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CHEK News: BC signs ‘historic’ $1B agreement to protect lands and waters

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November 3, 2023
By Mary Griffin
CHEK News

Read the original article and watch the video here.

It’s described as an historic agreement for BC.

It’s a $1 billion agreement to protect 30 per cent of BC’s lands and waters by 2030, according to Steve Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada.

“This may be the single most significant nature plan in the history of Canada,” he said at an announcement Friday.

Ottawa is contributing $500 million, with $50 million reserved to protect 4,000 square kilometres of old-growth forest, and another $104 million to restore the habitat of species at risk.

The provincial government’s share is more than $560 million.

Premier David Eby said the agreement will enable the provincial government to fast-track our old-growth protection work.

“This is a paradigm shift in our province about protecting ecosystems, about recognizing the integrated nature of what we want to protect on the land, and how we use the land to make sure it’s there for generations to come,” he said Friday.

TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said this agreement could lead to the permanent deferments of logging on Vancouver Island areas in Fairy Creek, and the Walbran Valley.

“This level of funding, again, can help support First Nations that are in the driver’s seat in deciding what old-growth forests get protected in their territory, move some of those temporary deferrals to long time protection measures,” Watt said.

The agreement comes at a critical time, according to Regional Chief, Terry Teegee, BC Assembly of First Nations.

“We’ve experienced this past year, unprecedented drought, unprecedented wildfire season in Canada’s history, and the province’s history. And certainly part of that is conserving biodiverse areas in our respective territories, and in British Columbia,” Teegee said.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillips, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said First Nations will oversee the conservation efforts.

“We have a sacred duty to do our utmost duty to protect the land, to nurture the land,” he said. “And this agreement serves that purpose. What I like about the agreement is tripartite.”

To reach its target, 100,000 square kilometres of land must be added to the 20 percent of the province already protected.

Read the original article.

 

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, stands beside a giant Sitka spruce tree in an old-growth forest west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

The Georgia Strait: “Conservation financing is a game-changer for BC’s old-growth forests”

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October 31, 2023
The Georgia Strait – Op-Ed by Ken Wu.
See the original article.

Last week, BC Premier David Eby announced a new $300 million “conservation financing mechanism.” Based on a startup contribution of $150 million from the Province and $150 million from the BC Parks Foundation (the charitable partner of the BC Parks agency), the fund will support First Nations communities to establish new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). This puts BC on the verge of a major protected areas expansion over the next few months and years to reach its minimum projection target of 30 per cent by 2030. Currently about 15 per cent of BC is in protected areas.

BC’s old-growth forests have spawned one of the most passionate and pervasive ecosystem-protection movements in world history, and for good reason. They contain some of the largest and oldest living organisms that have ever existed in Earth’s history: forest giants that can live to 2,000 years old and grow wider than a living room. Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with and that are logged every 50 to 80 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again.

Well over 80 per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests (sites where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and over five million hectares of big trees, rare (by ecosystem type) trees, and the very oldest of old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC; 2.6 million hectares have been identified as the top priorities for logging deferrals by the Province’s appointed panels.

I’ve spent the last 33 years of my life with a continuous focus on protecting old-growth forests in BC, engaged in just about every tactic in the toolbox of environmental activism at one time or another. But over the past six years I’ve focused the vast majority of my time on two key policies that are indispensable for protecting old-growth forests and BC’s diverse ecosystems: conservation financing and ecosystem-based protection targets. These are two fundamental game-changers for stopping old-growth and ecosystem destruction in BC.

Conservation financing is funding for Indigenous communities linked to the establishment of new protected areas and conservation initiatives. In BC, the Province cannot unilaterally establish protected areas and “just save the old-growth” on Crown/unceded First Nations lands; the support of local First Nations governments is a legal necessity in their territories. The establishment of protected areas and deferrals for logging move at the speed of the local First Nations whose territories it is; so, the BC Government’s policies and funding can either facilitate or hinder the abilities of First Nations to protect ecosystems. Conservation financing is a vital enabling condition that can greatly facilitate and speed up the protection of old-growth forests.

Those who believe that the BC Government can unilaterally “just save the old-growth forests” across BC without the consent of the local First Nations (200 different communities) in their unceded territories continue to hold a long outdated and simplistic model of conservation in BC, and therefore fail to understand the centrality of conservation financing.

That is: First Nations communities are in the driver’s seat for new protected areas in their unceded territories. The BC Government must provide the vehicle—the policy framework and the funding—for First Nations to drive to where we all need to go: the protection of the diversity of ecosystems in BC.

Conservation financing is key to meet the needs of Indigenous communities for sustainable economic development alternatives to their old-growth logging dependencies. Many or most BC First Nations have an economic dependency fostered by successive BC governments on forestry, including on old-growth logging, and require support to develop sustainable alternatives in ecotourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products like wild mushrooms, and other businesses. They also need funding to develop the capacity to undertake land-use planning, mapping, engagement of community members, stakeholder and resource licensees, and stewardship and management jobs in new protected areas.

Conservation financing thus paves the path and is the indispensable enabler for new protected-areas establishment in BC; without it, it would simply be impossible to undertake the large-scale protection of the most contested landscapes with the highest resource values in BC.

On BC’s central and north coasts (such as the Great Bear Rainforest), $120 million in conservation financing from the Province, Federal Government, and conservation groups in 2006 resulted in the protection of almost 1.8 million hectares of land (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island), the creation of over 100 businesses, and 1,000 permanent jobs in First Nations communities—and significantly raised the average household income in numerous communities.

The $300 million that has kick-started BC’s new conservation financing fund will over time grow with additional provincial, federal, and philanthropic funding, possibly or likely into the billions over the next several years.

Does conservation financing mean that all problems with BC’s old-growth policies are now solved? Of course not. But it’s an indispensable part of the solution.

Now our battle shifts to several key gaps or loopholes in BC’s old-growth and protected-areas policies.

