International Day of Forests: Conservation groups alarmed that BC is backsliding on Old-Growth Forest Policy Progress

/in /by

In light of International Day of Forests on March 21, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) are expressing serious concerns that the British Columbian government is backsliding on its previous policy progress to ensure an ecological paradigm shift regarding its management of old-growth forests across BC.

“Despite significant conservation policy progress over the past year since Premier Eby came in, including his commitment to essentially double the protected areas system by 2030 and his allocation of major funding to enable this to happen, we’re concerned by what appears to be recent backsliding by the BC government on old-growth conservation,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

“This includes all manner of sophistry by the Ministry of Forests to sustain the destructive status quo of old-growth liquidation, including having ‘deliberate bad aim’ to miss critical protection targets — that is, having an emphasis on saving smaller trees while the big trees continue to get logged; returning to the old dishonest ways of statistical PR-spin to mask their failures; promoting weak protection standards full of logging loopholes; facilitating the increased economic dependency of First Nations communities on old-growth logging; and doing a ‘slow walk’ in working with First Nations to implement old-growth logging deferrals in order to see the status quo further entrenched before any potential paradigm shift can occur.

“The forces of the old guard within government are working strategically to contain change and limit any paradigm shift to minimize the impacts of new conservation policies on the available timber supply — that is, enabling industry to ‘log until extinction.’ Eby is in charge, and he needs to do a selective harvest or controlled burn to cleanse the politics, policies and bureaucracy in BC of these old, unsustainable logging mindsets ASAP. I know he has the backbone for this, should he choose to do so. And we expect this now.”

Old-growth logging in Quatsino territory on northern Vancouver Island.

AFA and EEA acknowledge the genuine historic progress for old-growth protection that has been implemented under this BC government in recent times and are thankful for several significant leaps forward in conservation policy that Premier David Eby and Minister Nathan Cullen have implemented.

Positive steps toward increased old-growth protection:

  • A commitment to incrementally protect 30% of BC by 2030 (currently, 15% of BC is in legislated protected areas). 
  • Securing over $1 billion to enable this expansion, which includes a dedicated $300-million conservation financing fund and a joint $100 million+ in a federal/provincial old-growth conservation fund.
  • Floating a promising draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) that has the potential to direct protected areas establishment correctly via “ecosystem-based targets”, which would ensure that science-based targets span all ecosystems, including the most endangered and least represented ones.
  • Establishing the Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship (MWLRS) as a necessary coordinating agency in land and resource management.
  • Supporting several Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) plans, including the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht conservancies recently announced in Clayoquot Sound and protecting the In​​comappleux Valley last year.

However, key issues threaten this progress, including:

  1. The failure to secure old-growth logging deferrals for half of the priority most at-risk old-growth forests (the grandest, oldest, and rarest) as identified by the province’s appointed science team, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). After over two years, only 1.23 million of the 2.6 million hectares are secured. This is primarily due to the BC government’s unwillingness to provide deferral or “solutions space” funding to cover the lost revenues of First Nations who have an economic dependency on old-growth logging in their territories. This has been an ever-present failure of this government.
  2. The BC government’s refusal to proactively identify and add incorrectly categorized old-growth forests that, in truth, meet the criteria for priority deferrals but were missed in the initial TAP mapping exercise. Currently, the province is providing guidance to industry on how to subtract incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth forests from the TAP maps. This “subtract, don’t add” policy for incorrectly categorized old growth that should be deferred from logging demonstrates an egregious bias toward the timber industry and a conservation loophole that must be closed.
  3. The alarming way in which the province is using misleading statistics to cover its failure to secure logging deferrals in the most at-risk TAP priority old-growth stands by lumping together vast tracts of much smaller trees/less at-risk old growth secured through unrelated deferrals. While all old-growth logging deferrals are welcome and needed (the separate set of deferrals are forests that First Nations have identified as important for cultural values or are included in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) proposals are important areas too), but not identical to the grandest, rarest or oldest stands identified by the TAP which must always remain a conservation priority), lumping the smaller trees together with the biggest and most at-risk old-growth categories to produce an aggregated number of 2.4 million hectares serves to sow public confusion and enables the BC government to shirk its responsibility to secure the full 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk categories. In truth, 1.23 million hectares of the 2.6 million hectares of priority, most at-risk categories are currently deferred. In addition, the Ministry of Forests is also lumping together the TAP priority deferral areas with forests already protected in provincial parks and conservancies to get credit for “deferring” forests that had been protected for decades. These disingenuous and misleading statistics sow confusion and create mistrust. Fundamentally, these communication strategies suggest that the province is not prioritizing the full implementation of the 2.6 million hectares of TAP priority deferrals, and instead is trying to escape its commitment to preserve the most at-risk, big-tree forests by substituting protection for less threatened areas with smaller trees and lower timber values.

