Court says hundreds of Walbran Valley trees 'spiked' as blockade injunction extended

Old growth supporters play music and share stories as they gather at the Victoria Courthouse to lend their support for the 10 land defenders who stood in front of industry to try and protect the forest in the Walbran Valley ahead of their hearing in Victoria, on Monday, May 25, 2026. (Chad Hipolito / The Canadian Press)

Hundreds of trees have been found embedded with metal spikes in Vancouver Island’s upper Walbran Valley, according to a court ruling that extends an injunction against a logging blockade there until early 2028.

The B.C. Supreme Court court ruling says the blockade activity has included vandalism of logging equipment and tree-spiking incidents, in which two fallers employed by a contractor had their chainsaws damaged beyond repair when they struck spikes on Aug. 18.

Last Friday’s ruling says the loggers weren’t injured, but tree spikes carry “significant risk of injury or death” to fallers and sawmill workers.

Investigations found several hundred trees in Tsawak‑Qin Forestry Inc.’s cutblocks had been embedded with spikes, many with their heads cut off and bark placed over the top, making them difficult to detect.

Tsawak‑Qin Forestry Inc.’s activities in the upper Walbran Valley have been disrupted by protesters opposed to old-growth logging since August 2025.

Justice H. William Veenstra’s ruling says the company claims to have lost more than $3 million in revenue in the last year, spending money on fixing damaged equipment and running the risk of having cut approvals reduced, while blockades have prevented it from properly winterizing roads.

Veenstra’s ruling says the injunction should be extended to Jan. 31, 2028, in light of the “seasonal nature of the work” by the logging firm and its contractors, with winter being more appropriate for a review of the blockade rather than the “height of the work season.”

The ruling says the RCMP made at least 14 arrests for breaching the injunction last year, but there have been none so far this year.

“However, there is a significant amount of uncontested evidence showing that there have continued to be significant interferences with the operations of Tsawak-Qin,” the ruling says. “More significantly, there has been a substantial increase in matters giving rise to safety concerns – particularly the evidence of tree spiking.”

Veenstra found the evidence showed protesters had adopted “evolving blockade techniques and tactics that are steadily more difficult to deal with and that give rise to escalating safety concerns.”

“Thus, the new evidence establishes that there continues to be irreparable harm suffered by Tsawak-Qin,” the ruling says.

Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said last year that reports of tree-spiking at the Fairy Creek logging blockade were “incredibly alarming,” and condemned the act as a “dangerous criminal activity” that put workers at risk.

This report by Darryl Greer of The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2026.