First, the new conservation financing mechanism needs to be tied to “ecosystem-based targets”—that is, protection targets developed by a chief scientist and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees that ensure that all ecosystems, including the most endangered and contested landscapes such as old-growth forests with the greatest timber values, are protected. Without ecosystem-based targets to guide conservation financing, we’ll see again an emphasis on protecting treeless alpine tundra and subalpine areas with little to no timber values; this largely skirts around saving the big timber in the biologically-rich lowlands that will still get logged. All native ecosystems need and deserve protection—but an emphasis must be placed on the most endangered and least protected ecosystems to tackle the extinction and climate crises happening right now. Potentially, ecosystem-based protection targets may happen via BC’s forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. The Province already has a head start with the Technical Advisory Panel’s identification of the grandest, rarest, and oldest old-growth forests recommended for logging deferrals—recommendations that some bureaucrats seem intent on tossing out now.

Secondly, the province must fund First Nations communities to undertake old-growth logging deferrals in order to help offset their lost logging revenues. This lack of funding for First Nations is the primary barrier to getting the full 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth identified by the Technical Advisory Panel deferred from logging. By way of example, a “solutions-space” fund was used successfully in Clayoquot Sound to enable the greatest stands of old-growth to remain while First Nations undertook land use and protected-areas planning.

Thirdly, we’re watching with great concern as the Province might be looking to establish new “flexitarian” designations: tenuous or fake “protected areas.” These types of “protections” are embodied in several existing conservation regulations in BC such as Old-Growth Management Areas with moveable boundaries, and some types of Wildlife Habitat Areas where commercial logging often still takes place. Instead, Provincial Conservancies and several designations simply termed “Protected Areas” in BC are much stronger. They exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development, and were co-developed by First Nations people to protect their subsistence rights to hunt, fish, forage, and harvest individual old-growth cedars for cultural purposes (totem poles, dugout canoes, masks, etc.), and ensure First Nations co-management to protect their rights and title.

Fourthly, thousands of hectares of some of the finest old-growth forests have been excluded from the roster of priority deferral areas due to data errors. The Province has thus far forbidden the addition of misidentified stands to the list, yet is removing thousands of hectares of misidentified sites that were included (as in: they only allow for the subtraction, not the addition, of misidentified stands from deferral areas due to their mistakes).

So, there is still a lot to do to protect old-growth forests. But make no mistake: the conservation financing mechanism is a huge victory for ecosystems and communities.

Ken Wu is the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and was the former co-founder and executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance and the executive director of the Wilderness Committee’s Victoria chapter. He has been working to protect old-growth forests for over 30 years in BC.

The Times Colonist: BC’s $300M old-growth fund puts First Nations ‘in the driver’s seat’

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October 26, 2023
Times Colonist
By Stefan Labbé

$300-million investment aims to save BC’s old-growth forests by offering First Nations sustainable economic alternatives to industrial logging.

The BC government and BC Parks Foundation have teamed up to provide $300 million to protect old-growth forests across the province — a move environmental groups have described as a critical step in turning local economies away from unsustainable logging.

Praise for the new green funding came from all sides. Ken Wu, executive director of Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said the new fund will put First Nations “in the driver’s seat.”

“If you don’t have the funding for the nations… it’s like asking them to jettison their primary source of revenues and jobs,” said Wu.

“It’s the fuel that will actually allow old growth to get saved.”

On the coast, the BC government defines old-growth trees as those more than 250 years old, while in the Interior, the designation depends on the type of forest and can range from more than 140 years to more than 250 years old. Such old-growth forests make up roughly 20 per cent of BC’s forests, according to the province.

Under a new conservation financing mechanism, the money will go toward building alternative economies so First Nations can build revenue outside the harvesting of old-growth trees. That could include anything from ecotourism, clean energy projects and sustainable seafood operations to non-timber forest products like wild mushrooms and jobs managing new protected areas, Wu said.

Earlier Thursday, Premier David Eby said conserving nature is “one of the most important things we can do to protect against the worst effects of climate change.”

Terry Teegee, a board member of the BC Parks Foundation, said many nations are looking for alternatives to transform jobs into a sustainable economy.

“First Nations have always believed that if we take care of nature, it will take care of us,” said Teegee, who is also a regional chief with the BC Assembly of First Nations.

“This funding will help support nations who have a vision of abundance in their territories. That will benefit everyone.”

The announcement was also lauded by other environmental groups.

“This conservation financing mechanism puts major wind in the sails for the protection of old-growth forests in BC,” added TJ Watt, a campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Torrance Coste, national forest and climate campaigner for the Wildness Committee, said the money was one of the “missing ingredients” in protecting old-growth forests in BC, but that the province has yet to “stand up to logging corporations.”

Linda Coady, president of the BC Council of Forest Industries, said it supported the new fund, describing it as a “new and innovative BC-based approach.”

“These last three years have been challenging for the BC forest sector since the November 2021 provincial announcement to defer old-growth logging. While temporary, the uncertainty about the future of the deferral areas impacts forest sector jobs and communities across BC,” the industry group, which represents some of BC’s biggest forestry companies, said in a statement.

The conservation financing mechanism will be managed by an oversight committee independent of the BC government, according to the Ministry of Forests.

It is meant to work alongside forest landscape plans meant to establish new objectives around how to manage old-growth trees, climate change, wildfire risk and biodiversity. Plans under that framework have been confirmed in the Bulkley Valley, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Vancouver Island.

This year, the BC government pledged to protect 30 per cent of BC’s land base by 2030. But just how it will do that has not been clear. The latest announcement offers a long-term source of money Wu says will grow as it’s matched through crowd-sourcing, and federal, provincial and philanthropic funding agreements still under negotiation.

Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can do so through the BC Parks Foundation.

Wu, who has been one of the leading advocates of the funding scheme since 2017, says there remain at least three big gaps in how the province intends to protect its oldest and most vulnerable forest ecosystems.

