Spin-filled Announcement Reveals BC Government’s Failure to Ensure Net Gains in Old-Growth Logging Deferrals

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VICTORIA / UNCEDED LEKWUNGEN TERRITORIES – Yesterday the BC government released new and misleading statistics about old-growth logging on the one year anniversary of its science panel’s recommendations that logging should be deferred on millions of hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests in BC. In November of 2021, the province’s independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel, recommended that the rarest, grandest, and oldest fraction of the remaining unprotected old-growth forests in BC, totalling 2.6 million hectares, be deferred from logging, while the province developed new management policies and legislation based on its Old-Growth Strategic Review panel’s recommendations.

Based on the BC government’s statistics (ie. the same ones they used last time), there has been no net increase in the deferred area since the BC government’s last official update in April, when they reported that 1.05 million hectares of the 2.6 million hectares (about 40%) recommended area had been deferred.

The implementation of the logging deferrals is contingent on the consent of local First Nations, whose unceded territories these are. However, the province has thus far failed to provide the critical funding for First Nations sustainable economic alternatives (to help develop such industries as tourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products, value-added second-growth forestry, etc) to offset and replace their reliance on old-growth timber revenues (in the form of logging tenures, joint venture agreements, and revenue-sharing agreements) that would make it economically feasible for most First Nations to support the deferrals and to protect old-growth forests. This funding process is known as “conservation financing”, and was undertaken in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii with a mix of funding from conservation organizations and the provincial and federal governments, and is currently underway in Clayoquot Sound, enabling significant protection levels for old-growth forests in those regions.

The lack of progress of any net gain in old-growth deferrals – the precursor to permanent, legislated protection – with still no announcement of vital provincial funding for First Nations sustainable economic development linked to the development of new protected areas, reveal’s the provincial NDP government’s efforts to contain change against the status quo of old-growth logging, while thousands of hectares of old-growth forests continue to fall each year.

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner, TJ Watt, stands on top of a freshly cut stump in an old-growth forest recommended for deferral on southern Vancouver Island, BC.

“The BC government for many months now has been backsliding on their old-growth commitments, working to delay, deflect and slow the momentum for significant policy change for old-growth forests, away from the ‘paradigm shift’ that they committed to in theory in 2020. Instead of changing their ways, they’re changing their PR again. David Eby, the new premier of BC, can veer away from the anti-environmental backsliding of the BC government. He has said he wants to speed up the implementation of the province’s old-growth plans when he takes the reigns soon. This will require major funding specifically for First Nations sustainable economic development and for private land acquisition, that is, a commitment of many hundreds of million of dollars from the province alone, which should be combined with other funding sources including federal and non-profit conservation funds. This is the key to speeding up both deferrals and to enabling the permanent protection of those forests – I can’t stress that enough. There can be no ‘paradigm shift’ without the funding, the key missing piece here”, stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

Furthermore, the province seems to be returning to its old ways of undertaking major misleading PR-spin and sophistry in their press releases.

Their press release for example noted a decline in the amount of old growth logging between 2015 and 2021, from 65,500 to 38,300 hectares logged, but failed to mention that overall logging rates have declined across the province for well over a decade due to a diminishing timber supply from massive pine beetle kill and wildfires as a result of climate change (exacerbated by old-growth logging) and by old-growth logging itself (leaving lower volume second-growth stands behind and fewer jobs, a process known as the “falldown effect”), and failing to attribute how much of the decline has been due to the logging deferrals since the initial set of deferrals in 2020.

Old-growth logs are hauled out of the woods in 2022 on southern Vancouver Island, BC.

