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Grace Golightly

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  1. Mature trees provide so many benefits to the city, more should be done to preserve them. A STATELY AND INSPIRING Giant Sequoia tree on Livingstone Avenue in Saanich will soon be no more. A sign posted on the tree states Saanich will permit its removal because the root system is causing infrastructure damage. Saanich also plans to remove a large Ailanthus or ‘Tree of Heaven’ on the north corner of Cadboro Bay and Sinclair roads, for the same reason. Community Trees Matter Network (CTMN) is concerned that municipalities are not doing enough to retain huge mature trees such as these during a worsening climate emergency. “We have never known more about the incredible benefits that mature trees provide us. And yet we still find so many reasons to remove them,” said Janet Simpson, a member of CTMN. Saanich declared a climate emergency in 2019, and its award-winning Saanich Climate Plan states that large trees store 1000 times more carbon than small trees. The BC Coroner’s death panel review also noted the importance of trees in neighbourhoods to keep residents cool so they can survive extreme heat events. Trees can cool an area both by creating shade, and through evapotranspiration. They sequester carbon, prevent soil erosion, reduce flooding, filter air pollution, produce oxygen, help reduce noise and retain moisture in the ground. Trees are estimated to provide $8 in benefits for each dollar that municipalities spend on them. This Ailanthus, or Tree of Heaven tree, at the north corner of Sinclair Rd and Cadboro Bay Road has also been posted for removal. (Photo: Municipality of Saanich) Many citizens were outraged when Saanich removed more than 70 mature trees along Shelbourne Street last fall. It will take many decades for ‘replacement’ saplings to grow to a size that might come anywhere close to providing similar benefits. The Shelbourne Valley Action Plan still plans to fell a further 45 large trees. CTMN would like to see municipalities explore more ways to retain mature, healthy trees such as these. Funds could be created to help provide services such as root zone excavation, root pruning by an arborist, or the installation of root barriers. Trees contribute greatly to the public good, even when they’re on private property. Some other cities have gone to far greater lengths. For instance, in Boise, Idaho, another sequoia tree more than 100 years old was moved several blocks to a new home. The City of Toronto also chose to buy a residential property, in order to preserve the 250-year-old red oak heritage tree that grows upon it. Fifty percent of the purchase price was raised by donors. The property will become a mini-park. “We need to start thinking outside the box in order to retain these healthy trees which are—for many reasons—irtually irreplaceable,” Simpson said. She noted that saplings are very vulnerable. About one third or more do not survive, especially with increasing heat and drought. In addition, the above and below-ground space in which to grow large trees is steadily being lost to development. Grace Golightly is a journalist and a founding member of Community Trees Matter Network.
  2. Given the many services Shelbourne Street trees provided, alternatives to their removal should have been found. LIKE EVERY MUNICIPALITY, Saanich needs bike lanes, safe sidewalks, and up-to-date utility pipes. But were any alternate ways to provide them considered before they finalized the plan to remove 116 trees on Shelbourne Street? Large-canopied trees are so beneficial to public health and well-being that removing them should only be a last resort, after all other alternatives have been exhausted. After the scorching heat, felt here and around the world in the past couple of years, many countries are planting trees at a rapid rate to keep citizens cool and save lives. Yet Saanich is stubbornly cutting down a total of 116 large, healthy, magnificent trees. Many, if not most, could have lived another hundred years or more. Those trees cooled the air and cast more shade than any saplings will. In fact, saplings will not “replace” the benefits of those large, lost trees within most of our lifetimes. Before and after images of one small section of Shelbourne Street. (After photo by Monique Genton) Last year, the World Health Organization informed us that no level of air pollution is harmless. Even in nations that consider their air clean—like us—it is a major health issue. When we inhale tiny particles, they can be carried from our lungs to any organ in the body, and cause potentially fatal diseases, including heart attacks and strokes. Trees filter the air by catching particles on their leaves. They even absorb some noxious gases, and of course, produce oxygen. Trees can reduce indoor air pollution in nearby homes by as much as 50 percent. How then could it be a good idea to cut down the trees alongside a busy road, and then add pedestrians and cyclists? And plan for large apartment buildings nearby, where tenants will also suffer from polluted air, as well as unmitigated heat? Those trees were exponentially more beneficial than the three saplings promised to replace each one. The US Forest Service says a tree with a 30-inch diameter delivers 70 times more environmental benefits than a tree 10 times smaller. As Saanich’s own climate plan for ecosystems states, “1000 times more carbon is stored in a large tree than a small tree.” Perhaps that is not very important to Saanich. Large trees are also known to reduce stormwater flooding. Since Shelbourne Street is the valley bottom, it seems particularly unwise to remove so many of its big trees. Trees can reduce sound by up to 50 percent. They can reduce wind by a factor of two. Those trees were also home, waystations and feeding halls for countless birds and other wildlife. Saanich staff say the public was consulted before this decision was made. But somehow, in Saanich as well as other municipalities, “consultation” with the public never seems to result in a changed municipal plan, especially regarding tree removals. Nor do people seem informed. These removals have come as a horrific shock to many. People describe it as looking “like a war zone”, that they couldn’t sleep, they cried all day after seeing the carnage. Could Saanich have used trenchless tunneling to replace utility pipes without removing trees? Could the bike lanes and wider sidewalks have been installed on a quieter road, where perhaps fewer or no trees would need to be removed? Perhaps Cedar Hill Cross Road could have been converted to a one-way street, with a two-way bike lane on one side? Municipalities must start to seek creative solutions in order to retain trees. Removing trees that took decades to reach great size must cease to be the default. It’s ironic: Eastern Canada is mourning perhaps thousands of trees lost to tropical storm Fiona. Here, residents are mourning the loss of 116 trees cut down by Saanich. No doubt residents will miss those trees for many reasons, and for many decades. Grace Golightly is a journalist and a founding member of Community Trees Matter Network. See her FOCUS story on the City of Victoria's Missing Middle Initiative and how it will affect the urban forest. There is a petition by the group called Treasure Our Trees here.
