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THE ANCIENT TEMPERATE RAINFOREST OF THE STOLTMANN WILDERNESS
Article by Joe Foy
Photos courtesy of Western Canadian Wildnerness Committee
The Upper Elaho Valley in the proposed Stoltmann National Park, a three hour
drive from Vancouver, harbours the region's largest remaining valley bottom
ancient temperate rainforest. Over the past six years, thousands of
Canadians and others from around the world, have worked to get the logging
in the area stopped and to see the Stoltmann Wilderness -- all 500,000
hectares -- granted National Park status.
Ancient temperate rainforests, as the name implies, grow in the rainiest
bits of the temperate zones of Earth, and are comprised of trees that
live for hundreds, sometimes a thousand years. At one time temperate
rainforests were widespread. Over several million years however, these
rainforests have become restricted to the wet west coasts.
The trees in these forests are massive: up to 3 metres in diametre and 45 metres high. From the tiniest insects to the largest mammals, the rainforests create one of the most bountiful displays of life on the planet. In fact, the biomass (volume of living and once living matter) is the highest of any land-based ecosystem on Earth.
The most extensive area of ancient temperate rainforest is on the west
coast of North America in a strip running from Northern California through
British Columbia and into Alaska. Other ancient temperate rainforests
are on the west coasts of Chile, Tasmania (Australia) and New Zealand. The
west coasts of Ireland and Scotland had their old growth forests eliminated
centuries ago by logging. This highlights an important fact about this type
of forest -- it was rare in the past and it is very rare today.
A 1997 study by the Washington D.C. based World Resource Institute (WRI)
estimated the world's forest cover as it was 8,000 years ago - before
mankind started cutting forests down for lumber, charcoal and to make way
for farm fields. In more recent times timber companies have been cutting
down ancient forests and replacing them with tree plantations - uniform
"crops" of relatively small, young trees of similar age.
WRI estimates that the world today has about 20% of it's original
never-logged ancient forests. Many countries have completely eliminated
their old growth forests. Three countries - Russia, Brazil and Canada have
most of the planet's remaining ancient forests.
There are several types of ancient forest. There is the great boreal
forest -- the northern forest that circles the globe, primarily found in
northern Russia and Canada. There are the various tropical forests -
like those of the Amazon basin in Brazil. One of the rarest forests of all, according to the WRI report, is the ancient temperate rainforest -- the kind of forest found in the Upper Elaho Valley in the proposed Stoltmann National Park. The remaining old growth temperate rainforest is disappearing quickly in British Columbia -- as large multinational timber companies clearcut log and convert to tree plantations most of our remaining big-tree wild forests.
Back in 1994 a local conservationist, Randy Stoltmann, poured over government maps and satellite photos. Stoltmann determined that the largest piece of unroaded wilderness near Vancouver was in the
headwaters of the Elaho and Lillooet River systems. The roadless area
which he charted is in the middle of the southern Coast Mountains, west of Whistler. Only about 10% of the entire 500,000 hectares is big-tree ancient temperate rainforest -- in the valley bottoms and lower slopes of the mountains. The rest of the wilderness area that was mapped is high elevation scrub forest, alpine meadow and glacier.
Producing a report, calling for the protection of Vancouver's biggest
remaining wilderness area as parkland, Stoltmann presented his
findings to the provincial government in April,1994. In May Randy lost his
life in a tragic ski-mountaineering accident while exploring his beloved
Coast Mountains. B.C.'s conservation community nicknamed the area the
Stoltmann Wilderness and began to work for its preservation.
Since then the provincial government has taken action to protect a small
part of the Stoltmann Wilderness. But the vast majority of the area,
including most of the Stoltmann's ancient temperate rainforest has been left
available for clearcut logging operations -- and International Forest
Products (Interfor) has been taking full advantage. Every year Interfor has
pushed its logging roads further inland, clearcutting the Stoltmann's old
growth forest as they go.
Since 1995, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) has led the
fight to get the logging stopped. The goal is to see the Stoltmann
Wilderness preserved as Canada's first National Park reserve - a fully protected area to be co-managed by the governments of Canada and the Squamish and Lil'wat Nations -- aboriginal title-holders to the area.
WCWC has constructed a hiking trail along the rim of the spectacular upper
Elaho canyon. This trail passes through the massive old growth forest, then
up into the lake-studded alpine and over to Meager Creek Hotsprings. This
hike takes between three to five days.
There is also a tent-camp to serve as a base of operations for research work
that maps out the big tree groves and wildlife habitat of the upper Elaho Valley. A lot of this valuable research is carried out by volunteers.
To get a hiking map of the area, volunteer, or learn more about the fight to protect the Stoltmann Wilderness: call (604) 683-8220 or visit the web at www.wildernesscommittee.org.
Joe Foy is the director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.
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