Roadbuilding has begun to allow logging of a forest near Castlegar that’s home to BC’s tallest documented ponderosa pine.
The 59-meter tall tree, which has been dubbed Lieutenant Dan and is estimated at 600 years old, is not in danger of being cut down. But a local resident who has led a campaign to protect the area, says it isn’t the only old tree in the Cai Creek watershed.
“Lieutenant Dan is safe, but there are hundreds of other fir, cedar, and almost-as-big pine in the forest,” said Matt Casselman. “Some will be logged, some will be spared, but the forest is going to look a whole lot different after the logging and it will never be the same.”
According to UBC’s Big Tree Registry, Cai Creek is also home to BC’s ninth and tenth-tallest western white pines, measuring about 42 and 32 meters high, respectively.
While roadbuilding began last week, Casselman has been anticipating and opposing logging plans for the area since 2020. He said he was made aware of the forest because the province’s old growth technical advisory panel identified it as a 70 to 80 per cent intact watershed. A hiking trail that he established to Lieutenant Dan has attracted over 1,000 visitors since 2024.
Casselman said he met with BC Timber Sales in 2023 to discuss plans for the area, but no changes were made as a result. In 2024, he and others collected a 450-name petition asking the government defer logging at Cai Creek, which then-forests minister Bruce Ralston rejected. Casselman said his understanding of the government’s rationale was that it had a mandate to supply timber to meet harvesting quotas.
In March 2025, the timber rights for the area were auctioned off to Cole Sutherland. Casselman said he then tried to draw attention to a public comment period, which resulted in around 100 submissions to BC Timber Sales opposing the logging. He has complained to the Forest Practices Board, alleging BC Timber Sales misrepresented how much protection Cai Creek had, and that it failed to sufficiently consider public feedback. An investigation into that complaint is ongoing.
Casselman said he has had time to come to terms with the fact that Cai Creek will be logged, but added it’s “certainly shocking to see a kilometer and a half of road punched into a watershed that does not have a road right now and the extent of logging and how quickly it can happen.”
Last Thursday, a handful of protesters with Last Stand West Kootenay set up on the Cai Creek Forest Service Road. Casselman was not among them, but he organized a hike in the area on the weekend which drew more than 90 people.
A message left with Sutherland seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned. Government agencies haven’t been commenting to media during the election period except in public safety matters. That freeze isn’t expected to be lifted before Nov. 18.
