Log export forecast

Five foreign cargo vessels are loading raw logs from Vancouver Island ports this week.

The Stx Harmony (Panama) is loading logs in Port Alberni through Wednesday, and the Global Garland (Panama) is loading logs there through Thursday.

The Sun Ruby (Hong Kong) is loading logs from Crofton through Wednesday.

Later this week, the Atlantic Burnet (Hong Kong), the Global Garland, and Stx Harmony are loading in Nanaimo, while the Ace Century (Vanuatu) is loading in Port Alberni.

Clearcut forecast: "Everywhere"

Logging companies are clearcutting Vancouver Island's forests faster than ever, and more remote areas are being targeted, reports Ken Wu of Ancient Forest Alliance.

Logging is on hold on Cortes Island for now, but Vancouver Island's largest landowner, Western Forest Products, is targeting old-growth across the island, Wu says.

A few of the target areas are highlighted below. Left to right: Nitinat Lake, Upper Walbran Valley, Gordon River, and the ridge above China Beach, which is being logged by a partnership with the Pacheedaht First Nation.

 
















The Kyuoquot Valley is also being logged, Wu notes. The Friends of Clayoquot Sound have issued an alert for logging on Flores Island, in the heart of Clayoquot.

Update: Cortes Island logging on hold until fall

Update: Cortes activists Tzeporah Berman and Carrie Saxifrage report that plans to clearcut parts of Cortes Island are postponed until September 2012. Representatives from Island Timberlands assured them at a meeting this week that "the earliest they would begin logging is in September."

This community of a thousand people near Campbell River is known to many as a "birthplace of the green movement" in BC. The impending battle between the islanders and the logging company, owned by Wall Street conglomerate Brookfield Asset Management, sparked protests in Nanaimo, Victoria, and Vancouver this week. In January, a petition with over 6,000 signatures was delivered to half a dozen Brookfield offices worldwide.

Log export forecast

Three export ships are loading raw logs from Vancouver Island ports this week.

The Cape Moreton (Hong Kong) finishes loading and departs from Kultas Cove on Monday.

The Black Forest (Hong Kong) is loading logs in Port Alberni Monday through Friday.

The STX Harmony (Panama) is loading logs in Port Alberni on Sunday.

Log export forecast

Five international cargo ships are loading raw logs in Vancouver Island ports this week.

The Cape Moreton (Hong Kong) is loading in Kultas Cove all week. 

Two sister ships from Panama, the Global Explorer and the Global Arrow, are loading logs in Nanaimo from Monday through Friday.

The Global Explorer, photographed in Nanaimo in June 2011.

The Global Arrow, photographed off California in February 2011.

The Panama-flagged Oriente Crest (photographed off Victoria in July 2011) is loading logs in Port Alberni Monday through Thursday..

No records are available for the fifth ship, the Nicoline Bulker (United Kingdom), loading logs at Crofton Monday through Wednesday.

Log export forecast

There are five foreign-owned cargo ships loading raw logs from Vancouver Island ports this week.

The Oriente Crest (Panama) is loading logs Tuesday through Saturday at Kultas Cove, and on Sunday in Port Alberni.(Photographed in Astoria, Oregon.)

The IVS Kawana (Singapore) began loading logs in Crofton last week, and it finishes there on Tuesday. (Photographed in Bay of Bengal, 2010.)

The Ocean Harmony (Singapore) is loading logs at Harmac on Monday and Tuesday.  (Photographed in New Westminster, BC.)

The Ocean Hope (Vanuatu) is loading logs at Harmac Wednesday and Thursday. (Photographed in New Westminster, BC.)

 















The Cape Moreton (Hong Kong) arrives on Sunday at Kultas Cove. (Photographed in South Adelaide, Australia.)