The emerald-green ancient forests of the Fairy Creek Valley in Pacheedaht territory from above. Last week we took to the skies to document old-growth forests and logging across the west coast of Vancouver Island and, when you’re in the air, it’s clear just how incredibly rare a sight this is – a roadless valley free from clearcuts. But how long will it remain that way?
Independent blockaders have prevented further road construction into the valley headwaters for 10 months now, sparking what has become the longest running blockade movement in BC’s history with thousands of people involved. However, RCMP recently breached their Waterfall Camp and road equipment from Teal-Jones is once again headed towards Fairy Creek.
Premier John Horgan and the BC NDP government must intervene and enact immediate logging deferrals so that conservation solutions can be found. They must also adopt the Canadian government’s national protected area target of 30% of land and waters by 2030 and embrace federal funding to protect places like Fairy Creek and endangered old-growth forests across BC.
First Nations and forest-dependent communities need funding for Indigenous Protected Areas and sustainable economic diversification in order to supplant the revenues from logging these irreplaceable ecosystems.
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fairy-Creek-Aerial-2021-513.jpg10001500TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2021-06-05 14:41:282023-04-06 19:06:07Photos: Fairy Creek From Above
The provincial ministry in charge of forests is sending biologists to the Fairy Creek region following reported recent sightings of Western Screech-Owls, which are protected under the federal Species at Risk Act.
David Muter, Assistant Deputy Minister for the Resource Stewardship Division of the Forests and Lands Ministry, confirmed with CHEK News that a team of biologists is headed to where the sightings happened in Caycuse/Fairy Creek area.
“We’re going to be having our team out there on the ground trying to develop a plan on that specific site to make sure we’re doing everything we can to protect these owls,” said Muter.
“[It is] very significant because I don’t think anyone’s ever observed a screech owl in that area of Fairy Creek, at least officially,” she said.
Petrell, who has previously reported 10 owls in six different locations within the region, says during her latest trip she’s also documented a band-tailed pigeon and an Olive-sided Flycatcher — birds that are on the federal government’s list of special concern.
“I hope this time the government listens and halts the logging of the old-growth and all around for kilometres around where we saw the sightings,” said Petrell.
Petrell has sighted the owls on either side of the Fairy Creek watershed but none within it.
“John Horgan barely mentioned old growth in his presentation and true modernization of BC’s forestry practices can only come when we address the ecological crisis that we’re in. It needs to be rooted in the survival of B.C.’s endangered old-growth forests,” said TJ Watt of Ancient Forest Alliance.
“People are looking to products that are made from forest fibre that are sustainably managed as part of the climate solution and I think it’s not an either-or conversation,” said Susan Yurkovich, the council’s chief executive officer and president. “We can have environmental conservation. We can have old-growth forests and we can have economic contribution and I hope we can move the conversation to that space.”
Petrell says she’s hoping the federal government, which has jurisdiction over migratory birds will get involved in halting old-growth logging in the region because she doesn’t believe the province will.
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-03-at-12.21.26-PM.png8801574TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2021-06-03 12:15:002023-04-06 19:06:07Professor finds more threatened owls and birds in Fairy Creek region, province sending biologists
The province says there are 57 million hectares of forested land in B.C. (The Wilderness Committee)
Forestry Minister Katrine Conroy says she expects new logging deferrals to be announced this summer, following Tuesday’s announcement of a new forestry plan.
The province’s plan is intended to modernize the industry, focusing on sustainability and redistribution of forest tenures.
Deferrals temporarily protect old growth, putting harvesting on hold in old forest ecosystems at the highest risk of permanent biodiversity loss. They can expire, and can be extended.
The province says there are 57 million hectares of forested land in B.C., and there are currently 13.7 million hectares of old growth in British Columbia, 10 million of which are protected or considered not economical to harvest.
Conroy said there is a policy in the new plan’s intentions paper that is a commitment to continue to defer logging old-growth forests.