In addition, the province’s press release minimizes the amount of old-growth forests that are still at risk, stating “In total, approximately 80% of the priority at-risk old growth identified by the panel is not threatened by logging because it is permanently protected, covered by recent deferrals and/or not economic to harvest.” This figure is based on the province’s repeated, misleading use of the figure that 4 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests remain, and that only 800,000 hectares are at risk of logging. However, they fail to mention the context of the original amount (a bread-and-butter tactic of their PR-spin), that there were once about 20 million hectares of such forests in BC (ie. the vast majority of the medium to high productivity old-growth forests have been logged where most forest giants grow), and that 1.4 million hectares of the remaining fraction was in pre-existing protected areas and forest reserves, much of it for decades, unrelated to province’s old-growth plan. In addition, their reference to old-growth forests that are “not economic to harvest” refers to about 700,000 hectares of at-risk old-growth forests that are largely outside the Timber Harvesting Land Base – but which get added in (ie. will still get cut) as old-growth forests are logged-out in adjacent areas, thus making previously uneconomic stands economic to then harvest (ie. being outside the Timber Harvesting Land Base is not secure nor a conservation designation).

Old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, tourism and recreation. Old-growth forests possess distinctive structures, biodiversity, and functions that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with, which are re-logged every 50 to 80 years in BC, never to become old-growth again. Virtually all industrialized countries are now logging second and third-growth forests (eg. 100 year old not 1000 year old trees), as is much of the rest of Canada, and BC is one of the last industrialized jurisdictions that supports the large-scale commercial logging of old-growth forests.

“For over a decade now we have been telling successive BC governments that the only pathway forward for old-growth protection in BC is to provide conservation financing for First Nations communities and to implement a provincial land acquisition fund to protect private lands,” said TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance “Now, since we have not seen the necessary funding put on the table to offset lost revenues from forgoing logging, we are seeing the BC government failing to keep its own promises to protect our most at-risk forests. My before and after photos of giant old-growth trees standing and then cut reveal exactly what that looks like on the ground.”

Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner, TJ Watt, beside a giant redcedar tree before and after it was cut in an old-growth forest recommended for deferral in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island, BC.

“The province seems to be returning to its ‘bad old days’ of terrible PR-spin and sophistry when it comes to the state of old-growth forests in BC, inflating the amount that remains and masking the amount at risk to deflect for their lack of progress in protecting them. It’s disingenuous for the province to somehow insinuate that the drop in old-growth harvest levels from 2015 are due to their policies – they weren’t even around in 2015 and it wasn’t until late 2020 when they committed to the Old-Growth Strategic Review panel recommendations – while total harvest levels have been dropping for about 15 years due to overcutting (ie. running out of old-growth from logging) and climate-change driven impacts of pine beetle and wildfires. Similarly, the classic spin of playing with statistics – of removing the context of how much has already been logged, and then cobbling together a variety of disparate and misleading categories to beef up the numbers of how much old-growth they’ve ‘saved’ signals that they are hiding their lack of progress and trying to contain change against the status quo of old-growth liquidation”, stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director. “But with the political will and major new funding, with an incoming new leader, they can change this quickly. Let’s see what happens here.”

The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance have been working with the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative to help fund First Nations old-growth protection initiatives and to buy old-growth forests on private lands, a project known as the Old-Growth Solutions Initiative.

VIDEO: Before and After Old-Growth Logging – Caycuse Watershed 2022

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This shocking before and after video exposes the ongoing impacts of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island, BC. Captured between 2020-2022 in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory by Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner, TJ Watt, the scenes feature centuries-old redcedar trees standing and then cut down with the approval of the BC government.

? Please speak up!! Send an instant message to the BC government calling for funding for old-growth protection as well as a shift to a more sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry industry.

Background: In 2020, the BC government made a promise to protect BC’s most endangered old-growth forests. In 2021, they accepted, in principle, a recommendation from their appointed independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel, to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests in BC, pending approval from local First Nations.

However, more than a year on, less than half of these areas have been secured for deferral and some recommended areas, such as the forests pictured here, continue to be logged, as the province has failed to provide the requisite financing for First Nations needed to enable the full suite of deferrals.

