“Look closely at nature. Every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular
environment in which it has survived. Who are we to destroy or even diminish biodiversity?”
– E. O. Wilson
Featured Photo: Whistler’s old trees are living monuments that have withstood centuries of change. Bob Brett, photographer.
Whistler is fortunate to be surrounded by temperate rainforest, which is essential to Whistler’s
appeal as a tourist destination. Forests have also proven to be highly beneficial for human
mental and physical health. Environmentally, trees are indispensable: they clean the air,
regulate temperature, manage water, store carbon, and provide places for our wildlife
neighbours to feed, breed, and rest. However, not all forests offer the same benefits.
Old-growth forests, defined as undisturbed for at least 250 years, are vital to addressing the
interconnected biodiversity and climate crises. Compared with second-growth forests, which
have regenerated after human disturbance, old-growth forests have a more complex ecological
structure that supports greater biodiversity. Whistler species that rely on old-growth forests
include the Spotted Owl (last heard in Whistler in 1946), Fisher, Goshawk, and a host of lichen,
fungi, mosses, insects and amphibians.
On the climate side, old-growth forests store vast amounts of carbon in living trees, dead wood,
and undisturbed soil. They also have greater climate resilience, and this is where things get
fascinating. A key feature of old-growth forests is that trees of multiple species are connected
below ground by a rich, complex fungal network that shares resources and information. Why
would trees do this? Suzanne Simard at UBC studies these interactions and has said, “Actually,
it doesn’t make evolutionary sense for trees to behave like resource-grabbing individualists.
They live longest and reproduce most often in a healthy, stable forest. That’s why they’ve
evolved to help their neighbours.”
Another way trees help their neighbours is by collaboratively managing microclimates for the
benefit of the entire community—providing shade, buffering wind, and cycling water. This
collaboration is another reason why, when old-growth forests are logged, they are gone forever.
The biodiversity and ecological functions lost are not recovered in subsequent forests, leading
to a loss of what made that ecosystem unique.
Since the early 1900s, Whistler’s forests have been logged extensively, and low-elevation old-
growth forests that once covered the valley are now found only in limited areas. Commercial
logging and thinning have continued by the Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) since 2009,
though old-growth logging was deferred in 2021.
One thing we heard at their latest open house is that the CCF is considering managing old-
growth forests to “increase their resilience to climate change” as part of its broader Climate
Resilience Plan, which focuses on managing multiple forest values, including wildfire risk
reduction. Here things get tricky, because there are often unexpected negative consequences of
humans’ best intentions: interventions intended to solve one problem often create new,
unforeseen issues elsewhere in the complex, interconnected system of nature. Given that old-
growth forests thrive on stability, attempting to manage them doesn’t make ecological sense,
especially since they are already among the most climate-resilient ecosystems on Earth.
To learn more about Whistler’s irreplaceable old trees and forests, look for Whistler’s Old and
Ancient Trees Guide at the Whistler Museum and Armchair Books. It was created by local researcher Bob Brett and the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment
(AWARE). Of note is that virtually all of Whistler’s remaining unlogged forests are over 300
years old, and Whistler’s oldest known living tree, a Yellow Cedar in the Callaghan Valley, is
estimated to be at least 1,250 years old. We are truly privileged to live among these magnificent
trees and forests.