First, he said the conservation financing mechanism has yet to be tied to specific ecosystem-based targets, which would ensure the most endangered and least represented ecosystems are protected. Consider big-treed valley bottoms, he said. It’s a lot harder to protect them than a sparsely treed alpine area.

“Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like sending in the fire crews to hose down all the non-burning homes while the houses on fire get ignored,” Wu said.

A second gap, according to Wu, is a lack of money to support First Nations economic activities while old-growth deferrals are in place over the next couple of years. Without that, he said there’s no room to figure out what to do next.

Third, Wu pointed to the province’s failure to uphold standards for the areas it chooses to protect. His worry is that it could lead to loopholes where protected forests still face unsustainable logging.

“The concern here is that the province may be looking at flexitarian protected-area standards — sort of like a vegetarian who still eats chicken and pork and beef,” he said.

Despite the long road ahead, Wu remained hopeful.

“This is a big lead forward. Let’s make no mistake: it’s a great day.”

See the orginal article.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, stands beside a giant Sitka spruce tree in an old-growth forest west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.

BC Launches Vital Conservation Financing Mechanism to Protect Old-Growth Forests and Ecosystems

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For Immediate Release
October 26, 2023

Starting with an initial $300 million of provincial and philanthropic funding, the indispensable fund that will “fuel” or power the creation of new protected areas by supporting First Nations protected areas initiatives will continue to grow with additional federal, provincial, and private funds. Conservationists give thanks to Premier Eby for fulfilling a key commitment.

Today, the BC government made good on a vital conservation commitment made last December by Premier David Eby to develop a conservation financing mechanism to fund Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) by funding First Nations’ economic, capacity, stewardship, and management needs linked to protecting ecosystems. The new fund consists of a $150 million provincial contribution and $150 million to be raised by the BC Parks Foundation, the official charitable fund of the province’s BC Parks agency, for a total of $300 million to start. The fund is likely to grow quickly with major federal protected areas funding soon, additional provincial protected areas funds (conjoined with the federal funds via the BC Nature Fund and BC Old-Growth Funds, two additional funds currently under negotiation), funds from the international philanthropic community, and contributions from private citizens over time.

“This is a vital step forward to protect nature in British Columbia on a major scale — Premier Eby should be thanked for this. Conservation financing is the indispensable ‘fuel’ to power along the establishment of new protected areas in BC — without it, the large-scale protection of the most endangered and contested ecosystems, such as those with the largest trees and greatest timber values, would be largely impossible,” stated Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. “Since 2017 my colleagues and I have been calling on the province to undertake conservation financing, and three years ago we launched the main campaign with diverse allies calling for federal and provincial conservation funding to protect old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems – and today Premier Eby has delivered. This is a huge conservation victory for the many thousands of people who’ve spoken up for years for this.”

“This conservation financing mechanism puts major wind in the sails for the protection of old-growth forests in BC. After we’ve spent years relentlessly focusing on the centrality of conservation financing to support First Nations’ protected areas initiatives, Premier Eby has delivered on one of his three big commitments now. His other major commitments include doubling the protected areas in BC from 15% now to 30% by 2030 — this funding will make it possible as the fund grows — and targeting protection for biodiverse areas, which we interpret to mean the potential development of ecosystem-based protection targets which haven’t happened yet. We will continue working to ensure these commitments come to fruition,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance.

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner & Photographer, TJ Watt, stands beside an unprotected old-growth redcedar tree in the Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner & Photographer, TJ Watt, stands beside an unprotected old-growth redcedar tree in the Jurassic Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

In BC, it’s important to note that the province cannot unilaterally establish protected areas and “just save the old-growth” on Crown lands — the support of local First Nations governments is a legal necessity in their unceded territories. Protected areas establishment and logging deferrals move at the speed of the local First Nations whose territories it is. The BC government’s policies and funding can facilitate or hinder, help speed up or slow down, the abilities of First Nations to protect ecosystems. Conservation financing is a vital enabling condition that can speed up the protection of old-growth forests.

Across BC, First Nations have an economic dependency on forestry jobs and revenues, including in old-growth logging — a dependency fostered and facilitated by successive BC governments. Many First Nations also have an economic dependency on other resource industries, including mining and oil and gas. Hence, conservation financing to fund First Nations’ sustainable economic alternatives in ecotourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products (eg. wild mushrooms), and other industries, linked to the establishment of new protected areas, is vital for First Nations to be able to transition from their dependency on old-growth logging revenues and jobs and other resource industries in endangered ecosystems. Without conservation financing, the establishment of new protected areas in areas with high timber values would be like asking First Nations to simply jettison their main source of revenues and jobs — something that no major human population would do without economic alternatives and support.

On BC’s Central and North Coasts (ie. the Great Bear Rainforest), a conservation financing investment of $120 million in 2006 ($30 million from the province, $30 million from the federal government, $60 million from conservation groups) for First Nations sustainable economic development and stewardship needs, resulted in the protection of about one third of the region, about 1.8 million hectares. The initial investment, as a result of interest and carbon offsets, has ended up providing over $300 million in investments to First Nations’ owned businesses and stewardship initiatives, supporting over 100 First Nations-owned businesses, funding over 1000 jobs, and raising the average per household income substantially in First Nations communities.

Several loopholes or gaps remain in the BC government’s protected areas and conservation financing initiatives that the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Ancient Forest Alliance will continue to work to close.