Many of the trees and groves pictured in this latest series were identified as priority ‘big-tree’ old-growth forests that met the criteria for temporary deferral by the Technical Advisory Panel. In some locations, the forests were logged just months before the recommendations came into effect, while in others, deferrals were not secured in time before logging took place.

Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. According to independent scientists, the government’s own data shows that over 97% of BC’s highest productivity forests with the biggest trees have been logged. Second-growth tree plantations, which are typically re-logged 50-60 years later, do not adequately replicate the old-growth ecosystems they are replacing.

The Ancient Forest Alliance continues to call on the BC NPD to establish a dedicated fund of at least $300 million to support Indigenous-led old-growth logging deferrals, land-use plans, and protected areas alone. This would include funding for Indigenous Guardians programs, offsetting the lost revenues for logging deferrals, and supporting the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging & linked to the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas.

This photo series is part of work Watt has created with support from the Trebek Initiative, a grantmaking partnership between the National Geographic Society and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society that supports emerging Canadian explorers, scientists, photographers, geographers, and educators with the goal of using storytelling to ignite “a passion to preserve” in all Canadians.

Conservation group calls for protection of old-growth on Vancouver Island (PHOTOS)

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October 18, 2022
Victoria Buzz
By Curtis Blandy

A new series of photos has been released by the Ancient Forest Alliance to call for conservation of old-growth forests that are being affected by logging.

The series was captured between 2020 and 2022 by photographer TJ Watt near Lake Cowichan and on the Ditidaht First Nation’s land on southern Vancouver Island.

Watt’s work was funded by a grant partnership awarded by the National Geographic Society and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in order to provide Canadian explorers, scientists, photographers, geographers and educators with funding on a preservation storytelling basis.

“Capturing these before and after images is quite a difficult process–both technically and emotionally–but I’m committed to exposing the ongoing threats ancient forests face until legislated protection can be achieved for them,” said Watt.

“Only when seeing a side-by-side comparison can one truly grasp the scale of loss and devastation from old-growth logging. Once cut down, not even our great, great-grandchildren will have the chance to see a forest like that there again.”

The provincial government accepted a 2021 recommendation from an independent science panel to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of at-risk old-growth forests in BC.

The deferrals were to be obtained pending local First Nations approval, however the land in question has not been fully secured for deferral at this time.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling attention to the areas included in this deferral that continue to be logged to this day.

They claim that this is due to the fact that the province has yet to provide local First Nations with the financing to enable these deferrals.

Lots of the trees photographed by Watt have been identified as ‘big tree’ old-growth groves that met the criteria for deferral.

Many were logged just months before the recommendation came into effect and some were logged before deferrals could be secured by the local First Nations and old-growth activists.

The photos taken by Watt for the Ancient Forest Alliance have been added to their online database of trees and their stumps.

Read the original article 

 

New before & after images reveal shocking impacts of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island

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For immediate release, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022:

New before & after images reveal shocking impacts of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island

Images highlight the critical need for conservation financing to help secure old-growth logging deferrals and eventual permanent protection.

VICTORIA (Unceded Lekwungen Territories) – The Ancient Forest Alliance has just released a new series of shocking before and after images and videos that expose the ongoing impacts of old-growth logging in British Columbia, highlighting the critical need for conservation financing from the province to help secure old-growth deferrals and permanent protection. Captured between 2020-2022 by Ancient Forest Alliance Photographer & Campaigner, TJ Watt, the images feature centuries-old redcedar trees standing and then cut down in the upper and lower Caycuse Valley in Ditidaht territory on southern Vancouver Island.

The series is part of work Watt has created with support from the Trebek Initiative, a grantmaking partnership between the National Geographic Society and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society that supports emerging Canadian explorers, scientists, photographers, geographers, and educators with a goal of using storytelling to ignite “a passion to preserve” in all Canadians. Watt was among the first round of grant recipients in 2021 and was named a National Geographic Explorer and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer.

