Rahul Somvanshi
Blockaders and forest advocates say logging activity is continuing near the Walbran area of Vancouver Island, where some of British Columbia’s remaining old-growth temperate rainforest stands are located. The campaign has renewed attention on a conflict that has persisted for years: how much of the province’s remaining old growth should be deferred from harvesting, and who decides which stands receive protection.
A video from the area says a blockade was erected on the Walbran 900 road and alleges that an 85-hectare logging operation is affecting old-growth ecosystem values. Karmactive could not independently verify the location, current operational status, hectare figure or the identity of the company from the video alone. Those claims are therefore attributed to the people at the blockade.
British Columbia has acknowledged that protecting old growth requires a shift in forest management. Its old-growth strategy has included deferrals—temporary pauses on harvesting in identified areas—alongside engagement with First Nations, who hold decision-making rights and interests across their territories.
Why the Walbran debate persists
Old-growth forests are not defined only by a tree’s age or size. They are ecosystems shaped over long periods, with standing dead trees, fallen wood, canopy layers, soils and species that may not return quickly after logging. Selective harvesting can retain some trees, but the ecological result depends on how much is removed, where roads are built and which habitat features are disturbed.
Campaigners often cite a figure that 96% of Vancouver Island’s low-elevation old growth has been lost. That is an advocacy statistic and its meaning depends on the forest type, elevation threshold and baseline used. It should not be treated as a precise measure of every remaining old-growth stand without reviewing the underlying methodology.
The British Columbia government’s old-growth programme describes deferrals as a way to create time for planning and engagement, rather than an automatic permanent ban on harvesting. That helps explain why activists remain concerned when a deferred boundary does not include the surrounding forest they believe is ecologically connected.
Are Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests fully protected? No. Some areas have been deferred or otherwise protected, but forest-management decisions remain active across the province and depend on specific locations, tenure rights, First Nations engagement and land-use processes.
The video’s reference to a “National Guard” should also be treated cautiously. Canada does not use a U.S.-style National Guard for forest-policing operations; past enforcement at British Columbia logging blockades has involved provincial authorities and police. Claims of security-camera monitoring or specific enforcement measures at Walbran need independent confirmation.
The immediate question is whether the reported activity intersects with formally protected or deferred stands. The longer question is whether temporary measures will become durable, ecosystem-scale protection for the last remaining old-growth landscapes.
