0081-B1
Paul H. Jones[1]
Canada’s oldest forest on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia became a new Provincial Park in 1998 following seven years of campaigning by an advocacy group named Friends of Caren. The ancient forest is only 800 ha in size and there is concern that its future as a new park could be compromised by the recreationist unless there is a good plan followed by adequate supervision. The paper draws the conclusion that forest industry pressures on local or national forest administrations can wipe out small areas that are the refuge for threatened or endangered species. There is some concern too that a multinational forest industry is unduly affecting both teaching and professional forestry institutions not only in Canada but worldwide.
The remaining ancient forests of the Caren Range on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast may well be the oldest living closed canopy forests in the world. A Hemlock log with 1250 annual rings and a Yellow Cedar stump at the edge of the forests dated at 1824 years old (both discovered in September 1993) are both world age records for these species. These forests are two and a half times older than the Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock forests of Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. They have come down to us directly from the last Ice Age that covered the area some 12,000 years ago. What remains of this forest has never been burned or blown down.
Were it not for the intervention of a local advocacy group known as Friends of Caren in 1991, the Marbled Murrelet research and the find of the first active nest of this species in 1993, these relic forests would have been destroyed by now. Yet, what remains of these forests is only a shred of what was there before the logging commenced in the early nineteen hundreds. The original forests on the Caren Range covered an area of about 8,000 hectares, most of it above 750m. Logging from two sides, with roads built from Halfmoon Bay and from Pender Harbour, impinged on the area for more than sixty years until only a fragment of the original forest remains. The largest clear-cuts on the Caren Range were made by Doyle Logging, MacMillan, Bloedel, and more recently Terminal Forest Products of Richmond.
The Caren forests today cover an area of about 800 hectares, only ten percent of the area they occupied originally. They are described in scientific terms as sub-alpine forests of Western and Mountain Hemlock, Amabilis Fir and Yellow Cedar. They form part of a firebreak which was left there in the nineteen sixties, according to the Forest Service, to prevent fires from burning across the Caren Range to the other side. Logging recommenced in the 1980s to eliminate this firebreak and continued until 1990 when Friends of Caren and the community at large brought an end to the logging. The ancient forests are bordered on the west side of the Caren by a thrifty forest of Douglas Fir which grew up following a three thousand hectare fire intentionally set by mineral prospectors during World War 1. On the east side of the Caren, beyond the recovering clear-cuts of the 80s, second growth forests of Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir (still supporting considerable numbers of scattered old growth Douglas Fir) extend down to Sechelt Inlet. Urged on by the forest industry the Forest Service did an about face and sought to remove this firebreak. It appears that some horse-trading was done about 1990, with M&B pulling out and International Forest Products Limited being offered logging quota on the remaining forests on the east side of the Caren. Plans were already afoot to set aside forests on the Tetrahedron where Interfor would lose some of its quota. Terminal continued to have plans to log the remaining forests on the west side of the Caren including the sensitive slopes above the Pender Harbour fish hatchery and the school in the vicinity of a spectacular waterfall that is clearly visible from the road to Irving’s Landing.
On a clear day the Caren Range can be seen at a distance of some 65 kilometres to the Northwest from Tsawwassen or the Richmond Dyke near Vancouver. The Range includes four peaks, all between 900 and 1,200 metres in altitude. Two have been logged and two remain forested. The rounded peak of the forested Mount Hallowell in the north has a historic wooden fire lookout tower at its summit. The land rises steeply to the Caren highlands from Sechelt Inlet in the east and Pender Harbour in the west. The ancient forests cover an undulating mossy park-like terrain strewn with sub-alpine lakes and ponds. Scattered throughout the upland forests are massive granite boulders that rode the ice before it melted and deposited them as monuments to that passing age.
No one knows whether the seeds that generated the forests of the Caren were there before the Ice Age and survived to replenish the uplands or whether they blew in across the frozen wastes as land began to emerge again. But the forests grew up soon after the ice retreated and they continue to crowd the lakes and ponds, a feature of the departing ice. Presently there are three large lakes and as many as twenty-three smaller lakes. Most are circled by forest although a few have been completely isolated by logging. Here and there under the canopy lie a number of small ponds. The large lakes and most of the smaller ones are quite shallow and normally freeze over for six months of the year. While there are no fish in the lakes they are rich in salamanders and salamander eggs. Barrow's Goldeneye and the occasional Osprey have been observed feeding on this species.
