Photo courtesy of Ben Westerik
For the past decade, Tom Hermance has worked to keep Bella Coola, a remote coastal town in British Columbia, on the map. Surrounded by an ancient rainforest and glacier-carved mountains, the town is accessible only by plane, ferry or a long, often treacherous and meandering 11-hour drive from Vancouver.
“Draft-dodging hippies from the U.S. came here, so on the radio you [still] hear 70s music. There are no big-box stores and the closest traffic light is six hours away. It’s a time capsule. Very few places like that still exist,” says Tom.
Tom has been a key part of the local business community in Bella Coola for over twenty years. He first owned and operated a sailboat chartering company for adventurous tourists and later transitioned into running a houseboat rental business. And for the past eight years, he served as president and webmaster of Bella Coola Valley Tourism, a role he takes seriously.
Tom and his home in Bella Coola, nestled by the river and surrounded by snow-capped peaks, reflect the wild beauty that first drew him and Carsten to the remote B.C. coast two decades ago. (Photos courtesy of Tom Hermance)
For the Love of Bears
When Tom moved to Bella Coola, he didn’t expect to fall in love—with bears.
“The bears were so intriguing. I’d never seen a bear the size of a car, just gigantic. We’ve had many encounters with grizzlies and found that they didn’t want trouble. They just want to eat and walk away.”
That respect for bears quickly turned into a deep passion. Through the tourism board, Tom began working tirelessly to protect both the grizzly bears and their home: the old-growth rainforests.
“People come from all over the world to see grizzly bears in the salmon runs,” Tom says.
Tom has also seen firsthand how the loss of habitat creates conflict between bears and people, and between protection and industry.
“It’s been an ongoing battle between trying to protect the bears and the forest because they’re so interconnected,” Tom says. “The bears need the forest or they start coming into communities and people’s orchards, and locals have an old custom of shooting them. I feel bad for the bears, but it’s also bad for tourism. We need the forests and the bears to be successful or else it will be another B.C. town with clear cuts and no wild animals.”
A grizzly bear catches a salmon along a Bella Coola river. These majestic animals draw visitors from around the world—but without intact old-growth forests, their future and the region’s ecotourism hang in the balance. (Photo courtesy of Jefferson Bray)
Harvest and Harm: Bella Coola’s Logging Dilemma
For as long as people have lived in the Bella Coola Valley, wood has been essential.
For thousands of years, the Nuxalk people sustainably used cedar and hemlock for fuel, housing, tools, canoes, and clothing. In the late 1800s, Norwegian settlers established industrial logging operations.
By the 1970s–90s, heavy logging had removed much of the accessible timber in the valley. In response to growing environmental concerns—from Indigenous communities and the public alike—the industry began to decline. Today, only two logging companies remain: one Nuxalk-owned, and one Norwegian.
“Logging dried up and the community was hurting economically without any industry. The last commercial fishing wharfs on the central coast closed in the last couple years. People are angry,” says Tom.
He also says it was a “delicate balance” respecting forestry while fighting to protect popular old-growth areas.
“I’m afraid people get desperate and short-sighted,” says Tom. “ I know people need to make a living, but to devastate huge blocks just to get 20 trees is ridiculous. A lot of the trees are wasted and often roll down into rivers. During the rainy season, log jams frequently burst and create havoc in the community.”
Tom knows from experience the harm that can result when floodplains are clearcut.
“My house flooded due to a big logging cut block that was above us,” says Tom. “The more they clearcut up in the mountains, the more water pours down into the valley. It’s in [logging companies’] best interest to keep the forests [intact].”
Tom’s house submerged after a severe flood—an event he attributes to clearcut logging upslope. As forests are stripped from the mountains, runoff increases, threatening both homes and the valley’s delicate ecosystem. (Photo courtesy of Tom Hermance)
Preserving Nature, Powering Tourism
Five years ago, Tom and Carsten sold their houseboat business but remained active in tourism. Tom built websites for local tourism operators and headed an electric fence initiative for valley residents to protect their orchards from bears, so less bears will be culled.
“What businesses need more than anything is stability,” says Tom. “I don’t see any way other than tourism because we’re running out of trees. I don’t see any other industry that’s going to come in here and save us.”
Earlier this year, concerned that the provincial government intends to increase logging in B.C., favouring the economic interests of a single forest-dependent industry, Tom wrote to his elected representative, MLA Tamara Davidson, on behalf of Bella Coola Valley Tourism to express support for a law that would make biodiversity and ecosystem Health the top priority for how forests in BC are managed (called the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law).
In his letter Tom wrote:
“It is our hope this law will establish a prohibition of felling old growth trees and clearcut blocks… Visitors from all over the world travel here to experience the Great Bear Rainforest and enjoy the diverse wildlife it supports. And yet every year our forests suffer lasting damage from continuous logging in the valley’s remaining old-growth forests.”
Tourists watch grizzly bears fishing in the Bella Coola River—an unforgettable experience that draws visitors from around the world. For Tom, preserving the valley’s old-growth forests is key to protecting the wildlife and wilderness that power the region’s tourism economy. (Photo courtesy of Michael Wigle/Bella Coola Valley Tourism)
In 2020, forestry experts, stakeholders, and the public developed 14 key recommendations for managing B.C.’s old-growth forests. In response, the provincial government released a framework in 2023, with the proposed Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law—supported by Tom—as its centrepiece.
Advocates of the law say it would mark a major shift in forest management by focusing on maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function, and by recognizing the natural complexity of healthy forests—rich systems of trees, shrubs, wildlife, soil, and water that work together to sustain life and provide essential ecological services.
“I’m hoping something changes quickly,” says Tom. “Sustainability is so important. It coexists with logging companies’ long term goals because they also see that logging can’t continue the way it has been. Sustainability is something they will accept [if] they want their kids to have jobs.”
The Bella Coola Valley is an important place to Tom. But since April, he and Carsten have been living in Mexico, an economic decision for their retirement. Tom, 63, is retired, aside from maintaining a few tourism websites. For now, he holds onto the legacy of his work, and hopes the place he loves most will endure without him.
“I love Bella Coola and I want to see it thrive,” says Tom. “I like to think I made a difference.”
For Tom and others in Bella Coola, protecting the area’s old growth is vital—for both biodiversity and the local economy. (Photo courtesy of Tom Hermance)
