ACTION ALERT: Have Your Say on Changes to BC’s Forest Practices Legislation

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The BC Government is currently seeking public feedback on proposed changes to the Forest and Range Practices Act, the main piece of legislation governing forest practices in BC. The amendments will focus on issues like climate change, biodiversity, government oversight, and public trust in forestry management decisions.

This is a rare and critical opportunity for British Columbians to speak up for science-based protection of BC’s endangered old-growth forests!

The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) has reduced government accountability and oversight and put the fox (timber industry) in charge of the henhouse (BC’s public lands, including rare and endangered old-growth forests). It also prioritizes timber supply over all other forest management objectives and includes loopholes around old-growth protection big enough to drive a logging truck through! The results have been a disaster and BC’s ancient forest ecosystems, biodiversity, climate, and communities are paying the price. 

Now is our chance to demand bold and sweeping changes to this outdated law.

Current legislated targets for old-growth protection are set too low and are not based on science, meaning we are losing the species, ecosystem services, tourism and recreation opportunities, and valuable carbon stores that old-growth forests provide. It’s high time the NDP government stopped placating the timber industry and started prioritizing the health and resilience of BC’s forest ecosystems. And it starts with strengthening the Forest and Range Practices Act.

Amendments to FRPA must:

  • Mandate the establishment of higher, legally-binding old-growth protection targets, based on the latest science, to sustain the long-term ecological integrity of old-growth forest ecosystems;
  • Prioritize forest connectivity and climate resilience;
  • Prioritize the management of biodiversity over timber supply across landscapes; and 
  • Close the loopholes that allow much of Earth’s grandest forests and biggest trees to be logged.

Read the BC government’s discussion paper for more information and details on the proposed changes.

Until Monday, July 15th, the BC government is accepting public comments on amendments to FRPA through an online survey. We have provided responses to the survey questions below to make it as easy as possible for you -simply copy, paste, and edit your responses as needed.

SUBMIT YOUR FEEDBACK (suggested survey answers below) Question 1. How should the Province identify opportunities and priorities for adapting forest management to a changing climate, such as mitigating the effects of beetle infestations, drought and fire?

  • Prioritize forest ecosystem health, connectivity, and resilience over timber supply to ensure forest ecosystems and the species that depend on them can cope with the impacts of climate change. Recent studies show that mature and old-growth and older forests are more resilient and can better protect communities from climate impacts like droughts and flooding better than younger forests.
  • Strengthen protection of valuable forest carbon sinks (i.e. old-growth forests).
  • Recognize the BC forest sector’s contribution to provincial greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize management approaches that significantly reduce forestry emissions (for example, by ending slash burning).

Question 2. What factors should be considered in the planning of forest operations to reduce the risks of wildfire around your community?

  • Logging and clearcuts that readily dry out have been shown to make landscapes more prone to fires. Protecting more forests around communities and curtailing forestry around communities will help reduce the frequency of fires.
  •  Forest operations must aim to minimize activities that exacerbate climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, and landslides.
  • Silvicultural practices must be changed to reduce wildfire risks near communities. This can be done, for example, by planting climate appropriate tree species and actively reducing fuel build-up in second-growth forests via thinning and controlled burns.

Question 3. A vital step in landscape-level planning is understanding what is important to the public. Based on what is important to you or your community, what information on the condition of resource values (such as species-at-risk habitat) do you think is necessary to support the planning process?

  • The current amount, in hectares and percentages, of protected and unprotected old-growth forest that remains in each landscape unit, by ecosystem type and productivity level, compared to their original extent (pre-European colonization).
  • Maps showing the geographic location of these remaining old-growth forests and their existing land use designations, both legislated (Parks, TFLs, Private, Crown, etc.) and regulatory (OGMAs, WHAs, etc.).
  •  Information on biodiversity (at all scales), including biodiversity hotspots for species richness, endangered species concentrations, underrepresented plant communities, and rare element occurrences.
  • Various species at risk habitat, including critical habitat.
  • Freshwater quality and salmon stock data and trends.
  • Forest industry and other industry tenures, leases and activities over the landscape.

Question 4. How would you like to be involved in the planning process?

  • Members of the public should be given meaningful, timely opportunities for public engagement at all levels of forest planning, including online commentary.
  • Landscape planning must be well-funded and be done quickly.
  • Landscape planning must also be multi-stakeholder processes (including environmental non-governmental organizations, among others) and co-managed by provincial and Indigenous governments.

