Some say the fate of British Columbia’s old-growth forests rests in the balance
SAANICH, B.C. — The Douglas fir Andy MacKinnon leans against is 40 metres tall. It’s likely more than 500 years old and its fire-scarred trunk is almost two metres in diameter.
In most other countries, the tree would be the largest in the land, says MacKinnon, a forest ecologist who spent three decades with British Columbia’s government researching old-growth forests.
At Francis/King Regional Park, minutes from Victoria, the park’s trees are protected from logging, but about 150 kilometres west of Victoria, old-growth forests with 1,000-year-old trees twice the size of those in the park are being cut down every day, said MacKinnon.
The world’s largest trees face dangers similar to elephants, whales and bison that have been hunted to the brink of extinction, he said.