Where Centurarch Cedars Breathe

Описание: Old Growth Cedar Forests ---
The Fairy Creek protests represent one of the most significant environmental standoffs in Canadian history, centered on the defense of ancient, old-growth forests in the Fairy Creek watershed (and nearby areas like Central Walbran) on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Beginning in August 2020 and peaking through 2021, forest defenders — including Indigenous land protectors from the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht, and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, alongside non-Indigenous activists, environmental groups like the Ancient Forest Alliance, and climate advocates — established multiple blockades on logging roads to halt industrial clearcutting by Teal-Jones Group in Tree Farm Licence 46. The Fairy Creek watershed, northeast of Port Renfrew, is one of the last intact, unlogged old-growth valleys on southern Vancouver Island outside protected parks. It features some of Canada's wettest and most productive forest ecosystems, with trees (including massive yellow cedars and western red cedars) estimated at over 1,000 years old, towering canopies, rich biodiversity, and vital carbon storage and watershed protection roles.
The protests escalated amid frustration with delays in implementing the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review recommendations and ongoing logging in sensitive, high-productivity ancient stands — despite provincial claims of abundant old-growth remaining (independent analyses showed only ~2.7–3% of BC's productive old-growth intact, with irreplaceable giants rapidly diminishing). Blockades grew to eight sites, involving tree-sits, road obstructions, linked-arm human chains, and peaceful sit-ins, drawing global attention as the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history: over 1,100–1,200 arrests by RCMP (including mass enforcement actions under court injunctions), nearly $19 million in policing costs, and hundreds of formal complaints about police conduct.
The movement echoed earlier "War in the Woods" conflicts like Clayoquot Sound in the 1990s, highlighting tensions between short-term economic forestry (jobs, timber revenue) and long-term ecological imperatives: climate resilience, species habitat, flood prevention, and Indigenous stewardship rights. In June 2021, responding to a formal request from three First Nations, the BC government deferred old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed and Central Walbran for two years to allow land-use planning. This deferral — extended multiple times — now runs until September 30, 2026, providing temporary protection while discussions continue (though adjacent or overlapping areas face risks, and new blockades emerged in 2025 over planned cuts).
The Fairy Creek struggle symbolizes the broader crisis of BC's vanishing ancient forests: abused by decades of industrial extraction, scarred by clearcuts, yet resilient in their quiet endurance. It remains a flashpoint for calls to permanently protect irreplaceable old-growth ecosystems before they are lost forever — a plea rooted in respect for the land, future generations, and the deep interconnectedness of human and more-than-human worlds.

Lyrics:
Verdantha cloaks the thymel groves in emerald hush,
Where centurarch cedars breathe the secrets of the thrush.
Through pacific veils of silvaryn mist descend,
Ancient fir-thrones guard the shores where tempests mend.
Auralith waves caress the fjordal crypts below,
Awakening the mossara that only dreamers know.
In cathedrune canopies, the luminth vines entwine,
Binding chronal echoes to roots that outlast time.
Nyxhaven peaks arise from emeraldine repose,
Where orphic fogs remember what the wild wind knows.
Sylphoria tides enthrall the cragged and fern-laced strand,
Carrying aurynth whispers from forgotten land.
Elyndral cedars stand as sentinels of gloam,
Their bark inscribed with runes the ocean foam has come.
Velithar rain descends in quiescent silver streams,
Reviving the somnara hidden in eternal dreams.
Thaloryn shores where arbutus spirits softly sigh,
Unveiling quintara truths beneath the storm-lit sky.
Noctivelle forests pulse with iridescent gleam,
Where liminal branches weave the island's waking dream.


You can find more of my songs on my SoundCloud Artist page:   / lalopazzi