Completely new to gardening in general and always wanted a fruit tree. Unfortunately it isn’t really looking too good. Should I be concerned? The leaves seem really sparse and small. The top leaves on the leader especially are pretty much nonexistent.
BC Timber Sales (BCTS) - a BC government agency - has this rare old-growth temperate rainforest cutblock in Vancouver Island’s Nahmint Valley slated for logging. In this forest is at least one active bear den, massive western hemlocks and western red cedars, as well as the blue-listed old growth speckled belly lichen.
These rainforests store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon. BC is losing old-growth three times faster than Brazil loses Amazon rainforest. This is one of many old-growth cutblocks in the pipeline. Over 90% of Vancouver Island’s most productive old-growth is already gone - and most of what’s left has no protection.
Want to help?
Reach out to the BC government:
premier@gov.bc.ca
This is a deeply embedded policy issue. Learn about an alternative - the New Forest Act legislative proposal: boundaryforest.org
And don’t stop talking about this. Share this post. Tell someone. There are still Canadians who don’t even realize we have an ancient rainforest in this country. The more people who know these forests exist, the harder it is to quietly harvest them.
I just planted this last year.
I know for sure that it has root weevils. I have been trying to remove them from the leaves in the evenings. I’m not finding too many these days.
What else could be wrong? It is in pretty much full shade except for maybe an hour of morning sun. PNW zone 8b.
The road is already started and similar sized western yellow cedars have already been harvested adjacent to these within the last week. These trees likely have only weeks or even only days left to live.
These are truly primeval trees, easily over 1000 years old and likely leaning towards 2000 years old. These two have been growing together for over a millennium, and very soon a logger will make sure no human or living creature has the pleasure to witness them ever again. There are a few other noteworthy giants in the block as well. These are some of the very last large ancient yellow cedars left in the area.
Long shot, but, is there a registered forest technician in the area (north-mid island) who is willing to visit these to confirm their measurement ASAP? I think there is a chance they meet provincial special tree protection criteria. Unfortunately, we can’t trust logging companies to do the right thing here - they have illegally cut down trees that met this criteria in the recent past. These trees are a short 5-10 minute easy bushwhack after a 20min drive on forest roads off the highway - AWD/4WD recommended but high clearance isn’t necessary.
Kanaka Bar doing the right thing. Excellent model for all indigenous communities.