  3. “We have underestimated the importance of trees. They are not merely pleasant sources of shade but a potentially major answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems.” —author and science reporter Jim Robbins, New York Times, 2012. MANY VOICES ARE WORKING HARD to convince Victorians to embrace Missing Middle rezoning. As proposed, the rezoning would allow multiplexes to be built on any residential city lot—without the need to consult with neighbours, go before council, or take time for a public hearing. Developers and others argue that we should see the proposal as not just a good idea, but urgently necessary to address the housing crisis. Leafy streets like this abound in Victoria's single-family neighbourhoods. Victoria’s Missing Middle Initiative, if implemented, would reduce such verdant yards. However, getting it wrong could cause significant damage to the public good. Part of that damage would likely be a vast decrease in numbers of mature trees. Thousands of homes could be affected throughout the 70 percent of Victoria that is now devoted to single-family neighbourhoods. At least two-thirds of Victoria’s mature trees are on private property. Why would losing trees be a problem for Victoria citizens? Two big reasons: A large loss of canopy could decrease air quality, and decrease our ability to cool neighbourhoods during heat events. Both would cost lives. While housing is desperately needed, we must take care not to obliterate the urban forest that provides us with so much value for citizens’ health and wellbeing. Examples of Missing Middle-type housing from the City of Victoria's design guidelines. Most of the trees shown are on public boulevards. Heat mitigation Right now, cities all over the world are urgently planting trees to lessen effects of extreme heat events, which all too quickly have become normal. But the large, mature trees already growing in Victoria are far more efficient than tiny saplings at capturing air pollution, cooling neighbourhoods, and reducing the urban heat-island effect (not to mention storing carbon). The heat-island effect occurs when built surfaces like cement and asphalt bake in the sun, retain heat, then release it slowly. It causes urban temperatures—indoors and out, both day and night — to be much higher than those in rural areas. During last year’s heat dome, 98% of the 619 BC residents who died were heat-injured within a residence. Of those, 39% were in a condo or apartment. Another 33.9% were in single detached homes. Often, those who died lived in poorer neighbourhoods. Studies with satellite imagery verify that lower-income neighbourhoods generally have hotter surface temperatures because they have fewer trees. A Tyee article told a touching story of one older woman, who feared she would die in her very hot New Westminster apartment during last year’s heat dome. She tried to escape the heat by parking under the cool shade of mature trees, until a friendly stranger offered help. Those trees helped her survive, but many others died in their homes. Some suffered heat injuries that caused kidney, brain, or other organ damage, and died days or weeks later. Others survived, but with permanently damaged health. Finding ways to increase canopy in poorer neighbourhoods is considered a climate justice issue. A Fernwood Community Association working group is well aware of that. They wrote council recently: “The more green space removed from private dwellings, the hotter the neighbourhood gets.” They cited a CBC report that revealed three large postal-code areas with much less vegetation than any other neighbourhoods in Greater Victoria—V8T, V8V and V8R respectively have 94%, 87%, and 50% less greenery than the coolest neighbourhoods. Although a recent UBC study reportedly stated that Victoria’s urban forest is more equitably distributed compared to other (mostly larger) municipalities, CBC’s clearly shows a great deal of room for improvement in large areas of the city. As the working group added, “The mature urban forest is desperately needed to mitigate the extreme heat events” predicted by the city’s own climate reports. In a recent CBC article, Alex Boston, executive director of Simon Fraser University's Renewable Cities, made the same point. There is a “powerful business case for mitigating flood risk and for mitigating heat mortality events… it is those neighbourhoods that don't have the same strength of an urban tree canopy where you do have higher mortality rates, and that is something that we have to turn around,” he said. In the same article, UBC professor emeritus Stephen Sheppard reported that the best and cheapest way to cool both individual homes and whole neighbourhoods is to create and preserve consistent urban tree canopy, Sheppard’s research found that well-treed neighbourhoods could be up to 8 C cooler than those where cement and asphalt predominate. And a 2018 Vancouver Park board report found even greater differences, of up to 20 C. The US Forest Service says deciduous trees planted to the south and west of buildings can reduce the need for air conditioners by 30% or more. Trees cool not just by casting shade, however, but also by releasing moisture through their leaves—a process called evapotranspiration. Research has also found that tall trees increase the movement of air, which provides a further cooling effect. If the Missing Middle bylaw is implemented by the next city council, it could eliminate hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mature trees throughout the city, worsening the heat-island effect. A Vic West house in the urban forest (2013 photo) If this Victoria corner lot was redeveloped as Missing Middle housing, with up to 12 townhouse units, Victoria’s urban forest would likely lose 15 trees. Air pollution Air pollution harms us at much lower levels than previously believed. In fact, the World Health Organization stated last year that no level of air pollution is safe. Even in nations that consider their air clean, the WHO says air pollution is already a public health emergency—in fact, the biggest environmental threat to human health. And, when wildfire smoke fills our city, our air quality quickly descends to among the worst in the world. This has happened frequently in recent years, with smoke carried from as far as Idaho and California. Wildfires are expected to increase, along with drought and extreme heat events. When tiny particles of air pollution are inhaled, they can pass from the lungs into the bloodstream, where they can cause harm to any organ. Toxins in the air also cause inflammation. Studies show air pollution can reduce intelligence. It causes earlier mortality from heart attacks, strokes, lung disease, diabetes and dementia. It can cause serious problems for children, including retarding normal development of the brain and lungs. It also causes problems for fertility, and even for the developing foetus. Trees help clean the air by capturing those particles on their leaves and trunks. They also absorb harmful gases such as ozone and nitrogen dioxide, as well as carbon dioxide. And they produce oxygen. A UK study even concluded that the effectiveness of trees to reduce the health hazard of particulate matter might be “seriously underestimated.” Their study merely installed temporary trees along a roadside, but produced startling results– inside nearby homes, air pollution decreased by more than 50%. So, as we reduce tree canopy, we reduce air quality—just as we need to safeguard it more than ever. If instead we could increase tree canopy, we could actually improve public health and reduce health costs. Aren’t trees protected by the city? Under the Missing Middle bylaw, a mere 6.5% of each lot (or 35 square metres, whichever is greater) would be required to be left unpaved, according to a City spokesperson. That size is considered enough room for the roots of a single large-canopied tree, such as a Garry oak, Douglas fir or Big-leaf maple. The City’s design guidelines do try to encourage developers to provide more green space. And, when any protected trees (30 cm diameter at breast height or larger) are removed, Victoria’s tree protection bylaw requires they be replaced. (More on “replacement” below.) In addition, a minimum number of trees per hectare are now required on developed properties—usually three to four. However, if there is no longer enough room for tree roots and canopies to grow around the new, much-larger building, they can pay the City to plant trees elsewhere. That may not benefit neighbourhoods that lost trees. And it still facilitates an enormous loss of mature canopy. Moreover, none of this really encourages developers to leave any large trees in place. Far from it—in the vast majority of developments, all trees and shrubs and even the soil are removed. “It has become standard practice for a developer to scrape the lot,” says Janet Simpson, a past president of Rockland Neighbourhood Association and a member of Community Trees Matter Network. At Abstract’s Bellewood development, 1201 Fort Street, 29 bylaw-protected trees were removed, including mature Garry oaks and the two giant sequoias in this photo. Abstract did save a number of mature trees on the site. Tree removal plans can even exceed the boundaries of the lot, she adds. “I’ve seen development plans that suggest adjacent pocket parks be deforested and paved over, to accommodate greater densification; that trees on neighbours’ properties be removed, to accommodate their own larger footprint; and that boulevard trees be sacrificed to accommodate perceived infrastructure needs.” Susan Simmons, one of the new candidates running for city council, estimates that more than 11,000 properties could be affected by the proposed upzoning. “There is no protection for the urban forest, our tree canopy, based on the current proposed policy,” she concluded in a post on her website. Simmons’ website shows one developer’s plan, identified as Missing Middle housing, which removed about 50 trees on a property. The developer only needed to apply for two tree-removal permits, she noted. Why? Because no trees are protected if they, or their critical root zones, are growing within the boundaries of a planned, allowable building. Otherwise, permits are only required for trees over 30 cm DBH (diameter at breast height). With a permit, even so-called “protected” trees can still be cut down. As Simpson explained in the Times Colonist recently, “Two-thirds of the trees in Victoria are on private land, within the setbacks [minimum distance from property line] of buildings that do not maximize the allowable footprint. Up-zone most of those properties, and you provide the financial incentive to remove thousands of Victoria’s mature trees.” Saplings cannot really ‘replace’ mature trees A building can be erected within a year or so. In contrast, it took long decades for our mature trees to achieve their present size. “Replacing” large trees with saplings causes an immediate local loss of canopy, as well as habitat for birds and wildlife. A neighbour of 1475 Fort Street said over the years she has spotted 22 species of birds in the abundant canopy of the big-leaf maples soon to be removed. Although the trees are on the outer edge of the property, developers were granted variances on all sides, which necessitated their removal. This majestic Big-leaf maple tree, along with others on the perimeter of 1475 Fort Street, will be cut down, as the approved building will impact critical root zones. Though we treat trees like disposable backdrops, in general, the bigger trees grow, the more carbon they sequester, the better they prevent floods, and the better they cool and purify the air. Yet developers and municipalities continue to propagate the fiction that the great benefits bestowed by mature trees will transfer to the puny saplings used to replace them. Mature trees don’t simply cast a great deal more shade. They are also more cost-effective than planting more saplings. With well-developed root systems that have withstood extremes of weather over decades, they are far more resilient than newly planted saplings. Saplings are vulnerable. Their small, shallow root systems recently fit in a pot. They have been stressed by transplanting, especially when it is not done properly, and by the demands of a new environment. Young, transplanted trees require regular watering for one to several years in order to survive. Even then, they can be more likely to succumb to droughts and weather extremes than mature trees. What about the 60 soccer fields of new growth? Last year, the City of Victoria celebrated the fact that its LiDAR survey showed our urban tree canopy had actually grown by 111 acres, or the equivalent of 60 soccer fields. In the middle of a hard year, this seemed astonishingly good news. An FOI revealed that the growth was not attained through tree-planting, however. New plantings were “not considered a significant contribution,” Terra Remote Sensing’s report stated. The increase was achieved instead through natural growth of the entire canopy, at an average rate of 2 to 3% a year. The “60 soccer fields” are actually more like compounded interest—yet another dividend paid by a mature urban forest: when left to grow, it gives even more. As the LiDAR report explained, “the horizontal growth of existing vegetation offsets the effect of vegetation loss from urban development” and other causes. Mature coniferous trees, for instance, can grow two to three feet per year. Between 2013 and the 2019 scan, there was so much growth (22.14 %), that there was still an overall gain, despite the fact more vegetation was lost than in the previous interval, between the 2007 and 2013 scans (-12.81%). An image from the City’s LiDAR report indicating areas of vegetation loss (in red) from 2013 to 2019. Missing Middle policies will likely extend these areas into the 70% of the landbase now devoted primarily to single family zoning. All vegetation taller than 2 metres was measured. However, scans don’t differentiate between healthy trees and those that might, for instance, be shrouded with invasive ivy. For this reason, data should be “ground-truthed” around the same time as the scan is done. The report’s final sentence encouraged the City to continue gathering information on the age, distribution, and species growing in the urban forest. This, they noted, will help it forecast future trends of growth—“and potentially predict when vegetation