(Municipal clearcut atop Mount Prevost/Swuq'us)
FOI documents reveal strong public opposition to renewed logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve
Letter to council: Represent the public's wishes, not 'your own agenda'
Horrified. Shocked. Appalled. Dismayed. Disheartened.
Those are some of the words used by the public to describe North Cowichan council’s move towards renewed logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve, freedom-of-information documents reveal.
Council voted 4-3 on August 20 to make the resumption of logging a strategic priority in 2026 despite ongoing talks with First Nations and a public consultation showing overwhelming support for conservation.
Council also requested a staff report providing details and options, including the cost of starting up logging, where logging might occur and its impacts on recreation and the environment.
Councillors Bruce Findlay, Tek Manhas, Mike Caljouw and Becky Hogg voted in favour.
(Clockwise, from top left: Bruce Findlay, Tek Manhas, Mike Caljouw, Becky Hogg.)
Mayor Rob Douglas and councillors Christopher Justice and Chris Istace voted in opposition.
But dozens of letters from citizens opposed to a resumption of logging were not publicly released at the council meeting.
An FOI request from sixmountains.ca, however, reveals the depth of public opposition.
The FOI documents contain close to 50 letters from individuals (names redacted) who object to renewed logging. Several of the letters were lengthy, offering considerable detail.
Here are selections from the correspondence:
— “I was horrified to learn that the council is considering logging the forest reserve. Logging these lands shows shortsighted and simplistic understanding of responsibility to the land and peoples in this region.”
— “Proceeding with an ad-hoc resumption of harvesting while ignoring the results of the public engagement process would be insulting and disrespectful to the citizens of North Cowichan and the Quw'utsun Nation.”
— “It is a shock that councilors would consider logging our community forest after much consultation with citizens, taxpayer, voters and First Nations. You are supposed to be representing the wishes of the Cowichan Valley, not having your own agenda.”
— "Any thoughts about resuming logging in our ecologically and culturally rare municipal forest reserve would be egregious at the very least."
— “…a wrong-headed move by some councillors, proposed as a strategic priority, would shove us back to the past. This obsession to cut trees to yield a modest revenue stream to the detriment of nature, and the popular will, is deeply disturbing.”
—“I have extensive experience in the logging industry and, at the present time, I would say “No” to logging the reserve.”
— “I understand that you are considering logging the municipal forest reserve again, despite considerable taxpayer dollars invested in a process to consult with the electorate resulted in a clear direction to support conservation. Please don’t waste our time and money by ignoring public consultations.”
Council also received seven letters (some containing just one or two lines) in support of logging for tax revenue.
“Anybody that’s grown up in the valley is used to logging scars and they’re gone from the consciousness in a few years after the site greens over,” said one writer.
The 5,000-hectare forest reserve is located within the coastal Douglas-fir forest, the smallest and rarest forest type in BC with the greatest number of species at risk. Logging and development are leading threats.
(Municipal clearcut atop Mount Prevost/Swuq'us)
A lengthy and in-depth public consultation process and forest review costing about $300,000 ended in 2023. An on-line survey showed 76-per-cent support for a conservation vision for the forest, while a statistically valid random phone survey of residents showed 67-per-cent support.
Logging won’t begin in the forest reserve until council debates the staff report and gives a formal go-ahead.
Even then, cutting might not occur before the October 2026 municipal election, said Chief Administrative Officer Ted Swabey. “I suspect with forestry, this would be a pretty prolonged period of time to actually get started up.…”
Closed talks with the Quw’utsun Nation continue towards a co-management agreement for the forest reserve.
On August 26, Cowichan Tribes Chief Cindy Daniels expressed disappointment with council’s decision in a written statement: "Seeking to move ahead with logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve before the co-management framework and plan are complete undermines the collaborative nature of this work to date."
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(Have a comment for council? Email council@northcowichan.ca)
— Larry Pynn, Sept. 22, 2025.