The ancient forests of the Caren are remarkable for their antiquity and their unique character. At least twenty percent of the remaining forest is comprised of pure stands of large trees with scarcely any underbrush or fallen trees. A soft golden carpet of Rhytidiopsis robusta moss covers the forest floor under the largest and oldest stands of mixed western and mountain hemlock. On the Caren these two species appear to hybridize freely and one can pick up cones of both species showing intermediate characteristics. Often, on the south facing slopes, there is a scattering of large gray giants, the yellow cedars, the oldest of the trees. A few are completely hollow and yet still alive as evidenced by a sprig of golden boughs near the spike-top pinnacle of the tree. Most of these magnificent trees are festooned with hanging pads of Antitrichia curtipendula moss, the favoured breeding places for the Marbled Murrelets, at least on the Caren. None of these trees, including Amabalis Fir, are tall by British Columbia coastal lowland standards. The average canopy height attained by these trees, whether they are 900 to 1300 years old for the mountain and western hemlocks, or 1000 to 2000 years old for the yellow cedars, is about 125 feet or some 40m.
The forests on the Caren are unique because they existed five thousand years ago, perhaps ten thousand years ago. The giant white-bleached barkless snags, ringing most lakes, and containing the drilled holes of Three-toed Woodpeckers and Red-breasted Sapsuckers, are an exception. These Western White Pine trees were alive and well until the 1920s when blister-rust caused their demise. There are at least two exceptions. On the eastern edges of the two largest lakes there are two live specimens of this species that have somehow survived the scourge. The height and dominance of these snags is compelling enough to suggest that Murrelets may use them to navigate in dense fog.
On the lake edges too are numbers of thickly foliaged Mountain Hemlocks that have been bonsaied by the action of ice on their root-tips for more than half the year. Many are three to four hundred years old and yet only three or four metres high. At their feet in summer are damp meadows of cotton grass, red heather and bog laurel. In the lakes and ponds yellow water lillies and buckbean lie in the shallows. Water skaters, ferryboatmen and dragonflies dance on and over the still water.
Studies of the Marbled Murrelets over the past ten years have taken place in every quarter of the ancient forests. Our researchers have been overtaken by fog which settles in the trees and turns the forest into a landscape of gray shapes and mist monsters. This is a temperate cloud forest where trees comb the moisture from the damp air and where the sound of water can be heard dripping from the upper canopy.
The largest tree is a Yellow Cedar in the East Forest with a breast-height diameter of 390cm. Not far away, in a clear-cut is a 12.6m log with a 360cm diameter bole of the same species that was felled by M&B loggers and left on the ground to rot beside its huge stump. Not far away, inside the forest was found the partially burned remains of a Yellow Cedar which had been hit by lightening and which had burned like a firebrand until the rain put it out. In the East Forest too there is a 270cm Yellow Cedar with great buttresses, anklebones and knobs where its great bulk reaches the ground. This tree is called Bigfoot. It is a favourite destination for many of the tours led by Friends of Caren. But most of the trees of the East Forest, although they are the biggest, are not the oldest. These stand in sheltered well-drained sites where there is plenty of moisture on slopes facing west.
The East Forest is nevertheless one of the best places to see the real character of what the Caren forests are about. From the road which skirts Lyon Lake and travels along the east side of the Range, close to the logged slopes of Middlepeak, the visitor can look across at a large expanse of this forest and study it closely. Beyond, and nearly 1200m below, like looking into the bottom of the Grand Canyon, is Sechlet Inlet and Narrows Inlet. The East Forest lies along a west-facing slope and extends along a ridge that climbs to Caren Peak, the highest point of the Caren. This is a forest of great antiquity and complex forms representing myriad ages, sizes and shapes of trees. The occasional giant snag can be seen among a uniform gray-green canopy of boughs and tops, some of these latter green, some dry and spiked. Broken tops are those of Western Hemlock trees that have died and rotted. The dry spiked tops are those of the Yellow Cedars with light yellow foliage. These trees contrast strongly with the heavier darker Hemlock boughs. Scattered through the canopy are Amabalis Fir crowns, stiff and ragged as though each supports a nest of sticks.