The new before and after images can also be viewed on an interactive page on the Ancient Forest Alliance website that allows viewers to reveal either the tree or the stump.

“Capturing these before and after images is a difficult process – both technically and emotionally – but I’m committed to exposing the ongoing threats ancient forests face until legislated protection can be achieved for them,” stated Watt. “Only when seeing a side-by-side comparison can one truly grasp the scale of loss and devastation from old-growth logging. Once cut down, not even our great, great-grandchildren will have the chance to see a forest like that there again.”

In 2021, the provincial government accepted, in principle, a recommendation from their appointed independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel, to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests in BC, pending approval from local First Nations. However, more than a year on, less than half of these areas have been secured for deferral and some recommended areas, such as these, continue to be logged, as the province has failed to provide the requisite financing for First Nations needed to enable the full suite of deferrals.

Many of the groves and trees pictured in this latest series were identified as priority ‘big-tree’ old-growth forests that met the criteria for temporary deferral by the Technical Advisory Panel. In some locations, the forests were logged just months before the recommendations came into effect, while in others, deferrals were not secured in time before logging took place.

“In 2019-2020, I captured my original series of before and after images in the Caycuse watershed which went viral around the world and still draws attention to the issue of old-growth logging today. People were shocked to see that trees of this age and size were still being clearcut while the BC government made bold promises to protect old-growth forests. Now in 2022, much of the forests surrounding that original location have met with the same fate”, stated Watt.

Watt also notes, “The fundamental issue holding up the full implementation of old-growth logging deferrals – and the ultimate protection of old-growth forests across the province – is the BC government’s failure to provide significant conservation financing for First Nations communities, which would allow them to reasonably forgo their old-growth logging revenues and facilitate a transition into a more diversified economy associated with the establishment of new, Indigenous-led protected areas. Without this funding, enacting the full suite of old-growth logging deferrals and permanent old-growth protection will be virtually impossible to achieve.”

The federal government has committed $2.3 billion to expand protected areas across Canada, and $1.4 billion for nature-oriented solutions to climate change. Of this, several hundred million dollars are available for the expansion of protected areas in BC, including in old-growth forests. $55 million has also been specifically allocated to protect old-growth forests in BC, with the promise of more should the BC government get on board.

Under pressure, the BC government put forward $185 million in Budget 2022 to support forestry workers and communities affected by old-growth deferrals (with a smaller subset going towards First Nations forestry workers) and $12.69 million to assist First Nations in reviewing deferral options and next steps. However, these funds still fall far short of the total amount needed and are not intended to support First Nations-owned sustainable businesses (in such industries as tourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, and non-timber forest products) in lieu of old-growth logging – the most critical missing funding piece.

“The Ancient Forest Alliance has been calling on the BC government to establish a dedicated fund of at least $300 million to support Indigenous-led old-growth logging deferrals, land-use plans, and protected areas alone. This would include funding for Indigenous Guardians programs, offsetting the lost revenues for logging deferrals, and supporting the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging linked to the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas.” stated Watt.

In the meantime, Watt has full intentions to continue exploring and documenting endangered old-growth forests, which are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, eco-tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations.

“It’s my mission to hold the government to account on their promises to protect old-growth forests and inspire a much more diverse movement of people to speak up for their protection. These ancient ecosystems with their 500-1000 year old trees are irreplaceable. I will continue to expose their destruction until it stops.”

Ancient Forests of BC: TJ Watt Photo Exhibition, Presentations, & Fundraiser. Oct 26th-30th, Salt Spring Island.

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Conservation group buys stand of majestic old-growth as gift for First Nation

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October 11th
National Observer
By Dani Penaloza 

A rare section of diverse old-growth forest in BC, where the coastal rainforest meets the dry interior, has been purchased by a conservation organization and handed back to the Kanaka Bar Indian Band to protect.

