Cases / Protected area / relocation · Canada · 1993–2023
Clayoquot Sound protection (Canada)
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Accounts of the harm differ
How much old forest the 1993 decision opened to logging
- Researchers Canadian Encyclopedia: Reported that 62% of public land was made available for logging, 33% was announced as protected and old forest within it was 14%. The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Communities and civil society Friends of Clayoquot Sound: Said 74% of the old rain forest was opened to logging. The Canadian Encyclopedia
In 1993 the British Columbia government issued a land use decision for Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. The sources reviewed for this record are secondary summaries and none could be checked in full.
33% vs 14%Protected area announced vs old forest protected, 1993 (reported, not verified)
Canadian Encyclopedia, via a secondary summary.
Canadian Encyclopedia, via a secondary summary.
Status As of October 2026: figures for the 1993 decision and its aftermath are unverified secondary summaries.
What?
The British Columbia government issued the Clayoquot Sound Land Use Decision in 1993. The Canadian Encyclopedia
Where?
Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The Canadian Encyclopedia
When?
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
To find a "balance" in the logging conflict. The Canadian Encyclopedia
How?
Land use decision by the provincial government. The Canadian Encyclopedia
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who
What happened
The record, in order.
The British Columbia government issued the Clayoquot Sound Land Use Decision in 1993 to resolve the conflict over logging in the area. Detailed figures for the decision and its aftermath appear in the sources reviewed only as secondary summaries, and are listed under what is not verified.
- 1993British Columbia issues the Clayoquot Sound Land Use Decision
- 2023Sierra Club BC publishes a 30-year analysis of logging of Vancouver Island's old forest
What was said
Claims, in the words of those who made them.
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
How much old forest the 1993 decision opened to logging
Researchers
Canadian Encyclopedia
Reported that 62% of public land was made available for logging, 33% was announced as protected and old forest within it was 14%.
The Canadian EncyclopediaCommunities and civil society
Friends of Clayoquot Sound
Said 74% of the old rain forest was opened to logging.
The Canadian EncyclopediaIn court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed How much old forest the 1993 decision opened to logging
Figures
- Insufficient Protected share: Announced protected share (Canadian Encyclopedia, secondary summary).
- Insufficient Old growth protected share: Old forest within the protected area.
- Insufficient Convictions: Convictions after the 1993 protests; other summaries say more than 850.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified (Canadian Encyclopedia, secondary summary): the 1993 decision made 62% of public land in Clayoquot available for logging; 33% was announced as protected, of which old forest was 14%; 859 convictions followed the 1993 protests.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified (Sierra Club BC, August 2023, secondary summary): 35% of the productive old forest left on Vancouver Island in 1993 was logged in the following 30 years; productive old forest fell from about 31% (6,870 km2) to about 20% (4,470 km2).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified (Global News, secondary summary): in 1996 the province paid MacMillan Bloedel CAD 9.3 million over three years for the added cost of "ecological logging".
- Disputed Reported but not independently verified: Friends of Clayoquot Sound said 74% of the old rain forest was opened to logging, a figure that differs from the Canadian Encyclopedia's.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: MacMillan Bloedel was sold to Weyerhaeuser in 1999, and Weyerhaeuser sold its British Columbia coastal assets to Brascan in 2005 for about CAD 1.2 billion; the region became a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2000.
- None on record Compensation paid directly to companies at Clayoquot: not found in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Clayoquot SoundThe Canadian Encyclopedia ·
Communities and civil society
- More than a third of Vancouver Island's last old-growth forests logged since 1993Sierra Club BC · 2023-08
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- British Columbia's 13.2 million hectare old-growth count is challenged Canada · 2020
- Government of British Columbia (Government) — here: Issued the 1993 land use decision; there: Published the old-growth area figures