Question 5. Resource roads are a valuable asset in the province as they provide access for the forest industry, ranchers, other resource users, and the public for commercial and recreation purposes. Yet, these same road networks are costly to maintain and have potential negative impacts on wildlife, water quality and fish habitat. What values do you believe are important to consider when planning new roads, road use and maintenance, and deactivation in your area?

  • Minimize on road construction wherever possible. Road densities may be the single largest source of lasting environmental degradation in landscapes.
  • Maintaining habitat connectivity and supporting species that rely on large tracts of undisturbed forest for survival.
  • Maintaining sufficient interior forest habitat and reducing the amount forest edge ecosystem.
  • Maintaining access to areas that provide valuable recreation and tourism opportunities while ensuring habitat connectivity and ecological integrity take priority.
  • Ensuring minimal impacts to freshwater quality, especially in drinking watersheds and salmon-bearing waterways.

Question 6. How can the Province improve transparency and timelines of information regarding proposed operational and landscape-level objectives, plans and results?

  • Provide meaningful, timely opportunities for public engagement at all levels of forest planning.
  • Forest Stewardship Plans must be more detailed on specific cutblock plans and roads, be publicly available online, and require public consultation spanning at least 120 days (twice the current 60-day period) to allow ample time for public comment.
  • Require licensees and provincial decision-makers to demonstrate how public comment substantially informed proposed plans, operations and approval decisions.

Question 7. What information will help inform your feedback on plans that may impact you, your community or your business (e.g., maps of cutblocks and roads planned in your area, hydrological assessments, wildlife habitat areas or recreation opportunities, etc.)?

  • Maps of planned cutblocks and roads, forest reserve designations (e.g. OGMAs, WHAs), old-growth forest ecosystems (at the BEC zone and, where possible, site series level) and productivity classes, species-at-risk habitat, recreation opportunities, and information such as surveys, assessments, and studies relied on by licensees to demonstrate consistency with government objectives, approval tests, and statutory requirements should all be made publicly available in order to inform feedback on proposed plans.

Question 8. What additional values should be considered in FRPA that will allow us to manage forest and range practices in a better way?

  • Science-based old-growth forest retention on a scale sufficient to ensure their long-term ecological integrity must be added as a management objective.
  • Through FRPA, the BC government must establish an independent science panel to: a) Evaluate the conservation status of all forest ecosystems, b) Establish evidence-based old-growth and other biodiversity targets to be applied through landscape level planning with associated, legally-binding timelines.
  • These targets must take ecosystem types, forest productivity, and elevation distinctions into account and must not be based on representation alone, but also on landscape ecology and conservation biology principles to ensure long-term ecological integrity.

FRPA amendments must also:

  • Establish biodiversity as a high management priority in all forest ecosystems through an explicit FRPA objective.
  • Remove the constraint “without unduly reducing the supply of timber from British Columbia’s forests” from all FRPA legal objectives and from the Government Actions Regulation and add the constraint “without unduly reducing the resilience of ecosystems” to timber and other ‘use’ objectives.
  •  Include a hierarchy of old-growth forest reserve establishment where old-growth forests take priority over second-growth and high productivity forests take priority over low.
  • Restrict the movement of Old Growth Management Area boundaries.

Question 9. In what ways should the Province strengthen government oversight and industry accountability regarding forest and range activities to better address the challenges of climate change and the interests of all British Columbians?

  • Require licensees to provide sufficient information for provincial decision-makers to evaluate operational plans and proposed forest operations for consistency with legal objectives and require government approval of site-level plans.
  •  Require that decision-makers provide written reasons to the public demonstrating how proposed logging and road-building are consistent with statutory tests, legal objectives, Indigenous rights and public comment.
  • Require provincial decision-makers to determine whether proposed forest operations are consistent with:  a) maintaining and where necessary restoring healthy, fully functioning forest ecosystems that support ecological, social and cultural resiliency, and  b) the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Remove existing, lengthy bureaucratic steps required to set objectives and give government the authority to set objectives, informed by public input, for a particular area.

Thank you for submitting your feedback! Can you go a step further?

Send an email to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, Premier John Horgan, and other decision-makers telling them the 2020 Forest and Range Practices Act amendments must include science-based protection of old-growth forests! 

Directions to Avatar Grove and the big trees.