Other major problems with BC’s old-growth policies thus far include a lack of ecosystem-based protection targets to guide the protected areas expansion (which may yet come via the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework) as well as the weak protection standards of conservation reserves such as Old-Growth Management Areas, which has boundaries that can be moved around due to the influence of the timber industry lobby, and Wildlife Habitat Areas, which can be logged.

Additional issues include the province facilitating an increase in the economic dependency in many First Nations communities on old-growth logging, a lack of proactive advocacy by the province to foster new protected areas at planning tables and in general (rather, new protected areas are solely based on the will of First Nations, with the province doing nothing to actively identify and champion additional potential protected areas based on their high conservation values, subject to First Nations consent) and a lack of sufficient scale economic transition policies to move the timber industry away from old-growth toward second-growth stands.

 

“We’re in a global biodiversity and climate crisis, with the planet just experiencing its hottest year on record,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “Endangered old-growth forests in British Columbia, which store vast amounts of carbon and are havens for diverse species, are the antidote for what ails our world. On International Day of Forests, Premier David Eby and the BC government must renew their commitment to ensuring the old-growth forests identified as most at-risk are protected. At least $100 million in ‘solutions space’ funding that helps offset lost logging revenues for First Nations who are being asked to defer the most valuable and at-risk forests in their territories, along with the implementation of ecosystem-based targets that prioritize the protection of rare, big-tree old-growth forests and other highly endangered ecosystems, are a necessity. 1.3 million hectares (roughly half) of the old-growth forests identified by the old-growth science panel as being most at-risk remain undeferred and open to logging. Will Premier Eby oversee these endangered forests persist into the future or risk their permanent destruction? The BC government has a global responsibility to do the right thing.”

To turn this around, the province must:

  1. Truly commit to the mapping and the spirit of the TAP methodology, which prioritizes protecting the threatened big-tree old-growth forests. This means identifying barriers to protection and creating a credible, transparent strategy to overcoming those barriers, such as committing $120 million in “solutions space” funding to allow First Nations to accept these deferrals without facing financial hardship from lost logging revenues, as well as pursuing the continued addition of forests that were missed in the initial mapping exercise through ground-truthing and improved inventory data.
  2. Develop a rigorous and binding Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework that mandates fine-filter ecosystem-based protection targets incorporating forest productivity distinctions, for all ecosystems across BC. This framework must scale up protection by incorporating the latest conservation biology science and be developed by independent scientists and Traditional Ecological Knowledge holders, not representatives from industry.
  3. Close loopholes in current landscape reserves such as Old Growth Management Areas and Wildlife Habitat Areas to ensure they can’t be moved to facilitate logging or to allow logging within their boundaries. Until then, they must not be included in BC’s accounting of how much territory is protected as part of its 30% by 2030 goal.
  4. Create a BC Protected Areas Strategy informed by the forthcoming BEHF that identifies the priority areas for protection and that guides the expenditure of the BC Nature Agreement and Conservation Financing funds as BC expands its protected area system to achieve 30% protection by 2030.
  5. Ensure that the BC government is taking an active hand in regional planning, especially at the Forest Landscape Planning tables, by advocating for the protection of key old-growth ecosystems and making conservation financing funding available to enable First Nations to reasonably choose protection instead of timber extraction without major financial loss.
  6. Undertake a much greater economic transition policy of incentives and regulations to move the timber industry from an old-growth industry toward a modernized, value-added, sustainable second-growth industry, and to incentivize the development of a larger conservation-based green economy associated with an expanded protected areas system.

Without following these steps, BC will inevitably end up with a protected areas system that will continue to largely skirt around the rich valley bottoms and focus protection on predominantly alpine and subalpine areas with low timber values while the biggest trees continue to fall and BC’s 50-year “War in the Woods” will continue to flare up and rage on.

“The vast resources now available from the federal and provincial government for conservation must be laser-focused toward protecting the most biodiverse and threatened ecosystems, providing whatever resources First Nations need to offset lost revenues and allowing them to choose protection without taking significant financial losses,” stated Ian Thomas of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“The forests that TAP recommended for deferral are endangered because they are also the most lucrative forests to log, and therefore, successive governments have largely avoided protecting them. That must change. Whenever the government uses misleading statistics to obscure the stubborn fact that 50% of the most threatened forests remain open for logging, they signal a wavering commitment to protecting the irreplaceable. The province, which has driven the liquidation of the oldest and most magnificent forests in BC for over a century, cannot just shrug its shoulders and walk away while the last of these threatened forests are destroyed. There are consequences for all with this approach — including for the government.”

“In short, the BC government is at a crossroads,” said Watt. “It can choose to bolster the significant strides it has taken toward protecting old-growth forests by closing the funding and policy gaps, helping to save endangered ecosystems while supporting conservation-based economies. Or, it can slink back to its old ways of fudging statistics to imply old-growth forests are not at risk while facilitating the destruction of the best of what little remains, leaving behind impoverished landscapes and communities.”

