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Ancient Forest Alliance calls for science-based forest plan

Apr 13 2013/in News Coverage

*Note: The Green Party has adopted the key recommendations of the Environmental Law Clinic’s proposed Old-Growth Protection Act. It appears that the NDP support the scientific assessment component of the proposal, however they have not yet committed to the calls for protection and fully ending old-growth logging in endangered regions.

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Up-to-date science and legislation without massive loopholes is needed to protect B.C.’s remaining old-growth forests, says the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Clinic.

The proposed Old-Growth Protection Act was produced by the clinic at the request of the Ancient Forest Alliance. The group’s executive director, Ken Wu, hopes it will spur the government to action.

“It’s time for a new, science-based plan,” he said.

An industry transition to second-growth trees is inevitable as the last unprotected old-growth stands are logged, Wu said.

“We simply want the B.C. government to ensure the transition is completed sooner, while these ancient forests still stand.”

The proposal, which is similar to a plan released Friday by the Green Party of B.C., is based on immediately stopping old-growth logging in critically endangered forests and phasing out old-growth logging where there’s a high risk to biodiversity and the ecosystem.

Major elements of the plan include appointing a science panel to carry out inventories and forest risk assessments, establishing different harvest rates for old-growth and second-growth, and legally designating old-growth reserves so there are consistent, enforceable rules.

Calvin Sandborn, the clinic’s legal director, said the plan is practical, science-based and politically doable.

“We wanted something that would fix the flaws in the current system, and the flaws are numerous,” he said.

Protection now offered by old-growth management areas is limited, Sandborn said.

Boundaries are adjusted to move protected areas away from valuable old-growth stands, logging is conducted under the guise of protecting forest health, small, stunted old-growth trees are protected, rather than big stands, and areas protected under forest rules can still be harvested by the oil and gas industry, Sandborn said.

If science and current mapping were used to establish which areas should be protected, much of the political heat would disappear, especially as protecting ancient trees produces more jobs over the long term than cutting them down, he said.

“These trees are our equivalent of the ancient cathedrals of Europe,” he said.

Forests Minister Steve Thomson could not be reached Friday.

NDP environment critic Rob Fleming said the proposed legislation “speaks to the urgency of the issue.”

“The idea of a science panel to assess the inventory of old growth on the Island is a good one, and I think it’s supportable,” he said. “It echoes an earlier call from the Forest Practices Board.”

The Green party is also calling for more science-based assessments and a provincial inventory of remaining old-growth forests.

“Given the scarcity of remaining productive old growth in much of our province, it is clear that we need to head in a new science-based direction to manage our forests,” said Green leader Jane Sterk.

The party also wants to see incentives for companies to retool mills so they can handle second-growth trees, and emergency protection for endangered ecosystems, such as the eastern Vancouver Island coastal Douglas fir zone.

CTV – Environmental Law Centre Proposes BC Old-Growth Act

Apr 12 2013/in News Coverage

CTV News – The Environmental Law Centre of the University of Victoria is proposing a science-based Old Growth Protection Act for British Columbia with timelines to immediately protect critically endangered old-growth forests and to quickly phase out old growth logging in highly endangered forests. Direct Link to video: https://youtu.be/wb09Z0-4rmE

See the full press release and report here: www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=624

Upper Walbran Valley - Giant redcedar stump. Vancouver Island

“Old Growth Protection Act” needed to preserve BC’s Natural Heritage

Apr 11 2013/in Media Release

A legislative proposal for an “Old Growth Protection Act” by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre (ELC) would ensure better protection for BC’s ancient forest heritage if adopted by the provincial government. The science-based plan would incorporate timelines to immediately end old-growth logging in “critically endangered” forests, and quickly phase out old-growth logging where there is a “high risk” to biological diversity and ecosystem integrity.

