On Nov. 21, Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) founder and lower Sunshine Coast resident Ross Muirhead was one of 19 recipients of West Coast Environmental Law’s (WCEL) 2024 Andrew Thompson Awards.
That honour, named for Dr. Andrew Thompson one of WCEL’s first directors, was established in 2002 to recognize outstanding lifetime contributions to environmental protection and sustainability through law in B.C.
Asked about the significance of this honour, Muirhead said, “It means that our organization is doing effective conservation work, that our efforts are getting results in actually protecting at-risk forest ecosystems and that we are building relationships with the original stewards of this land, the Squamish, and to the west the shíshálh, Nations.
Muirhead and his wife attended the award ceremony at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver. In the event program WCEL detailed that “Ross has dedicated over 14 years to protecting forests and the valuable ecosystems that they shelter from clearcutting… Ross’s tireless advocacy through Elphinstone Logging Focus and in partnership with First Nations elders, other community groups, and scientific experts has contributed greatly to forest conservation on the Sunshine Coast.”
The only disappointing part, for Muirhead, was that ceremony attendance was limited and he could not invite fellow ELF campaigner Hans Penner to share in accepting the award “since we have worked very closely over all these years together learning from each other.”
The evening had highlights, as along with celebrating with legal advisors currently working with ELF, Muirhead “enjoyed talking with a woman [Denise Foster] who was also recognized and instrumental in protecting a French Creek estuary on Vancouver Island.
"I said to her, I think we’re both working in the same way in that our small organizations identify an ecosystem and/or habitat that we feel passionately about, know in our hearts should be protected and keep our focus narrow."
The ELF-WCEL connection
The award for ELF’s founder follows a long-standing working relationship the forest protection group has with the law firm.
“We’ve received five different WCEL grants in support for different campaigns,” Muirhead explained, including one in the Dakota Bear Sanctuary. In the first phase of that effort, WCEL helped ELF mount a legal challenge of a BC Timber Sales (BCTS) pricing practice while a three-month road-blockade was happening at site.
“Our lawyer, Patrick Canning, did an excellent job writing that up for us … BCTS never pursued an injunction against the roadblock and soon enough the road building contractor pulled out,” Muirhead noted. That resulted in a further two year delay to the logging, followed by WCEL-funded bear den survey.
“The area had a high density of black bear den sites which eventually led to BCTS agreeing to protect the majority of the dens in the block which again delayed the block from going ahead by a few years.”
Other recipients included one with a Coast connection
Ruth Simons, president and executive director of the Howe Sound Biosphere Region Initiative also received one of this year’s awards. She was recognized for campaigning for the designation of Howe Sound as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. WCEL cited that “thanks to her leadership, the UNESCO designation was achieved in 2021.”
Other 2024 Andrew Thompson Award winners included ʔaʔsiwɬ (Ascasiwt), Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of syilx Nation and president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs; June Ross, president of Vancouver Island Water Watch and Michael M'Gonigle, professor emeritus of University of Victoria's Faculty of Law.
