BC premier’s new forestry plan adds fuel to old-growth fire

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National Observer
June 1st, 2021

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.

The province made initial old-growth deferrals in nine areas of the province in September and has established the Special Tree Regulation to protect up to 1,500 exceptionally large trees, Horgan said.

As well, a timeline to implement all the old-growth recommendations has been set.

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

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Comment: B.C. NDP must keep its old-growth promises

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Times Colonist
May 28, 2021

A commentary by a retired forest ecologist and retired professional forester and professional biologist.

When a province’s motto is invoked ironically, it may be time to reconsider that motto. 

British Columbia’s provincial motto is Splendor sine occasu, a Latin phrase usually translated as “Splendour without diminishment.” Narrowly defined, it was intended to refer to the sun on the provincial shield that “although setting, never decreases.”

But the “splendour” applies equally well to the entire province. B.C. has more topography than any other province or territory — more mountain ranges, more coastlines. It has more climatic zones, more ecosystems and species than anywhere else in Canada. Or perhaps anywhere else in the world at temperate latitudes.

And that “splendour” — B.C.’s natural heritage — has been greatly diminished by our activities. This applies to our oceans and our freshwater as well, but today I’d like to focus on B.C.’s old-growth forests.about:blank

More than 80 per cent of B.C. is covered with forest — we are truly a forested province. There are more types of forest in B.C. than anywhere else in Canada, from our northern boreal forests to our coastal rainforests. For thousands of years, these forests have provided the essentials of life for B.C.’s First Nations. And they’ve provided habitat for our province’s plants, animals and fungi.

But today, we find our rich forest endowment greatly diminished. B.C. logs considerably more forest each year than any other province.

Except where we’ve built large cities, however, we haven’t deforested our province. We’ve simply clearcut our original (old-growth) forests, and regenerated second-growth forests.

But these second-growth forests are profoundly different from the forests that were logged, in just about any way you can imagine. They are different structurally and functionally, and they provide little in the way of habitat for the many species that have adapted over millennia to life in old-growth forests.

And so perhaps it’s not surprising that B.C. leads Canada in another category — we have more threatened and endangered species than any other province or territory.

One area that B.C. doesn’t lead Canada is in protecting old-growth forests and species at risk. We remain one of the few provinces without endangered species legislation.

For old-growth forests with very big old trees, only about three per cent (about 35,000 hectares) remains today outside of protected areas. That’s certainly splendour diminished.

The NDP government’s Old Growth Panel called for a deferral on logging on the most at-risk old-growth forests within six months of publication of its report.

It has been more than a year now, a year during which the rate of old-growth logging has accelerated considerably. The NDP government promised endangered species legislation for our province, but has subsequently changed their mind.

While independent scientists (using provincial government inventory data) have clearly documented and mapped how little high-productivity old-growth forest remains, the provincial government and industry continue to assure us that there is lots left, and they’re developing a plan.

Talk and log. There’s an urgency to this issue — every week fewer of these iconic forests remain.

Fortunately, more and more people are rejecting the “relax, we’re on it” message of the provincial government and industry.

Instead, they’re listening to what independent scientists are saying, or they’re paying attention to what air photos and satellite images are making abundantly clear. Or perhaps they simply appreciate what they see when they drive the backroads of our province.

For old-growth forests and species at risk, there is no objective on-the-ground difference between Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberals and John Horgan’s NDP. They share the same legislation and policies.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that the NDP promised to be a champion for forests and species, and the Liberals never did. That certainly makes the inaction of the NDP seem all the more appallingly cynical.

Activists frustrated at the inaction of our provincial government are beginning to take direct nonviolent action at roadblocks in Fairy Creek and elsewhere.

B.C.’s natural splendour is certainly diminished. But there are clear opportunities for our governments to protect some of what’s left.

For old-growth forests, the recommendations of the government’s own Old Growth Panel report provide an excellent path forward.

The NDP have promised to implement these recommendations. Now, all that’s required is the political will to keep their promises.

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Ottawa dollars can save B.C.’s old-growth forests

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National Observer
May 27, 2021

Conservationists want B.C. to wield federal dollars to save the province’s ancient temperate rainforests. Photo courtesy of the Endangered Ecosystem Alliance

A coalition of conservationists is urging the B.C. government to use federal funds to end the province’s new war in the woods on Vancouver Island, protect old-growth forest and establish targets for endangered ecosystems.

Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said Premier John Horgan should capitalize on federal funding and align with national and international initiatives to set targets to protect vital land and marine areas.

“It’s a game-changing plan,” Wu told the National Observer.

“Because the province can employ federal money to save these areas if Horgan chooses to do it.”

The B.C. government should adopt Canada’s protected areas targets, and preserve at least 25 per cent of its vital land and marine ecosystems by 2025, and 30 per cent by 2030, said Wu.

Currently, 15 per cent of B.C.’s land area is falls into legislated protected areas, compared to 13 per cent nationally, the alliance said.

The rest of the world is working aggressively to expand protected at-risk ecosystems, and B.C. should follow suit and protect its most valuable ancient forests at the same time, Wu said, particularly as the province boasts the greatest ecological diversity in the country.

B.C.’s participation is critical for Canada to meet its own national and international protected areas commitments, he added.

“Will B.C. join the North American leadership movement to solve the intertwined climate and biodiversity crisis or get left behind as an anti-environmental conservation laggard?” Wu asked.

Rachel Ablack, of the Ancient Forest Alliance, and Ken Wu of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance sit next to a logged old-growth giant in B.C. Photo TJ Watt

A total of $3.3 billion to protect land and seas has been set aside by Ottawa in the latest budget, Wu said, adding $2.3 billion is dedicated to terrestrial areas.

B.C.’s part of the funding pie would likely range between $200 and $300 million, which would go a long way to protecting the province’s most valuable ancient forests.

The federal funding comes at a critical time for B.C., conservationist Vicky Husband, renowned B.C. conservationist awarded both the Order of Canada and the Order of B.C. for her work to protect old-growth over 40 years.

“Right now the B.C. government is being pressured by deeply concerned citizens across (the province) and beyond for an immediate moratorium on old growth logging of the last remaining most bio-diverse forests,” Husband said in a press statement.

“This pressure for change also includes support for First Nations who want to protect critical old growth forests in their territory.”

It’s vital B.C. dedicate a significant chunk of the funding to Indigenous Protected Areas, First Nations land use plans, and the acquisition of private lands for protection, the Alliance said.

