1. Why are ancient rainforests so important?

Ancient forests are essential to our survival from a variety of perspectives.

These forests are relatively undisturbed areas that are large enough to maintain all of their bio-diversity. For ecosystems like BC and Alberta that means that the areas are large enough to accommodate the far-ranging animals such as the grizzly bear and the wolf. The size of the forest area is therefore essential for species continuance.

Our ancient forests act as storehouses for biological diversity - between 50% to 90% of the world's land-based species are housed in ancient forests. These forests provide habitat for wildlife and plants.Ancient forests are also essential for the purification of our drinking water, as well as for the regulation of our water flow levels. They also store carbon from the atmosphere, and thereby moderate global and local climate conditions.

Ancient rainforests are also a valuable source of medicines, food and other staples. They are an economic resource for many communities who rely on tourism, logging, fisheries and wild foods. They are the home, hunting and gathering areas and spiritual places to many of the world's indigenous peoples.

Where are our ancient forests found?

70% of the world's remaining frontier forests are concentrated in three countries: in Canada (in the boreal forests of northern Canada, and British Columbia's temperate rainforests), Brazil (tropical forests) and in Russia (boreal forests).

The world's ancient forests, and its inhabitants, are under siege. Of the world's original ancient forest cover, only 20% is still intact today. Industrial logging is the primary threat to the continuance of our ancient forests. According to the BC Ministry of Environment, one out of 8 animal species in BC is at risk of extinction with logging being identified as one of the primary contributing causes (BC Ministry of Environment, State of the Environment Report 2000).

Where are temperate ancient (old growth) rainforests?

Temperate rainforests are the most endangered forests on the planet. They only ever covered 0.2% of the earth's original land surface. BC is home to a quarter of the world's remaining ancient forests.

As the most threatened forests of all (over half of the original temperate rainforests have already been destroyed), today not a single siginificant rainforest valley exists that is undeveloped south of the Canadian border. Clayoquot Sound, in British Columbia, is the southernmost point in which any significant pristine rainforest valley can be found in North America; it is also one of the largest tract of ancient temperate rainforest remaining on earth.

4.What makes a forest a "temperate" rainforest?

The temperate ancient rainforest exists where high mountain ranges loom over the sea and a minimum of 192 cm (80%) of annual rainfall results. These forests share a similarity of moderate climate and geography rather than a type of tree. These fertile forests are the product of 10,000 years of post glacial activity. They are home to some of the oldest, biggest trees on earth, and are critical refuge to thousands of species of birds, plants and animals. Among the rarest and most productive forests on earth, they are also some of the least well understood: we know precious little about how these ecosystems function, what species reside within them, and what functions they may serve (for example, medicinal cures for certain types of cancers have been found to exist in trees only found in certain areas of the rainforest). To destroy these forests has been compared to burning down a library before having read the books.

5. How are these forests being destroyed?

Almost half of the earth's original forest cover is gone, much of it having been destroyed over the past three decades, by industrial logging i.e. clearcutting. 76 countries have entirely lost all of their virgin forests, forests which are essential to the earth's carbon-oxygen exchange and weather stabilization. As the forests go, so do the life support systems of the planet. Between 4-6,000 unique types of forest dependent plants, animal and insect species are becoming extinct annually. As the forests disappear, so do the livelihoods and cultures of indigenous forest dwelling peoples and other forest dependent communities.

6. What is clearcut logging?

Clearcut logging is a specific logging practice in which trees and plant life in a given area are virtually decimated. In contrast to the lush mossy biologically diverse forest that once was, clearcuts are truly some of the quietest places on earth as all life forms are essentially killed off, as far as the eye can see. The previously rich and diverse area of old growth rainforest is often replanted and replaced (if growth can be made to occur) by evenly aged tree "farms" of trees of a higher market value. While this approach meets the corporate needs of a logging company that plans to cut down the forest again in the next rotation of approximately 70 years, it is impossible to regenerate a clearcut area back into its original ancient forest splendor. The vast proportion of a forest's biomass that previously lived in the forest floor is eradicated by clearcut industrial logging techniques. This is devastating considering that over 90% of B.C's logging in the temperate rainforest today is still done by clearcutting.

7. Why oppose clearcut logging?

A vast majority of the rainforest life is found in the forest floor. Old trees die, fall over and are incorporated into the forest floor thus enabling new life to occur. Clearcut logging which destroys the forest floor, essentially makes it impossible to ever replicate the richness and diversity of the original rainforest upon which the planet depends. The resulting tree farms of one or two species are only good for its intended purpose: to grow a specific species of tree to be cut again and brought to market. Thousand year old trees are exported to cheaper foreign markets where they are converted into disposable paper products (toilet paper, diapers, newspapers, phone books etc.). Logging companies continue to clearcut our ancient forests even though viable paper alternatives do exist (for example, paper products from agricultural waste and recycled fibre, hemp and others ). In Clayoquot Sound as in every place other places where clearcuts are done, the legacy of the clearcuts are ever-lasting: landslides where the cutting has been done on steep slopes and water siltation causing salmon habitat destruction where the cutting has been done right up to the river's edge. The virtual disappearance of our salmon fisheries is directly linked to our logging practices.

8. Why is clearcutting done?

The reason is simple: profit. While other methods of logging such as selective logging are more benign and therefore allow for rainforest regeneration, they also require more labour. Clearcut logging is the most cost "effective" logging method as large machines are used which can easily extract and destroy huge portions of land quickly.

While over 90% of the land base in British Columbia is publicly owned crown land (with a note that the land claims by the native peoples of B.C. have yet to be adequately resolved), control of the rainforest is concentrated, with only a few logging companies benefiting from the destruction. In British Columbia, MacMillan Bloedel (now owned by US forest company Weyerhauser) and International Forest Products (Interfor) have been given leases to the land, and chop 50% of all of the rainforests logged in the province. As large multi-national corporations, their only mandate is profit maximization.

Contrary to industry rhetoric, LOGGING IS NOT A JOBS VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT ISSUE. As the rate of logging in British Columbia has increased, the job rate has decreased. Clearcutting yields large profits precisely because machines take the place of human labour.

9. What about Clayoquot Sound? 

In 1993 Clayoquot Sound became a symbol for what is happening to the land, our land, in virtually every corner of the earth where forests remain. As of March 2001, the good new is that the local, national and international protests have resulted in:

1. Clayoquot Sound being declared a UN Biosphere Reserve Zone.

2. The formulation of a joint venture corporation between Macmillan Bloedel and the native peoples of the Sound with the goal of logging in a more sustainable way;

3. The creation of a Forest Practices Code (to govern logging practices with smaller clearcuts being required) which resulted in a government sponsored panel of scientists that recommended an end to clearcut logging in the Sound. The area of Clayoquot Sound has therefore been placed in special management zone which has afforded additional protection to the area in theory if not in actual practice.

On the down side, International Forest Products (Interfor) (the second major logging company which holds cutting rights in the Sound) is currently evaluating their future position in the Sound, and has begun clearcutting areas of Clayoquot Sound.

Over all, the Forest Practices Code has not properly been implemented to discipline and prevent ongoing logging company infractions, and the uncut pristine valleys of the Sound are still not yet protected.

Everyone's help is needed as the future of Clayoquot Sound still remains uncertain.

Please contact:
The Friends of Clayoquot Sound
Box 489 Tofino
British Columbia, Canada V0R 2Z0
Tel: 250-725-2527
Fax: 250-725-4218
www.ancientrainforest.org
Email: focs@web.apc.org