War for the Woods

For many Canadians, their introduction to clearcut logging came from news reports about the Clayoquot Sound protests back in 1993. Known as the “War in the Woods,” some 12,000 people showed up on the remote west coast of Vancouver Island to join the blockades against logging companies. While much of the area was spared, clearcutting, instead of more sustainable logging methods, remained the status quo elsewhere in B.C. and old growth forests have continued to fall. Today, precious little old growth remains, and First Nations and environmentalists are again taking a stand.

War for the Woods follows a new generation’s campaign against logging that once again has captured the attention of Canadians, including Stephanie Kwetásel’wet Wood, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh journalist living and writing in North Vancouver, who reports on Indigenous rights and the natural world. The documentary follows Wood’s journey to understand how B.C.’s old growth forests have all but disappeared in this troubling time of climate change, and how Indigenous communities are trying to save what’s left.

Thirty years after the historic blockades in Clayoquot Sound, Wood travels to Tla-o-qui-aht territory where the protests took place, meeting Tribal Park Guardians, community leaders and others to learn more about the legacy of these actions.

Today, the Tla-o-qui-aht and other central Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations are exploring new land use visions and models of Indigenous-led conservation, including phasing out old growth logging altogether. But as communities struggle to balance environmental stewardship with meeting their economic needs, the hurdles to protecting these ancient forests have grown ever more complicated.