The 15-foot wooden cougar sculpture erected this summer to block forestry workers from accessing the Upper Walbran Valley in Pacheedaht First Nations territory is a pile of cold ashes on the dirt road.
Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones, 85, has been a constant advocate for the old growth forest within Pacheedaht lands. He says his prayer hut and guest cabin were also torched during enforcement of the court-ordered injunction that was granted to C̕awak ʔqin Forestry (Tsawak-qin), which is 35 per cent co-owned by Huu-ay-aht First Nation and 65 per cent co-owned Western Forest Products (WFP), began on Nov. 25.
“The RCMP stood by while my property was destroyed. I don’t know who did it because they wouldn’t let any witnesses up there,” said Jones.
“It was traumatic. It hurt me deeply. You get hurt when somebody goes to your house and burns it down,” he said, noting that he visited the site on Nov. 26, the day after the enforcement commenced.
This new wave of arrests in the Walbran Valley near Port Renfrew follows the Fairy Creek blockades in Tree Farm Licence 46, a tenure held by Teal-Jones Group, that started in August 2020. Teal-Jones was awarded a court injunction in 2021, which led to nearly 1,200 arrests and is known as one of Canada’s largest acts of civil disobedience.
In the middle of the Fairy Creek conflict, the Pacheedaht and neighbouring Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations issued the Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration, a document signed by hereditary and elected leaders asserting authority over their lands.
Along with the Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration, the three First Nations demanded a two-year deferral of all old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran areas, time required for the communities to undertake forest stewardship management plans with their members. The provincial government agreed to suspending old growth harvesting in the Fairy Creek watershed into 2025 and then later extended the temporary protections of almost 1,200 hectares in the Fairy Creek until Sept. 30, 2026.
New blockades arose in the Walbran this summer, and mounties say they have arrested seven individuals since they started clearing the Cougar protest camp; six for breaching the injunction, and one for criminal mischief. The individuals were processed and released on conditions with a court date in January 2026, said RCMP in a news release.
A contractor working with the RCMP to clear the road so Tsawak-qin can resume operations says the actions of the protestors, who refer to themselves as forest defenders, are creating a “substantial risk of severe injury or death”.
The local contractor said it took the RCMP task force roughly four and a half hours to safely remove an individual with his arm down a 45-gallon barrel wrapped with steel cable and cemented, a tactic known as ‘sleeping dragon’. He says the protestors also have an individual suspended on small poles off a bridge.
“How do you safely rescue someone from that?” said the contractor, who asked to remain anonymous. “In the workforce we could never ever put our employees at risk like that or we would be fined or our business would be shut down.”
The contractor wrote a letter to the Deputy Premier and Attorney General Niki Sharma and Mike Farnworth, minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, asking for “strengthened legal, safety and cost-recovery measures at injunction-restricted worksites.”
“The current legal framework does not adequately deter these unsafe behaviors or provide sufficient tools for swift enforcement,” said the contractor.
“This request is not intended to diminish the right to lawful protest. Rather, it seeks to ensure that no person—worker, protester, or first responder—is placed in a situation where serious injury or death is a foreseeable outcome,” the contractor wrote.
Days after Cougar Camp was dismantled, Huu-ay-aht leadership reported that the social media accounts of Huu-ay-aht members were inundated with private and public messages from anonymous individuals who the First Nation believes to be associated with the blockades.
Huu-ay-aht said several of the comments included “threats and harassing language.”
“As a sovereign nation, it is our responsibility to balance the many competing interests and to steward decisions that are made for the present and future needs of our Nation and the ecosystems on our lands,” reads a written statement signed by Huu-ay-aht Chief Councillor John Jack and Hereditary Councillor Theresa Nookemus. “Our land is our culture, and it is our stewardship decisions that count. Working towards a balanced approach of culture, traditions, and economics is a true integrated resource management process.”
“Together, these processes provide clear Indigenous-led direction to provincially-legislated procedures on forest landscape plans, old-growth management, and on-the-ground operational planning, while ensuring long-lasting socio-economic, environmental, and cultural benefits for everyone across the area,” said Huu-ay-aht.
Pacheedaht Chief Councillor Arliss Daniels is asking blockaders to vacate the area immediately and to recognize Pacheedaht’s authority and stewardship of the territory.
“Our lands are not to be misused or disrespected under any circumstances,” said Daniels in a written statement.
“Our Nation has developed resource management and harvesting plans, including our draft Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP), and a comprehensive TFL 44 plan with C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, based on our community’s values, priorities, and stewardship principles,” she continued. “These plans ensure the protection of cultural sites, old growth, biodiversity, and the balance of ecological and economic interests. All forestry operations within our territory will continue under these Indigenous-led and community-driven directives.”
The Wilderness Committee, a charity dedicated to protecting nature and defending wildlife, is placing the blame on the B.C. NDP government for this latest war in the woods. The organization says they are not involved in the blockades out of respect for the sovereignty and decision-making authority of the Pacheedaht First Nation and all Indigenous rights and title holders.
“People only turn to blockading when every other avenue is exhausted or ignored,” said Wilderness Committee forest campaigner Tobyn Neame in a Nov. 26 press release.
“When the BC NDP permits clearcutting in forests it’s promised to protect, it creates the conditions for conflict. It’s a mess for the communities and First Nations that pay the price, and it’s the fault of the politicians who made commitments and then refused to honor them,” Neame continued.
The B.C. government estimates that there are about 11.1 million hectares of old growth – excluding private land – left in B.C.
As of February 2025, coordination between First Nations and forests companies has resulted in approximately 2.4 million hectares of old growth being deferred or protected since November 2021, according to the province.
“This is in addition to the nearly 3.7 million hectares that were already protected,” stated the provincial government.
Provincial tracking shows the total annual harvest area for old growth has consistently dropped over the last decade, from 246,305 hectares in 2015 to roughly 111,827 hectares in 2024.
“I don’t think there is much left,” said Jones, who is a former logger. “By the time we get done, all the trees will be gone…it’s plundering First Nations land and now they are fighting over the leftovers. It’s depressing.”
WFP notes in their 2025 Third Quarter Report that “forestry service and other revenue were $5.1 million in the third quarter of 2025, as compared to $2.8 million in the same period last year”.
“The increase of 82 per cent was due to an increase in the volume of approved projects with our First Nation joint ventures in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year,” according to WFP.
The Ha-Shilth-Sa sent a message to the general manager of C̕awak ʔqin Forestry and will update this story as more information comes in.
Meanwhile Fairy Creek protestors have established a new camp in the Walbran. They are calling it Beaver Camp.
- With a file from Eric Plummer
