As Logging Intensifies Wildfires, Wet’suwet’en Fight To Protect Old Growth

"Members of Wet’suwet’en Nation in British Columbia want to conserve a pristine old-growth watershed, Caas Tl’aat Twah, in its traditional territory. The nation has obtained a logging deferral for Caas Tl’aat Twah and is planning how to protect it permanently."

"WET’SUWET’EN, Canada — The pilot flew over squares of clear-cuts and tree plantations, then rolled the helicopter around Hudson Bay Mountain in north-central British Columbia. We were following directions from David de Wit, the acting director of the Office of Wet’suwet’en, who was navigating from a map of traditional trails in their territory.

On the ground, the trails are marked by culturally modified trees, circles carved into bark, proof of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s history in this area. As we approached Caas Tl’aat Kwah (aka Serb Creek), a 1,600-hectare (3,900-acre) watershed that has not yet been logged or mined, the forest stitched together in a blanket of deep green, cleaved only by yellow-green wetlands threaded with glacial blue streams.

“We want to conserve it for future generations,” says Charlotte Euverman, the Wet’suwet’en woman leading a fight to save this area, which includes a traditional gathering and feasting site. “We have to leave them something.”"

Erica Gies reports for Mongabay September 23, 2024.

Source: Mongabay, 09/30/2024