Avatar Grove with BC KAIROS Rolling Justice Bus

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Last week, the BC KAIROS Rolling Justice Bus embarked on four day tour to see some of Vancouver Island’s most spectacular ancient forests and learn more about the issues surrounding them. AFA’s TJ Watt and forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon helped kick off day one of the tour at Avatar Grove in Canada’s Tall Trees Capital, Port Renfrew, sharing what makes old-growth forests so unique and why they’re worth more standing than as stumps! Thanks to BC-KAIROS for hosting this informative tour, raising awareness for BC’s ancient forests, and having the AFA along!

ACTION ALERT: Speak up for Ancient Forests. Submit your Feedback on Budget 2020 Before June 28th!

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Suggested wording for your submission:

Across British Columbia, old-growth forests have significant economic, social, and environmental value.

Old-growth forests:
• Support unique and endangered species that cannot flourish in second-growth forests;
• Are vital pillars of BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry, with tourists coming from around the world to visit BC’s old-growth forests and parks;
• Are vital to many First Nations cultures;
• Store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon, potentially allowing local communities to benefit from rapidly expanding carbon markets;
• Supply clean water for communities and for wild salmon, which in turn supports commercial and recreational fisheries; and
• Are important for non-timber products, such as mushrooms, wild berries, and medicines.

Studies have shown that keeping old-growth forests standing can provide a greater overall economic benefit than cutting them down when factoring in the values listed above. Across British Columbia, local communities stand to gain greater revenues and jobs by protecting nearby old-growth forests.

A century of industrial logging has reduced BC’s remarkable old-growth forests to a fraction of their original extent. Today, almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s south coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the highest productivity forests with the greatest biodiversity and biggest trees. As more of BC’s carbon-rich old-growth forests are logged every year, unique species and entire ecosystems are being pushed to the brink of collapse.

I therefore recommend the BC government prioritize the conservation of endangered old-growth forests in its 2020 provincial budget by:

1) Establishing a dedicated $40 million per year BC Natural Lands Acquisition Fund to purchase private lands of high conservation, scenic, cultural, and recreational value from willing sellers to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system. This $40 million annual fund should increase by $10 million/year until the fund reaches $100 million/year.

A $40 million Natural Lands Acquisition Fund would amount to only 0.07% of BC’s approximately $60 billion annual budget and would generate significant financial returns for the province. In fact, studies have shown that, for every $1 invested by the BC government in our parks system, another $9 is generated in the provincial economy through tourism revenues.

British Columbia’s most endangered ecosystems are often found on privately-owned lands, many of which are under threat from logging and real estate developments. Private land trusts, while important, are simply unable to raise enough funds fast enough to buy all of BC’s endangered private lands before many of them are destroyed. The BC government must develop a comprehensive, strategic plan with sufficient, consistent government funding to protect endangered ecosystems on private lands before they are lost.

2) Contributing funding toward the sustainable development and economic diversification of Vancouver Island First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging, tied to the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (an initiative known as conservation financing).

Many First Nations communities on Vancouver Island make significant revenues from old-growth logging, yet lack a range of alternative economic development opportunities that would support their local economies into the future and allow them to transition away from old-growth logging, should they wish to. In order to protect old-growth forests, create jobs, and improve community wellbeing, the BC government should support conservation financing solutions as an alternative to old-growth logging, similar to the $120 million (including $30 million in provincial funds) provided to First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest in support of ecosystem-based management in that region.

This is a fundamentally important precursor for the large-scale protection of endangered old-growth forests in BC and for the NDP government to effectively implement its 2017 election platform commitment to apply ecosystem-based management of old-growth forests across BC.

 

 

 

 

Note: You may also wish to present your feedback in person to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government at a public hearing (in-person or via teleconference). Click here [Original article no longer available] for the dates and locations of public hearings being held across BC and read this handy guide [Original article no longer available] on how to prepare presentations and submissions to the Committee. You can also submit an audio or video submission here. [Original article no longer available]

 

 

Questions about the Budget 2020 consultation process? Visit the Budget 2020 website [Original article no longer available] for more information.

 

Please help us spread the word by sharing this page with your network! We need as many British Columbians as possible to speak up and request funding for old-growth protection in Budget 2020.

 

 

 

 

Every year, the BC government consults British Columbians on their financial priorities for the upcoming provincial budget. The consultation process for the 2020 provincial budget is happening now until 5:00 pm on Friday, June 28th, giving us a golden opportunity to request dedicated funding for old-growth forest protection.

 

Horne Mountain

 

A BC Land Acquisition Fund would allow endangered ecosystems on private lands (like Horne Mountain, pictured here) to be purchased and protected.