  1. Just as conservation financing was linked to protection targets (specific valleys and ecosystem retention targets) in the Great Bear Rainforest, the new conservation financing mechanism needs to be tied to “ecosystem-based targets”, that is, protection targets developed for each ecosystem that ensure that all ecosystems, including the most endangered and contested landscapes such as “high productivity” old-growth forests with the greatest timber values, are protected based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. These targets should be developed by a Chief Ecologist (similar to BC’s Chief Forester, but with an ecological lens) and various science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees – new positions that are currently under consideration as the province develops a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. The province already has mapped the most at-risk old-growth forest types via their Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) and it’s vital that these conservation financing funds are linked to those deferral targets as priority, potential protected areas. Linking the conservation financing mechanism to the development of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF), (in particular should it develop ecosystem-based protection targets) is vital once the initiative is finalized.
  2. The province’s conservation funds (and/or other provincial funds currently under development) should also be used to immediately provide funding for First Nations to help offset lost logging revenues when being asked to accept logging deferrals in their unceded territories as identified by the government’s old-growth science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). This “solutions-space” funding, as was used successfully in Clayoquot Sound, will be critical in helping ensure the deferral of the roughly 1.4 million hectares (more than half) of priority old-growth deferrals that remain outstanding from the original 2.6 million hectares.
  3. Ensuring that conservation financing supports only protected areas that meet the standards and permanency of true protected areas – meaning supporting designations that exclude commercial logging (while protecting First Nations cultural harvesting of individual trees, such as monumental cedars for dugout canoes and totem poles), mining, and oil and gas developments, and whose boundaries cannot be readily shifted. Provincial Conservancies and a few other provincial designations termed “Protected Areas” are designations that exclude commercial logging, mining, and oil and gas development, but that protect First Nations subsistence and cultural rights (hunting, fishing, gathering, cultural cedar harvest), co-management authority, and rights and title, and would have the standards and permanency of real protected areas. Conservation regulations such as Old-Growth Management Areas (which allow moveable boundaries to let companies log the biggest trees, to be replaced by “protecting” areas with smaller trees) and Wildlife Habitat Areas (which can still allow commercial logging, for example in Spotted Owl and Northern Goshawk ‘buffer’ areas) would not meet the threshold of real protected areas unless their loopholes are closed.

“We’re watching with great concern as the province might be looking to establish new ‘flexitarian’ designations – tenuous or fake ‘protected areas’ that still allow logging or boundary shifts to occur. These types of loopholes can easily result in the high-grade logging within such ‘protected areas’ of the very geographically limited monumental old-growth stands and the most endangered ecosystems, which can often constitute one or two percent or less of any major landscape area,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, beside an old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

Endangered Ecosystems Alliance Executive Director, Ken Wu, beside an old-growth redcedar tree in the unprotected Eden Grove near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory.

“The big campaign now will be for ecosystem-based protection targets — without them, we’ll see a massive number of hectares of new protected areas in alpine and subalpine areas with little to no timber value, and that skirt around saving the big timber that will still get logged. Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like calling in fire trucks to hose down all the houses that are not burning, while the houses on fire get ignored. Ecosystem-based targets means you aim protected areas establishment right, to save the most endangered and least represented ecosystems”, stated Ken Wu, EEA executive director.

“Premier Eby has done something great today and we thank him. We still have to close several gaps and loopholes, related to linking conservation financing to ecosystem-based targets and the most at-risk old-growth, to ensure protected areas integrity moving forward, and to ensure deferral funding comes from various government sources. But make no mistake, this is a very good day,” stated TJ Watt, AFA campaigner.

Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. They have unique characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree plantations that they are being replaced with and that are logged every 50 to 70 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again. Well over 80% of the original, productive old-growth forests (medium to high productivity sites where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and over 5 million hectares of big tree, rare (by ecosystem type), and very ancient old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC.

Watch this small video series by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu explaining conservation financing, BC’s old-growth policy progress and remaining loopholes, and ecosystem-based targets.

See the news article and the media release that launched the campaign in 2020 for conservation financing from the provincial and federal governments.

A man in a blue jacket stands inside the base of a logged western redcedar in the middle of a massive clearcut on northern Vancouver Island.

The Guardian: Images of felled ancient tree a ‘gut-punch’, old-growth experts say

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May 11, 2023
The Guardian
By Leyland Cecco

Shocking photos of chopped-down tree in western Canada highlights flaws in plan to protect forest from loggers, activists say

Stark images of an ancient tree cut down in western Canada expose flaws in the government’s plan to protect old-growth forests, activists have said, arguing that vulnerable ecosystems have been put at risk as logging companies race to harvest timber.

As part of an effort to catalogue possible old growth forests, photographer TJ Watt and Ian Thomas of the environmental advocacy group Ancient Forest Alliance travelled to a grove of western red cedars on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. But then they arrived to the forest in Quatsino Sound, they found hundreds of trees that has recently been logged.

“It’s absolutely gut-wrenching to see a tree lying on the ground, and to think that it had lived for more than 500 years and then it can be gone in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again,” said Watt, who photographed the forest as part of a grant from the Trebek Initiative, a partnership between the National Geographic Society and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society named after the late Jeopardy host.

A man in a blue jacket stands beside a fallen western redcedar.

AFA researcher Ian Thomas stands beside a massive fallen western redcedar

Watt’s images have been used previously to highlight the dramatic change to landscapes after an old-growth forest is cleared.

In November 2021, amid mounting public frustration over the destruction of old-growth trees, the British Columbia government deferred logging in 2.6 million hectares within the most at-risk forests. The BC government has also pledged to protect 30% of the province’s land area by 2030, part of broader efforts within Canada to meet biodiversity preservation goals.

Since outlining its planned deferrals, however, less than half of the proposed areas have been agreed upon by the province and First Nations communities, whose consent is required. A number of First Nations are actively involved in the logging industry and would see a drop in revenues if logging in their territory was halted. Groups such as the Ancient Forest Alliance say more funding is needed to help offset lost forestry revenues among First Nations.

A man in a red jacket stands beside the base of a fallen western redcedar among a giant clearcut of hundreds other old-growth trees.

AFA photographer TJ Watt stands beside a fallen western redcedar, thought to be 500+ years old.