Also, the province should support B.C. communities dependent on forestry revenue by providing financing for First Nations sustainable economic development linked to newly protected areas, incentives and regulations to grow a value-added, second-growth forest industry, and provide a just transition for B.C. old-growth forestry workers.

While federal funding won’t save all of B.C.’s old-growth, it could protect areas of concern and help end blockades and protests such as those currently underway on southern Vancouver Island and the Fairy Creek watershed, said TJ Watt, a campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“The B.C. NDP government has just been handed the keys to ensure much of the grandest, most endangered old-growth forests in B.C. get protected,” said Watt in a press statement.

“Will they keep the door shut or let the solution in?”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

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‘We don’t have time’: scientists urge B.C. to immediately defer logging in key old-growth forests amid arrests

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The Narwhal
May 19, 2021

One year after an independent panel recommended the province immediately halt logging in B.C’s rarest forests, no meaningful deferrals have been implemented

B.C.’s rarest forest ecosystems are rapidly disappearing and if the province doesn’t act immediately to defer logging in key areas, as recommended by the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review, they will be lost forever, according to a report released Wednesday by a team of independent scientists. 

The analysis of B.C.’s remaining old growth forests and mapping tools aims to help the province meet the recommendations of the old-growth panel.

While the map was designed to flag forests that meet the criteria for deferral rather than note specific at-risk locations, the authors noted it includes places like the Nahmint River watershed and Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, currently a hot spot of protest and near where the RCMP began making arrests on Tuesday as part of its enforcement of an injunction. The map also identifies unharvested old-growth in the Babine watershed near Smithers and rare cedar hemlock old-growth near Nelson as top-priority areas for logging deferrals. 

The new analysis takes its lead from the independent strategic review commissioned by the province, which outlined criteria to determine which forests are of the highest value and most at-risk, and clarifies which areas should be immediately protected. The review recommended the province defer development in old forests with a high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.

“It’s been a year since that report went to the government and there have been no meaningful deferrals since that time,” Rachel Holt, forest ecologist and one of the authors of the report, told The Narwhal in an interview. “We waited for the government to map what the panel recommended and there’s been no action — so we decided to just do it.”

While the province implemented deferrals last year that ostensibly protected 353,000 hectares of forest, closer inspection revealed how the numbers were skewed to include already protected areas and 157,000 hectares of second-growth forests open to logging. The province subsequently adjusted its numbers to reflect the inclusion of second-growth.

The new analysis identifies about 1.3 million hectares of at-risk forests across the province, which is about 2.6 per cent of B.C.’s timber supply. According to the analysis, the actual area that requires logging deferrals will be much smaller and the province has the tools to put any planned cutblocks and road building on hold while it works with First Nations and other stakeholders to develop land use plans. 

“Following the old-growth strategic review panel’s direction, [the province] should take that map and overlay it with planned cut blocks and defer harvest in those areas until the planning is done,” Holt said. 

An old-growth stump remains in an old clearcut in the Caycuse watershed. Photo: Jesse Winter / The Narwhal

Old-growth review recommended a ‘paradigm shift’ in how B.C. manages its forests

The strategic review highlighted the urgent need to stop looking at B.C.’s forests as timber supply and start prioritizing Indigenous Rights and ecological and cultural values. It acknowledged this transition won’t happen overnight but noted the urgent need to put the brakes on logging the rarest trees while creating a new strategy.

The first step is to figure out which forests need to be saved, which is where Holt and her colleagues come in. 

“Our map represents the key criteria that the old-growth panel outlined for immediate logging deferrals, including the tallest, largest forests, plus rare and ancient forest,” Dave Daust, forester, modeler and project lead, said in a press release. 

“With this blueprint, the province can act immediately to ensure any existing or planned logging in these areas is put on hold while it pursues a government-to-government approach for forest management that puts Indigenous rights and interests, ecological values and community resilience ahead of timber volume.”

Holt explained that the data and maps were created based on current provincial information, but said there are gaps that will need to be addressed. 

“There will be places on the ground that aren’t on the map. They should be added, like known cultural areas or known high-value areas that for some reason don’t show up,” she said, adding that there may also be areas that have already been logged.

A famed, solitary old-growth Douglas fir named Lonely Doug stands in a clear cut not far from the Fairy Creek and Caycuse watersheds. Photo: Jesse Winter / The Narwhal

Scientists say there is no time to ‘talk and log’

In his 2020 election campaign, Premier John Horgan committed to implementing the panel’s recommendations.

“We will act on all 14 recommendations and work with Indigenous leaders and organizations, industry, labour and environmental organizations on the steps that will take us there,” he wrote.

But Holt said the province isn’t acting fast enough.

“There isn’t time to talk and log and try to create perfect maps,” she said. “Nothing is perfect, but we need to move forward.”

As The Narwhal recently reported, very little remains of B.C.’s old-growth forests. Holt, Daust and ecologist Karen Price calculated that just 415,000 hectares of productive old-growth forest remains in the province. Productive old-growth supports numerous endangered and threatened species, including caribou and northern goshawk.

As to whether the province will use the map to implement meaningful deferrals, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development told The Narwhal in an emailed statement it is committed to protecting B.C.’s ancient forests for future generations. 

“We know there is a lot more work to do. That’s why this government commissioned an independent panel to advise us on how we could do better when it comes to protecting old forests. Now, our government is working on next steps — which includes important engagement with Indigenous peoples, environmental advocates and forest-dependent communities around identifying additional deferral areas.”

Holt emphasized that the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“We are losing biodiversity and we’re losing carbon storage,” she said. “Old large tree ecosystems hold a phenomenal carbon store. We don’t have time to plant trees and wait 100 years.”

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‘A Garage Sale for the Last Old Growth’

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The Tyee
May 14, 2021

Two summers ago, Brenda Sayers knelt atop what was left of British Columbia’s likely ninth widest Douglas fir tree. Sayers, a member of the Hupačasath First Nation, has long fought to protect old growth in her territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“The old growth holds a lot of our history,” she said. “That tree must have been 800 years old.”

It had been felled in the Nahmint Valley by companies given the go-ahead by BC Timber Sales, the province’s own logging agency, and the largest tenure holder in the province.

On Wednesday, B.C.’s forestry watchdog found that BC Timber Sales erred when it allowed that tree and the forests surrounding it to be clearcut.