“We are continuing to engage with Indigenous leaders, we’re working with labour, with industry and environmental groups to look at where there is to identify the potential for additional deferral areas,” she told All Points West host Kathryn Marlow.
“I expect we’ll be able to announce additional deferrals this summer.”
An ancient red cedar stump measuring four metres in diameter is shown in this file photo. (TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance)
“The reality is this crisis is precipitated by the government making promises to save the most at-risk old growth and then not doing anything,” Wilderness Committee campaign director Torrance Coste said in an interview on Tuesday.
“We were expecting some acknowledgement of that and maybe a faster timeline or some immediate on-the-ground measures, some things that would actually make it different out in the forest tomorrow.”
Consulting with First Nations
Dallas Smith, president of the Nanwakolas Council in Campbell River, said First Nations have been concerned about logging old-growth trees for two decades, but recent protests in the Fairy Creek area have created more awareness.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s got to the point that it’s gotten to,” he said.
A sign at the entrance to the Eden blockade in the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew, B.C., is shown on May, 11. (Jen Osborne/Canadian Press)
Smith hopes there will be more engagement between the provincial government and First Nations communities about the process of getting deferrals.
“We would love a chance to sit down with government, with the Ministry of Forests and have that discussion about all the tenures that exist within our territories, including B.C. timber sales, and just have a talk about how we fit within those licences that go there and start making some of that transition,” he said.
“There’s no new tenures out there so we have to find a way of redistributing existing tenures while keeping the continuity of the economy going.”
He wants to find the balance between conservation and First Nations being able to benefit from forestry on their lands.
Conroy said those conversations will happen.
“From my perspective, that’s a key part of it, she said, adding that the new plans include ensuring that Indigenous nations are involved when it comes to land management.
In the midst of escalating protests over logging, Horgan released an intentions paper on Tuesday that critics say fails to implement any immediate solutions
As protests over old-growth logging continue to escalate on southern Vancouver Island, where more than 140 people have been arrested, all eyes were on the provincial government Tuesday as it announced much-anticipated action on the future of forest policy.
But the province’s policy intentions paper failed to present any immediate solutions to the problems unfolding on the landscape, deferring action on old-growth until 2023 in a move critics say sets the stage for more conflict.
“It’s just a stunning denial of the reality on the ground,” Torrance Coste, national campaign director with the Wilderness Committee, told The Narwhal in an interview. “There was a good chance that there were people arrested during the press conference.”
Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, also pointed out the stark contrast between the passion of hundreds of people fighting to protect ancient forests and “their connection to these magnificent living ecosystems” versus the government response.
“You have, essentially, these guys who are trying to buy time and take it slowly and not put in place the key components to actually save those ecosystems. You can see the fury developing.”
The intentions paper outlined how the province plans to implement changes to its forest management policies, including preparing the way to transfer forest tenures to First Nations, but according to numerous conservation organizations, the plan lacks key elements needed to support communities and protect biodiversity.
Here’s what you need to know about the province’s plan for BC forests.
A protester is carried on a police stretcher after being arrested at a blockade near the Fairy Creek watershed on Monday, May 31. Photo: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal
1. No new BC old-growth logging deferrals implemented
In the spring of 2020, an independent panel commissioned by the province reviewed BC’s management of old forest ecosystems and called for a “paradigm shift” in the way the province oversees the forest industry. The panel made 14 recommendations, including an urgent need to immediately defer logging in old-growth forests at risk of irreversible biodiversity loss, to buy time for the province to develop a new strategy. The panel gave the province six months to implement deferrals.
At a press conference, Premier John Horgan claimed the province is working on implementing the recommendations and cited 200,000 hectares of deferrals that were implemented last year. But critics said those deferrals failed to protect ecosystems facing the highest risk, and noted deferrals are no more than temporary protective measures. https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-old-growth-forest-vancouver-island-caycuse/embed/#?secret=SPf1B04tkD
“To say they’re implementing the panel’s recommendations is demonstrably false,” Wu said. “They missed their six-month deadline — in fact, it’s been over a year and they haven’t implemented critical deferrals, in particular on the high-productivity old-growth.”
