FOI - What’s really happening in the Falls Creek Watershed.

BC Timber Sales has been planning for years for major industrial logging in the Falls Creek Watershed, which hundreds of Bonnington and Beasley residents rely on for our drinking water supply (along with aquatic species and other wildlife in Falls Creek and Kootenay River).

Through Freedom of Information releases (including 262 pages obtained this week) we know:

BCTS has been planning for roads and cutblocks in Falls Creek since at least 2023;

developed maps showing 11 cutblocks in Falls Creek – months before so-called “community engagement” began with residents on a “Community Watershed Forestry Plan”;

While BCTS messaging emphasizes “ecosystem health”, “climate resilience” and “wildfire mitigation”, BCTS staff concede in their internal documents that “ultimately our future activities are in the form of blocks, roads, fuel treatments, and silviculture decisions”;

The engagement process has not been designed to represent the community. BCTS has refused to hold a “group meeting at Taghum Hall without … filtering”, and the engagement consultant, Cathy Scott-May, was hired for strategic communication and resource-management messaging, rather than to represent or convey community concerns to BCTS. On November 9, 2025, when residents asked Cathy for maps showing the location of potential cutblocks, she stated that “there are no maps of preliminary areas.” However, the FOI documents reveal that BCTS has had maps showing polygons of 11 proposed “blocks” since at least April 2025. This discrepancy has undermined public trust in the engagement process.

Join the Friends of Falls Creek to help protect our watershed, and protect your property value by advocating for (1) targeted non-commercial wildfire risk reduction, with BC government funding, and (2) leaving the Falls Creek Old-Growth Forests standing, to continue filtering and storing our fragile water supply in perpetuity.

Watershed Festival

Friends of Falls Creek is hosting a fundraising festival in order to support the Bonnington and Beasley communities against BC Timber Sales commercial logging in the watershed. A day of music, thought and gathering to show gratitude for nature’s life giving source. With bands and speakers at the forefront of the discussion, we hope you can join us on this first meeting at Taghum Hall on November 16th. All proceeds will go towards putting together a robust strategy against commercial logging and protecting our water source.

Brilliant music featuring: Young Braised, Song Keepers Choir and Ryan Shane Owen

Chef Rosh Kubelka of Hume Hotel will be sharing some of his food favorites available for purchase.

Suggested Donation $10 and kids are free. Water is life, water is love.