Three years after it was launched, the investigation found that the province wrongly greenlit a plan from BC Timber Sales that failed to protect land-use objectives for biodiversity and old growth protection in the Nahmint River Watershed as set out by the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan.

According to the BC Forest Practices Board report, “gaps” in BC Timber Sales’ planning “occurred over a long period of time and are creating real risks to ecosystems.” It also found that although BC Timber Sales knew about those gaps, it didn’t adequately address them.

The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by the Ancient Forest Alliance in 2018 after its campaigners and members visited BC Timber Sales cutblocks in the Nahmint along with the Port Alberni Watershed Alliance. 

“We witnessed just horrendous logging of some of the finest remaining old growth on Vancouver Island,” said Andrea Inness, forest campaigner for the alliance.

Behind the scenes, the province responded by commissioning two internal investigations on what happened in the Nahmint. 

Their conclusions — made visible through a freedom of information request filed by the Ancient Forest Alliance — found that logging in the Nahmint should be halted until the issues were addressed.

Now the board is calling on the province to create a new plan for the Nahmint region with clear targets to protect rare, old growth ecosystems. That includes halting any current or future auctions until that happens. 

“We would say you probably shouldn’t be investing in developing those kind of timber sales until this plan is figured out,” says BC Forest Practices Board chair Kevin Kriese.

BC Timber Sales and the province have until Sept. 15 to respond to the recommendations.

Meanwhile, BC Timber Sales continues to auction off cutblocks across the province. On the Island, over 50 per cent of that is considered old growth.

This year, BC Timber Sales plans to auction off over 1,100 hectares of old growth on Vancouver Island. That’s more than half of the land mass of the City of Victoria.

Since 2018, BC Timber Sales’ old growth cutblocks on the Island have been four times as large — over 4,000 hectares.

Last September, the province promised a “paradigm shift” in its approach to managing old growth, agreeing to implement all 14 recommendations from the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review Panel report released last year. It committed to doing that through government-to-government consultation with First Nations.

In an emailed statement to The Tyee, the province acknowledged issues around old growth. “We know, and we’ve said clearly, that the status quo on old growth isn’t acceptable.”

When questioned about BC Timber Sales’ own old growth logging activity on the Island, the province said that the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel “did not say there needs to be a complete halt to old growth logging,” adding that, “it’s important to understand that B.C. forests are among the most well-regulated and sustainably managed in the world.”

Who is BC Timber Sales?

BC Timber Sales was founded by the province in 2003 in an attempt to address a longstanding softwood lumber dispute with the U.S.

Before BC Timber Sales, major companies did most of the logging in the province. They also enjoy financial benefits flowing from their long-term tenures. “They’re essentially rent-controlled,” says Torrance Coste, national campaign director with the Wilderness Committee. 

As a result, the U.S. claimed those companies had an unfair advantage. The province responded by taking back one-fifth of their allowable cut and giving it to the newly founded BC Timber Sales, which would operate as a “semi-autonomous” Crown corporation. 

Because of its open-bid system, the lumber sold through BC Timber Sales-owned cutblocks are said to reflect the fair market price, which in turn helps the province set the rates for other forest licenses in the province.

BC Timber Sales suggests that the open market system distributes employment to rural communities. In a promotional video, the agency says that “by providing a reliable supply of timber through open and competitive auctions to loggers, wood processors and other forestry businesses, BCTS supports workers in rural communities across B.C.”

As of 2018, its operations supported 8,000 jobs in B.C, providing over $50 million in net revenue per year to the province, and it awarded $140 million in contracts per year to the private sector.

Calls by The Tyee to the Truck Loggers Association and the BC Council of Forest Industries were not answered by press time.

BC Timber Sales blocks come almost ready-made: they do the timber cruising, build the main roads, and make sure their blocks comply with forest policies and regulations. According to the province, “a number of biodiversity, wildlife, cultural and social values correlate to old growth stands and are specifically considered during the planning and development phases.”

But in the Nahmint, the BC Forest Practice Board’s report put that process in question.

The board found that throughout its history, BC Timber Sales sold cutblocks without an adequate forest stewardship plan to tell them how to translate the old growth and biodiversity requirements in the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan to their cutblock planning in the Nahmint. That’s because of a lack of checks and balances within the agency, said Kriese.

“Checking in on land use plans and how they’re being implemented is a weak spot,” he said, adding that oversight is largely “complaint driven.”

“Unless someone raises the issue, there actually isn’t a lot of investigation to see whether that’s being followed or not.”

Even if the agency was following the rules correctly, that would still pose problems for old growth, says Inness. “We can only hold BC Timber Sales and any other logging company accountable to the laws that exist,” she said. “Those laws are extremely outdated, and clearly put timber values well ahead of any other values — like biodiversity.”

That puts the onus on government, says Inness, to legislate rules that put old growth protection front and centre. “That’s why we need those old growth recommendations from the independent panel implemented.”

Ross Muirhead, forest campaigner with Elphinstone Logging Focus, agrees. “They’re part of the hidden levers of government,” says Muirhead, “they’re going to keep going until they’re told — until there’s actual new legislation around how much old growth can be logged or how much old growth should be protected. It’s just business as usual.”

Then there’s the issue of accountability from companies buying BC Timber Sales blocks. 

The best way to find out what companies are actually doing on the ground, said Mark Worthing, coastal projects lead for the Sierra Club of BC, is to visit the site itself. That’s also the only way to know which company is actually logging the block. 

Companies that buy BC Timber Sales tenures tend to contract logging out to smaller operations. Sometimes those operators re-contract the job out again.

Worthing points to a picture of a BC Timber Sales cutblock with a sign nailed to a tree. The logging company’s name and phone number is written down in black Sharpie.

“They’re wholesale auctioning out stuff off to contractors who have very limited liability,” says Worthing. “They’re basically like a garage sale for the last old growth.”

Rare ecosystems on the cutting block

The Tsitika and Nahmint valleys are home to some of the island’s largest remaining tracts of unprotected, old growth forest on the island — they’re also hotspots for BC Timber Sales cutblocks.

These forests are extremely rare, according to a recent study by Karen Price, Dave Daust and Rachel Holt, who found that only one per cent consists of the big tree ecosystems that often come to mind when we hear about old growth.

“When it comes to BC Timber Sales, they are often located in the last remaining highest productivity, high biodiversity sites,” said Andrea Inness, campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

The Nahmint is a prime example. After Clayoquot Sound, the Nahmint is one of the largest tracts of old growth remaining on Vancouver Island. It’s home to endangered species like the marbled murrelet, whose habitat depends on old growth. 