In August, the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation (NBSF) bought the eight acres known as “Old Man Jack’s” about 15 kilometres south of Lytton for $99,000 as part of an agreement it made with T’eqt’aqtn’mux First Nation, known as the crossing place people. The group intends to return the land with a conservation covenant.

“Not only does the purchase of Old Man Jack’s allow the community to gather the abundant food and medicine plants here, it gives us the opportunity to employ membership to heal ecosystems damaged by placer mining and other settler activities over the past couple centuries,” said Kanaka Bar Chief Jordan Spinks in the NBSF’s Oct. 11 press release. “The well-being of our lands, culture and people go hand-in-hand.”

Situated along the Fraser River by Siwash Creek, south of the Kanaka Bar A1 Reserve, the property could be one of the rarest and most diverse old-growth forests in BC, containing some of the largest old-growth Interior Douglas firs in the country, western red cedars, Ponderosa pines, bigleaf maples and old-growth Rocky Mountain junipers.

Once title to the land is turned over to the First Nation, the conservation covenant will protect the historic trapper’s cabin and the many archeological and cultural sites on the property, as well as Canada’s largest Rocky Mountain juniper beside the property that’s on a parcel of land also owned by Kanaka Bar.

“The mouth of Siwash Creek has been a key fishing spot for the T’eq’aqtn’mux for millennia. By purchasing this property, people can fish here once again. We may even organize a camp for youth,” said Sean O’Rourke, Kanaka Bar’s lands manager in the press release.

The gift aligns well with Kanaka Bar’s Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area proposal earlier this summer, which plans to protect 350-square-kilometres of traditional territory land.

The Kanaka Bar Indian Band intends to use this land for cultural, conservational, educational and potentially eco-tourism purposes. Community engagement on how exactly the land will be used and managed is underway.

There are also hopes to recover the endangered species of coastal tailed frogs and spotted owls in the area.

“To be able to both protect those lands from industrial resource extraction and support First Nations subsistence and cultural uses of those lands, while keeping the biodiversity intact, is one of the greatest expressions of environmental sustainability and social justice,” said NBSF co-founder Ken Wu in an interview with Canada’s National Observer.

The Nature-Based Solutions Foundation intends to give the land back to the First Nation whose territory it is with an upcoming conservation covenant. #OldGrowth #BC

The NBSF is a new national conservation charity that launched in November. It works to protect the most endangered ecosystems by filling funding gaps needed to expand the protected areas system.

This purchase is the first of other similar initiatives underway and is part of the Old-Growth Solutions Initiative, a collaboration between the NBSF, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance.

Read the original article 

BC Indigenous conservation plan gets private backing

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October 10, 2022
The Globe And Mail 
By Justine Hunter 

Battered by climate disasters, community at Kanaka Bar looks to protect old growth forest and restore ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.

Celina Starnes of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance stands under an old-growth Western redcedar near Kanaka Bar Indian Band, home to the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, in British Columbia this past Sept. 21. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAFAL GERSZAK/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Overhanging a riverbank in the Fraser Canyon, an ancient Western redcedar shows signs of harvesting by past generations of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux people. The gnarled tree is growing in one of the rarest and most endangered old-growth forests in British Columbia, and a newly sealed land deal has secured its protection. But for the surrounding forest, there is no certainty.

The Kanaka Bar Indian Band – also known as the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux – is proposing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area to preserve its ancient connection to these lands, and to protect a rich pocket of biodiversity for the planet. In the southern canyon, along the Fraser River, the province’s wet coastal and dry interior zones meet, allowing an unusual variety of species to mingle.

While logging companies have cleared large swaths of old growth in the traditional territories of the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux, evidence of this First Nation’s sustainable harvesting practices is still found in living trees that did not fall to commercial logging: Researchers have confirmed that branches and bark strips have been harvested here from select cedar trees since the early 18th century, or even before then.

MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; BC DATA CATALOGUE; KANAKA BAR INDIAN BAND

But the protected area plan awaits the support of Ottawa and Victoria – approval that is caught in a protracted negotiation between the two levels of government over old-growth protection.

The objective of the proposed Indigenous protected area fits into a larger aim shared by the federal government.

Canada has made international commitments to protect 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030, and a recent report from World Wildlife Fund Canada says Indigenous-managed conservation will be key to achieving those targets.

Montreal will host a UN conference on biodiversity later this year and heading into that event, the Justin Trudeau government will be pressed to show how it intends to almost double the country’s existing protected areas by 2025 to meet its interim targets.

British Columbia, which boasts the greatest amount of biodiversity in the country, also has interests that align with the Kanaka Bar proposal: The provincial government has pledged to suspend logging in one-third of BC’s remaining’s old-growth forests to protect irreplaceable ecosystems that are disappearing under intensive forestry – but to do that with Indigenous consent, which has been slow to garner.

The Kanaka Bar proposals would hit the sweet spot for both governments: Kanaka Bar intends to protect and restore rare ecosystems in a way that supports the First Nation’s self-sufficiency initiatives and sustainable economic development.

The community’s impetus for conservation has been shaped by commercial logging – 15 per cent of the forests in its proposed conservation area has been logged since the 1960s – mostly in the rich valley bottoms where the greatest old growth is found.

The federal and BC governments are in protracted negotiations to reach a nature agreement that would include permanent old-growth protection.

However, the two sides remain at odds over funding, and which forests would be set aside. The federal government has offered $50-million specifically for BC old growth, a figure that the province dismissed as far too little. Ottawa, meanwhile, is awaiting the matching commitment from the province.

Steven Guilbeault, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, toured an old-growth forest in BC on Sept. 1, using the visit as a backdrop to press the provincial government to reach an accord. “We will continue collaborating with the province to get a good deal to protect BC’s beloved nature,” he said in a statement at that time.

Patrick Michell, former chief of the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, was instrumental in launching the proposed T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, and he said neither level of government has responded to the invitation to participate. But the plan will move forward anyway: “When we need to do something, we just do it,” he said in an interview.

His community has been buying up private lands when they become available, rather than waiting for the Crown to give them their land back. Their vision for climate resiliency does not include commercial logging of old growth.

“We want to keep the old growth, keep the carbon in the ground,” he said. “For us to have an economy for the next 100 years, we need to invest in something more sustainable and resilient.” Economic development is possible, but within a framework that supports Kanaka Bar’s goals. “We want to work with Canadian corporations. We want to work with the existing transportation industries. But there’s going to be a few new rules. You cannot exacerbate climate change.”

The only firm commitment to the Kanaka Bar conservation plan to date has come from a fledgling environmental non-profit, which bought a piece of private land to gift to the community.

The property known locally as Old Man Jack’s is a tiny parcel, a little more than three hectares, which was scooped up for just under $100,000. It is dwarfed by the more ambitious Kanaka Bar proposal to set aside a large chunk of the southern Fraser Canyon in the First Nation’s traditional territories, including roughly 125 square kilometres of old-growth forests. But it is a concrete start.

Old Man Jack’s property, purchased by the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, is a showcase for the region, with its unusual mix of coastal and interior species: Ponderosa pine, Interior Douglas fir, Western redcedar, Bigleaf maple, all growing together. “This is peak biodiversity – as multicultural as you can get in a BC forest,” said Ken Wu, co-founder of the foundation, as he pointed out one of the largest Interior Douglas firs in the country.

Mr. Wu started campaigning for BC’s old-growth forests more than two decades ago. The foundation was created last year to raise money to purchase endangered ecosystems, sidestepping the conflict that has marked many campaigns against old-growth logging.