Critics of the province’s deferral plans also say there are problems in the original recommendations, including an admission from the technical advisory panel that a number of forests are likely been incorrectly classified. In the case of the cutblock found by Watt and Thomas, held by Western Forest Products and logged in late 2022, it was classified as 210 years, younger than the province’s 250-year-old threshold for being considered old-growth. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It just underscores the fact that the logging industry is racing to cut the biggest and best trees while they still can,” said Watt. “Tree-planting does not replicate a complex old-growth forest ecosystem. Knowing this forest could potentially have been left standing, had it been identified properly by the province, is also another punch to the gut.”

A man in a red jacket lies down on the fallen western redcedar, providing scale for the sheer size of the monumental tree.

AFA photographer TJ Watt provides some scale by lying down on the trunk of an old-growth western redcedar tree recently cut by Western Forest Products in Quatsino Sound.

Currently, there are no mechanisms in place for the public or industry to flag forests with trees older than those the province has identified.

“The province admitted the data was going to be somewhat imperfect. We’ve said that citizens and scientists should be able to identify and point out areas missed for deferral. Logging companies should be required when they’re doing their planning and surveys to compare it to that criteria,” said Watt.

Timber companies are not obliged to cut down all trees within an approved cutblock. In 2011, logger Dennis Cronin famously stumbled upon a towering Douglas fir, likely more than 1,000 years old, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The rest of the forest was logged, but Big Lonely Doug was spared.

“Progress is being made, but clearly there are still loopholes. We need to make sure that the province is following through on all of their commitments to protect these endangered ecosystems, and not letting anything slip through the cracks,” said Watt.

“There’s no argument that can be made, when you see these trees that are centuries old, that they should be cut down.”

See the original article here.

A man in a red jacket stands beside the base of a fallen western redcedar among a giant clearcut of hundreds other old-growth trees.

Ancient Forest Alliance renews call for provincial funds to defer old-growth logging

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May 11, 2023
CHEK News
By Dean Stoltz

See drone footage of the massive clearcut and subsequent destruction and an interview with AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt here.

The Ancient Forest Alliance is renewing its call on the BC government to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to protect old-growth forests.

The latest call for funding comes after conservationists with the group found a clear cut of ancient forest in Quatsino Sound.

They say they were exploring northwest Vancouver Island late last summer when they stumbled across a cut block that left them speechless.

“Yeah, some of the trees that we saw when we were out there had been standing earlier that day. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling to see a tree that’s lived for 500 or maybe even 1000 years can just be gone in a blink of an eye,” said TJ Watt, an AFA photographer and campaigner.

Watt says the logged area was equivalent to about 50 football fields and that hundreds of old-growth red cedars had been cut down, some up to three metres wide.

An aerial image of a patchwork of clearcuts in Quatsino Territory.

An aerial image of a patchwork of clearcuts after the old-growth forests there had been logged in Quatsino Territory.

“Old-growth forests are a non-renewable resource under BC’s current system of forestry,” he added.

“You may replant trees, but they’re re-logged every 50 to 60 years, never to become old growth again, so we have one chance and one chance only to protect these endangered ecosystems.”

The AFA has been calling for at least $300 million from the province that could be added to hundreds of millions of dollars of available federal money in the forthcoming Canada Nature Agreement. Watt says roughly $800 million to $1 billion is needed to defer old-growth logging.

“The province has committed to creating a conservation financing fund by the end of June but so far has not publicly committed any of their own money towards it. They said they’re going to rely on private and philanthropic donations,” Watts said.

The money would be used for conservation financing and go toward economically sustainable alternatives for communities and First Nations.

“It’s up to the province to use its vast resources to help with reconciliation and to provide economic alternatives for these communities,” he said.

Watt added that the BC’s Independent Science Panel recommended big tree forests like this be saved but that it was missed because it was “misclassified as being younger than it really was.”

The full release can be found here.

The Ministry of Forests did not respond to CHEK News’ request for comment before our deadline.

See the original article here.

Happy Earth Day from the AFA!

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Happy Earth Day from AFA! ?

The global theme for this year’s Earth Day is “Invest in Our Planet”. For years, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and our supporters have been calling on the province to “invest in our planet” by committing significant funding toward the protection of endangered old-growth forests in BC through conservation financing.

This approach has already proven successful in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii, where conservation financing has supported the creation of 123 Indigenous-led businesses, invested $122 million in local sustainable infrastructure, and diversified First Nations economies, all while creating over 1,200 jobs and infusing $63 million into local communities as salaries (see the recent Coast Funds report here).

The emergence of these conservation economies has allowed First Nations communities to transition away from resource-extractive industries like old-growth logging toward sustainable forms of employment and revenue. Additionally, these funding mechanisms provide the resources for Indigenous-led stewardship of their unceded territories.

Conservation Economy: A New Way Forward

Recent studies have shown there is greater economic value to endangered old-growth forests in BC when they’re left standing than when they’re cut down, as seen in our report on the Economic Value of Old-Growth Forests near Port Renfrew BC.

The concept of a “nature economy” is growing as well, which Global News explains in this new interactive article highlighting success stories, such as Indigenous tourism, and featuring a number of AFA photos and videos as well.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has been leading the years-long push to get the province to invest in protecting old-growth ecosystems, and we’re beginning to see the framework for success appear.

On the ground, AFA, alongside our partners at the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, are supporting Indigenous communities to protect approximately 355-square kilometers of highly-endangered old-growth forests through collaborations with the Kanaka Bar Indian Band to support their Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area proposal, and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation to support their Salmon Parks Initiative.

Under pressure, the BC government has now committed to creating a new conservation financing tool within the next six months that can be used to protect old-growth forests elsewhere in BC. However, thus far, the province has not allocated any of its own funding toward it.

We’re committed to doing everything in our power to invest in our planet and its old-growth ecosystems. But we can’t do it alone. If you haven’t already, please consider donating to the AFA or take one minute and send an instant message to the BC government calling on it to invest in our planet by providing funding for old-growth protection!

