One thing about Vancouver Island that every travel blog, tourist, and local alike can agree on is its beauty. That’s not just specific to the island. All of Canada is notable for its stunning landscapes. One of the features of those landscapes that is both vital to the ecosystem and close to home. Those are the temperate rainforests.
Temperate rainforests are pretty simply defined as forests in a temperate climate with ample annual rainfall. They include both coniferous trees (which do not shed their foliage), and deciduous trees (which do). And they fill the same ecological niche as their tropical counterparts do, with many animal species relying on them for food and shelter. They serve as the world's main source of timber and other wood products. And even though they do have a lower biodiversity than tropical rainforests they are host to some of the largest and oldest organisms in the world. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard about old growth forests and old growth trees, and most old-growth forests are, in fact, temperate rainforests.
Old trees such as these are incredibly important to maintaining the ecology of our soil, water and air. They mitigate the effects of pollution and absorb huge amounts of carbon. Provide habitats for wildlife and hold recreational and educational value, as well as holding incredible spiritual value to our Indigenous peoples. And logging them threatens the culture of these people who have stewarded them for generations. Many of BC’s last old-growth forests are the most resilient because of centuries of biodiversity and growth, and will better cope with worsening climate conditions than young forests would without them. All of this helps shape the local environment, providing greater access to important resources that benefit not only us, but the world at large.
Protecting the last ancient rainforest and centuries-old trees is a moral responsibility and one we can’t take lightly. Their numbers have been dwindling at a rapid pace, so we, as a community, must stand up for these ecologically and culturally vital forests.
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