The Coastal Douglas fir (CDF) is one of the most threatened plant ecosystems in Canada. Only one per cent of old growth trees remain.

Today, sadly, there are even fewer old growth Coastal Douglas fir trees left on Vancouver Island then a week ago.

That's because logging has started on the 160-acre Nanoose Bay Forest, or DL33 as government officials like to call it. This forest is full of big Douglas firs, sensitive marshlands and swamps, and it is home to over 30 threatened plant and animal species.

This year, members of the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation expect to fill the holds of nine ocean freighters in Prince Rupert with raw logs from B.C.'s north coast -- logs that will then be shipped across the Pacific Ocean to ports in China.

The northern coastal Nation has been active in logging for some time, and with its opening of its own trade office in Beijing two years ago has stepped up its direct efforts to boost trade with one of the world's most rapidly industrializing economies.

A story in today's Vancouver Sun is disturbing, arguing that B.C. could make $1 billion from selling carbon offsets once the Western Climate Initiative gets underway. The projects are mostly in forest management and conservation, meaning less cutting and more sequestration of carbon in the forests themselves. The conservation part is undoubtedly a good thing -- we need to manage our forests better because they are the only technology we know of to suck carbon dioxide out of the air.