Visualisation shows how old-growth forests vanished in 100 years

Protesters from direct action group ‘Save Old Growth’, which is asking for immediate end to old-growth logging in British Columbia, blocked Highway 1 near the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal on Wednesday morning.

Save Old Growth had said in a press release that the campaign would continue to block roads multiple times per week, and the frequency and scale of actions would escalate until all old-growth logging is stopped.

“The BC government is destroying the country, this is our last resort. We are scared of sitting down on the road, but will keep doing it until the government throws us in prison or keeps their own promise to save old growth. Premier Horgan is destroying his own legacy.” said Zain Haq, a university student, and an organizer of this campaign.

Activists from various groups have been protesting against logging of old-growth forests in BC since a blockade began at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island more than an year ago.

Old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have been vanishing rapidly. A visualisation shows how the forests, “the grandest conifer forests on Earth outside the US redwoods”, have reduced dramatically over just a century.

“This issue is so dire that we are willing to sit down on arguably one of the busiest and most dangerous areas of the Trans-Canada Highway in this province. We will continue escalating and doing whatever it non-violently takes to force the government to protect these ancient trees- for all our futures.” Said Olivia, another organizer for the campaign, in a release.

Save Old Growth is a new direct action group that is calling on the BC government to keep its promise to end old-growth logging in the Province.

The current protests escalated after January 9, the deadline Save Old Growth had set for BC government to end all old-growth logging.