At that time the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, the “War for the Woods” seems to some like “just a skirmish” as efforts to save old-growth forest continue.
To watch “War for the Woods” — showing this week in the Friday Harbor Film Festival — is to be immersed in the spectacular deep-green mossy old-growth forests of British Columbia in the company of Stephanie Kwetásel’wet Wood, a journalist for The Narwhal and a member of the Squamish Nation (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw).
The film examines the current status of old-growth timber harvesting in British Columbia and the efforts of First Nations to manage and protect what is left of it.
“War for the Woods” looks back at the historic protests in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island in the 1990s. That series of blockades opposing clear-cutting the temperate rainforest peaked in mid-1993, when thousands of protesters assembled and 856 people were arrested.
These protests were the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, at the time. Called the “War in the Woods,” it resulted in significant policy changes, including reducing the size of allowable clear-cuts.
However, logging old-growth trees continued across the province and by 2021, the Fairy Creek protests near Port Renfrew resulted in even more arrests.
In the film, Kwetásel’wet Wood travels across Vancouver Island meeting with First Nations leaders, discussing the interconnected relationship between ancient trees and their culture. Respect, Indigenous wisdom, reciprocity and sovereignty are important themes of Indigenous knowledge.
Master carver Joe Martin of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation near Tofino gives Kwetásel’wet Wood a tour of the forest in the area, showing the predominance of second growth forest and explaining the importance of old-growth trees for cultural revival. She witnesses the completion of a carved totem pole and its transport by boat to Opitsaht, a First Nations community on Meares island.
Moses Martin, former chief of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, was instrumental in standing up to commercial logging and preventing Meares Island from being clear-cut, which eventually resulted in a court case that safeguarded the Islands’s forests. “Respect is the very first law. If you base all of your decisions on that law, there isn’t much that you’re going to do wrong,” he said.
“War for the Woods” explores recent conservation efforts such as Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (ICPAS) introduced in 2019, that are gaining momentum across Canada.
Eli Enns, co-director of the ICPA Innovative Program says that ICPAs are “a lasting commitment to protecting and promoting biological diversity. But interconnected to that is understanding that culture and language and biological diversity are intimately and inextricably linked.”
Old-growth forests should be preserved not only because of their significance to First Nations’ cultural values, proponents say, but also because they are good for the environment, helping to clean air and water, store carbon and house other plants and animals.
Continuing research on old-growth forests has demonstrated the connection to climate change. Rachel Holt, an ecologist on the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, shows how the temperature of water in streams in clear-cuts can be up to 10 degrees warmer than in shaded forests, impacting salmon and other species.
Broadcaster and scientist David Suzuki is also featured in the film, walking with Kwetásel’wet Wood among 1,000-year-old trees. He refers to the original war in the woods as “just a skirmish” and asks, “What the hell have we learned? Why are we still logging old-growth anywhere on the planet?”
Kwetásel’wet Wood says the efforts of Indigenous people to protect old-growth “is a fight that has lasted generations — and is not over yet.”
The documentary film will be presented at the Friday Harbor Film Festival at 7:15 p.m. in the Gubelman Room of the San Juan Community Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 25.
— By Nancy DeVaux
Also read in Salish Current:
• “What proposed rollback of Roadless Rule means here,” Sept. 8, 2025
• “It’s ‘time to warrior up for trees,’ author says,” May 7, 2025
• “Under new management: our forests,” April 1, 2025
• “Commentary: Seeing the forests through the plantations,” Dec. 20, 2024
• “Can trees save the Nooksack River?” Aug. 5, 2022