Joshua Wright says a yellow cedar tree he photographed last year was “incredible,” the largest he’d ever seen in a decade of hiking around Vancouver Island.
The monumental cedar stood in what was one of the few intact or nearly intact old-growth valleys left on the island, says Wright, an advocate who also recorded the sounds of marbled murrelet birds — a threatened species under federal law — within the same forest.
Wright measured the cedar’s diameter at 2.79 metres, a size that should have ensured protection for the tree, along with a one-hectare logging buffer under provincial law.
But when he returned to the area south of Gold River in June, Wright says the tree had been felled as part of a logging operation approved by the province.
I think I read that these trees won’t grow again, because of climate change. They grew up in an oxygen rich humid environment and that’s not there anymore. Without these trees, the forests dramatically change.
A notice posted on B.C.'s Forest Operations Map website shows the yellow cedar was felled in an area where Matchlee Ltd. Partnership, majority owned by Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, holds a non-renewable forest licence.
Remember this when someone says that the precolonial peoples should take priority in environmental decisions.
ETA - but also remember this when anyone has environmental thoughts. Follow the money!
Why would an oxygen rich Environment help trees grow bigger? They consume CO2 and exhale Oxygen. If anything they should grow better in a CO2 rich Environment.
Prehistoric insects were larger because of an oxygen rich Environment, but I don’t think that applies to plants.
Truthfully I don’t remember what the reason was; it was multiple variables, but I don’t know what the variables were.
In any case, there’s vanishingly few of these trees remaining.
You can’t paint all Indigenous Peoples with the same brush. That is a racist view. First Nations would not even have logging companies without colonization imposing poverty on their nations.
I don’t “paint all indigenous peoples with the same brush”. However, assuming their standpoint takes priority regardless of context would fit that description.
It has been many years since colonizers came and disrupted the way of life in Canada. It is importantly to think critically, whether the speaker is indigenous or colonial. More often than not, money beats out environmental concerns when humans are involved
Considering that their Nations stewarded this land for thousands of years and they learned firsthand how to do that through their own scientific lens, yes, they should have a say in how WE steward THEIR lands.
You literally used the argument that the actions of one indigenous owned company means we should be weary of how all indigenous voices are heard and respected. I don’t think you can talk your way out of the racism of that.
Obviously, no true First Nations person would disrespect their land, just as no true Scotsman puts sugar on their oatmeal.
I said be critical of everyone. Even - especially - the environmental organizations.
I said be critical of everyone. Even - especially - the environmental organizations.
That’s not really what you said … but whatever I guess.
Fair point.
Eby’s true calling is to rape the land for as much money as he can get.