Wu said, “We have hope that Premier Eby will ensure that his old-growth policy progress doesn’t ultimately end up as a sinking ship due to the old-growth timber lobby and its friends. The forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, still under development, holds the greatest promise of all. The single largest game-changer in BC’s conservation policies will be if the BEHF mandates legally-binding, ecosystem-based targets that include forest productivity distinctions to ensure that the most at-risk, least represented ecosystems are protected based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Premier Eby must see this done.”

View these infographics that explain the central importance of “ecosystem-based targets” and a strong Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework here.

And see an explanation of why “forest productivity distinctions” must be included in ecosystem-based targets here.

Thank you for helping us surpass our 14th birthday goal!

/in , /by

AFA recently celebrated our 14th birthday on February 24th, marking the occasion by asking you to donate just $14 to continue protecting the magnificent old-growth forests of BC.

Well, not only did you rise to the task by helping us reach our goal of $14,000 in less than two weeks, but you surpassed it by $2,400!

Altogether, we raised $16,427 for the old-growth campaign. That’s a lot of $14 donations! You even had fun with it, with some folks donating multiples of 14, some $140, some even $1,400!

We are eternally grateful, and truly believe we have the best supporters and community out there. Here’s to continuing that passion, dedication, and generosity toward the ancient forests of BC for many years to come!

For the forests,
—The Ancient Forest Alliance

(L-R) Nadia Sheptycki (Victoria Canvass Director), Joan Varley (Administrative Director), TJ Watt (Campaigner & Photographer), Kristen Bounds (Communications Coordinator), Coral Forbes (Donor Relations & Administrative Associate) and Ian Thomas (Research & Engagement Officer)

Flores Island Tyson

Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations Announce Protected Conservancies Proposal in Clayoquot Sound

/in /by
Great news! On Wednesday, March 12, the Ahousaht and the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in Clayoquot Sound off western Vancouver Island announced their proposal for a network of protected conservancies, which would include major tracts of some of the finest old-growth forests in BC, combined with a vision to enhance economic opportunities for their communities.
Congratulations to the amazing Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht leadership for their work over the years and for seeing their visions reach this milestone!

AFA’s TJ Watt Presents at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC

/in , /by

AFA Photographer and Campaigner TJ Watt just returned from Washington, DC, where he presented at the Kennedy Center on “The Search for the World’s Biggest Trees”! The presentation, which included the film “The Giant Treehunters“, was part of REACH to FOREST, a two-week event blending art, science, and culture in the nation’s capital. Famed forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon also presented as part of the Big Tree Hunters Party. MacKinnon is the co-author of the best-selling book, Plants of Coastal BC.

It was a fun-filled evening with lots of great Q&A!

We extend a sincere thank-you to the festival organizers for having us and helping raise international awareness on the importance of protecting old-growth forests and big trees in BC.

To learn more about the presentation, visit the Kennedy Center info page here!

Thank you to these foundations for their support!

/in /by

An exciting component about the Ancient Forest Alliance becoming a charitable organization is we can now accept donations through foundations! We would like to thank the following foundations for their generous support toward ancient forests in BC in 2023 and so far in 2024. Thank you to:

Please consider us next time you’re making a donation through a foundation! Your support is very appreciated.

Hair Ice

/in /by

Hidden among the rainforests of BC you can find wonders of ephemeral beauty and minute delicacy, and few of these are stranger or lovelier than the phenomenon of hair ice.

Also known as “frost beard” or “ice wool”, hair ice appears only on dead deciduous wood when the temperatures are hovering just below zero degrees and when the air is humid. At first, it looks like a silvery moss or fungus, but a closer inspection shows instead a mass of fine icy filaments. These are incredibly slender, about .02 mm in diameter. Densely packed, they form a pearly cloud of ice. The slightest touch of a warm finger or even a breath will dissolve this fragile sculpture like cotton candy on the tongue.

But where does it come from? This magical winter phenomenon, like so much that is strange and mystical in forest ecology, is associated with a particular species of fungus: a jelly fungus called Exidiopsis effusa.

Under ideal conditions, a process called “ice segregation” occurs. This is when water freezes on the outside of dead wood, sandwiching a thin film of water between this ice and the wood pores. At this “ice front”, water is then drawn up through the wood pores towards the ice surface, where it freezes and adds to the existing ice. Lignin and tannin from the fungus are found in the ice and are thought to work as a sort of anti-freeze, inhibiting the delicate ice from recrystallizing into coarser structures and helping stabilize their unique shape for hours.

Because hair ice is associated with a specific fungus inside the wood, the same pieces may produce hair ice year after year. Around Vancouver Island, these are commonly the dead branches of red alder trees. If you are lucky enough to find it, take careful note of the exact spot, you may be able to repeat the encounter, even several years later, when the conditions are once again just right!