Last month, a trio of independent scientists analyzed and mapped the province’s old forests to provide the province with a ready-to-go tool for implementing the deferrals. As The Narwhal previously reported, the map identified about 1.3 million hectares of forest in harm’s way, which is around 2.6 per cent of BC’s timber supply.
The province’s plan did not include any new deferrals, instead noting it intends to commit to more deferrals.
A statement provided to The Narwhal by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said the panel did not recommend a pause on all old-growth harvesting and added one of the key recommendations is engaging the full involvement of Indigenous leaders and organizations.
“Indigenous engagement is critical but will take time,” the statement said. “Government recognizes the importance of this issue to many Indigenous nations, and has sought advice from some Indigenous organizations to develop an engagement approach that can be effective. Discussions have begun with some nations, but not all nations yet.”
During a press briefing, the province noted the organizations it consulted, including Indigenous organizations, were confidential.
In a recent interview with The Narwhal, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said time is of the essence.
“It makes no sense to have a protracted dialogue if, at the end of it, we discover the old-growth is gone.”
“It’s a basic denial of what this moment requires,” Coste said of the province’s intentions paper. “This moment requires hitting the brakes, realizing that the public trust is extremely frail. And without that public trust, none of these intentions are achievable.”
An aerial view of a clearcut timber supply area in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: TJ Watt
2. No clear path for funding a transition to more sustainable BC forestry
According to critics, the intentions paper notably lacks a plan to financially support the province’s modernization goals, and warned that redistributing forest tenures from large logging companies to First Nations could perpetuate the harvest of at-risk ecosystems.
“The most insidious thing is that they look like they are working to increase the economic dependency of communities, including First Nations, through an economic stake in old-growth logging,” Wu said.
Coste said First Nations relying on the revenue generated by old-growth logging need to be compensated for any economic losses resulting from putting the brakes on forestry activities, but noted that Premier Horgan said he cannot implement deferrals without consent from Indigenous communities.
“The choice for First Nations is: agree to deferrals and get no revenue or agree to logging and get revenue. That’s not a choice, not after 150 years of colonization,” he said. “There’s zero dollars earmarked under that policy intention, zero dollars earmarked in the budget and zero plan for how these immediate, medium and long-term steps will be funded.”
Wu said without alternative economic solutions, old-growth logging will continue.
“That’s a game changer if there’s no funding and agreements to protect the at-risk old-growth and to finance the alternative, which is conservation-based economies,” he said. “[The province has] made no commitments to increase … provincial funding for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and associated sustainable economic development.”
The Ministry of Forests did not respond to questions about allocating funding to support its policy intentions.
3. Province intends to double forest tenures held by First Nations
One of the principle themes outlined in the intentions paper is increasing Indigenous participation in BC’s forest management. At the press conference, Horgan repeated his government’s commitment to reconciliation.
“We continue to collaborate with First Nations, and others, to make sure that we protect species, and we protect the biodiversity that is so critically important to our old-growth forests,” he said. “It’s vital that we do not repeat the colonial activities of the past and [dictate to] the First Nations what they do on their territories today.”
According to Jessica Clogg, executive director and senior counsel with West Coast Environmental Law, these statements only addressed one side of the story.
“I was quite appalled at how the premier hid behind the Crown’s constitutional duties to Indigenous People in justifying [the province’s] failure to act on its commitment to immediately defer at-risk old-growth,” she said. “The province has continued for decades to issue cutting permits to new tenures, all without Indigenous consent, keeping the momentum of clearcut logging going in this province. And yet, when it comes to pressing the pause button in order to avoid talking and logging while negotiations are ongoing, the premier then trotted out consultations as an excuse.”
The plan, according to Horgan and Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Katrine Conroy, is to double the tenures owned by First Nations.
“The idea of breaking up tenure concentration and ensuring local partnerships with Indigenous Peoples are all good words,” Clogg said. “But when you look at the details, you see the province saying that they hope to increase the amount of replaceable forest tenure held by Indigenous Peoples to 20 per cent from the current level of 10 per cent. That’s effectively saying that they intend to leave the other 80 per cent of logging rights in the control of major forest companies.”