“It’s very devastating to see the amount of trees being taken down,” said Brenda Sayers. “There is no regard for wildlife.”

BC Timber Sales is planning to auction off 212.6 hectares in the Nahmint region this year — a marked increase from its rolling average of 56 hectares per year in the region since the agency began. In the coming years, the agency has over 600 hectares of old growth in the Nahmint mapped out for logging.

According to the BC Forest Practices Board report, those sales and planning processes should be halted immediately until a new plan is in place.

BC Timber Sales’ operations in the Nahmint throws its operations across the province into question, says TJ Watt, campaigner for the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“If we caught that there, what’s going on in other places as well?”

This year, BC Timber Sales is auctioning off four old growth blocks consisting of over 190 hectares in the Tsitika valley.

The Tsitika, located between Ma’a̱mtagila and Tlowitsis territories, was once the lesser-known site of old growth blockades in the 1990s. The province established the Lower Tsitika River provincial park in response, protecting about 10 per cent of the area adjacent to the coast and Robson Bight. 

“The big, gut-wrenching trade-off was that it meant that they weren’t able to protect the upper Tsitika,” said Worthing. “So what we’re seeing now is the consequences of that.”

“They’re taking out the guts and feathers of the valley,” says Muirhead, who has been tracking BC Timber Sales activities on Vancouver Island. “They’re just taking everything. The valley bottom is gone, it looks like 50 per cent of the mid elevation is gone, and now they’re going higher up the slopes.”

The region is home to all five species of Pacific salmon whose spawning beds require consistent water flows and temperatures — both of which are impacted by logging. “We’re seeing less and less return and that’s a direct impact of logging — all the runoff goes into the creek,” said Seneca Ambers, spokesperson for the Ma’a̱mtagila First Nation.

“We’re the salmon people. We live off the salmon year-round — or we used to,” says Ambers, whose family now receives only one or two salmon for the year.

Among the proposed blocks in the region, Tsitika Main, a 35-hectare clearcut to be auctioned off this July, nudges up against a stream that flows into the Tsitika River. 

The Tsitika and the surrounding forests are also rich in culturally modified cedars. These trees are landmarks for traditional territory, says artist and hereditary Ma’a̱mtagila Chief Rande Cook (Makwala), but he’s seen BC Timber Sales cutblocks where these trees were felled. “To wipe these trees out, and to cut us down in the process, officially removes the Indigenous people from those territories for good.”

Consultation versus consent

BC Timber Sales consults with Indigenous Nations before logging occurs in their territories. “A primary objective is to work towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples,” said the province in an emailed statement, adding that BC Timber Sales integrates the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act into its planning decisions.

But Sayers said those commitments are falling short.

In 2018, the Hupačasath band council released an open letter calling for the B.C. government to extinguish all approved old growth cutblocks in the Nahmint Valley. The province committed to entering into talks with the Nation, but BC Timber Sales’ cutblocks continued to be sold in the territory. 

The same year, the BC Assembly of First Nations passed a motion calling for BC Timber Sales to be dissolved, and its tenure lands redistributed to First Nations.

“I’ve always said that reconciliation begins on the land,” said Sayers. “Until companies like BC Timber Sales and federal and provincial policy support First Nations and their right to protect the land, they can call it whatever they want on these websites. To me, it’s just talking out of both sides of their mouth.”

The Hupačasath First Nation were not available to respond to The Tyee’s request for comment at press time, and the Tseshaht First Nation did not respond to our request. 

BC Timber Sales does not consult with the The Ma’a̱mtagila hereditary chiefs whose territory that includes the Tsitika, Naka Creek and Schmidt Creek regions. That’s because government accepted a resolution proposed by the Tlowitsis band administration that functionally erased the Ma’a̱mtagila claim to their territories in the eyes of the province, said Ambers. “We ended up not having any voice in any of the decisions being made.” 

The Ma’a̱mtagila Nation is currently working to reassert their title through the courts.

Instead, the province confirmed that BC Timber Sales consults with the Tlowitsis First Nation through the Nanwakolas Council, which represents five Nations in the region and does not include the hereditary chiefs of the Ma’a̱mtagila.

Ambers says BC Timber Sales is shirking its responsibility to consult with the Nation. “It’s just a blatant disregard for that complexity and a disregard for the Ma’a̱mtagila people” she said.

Cook said BC Timber Sales should put old growth logging in the Tsitika region on hold until title issues are resolved. 

“Industry never stops,” he said. “It’s like, okay, let us spend a year figuring this out and taking it into court. But in a year, you could have areas completely wiped out from logging.”

Dallas Smith, board president of the Nanwakolas Council, oversees BC Timber Sales referrals for the Tsitika region.

Smith said he is concerned about old growth in the region, but revenue from old growth logging continues to be an important source of funding for the council’s member Nations. 

“We still need to keep harvesting in these areas,” he said. “BC Timber Sales is a vehicle that does that because they’re the biggest tenure holder in the area.

“But there has to be room in there to find that balance,” said Smith, referencing the need to protect some of the region’s old growth forests.

Amidst government’s promises of a new era of growth protection, Smith said he’s noticed industry ramping up its logging activity in the region.

The council has a 30 to 60-day window to provide feedback on referrals from BC Timber Sales, and they’re struggling to keep up. “We can make sure we’re putting as much lipstick on the pig as we can on their bad plans. But now we’re seeing these bad plans come a little quicker and sooner.”

“Our message to the province is going to be you know what, no more of these bad plans. You need to sit down with us. And we need to figure this out. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road on this issue.”

For Smith, that also means slowing down or stopping the rate of cut until a plan can be established. “We can’t let that talk-and-log happen anymore.”

For Ambers, the problem with BC Timber Sales’ approach with Indigenous Nations lies in the difference between consultation and consent. 

“Consultation just means that you’ve asked for their opinions,” said Ambers. “Consent implies that you’re asking for permission and that you’re honouring it if somebody says no.”

If BC Timber Sales began to use a consent-based model, Ambers thinks the practices of BC Timber Sales would need to change. “A lot of our Nations don’t consent to the total wipeout of our forests.”

‘This is the low-hanging fruit’

Torrance Coste thinks that as a crown corporation, BC Timber Sales could model the paradigm shift on old growth the province has committed to. 

“It’s like — this is the low-hanging fruit, you guys,” said Coste. “You could write a directive that says, hey, however much old growth you laid out this year, lay out half next year, and then half the year after that.”