growth will cease to offset losses.” If the Missing Middle is passed, that day will likely come sooner rather than later. (Portland is considered a leader in sustainable development. But its 2020 LiDAR scan found it had lost canopy for the first time—about 324 hectares. Worse, it lost that canopy mostly in the areas that were already hottest. Vancouver has so far managed to maintain its canopy level, by planting 150,000 trees over 10 years.) The report also did not evaluate the health of Victoria’s publicly owned trees. That detail is at least as important as validating it was actually trees, not ivy, that filled those hypothetical 60 green soccer fields. Information that used to be available on Victoria’s open data portal (but has since been removed) showed that more than one-third of publicly owned trees are in fair to poor condition. Trees that are only in fair health cannot be expected to respond well to the stresses of nearby development, not to mention climate change. Additionally, a few years ago it was reported that many of Victoria’s street trees are nearing the ends of their lives. That fact was also was not mentioned. As we have seen, the health and resilience of the urban forest are key to our own health and resilience. We need to track, invest in and maintain this vital inheritance to continue benefiting from its gifts. How many saplings does it take? An app called i-Tree (developed by the US Forest Service) can show a user approximately how many saplings it would take to reproduce the same environmental benefits that a mature tree provides. In one example, for instance, it would take 269 saplings, each 2 inches in diameter, to reproduce the benefits provided by a single 36-inch tree. Jeremy Gye, a consulting arborist and urban forester who contributed to Victoria’s Urban Forest Master Plan, says that if mature trees are removed and replaced at a sustainable and closely monitored rate, a municipality can predict the expected overall change in tree canopy over the next 20 to 30 years. But, “If too many mature trees are being removed to sustain a healthy age-class mix and canopy cover, then ideally two things need to happen: Slow down the pace of mature tree removals, and increase the ratio of replacement trees.” Gye says his greater concern is the loss of space in which large-canopy trees can grow: “Urban densification seems to be chewing up green space at an alarming and increasing rate,” he said. “While trees can be replaced, good growing soils and the three-dimensional space to grow trees are a finite resource, and are expensive and difficult to replace. Where are our replacement trees supposed to be planted, and have room—and soil volumes—to mature in?” A member of Community Trees Matter Network went to City Hall to give the mayor and counsellors a graphic example of the difference between a mature tree and a sapling. The circle she is holding is the diameter of the biggest tree at 1475 Fort Street, a Big-leaf Maple. The much smaller circle inside it is the diameter of the sapling that will “replace” it. Gye is pleased that more municipalities—such as Victoria and Oak Bay—are encouraging all properties to grow trees to help sustain the urban forest. Owners of any property who request a development permit of any kind must now have or plant a minimum number of trees. “This is a huge advance in policy, in my opinion,” Gye said. “As the urban forest is now recognized as a vital piece of green infrastructure, surely all residents should be contributing to it?” Trees seem to hold a special place in people’s hearts and minds, whether or not they know all their benefits. A recent report from the David Suzuki Foundation found that a majority of people in Toronto would be willing to pay more taxes for more tree cover in their city. Perhaps Victorians too would be willing to pay more, and plant and maintain more, in order to have more healthy trees. “It’s not about tree planting, as much as it's about keeping the trees alive,” explained Cecil Konijnendijk, a professor of urban forestry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, in a recent CBC article. He added that doubling the life of urban trees would greatly increase the benefits they offer. “That’s where it starts: The good stewardship of the existing tree population and protecting the trees as best as we can.” What are the solutions? The city of Tampa, Florida’s tree-protection bylaw is considered a star. Interestingly, it was hashed out through a year-long discussion between builders, city staff and tree advocates. The bylaw has some unique features. It protects trees from a much smaller size than Victoria’s: all trees 5 inches (12.7 cm) DBH or larger. But where Tampa’s policy really shines is that it is one of the few that considers actual canopy size being lost. The removal of a “grand tree”– defined as 32 inches (81.28 cm) DBH or larger—requires enough replacement trees be planted that their canopies will match the canopy of the removed grand tree within five years. With smaller protected trees, replacement rate is based on the size of the removed tree’s trunk, and the tree’s health. Replacements don’t have to be planted on the same property, but must stay within the same planning district. “This was considered an appropriate way to reduce the chance for socially inequitable shifts in canopy, and loss of subsequent ecological services, by forcing trees into sites where they would not thrive and grow to an older age,” explained Robert Northrop, extension forester of the University of Florida, in an email. Clearly citizens and council should thoroughly consider all sides before implementing the Missing Middle bylaw. Everyone agrees that affordable housing is desperately needed, and development will certainly continue. But the City must make intelligent choices, with full awareness of what each alternative will cost residents and neighbourhoods. Sometimes this might mean retaining mature trees for the good of all. It could mean introducing tax breaks for properties that sustain large, healthy trees, or creating a tree-replacement policy that could truly replace lost canopy. It could mean the City or a group of philanthropists start occasionally buying well-treed properties that come up for sale, to turn them into mini-parks and carbon sequestration stations. It also means being creative, and finding places to grow trees for the good of all. In San Francisco, Friends of the Urban Forest have an agreement with the city to “de-pave” and tear out sections of concrete or asphalt to plant trees. In Tokyo, 10,000 trees were planted at 31 schools, in “tiny forests” that grow 10 times faster than normal. At this stage of climate emergency, mature trees are not really replaceable because they take decades to grow—decades we cannot afford to wait. The mature trees we have are a great boon, one that should be cherished and protected, not squandered. We also need to keep planting trees, and take even better care of them, so they can survive the increasing stress of climate change…So we can too. Grace Golightly (her name since birth) is a freelance writer interested in the protection of nature and human rights. She is also a founding member of Community Trees Matter Network.
