(Municipal clearcut atop Mount Prevost)
FOI documents reveal massive public opposition to renewed logging in the Six Mountains
Feelings of ‘disgust, anger’ aimed at four councillors who initially supported the idea
North Cowichan council received an avalanche of close to 300 emails from the public in response to planned resumption of logging in the 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve, freedom-of-information documents obtained by sixmountains.ca reveal.
About 93 per cent of those emails expressed strong opposition to renewed cutting, and included comments such as:
— “I am writing to convey my disappointment and disgust with your recent vote to start logging again in the 6 mountains.”
— “I was horrified to learn that the council is considering logging the forest reserve.”
— “I am writing to express my anger that you are intending to allow logging in the sacred six mountain area against the will of the people of North Cowichan.”
The emails were not signatures on a petition, but the work of individuals who took the time to study the issues and detail their concerns to council. Names of individuals but not companies were redacted.
One individual busy “earning a living, raising a family and trying to improve the North Cowichan area through volunteering and advocacy” referenced the “absurd need for vigilance on this issue.”
On Aug. 20, 2025, council voted 4-3 to make logging of the forest reserve a strategic priority in 2026. Councillors Bruce Findlay, Tek Manhas, Mike Caljouw and Becky Hogg voted in favour.
(Clockwise from upper left: Findlay, Manhas, Caljouw, and Hogg)
Mayor Rob Douglas and councillors Christopher Justice and Chris Istace opposed.
But three months later — at the Nov. 19, 2025, council meeting— Hogg broke ranks and voted against renewed logging.
Findlay, Manhas and Caljouw followed suit when it was obvious they had lost the majority.
That made it unanimous to maintain the logging moratorium pending completion of a co-management agreement with Quw’utsun Nation.
It’s unclear how much weight council put on the slew of public correspondence versus an in-person appearance from Halalt Chief James Thomas, who strongly opposed renewed logging.
(Halalt Chief James Thomas addresses council on Nov. 19, 2025)
A teary-eyed Hogg told the meeting: “I would like to express my sincere apologies” for any harm that may have been caused to relationships between Quw’utsun Nation and North Cowichan.
Read more: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/51222b92-cc03-488a-8b9d-6ddad0409829
A staff report had also warned against renewed logging. The report noted that from 1987 to 2019 the forest reserve generated an "average annual net profit" of $132,739.
Read more: https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=21438
In the FOI documents, citizens observed that they had already endorsed conservation options for North Cowichan’s coastal Douglas-fir forest — the most at-risk forest type in BC — during a lengthy public consultation process and that talks are still ongoing talks with First Nations.
More comments:
— “I would like to request as a carpenter living and working here in the Cowichan Valley all my life that you DO NOT vote to condemn our forests to destruction by unnecessary logging practices. THESE TREES ARE WORTH MORE STANDING. It’s that simple.”
— “Any thoughts about resuming logging in our ecologically and culturally rare municipal forest reserve would be egregious at the very least.”
— “The recent vote by the local Municipality, North Cowichan, to resume is deplorable.”
— “I ask you to do the right thing for our planet. For your children and mine, and so I don’t have to spend my elder years indoors every summer watching the world burn. Do not resuming logging here.”
— “How dare you! Stop even thinking about allowing it. We didn’t vote you in to ignore what we, your constituents, want. The cost of logging on the Six Mountains area in environmental and human terms vastly outweighs any financial return….”
— “Logging these lands shows shortsighted and simplistic understanding of responsibility to the land and peoples in this region.”
(One of the last ancient cedars in the Six Mountains)
Some individuals and their families had a background in logging.
“I have extensive experience in the logging industry and, at the present time, I would say “No” to logging the reserve. The natural systems, such as our forests and its protection of our water, are crucial to our sustainability.”
Another person whose family has logging ties said: “The Cowichan Valley has been logged. It’s part of our history and I’m proud of it. It’s not part of our future. I am asking North Cowichan to please protect the forests we have left.”
Two environmental consulting companies also weighed in.
Stafford Reid of EnviroEmerg Consulting said that the “economic benefits of not logging and instead leveraging the ecological, social and natural amenities of a healthy forest to promote tourism and recreation are significantly higher and more sustainable.”
Jim Schaming of reOsiris Inc. added: “The forests are burning across Canada due to the current and historic clear cutting of most of Canada.”
Just 15 individuals who wrote council expressed support for continued logging. One email read: “Log it, it grows back better.”
An additional five persons suggested council search for more sustainable alternatives.
The flood of correspondence is only the latest confirmation of the public’s overwhelming desire to protect the Six Mountains.
A consultation process costing taxpayers about $300,000 ended in 2023.
The public voted 76 per cent on-line in favour of conservation management of the Six Mountains.
The 76 per cent included support for “active conservation” (limited cutting for purposes such as restoring and enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity) as well as “passive conservation” (letting the forests develop with minimal human intervention).
Just 17 per cent supported status-quo logging.
The consultant had a process in place to weed out cheaters.
“Duplicate responses were removed only if there were more than 2 or 3 per IP address, assuming there could be more than one person per household,” said Megan Turnock, principal with Lees and Associates.
One hundred responses were rejected.
Read more: https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=11905
(Lees and Associates hosts a public meeting in 2022 outlining the forest consultation process)
In addition, a statistically valid random phone survey of North Cowichan residents showed 67-per-cent support for the two conservation options.
The FOI documents contain information not previously released, and are important for understanding the depth of continuing public opposition to renewed logging.
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— Larry Pynn, Jan. 21, 2026