Inness agrees. “They’ve promised big, big, big things,” she said, pointing to the province’s commitments to halt logging in at-risk areas within six months and to develop a strategy to transition to the second growth sector in a year. 

With those deadlines looming, Inness says the province is shirking its opportunity to use BC Timber Sales as a vehicle for change.

“Instead of championing conservation and forestry solutions that support communities, they’re using BC Timber Sales to continue to destroy rare ecosystems,” she said. “It’s more than a missed opportunity. It’s willful ignorance on the B.C. government’s part.”  [Tyee]

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Systemic errors in managing Nahmint’s old growth, says B.C. watchdog

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Ha-Shilth-Sa
May 13, 2021

B.C.’s forestry watchdog has released a report critical of logging practices in the Nahmint valley, pointing to inconsistencies in protecting the area’s old growth forest.

On Wednesday, May 12 the Forest Practices Board released its findings, nearly three years after a complaint from the Ancient Forest Alliance sparked the investigation into old-growth logging in the valley. The independent watchdog found that forestry management standards set by the government were not met in how the Nahmint was handled by BC Timber Sales, a provincial agency responsible for auctioning off Crown land for harvesting.

Covering nearly 20,000 hectares south of Sproat Lake, the Nahmint Valley lies within Nuu-chah-nulth territory, containing old growth forest that includes some of the largest Western red cedar and Douglas fir trees in British Columbia. According to the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan Higher Level Plan Order, the Nahmint is designated as a special Management Zone. The valley is also considered one of the five “high biodiversity landscape units” in the Vancouver Island plan, a designation that sets particularly high levels of conservation for an unprotected forest.

But the forest stewardship plan that BC Timber Sales has been operating under does not adequately protect the Nahmint according to this designation, said Kevin Kriese, chair of the Forest Practices Board.

“BCTS’s FSP did not meet the legal objective, and it should not have been approved,” he said. “We looked at the remaining forest in the watershed and found there are some ecosystems that could be at risk if more logging takes place in them.”

After a 2019 field trip to the Nahmint with the Ancient Forest Alliance, plus dozens of interviews with regional experts and government staff, the Forest Practices Board uncovered a series of systemic errors in how the valley was managed by B.C. Timber Sales.

“What we found was that the district manager made an error in approving this forest stewardship plan, even though it was not consistent with the government objectives,” said Kriese.

He noted that the necessary level of site-specific planning was never done, even though the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan prioritized the Nahmint for such a detailed assessment.  

“More detailed landscape unit planning was supposed to provide clear direction on how much and where to conserve old and mature forest, but that planning was never completed,” said Kriese. “BCTS was left with a complicated set of legal objectives to interpret, and we found it missed important details that are required to manage for biodiversity in the Nahmint.”

The investigation began when the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered enormous trees that were recently cut in the valley, including a few with dimensions comparable to stands listed on the BC Big Tree Registry, a public archive of the province’s largest examples of different species. A disturbed bear den was also discovered inside one of the logged old growth trees, raising concern that forestry practices in the Nahmint were below provincial standards for the area.

“With the Forest Practices Board’s investigation now complete, the evidence is irrefutable: BC Timber Sales are failing to adequately protect old-growth in the Nahmint Valley,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “This failure exposes the gross inadequacies and lack of accountability that are inherent in BC’s forest system and the need for immediate, systemic change.”

But while the watchdog found that provincial standards weren’t met in Nahmint, logging can continue in the valley with no legal ramifications. This is due to gaps in the Forest and Range Practices Act, a legislative issue that made actions to protect the old growth forest by the Compliance and Enforcement Branch futile.

“It later asked BCTS to bring itself into compliance by amending the forest stewardship plan. BCTS stated at the time it was not required to comply with the higher-level plan order because it had an approved FSP,” explained Kriese of the failure in enforcement. “It closed the file and referred to the file to the Forest Practices Board.”

The FPB has recommended that the province conduct landscape unit planning, and to not sell any more timber in Nahmint’s “high risk ecosystems” until a more specific assessment of the area is conducted. An answer from the Ministry of Forests is expected by Sept. 15.

In an emailed response to Ha-Shilth-Sa, the ministry did not say logging will cease in the Nahmint’s high risk areas. But some measures are being taken.

“[T]he ministry if updating the Nahmint Landscape Unit Plan, adjusting Old Growth Management Areas to better capture rare and underrepresented ecosystems and biodiversity targets at the landscape level,” wrote a ministry spokesperson. “The updated Landscape Unit Plan will come into effect soon, ensuring biodiversity protection across the range of ecosystems in the Nahmint.”

Meanwhile, softwood lumber prices have reached records highs, with some species tripling in value since the beginning of the pandemic. These economic factors with undoubtably put demands on the old-growth trees within the Nahmint valley, where an average of 56 hectares have been harvested a year by BCTS since 2003, while another 22 hectares is typically cut annually by the Tseshaht First Nation under its current five-year license.   

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B.C. forestry watchdog finds lack of compliance in Nahmint logging

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Alberni Valley News
May 13, 2021

Forest Practices Board says old growth and biodiversity near Port Alberni are at risk

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous western red cedar stump in a BCTS-issued cutblock in the Nahmint Valley. (PHOTO COURTESY TJ WATT)

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness walks beside an enormous western red cedar stump in a BCTS-issued cutblock in the Nahmint Valley. (PHOTO COURTESY TJ WATT)

A British Columbia forestry watchdog has found that old growth and biodiversity near Port Alberni are at risk.

The report comes three years after the Ancient Forest Alliance submitted a complaint to the Forest Practices Board about timber harvesting in the Nahmint River Watershed. The board has determined that BC Timber Sales failed to comply with land-use objectives for biodiversity protection in the Nahmint Valley.

Now, the board says the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development needs to find a way to make sure this lack of compliance doesn’t happen again.

The Nahmint, located about 20 kilometres southwest of Port Alberni, is designated as a special management zone for its high biodiversity and wildlife, with some of the largest tracts of remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island outside of Clayoquot Sound.

The Ancient Forest Alliance was concerned in 2018 that BC Timber Sales was harvesting large, old-growth trees, overriding its own protective order and the area’s special status.

Kevin Kriese, chair of the Forest Practices Board, said that the board took a look at BC Timber Sales’ forest stewardship plan and determined that its management of old forest was not compliant with government objectives.

