Hundreds of protesters were arrested at the Vancouver Island logging site in 2021
The B.C. RCMP is investigating a tree spiking in the Fairy Creek logging area done days before the government extended a logging ban in the area.
Tree spiking is hammering a metal pin into a tree at an angle that could catch a chainsaw with potentially devastating results.
“Spiking a tree, or even attempting to, is a dangerous criminal activity that puts the health and safety of B.C.’s forestry workers at risk. These reports are incredibly alarming and I condemn this criminal behaviour,” said Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar. “We immediately notified both the forestry licensee and the local First Nation. We have also referred this matter to the RCMP.”
The Fairy Creek watershed near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island is owned by the provincial government on Pacheedaht First Nation lands and contains old-growth forest.
In the summer of 2020 environmental groups set up a blockade in the area, eventually leading to hundreds of arrests. In June 2021 the B.C. government banned logging in parts of the watershed for two years. This was subsequently extended to Feb. 1, 2025.
On Wednesday, Parmar said the ban on a 1,200 hectare section of the forest would be extended until Sept. 30, 2026.
Parmar said the extension would allow continued talks with the Pacheedaht First Nation around long-term management of the Fairy Creek watershed.
“This action is consistent with government’s commitments to reconciliation and to protecting British Columbia’s oldest and rarest forest ecosystems,” Parmar said.
Specifically, the government is working on a “forest landscape planning table”
“FLP tables provide a vital opportunity for collaborative Indigenous and provincial government leadership in forest planning and meaningful engagement with local communities and stakeholders, ensuring local interests are addressed in forest management,” Parmar said.