Old-growth forest enthusiasts packed into the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre’s Longhouse April 19 for a talk by Andy MacKinnon, a forest ecologist with more than three decades experience, to hear about how towering trees play a key role in ecosystems.
The talk was hosted by Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) in collaboration with the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE). MacKinnon is well-known to Whistlerites for his presence at the Whistler Naturalists’ Fungus Among Us and BioBlitz events. He spoke about the importance of old-growth forests for climate change, recreation and culture, and discussed a strategic report from 2020 that dives into provincial management of old growth.
The CCF is a non-profit that partners with the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations, who work together to manage 33,018 hectares of forest. The CCF takes an ecosystem-based management approach to forestry, incorporating harvesting, recreation, watershed protection and cultural values.
About half of the forest is protected from harvesting, and MacKinnon explained community forests like the CCF grew from communities wanting more input into forest management where they live.
“The communities are allowed to manage the forests around their community however they choose, so long as they log this amount of timber,” MacKinnon said.
There are 61 community forests in the province, and each determines what values are important to their community in terms of forest management. The model began in 1998 as a pilot program and today includes community forest agreements that are eligible for 25-year replaceable licenses.
MacKinnon is a strong proponent of the model, but expressed disagreement that communities are required to log a certain amount of their forests.
“There is a great diversity in community forests around the province and for some of them the main community value is feeding their local mill,” he said. “We have a real timber supply crunch in British Columbia … but there are other communities that want to do different things with their community forests, and I believe they ought to have the opportunity to plan accordingly.”
The cut requirement means community forest managers can end up logging their old growth to adhere to the rate.
Heather Beresford, executive director of the CCF, reiterated the requirement for logging quotas, but highlighted the CCF in Whistler incorporates an ecosystem-based management approach.
“We identify all of the sensitivities on the land, predominantly ecological, but also First Nations, cultural, and the economic aspect and other values, recreation being a big one,” Beresford said.
After identifying community values, the CCF then decides which areas to harvest and integrates cooperation with other organizations in each area slated for harvest.
The CCF harvests using a thinning method, cutting from dense, second-growth forests, bringing in both money and more available space for the remaining trees.
“Those trees suddenly get more sunlight, more of the resources. They grow better, they’re now providing more habitat,” Beresford said.
The selective harvesting method allows trees to vary in age within the forest, and the CCF plants a diversity of species versus focusing solely on which wood makes the most money.
“We’re focusing on trees that are younger than 150 years old, trying to stay away from old growth because we recognize the many values that it provides with biodiversity, habitat, climate resilience, [and] wildfires,” she said.
What is old growth?
MacKinnon said old-growth forest definitions are often contested depending on the interests of a profession or organization, leading to different projections about how much old-growth forest is left. For the Coastal region of B.C., trees older than 250 years are considered old growth, and in the Interior it’s 140 years and older.
Age isn’t the only important factor, though. The size of a tree matters because it translates to productivity both in terms of forestry output and a forest’s biodiversity. Forests approaching the alpine have trees that are more than 250 years old but are small and less productive.
“We’ve got lots of those left and nobody will ever be interested in logging most of them,” MacKinnon said.
To determine the state of forests in British Columbia, professional foresters Al Gorley and Garry Merkel were appointed by the province to report on old-growth management and determine which values the public ascribed to old growth.
They produced the report A New Future for Old Forests in 2020, with one key recommendation that old growth logging should be deferred “where ecosystems are at very high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.”
The B.C. government then appointed an Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel in 2021. The panel’s report identified how much old growth remains in the province and identified which are most at-risk and should be deferred.
Historically, the panel’s report shows there was approximately 25 million hectares of old growth, and 11.1 million remains. They identified 2.6 million hectares as high priority, where logging needs to be deferred.
MacKinnon noted deferral doesn’t offer protection for these forests, and delays logging in them for two years as decisions are made.
In the CCF, logging of old growth was deferred in 2022, and again in 2023. The deferral continues in 2024 as the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations conclude their discussions with the province and their communities, Beresford said.
Old-growth and climate
In his presentation, MacKinnon highlighted how old-growth forests are important for climate-change realities like fires, drought, flooding and carbon sequestering.
Old-growth forests are resistant to fire because they are less dense and their limbs are higher, meaning there is less fuel for fire to spread through and reach the crowns of trees. They store water more effectively than second growth, which releases moisture faster because of their small size, increasing their wildfire risk.
Fire resistant forests are becoming increasingly important when considering the record-breaking wildfire season B.C. had in 2023. Dry conditions persisted this winter, with the snowpack reaching 63 per cent below normal for the province as of April 1, according to the River Forecast Centre’s snow conditions and water supply bulletin.
Then there’s the carbon they store underground, with 13.12 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually, which is equal to 36 per cent of global fossil fuel emissions each year.
Alongside the climate benefits include spiritual and cultural significance to First Nations, from carvings and canoes to ceremonies. They provide habitat for fish and wildlife that live in forests nesting or denning, protection from heat and places to hide from predators.
Citizens interested in learning more about forest management in Whistler can read about CCF’s goals on its website, and a five-year harvesting plan was updated in January 2024.