  4. Some scientists consider them functionally extinct—but critical nesting habitat is still not protected. Marbled murrelets can fly at speeds up to 180 kph for short bursts, and their regular “cruising speed” is about 80 kph. (Photo: Deborah Freeman) THE MARBLED MURRELET LOOKS A BIT LIKE A PENGUIN, but is only the size of a plump robin. Like a penguin, it uses its wings to ‘fly’ underwater to catch fish—to depths as great as 27 metres. However, unlike penguins, its wings can also achieve great speed in the air. The motivation of life and death lies behind that speed: As one federal researcher explains, marbled murrelets “are essentially 220-gram balls of fat and muscle that have to fly from the sea to the forest, where they can be attacked by all kinds of raptors.” Marbled murrelets fly with an average cruising speed of about 80 kph, he said, but some have been clocked as fast as an amazing 180 kph. (A “jet plane” sound has even been heard when some make a rapid descent from a high altitude.) This quirky little sea bird can avoid or outrun a great many of its predators. But speed can’t help it escape one of its biggest threats—logging of its irreplaceable nesting habitat. It is the species’ great misfortune that they require wide, tall trees in old-growth forests in order to nest and reproduce. And not just a few. Researchers suggest each nesting pair requires at least 37 to 50 square hectares. They find greater safety by avoiding each other, rather than hanging out in colonies. Marbled murrelets nest on wide branches, high above the forest floor, and lay only one egg. This chick was rescued after falling off the nesting platform. Most chicks, however, would not survive the fall. (Photo: Peter Halasz) The birds’ lives are largely spent calmly at sea, along the west coast from Alaska down to California. But this species’ need for safety in two different habitats—both sea and forest—and its slow reproductive rate, make it extremely vulnerable. Each mated pair may lay only one egg per year. Ironically, despite the continued destruction of their breeding areas, marbled murrelets are ‘protected’ by several governments. It’s been more than 100 years since the United States and Great Britain (on Canada’s behalf) first decided to protect marbled murrelets and other migratory birds. That agreement reads in part that the two countries: “… being desirous of saving from indiscriminate slaughter and of insuring the preservation of such migratory birds as are either useful to man or are harmless, have resolved to adopt some uniform system of protection which shall effectively accomplish such objects...” The Migratory Bird Convention of 1916 is still in effect, now amended by a 1995 Protocol. And other countries have joined over the years: Mexico, Japan, and Russia. But are these agreements as effective as they were intended to be? In the US, the Migratory Bird Act based on that treaty, along with the Environmental Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and individual states’ laws, may protect somewhat more habitat than has been the case in Canada. In one example, Pacific Lumber was permanently prevented from harvesting old-growth timber in its own privately owned forest, in an area called Owl Creek in Humboldt County, CA in 1995. The case noted approximately 100 observations of marbled murrelet nesting behaviour in that forest, as well as the fact the entire population could be wiped out by a single oil spill at sea. Even partial logging of the area would dangerously increase access to raptors that prey on murrelets and their eggs, it was stated. That case has since been used as a precedent in several other situations. Canada, however, has been slower to provide much real protection. Federally, marbled murrelets have been listed as threatened since 2003. In BC, it is blue-listed, meaning it is a “species of concern.” Yet all these policies have not paid off in large vistas of untouched habitat for marbled murrelets in BC. For instance, despite a 2005 report stating that “large numbers of murrelets” were discovered flying into the San Juan River drainage area on southern Vancouver Island, where logging was ongoing, no harvesting was stopped then, or since. Federal mapping of marbled murrelet critical habitat (yellowish areas) in an area typical of TFL 46. That habitat is being steadily converted to clearcuts and tree plantations in TFL 46 and elsewhere on the coast. (BC government Data Catalogue) Now, 17 years later, Fairy Creek is the only remaining relatively intact watershed within the entire San Juan system. “Many would argue that marbled murrelets—and other species like mountain caribou—are already functionally extinct,” says Dr. Tara Martin, a UBC professor of conservation science. “They’re at such low numbers that they’re no longer performing their ecological functions.” How did this happen, when Canada agreed and planned to conserve them for more than 100 years? Both levels of government must bear some responsibility. UBC professor of conservation science Dr Tara Martin Martin explains that the province of BC has the richest biodiversity in Canada, and more species at risk than any other. But it is one of only three provinces with no legislation to protect its threatened species. Enacting legislation to protect endangered species was promised in the NDP’s 2017 election campaign. Premier Horgan’s first mandate letter to environment minister George Heyman included the instruction to create it. But the legislation is yet to appear. The federal government, too, has let wildlife down. Martin explains that although the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada declared the species endangered in 2003, the marbled murrelet recovery plan was not written for another 11 years. Worse, an action plan is still awaited. Without it, “there is little in the form of recovery,” she says. “The action plan provides the details of the actions to undertake to recover a species,” Martin explains. She feels the federal process should be revised to develop action plans soon after species are listed—not years later. The sad but inevitable result is that, although marbled murrelets’ critical habitat areas are identified, most of it is still not protected from logging. “There has been no actual designation of specific stands of forest as critical habitat,” says Dr. Alan Burger. The University of Victoria adjunct professor and wildlife consultant is known for his decades of research and field studies on marbled murrelets. “That is a major failure of the Recovery Strategy and the response by both federal and provincial governments,” he said. “There is ongoing logging in much of the forest which has been mapped as potential critical habitat.” Yet the goal of species protection laws “is to maintain this species as a common breeder throughout its current range in BC.” Indeed, marbled murrelets are not the only species receiving far less government support than they actually need. In a 2015 report about the lack of designated critical habitat for listed species in Canada, UBC professor Dr. Karen Hodges