“Protests are important at times,” Mr. Wu said, “but to actually save old-growth forests, it is vital to ensure First Nations have the financial resources in order to realize their conservation visions,” he said. Many First Nations rely on forestry for revenue and jobs – and he said the provincial and federal governments need to bring substantial funding to the table to create viable alternatives.

“There’s no path to actually protect old-growth forests on the ground in British Columbia by going around First Nations communities and leadership,” Mr. Wu said.

The Fraser Canyon was at the epicentre of the twin climate disasters of 2021 in BC The main Kanaka Bar reserve is roughly 14 kilometres south of Lytton, the town destroyed by wildfire in June of 2021, and many members lost their homes in that fire. A series of atmospheric rivers in November then wiped out more homes, highways and other infrastructure, causing millions of dollars of damage to the Kanaka Bar’s run-of-the-river hydro electric facility.

For the past decade, the Kanaka Bar nation has worked on a climate adaptation plan, which has aims to create a self-sufficient community that can withstand whatever climate change brings in the next century. About 70 of the band’s 240 members live on reserve, getting their electricity from solar power. The nation has purchased provincial water rights to ensure their clean water supply. And community gardens supplement the food they obtain from their lands.

The T’eqt’aqtn Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area would help the entire Fraser Canyon’s climate resiliency, said Sean O’Rourke, the Kanaka Bar lands manager, because healthy ecosystems are the region’s best defence against natural disasters.

But it also aims to protect the T’eqt’’aqtn’mux’s archeological sites. Mr. O’Rourke pointed across the Fraser River to the remains of a stone-constructed fishing weir, disrupted by placer miners looking for gold. The rainstorms last November uncovered a petroglyph that is believed to be at least 8,000 years old. It was damaged when treasure hunters removed a piece of it with a jackhammer.

“These connections to the past and connections to the old way of life, that’s a finite thing,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “Once you damage something like that, you’re never going to get it back.”

Read the original article

Thank you to our recent business supporters!

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A big shout-out to the following businesses and individuals generously supporting the AFA’s ancient forest campaign:

 

Edward Burtynsky Photography for including the AFA as one of the organizations highlighted in their Change Station during the run of #InTheWakeOfProgress at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre, as well as for donating 5% of the earnings from merchandise sales at this event

Wild Coast Perfumery for their generous and long-standing support

ANIÁN for donating 25% of each sale of their Limited Run Old Growth Blanket

Helen Utsal for donating 10% of her part of the sales of all the paintings in the Vitality of the Land show currently on exhibit in Ottawa at the Gordon Harrison Gallery

Bound State Software for giving as part of their 1% for the Planet commitment

Thank you all for your outstanding support to help protect endangered old-growth forests in BC!

 

Thank you to Robinson’s Outdoor Store & Patagonia!

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We would like to extend a massive thank you to Robinson’s Outdoor Store and Patagonia for helping raise almost $10,000 for Ancient Forest Alliance last week! More than 100 people attended the Film Night and Fundraiser for AFA at Robinson’s, where over $2000 was raised, while Patagonia donated another $7500. It was great to connect with people in person again and we are beyond grateful for the support this community shows towards our old-growth campaigns. A special thanks goes out to Erin and Matt of Robinson’s, Ross from Patagonia, Deon & Milen for the AFA films and photo stories, Strait and Narrow, Darren for his custom Ancient Forest Ale, the awesome bartenders Brendan & Erica, and everyone who came out to make this night a stellar success!

Media Release: Two Years into Old-Growth Strategic Review mandate, BC is failing to deliver change on the ground

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For Immediate Release, September 8, 2022:

Two years into Old-Growth Strategic Review mandate, BC is failing to deliver change on the ground

Environmental organizations call for immediate action to make the promised paradigm shift a reality as at-risk forests continue to be destroyed

VICTORIA / UNCEDED LEKWUNGEN TERRITORIES – Two years after the provincial government released the report of its Old-Growth Strategic Review (OGSR) panel, Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth and the Wilderness Committee have given B.C. failing grades for its progress to protect threatened old-growth forests. Grades for four of five key issues fell since the last report card, with time running out to address delays before it’s too late to safeguard remaining endangered old-growth forests.

