Farmer arrested while protesting logging near Salmo says water access is a key concern

2 people arrested near Nelway, B.C., on Apr. 24.

Courtney Dickson · CBC News · Posted: May 01, 2026 6:00 AM PDT | Last Updated: May 1

A farmer arrested last week while he and others were protesting a logging operation near the B.C.-U.S. border will continue to protect resources in his area.

David Lang says he was one of two men arrested by RCMP officers on April 24 near Nelway, B.C., about 25 kilometres south of Salmo in the West Kootenay. According to RCMP, a small group of protesters blocked contractors from getting to a job site. Police say they tried to negotiate with the group, but their requests “were unsuccessful” and lead to the two arrests.

“During the arrest, an officer was struck in the face by one of the men,” RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Brett Urano said in a news release.

Lang said he was that man — and he denies any wrongdoing.

He said it happened when police took his tablet, which he’d been using to record video of police “dragging one of the protesters down the road.”

“I was trying to get my tablet back,” he said. “I wasn’t attempting to assault the police officer at all.”

Urano said in an email to CBC News the RCMP could not confirm or deny Lang’s involvement.

Despite his arrest, Lang says he’ll keep pushing to protect his community’s watershed from logging operations nearby.

He said it all started in 2015 when a land use plan revealed the area’s water supply, which comes from the Rosebud and Lomond creeks, was “tenuous,” and if residents decided to subdivide, there wouldn’t be enough to go around.

Now, logging is threatening that very water supply, Lang said.

“Our water supply comes from a very, very sensitive karst formation that has underground springs, very, very small,” he said.

Lang said last week’s protest was arranged to try to get B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS), the provincial agency under the Ministry of Forests that manages about 20 per cent of B.C.’s public timber harvest, to talk to the community.

So far, he added, no one has been able to get in touch with BCTS.

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Forests said BCTS has three cut blocks planned for auction in the 2027-28 sales schedule, and road construction is planned to be completed in the next year.

BCTS completed two hydrologic assessments, a terrain stability field assessment, a visual impact assessment and assessments for karst, fish, goshawks and bears, the ministry added.

It says this comes after engaging with residents between spring 2021 and fall of last year.

Lang said he tried to contact BCTS as recently as two weeks ago.

“They’ve just ignored us and they’ve disrespected the community’s wishes and that’s why that protest came,” Land said. “We’re not opposed to logging, but we want to have some say in what they do and where they do it.”

He said his group wants to see the province appoint someone to work with the community.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/nelway-salmo-bc-arrests-logging-protest-9.7183727