 

It’s AFA’s 14th birthday!

/in /by

We’re celebrating our 14th birthday on February 24th and all we’ve accomplished this year together. Will you celebrate with us by giving $14 to help protect the ancient forests of BC?

Our birthday is upon us again and we have much reason to celebrate given the historic successes we’ve seen over the past year! And whether you just joined us now, or you’ve been with us since our founding in 2010, thank you — our work wouldn’t be possible without you. Together, we’re changing the course of conservation in BC in major ways.

In honour of our 14th birthday and recent milestones, and to support the critical work that still needs to be done, please consider giving $14 or more today to help us reach our fundraising goal of $14,000 by March 10, 2024. While $14 may seem like a small amount, it can add up quickly and will truly make a difference in what we can achieve this year!

Donate $14 or more.

What has your financial support resulted in?
See the milestones you’ve helped us achieve in just over ONE YEAR, including:

  1. Over one billion dollars announced for nature conservation in BC through the BC Nature Agreement.
  2. The launch of a $300-million conservation financing fund by the province.
  3. The launch of a $100-million BC Old-Growth Fund to save the most at-risk old-growth forests.
  4. The commitment by Premier David Eby to protect 30% of lands in BC by 2030.
  5. The release of the draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework intended to prioritize ecosystem integrity over resource extraction.

It’s been amazing to see this progress — now let’s keep the momentum going!

With your continued support, we’ll be able to:

  1. Expand our important work with key First Nations communities to support Indigenous-led protected areas initiatives in areas with the best old-growth forests in BC while fostering sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging. (See our current public projects, the Kanaka Bar IPCA & MMFN Salmon Parks)
  2. Ensure that BC uses “ecosystem-based targets” that include “forest productivity distinctions” (i.e. big trees vs. small trees) to guide the expansion of protected areas in the province and the spending of its conservation dollars. This is now the most critical campaign piece needed.
  3. Push for deferral or “solutions space” funding to help offset lost logging revenues for First Nations who are still deciding whether to implement deferrals in the most at-risk old-growth forests in their territories.
  4. Continue to explore and document endangered old-growth forests in BC, bringing back professional images, videos, and stories to help educate citizens across BC and around the world, inspiring them to act.
  5. Continue to broaden our support base to ensure that the province knows that people from all walks of life, including businesses, unions, faith groups, and more, want to see old-growth forests in BC protected!

From the major wins we’ve seen in the past year to the key work that still needs to be done, your passion, dedication, and generosity will play a vital role in our ability to help preserve the incredible old-growth forests we all love so much. We’re grateful for anything you can give. Thank you for standing with us.

For the forests,
—The Ancient Forest Alliance team

In the middle of a gorgeous green old-growth grove stand four women and two men, all with their hands in front of them, all smiling. A lush green fern sits in front of them and a large, hollowed out ancient cedar sits proudly behind them.

The AFA Team from left to right: Nadia Sheptycki, Joan Varley, TJ Watt, Kristen Bounds, Coral Forbes, Ian Thomas

SUPPORT OUR WORK

Mowachaht/Muchalaht awarded $15 million to protect old growth and salmon

/in /by

November 10, 2023
By Eric Plummer
Ha-Shilth-Sa News

Original article here.

Nootka Sound, BC

A project to protect a significant portion of Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory has been pledged $15 million from the federal government, fueling an initiative to save old growth and salmon populations in Nootka Sound over the next generation.

On Oct. 30 Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change sent a letter to Eric Angel, project manager for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation’s Salmon Parks initiative. This confirmed over $15 million in funding for the project, payable up to March 31, 2026.

“I seek the highest level of environmental quality in order to enhance the well-being of Canadians,” wrote Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. “In this regard, one of my priorities is to advance conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development.”

Other funding has been secured from the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, the Indigenous Watershed Initiative, Nature Based Solutions Foundation, Nature United and the Sitka Foundation, as well as other organizations providing expertise at no cost.

The project, which is titled ‘Mowachaht/Muchalaht Salmon Parks Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area – Old Growth Estuary Protection’, is designed to conserve critical parts of the territory by changing the tide of industrial activity in Nootka Sound.

“Salmon parks, fundamentally, is about setting things right again in this wonderful part of the world so that the chiefs are in a position to look after the ha-hahoulthee,” explained Angel during a tour of the Salmon Parks in October.

A major part of setting things right is halting logging in the designated areas. According to the Salmon Parks project application, at the current rate of harvest all old growth forests in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory will be logged in the next 15 years.

As industrial forestry developed in the region, wild salmon populations in Nootka Sound have declined by 90 per cent, according to the project description, and could become extinct in the next 20 years without serious intervention.

“Old growth ecosystems are salmon ecosystems. They evolved together,” said Angel.

“We’re witnessing another extirpation series, small extinctions of salmon throughout the Pacific northwest,” he added. “There’s no one cause of that, but old growth forests, the destruction of them has been nothing short of catastrophic for salmon populations.”