wrote: “The majority of species are not being afforded the protection the law is required to offer to them.” During the past year, UBC professor emeritus in chemical and biological engineering Dr. Royann Petrell and a team of citizen scientists recorded 115 marbled murrelet sightings just outside Fairy Creek, in the next watershed over, called upper Granite Creek. Most were seen in an area Fairy Creek protestors had dubbed “Heli Camp,” on the face of a mountain which slopes into Granite Creek drainage on one side, and Fairy Creek drainage on the other. Dr. Royann Petrell (right) and citizen scientists examine images taken in unprotected forest in the Walbran Valley. (Photo: Deborah Freeman) Since August 2020, protestors had established several camps to protect these remaining old-growth forests, which grew uninterrupted down the slopes from Fairy Creek. Nearly 1,200 were arrested after Teal Jones was granted an injunction against protestors in its Tree Farm Licence 46, which includes Fairy Creek and much of the remaining old growth forests in the area. After the camps were routed in early August, the rate of logging increased. Petrell described Heli Camp as “perfect marbled murrelet habitat,” with good cover to protect the birds as they fly upstream on daily fishing trips from the ocean, and wide, mossy platform-like limbs high up in towering old-growth trees, where their single precious egg might be safely hidden. But since then, 90 per cent of the Heli Camp cutblock has been logged. (In addition, the clear-cutting destroyed most of a colony of rare, at risk, Old Growth Specklebelly lichen—which was likely the largest population ever recorded in BC.) Of Petrell’s sightings, Martin says, “This is the remarkable thing: if that was federal land, it would be designated as critical habitat.” But because it is BC Crown land, which falls under provincial jurisdiction, it was not. She adds that if a nest is identified in a tree, there is some protection—but only till the end of nesting season. Then the tree could still be cut down. (Regardless, it is next to impossible to find marbled murrelets’ nests, high up on wide, mossy branches in tall trees.) As Martin sums up, “These rules are absurd. They do not do anything to protect birds or other species in the long term.” Marbled murrelets are known to return year after year, to nest in the same stand of ancient trees. Scientists call it “high site fidelity.” “We don’t know what happens if their nest stand is lost. But if they are like other Alcids [a family of marine birds which includes puffins and murres] in some instances, they may not breed again,” says Oregon University professor Kim Nelson. “If the whole stand is lost to fire or logging, we really don’t know if they move to new stands. What if the nearby stands are already full of murrelets?” Marbled murrelets do not build nests. Instead they lay their single eggs in thick, mossy depressions on wide branches. These nesting “platforms” don’t exist in smaller trees—only big, wide trees, usually of a great age, can grow such wide branches. If there is no alternative but to nest on smaller branches, eggs or chicks can fall to their deaths. Both Burger and Martin are enthusiastic about the potential of a November 2021 ministerial order to protect marbled murrelets—except for the fact that logging is still happening in the areas it mentions. As the situation stands, Petrell’s 115 sightings—confirmed by radar—will not save the remaining nesting habitat in the Heli Camp area, nor any of the other old-growth forest fragments nearby. Heli Camp area—until it was logged, this old growth forest was largely intact and continued over the mountain and into Fairy Creek. (Photo: Will O’Connell) As part of Teal Cedar’s Tree Farm License 46, almost all of these last iconic old-growth trees are slated to be clear-cut within 15 to 20 years, at most. The company’s stated harvest flow objective is to keep cutting “until all the old growth is exhausted.” This year’s cutblocks have been authorized, and logging has begun. Roads to the cutblocks, though public, are now blocked by newly installed gates. The gates are authorized by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development in response to Teal Cedar’s requests to restrict public access for the purpose of “protecting logging operations.” A private security firm was hired to guard the gates. Closing or restricting the usage of roads is permitted by the ministry if property, public health, or public safety might be endangered. Last year, similar gates and RCMP officers prevented Petrell and her team from surveying birds and their habitat at Fairy Creek and other nearby old-growth forests such as Eden Grove, Bugaboo, Walbran and Caycuse. This year, Petrell is fighting back. Earlier this month, Ecojustice environmental law charity announced it will challenge at least eight of the road closures in TFL46 on her behalf. “By closing access to roads that have been used regularly by the public, Teal Cedar has effectively turned wide swathes of public lands into private property,” the Ecojustice news release stated. It also noted that the ministry’s approvals for the gates did not require Teal Cedar to maintain reasonable public access. “The gates in TFL 46 prevent citizen scientists from identifying and protecting at-risk species in areas where logging is imminent,” Petrell said. She added that the wildlife surveys these volunteers are trying to carry out should have been done years ago by the BC government—before it approved any logging. “At a time of biodiversity crisis,” Ecojustice lawyer Rachel Gutman added, “we need scientists like Dr. Petrell to be able to carry out their important work of mapping species unimpeded. Logging companies shouldn’t be able to stand in their way.” Until the case is heard, however, no one is likely to be permitted to check first for signs of marbled murrelets, or their nests, in the stands of old-growth forest being destroyed in TFL 46. At this point, the marbled murrelets’ best hope may lie with Prime Minister Trudeau’s recent mandate letter to Steven Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change: “Work with the Minister of Natural Resources to help protect old growth forests, notably in British Columbia…” The letter asks Minister Guilbeault to reach a nature agreement with BC, establish a $50 million BC old growth nature fund, and to ensure that First Nations, local communities and workers “are partners in shaping the path forward for nature protection.” This is all a tall order. Premier Horgan has already indicated that $50 million would not be nearly enough money. Last year when the fund was announced, he suggested the federal government should “add a zero.” Meanwhile, marbled murrelets are still listed as a threatened species in BC and Canada. And logging of their known and rapidly diminishing critical habitat continues—despite intentions to protect them that date back more than one hundred years. Grace Golightly (her name since birth) is a freelance writer interested in the protection of nature and human rights.
