the Goldstream Watershed include: Bear Mt (10 – 14000); Skirt Mountain (5 – 7000); and West Hills (12 – 15000). This developers' real estate speculation bonanza is occurring at a gung ho pace, before environmental and public costs have been properly calculated.

Gnarled ancient Arbutus tree, SPAET.
Photo: Lotus Johnson

"This Is Not Sustainable." Bear Mt Resort.
Protest collage: Kalanu, 2008

Among the many losses of natural and aboriginal heritage due to the Bear Mt Resort degradation of the Goldstream Watershed are the Arbutus groves which flourished on SPAET (Skirt Mountain). The Arbutus is the only broadleaved evergreen tree native to Canada and it occurs in three endangered plant communities in BC. This beautiful red barked tree is threatened by urban sprawl, clearcut logging, agriculture, fire suppression and invasive species. According to a Coast Salish legend, the Saanich People (whose traditional lands include SPAET and the Goldstream Watershed) survived a great flood by tying their canoes to an Arbutus tree on top of Lauwelnew (Mt Newton), and thereafter refused to cut or burn the species as a sign of respect.

The destruction of the once abundant native Arbutus (Arbutus menziesii) groves by the developers of Bear Mt Resort has been documented by Cheryl Bryce, lands manager of Songhees First Nation. She stands aghast at one subdivision site in 2007 (right) on SPAET, where the Arbutus grove has been blasted and leveled along with the mountainside. Documentary photos show how scores of Arbutus trees have been bulldozed into huge piles and burned as slash, an act of ecological vandalism against an endangered species, calling for international condemnation.

Destruction by Bear Mt Resort, 2 March 2008.
Photo: Goldstream Watershed Coalition

Cheryl Bryce, Bear Mtn, 2007.
Photo: Karen Wonders

To bring public attention to the ongoing devastation of the forest lands on the southern slopes of Goldstream Watershed by the Bear Mt Resort developers, protesters organized a community hike up SPAET (Skirt Mt) on 2 March 2008. There they saw slash and burn piles on fire, distinctly red coloured from Arbutus trees and root mass that makes up the topsoil (left). Topsoil is relatively scarce on the BC coast due to past glaciation; and the deliberate ruining of this fragile basis for valuable biodiversity is irresponsible to future generations.

Heritage destroyed, Bear Mountain Resort, 2007.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

The Goldstream Watershed is the primary source of drinking water for the City of Victoria and surrounding communities. Yet shoved aside for the Bear Mt Resort developers were crucial issues such as municipal water extraction, sewage and damage to the watershed hydrology. Rushed through by big business and local government greedy to make a quick buck were golf courses, roads, subdivision tracts, hotels and malls.

At one blasting site a massive terraced retaining wall can be seen (left). A small creek that once flowed down next to the aboriginal heritage site (marked in orange) was buried under blast rock obtained from the decapitation of SPAET and used to level out the mountain slope for development. Without a culvert or even a ditch, water from the creek will continue to erode over the years and ultimately will cause Bear Mt Resort subdivision houses to shift, twist, crack and collapse.

According to Ingmar Lee, the small ring of orange plastic fencing (above and right) seen fluttering amidst the destruction of SPAET, was installed to designate and 'protect' an ancient lithic scatter tool making site: "Here the First Nations fashioned arrowheads and other tools from obsidian and such materials which were traded from as far away as Mount Edziza, an old volcano in the Stikine country. Back then, indigenous peoples living in what is now called BC also traded indigenous copper which was locally produced at various locations along the coast. The tool making site was identified and demarked for 'protection' by Millenium Archaeological company led by consultant Morley Eldridge, whose survey of the Bear Mt Resort area neglected to note the significance of the sacred SPAET mineral water cave, which was within 100 metres of the scatter site."

Cave destroyed by Bear Mt Resort, 2007.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Aboriginal heritage site, Bear Mt Resort.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Following an indigenous protest at the ruination of SPAET, the contested cave was destroyed (left) out of spite by Len Barrie, owner of the Bear Mt Resort corp, whose racist remarks are on public record. Aboriginal heritage destruction also occurred during the construction of the Bear Mt Interchange, when several karst caves had their entrances bulldozed and obliterated or welded shut with iron grids.