Clogg admitted one policy intention gives her some optimism.
“What I read as a commitment to work with Indigenous Peoples to reintroduce prescribed and ceremonial burning — there are definitely forest ecosystems in which Indigenous management through fire was an integral part of the historic ecosystem condition. That is a very positive thing.”
Wu noted the province has an opportunity to protect BC’s forests, which he said Horgan acknowledged.
“The one tiny little glimmer of hope is it seems like he’s recognized that the federal government is providing $2.3 billion largely for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas over the next five years and BC’s share of that would probably be [around] $300 million.”
He said that funding could be used to support communities as part of a strategy to save what’s left of BC’s old-growth.
4. Intentions include plans to maximize value and support local manufacturers
Several of the policy intentions focused on restructuring provincial rules and regulations to support local manufacturers, including addressing issues with the province’s own forestry outfit, BC Timber Sales, which manages about 20 per cent of BC’s forests.https://thenarwhal.ca/indicative-of-a-truly-corrupt-system-government-investigation-reveals-bc-timber-sales-violating-old-growth-logging-rules/embed/#?secret=yD5vFpAJW0
Clogg said there could be positive outcomes from revising how BC Timber Sales operates in the province, but warned any changes would need to be supported by additional measures to ensure local manufacturers don’t have to log themselves to access the wood.
The province also noted its intention to revise its rules on how companies operate on the landscape, which could reduce the amount of waste, which is typically burned on the forest floor. But Clogg said the wording in the intentions paper is vague.
“The way the language in the paper is structured, you could say the province is finally going to take some measures to prevent high-grading — taking some of the highest and best trees and leaving the rest,” she said. “On the flip side, we could be going back to the bad old days, where you had even more draconian ‘log it or lose it’ provisions.”
She added that the province’s plan does little to shift the forest industry away from being controlled by a handful of large companies.
“The underpinning foundation of our forest sector is a set of what we call tenures — various licences and logging rights — that were established between the ’40s and the ’60s, and were always designed to attract and support major logging companies,” she said. “That fundamental foundation would not be altered by these proposals.”
5. BC forestry plan does not address the biodiversity crisis
The 2020 old-growth strategic review urged the province to prioritize biodiversity and at-risk species over the economic benefits of the forest industry. The intentions paper does not mention biodiversity and instead focuses largely on forest-based economy.https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-biodiversity-targets-ecojustice-report/embed/#?secret=5voV5472Vv
Andrea Inness, campaigner with Ancient Forest Alliance, said in a statement that was a glaring omission from the intentions paper.
“A vision for BC’s forests that isn’t firmly rooted in ecological health does no favours for communities. This path continues to rob British Columbians of old-growth forests and the critical ecological services they provide while driving communities ever closer to the looming economic cliff ahead of them.”
Clogg said it was clear the province continues to view BC forests as timber supply, not ecosystems, and noted the speakers at the press conference included forest industry advocates and lacked any environmental organizations.
“The timber-oriented orientation of the intentions paper really leaves me doubting that this increased discretion the province now intends to give itself legally will be used in a way that protects biodiversity and ecosystem health or upholds Indigenous Rights.”
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2021-03-11-at-11.37.59-AM.png10661798TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2021-06-02 11:41:002023-04-06 19:06:07Five ways BC’s new forestry plan sets the stage for more old-growth conflict
Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is highly critical of yesterday’s announcement by the BC government of its intentions to modernize BC’s forest policies while at the same time failing to address the ongoing old-growth crisis.
“Today’s announcement on forest sector modernization widely misses the mark in terms of what steps are critically needed to ensure the ecological sustainability and long-term economic viability of BC’s forests,” stated AFA campaigner Andrea Inness. “Truly modernized forest policies would include ending the outdated, unsustainable, and massive industrial logging of the grandest remaining stands of ancient forests.”