  5. “If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected.” ——Chief Seattle (1786—1866) SPECIES HAVE BEEN GOING EXTINCT for numerous reasons, over millennia. But human-caused development, deforestation and climate change have accelerated the process as never before. Record numbers of species are threatened or at risk—nearly 2,400 in British Columbia alone. Scientists say that up to half of all species may vanish by the end of this century. The problem is so widespread and distressing that an international “Remembrance Day for Lost Species” was created in 2011. This year it fell on Tuesday, November 30th. In BC, lost and threatened species were honoured with events held in Port Coquitlam and in Victoria. About 100 people participated in Victoria’s event, called Rise Up for the Fallen, on November 24th. Rise Up for the Fallen procession in Victoria, November 24, 2021. Hereditary Chief Ye-Kue-Klas (also known as Sonny) of the Gwat'sinux-Kwakwaka'wakw, carries a small totem pole, while others carry fronds of the cedar tree, sacred to many Indigenous nations. (photo by Valerie Elliott) Twenty people helped carry an iconic reminder of one of the “fallen”—a 1200-pound slab of coastal Douglas fir. With chanting and drumming, they followed Indigenous leaders in a procession that ended with a rally at the Legislature, where MLAs were still in session. The slab measured a full eight feet across. It had been cut from a huge stump left behind in a clear-cut at the foot of Edinburgh Mountain, in the Port Renfrew area, and served as a stark reminder of the ongoing destruction of old-growth trees and the irreplaceable habitat they provide. Coastal Douglas fir ecosystems are among the most threatened in the province. En route, the procession paused at several intersections. During one pause, Jackie Larkin, an organizer with Elders for Ancient Trees, led a call-and-response that honoured recently clear-cut nearby ecosystems, and extinct or threatened species. “We honour, we remember Caycuse…” she said. The crowd gravely repeated each phrase after her. “We honour and rise for Eden Grove… We honour and remember marbled murrelet…” And the little brown bat… Western toad… bandtailed pigeon… sharp-tail snake… Western skylark… oldgrowth specklebellied lichen… barn swallow… great blue heron… olive-sided flycatcher… common bladder moss… blue-grey taildropper slug… Western toad… phantom orchid… Stellar sea lion… red-legged frog… Marbled murrelets are a threatened species. These robin-sized sea birds nest only in old-growth forests, high up on thick branches covered in moss. They lay only one egg. When it can fly, the chick makes a solitary journey to the sea. A lack of old growth along its route leaves it vulnerable to predators. (photo by Deborah Freeman) Northern pygmy owls are only 6 to 7 inches in length—about the size of a plump robin. But they are fierce hunters, sometimes preying on birds and mammals larger than itself. (photo by Deborah Freeman) The goshawk is a large hawk and requires large areas of old growth or mature forest for nesting and hunting. It is a red-listed species. Goshawks have been known to attack people that venture too near its nest. (photo by Deborah Freeman) Close up of a Western Toad (photo by Andrew Johnson, Creative Commons) Phantom orchid, Cephalanthera austiniae, on Vancouver Island (photo by sramey, Creative Commons) Sharp-tailed snake, Contia tenuis (photo by Don Loarie, Creative Commons) These are only a few of the threatened species within our region. The full list is much longer. And it must be added to the lists of all the lost and threatened species in other regions, and other countries, as well as the oceans. More than 37,000 species in the world are at direct risk of extinction. For the past 20 years, Larkin and Maggie Ziegler have been co-facilitating groups to help people open to and share the grief and pain so many feel for our planet and its beings harmed by human activity. They encourage people to see the interconnectedness, beauty and presence of life, and to feel gratitude for it. They include, honour and share the pain rather than repressing it as a private grief. “The Spanish word for remember is recordar—‘to pass through the heart,’”Larkin noted in an interview. “For me it’s very important for us as humans to remember and honour them, to celebrate the lives that they had, and to grieve for their loss. To me, the grieving and the honouring and the celebrating are all tied up together.” Citizen scientist Natasha Lavdovsky discovered one of BC's largest populations of this blue-listed lichen—in a marked cutblock at Fairy Creek. Oldgrowth specklebelly lichen only grows in forests that are at least 6,000 years old. Much of this forest in the Heli Camp area was recently logged. (photo by Natasha Lavdovsky) Ziegler explains the issues humans are facing are collective, and the pain is collective, so it makes sense to acknowledge them in community, where they can be witnessed and recognized as normal. It’s empowering, it opens the heart, and it also brings attention to what hasn’t been said or acknowledged, she said. She added that protecting land and water is a dangerous activity, and around the world, hundreds of environment defenders are murdered every year. It was recently reported that a record number of land defenders were killed in 2020: 227. Many were Indigenous people defending their ancestral land. (A sobering reminder, in a week when the RCMP reportedly assaulted a Pacheedaht land defender on her ancestral territory at Fairy Creek, and a week after 29 Indigenous people were arrested as they defended their Wet’suwet’en territory from the destructive installation of a pipeline which will endanger their sacred river and the nation’s water supply.) Que Mary Banh, who helped organize the Rise Up event, says the actual number of land defenders killed in the world is likely much higher. She speaks from personal experience. Before her family moved to Canada, two of her uncles were killed defending their jungle homelands from the destruction of logging and mining in South Vietnam. Que Mary Banh at Fairy Creek, April 2021 (photo by Dawna Mueller) “They were shot by corporate mercenaries,” she said. But deaths of land defenders like her uncles go unreported in countries where there’s little press freedom, or where they may even be perpetrated or covered up by governments. Now, she says, “There’s almost no life in the jungle. The fish have disappeared. The soil is contaminated.” Young people of that region now see the birds and animals that used to live there only in photos. In Canada, Banh believes we are heading for the same fate. She is passionately committed to protecting forests and biodiversity, and spent five days in a hard block structure at Fairy Creek last August to slow down the logging. Banh says, “We Teochew people are not scared of death. What we’re scared of is not standing up while we’re living, letting these bullies scare us into submission. That’s not what I was taught.” WHEN THE PROCESSION reached the Legislature, several Indigenous leaders addressed the crowd. Elder William Jones, of Pacheedaht First Nation in the Port Renfrew area, thanked those in the crowd who have helped defend the old-growth forests in the Fairy Creek area, which are part of his nation’s ancestral territory. “I am most grateful for all of you,” he told them. “We are here to protect and care for our Great Mother’s gift to us.” Another elder, a hereditary chief from northern Vancouver Island, Ye-Kue-Klas (Sonny) of the Gwat'sinux - Kwakwaka'wakw Nation said: “We will never give up, in our fight for our lands and for Mother Earth.” Indigenous people led the Rise Up for the Fallen procession, including hereditary Chief Ye-Kue-Klas (also known as Sonny) of the Gwat'sinux-Kwakwaka'wakw, in the centre-right of the photograph. He was accompanied by his mother Tlax-Gwah-Nee (Fran Wallace), in the centre-left. Both are wearing their traditional regalia. Their nation is located on the western side of northern Vancouver Island. (photo by Valerie Elliott) Wearing his traditional regalia, he explained that his people call the Earth Mother because it provides for all: “It provides for every animal, every insect, every plant. The Earth provides for us. We need to stop all of the greed, all of the overcutting. We need to save the last bit of our old growth.” Ye-Kue-Klas said he was raised to think seven generations ahead. “What will they have, that we have now? If we take too much, our future generations will have nothing.” Greed was absolutely illegal before colonization arrived in these lands, another Indigenous speaker told the crowd. Chiyokten (Paul Wagner) from the W’SANEC nation has spent the past few months defending the old growth forests at Fairy Creek. Colonialism is “an adolescent culture of death,” he said. “It has destroyed all its elders and Indigenous-hearted matriarchs that would have said ‘No, you will not harm the circle of life.’ They have lost their connection to Mother Earth.” While Indigenous cultures were able to steward the lands and keep the circle of life healthy, this society is unable to even ensure a future for its own children, he said. Colonialism has never listened to our First Peoples, he said. As a child, his mother told him a story of the first contact with Europeans. “She said, ‘They came here with long eyes,’ and she took her fingers and moved them in a gesture from her eyes forward, beyond herself. She said ‘they came here with long eyes, and they looked beyond us, they looked right through us. They could only see the things they wanted to take for themselves.’ Since then, Chiyokten said, 98 percent of the forests in the Salish Sea region have been destroyed, and 95 percent of the animals that lived in them are gone. “And about the same percentage of Indigenous human beings are gone too. Annihilated. “So this is the trajectory of colonialism. We’re moving hard and fast towards death for the circle of life.” In order to stop that process, it is time to return to and honour the knowledge of Indigenous people, he said. Their deep and intimate knowledge of the earth, the water and their inhabitants enabled the first peoples to steward and maintain a paradise here for millennia, he said. That knowledge was passed on to children by the elders, and matriarchs guided their society. When the Douglas party arrived and started wholesale destroying the ancient forests on their territories, the WSANEC people tried to reason with them, he said. “But they wouldn’t stop. They wouldn’t listen to us. So we counselled and we decided to paint our faces black and fight to the death for an ancient forest. I’m proud of that. Not because it was violent. Because it was necessary. “When my elder told me this, he said… if they destroy that, they destroy our ability to live as human beings. To be free, to truly be Indigenous, to be the same as all the other beings. That’s our knowing.” MEMBERS OF THE RISE UP FOR THE FALLEN event in Victoria had hoped to speak with MLAs. They stayed several hours at the Legislature, occupying the entrance and exit to the restricted parking lot until midnight. However, MLAs left their cars in their parking stalls and took taxis from the other side of the Legislature. But as Chiyokten said, many people see the need for change now. Many are embracing the Indigenous teachings about living simply, to respect the Earth, nature, and all species, and to stand up to protect them. “We’re beginning the end of the era of death,” he said. “We’re returning to a way of Life once again. “When you fight for that ecosystem, when you fight for what is simply called a tree, you’re fighting for our existence as Indigenous people.” Chiyokten said his ancestors didn’t fight out of hate or anger. “They fought out of love. They fought out of love for our ways, our ways of keeping every single being as well as the Creator put them here. Our way is the way of life and respect. We’re stepping into the ways of the ancient people. “And we’re going to bring these governments along with us.” Grace Golightly (her name since birth) is a freelance writer interested in the protection of nature and human rights. Further viewing/ reading: • A video of the speakers when Rise Up for the Fallen reached the Legislature. • Raincoast Conservation Foundation recently stated that within the coastal Douglas fir range, 44 ecological communities are at risk. So are 94 species of vertebrate animals, 65 vascular plant species, 45 invertebrate species, 5 lichens, and 3 bryophyte species. See the Foundation’s report on coastal Douglas fir ecosystems. • Check out the rich variety of biodiversity at Fairy Creek, found by scientists and citizen scientists. • Habitat Acquisition Trust has information on local species and on native plants and trees we can plant to support local species. • British Columbia’s looming extinction crisis. • BC government gives okay to trap endangered fishers for fur as scientists warn of impending extinctions.
  6. I have great respect for Stephen Hume's reporting. Urban wildfires are certainly a horrifying possibility, and I appreciate the information he shares with us about it. However, I feel he has left an impression that urban trees are nice and all, but we might be better off without them due to the possibility of wildfires. It's important to know that California's Sierra Club says a home itself is often “more ignitable than the vegetation surrounding it.” It mentions a common sight after wildfires in urban areas: smoking holes in the ground, where houses once stood -- still surrounded by living, green trees. They note that well-spaced plant life can actually block wind-blown embers from reaching your home, while a yard completely devoid of vegetation can create a “bowling alley” for embers. Burning embers can float in on the wind from as far as a mile away. If people are considering cutting down urban trees after reading this article, please first read the Sierra Club's "5 Ways to Protect Your Home from Wildfires". (Link below) There may also be more to the issue of whether or not urban trees cause drying of other vegetation. Yes, they need water to grow. But they are also known to help retain soil, and water in the soil. Trees also have an effect on regional micro-climates. Well-treed areas may be moister and can have more rainfall. Let's make well-thought-out decisions about trees. Mature trees are not easily replaced. They take decades to grow. And most importantly, they may well be the key to reducing climate change. A recent study found that planting trees, and preventing further deforestation, are by far the best climate mitigation tools we have. A lead researcher said, "I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions Last year, the UN's International Panel on Climate Change warned that we have only 10 to 12 years (now 9 to 11) to make drastic changes, in order to prevent catastrophe. Wildfires are a possibility, and we should do all we can to protect ourselves. But the climate crisis is here now. It is more important than ever before to preserve and protect every tree we can, and to plant many more. Sincerely, Grace Golightly The Sierra Club's '5 Ways to Protect Your Home From Wildfires' https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/5-ways-protect-your-home-wildfires The California Chaparral Institute similarly makes a number of suggestions:: http://www.californiachaparral.com/bprotectingyourhome.html In this article, a farmer says, "We can grow water," referring to planting trees with deep roots. (If clicking on the link just shows photos, use your back button to find the article): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/13/pigs-radical-farming-system-trees-climate-crisis?CMP=share_btn_fb&page=with%3Aimg-3&fbclid=IwAR1vEbRstj95XSeEwT7ZNENWrORIwxKu5yl_Sohhou0ZcqoWKcG31MP-YYg#img-3
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