 

 

The Ancient Forest Alliance has long called for a legislated, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests on Crown lands, along with regulations and incentives to support the transition to a sustainable, second-growth forest industry. But these regulatory measures aren’t enough to ensure the protection of endangered forests on private lands or secure the long-term economic and social well-being of First Nations communities that want to protect old-growth forests in their territories, but are dependent on revenues from old-growth logging.

 

 

To protect old-growth forests, the BC government must commit funding to two key initiatives in its 2020 budget:

 

  • A provincial Natural Lands Acquisition Fund for the purchase and protection of endangered ecosystems on private lands; and
  • Conservation financing for the sustainable economic development of First Nations economies in lieu of old-growth logging, tied to the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

 

 

Funding for these initiatives is critical for the large-scale protection of BC’s endangered forests. Even modest funding in the 2020 budget would send a positive signal that the BC government is willing to take action in the interests of BC’s ancient forests and First Nations communities and would create momentum for greater funding commitments in future budgets.

 

 

PLEASE SPEAK UP FOR ANCIENT FORESTS AND SUBMIT YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE 2020 PROVINCIAL BUDGET TODAY!

 

Follow these easy steps to submit your feedback:
1) Copy the prepared submission below,
2) Visit the budget consultation website [Original article no longer available], select Make a written, audio or video submission, and hit “next,”
3) Fill in your contact details and skip to the next page,
4) Paste the prepared submission into the “comments” box,
5) Follow the instructions and submit!

 

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR FEEDBACK [Original article no longer available]

 

 

 

Suggested wording for your submission:

Across British Columbia, old-growth forests have significant economic, social, and environmental value.

Old-growth forests:
• Support unique and endangered species that cannot flourish in second-growth forests;
• Are vital pillars of BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry, with tourists coming from around the world to visit BC’s old-growth forests and parks;
• Are vital to many First Nations cultures;
• Store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon, potentially allowing local communities to benefit from rapidly expanding carbon markets;
• Supply clean water for communities and for wild salmon, which in turn supports commercial and recreational fisheries; and
• Are important for non-timber products, such as mushrooms, wild berries, and medicines.

Studies have shown that keeping old-growth forests standing can provide a greater overall economic benefit than cutting them down when factoring in the values listed above. Across British Columbia, local communities stand to gain greater revenues and jobs by protecting nearby old-growth forests.

A century of industrial logging has reduced BC’s remarkable old-growth forests to a fraction of their original extent. Today, almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forests on BC’s south coast have been logged, including well over 90% of the highest productivity forests with the greatest biodiversity and biggest trees. As more of BC’s carbon-rich old-growth forests are logged every year, unique species and entire ecosystems are being pushed to the brink of collapse.

I therefore recommend the BC government prioritize the conservation of endangered old-growth forests in its 2020 provincial budget by:

1) Establishing a dedicated $40 million per year BC Natural Lands Acquisition Fund to purchase private lands of high conservation, scenic, cultural, and recreational value from willing sellers to add to BC’s parks and protected areas system. This $40 million annual fund should increase by $10 million/year until the fund reaches $100 million/year.

A $40 million Natural Lands Acquisition Fund would amount to only 0.07% of BC’s approximately $60 billion annual budget and would generate significant financial returns for the province. In fact, studies have shown that, for every $1 invested by the BC government in our parks system, another $9 is generated in the provincial economy through tourism revenues.

British Columbia’s most endangered ecosystems are often found on privately-owned lands, many of which are under threat from logging and real estate developments. Private land trusts, while important, are simply unable to raise enough funds fast enough to buy all of BC’s endangered private lands before many of them are destroyed. The BC government must develop a comprehensive, strategic plan with sufficient, consistent government funding to protect endangered ecosystems on private lands before they are lost.

2) Contributing funding toward the sustainable development and economic diversification of Vancouver Island First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging, tied to the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (an initiative known as conservation financing).

Many First Nations communities on Vancouver Island make significant revenues from old-growth logging, yet lack a range of alternative economic development opportunities that would support their local economies into the future and allow them to transition away from old-growth logging, should they wish to. In order to protect old-growth forests, create jobs, and improve community wellbeing, the BC government should support conservation financing solutions as an alternative to old-growth logging, similar to the $120 million (including $30 million in provincial funds) provided to First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest in support of ecosystem-based management in that region.