Earth Day is every day ?

A humpback whale breaching.

Indigenous funding model is a win-win for ecosystems and local economies in Canada

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March 10, 2023
Mongabay: News and Inspiration from Nature’s Frontline  
by Spoorthy Raman

  • First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii of Canada, have successfully invested in conservation initiatives that have benefited ecosystems while also increasing communities’ well-being over the past 15 years, a recent report shows.
  • Twenty-seven First Nations spent nearly C$109 million ($79 million) toward 439 environmental and economic development projects in their territories, including initiating research, habitat restoration, and guardian programs, that attracted returns worth C$296 million ($214 million).
  • Funding has also set up 123 Indigenous-led business and was spent towards sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
  • One of the world’s first project finance for permanence (PFP) models, this funding scheme is exemplary of how stable finance mechanisms can directly benefit Indigenous communities and the environment, say Indigenous leaders.

Over the past 15 years, First Nations in Haida Gwaii and central and northern coastal British Columbia, Canada, have turned the tables around: once subjected to massive economic, social and cultural damages due to the extractive logging industry, they have now successfully built a sustainable economy that focuses on protecting sensitive ecosystems, while increasing communities’ well-being, a recent report shows.

The report was released by Coast Funds, an Indigenous-led conservation finance organization set up in 2007 as part of a historic land-use planning agreement negotiated between First Nations, environmental organizations, and the provincial and federal governments. Named the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, it aimed to prevent logging in 85% of the approximately 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of temperate rainforests — the largest of its kind in the world — stretching up Canada’s west coast and home to the iconic spirit bears (Ursus americanus kermodei) and coastal sea wolves (Canis lupus crassodon).

With an initial fund of C$120 million ($87 million) — half of it financed through money raised by First Nations and philanthropic partners toward conservation and the rest matched by provincial and federal governments toward economic development — Coast Funds began providing funds directly to First Nations in the region to use on projects they deem necessary in their territories. Its funding model allowed it to avoid the typical issues surrounding conservation finance and Indigenous communities, and, according to the report, delivered a long list of successes.

A Spirit bear walks along a mossy log hanging over a river whilst looking for salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Spirit bear in the Great Bear Rainforest. Image by Andrew S Wright.

The C$109 million ($79 million) invested by 27 First Nations across 439 environmental stewardship and economic development projects in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii region has generated more than C$296 million ($214 million) in additional investment to date — almost three times the initial investment.

“When I look at that report, I think about how amazing our leaders were 15 years ago,” says Christine Smith-Martin, who is of Tsimshian and Haida descent and is the CEO of the 11-nation coalition Coastal First Nations. “I think it is a great success story, because it was owned by the community.”

Since 2008, using funding from Coast Funds, First Nations in the region have set up 123 Indigenous-led businesses, spent C$122 million ($88 million) toward sustainable infrastructure projects like buildings and equipment, and diversified their local economies with investments in sectors like ecotourism and renewable energy. These investments have created more than 1,200 jobs in the past 15 years, some of which have lured Indigenous people away from resource-extractive industries like logging and placed them in conservation-oriented stewardship positions.

These employment opportunities have infused more than C$63 million ($46 million) into the local economy as salaries.

Members of the Wei Wai Kum Guardians, part of the Laich-Kwil-Tach group of First Nations stand together in a grassy field with a blue sky behind them.

Wei Wai Kum Guardians, part of the Laich-Kwil-Tach group of First Nations, patrol the Nation’s territory, conduct research, restore salmon habitat, and partner with Crown agencies and industry to monitor impacts on lands and waters. Image by CoastFunds.

When unsustainable logging was thriving in the Great Bear Rainforest region, before the agreements were in place, the industry would clear-cut old-growth trees in vast areas of First Nations’ territories and take the timber elsewhere for processing. “All the money came back to the industry owners and the provincial government through royalties,” says Adra, the CEO of Coast Funds, adding that First Nations had very little say in how that resource extraction happened in their territories. Decades of logging also decimated salmon, a culturally significant species for coastal First Nations, in many streams.

However, once the funding came through, the report notes, First Nations led 389 research and habitat restoration initiatives that benefit 75 species in the region. These include the development of a recovery program for Haida Gwaii’s national bird, the threatened northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis laingi), by the Council of the Haida Nation; an aerial survey of mountain goats in the Nass Wildlife Area by the Nisg̲a’a Nation; and tracking whale movements by the Gitga’at Nation.

“Our grants are not specific to a species,” Adra told Mongabay. “It’s all about what the Nation’s priority is and what they like to use the funding to research on.”

Natalie Ban, a marine conservation scientist at the University of Victoria, has spent more than a decade working on some of these conservation projects, such as understanding the cultural and ecological importance of Dungeness crabs and monitoring paralytic shellfish poisoning levels, driven by the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais, Haida and Gitga’at nations aided by Coast Funds.

“One of the things that’s been amazing is that the First Nations can do their own science,” Ban says, adding that without this, these nations would have to rely on outsiders. “Now they can develop their own programs where you don’t need somebody else to bring in money.”

A man wearing a yellow and purple cap leans out of his boat to examine kelp in the water.

Wei Wai Kum Guardians, part of the Laich-Kwil-Tach group of First Nations, patrol the Nation’s territory, conduct research, restore salmon habitat, and partner with Crown agencies and industry to monitor impacts on lands and waters. Image by CoastFunds.

Guardians of the land

Funding has also helped set up 18 guardian programs to date in the First Nations that monitor more than 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of land and marine territory each year in the region.

“Guardians are our eyes and ears on the land,” says Valérie Courtois, director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, an Indigenous-led nationwide conservation and stewardship organization in Canada. “It is people who are trained for being the caretakers of our spaces, our lands and waters.”

These programs include training community members with the required skills, buying equipment like boats, and providing them with full-time jobs as coastal guardians or stewardship directors.