Haddon Creek – Vancouver Island. TFL 46 – Teal-Jones
“As protests continue to erupt across southern Vancouver Island and beyond in response to the BC government’s destructive old-growth liquidation policies, Premier Horgan has missed a critical opportunity to build public trust and prove the NDP are serious about the forestry paradigm shift that they promised last fall by halting logging in contentious, at-risk old-growth forests. Instead, they peddled more highly misleading figures on how much old-growth forest is protected and blamed climate change, not logging, for the loss of these forests.”
The new intentions paper outlines a suite of forest policy changes, including tenure re-distribution that will give First Nations greater access to forest resources in their territories, increased emphasis on value over volume in the forest sector, and a “strengthened” annual allowable cut for BC’s controversial logging agency, BC Timber Sales.
Near logging roads constructed by Teal-Jones approach the unprotected headwaters of the Fairy Creek Valley.
“Transferring tenures while failing to fund and support economic alternatives that help leave ancient forests standing will only further entrench the status quo of old-growth logging and leave forestry-dependent communities, including First Nations, with few options to diversify their economies,” stated AFA campaigner TJ Watt. “While we welcome policy that allows for greater decision-making in line with communities’ interests, values, and aspirations, how will communities be able to adequately address those various needs when the only economic option on the table is more old-growth logging?”
“The BC government’s forestry plan must be accompanied by funding to support expanded deferrals in the most at-risk forest ecosystems, Indigenous-led protected areas, and sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging, while taking advantage of the $2.3 billion in federal funding that’s recently been committed to expand protected areas across Canada, including for new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.”
“The plan must also be coupled with legislation to protect remaining old-growth forests, the adoption of an ecosystem-based management approach in BC’s forest sector, and lower annual allowable cuts that respect ecological limits.”
“The BC NDP keeps saying they’re committed to implementing the recommendations from their Old Growth Strategic Review Panel,” stated Inness, “but they have failed to make the connection between these proposed policy changes, the declining state of old-growth forests, and the need to transition to a value-added, second-growth forest sector.”
“A vision for BC’s forests that isn’t firmly rooted in ecological health does no favours for communities. This path continues to rob British Columbians of old-growth forests and the critical ecological services they provide while driving communities ever closer to the looming economic cliff ahead of them.”
The intention paper – and Premier Horgan’s speech during yesterday’s announcement – did little to reassure British Columbians that his government is taking the old-growth crisis seriously.
“It’s beyond frustrating to hear Premier Horgan continue to repeat false and misleading claims about the amount of old-growth remaining in BC, how much is protected, and what the steps the province has taken. It seems almost every day he’s doing more to damage public trust and undermine the province’s credibility on the old-growth issue.”
Background info
Premier Horgan has repeatedly claimed that 200,000 hectares of old-growth forest have been “protected” through the BC government’s September 2020 deferral announcement. However, the vast majority of these forests were either already protected or contain low productivity forests with smaller trees. In reality, only 3,800 hectares of previously unprotected, high productivity old-growth forests – with big trees and which scientists say are critically endangered – were temporarily deferred.
Premier Horgan also stated during yesterday’s press conference that 1,500 “groves” had been protected through the BC government’s Special Tree Regulation. That regulation is estimated to protect up to 1,500 of BC’s biggest trees with one-hectare buffer zones around them. This does not equate to protecting entire groves of trees except in the rare circumstance that the buffer zones of two or more trees that meet the province’s exceptionally high size thresholds overlap.
Premier Horgan also made a highly misleading claim on the status of old-growth forests, stating that 10 million hectares of old-growth forests are “protected” in BC. However, this includes vast swathes of low productivity forests that have little to no commercial value, as well as forests outside the Timber Harvesting Land Base, which are frequently logged and much of which could be logged in future as forests within the THLB are depleted.
According to independent scientists, the government’s own data shows that over 97% of BC’s highest productivity forests with the biggest trees have been logged and most of what remains is slated to be logged in coming years.
