Forestry

Forestry concerns in HTG Territory -- please be patient as the map loads, as there is a lot of data.

One of the most significant legacies of the E&N railway grant and subsequent land sales is the extent of private lands (and particularly private forest lands) in HTG territory (see 'E&N Railway Grant' for more information). Private forestry lands cover 57.4% (201,100ha) of the land area of HTG core territory and are owned by four forest companies: TimberWest, Island Timberlands, North Cowichan, and Hancock. Being privately owned, fee simple lands, these forest lands are not subject to the same provincial government land and resource management laws as are leased and tenured Crown lands in the rest of British Columbia.

Based on analysis of satellite imagery, 163,856.4 ha (46.8% of HTG land area) of forest cover in HTG territory were logged between 1992 and 2014. Of this logging, the majority took place on private forestry lands. 66.81% of private forestry lands in HTG territory were logged between 1992 and 2014. Not all forestry operations in Hul’qumi’num territory are run on private land, the Crown provides forest tenure and forest licence opportunities on some of the small Crown Land areas through Woodlots (2,513ha, 6.4% of HTG territory), Tree Farm Licences (8,480ha, 21.5% of HTG territory) and Timber Sales (volume-based not areas based) programs. Crown Land represents 11.3% (3,9434ha) of the HTG core territory. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, 38.2% of Crown lands were logged between 1992 and 2014.

The significant difference in deforestation rates between private and crown land highlights the difference in regulation. Importantly for the Hul'qumi'num people is the differing agency afforded between crown and private land. In recent years the member First nations of HTG have negotiated consultation and revenue sharing agreements for crown forestry lands (see the 'First Nations Land Interests' and 'Negotiated Agreements' maps for more information). The alienation and privatization in the E&N railway grant lands has left little room for Hul'qumi'num voices and control in private forest lands. Additionally, many of the private forest lands are gated, blocking entry to places where Hul’qumi’num peoples have always hunted, harvested plant foods and gather other resources.

The data for deforestation between 2000 and 2014 was generated using the cloud-based remote sensing platform Google Earth Engine using Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA data. If you are a registered Google Earth Engine user the project can be found here: Google Earth Engine project

For more information on the Hul’qumi’num peoples strategic vision on Forestry, please see the HTG Strategic Land Use Plan: Chapter 7.4, Chapter 7.8, and Chapter 7.9