Julie Gordon published an article in The Narwhal on February 18, 2025 that provides an excellent background to how and why such extensive logging continues along both sides of the Beaufort Range. B.C.’s private forests aren’t subject to the same logging regulations as those on public land — putting old growth, wildlife habitat and significant ecosystems at risk. About 95 per cent of land in B.C. is called “Crown land,” though most of it is not covered by treaties and was never ceded to the Crown by First Nations. The remaining five per cent of the province — about 4.5 million hectares — is held in private ownership. The majority is on south-eastern Vancouver Island and represents 20% of the island’s land mass. The land and all mineral and logging rights were given to Lord Dunsmuir in the 1800’s in return for construction of the E&N railway. To understand the consequences for our forests today, see The Narwhal article HERE.
TJ Watt is an award-winning nature and conservation photographer from Victoria. TJ is also a co-founder, campaigner, and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance, a non-profit organization that works to protect BC’s old-growth forests and ensure a sustainable second-growth forest industry. He has graciously shared his photos for this post. The images were taken on Vancouver Island October 2022. In the image above you can see Denman and Hornby Islands; Comox and Courtenay are in the top left.
