MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2019

119 words :: Nikkey Dawn To our ancestors who dwelled and fought for survival amongst the megafauna, old-growth trees may have seemed utterly unremarkable. When everything is gigantic, do you even notice a towering 1,000-year old conifer tree? As the wild shrunk, these trees held firm. Come across a stand now and neurons start firing, “imagine what this tree has seen… look at the size of that burl … can I even see the top?” It’s no wonder we’ll spend hours hiking or skinning through the backcountry to be amongst these towering giants. There is a sense of awe in these trees, one that takes us back to another time, before our relationship with nature became muddied with profit margins. And if there’s one thing that has spurred this change in relationship, it is technology. While old-growth trees themselves may not be shrinking, stands of them are. Only ten per cent of the original old-growth forest on Vancouver Island remains—and, less than half of it is protected. The other half, awaits potential logging in the timber harvest land base. With government-regulated allowable annual cut rates, logging companies are becoming more efficient than ever in determining the density and value of the forests they might potentially log using a surveying method called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The drone- or plane-assisted LiDAR produces detailed 3D maps using light waves, allowing logging corporations to quickly determine the height and diameter of trees in a potential cut block without stepping a foot—or boot—on the ground. The profit jackpot? Big, thick, old-growth fir, spruce and cedar. TJ Watts is the co-founder of Ancient Rainforest Alliance (AFA). He too hunts for these trees, but with different motives—the AFA lobbies for protection of old-growth stands across BC. However, they have to find them first. Most LiDAR data catalogues from corporations and Natural Resources Canada are withheld from public access. And with LiDAR being too expensive for most most conservation groups, they’re left to the The drone- or plane-assisted LiDAR produces detailed 3D maps using light waves, allowing logging corporations to quickly determine the height and diameter of trees in a potential cut block without stepping a foot—or boot—on the ground. ENVIRO (ROBOT) EYE IN THE SKY Can LiDAR laser scanning help protect BC’s old growth forests? Perspective.Where one sees profits, another sees value. ANDREW STRAIN