View Full Report Card Image Here

The OGSR report, released Sept. 11, 2020, makes clear recommendations to keep at-risk old-growth forests standing and overhaul forest stewardship within three years. However, the B.C. NDP government has fallen far behind, so far completing none of the panel’s 14 recommendations two-thirds of the way through the three-year timeline laid out in the report.

“Two of the three years to implement the B.C. government promises on old-growth have passed. Yet, clearcutting of irreplaceable, endangered old-growth continues, even in the most-at-risk stands,” says Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner at Sierra Club BC. “Instead of changing course, we are still marching towards ecosystem and climate breakdown. The window for action is closing. The next premier of B.C. must act swiftly before it’s too late.”

Following the assessment of a second expert group, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) in 2021, last November, the province released mapping of five million hectares of unprotected, at-risk old-growth and stated its intention to temporarily defer logging for about half of that (2.6 million hectares) considered most at-risk in the short-term. The TAP scientists emphasized deferrals were needed, especially for areas where logging was already planned, which they expected to encompass about 50,000 hectares. In April 2022, Forest Minister Katrine Conroy announced that a little over one million hectares of these deferrals had been finalized — leaving more than half of the most at-risk old-growth forests open for logging — but was unclear about which deferrals would actually stop permitted logging. Ongoing monitoring via field assessments and satellite analysis show clearcutting continues in stands recommended for deferral. It’s resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of hectares of the most ecologically valuable forests.

“With one hand, the province is signing off on logging and road building in proposed old growth deferrals, and with the other it’s congratulating itself for saving the forests,” says Tegan Hansen, Senior Forest Campaigner at Stand.earth. “Deferrals are meaningful when they stop logging, not as a political talking point. We need to see this government live up to its promises and prevent the destruction of the most at-risk old-growth forests.”

The B.C. NDP government has stated it will not halt logging without agreement from First Nations, but has not offered adequate funding to address the economic impacts of foregoing logging for short-term deferrals, or for long-term protection. The organizations are urging the province to immediately provide full financial support to First Nations to ensure logging is deferred in all at-risk old-growth forests, as called for by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs in June.

“If the province is serious about protecting old-growth, they must come forward with at least $300 million in conservation financing for First Nations to address the economic impacts of accepting short-term logging deferrals and enacting long-term protection measures for old-growth, and leverage the federal funding available to expand protected areas in Canada,” states TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “Without that funding, which the province must be fully aware is critical for these efforts to succeed, progress will remain stalled and irreplaceable ancient forests will continue to fall.”

In their bi-annual report card, the four organizations gave the B.C. government a D for funding provided to date, and the same grade for the deferrals enacted so far. For transparency and communication on old-growth, the province received a D-. And for changing course to prioritize ecological health and providing a three-year timeline to implement the OGSR’s recommendations, the province earned failing grades.

Over the summer, the provincial government has remained tight-lipped about old-growth forests. In the meantime, images of logging in proposed deferral areas have garnered attention and public frustration with the ongoing destruction of irreplaceable forests in B.C.

“The recommendations of the OGSR are clear and measurable, and this government told the public it would act on them with urgency. What we’ve seen in the two years since is the opposite, a slow, plodding approach that’s not at all indicative of a paradigm shift,” says Torrance Coste, National Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee. “Ultimately, the score that matters is the one kept in the forests themselves. And the fields of fresh clearcuts in endangered old-growth underscore the NDP government’s failure to protect the most threatened forests.”

Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth, and the Wilderness Committee will continue to mobilize the public, document ongoing old-growth logging and partner with First Nations, community groups, municipalities, unions and businesses to advance meaningful protection for threatened old-growth forests and a paradigm shift that puts ecological integrity and the wellbeing of communities over short-term timber values.