Arbutus menziesii and Quercus garryana (Garry Oak) are two unique native trees that often grow together (right) as codominant species. The Garry Oak grows well over 1,000 years in age and up to widths of up to 6 metres. It is internationally known as the foundation for an ecosystem type that is both endangered itself and serves as habitat for many other endemic plants, animal and invertebrates at risk. Conservation groups dedicated to its protection include: GOERT (Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team); GORP (Garry Oak Restoration Project – Saanich); Garry Oak Meadows (Capital Regional District); Garry Oak Habitat at Risk (Ministry of Environment); Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society.

Despite the proliferation of such groups, the extermination of the Garry Oak continues apace in BC, mostly due to urban encroachment. First Nations people cultivated Garry Oak meadows for edible plants such as camas lilies and they ate the oak's acorns as well, mashing them into a paste and boiling them in water. Like culturally modified cedars that have been bark stripped for traditional purposes, Arbutus and Garry Oaks are vital to aboriginal heritage, and it is shocking that they are not fully protected under BC law.

Arbutus and Garry Oak habitat, SPAET.
Photo: Lotus Johnson

"Stop the madness," 25 February 2008.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

Ingmar Lee describes the disgraceful scene (right) that characterizes forest politics in BC: "Two devoted local forest activists attempted to protect a beautiful Garry Oak tree (which was in full bud and was just about to release its leaves) from being destroyed by chainsaws. The oak could not be felled from the ground because of its proximity to powerlines and had already been severely damaged by fallers who had climbed up its central limb and top roped down to cut off all its lateral branches. . . Lurch stayed up in the damaged tree all day, but when he finally climbed down, two undercover RCMP officers ran out and tackled him."

The two valiant forest defenders and conscientious objectors, one of them a veteran Cathedral Grove treesitter, were arrested for trying to save the Garry Oak meadow and hauled off to jail. One arrestee was released on condition of staying out of the designated "red zone," the other was kept in jail overnight, choosing to not cooperate, sign release forms or identify himself. Refusing to be intimidated, the protesters later regrouped on the highway by the Garry Oak and upheld their constitutional right to protest.

Until recently, one third of the 1,200 acre Bear Mt Resort property was publicly owned land, a big chunk of which was intended to be protected as part of the Goldstream Watershed. Now sprawl is degrading this habitat on which the world famous big trees and salmon of Goldstream Park depend. With callous disregard, developers are wiping out Arbutus and Garry Oak groves as well as culturally modified trees. On 25 February 2008 crews began destroying a Garry Oak meadow for the Bear Mtn Interchange. Enraged protesters gathered on the Trans Canada Highway (left).

Garry Oak defenders, 25 February 2008.
Photo: Ingmar Lee

On 13 February 2008 Langford launched a massive pre dawn paramilitary SWAT style police operation on the handful of sleeping treesitters and charged them with mischief. When the feller buncher machine later arrived to destroy the forest it was blocked by two frontline forest activists. They were jumped on by police officers, wrestled to the ground, handcuffed and arrested (above). Both were taken away in high security prisoner vans and thrown into filthy solitary confinement jail cells overnight in Victoria.

The overkill police operation ordered by Langford's mayor continued for three days; the forest was declared an off limits "red zone" while crews proceeded to destroy a huge 20 acre swath of it in preparation for the Bear Mt Interchange. The resulting clearcut across the Trans Canada Highway (right) goes within four metres of the entrance of Langford Lake Cave and less than a tree length from the downslope wetland ecosystem called Spencer's Pond.

Bear Mtn Interchange clearcut, 17 Feb 2007.
Photo: Rob Bowen

Bear Mt Resort protester, 16 February 2008.
Video: CHEK News (red text added)

Undeterred by Langford's heavy handed assault against democracy and nature, the protesters took a pledge of environmental awareness: "At a time of unprecedented ecological crisis, it is the moral obligation of the entire human community to take immediate action to prevent unnecessary harm and destruction to the natural world and all its inhabitants; and to reverse developments that systematically destroy the life – support systems of the earth for profit."