The federal funding allows the Salmon Parks project to protect 38,868 hectares of old-growth forest, areas in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory that contain “critical salmon ecosystems”, according to the application. The majority, or almost $12.5 million, of the federal funding is set aside for land acquisition costs, such as the buyouts of tenures held by forestry companies on the Crown land. Currently Western Forest Products and BC Timber Sales hold these tenures, which are legally recognized under provincial law.

A massive clearcut on a mountainside, with logging roads leading out of it and small patches of trees lining the sides.

A clearcut on Nootka Island. Photo by TJ Watt.

“We have to deal with the existing industrial and commercial interests on the landscape,” explained Angel. “That’s primarily forestry, and they’re going to want to be compensated.”

The Salmon Parks are already recognized under Mowachaht/Muchalaht law, but provincial designation is now necessary for the areas to be protected into the future.

“For Salmon Parks to be considered by the chief forester, or any other agency for that matter, requires some form of legislated protection,” said Roger Dunlop, the project’s technical lead and Mowachaht/Muchalaht’s Lands and Natural Resource manager.

“British Columbia made a huge mistake when they decided to liquidate all the timber harvesting land base, which means every tree in British Columbia that’s accessible,” continued Dunlop. “This is the nation’s alternative to that mistake.”

The federal funding will also go towards professional services necessary for Salmon Parks as well as external contractors and guardians from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community to monitor and report on the designated areas.

It’s possible that Jamie James could play a leading role in this management. The First Nation’s field logistics coordinator spent his childhood on the shore of Muchalaht Inlet in Ahaminaquus, where his father taught him how to fish.

“It was really about living off the land, understanding what it meant to provide for the family but also for the community,” said James, who is concerned about carrying on the teachings of sustainability from his father, who grew up in Yuquot. “Once you start losing all of this stuff, you can no longer depend on the land to make a livelihood. That’s what scares me a lot.”

Although industrial-scale logging will no longer be permitted in the Salmon Parks, other small-scale activities can continue, particularly hunting, fishing and the cultural harvesting of trees.For James, these traditional practices are part of an interconnected way of living that he hopes the Salmon Parks will foster, a network that includes animals and people who rely on salmon-bearing streams.

“The broader part of the whole thing about the Salmon Parks, to me, is really being able to protect the landscape, the habitat, the resources, the environment – the sustainability for people that depend on all those things,” he said. “It’s the connection of all those things that depend on those resources.”

“As humans, we need to adapt to nature itself, rather than getting nature to adapt to us,” said James.

The old growth forest that Ottawa recently funded for protection is part of 66,595 hectares of critical habitat in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory that the Salmon Parks project encompasses. The First Nation hopes to have this whole area protected by 2030 – the same year that the federal Liberals and have pledged to have 30 per cent of Canadian waters and land protected.

On Nov. 3 the feds put serious money behind this promise, with the announcement of the Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation. The result of negotiations between the federal government, the province and the First Nations Leadership Council, this brings a fund that could reach over $1 billion over the course of the agreement, shouldered equally by Ottawa and the B.C. government.

Although the Government of Canada cannot declare IPCAs in a province, the agreement could lead to such designation in a First Nation’s territory.

“The Framework agreement supports a collaborative approach to landscape-based ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation in B.C.,” wrote Cecelia Parsons, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada, in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa. “The agreement will support indigenous partners establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.”

A smiling man in a blue shirt wearing a baseball cap stands in a grove of trees.

Mowachaht/Muchalaht member Jamie James grew up on the short of the Muchalaht Inlet in Ahaminaquus, where his father taught him how to fish. (Eric Plummer)

This story was made possible in part by an award from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

First Nation creating new Salmon Parks to protect fragile ecosystems

/in /by

December 8, 2023
By Marc Kitteringham
Campbell River Mirror

Original article here.

Over 650 square kilometres of Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory to be protected

Over 650 square kilometres of forest, rivers, old growth and shoreline are in the process of being protected by the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation on western Vancouver Island.

The Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation — located in the Tahsis, Nootka Island, and Gold River region — is working to protect the area of their unceded territory with the goal of protecting old-growth forests and salmon habitats. The locations include 311 square kilometres of old-growth forests.

“We’re trying to protect the most important salmon habitat that’s left in the watersheds in the Nation,” said Eric Angel, project manager for the Salmon Parks project. “We figured out sometime ago that if we looked after about 20 per cent of the core salmon watersheds, we we backstop 90 per cent of the salmon productivity that is dependent on the land and the freshwater ecosystem.”

When they’re established, the parks will both be on land and will extend into the ocean to protect the salmon habitat there. Angel said that the old growth forest in the area is “central to the salmon’s habitat and family life cycle.

