Westholme Tree Update
Assuming that he’s at least five feet tall, what does that tell us of the diameter of this behemoth?
The fallen giant on Mt. Sicker. Standing, it could be seen by ships at sea and was used as a navigational landmark.
Well, so much for protecting the last of our endangered landmark trees.
Not long after I wrote my post on the Great Westholme Tree and some of its sister giants, most of them long gone, it was reported that the B.C. Supreme Court had dismissed an application by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and ForestEthics Solutions Society.
They’d sought a ruling that the B.C. Government “fails to,” in the words of the Times-Colonist (May 10, 2014), “adhere to its own laws in protecting endangered coastal Douglas fir trees”.
But Justice Gordon Weatherill “sided with the province that…the groups should have first applied to the Forest Practices Board, which conducts independent audits and investigations to determine if the province is complying with laws to protect endangered forests”.
Neither audit nor investigation, by the way, is binding on the government. Nevertheless, to quote His Honour, “such a process is still an adequate remedy that should be sought before seeking judicial review”. That’s because, in 2006, the government officially recognised that coastal Douglas fir are “a species at risk” and crafted policies to balance the competing concerns of the logging industry and environmental and aboriginal interests.
Under existing legislation the government not only can, but must, issue a stop-work notice known as Section 7.
Then why this concern on the part of the WCW and FESS? Because surviving old-growth Douglas fir in the coastal region of B.C. is now down to 275 hectares.
That’s 275 hectares left of an estimated original 2555 square kilometres!
Not only that, but the government’s oversight applies only to Crown lands. It all comes down to trying to balance the “the needs of various parties as part of the complex law”–Justice Weatherill as paraphrased by the T-C.
A spokesman for the TCW said it’s the “dire state” of today’s B.C. forests that prompted their legal action rather than going to the Forest Practices Board.
The original caption reads, Giant Tree. Compared to many others shown in old photos, it looks almost, well, puny… By today’s standards, however–
More about Westholme Giant
See also…
More about Westholme Giant
‘Second largest’ Douglas fir recalls Westholme giant
That is a real shame. It seems that B.C. and Vancouver Island really have a lot less protection for its old growth than even Washington, Oregon, and California – which really is lame, because many of the very tallest and largest diameter spruce, Douglas fir, and cedars grew right in lower B.C., some of the best documented ones actually. I am now curious if there is even one single standing Douglas fir in the entirety of British Columbia which even reaches 300 feet high? Perhaps the Meech Creek Giant, up in the Coquitlam River watershed at 310 feet high is the only one??? But apparently it is now dead or dying… so yikes… what a sad state the giants have been reduced to 🙁
Yes, Micah, it is a shame. You’ve made me curious as to whether there’s a 300-foot-plus tree in Avatar, one of the few remaining stands of first-growth left undisturbed on Vancouver Island. Or Port Alberni area’s Cathedral Grove which was saved for posterity, by the way, by lumber tycoon H.R. Macmillan.
To put 300 feet into context, folks, that’s the equivalent of a 25-storey building! –TW
My blood runs ice cold when I think of what we’ve already lost, and the distinct lack of appetite to do the right thing and save some of what remains. This is an important article, TW, really well done. I hope this brings some much-needed awareness to this important topic.
Awareness, alas, is the proverbial case of locking the barn door after the horse has bolted. It’s not too late in some very few cases but, overall, they’re gone, never to be repeated or equaled. –TW
I am wondering if you know where the name “Westholme” came from? Speaking of course of the community here in the Cowichan Valley. Have been able to find out that it was one of the original white folk settlements here…was there a Westholme family, or perhaps named after the town in Britian?
Capt. Edward Barkley named his farm, right by today’s Russell Farm Market, Westholme, perhaps for a family connection in England.
I tell how he died trying to retrieve family heirlooms from his burning house in my book, ‘Cowichan Chronicles, vol.1’.It’s a great story!
–TWP