British Columbia’s old-growth forest battle is heating up. @hmrustad, a features editor at The Walrus, will take over @thewalrus account to explain more. For a backgrounder, here’s his story from 2016: thewalrus.ca/big-lonely-dou… 1/9
Hi everyone, this is @hmrustad. My 2016 article was about a single Vancouver Island tree that was saved by a logger. Big Lonely Doug is a twenty-storey-tall Douglas fir and is estimated to be 1,000 years old. thewalrus.ca/big-lonely-dou… 2/9
It’s been thirty years since activists blockaded roads near Clayoquot Sound and Carmanah Valley, both on Vancouver Island, in protest of logging old-growth forests. In Clayoquot, nearly a thousand protestors were arrested. thewalrus.ca/big-lonely-dou… 3/9 
Even though these actions led to Clayoquot becoming a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and Carmanah a provincial park, the clear-cutting of similar forests simply moved elsewhere. 4/9
New fronts have emerged. Since last summer, @SaveFairyCreek activists have been blockading roads to threatened forests, including the Fairy Creek watershed, down the road from Big Lonely Doug, near the town of Port Renfrew. thetyee.ca/News/2021/03/2… 5/9
On April 1, the BC Supreme Court approved an injunction that had been sought by logging company Teal Jones against the blockaders. cbc.ca/news/canada/br… 6/9
While BC premier John Horgan—whose own riding includes Fairy Creek—defers his pledge to protect at-risk old-growth, forests like the one that once surrounded Big Lonely Doug continue to be cut. (@justine_hunter) theglobeandmail.com/canada/british… 7/9
This issue is about more than saving a few charismatic big trees: it’s about protecting irreplaceable ecosystems. For all its poignancy, Big Lonely Doug—alone “like an obelisk in a desert,” as I wrote—should be an aberration. The clock is ticking. (Photo: @tjwattphoto) 8/9
That’s it from me, @hmrustad. My book, Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees, examines the many forces that led to this one tree being saved and the forest around it being cut. store.walrusmagazine.com/collections/bo…
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