“We’re going to move out into the into the marine environment and protect estuaries and the important migration routes that salmon have to take into the open ocean. The idea is to really be doing what we can to look after our salmon throughout their life cycle … we want to eventually restore those populations to the kind of abundance that we saw say 50 or 100 years ago.”

Though they are not the first First Nation to undertake this kind of work, the idea is new enough that Angel says they’re still trying to figure out how it will all work. They are in talks with the province about establishing legal protections for the area, and will be protecting it under Nuu-chah-nulth law as well.

“Ideally … there is going to be a joint designation where the province and First Nation will come together,” Angel said. “Then we together we create a management plan for the area and then we start bringing in all the other folks who’ve gotten interests will be talking to the forestry industry into the recreational fishing industry into tourism operators and the local communities Gold River and Campbell River and Tahsis … just making sure that everyone’s on board and there’s a common commitment and understanding of how we go about doing this.”

Something else that’s needed when establishing a new park is funding. Putting land into conservation necessarily means an immediate loss of economic opportunity, however groups like the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation exist to fill “critical gaps that are essential for creating new protected areas.”

“We we set up this new organization to directly work with land-embedded communities — most significantly First Nations — but also at some point ranchers on the Prairies Trappers and Métis communities and Southern Boreal woodlot owners,” said Ken Wu from Nature-Based Solutions Foundation. “These land-embedded communities are vitally important in to establish protected areas on Crown lands and unceded First Nations lands.

“A barrier for a lot of First Nations is that if they’re gonna forego all the resource opportunities in those territories … then there needs to be support for building sustainable alternatives,” he said.

Part of that funding solution also comes from government.

“There’s been some huge announcements this fall from the feds and the province,” said Angel, referring to “The Tripartite management agreement with Canada, BC and their first Nations Leadership Council.

“There’s an old growth nature fund that the feds are putting up the money for but the province is gonna be dispersing that, there’s a conservation financing mechanism the province announced month and a half ago that’s going to help, conservation initiatives, access to kind of long-term sustainable financing.”

One of those initiatives was for projects that help sequester carbon emissions. The Salmon Parks received $15 million from the federal government to do that.

“It’s it’s an amazing area for carbon storage because I’ll go for us sequester more carbon than almost anywhere on planet Earth,” Angel said, adding that getting the funding “was life-changing. I was just in the community last night and presenting to about 60 people and there’s so many young people out there who are so excited about it … it’s for those kids that are gonna be growing up with this. It’s really exciting for them.”

Despite the immediate economic setback of not being able to harvest trees, both Wu and Angel say there is a much greater economic long-term benefit available.

Angel says that there are job opportunities for community members as well.

“We’re setting up a Guardians program,” he said. “Creating employment within the community and giving people opportunities to be participating in this is going to be really important because it’s super critical that this is a holistic vision … it represents not just looking after nature well, but it also means restoring lives for people.

A man in a yellow jacket stands beside a massive Douglas-fir tree in an ancient Douglas-fir grove.

Old-growth Douglas-fir forest in the Burman River valley. Proposed Salmon Park, Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory.

 

AFA’s Recommendations for the BC Government’s Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework

/in /by

Submitted by Ancient Forest Alliance
January 2024

The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) commends the BC government for developing a draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) that intends to achieve a major paradigm shift to make ecological health central to decision-making in BC. If done with integrity, the Framework could upend the traditional approach in BC, which has sought to minimize the effect of conservation on the available timber supply for logging, leaving the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems open to industrial extraction.

This transformation cannot come soon enough, as many of our richest and most biodiverse ecosystems are in a state of ecological emergency.

The draft Framework already has several key components that must be retained in the final form, including a commitment to establish an Office of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health within the BC Public Service to oversee, implement, and enforce the Framework in collaboration with First Nations, the incorporation of updated science for the management of specific ecosystems, the acknowledgment of the need for protection of the most threatened ecosystems, and the acknowledgment of the need to maintain the natural range of variation in native ecosystems. Each of these represents key policy commitments that AFA has advocated for and are critical to ensure a true paradigm shift in the management and protection of ecosystems in BC. However, the language around threatened ecosystems and the need to maintain the natural range of variation is currently vague and needs to be strengthened and explicitly linked to the achievement of BC’s 30% by 2030 protection goals through the enshrining of ecosystem-based protection targets that incorporate distinctions in forest productivity.