“The harvesting and the issues around old forest have been going on for a while,” he said in a media presentation on Wednesday, May 12.

In addition, board staff examined the remaining forest in the watershed and found that there was not adequate old forest remaining in some ecosystems. BC Timber Sales’ forest stewardship plan does not have a strategy to protect these ecosystems—meaning that there are some ecosystems that could be at risk if more logging takes place in them.

“There is a risk…that these actually could be harvested,” said Kriese.

After a complaint from the Ancient Forest Alliance in 2018, the ministry’s compliance and enforcement branch started an investigation that ultimately determined BC Timber Sales was not compliant with government objectives. However, the compliance and enforcement branch also determined that it was not able to take enforcement action under the current legal framework, so it closed the file and referred it to the Forest Practices Board.

“That’s an oversight and that’s a gap,” said Kriese. “The current legal framework does not permit government to ensure that forest stewardship plans approved in error can be amended, and this does not give the public confidence in government’s compliance and enforcement. We are recommending government fix this gap in the legislation.”

The report ultimately found “a number of issues” with government objectives for B.C.’s forests, including the Nahmint River Watershed.

“The Board is concerned that actions are needed now to ensure biodiversity, and old forests in particular, are being adequately protected as forestry activities proceed in this watershed,” the report states. “Ultimately, the responsibility for the gaps in the planning and approval processes rests with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.”

The report recommends that the ministry complete landscape unit planning for Nahmint and that BC Timber Sales amend its forest stewardship plan to achieve the legal objectives. It also recommends that BC Timber Sales ensures it does not sell any timber sales in these high-risk ecosystems until a landscape unit plan is completed.

The final recommendation from the report asks the ministry to identify a mechanism that will allow forest stewardship plans to be corrected if they are out of compliance.

In light of the board’s findings, the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the B.C. government to direct BC Timber Sales to immediately stop auctioning off cutblocks in old-growth forests and instead champion conservation solutions and sustainable second-growth harvesting practices.

“With the Forest Practices Board’s investigation now complete, the evidence is irrefutable,” said Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness in a press release. “BC Timber Sales are failing to adequately protect old-growth in the Nahmint Valley. This failure exposes the gross inadequacies and lack of accountability that are inherent in B.C.’s forest system and the need for immediate, systemic change.”

The full report can be found on the Forest Practices Board’s website at www.bcfpb.ca. The board is requesting a response from BC Timber Sales and the ministry by Sept. 15, 2021.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development says that BC Timber Sales is addressing the board’s recommendations in its operations, and that the ministry is updating Nahmint’s landscape unit plan.

“The board’s independent reports are an important check on forest practices in B.C. and highlight areas where we can improve. We take seriously the board’s recommendations and observations.”

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B.C. timber agency didn’t adequately protect old forest on Vancouver Island: watchdog

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CTV News Vancouver Island
May 13, 2021

logging

The Forest Practices Board says the investigation stemmed from a 2018 complaint about BC Timber Sales licensees’ logging of large old-growth trees in the Nahmint River watershed near Port Alberni. (CTV News)

VICTORIA — An investigation by British Columbia’s forest practices watchdog has found the provincial agency responsible for auctioning timber sale licenses did not adequately protect old forest in an area of Vancouver Island.

The Forest Practices Board says the investigation stemmed from a 2018 complaint about BC Timber Sales licensees’ logging of large old-growth trees in the Nahmint River watershed near Port Alberni.

Board chair Kevin Kriese says the findings show BC Timber Sales’ forest stewardship plan is not consistent with specific biodiversity objectives that are legally required under the Vancouver Island land use plan established two decades ago.

Kriese says more detailed landscape planning was supposed to provide clear direction on how much and where to conserve old and mature forest, but that planning was never completed and the forest stewardship plan should not have been approved.

He says BC Timber Sales was left with a complicated set of legal objectives to interpret, and the board found it missed important details required to manage for biodiversity in the Nahmint.

The Forests Ministry says it appreciates that the board acknowledged old and mature forests make up 67 per cent of the Nahmint area, and BC Timber Sales’ operations are addressing its recommendations.

The board’s report recommends that BC Timber Sales not sell any licenses in areas of “high-risk” ecosystems until the province finishes landscape planning to specify the amounts of forest to retain.

“We looked at the remaining forest in the watershed and found there are some ecosystems that could be at risk if more logging takes place in them,” Kriese says in a statement Wednesday.

The ministry says in a statement it’s updating the Nahmint landscape plan and adjusting old-growth management areas to “better capture rare and under-represented ecosystems and biodiversity targets.”

The updated landscape will come into effect soon, it says.

The board also determined that an investigation started by the Forests Ministry’s compliance and enforcement branch was reasonable. But it was cut short because the branch did not actually have the power to ensure the required objectives of higher-level land use plans are met.

The board is recommending the government fix that gap, Kriese says.

“The current legal framework does not permit government to ensure that (forest stewardship plans) approved in error can be amended, and this does not give the public confidence in government’s compliance and enforcement.”

The Nahmint River watershed is within the traditional territory of the Nuu-chah-nulth people and spans just shy of 200 square kilometres.

The Forest Practices Board says its investigation was triggered when members of the environmental organization Ancient Forest Alliance saw BC Timber Sales’ licensees harvesting large, old trees in 2018.

The Nahmint Valley is considered a “hot spot” for old-growth trees with high conservation value, the alliance says in a statement.

The alliance says it complained to the board after members found very large old-growth trees had been cut in the area, including ancient cedars and the ninth-widest Douglas fir recorded in Canada.

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B.C. ‘shouldn’t have approved’ plan that failed to protect Nahmint old-growth forests: watchdog

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A three-year review by the forest practices board found the provincial government did not meet its legal objective to protect ecosystems and ancient forests in a treasured Vancouver Island watershed

The Narwhal
May 12, 2021

The B.C. government has put biodiversity and old-growth at risk in Vancouver Island’s Nahmint River watershed, which is home to ancient forests with some of the province’s largest Douglas fir trees, a Forest Practices Board investigation has found.  

The investigation, released on Wednesday, concluded the B.C. forests ministry erred in approving a forest stewardship plan put forward by BC Timber Sales, the government agency responsible for auctioning off provincial logging permits.

The plan failed to meet land-use objectives for biodiversity protection, including where and how much old-growth forest should be conserved in the 20,000-hectare watershed southwest of Port Alberni, the three-year investigation found. 