This is a fundamentally important precursor for the large-scale protection of endangered old-growth forests in BC and for the NDP government to effectively implement its 2017 election platform commitment to apply ecosystem-based management of old-growth forests across BC.

 

 

 

 

Note: You may also wish to present your feedback in person to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government at a public hearing (in-person or via teleconference). Click here [Original article no longer available] for the dates and locations of public hearings being held across BC and read this handy guide [Original article no longer available] on how to prepare presentations and submissions to the Committee. You can also submit an audio or video submission here. [Original article no longer available]

 

 

Questions about the Budget 2020 consultation process? Visit the Budget 2020 website [Original article no longer available] for more information.

 

Please help us spread the word by sharing this page with your network! We need as many British Columbians as possible to speak up and request funding for old-growth protection in Budget 2020.

 

 

 

 

New Old-Growth Clearcut Mars the Scenery from the Popular Gordon River Bridge at Avatar Grove

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Before-and-After Photos Reveal Logging Destruction on Edinburgh Mountain, a “Hotspot” of Exceptional Old-Growth Forest near Port Renfrew

Port Renfrew, BC – Old-growth clearcutting approved by the NDP government has now marred the scenic view from the popular bridge over the Gordon River by the Avatar Grove, one of the most popular nature tourism destinations in BC. Before-and-after images taken by conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance highlight the destructive impacts of recent clearcut logging by the Teal Jones Group on Edinburgh Mountain, a “hotspot” of high conservation, scenic, and recreational value near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. The photos, taken before logging commenced and then after most of the clearcutting was completed, reveal the felling of exceptional ancient forest, including giant redcedars and rare, ancient Douglas-fir trees within a 15.6 hectare cutblock.

“These images provide a glimpse into the shocking situation that’s playing out all over BC’s south coast,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt, who captured the images. “Old-growth forests once teeming with life and some of Canada’s largest trees are being destroyed, never to be seen again in our lifetime. The logging on Edinburgh Mountain adds to the approximately 75 hectares of ancient forest already logged by Teal Jones that has further fragmented what was once almost 1,500 hectares of stunning, intact ancient rainforest. Two new logging roads are also under construction on the mountain as we speak. To top it off, now they have started to mar the view from the Gordon River Bridge with their old-growth clearcutting, a bridge where hundreds of thousands of tourists view the scenery of what was previously a contiguous old-growth and second-growth forest canopy.”

The clearcutting came to within approximately 50 feet of an enormous Douglas-fir tree, tossing trees and debris around its base. The giant tree measures 33’9″ft (11.4m) in circumference or 10’8″ft in diameter, making it the sixth-widest Douglas-fir in Canada according to the BC Big Tree Registry (seventh widest when including the Alberni Giant in the Nahmint Valley), and is not protected.

Edinburgh Mountain Ancient Forest, as it’s known by conservationists, located in Pacheedaht First Nation territory, is home to Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second largest Douglas-fir tree, which stands alone in a clearcut at the base of the mountain, and is important habitat for endangered northern goshawks and threatened marbled murrelets. It also contains one of the finest and most endangered lowland, valley-bottom, old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island: the spectacular Eden Grove.

The area is one of about two dozen old-growth forest “hotspots” on Vancouver Island identified by conservationists, which represent some of the island’s last remaining, exceptional, intact, and unprotected old-growth areas. Others include the spectacular Nahmint and Central Walbran Valleys, East Creek Rainforest, and Nootka Island.

“These hotspots are in need of immediate protection by the BC government,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “Most of them are actively being logged and time is running out to prevent them from becoming tattered fragments, like the majority of Vancouver Island’s remaining productive old-growth. While the BC government assures British Columbians that they’re working on an old-growth strategy, they have yet to reveal any details and continue to send the wrong signals. In the meantime, failure to protect these old-growth hotspots will result in considerable losses in terms of biodiversity, ecological processes, opportunities for tourism, and First Nations cultural values, and could spark significant conflict.”

In the case of Edinburgh Mountain, significant opportunities are lost with each cutblock that’s logged, including potential tourism revenues for the nearby town of Port Renfrew, which has been dubbed the Tall Tree Capital of Canada having capitalized on the outstanding old-growth forests and record-sized trees in the region.