B.C. Greens, Sierra Club B.C. say old growth forests still at risk; industry council praises announcement
Conservationists with the Ancient Forest Alliance say old growth forests like this one are crucial to the overall health of ecosystems. (Submitted by TJ Watt)
After weeks of arrests and attempts to block old growth logging on Vancouver Island, the province’s anticipated forestry announcement proved to be a disappointment Tuesday to protesters and environmentalists.
The province unveiled a plan Tuesday for “sustainable forest policy” that largely focuses on redistributing forest tenures — the agreements between government and harvesters.
While the province said the plan is to include more Indigenous Nations, forest communities and small operators in forestry agreements, critics say the move does little to address the need to preserve old growth forests that are actively being logged, including trees inside lots at the Fairy Creek Watershed.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Jens Wieting, forest and climate campaigner with the environmental group Sierra Club B.C. “We are seeing thousands of people across B.C. joining protests, and they know we are in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis.”
The province says there are currently 13.7 million hectares of old growth in British Columbia, and 10 million of those hectares are protected or considered not economical to harvest. There are about 57 million hectares of forested land in B.C.
But for the past decade, conservation groups like the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club B.C. have all used provincial data to argue that old growth trees in the areas where the trees grow biggest are being cut down at an unsustainable rate.
Last year, more than a dozen recommendations were made to the province in a report aimed at protecting old growth forests. The province maintains it is committed to implementing them by 2023.
Critics say that’s not soon enough and would rather see immediate deferrals of old growth logging.
“We are losing any and all remaining trust that the B.C. government is serious about implementing these changes before it’s too late,” said Wieting.
The recently released Old Growth Strategic Review lays out an ambitious set of recommendations meant to help change forest management policies on a systemic level. (Kieran Oudshoorn/CBC)
It’s a sentiment echoed by Sonia Furstenau, leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Cowichan Valley.
“This really shows a lack of leadership and a lack of understanding of the moment we’re in,” she told CBC News. “British Columbians want to see the last of this land protected.”
Torrance Coste, national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, said that while many of the policy intentions laid out by the government are worthy, such as more tenure for First Nations and strengthened enforcement for companies that break the rules, the most important missing component was immediate action.
“These forests are falling now,” he told All Points West host Kathryn Marlow.
“There needs to be some interim action. There needs to be some, not permanent action, but some protections for some holds on logging right now. And instead, we’re seeing [Horgan] make more commitments and broaden the issue and really sidestep the commitments that he has already made.”
Industry support
The premier was asked why Tuesday’s announcement did not include immediate action to prevent logging of old growth trees in the Fairy Creek watershed, where protesters have been defying an injunction in Horgan’s own riding.
“The critical recommendation that’s in play at Fairy Creek is consulting with the title holders,” said Horgan. “If we were to arbitrarily put deferrals in place there, that would be a return to the colonialism that we have so graphically been brought back to this week by the discovery in Kamloops.”
In a statement, the B.C. Council of Forest Industries applauded the government’s announcement, saying a collaboration with various stakeholders moving forward will help “sustain good jobs for British Columbians.”
Between wildfires, the mountain pine beetle, and a declining timber supply, the province says there have been 1,620 permanent, 420 temporary and 820 indefinite job losses in the forestry sector.
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Nahmint-Valley-Andrea-Inness-Cedar-Stump-1.jpg12001800TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2021-06-01 11:56:002024-07-30 17:03:18Politicians, environmentalists, industry divided on B.C.’s forestry plan
Environmentalists say BC’s new vision for forestry isn’t going to quell the current wildfire of old-growth protests. File photo of Caycuse Camp activists locked to chainsaws courtesy of Rainforest Flying Squad
Environmental groups already riled by the pace of protections for ancient forests in BC were further provoked after the province failed to announce any new old-growth logging deferrals in its new vision for forestry Tuesday.
“If Premier John Horgan’s intention is to make the conflict raging around old-growth forests even worse, this is the perfect plan to do that,” said Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee.
The unveiling of the NDP intentions paper to modernize forestry policy took place as 1,000 protesters defied an injunction over the weekend to support Fairy Creek blockades — happening in Horgan’s own riding on Vancouver Island for the past nine months.