“BC Timber Sales’ forest stewardship plan did not meet the legal objective, and it should not have been approved,” Forest Practices Board chair Kevin Kriese said in a statement. 

“We looked at the remaining forest in the watershed and found there are some ecosystems that could be at risk if more logging takes place in them.” 

The investigation also found BC Timber Sales did not follow good conservation design, use available ecosystem mapping or ensure forest ecosystems were adequately represented at the landscape level through old-growth management areas. These issues have occurred “over a long period of time and are creating real risks to ecosystems,” the board found.

The board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices. It investigates public complaints about practices on public land, along with the appropriateness of government enforcement, and makes recommendations for improvement. 

“The evidence is irrefutable; BC Timber Sales is failing to adequately protect old-growth in the Nahmint Valley,” Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness told The Narwhal. 

“There is such a lack of oversight and accountability inherent in B.C.’s forest system that companies and BC Timber Sales are failing to meet the already inadequate standards that are set for old-growth protection,” Inness said. “And it’s more or less gone unnoticed until now.”

Nahmin Valley old growth clear cut
Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner TJ Watt surveys a sprawling clearcut filled with old-growth Douglas fir trees in the Nahmint Valley. Photo: TJ Watt

The investigation was triggered by a complaint from the Ancient Forest Alliance, following a May 2018 trip to the Nahmint Valley by Inness and other alliance members, including photographer TJ Watt, as well as members of the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance.

Their fact-finding expedition discovered exceptionally large Douglas fir trees — including the fifth and ninth widest Douglas firs ever recorded in the province — scattered amidst the remains of an extensive clearcutting operation. The two groups also documented old-growth cedar stumps measuring almost four metres in diameter.

Inness said trip participants were amazed by the sheer beauty of the Nahmint Valley, which has some of the grandest and most intact ancient rainforests in B.C. outside of the Great Bear Rainforest and Clayoquot Sound. 

“On the flip side, we were struck by the sheer scale and pace of the old-growth logging that was happening there,” she said. “It was as though the trees could not be cut fast enough.” 

Following the expedition, the Ancient Forest Alliance submitted a complaint to the compliance and enforcement branch of B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

Two subsequent investigations — the findings of which were obtained by the Ancient Forest Alliance through a Freedom of Information request — showed BC Timber Sales was not complying with rules designed to ensure sufficient old-growth forest is retained to avoid loss of biodiversity.

One investigation, conducted by a ministry compliance and enforcement officer, recommended that logging in the Nahmint Valley be halted, future harvesting tenures be put on hold and the agency be prevented from establishing Nahmint old-growth management areas — created to protect old-growth and achieve biodiversity targets — while problems were addressed.

The second investigation, conducted outside the ministry, came to similar conclusions, the FOI documents revealed.

Nahmint logging douglas fir
Before and after images of a massive Douglas fir tree in the Nahmint Valley. According to the B.C. Big Tree Registry, this Douglas fir was the ninth-largest of its kind in Canada. Photo: TJ Watt

The Ancient Forest Alliance also called for a halt to old-growth logging in the Nahmint Valley until the Forest Practices Board investigation was complete. 

“That plea was ignored and logging continued,” Inness said. 

She said it is very troubling that the investigation has revealed nothing was done to amend the forest stewardship plan developed by BC Timber Sales — even though the forest ministry district manager who approved the plan was aware of possible non-compliance issues.  

The investigation found the forest stewardship plan was inconsistent with a 2001 Vancouver Island land use plan order, which sets specific objectives for conserving biodiversity. 

It also found B.C.’s legal framework does not permit the government to amend forest stewardship plans approved in error. 

“…[T]hat does not give the public confidence in government’s compliance and enforcement,” Kriese said. “We are recommending government fix this gap in the legislation.” 

The board’s report comes as the BC NDP government drags its heels on implementing recommendations from an independent old-growth strategic review panel it commissioned in 2019. The panel, led by foresters Al Gorley and Garry Merkel, made 14 recommendations that the BC NDP promised during last fall’s election campaign to implement if re-elected. 

In the April 12 Speech from the throne, which lays out the government’s blueprint for the current legislative session, the government appeared to backpedal on the BC NDP’s election promise, saying only that it will “continue to take action on the independent report on old-growth.” 

Critics assert that very little has been done, with the Ancient Forest Alliance and two other conservation groups assigning the government a failing grade in a recent report card that examined progress on implementing the panel’s recommendations. 

In one recommendation, Gorley and Merkel said the government should immediately defer development in old forests “where ecosystems are at very high and near-term risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.” 

Brenda Sayers of the Hupacasath First Nation said she wants to see an end to old-growth logging in the Nahmint. 

“The Nahmint Valley is not only beautiful, its ancient forests and biodiversity are critical to our people’s culture, our identity,” Sayers said in a statement. “Yet the B.C. government is sanctioning the destruction of these ecosystems through its own logging agency, which has shown itself to be incapable of responsibly managing our sacred lands.”

The government has until Sept. 15 to respond to recommendations from the forest practices board, which said the forest stewardship plan should be amended and the ministry should complete a landscape unit plan for the Nahmint. It also said the ministry should identify a mechanism to allow forest stewardship plans to be amended if they are inconsistent with government objectives.

In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said BC Timber Sales is addressing the board’s recommendations in its operations.

The ministry is also updating the Nahmint landscape unit plan and adjusting old-growth management areas “to better capture rare and underrepresented ecosystems and biodiversity targets at the landscape level,” the statement said.

The ministry noted the Nahmint Valley contains 67 per cent of its original mature and old-growth forests, “far more than required by the Vancouver Island land use order,” but it did not specify how much of that is old-growth.

“The board’s independent reports are an important check on forest practices in B.C. and highlight areas where we can improve,” the ministry said. “We take seriously the board’s recommendations and observations.”

Inness said the Ancient Forest Alliance is not interested in watching B.C.’s ancient forests and some of the world’s biggest trees continue to fall, even if the forest stewardship plan for the Nahmint Valley is brought into compliance with “our very inadequate laws.” 

“Those laws need to change,” she said, noting the B.C. government has not announced any new old-growth forest protections or policy changes. 

“It hasn’t even announced its plan for how to implement the [old-growth] panel’s recommendations. We’re calling on the B.C. government to stick to its promise and to deliver those things immediately. More and more of these endangered old-growth forests are falling every single day.”

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No New Money for Old Growth Protection in BC’s Budget

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Spending plan ‘absolutely shatters’ hopes that province is taking changes to forest industry seriously, says advocate.