“Guardianship is an important stewardship mechanism for nations to reflect their authority over their territories,” Adra says. He cites the example of the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais guardian watchmen, who monitor the many fjords and inlets in their territory — areas where federal departments’ monitoring programs do not reach — to keep poachers away.

A dinghy floats in the sound with a small island and mountains in the background conducting a kelp survey.

Guardians from the Mamalilikulla First Nation conducting a kelp survey. Image by Markus Thompson / Thalassia Environmental.

“These guardians are going in specific areas to keep track of because they know the areas to go to,” adds Smith-Martin. “They have a very comprehensive understanding of their territory.”

This funding into guardian programs have bolstered the Coastal Guardian Watchmen Program, a regional collaboration set up in 2005 to steward the entire coast, which, Courtois says, is “one of the most stable, well-funded and most successful of the guardian programs in Canada.”

Although Canada is home to more than 600 First Nations, funding challenges have prevented most from establishing similar guardian programs. “Often, programs are based on cyclical funding or project-based funding,” Smith-Martin says, adding that guaranteed funding is necessary to successfully set up such programs.

A first-of-its-kind Indigenous finance model

Conventional funding for conservation projects relies on fundraising or short-term grants, which can be piecemeal or insufficient to manage vast protected areas, like the Great Bear Rainforest. Hence, Coast Funds is set up to be a project finance for permanence (PFP) model, where the entirety of the C$120 million was raised before its inception and this funding is permanent.

A man wearing a high-vis vest installs a pipe as part of a hydropower project in a forest.

Penstock installation for Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation’s hydropower project by Barkley Project Group, a renewable energy company. Image by Taylor Stubbins.

Each Nation has a predetermined share that’s available to it. “Nations aren’t trying to compete for limited resources, they have long-term sustainable financing that they know how much they’re expecting to receive every year,” Adra says. Coast Funds acts like a trust through which each Nation can access its allocated funds.

Adra credits the ingenuity, creativity and determination of the communities, who are at the center of decision-making, with the success of Coast Funds.

Many instances in the past have shown that while funding toward conservation projects led by Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) is increasing, the communities don’t benefit much. For instance, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, several governments and private funders pledged $1.7 billion — the largest such pledge — to support ILPCs’ land tenures. However, a year later, a report from the funders found that only 7% of the funding went directly to ILPCs. Often, most of that funding goes to international NGOs, consultancies, development banks and other intermediaries. There’s also a lack of IPLC representation at the advisory board level, along with a shortage of capacity to manage financial resources and flexibility in funding to adapt to changing priorities.

However, Coast Funds’ model is built to overcome such issues, Adra says, where the 27 First Nations appoint the board members, and every project needing funding is reviewed and approved by that Nation’s chief and council. Should a Nation’s priorities change mid-way, they still can access their unused funds for new initiatives.

A long, expanding beach dotted with Haida House at Tllaal oceanside cabins on Haida Gwaii.

Haida House at Tllaal oceanside cabins on Haida Gwaii, owned by the Haida Enterprise Corporation (HaiCo), the economic development corporation of the Haida Nation. Image by K. Bialous/ Entrée Destinations.

“Everything is rooted in the determination of the nations, in how they access the capital and in how they communicate with our team,” he says, “From cradle to grave, it’s done in service of the nations, by the determination of the nations.”

Ban, whose research relies on the work of the guardians and the use of boats and other equipment, which are expensive to buy and maintain, says programs financed through Coast Funds have been transformational for communities as it “provides longer-term, more sustainable financing for many of these programs.”

Coast Funds’ success has inspired similar conservation funding mechanisms elsewhere. In Brazil, the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) for Life program aims to protect about 150 million hectares (370 million acres) of rainforest, and in Costa Rica the $55 million Costa Rica Forever program protects 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land and 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of sea. Similar projects are underway in Bhutan, Colombia and Peru to protect local ecosystems.

At last December’s United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal, COP15, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an additional C$800 million ($580 million) investment in four Indigenous-led conservation models funded through PFPs, which include the marine protected areas in the Great Bear Sea, the stretch of Pacific Ocean that extends from the north of Vancouver Island to the Canada-Alaska border.

“When you have a funding financial model that’s set up by communities, I think that the success of that model becomes the success of the communities,” Smith-Martin says.

Read the original article.

Two northern spotted owls sit side-by-side on a branch

BC extends ban on old-growth logging for two years to assist endangered spotted owl’s recovery

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March 3, 2023
CBC News 
By Winston Szeto 

The BC government says it’s extending an old-growth logging ban for part of the Fraser Canyon, located about 100 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, for another two years to help with the recovery of the endangered spotted owl.

On Friday, the province announced it had extended the suspension of old-growth logging activity in the Fraser Canyon’s Spuzzum and Utzilus watersheds — which span more than 300 square kilometres — until February 2025.

Two years ago, the BC and federal governments reached an agreement with the Spuzzum First Nation to hold off logging in the watersheds for a year while the governments continued working on a recovery plan. The agreement was later extended for another year.

The province says the two-year logging deferrals in the Spuzzum and Utzilus watersheds are part of its plan to bring back a “sustained breeding population” of the owl.

“These deferrals are an important component of a complex process that will allow us to learn as much as possible to support the reintegration of the spotted owl into its habitat,” Nathan Cullen, BC’s minister of water, land and resource stewardship said in a written statement.

Northern spotted owls are endangered species

Northern spotted owls have been defined as endangered since 1986 and are under pressure due to habitat loss. They thrive in old, mature forests and help maintain the biodiversity of those areas.

Protection of spotted owls has fuelled decades-long disputes between environmental groups and the forest industry, as their future is often tied to saving old-growth forests where the birds live.

In a joint statement last week, environmental groups Ecojustice and Wilderness Committee and the Spuzzum First Nation said they had learned that the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, is recommending an emergency order to protect the spotted owl from imminent threats to its survival and recovery.