As the Framework is developed, it must expand and codify its reference to the need to protect threatened ecosystems and maintain ecosystem function across all native ecosystems by:

  1. Enshrining Ecosystem-Based Protection Targets (i.e. protected areas targets for all ecosystems) devised by science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees. These targets must not only be “aspirational”, but legally binding and overseen by the proposed Office of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health. These ecosystem-based protection targets must represent the full diversity of ecosystems, capturing critical distinctions in ecological communities and forest productivity. Ensuring forest productivity is incorporated into protection targets is absolutely critical, as productive, large-tree, old-growth forests have been so heavily excluded from protection and are now reduced to far below natural levels. These targets must also ensure long-term ecological health by employing the principles of conservation biology in reserve design.
  2. Ensuring these Ecosystem-Based Targets guide BC’s expansion of the protected areas system to protect 30% by 2030 (i.e. the targets must inform a much-needed “BC Protected Areas Strategy”), including the allocation of the funding from the BC Nature Agreement and BC’s new conservation financing mechanism.
  3. Emphasizing rigorous protection standards and the permanency of protected areas using strong, legislated protected-area designations to safeguard ecosystems, rather than relying solely on conservation reserves that are more tenuous and filled with loopholes that continue to allow resource extraction or boundary shifts. The loopholes in these conservation reserves must be closed.
  4. Establishing clear, legally binding targets, timelines, and milestones to ensure accountability and transparency.

Expanded Recommendations

 

1. Ecosystem-Based Protection Targets

 

“Ecosystem-Based Protection Targets” are an essential tool to ensure the full range of BC’s diverse ecosystems and most threatened areas are safeguarded from further degradation.

Historically, environmental protection in BC (and worldwide) has focused on preserving the landscapes and ecosystems least coveted by industry, which tend to be the less productive and biodiverse areas such as mountains, bogs, and the far north. Meanwhile, the richer, valley-bottom and southern ecosystems that are the most biodiverse are left open for industrial extraction. The BEHF must identify this key issue and correct it by making Ecosystem-Based Protection Targets with forest productivity distinctions — a foundation that would truly put ecological health ahead of industrial profit. Otherwise, protection will continue to skew toward ecosystems with mainly rock, ice, and small trees.

This pattern of skewing protection to certain ecosystems is starkly evident with the current distribution of parks in BC. The areas with the highest level of protection include the treeless ecosystems of alpine tundra, the spruce-willow-birch ecosystem of the far north, and mountain hemlock zones in the heights of the snowy Coast Mountains, which are all areas of comparatively lower biodiversity and biological productivity. The Coastal Western Hemlock zone and the Interior Cedar Hemlock zone, which are home to Canada’s largest and oldest trees, have only about 20% and 10% protection, respectively, with much of the protection in the Coastal Western Hemlock zone being in low-productivity forests with smaller trees — hence the need to establish targets for all site series with forest productivity distinctions. Protection rates are even lower for the Interior and Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystems, which both have only 5% under legislated protection. Of course, all native ecosystems are important, but some are currently woefully under-protected and gravely imperilled. This pattern will continue to play out unless the province commits to representing all ecosystems in its 30% by 2030 protection plan.

In addition to broad ecological categories, the province needs to incorporate forest productivity distinctions into its 2030 protection targets. Forest productivity refers to the overall rate of tree growth in a forest. In “high-productivity” forests, trees will grow faster eventually reaching enormous sizes, whereas in “low-productivity” forests, such as in rocky or boggy areas with nutrient-poor soils, growth is stunted and trees may take centuries to get as large as those in high-productivity sites will get in just a few decades, never achieving monumental size. All of the monumental old-growth forests that are so inspiring to people around the world, such as Cathedral Grove, Avatar Grove, Eden Grove, and the Meares Island Big Tree Trail, are examples of high-productivity, old-growth forests. Productivity is connected to seasonal temperatures but also reflects the richness of the soil, drainage, and bedrock.

Frequently, the highest-productivity forests exist as little pockets or ribbons along valley bottoms, surrounded by lower-productivity forests. Traditionally, logging has high-graded out these high-productivity groves (like someone eating all of the chocolate chips from a trail mix), leaving behind only the lower-productivity forests (the raisins). Without targets that account for productivity distinctions, protection will again be skewed toward low-productivity environments with small trees, while the large trees so coveted by industry continue to fall. Less than 10% of the original productive, old-growth forests of Vancouver Island and the south coast of BC are safeguarded under legislated protection, and across the province, less than 5% of the most productive old-growth forests with the largest trees remain.

Independent research has demonstrated that the most productive, big-tree forests have been reduced to a tiny fraction of their original extent across the range of BC’s forested ecosystems. Big-tree forests are also disproportionately important for biodiversity and wildlife habitat. These forests continue to be aggressively targeted for logging and have been historically underrepresented in protected areas.

Therefore, old-growth protection must prioritize protecting the best of what remains: the most productive old-growth forests in BC — starting with deferrals and followed by permanent legislated protection. The heart of BC’s 30×30 protection goals and the BEHF must be the protection of big-tree forests and other at-risk ecosystems.

