A survey conducted by a private forest management company on the island of Vancouver shows that thousands of outdoor air enthusiasts want better access to forest lands, but an alliance of desert defenders is also generating concerns about environmental responsibility.
The management of the mosaic forest, which supervises approximately 550,000 hectares of forest lands of private property between Victoria, Sooke and Campbell River, reports that the survey received more than 7,600 responses and the feedback was clear: opening the doors.
According to the mosaic website, the company has more than 20 doors on the island that can open and close to controlling recreational use, including those that control access to popular walks such as Century Sam in like like and Mount Arrowsmith, near Port Alberni, and front camp sites such as Nanaimo Lakes.
Access to areas is often limited to weekends between 8 am and 8 pm
Steve Mjaland, Mosaic forest protection manager, says that the company wishes to improve recreational access, but door closures are often necessary for safety and to prevent forest fires.
“It is a forest that works. There are many dangers of high risk, especially transporting on the roads, which would probably be the greatest risk with traffic,” he said.
Among those who ask for better access: Jenn Holland, who currently presides over an alliance of almost 30 base groups on the island called Vancouver Island Private Managed Land Action Alliance.
“There are doors everywhere and people cannot reach the beloved waterfalls or lakes or camp sites to which they used to access,” he said.
Holland says the problem goes beyond recreation.
“We cannot enter there, and we cannot see what they are doing there. We cannot see if there has been a landslide. We cannot see if a water course has been recorded. We cannot see that they have registered a whole basin,” he said.
“It is not only access for recreation, but access to responsibility is missing.”
Passionate hikers call Mosaic Forestry, the company responsible for administering much of the island’s crossing areas, to restrict access to forest lands. The company says it is looking for ways to improve accessibility.
The problem goes beyond the doors, conservationists say
Holland says that while walking walking is something that the public can easily understand, it focuses on larger problems, such as conservation, the owners of private forest lands and the province, which go beyond the control of mosaic doors.
Dave Weaver, a retired forest worker who now volunteers with Beaufort basin butlers, one of the groups that make up the Forest Land Action Alliance of Vancouver Island Managed Land, says he disagrees with the forest land program administered by the private, which was established in 2003 under the Law of Forest Lands of Private Administration.
According to the Province’s website, the program works by establishing management objectives for forest land owners, who in turn develop more appropriate management strategies for their land.
Weaver says that the law establishes a low bar for forest practices, especially compared to public forest land regulations, which have more restrictions in harvest and clear, and greater requirements for public responsibility.
“We need to have these difficult conversations very soon, with all the parties involved, with the provincial government, with the owners,” he said.
Desert defenders on the island of Vancouver are asking the province to reform forestry practices in private lands. They say that conservation is leaving industrial uses in these areas. As Claire Palmer reports, some say that he raises risks to nearby communities.
In 2019, the province made a review of the Private Law of Forest Forest Lands, where Weaver says that extensive comments, the local government and the first nations were collected.
The province published its findingsThey show that there was a recurring theme of concern about the sustainability of forest practices and the effects on things such as basins in private forest lands, but Weaver states that no tangible change once came from the review.
In a statement sent by email, the Ministry of Forests said that it is working to modernize the law after the 2019 review, and that “many of the problems posed during the review are being addressed through government work to ensure that forestry supports the values of the ecosystem.”
But Weaver says he believes that even that review would be outdated for today’s standards and would join the Alliance to ask the province to carry out a new review.
In a statement, Mosaic said he would be willing to work with community partners for a sustainable strategy.
“The mosaic supports the improved collaboration between the owners of private forest lands, the first nations, the province and the communities to ensure that responsible forest management plays a key role in economic, reconciliation and climatic strategies of BC,” said Karen Brandt, senior vice president of public matters and associations in mosaic forest management.