As of Monday morning, RCMP had arrested 142 people in connection to protests in logging company Teal-Jones’s tree farm licence (TFL) 46 near Port Renfrew — which is becoming the epicentre of environmental civil disobedience on a scale comparable to the 1990s War of the Woods in Clayoquot Sound.
The plan — which won’t be complete until 2023 at the earliest — includes worthy goals such as reconciliation and co-operation with First Nations, ensuring more communities benefit from forestry, and diversifying access to tenure and timber supply, Coste noted.
But the NDP government’s vision will do nothing to quell the immediate wildfire of public discord about the lack of protection for big trees and the at-risk ecosystems that support them, he said.
“It’s gasoline on the fire. It completely fails to speak to what this moment demands,” Coste said, adding the NDP is losing social licence for its forestry objectives.
“The premier doesn’t seem to grasp that everything in this plan is unachievable without immediate-term on-the-ground changes.”
BC needs to take urgent action to protect increasingly scarce old-growth ecosystems because forests have been managed solely for timber values for far too long, as the old-growth strategic review commissioned by the province found, Coste said.
“There’s strong public value for all the other important things the forests provide,” he said.
“While there are nods in this plan to change that over the course of coming years, there’s still this denial of the basic reality that we need some immediate stop-gap measures.”
Environmental groups (ENGOs) in the province want Horgan to temporarily defer old-growth logging in the most critical ecosystems, and put money on the table for First Nations that might lose revenue while discussions take place over the longer term.
Horgan reiterated his intent to meet all 14 recommendations in the old-growth review while unveiling the intentions paper Tuesday.
The province was following a core recommendation of the report by ensuring it was consulting with First Nations to avoid making any decisions around forestry in their territories unilaterally, he said.
BC Premier John Horgan unveiled an intentions paper around the future of forest policy on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the BC government
“The critical recommendation that’s at play at Fairy Creek is consulting with the title-holders, the people whose land these forests are growing on,” Horgan said.
Not doing so would smack of colonialism, the harms of which were graphically depicted with the confirmation of a mass grave with the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops last week, he noted.
“I’m not prepared to do that,” he said.
There must be buy-in by area First Nations for any deferrals in the Fairy Creek or other old-growth areas located in TFLs 46 and 44 in the region, he said.
Old-growth activists at blockades aren’t going anywhere after hearing the province’s plan, according to the Rainforest Flying Squad (RFS), the grassroots coalition organizing the movement.
“We’re profoundly disappointed,” said RFS spokesperson Saul Arbess on Tuesday afternoon.
“What you’re going to see is a strengthening of resolve, and a strengthening of the barricades.”
More and more people from all walks of life and age groups are joining the protests, Arbess said, adding more than 90 per cent of British Columbians want protections for old-growth.
“Old-growth protection was barely mentioned, and we’re not seeing any kind of sustainable ecosystem-based management,” Arbess said.
“What we’re seeing is essentially business as usual with some modifications and changes, and a greater emphasis on allocation of timber to First Nations.”
But the economic model for relying solely on the extraction of timber is still at play, said Arbess, who had hoped to see funding commitments and initiatives to lay the foundation for other forest values, as was done in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Arbess said he hoped that ENGOs would be among the stakeholders consulted in any coming talks around the NDP’s promise to make additional deferrals — especially since no such groups were present to speak to the plan today, though unions and First Nations were extended the opportunity to do so.
“This is the opportunity to defer the five forest areas that we’re trying to protect,” Arbess said.
“But you don’t enter into an engagement process while at the same time the lands and forests under discussion are being destroyed.”
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer
https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-03-at-11.49.53-AM.png9301774TJ Watthttp://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cropped-AFA-Logo-1000px-300x300.pngTJ Watt2021-06-01 11:42:002023-04-26 16:08:47BC premier’s new forestry plan adds fuel to old-growth fire
https://www.endangeredecosystemsalliance.org/news/bc-protected-areas
