Heavily logged old-growth forest to be restored
An old-growth forest destroyed by logging in Haida Gwaii will be restored after the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Haida Nation acquired the land.
Two parcels of land totalling 67 hectares near Port Clements, a village at the east end of Masset Inlet, were the last unprotected areas along the Kumdis Estuary.
Now the conservancy, a national not-for-profit charity, has acquired both and will co-own the lands with the Haida Nation.
One of the sites, which is home to old-growth Sitka spruce and red cedar trees, was purchased from a private landowner by the conservancy with money raised through donations and $209,000 from the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change.
The intent is the protect the land and old-growth forest.
The other lot was transferred to the conservancy and Haida Nation by a landowner to avoid hefty environmental fines for heavily logging the land in 2010. The clearcut practices caused significant damage to old-growth forest and salmon habitat on the parcel.
Three companies were fined a combined $2.2 million for violation of the Fisheries Act.
As restitution, the B.C. provincial court last year approved an option for the landowner, Gwaii Wood Products Ltd., to transfer the land for conservation purposes instead of paying the fine. The conservancy and the Haida Nation entered into a partnership to share ownership and management of the damaged land they acquired on Jan. 26.
In 2015, a provincial judge found three forest companies — Gwaii Wood Products Ltd., Howe Sound Forest Products Ltd., and I. Crosby Contracting Ltd. — guilty of 20 counts each of environmentally destructive logging practices in the estuary in 2010.
Logging and road construction resulted in the destruction or disruption of fish habitat in three tributaries flowing into the Kumdis Bay Estuary, three tributaries flowing into Mallard Creek, and Mallard Creek itself.
Restoration is being planned with Haida Fisheries and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to rehabilitate the lands, which support three species of salmon and provide habitat for at least two threatened species, the marbled murrelet and the Haida Gwaii ermine. It is also home to the endangered northern red-legged frog.
Linda Hannah, regional vicepresident for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, applauded the court for recognizing the cultural and ecological significance of the land.
She said it could take decades to restore the land, but they will continue to work in partnership with the Haida Nation to hold the land in trust for future generations.
Hannah said they will need to do an assessment of the stream damage, and conduct bank stabilization. They will also need to remove invasive vegetation and plant trees.
Many of the trees that were cut down were more than 250 years old, she said.
“So it will take time to see the healing and recovery.”
Hannah said there are signs that fish are making their way into the creek and in the estuary.
“I’m very confident we will see a good recovery,” she said.
Peter Lantin, president of the Haida Nation, said cultural and ecological heritage was lost when the land was logged, and restoring the important area represents a beginning to look at other areas that have been damaged as a result of the industrial “boom and bust economy.”