Located in the territory of the Tla’amin and shíshálh First Nations, and close to the town of Powell River, Mt. Freda is home to some of the oldest trees in Canada. High in the mountains, locked in by snow for much of the year, these forests are incredibly slow growing, delicate ecosystems. Some ancient yellow cedars logged on Mt. Freda were found to be over 1200 years old. This 21-hectare cutblock, located at over 1,100 metres (3,609 feet), is powerful evidence of the extreme lengths that logging companies are going to in order to carve out the last vestiges of old-growth from the landscape.
Currently, the logging of the remaining ancient forests of Mt. Freda is paused thanks to the leadership and initiative of the Tla’amin First Nation who requested a temporary halt to any old-growth logging in their territory.
Most recently, the BC government has identified a number of at-risk ancient groves on Mt. Freda for potential logging deferrals, including some of the forest pictured here. Significant funding for First Nations is now urgently needed to make these deferrals possible.
Send an instant message to the BC government, demanding they must step up and commit at least $300 million dollars in provincial funding to support Indigenous Protected Areas to permanently protect old-growth forests and sustainable economic alternatives for First Nations communities across BC: https://ancientforestalliance.org/funding-send-a-message/