A new Class A Provincial Park known as Spipiyus Provincial Park was created to include these ancient forests in 1998. The park also took in the surrounding area of 2,200 hectares of thrifty young stands of Hemlock and Yellow Cedar that grew up since they were logged some thirty years ago. The lengthy crusade for a park by Friends of Caren was only partially successful. The group saved only half the area they had hoped to save as a park. There is a real possibility that the relatively small size of the new park will channel too much recreational activity into the fragile forest environment and thus serve to destroy the real values that Friends of Caren worked so hard to protect.
This is an extraordinary new park where an opportunity existsof expanding the boundaries down to Sechelt Inlet and Pender Harbour’s lake district to allow its shore-to-summit ecosystem to flourish. Doubling its size to 6000 hectares, the original proposal of Friends of Caren, as a minimum would allow for this park to be sustainable. Most of the birds and animals found in the park are marine based and need forested corridors for unobstructed access in both directions. Mew Gulls, Barrows Goldeneyes and Marbled Murrelets nest close to the many lakes and in the ancient forests. River Otters, Black Bears, Cougar and Roosevelt Elk, to name just a few species, make their way to the uplands in summer and demand unimpeded access from the marine shores to the Caren Range summit. Bald Eagles, Ospreys and Belted Kingfishers can be seen regularly around the upland lakes. The forests themselves contain groves of the oldest living Yellow Cedars, Mountain and Western Hemlocks in the world.
At present the Forest Service road connecting the park to Highway 101 on the Sunshine Coast is under repair and access, except for the sturdiest vehicles, is very difficult. This is a mixed blessing until such time as a Plan is drawn up for the park between the Ministry of Water, Lands and Parks and Friends of Caren. In the new Plan there will be a need to focus on sustainability, connectivity and a shore-to-summit ecosystem. The Plan will also need to address some of the problems that confront the new park. These include damage being done by Roosevelt Elk which have expanded their range into the park since some of the huge clear-cuts surrounding the ancient forests, and now included in the park, have begun to green up with new growth of sub-alpine species and their preferred food, fireweed. Elk appear also to be seeking the cooler summer temperatures of the Caren’s higher altitudes. Wind is causing some damage as it blows down trees, dries out the forest and makes the old-growth areas susceptible to fire. There appears to be a real need for a continuous presence of wardens in the park during summer months to ensure that its fragile nature is understood and respected by any and all park visitors.
With so many attributes, Spipiyus Provincial Park deserves greater recognition and an immediate start on the planning process. Friends of Caren, who was responsible for its creation should have a major say in the new plan and its administration.
The above paper respecting the creation of a new park in British Columbia will be of interest to foresters around the world as it deals with several issues that are universal in forestry. Among these is the tendency for national and or regional forestry administrations to submit to the often heavy pressure from the forest industry for cutting permits which often remove the last remaining critical wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species. Another issue is the tendency of forestry institutions to be subjected to and yield to pressure from the forest industry to influence curricula and the direction of thinking with respect to forest resources. At the University of British Columbia, for example, students attend classes in a building festooned with big forest company names while the general instruction given to students is that all forests will eventually fall down and thus need to be replenished by cutting and planting new crops of trees. Similarly well-respected forestry institutions such as the Canadian Institute of Forestry has in the past twenty years become a vehicle of the big forest companies to sell their views and equipment. Many of these companies are multinationals.
Finally the paper makes reference to one of the threats which can destroy protected areas, namely that of the recreationist unless there is sufficient policing of the area. In Canada this includes uncontrolled hunting, or unrestricted snowmobile or other vehicle use inside the protected area.
Paul H. Jones The Marbled Murrelets of the Caren Range and Middlepoint Bight, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Canada. 2001.
The Federation of British Columbia Naturalist’s B.C. Naturalist, Vol. 40, No.4. Parks in B.C. Feature’s Editor, Paul H. Jones. September 2002.
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[1] 206-6450 East Boulevard,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6M 3V9. |