Logging

Press: Endangered Upper Walbran Valley - Photos & News Coverage

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Anyone who has been to the Upper Walbran Valley knows it is a truly exceptional place. At the heart of the valley lies the largest contiguous tract of unprotected, lowland old-growth forest left outside of parks on southern Vancouver Island; which includes the Castle Grove and the Central Walbran Ancient Forest. I recently visited the area to photograph signs of new potential logging plans in the core area and the amazing forest that is threatened there. Subsequent to the trip I wrote a blog for Huffington Post British Columbia which they just featured on the front page on their website (above)!

To read the story, see photos, and learn more, please visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/tj-watt/not-all-is-well-bc-woods_b_6201668.html

We also received news coverage on the issue from other major news sources:

And here are a few short clips I filmed while exploring the at-risk forest with my partner Jackie:

It's time to see this jewel of nature saved once and for all!

1st place - 'Human Impact' Contest - Outdoor Photography Canada

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Outdoor Photography Canada magazine hosted a "Human Impact" themed photo contest in 2010 and I was super excited when I found 0ut that my image of an old-growth clearcut on southern Vancouver Island took 1st place! (see original blog post here)

Of the tens of thousands of images I've shot over the years trying to capture the devastation happening to BC's temperate rainforests, I feel that this one sums it up best. Without experiencing these clearcuts first hand, it's nearly impossible to convey the scale, destruction and feeling involved with the loss of such amazing areas.

Aside from being featured as a winner in this contest the image will also be used on the cover of a new environmental documentary film coming out of New York, be featured in a book by a German artist working on forest conservation in Europe, used in a TV show on CBC and be published in a host of other online and print media sources. I hope this image continues to travel the visual world conveying the need to protect BC's last remaining ancient temperate rainforests. Sign the online petition here.

Vancouver Island - Ancient Forest Clearcut

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I took this shot of an old-growth clearcut in the Gordon River Valley on southern Vancouver Island in 2010. It serves as a haunting reminder of the continued threat these forests face. 75% of Vancouver Island's original productive old-growth forests have been logged including 90% of the valley bottoms where the biggest trees grow and richest biodiversity is found.

Without legislated protection from the BC government, the last of our globally rare ancient temperate rainforests will continue to be logged off and replaced with second-growth tree plantations. These tree plantations do not adequately replicate the former old-growth ecosystem that was lost and are typically re-logged within 50-70 years.

With so little of our original old-growth forests left it only makes sense to transition to sustainable logging in second-growth forests instead which now constitute the vast majority of the landscape. By doing so we will help protect our air, water, climate and wildlife, as well as our jobs, into the future.

To help save BC's endangered old-growth forests please sign and share this online petition.