The Tyee
Apr 2021

GraniteCreekLoggedCedar.jpg
Old-growth red cedar logged in the Granite Creek watershed near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory. Photo by TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance.

Despite calls to end old-growth logging in B.C. and government promises to overhaul its forestry practices, there is no new funding for that transition in the budget announced today.

Instead, the ministry responsible for B.C.’s forest management will see an overall drop in funding over the next three years.

The budget comes seven months after the province released a strategic panel review on old-growth logging, which called for a paradigm shift to prioritize ecosystem health over the timber supply and recognize values like biodiversity, clean water and cultural resources.

The report made 14 recommendations that would totally overhaul the management of old-growth forests, starting with grounding the system in a government-to-government framework involving both the provincial and Indigenous governments.

In releasing the report last September, the province deferred logging in 353,000 hectares of forest, some of which was old growth. The deferral expires Aug. 31, 2022.

In the weeks leading up to B.C.’s fall election, Premier John Horgan promised to implement all 14 recommendations of the old-growth strategic panel review, saying his government is “committed to implementing the report in its totality.” Horgan has cited the need to consult with First Nations as a factor delaying more action on the recommendations.

When asked where funding for implementing the promised changes are in the budget, Finance Minister Selina Robinson said funding already exists under the existing Ministry of Forests budget.

When pressed about the reduction in funding to the ministry — cut 4.4 per cent this year — she repeated her response.

“Like I said, that funding exists, it’s available to the Ministry of Forests, and I’m assured by the minister that they can accommodate that within their budget,” Robinson said.

Torrance Coste, national campaign director with the Wilderness Committee, called the response “frankly shocking.”

“To hear the finance minister say any changes, the paradigm shift itself, just exists within standard… budget absolutely shatters any notion that this government is taking this seriously,” he said, noting that the ministry has other challenges, such as wildfires, that are causing costs to increase.

“They called for a paradigm shift, and now they’re cutting the budget of the ministry that oversees forests. That doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “At the end of the day, the budget needs to be going up if you’re going to do a paradigm shift. Or if it doesn’t, then they need to explain why.”

The budget, which projects an $8.1-billion deficit, says employment is rebounding following unprecedented job losses early in the pandemic and promises to consult with “businesses, economists and Indigenous and community leaders to ensure a strong and sustainable recovery for all B.C. communities.”

In introducing the budget, which focused on health and economic recovery, Robinson touched on the province’s relationship with First Nations, citing its passing of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in 2019.

“The declaration recognizes and respects the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensures that they are involved in decisions that affect them and their territories,” Robinson said, adding that greater Indigenous participation in decision-making provides more certainty for resource-sector investment.

But apart from a significant increase in funding to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for treaty and other land-use agreements, the budget does little to reflect that priority.

It promises $60 million in annual base funding to support engagement with Indigenous Peoples and $17 million over three years to support the implementation of DRIPA and government’s commitments under existing reconciliation agreements, including land transfers.

But Coste noted the Forest Ministry budget for “Forest Policy and Indigenous Relationship” is less than $10.5 million, up from just over $9 million last year.

Last month, environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee issued a statement on the six-month anniversary of the old-growth report assessing progress.

It gave the province a failing grade on providing economic alternatives for First Nations and funding a transition in the industry as old-growth logging is deferred.

It called on the province to provide the needed funding, saying it is fundamental to implementing the old-growth strategy.

In the throne speech delivered two weeks ago, Lt. Gov. Janet Austin noted that economic growth in B.C. has often come at the expense of the environment.

That must change, Austin said, reading a speech written in the premier’s office.

“We can no longer rely on simple resource extraction to generate wealth with no regard to long-term consequences,” she said, promising to work on reforming the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act and updating land-management practices to emphasize environmental protection.

“Your government will continue to take action on the independent report on old growth, which recommended important new protection for remaining old-growth stands not already protected,” she said. “Our economic recovery must become an opportunity to accelerate environmental protection, not an excuse to relax our commitment to sustainability.”

Yet old-growth logging continues in B.C.

Several protestor blockades are currently in place on Vancouver Island to prevent old-growth logging. On April 1, the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction to logging company Teal Cedar, a division of the Teal-Jones Group, to have the protesters removed.

As of yesterday, the injunction had not been enforced.

Forest revenue is expected to increase by 7.4 per cent next year but decline an average of 12.8 per cent annually over the following two years, as the province projects a 20-per-cent decrease in stumpage rates, which are paid by industry to the government for timber on Crown land.

There were no significant changes to forest harvests, dropping from 46 million cubic metres over the next year to 45 million over the next two years, with harvests slightly down in the Interior but up on the coast.

Coste said that also needs to change.

“At the end of the day, we do need to bring the cut down a bit,” he said. “The government says value over volume every second breath. They’re talking about all the things they’re doing to bring the value up; eventually they’re going to have to start talking about how to bring the volume down and leave more forest.”

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs passed a resolution in September calling on the province to implement all 14 recommendations of the old-growth panel and to ensure that immediate deferrals include all threatened old-growth forests.

The Tyee reached out to UBCIC on Monday about what it hoped to see in the budget. In an emailed statement, UBCIC president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip reiterated the organization’s passion for protecting old growth and the need to move forward in a way that allows sustainable old-growth management to protect, respect and advance First Nations rights and title.

“UBCIC would like to see funding put towards stronger, comprehensive old-growth policy, including the full implementation of the recommendations from the Strategic Old Growth report, and more engagement and consultation with First Nations on how they can impose a moratorium on old-growth logging that directly impacts their territories,” Phillip said.

BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau said she was surprised by the finance minister’s comments that existing funding under the Ministry of Forests would finance a transition in the forest industry, particularly as the province was set to reduce its budget.

“In order to have the paradigm shift away from old-growth logging, we need to see investment in Indigenous-led conservation efforts, we need to see conservation financing put on the table by the provincial government so that Indigenous communities can have that economic opportunity to invest in their future in ways that does not undermine the long-term health of their environment and their ecosystems,” she said.

Furstenau pointed to long-term, sustainable opportunities like the Great Bear Rainforest and investments in eco-tourism, sustainable aquaculture and sustainable forestry.

“There are so many ways that we could be leaning into the paradigm shift that is needed to get away from old-growth logging, to have her say that… is disappointing and it’s a clear indication that this government does not take their commitment to protecting old growth seriously,” she said.

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