well yeah we got a ball cruncher I call
these ball crunches kids Wow
I think it’s fairly self-explanatory I’m
tracking through Vancouver Island’s
old-growth temperate rainforest and I’m
looking for signs of coastal wolves
during the hike up this morning I’ve
been doubting myself did I make the
right decision you know coming up here
and came a little bit further down the
trail and check it out some prints and
these are fresh as well they’ve got
really crisp edges you can see the core
marks ah my or hello boom Wolf prints
bang bang bang the question is where are
they headed it looks like it goes
straight down to the sea I mean this
makes sense this is where coastal wolves
do most of their foraging right we’re on
the beach
multiple wolf tracks for multiple
individuals it’s been pretty windy to
last you today so think all of this so
I’m really loose and so these would have
been blown out pretty quick key thing to
look for without fresh tracks art is
whether you can see the claw pin bricks
because they make a really fine little
hole
there have definitely been wolves here
in the last few days now I just got a
hunk down of wait for dawn
it’s facing out loot the landscape
changes
just a little bit of wine
I mean look at this place it’s just so
magical and everywhere you look every
little nook and cranny there’s a
different little animal drama going on
that’s been the highlight of our stints
afternoon no wolves again there’s a bald
eagle up there across in the bay but I
think there are also loggers here in the
fog
if you put your fingers in your ears you
think everything was pristine perfect
but then you take your fingers out your
ears and hear the crunching of tremors
and then there’s a chainsaw
yeah there’s demand these things and I
use word paper but surely surely there’s
not terminal to this once you start
looking for it
I can see signs of logging all over the
landscape it’s pretty difficult to gauge
the impacts of logging from this far off
so I’m going to go take a closer look at
a logging site
and I guess the first thing to say is
that all of this is entirely legal there
is nothing illegal about this and I
haven’t come here to point the finger at
loggers we’re all part of this we all
use wood we all use paper so many
animals live here I mean this ecosystem
is home to bears Eagles otters tons of
coastal birds and I’ve seen signs of
wolves but logging does much more than
just destroy their habitat predators
suddenly have high ways to travel long
distances throwing the whole ecosystem
out of balance
what I do hope is that by coming here
and showing what’s going on that I can
help ignite a conversation an informed
educated conversation about the logging
of old-growth rainforest on this
seemingly pristine coastline I know that
I set out to find wolves today and I
know that talking about logging isn’t
very glamorous but the issue of logging
is just as important as the coastal
wolves themselves so at least today I
hope you forgive me for going off on a
bit of a tangent if there’s going down
it’s easier than going up hey everyone
thanks so much for watching that was a
lot of fun to film this is actually an
episode in a big series so if you’d like
to see the rest of the series click here
to find a playlist and I will see you
next week