Specifically, the Old Growth Protection Act would require:

Appointment of a Science Panel to carry out inventories and assessments that identify the degree of ecological risk associated with varying levels of remaining old-growth forests.
Partitioning of the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC), the allowable harvest levels for tree farm licences and timber supply areas, to legally differentiate between old-growth and second-growth logging, so different rates of harvest may be applied.
Phasing-out the old-growth cut in areas where forests are endangered, through scientifically-informed timelines ranging from immediate bans to phase-outs over time to allow the forest industry to retool for second-growth, depending on the scarcity of old-growth forests in each region.
Improving the legal protection for old-growth reserves, so that they are mapped, legally designated and consistent rules are applied across resource extraction industries.

“The Forest Practices Board has pointed out some of these problems in the past,” stated Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the UVic Environmental Law Centre. “The Ancient Forest Alliance asked us what could be done to address known deficiencies in old-growth protection laws. While some legal mechanisms are available today under various statutes, we feel there is a need for new legislation and planning that is based on science, governed by timelines, and plugs existing loopholes or inconsistencies.”

Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance executive director stated: “Considering that the timber industry has logged the vast majority of the biggest, best old-growth stands in the lowlands, driving several species towards extinction in this province, it’s time for a new science-based plan that protects our endangered old-growth forests as the timber industry continues its second-growth transition. A complete transition to a second-growth forest industry is inevitable when the last of the unprotected old-growth stands are logged. We simply want the BC government to ensure the transition is completed sooner, while these ancient forests still stand, instead of after they’re all logged outside the limited and often tenuous protections that exist.”

The ELC Report may be viewed at this link: https://elc.uvic.ca/2013-oldgrowthprotectionact/

Ancient Forest Alliance Media Backgrounder

The proposed Old Growth Protection Act would resolve the inadequacies of BC’s current old-growth management system, which include:

– Insufficient protection levels, as is evident from the decline of old-growth dependent species like the spotted owl (only 10 individuals left in BC’s wilds), mountain caribou (40% decline since the 1990’s, from 2500 animals in 1995 to 1500 today), and marbled murrelet (considered to be declining by the BC Conservation Data Center).

– An insufficient scientific basis in establishing old-growth protection target levels and site selection, currently skewed towards minimizing timber supply impacts in the richest stands.

– A failure to distinguish between marginal versus productive old-growth stands, thus allowing non-commercial stands of stunted, small old-growth trees to be substituted in the place of protecting the stands with large trees and greatest biodiversity.

– A failure to distinguish between old-growth and second-growth harvest levels in the Allowable Annual Cut, thus allowing companies to “chase value” by high-grading the highest value old-growth stands first.

– Insufficient firmness in protection standards due to loopholes that allow theoretically protected old-growth forests to be destroyed. These loopholes include an ability to move old-growth protections away from higher value stands into lower value stands, to log under the guise of maintaining forest health, and a lack of protection against mining, oil and gas development, and hydro projects that also destroy forests.

The plan would exclude the Central and North Coast (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest) and Haida Gwaii, where comprehensive old-growth protections and more advanced, science-based land use planning processes are already underway and have partly been implemented.

In areas where the remaining old-growth forests are below targeted protection levels, second-growth forests must also be allowed to age to become old-growth forests again. The establishment of “recruitment reserves” for this purpose as well as the reduction of the second-growth AAC (allowable second-growth cut) will be necessary in endangered regions.

BC’s old-growth forests sustain endangered species, the climate, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and many First Nations cultures.

Most old-growth forests have been logged in southern BC, ranging from 65% to 99% logged in various regions. Valley bottoms and low elevation ecosystems where the largest trees grow and most biodiversity lives have been particularly hard hit. BC government statistics regularly inflate the amount of remaining old-growth forests by including vast tracts of low productivity “bonsai” forests of small, stunted trees growing at high elevations, on steep rocky mountainsides and in bogs of little to no commercial timber value and that are generally lower conservation priorities, while failing to providing a context on how much productive old-growth forests once stood.

See photos of BC’s old-growth forests at: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/

See a new YouTube campaign video of BC’s old-growth forests at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6YTizBF-jE

Authorized by the Ancient Forest Alliance, registered sponsor under the Election Act
Ancient Forest, Alliance, Victoria Main PO, PO Box 8459, Victoria, BC, V8W 3S1 Canada