2. Guiding the Protected Area Plan and the Application of the Conservation Financing Fund

 

BC has pledged to protect 30% of its total land area by 2030 — an ambitious conservation goal that would double existing protected areas across the province. To support this goal, BC has signed a nearly $1.1 billion nature agreement with the federal government that includes a $300-million conservation financing fund to support Indigenous conservation. But so far, the province has not announced any formal “protected areas strategy”. Instead, the province has signalled that it will take a passive role in distributing funding and support for protected areas as they are brought forward rather than actively identifying gaps in the protected areas system and using conservation financing to enable Indigenous-led protection of the most threatened ecosystems. The BEHF must be the roadmap that guides the province’s 30×30 commitments within the context of a sorely needed BC Protected Areas Strategy, setting the vision that these vast resources can be harnessed to achieve, and providing legal targets to represent all ecosystems in BC’s protected area expansion. Otherwise, the overall target of protecting 30% by 2030 will likely default to protecting vast areas with mainly rock, ice, and small trees, while the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems are again underrepresented.

3. Enshrine Rigorous Protection Standards

 

The Framework must identify legislated protected areas as foundational to maintaining ecological health. These areas must not have moveable boundaries and must have the standards and permanency to exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas activities. We are concerned that the province is emphasizing weaker conservation reserves, such as Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMAs), where boundaries can be moved under timber industry lobby efforts, and Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs), where logging in some areas can occur.

Genuine legislated protection, such as Provincial Conservancies and various Protected Area designations, that exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development while protecting First Nations subsistence, co-management authority and rights and title, are essential tools for preserving biodiversity and ecosystem health in the larger and central core areas of highest conservation value.

OGMAs and WHAs will remain vital parts of the conservation reserve system to pick up the pieces of remaining old-growth and vital habitat in managed landscapes, but they are no substitute for landscape-level protected areas. Loopholes must be closed so that these conservation reserves actually permanently safeguard the ecosystems they ostensibly protect.

We are also concerned that the province may develop a new legislated protected area designation that will have weak minimum standards that still allow for commercial logging. Any new protected area designations must include minimum standards that forbid commercial logging (as opposed to the cutting of individual trees by First Nations for cultural purposes, such as monumental redcedar used for dugout canoes, longhouses, and totem poles), mining or oil and gas development within them.

4. Ensure Accountability

 

To ensure ecological health and the representative application of the 2030 protection targets, there must be an implementation committee of independent policy experts tasked with developing the protection plan that incorporates First Nations, stakeholders, NGOs, and public engagement to achieve the provincial targets set by specialized science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees. The province must prepare a report setting out the provincial strategy and implementation efforts necessary to achieve the targets and table it in the legislature. This report shall be updated and tabled on an annual basis and reviewable at least every three years. These measures are aimed at ensuring clear accountability and responsibility for reaching ecosystem-based targets, which are critical to the successful protection of biodiversity in BC.

In summary, we are recommending that the province:

 

  1. Retain the current goal of establishing an Office of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health within the BC Public Service to oversee, implement, and enforce the Framework. This office must have the necessary authority and resources to enforce the transition to ecosystem health across all sectors, including developing independent science teams to devise ecosystem-based targets, ensuring that land-use planning and decisions are done in a manner consistent with the goals of the Framework and counterbalance the overwhelmingly industry-centric priorities that have so far guided land management.
  2. Ensure that the BEHF explicitly guides BC’s commitment to protect 30% of the province by 2030 through ecosystem-based targets that protect all seral stages, productivity classes, and ecosystem types down to the site series level based on their natural range of variation across the province. As the most productive ecosystems in BC have been so extremely depleted, the BEHF must enshrine the protection of the most at-risk and productive old-growth forests and ecosystems where the biggest trees grow and richest biodiversity resides instead of areas of less commercial and ecological value that are currently overrepresented in the protected areas system.
  3. Guide the application of the newly announced $300-million conservation financing fund and the $1-billion BC Nature Agreement funding to link the support of First Nations’ sustainable economic development to the protection of the most at-risk old-growth forests and ecosystems. It is imperative that conservation financing is directed toward the ecosystems that need it most and not provided on an ad-hoc, first-come-first-served basis.
  4. Enshrine fully legislated protection with rigorous standards and permanency as foundational to the Framework using models that incorporate Indigenous leadership, co-management and traditional use and still retain the standards and permanency necessary to prevent industrial activity. Provincial Conservancies are a good model for meeting protection goals while respecting First Nations rights and title. The Framework, however, must adhere to the centrality of legislated protected areas as foundational to prioritizing ecosystem-based health. Overemphasis on developing even more stringent methods to practice industrial extraction in threatened ecosystems instead of identifying the areas most in need of full protection will continue to see the erosion of BC’s irreplaceable ecosystems. As this Framework is finalized, we will need to see Ecosystem-Based Protection Targets focused on the most biodiverse and threatened ecosystems such as productive old-growth forests. Without these protection targets to safeguard areas from industrial extraction, we will continue to see these ecosystems further chipped away at and degraded.
  5. Enforce accountability and transparency through legally binding milestones, objectives, and timelines set out by independent science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Holder panels, with dedicated regional committees that implement provincial biodiversity directives.