“It’s frustrating to see the BC government’s outdated forest policies threaten Port Renfrew’s growing tourism economy,” stated Watt. “Thousands of tourists come to see Renfrew’s spectacular old-growth forests and ancient giants each year. The destruction of Edinburgh Mountain undermines the town’s image as an eco-tourism destination, particularly because it’s so visible. While driving along the Gordon River bridge on the way to Avatar Grove, where you once saw a beautiful, fully intact old-growth forest on the mountainside, there’s now a big ugly clearcut that spoils the view. Tourists must shake their heads when they see how BC manages its globally rare old-growth forests.”

“The NDP government has an economic and ecological imperative to cultivate a forest industry for the future that supports sustainable jobs and conserves the many values ancient forests provide like biodiversity, carbon storage, cultural values, and clean water,” said Inness. “The Ancient Forest Alliance, along with other conservation groups and the BC Greens, are calling on the NDP government to take immediate action to protect old-growth hotspots while there’s still time and develop long-term, science-based solutions for BC’s endangered old-growth forests while supporting the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities whose unceded territories these are.”

“Meanwhile, the NDP government needs to facilitate a shift to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry using incentives and regulations to phase out raw log exports and support retooling of mills to handle second-growth trees.”

“We have a global responsibility to safeguard BC’s ancient forests, given the climate emergency and unprecedented global biodiversity decline that we’re faced with. A shift to a science-based approach that also maintains forestry jobs is entirely possible. It just takes political leadership.”

Background Information

Old growth forests are integral to British Columbia for ensuring the protection of endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the second-growth forests they’re replaced with and are a non-renewable resource under BC’s forest system, where forests are logged every 50-80 years, never to become old-growth again.

The BC government often states that 520,000 hectares of old-growth forests are protected on Vancouver Island and will never be logged and that 55 percent of the old-growth on BC’s coast is protected, but these figures are misleading. These figures include vast areas of low-productivity forest – stunted, marginal forests that grow at high elevation or in bogs and are therefore at low to no risk of being logged. They also leave out enormous swathes of largely cut-over forests on private lands, which make up more than a quarter of Vancouver Island and which are largely managed under provincial authority. Finally, the BC government fails to consider how much old-growth has already been logged on Vancouver Island: almost 80% of the original productive old-growth forest and over 90% of the low elevation, high-productivity stands where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old Growth Management Areas.

For more information, see our December 2018 media release marking the commencement of the logging on Edinburgh Mountain by Teal Jones Group: https://16.52.162.165/new-logging-operations-underway-on-edinburgh-mountain-an-old-growth-forest-environmental-hotspot-near-port-renfrew-on-vancouver-island/

 

Province-wide rallies to protect old-growth forests

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Global News
June 6, 2019

Environmental activists rallied across B.C. Thursday, demanding the government do more to protect B.C.’s old-growth forests. Kylie Stanton reports.

See the original clip

Premier’s office one of 17 rallies across B.C. calling for protection of old-growth forest

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Sooke News Mirror
June 6, 2019

Protestor questions Horgan’s commitment to mitigate ‘climate degradation’

Dozens of constituents showed up outside the community office of Premier John Horgan Thursday afternoon as part of province-wide protest against the logging of old-growth on the Island.

Steve Gray of the BC-Yukon KAIROS Rolling Justice Bus spoke on the need to transition old-growth logging jobs to second-growth and other sectors.

“We say loggers need to transition away from logging old growth forests now. We say the government should lend them a hand,” he said.

“Re-tool our mills to handle second growth. Lend them a hand.”

Gray questioned the Horgan’s commitment to mitigate “climate degradation,” citing the premier’s support for the Site C hydroelectric dam and $6 billion in tax exemptions for the liquified natural gas industry.

Bruce Fogg, executive assistant to the premier, said he would relay the message to Horgan, who was aware of the issue.

“I will certainly take back [to Horgan] information that he’s already aware of, that you folks have some very strong opinions on this very complex issue,” he said before the crowd drowned out his voice.

In her speech, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness urged action and offered steps to protect B.C. forests.

This included halting the logging of old-growth ‘hotspots’ with the “greatest” conservation and recreation value; creating a “comprehensive, science-based” plan to protect endangered old-growth across the province; implementing a natural lands acquisition fund to buy and protect old-growth on private lands; introducing sustainable development and economic diversification of First Nations communities tied to the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas like tribal parks; and supporting an “expedited transition to a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.”

Inness noted the government is inviting feedback from the public on ways to improve the Forest and Range Practices Act until July 15, which can be submitted on the B.C. government website.

Today, 79 per cent of “the original productive old-growth forests on Vancouver Island have been logged, including 90 per cent of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow,” according to the B.C. Green Party.

See the original article