More concerned citizens joined the movement (right) and they continued to stage protests against the degradation of Goldstream Watershed by developers and their deliberate ruining of endangered ecosystems and aboriginal heritage.

Another act of forest defence was taken by historian and two time mayoral candidate Dr. Ben Isitt on 16 February 2008 when he evaded SWAT team members who were dressed in bullet proof vests (left). Isitt bravely blockaded a gigantic feller buncher, successfully stopping its destruction for the day. A video recording of the scene and a later interview with Isitt (inset) were featured in the TV evening news.

Bear Mt Resort protesters, 23 February 2008.
Photo: anon

Bear Mt Interchange, 11 March 2008.
Photo: Pete Rockwell

Langford Mayor Stew Young's "great victory over the environment" (left) is described by Ingmar Lee: "The Bear Mt Interchange was needed to facilitate expansion of the sprawling Bear Mountain golf and condo development which was exceeding the capacity of existing access infrastructure . . . No sooner had the cops secured the 10 month protest site, giant tree chomping faller bunchers immediately tore into the forest . . . guarded by a 24/7 RCMP roster which was said to have consisted of 300 officers on rotating shifts. Motorists watched as tracked machines clamped hydraulically onto mature, budding Garry oaks and tore them right out of the ground. Now all the 'overburden' has been stumped and scraped right off, and is ready for blasting" Wasteland.

Protest was not quelled by Langford's display of police force: on 29 February 2008 an early morning peaceful rally against nature destroying urban sprawl was organized. The small group of idealists came under attack by over 100 aggressive Bear Mt Resort construction workers and thugs who had been paid to intimidate and provoke the protesters with physical abuse, false accusations and sexual insults.

A math professor (right, in red) had his banner ripped to shreds by the raucous mob whose orgy of jeering and bullying was video recorded CHEK news team. Surprisingly, police patrolling the event took no action against the mob to protect the professor or the other mostly women protesters. Clearly justice in BC is designed to serve corporate big shots and people who befriend local governments.

Thugs hired by Bear Mt Resort.
CHEK News: 29 February 2007

Two cedars, 450 – 500 years old, Goldstream Park.
Photo: anon

A sign at Goldstream Park (above) notes that the two red cedars "were here when Europe was awakening from the Middle Ages." An ecological jewel of rainforest biodiversity that is part of humanity's world heritage, over 95 percent of this ancient big tree ecosystem has been destroyed by industrial logging, much of it during the past 50 years. It seems beyond belief that in this troubled age of habitat devastation, Goldstream Watershed is being plundered and degraded by the actions of a few greedy individuals.

The era when logging barons like H. R. MacMillan (MacMillan Bloedel) and Herb Doman (Doman Industries and Western Forest Products) were treated like heroes for deforesting BC is over. Concerned citizens today demand that people like Bob Flitton, former deputy BC minister of lands and government relations manager for Doman, be made accountable for the central role he played in the ecological calamity brought about by the Bear Mt Resort developers' consortium that currently employs him as its spokesman. See his profile of murky dealings: Robert D. Flitton.

The public does not yet fully understand how their beloved Goldstream Park has been negatively impacted by the self serving back room dealing of local politicians, sleazy logging companies and development "cowboys." In a shocking act of profiteering, 243 acres of publicly owned (Crown) land originally slated for Goldstream Provincial Park was virtually given to the Bear Mt Resort developers without public disclosure or open tendering. Furthermore, 35 acres of land in the Goldstream Watershed were removed from the Forest Land Reserve, and 180 acres were sold by Langford councillor John Goudy for subdivision.

Goldstream River, 2007.
Goldstream Provincial Park

Songhees First Nation member and lands manager Cheryl Bryce and historian Ben Isitt are courageous leaders in taking a stand against the destruction of aboriginal heritage and forest lands by Bear Mt Resort developers. To download their reports, click left. The colonial style of exploitation that characterizes the short history of BC is based on similar cases of crooked land transfers, backroom deals, land rezoning and bylaw changes. Cases of conflict of interest abound in the Bear Mt Resort debacle and demand a full investigation so that the true law breakers and eco vandals are exposed.

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