I carefully stirred my first cup of morning coffee while attempting to fish out a raft of pine needles floating on the surface. As the caffeine kicked in, I slowly woke up to the reality of the place I was in.
The whole sky was full of needles swirling in the breeze, slowly descending to the ground. They weren’t pine needles – they were larch tree needles. I was in the middle of a West Kootenay old growth forest on the lower slopes of the Purcell Mountain Range. Below me Kootenay Lake shimmered to the distant horizon. The whole scene was a quilt of vibrant greens and blues and bright fall colours unique to this part of the planet. The most brilliant colours were the swaying yellow and gold larch trees, which will eventually shed all their needles before winter.
Locally this forest is known as the Argenta Face, a 6,000 hectare endangered wild area surrounded by the boundary of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Provincial Park and the shoreline of Kootenay Lake. When the provincial park was designated, the Argenta Face was left out, which was a crying shame. The little community of Argenta sits tucked into the forest at its northern end and Johnson’s Landing lies to the south. The village of Lardeau gazes at the Argenta Face from across Kootenay Lake. These communities have always looked out for the Argenta Face as best they can.
People around these parts come here to hike, hunt, bird watch, or to simply take pictures. I had come to camp for a few days to allow the old forest of the Argenta Face to seep into my bones a bit. I slept curled up in the back seat of my truck at night and wandered the forest during the day. Right near where I made my camp, southern mountain caribou – almost as rare as Sasquatch now in this part of the Kootenays – had been hunkered down in this forest only a couple of winters ago.
Logging could start at any moment. Premier Horgan needs to put in place an old growth logging deferral now for the entire Argenta Face – so talks on how to best protect it can begin with the First Nations whose territories encompass this forest.
Elk, cougar, black bear, and grizzly move through here going about their business as they always have, so best to keep one’s eye peeled and ears open.
Logging companies too prowl here – and their bite is bigger than the biggest beast. The provincial government’s own logging operation, BC Timber Sales, in years past has mauled parts of the Argenta Face, leaving clearcuts and logging roads in their wake. Thankfully, most of the Argenta Face has never been logged.
The Argenta Face is a fire forest – fires have regularly come to these mountainsides in the past. Some of the tree species that live here are fire resistant – like Douglas fir and larch. Old timers of these species have thick cork-like bark that allows some to survive for centuries despite multiple fires.
But now a privately-owned logging company has permits and widespread plans to log there. The Argenta Face forest is full of areas too landslide-prone to log, too important to the region’s viewshed to log, and too important as deer habitat to log.
Logging could start at any moment. Premier Horgan needs to put in place an old growth logging deferral now for the entire Argenta Face – so talks on how to best protect it can begin with the First Nations whose territories encompass this forest. Long may the old forests of the Argenta Face bedazzle with their wild mystery and brilliant Kootenay colours. The premier’s email: premier@gov.bc.ca
Joe Foy is the protected areas campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