The statement said the minister has determined that logging must be prevented in the two Fraser Canyon watersheds within the Spuzzum First Nation’s territory, and that he is also calling for the protection of a further 25 square kilometres of forest habitat considered critical to the spotted owl’s survival but at a higher risk of being logged within the next year.

Forests Minister Bruce Ralston says further extending the logging deferral will support recovery efforts to increase the bird’s population.

Province’s measures not enough to save owls: advocates

Ecojustice staff lawyer Kegan Pepper-Smith says he welcomes the province’s latest move to help the endangered species, but it’s insufficient in light of Guilbeault’s recommendations.

“It’s laughable that the BC government suggests these two simple deferrals demonstrate a commitment to recovering the species, when it’s clear that [old-growth] logging continues,” Pepper-Smith said.

“Logging elsewhere is completely jeopardizing any kind of recovery of the species.”

The province says there are only three northern spotted owls known to live in the wild in BC, two of which were released by a breeding facility in Langley in August last year.

BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development says it spends $400,000 annually on spotted owls recovery programs.

TJ Watt, campaigner for BC environmental group Ancient Forest Alliance, says the province needs to spend even more to save the species.

“We’re calling for $120 million in short-term … funding that would help offset the loss of logging revenues for First Nations to accept deferral in the long-term,” Watt said.

“We’re calling for … $300 million towards conservation financing to support sustainable economic development, guardian programs and new Indigenous-protected areas.”

View the original article from CBC News.

An aerial shot of a clearcut in the Caycuse Watershed in Ditidaht Territory.

Conservationists decry lack of funding to protect old-growth forests despite major provincial budget surplus and ecological crisis in the woods

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For immediate release
Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

Still needed is short-term funding for First Nations to offset lost logging revenues from accepting logging deferrals as well as long-term conservation financing to develop sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging linked to the creation of new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

VICTORIA (Unceded Lekwungen Territories) – Conservationists are disappointed that the BC government has failed to allocate critical funding in the 2023 provincial budget for old-growth protection despite having a major budget surplus and recently committing to creating a conservation financing mechanism to protect old-growth forests and biodiverse areas. The Ancient Forest Alliance has repeatedly called on the province to provide significant short- and long-term funding for First Nations, many of whom now have an economic dependency on the revenues of old-growth logging, to help further conservation efforts.

“Today the BC government missed an historic opportunity to use its multi-billion dollar budget surplus to help safeguard critically endangered old-growth forests and ecosystems,’” stated AFA Campaigner and Photographer, TJ Watt. “David Eby has committed to ‘accelerating’ the government’s efforts on old-growth, to protect 30% of BC by 2030, and create a conservation financing fund to protect old-growth forests and the most biodiverse areas. Allocating significant funding in this budget would have been the gas in the tank to accelerate those commitments. Instead, the conservation fund remains empty and the expectation so far is that it will be filled through private and philanthropic donations, a complete abdication of the province’s responsibilities.”

Two types of funding are still urgently needed from the province in order to help achieve the protection of old-growth forests: both short and long-term.

In the short term, at least $120 million in “solutions space” funding is needed to help offset lost logging revenues for First Nations who accept temporary logging deferrals in the most at-risk old-growth forests, as identified by the government’s independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP). To date, less than half of the 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk ancient forests identified for deferral by the TAP have been secured and progress on additional priority deferrals has stalled, leaving over one million hectares of BC’s most at-risk old-growth forests without even temporary protection. The vast majority of old-growth forests in BC are located on the unceded territories of diverse First Nations communities, whose consent and support are a legal necessity for the creation of any new deferrals or protected areas.

A pink ribbon signalling a new road to be put in flies in front of an old-growth section in the Caycuse Valley on unceded Ditidaht Territory

A pink ribbon signalling a new road to be built through an old-growth forest in the Caycuse Valley on unceded Ditidaht Territory. Photo by TJ Watt – Ancient Forest Alliance.

“The province should use its massive budget surplus or unallocated funds at a later date to provide short-term funding to help offset lost logging revenues when asking First Nations, who have the final say on whether they want to defer logging or not in the most at-risk old-growth forests. The point of temporary logging deferrals is to ‘stop the bleed’ while long-term land use plans can be developed and the province — the one responsible for creating the ecological wounds in the first place — must use its vast resources to make the path to protecting old-growth as painless as possible,” stated Watt. “Without deferrals, many areas remain in a “talk and log” situation where, day by day, we continue to lose the best of the big-tree, ancient, and rare old-growth forests. $120 million in “solution space” funding would help to ensure that First Nations communities aren’t forced to choose between setting aside at-risk old growth and generating revenue for their communities. With billions of dollars in surplus money, there’s never been a better time for the province to fully fund all avenues of old-growth protection. Why haven’t they done so?”

In the long term, at least $300 million in conservation financing is needed from the province to support First Nations’ sustainable economic development, stewardship jobs, and creation of new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) linked to protecting the most at-risk old-growth forests and ecosystems. This can include new land-use planning, guardians programs, and the development of sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging such as tourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood harvesting, non-timber forest products, and a value-added, second-growth forestry. Support for forestry workers and contractors, as well as legally defined compensation for major licensees, would be above and beyond this total.

The federal government has significant funding available to support environmental protection as well. $2.3 billion has been committed to help Canada achieve its international commitments to protect 25% of lands and waters by 2025 and 30% by 2030 (a goal to which BC has also committed) and of this, several hundred million dollars are available for the expansion of protected areas in BC, with $55 million specifically allocated to old growth in BC so far. The BC government must commit to providing matching funding and formalize the long-awaited BC-Canada Nature Agreement, which remains under negotiation, and would allow the federal funds to flow into BC.

Also missing from the budget is any investment into a much-needed “Provincial Land Acquisition Fund” which would help the province to purchase privately held lands of high conservation, scenic, cultural, and recreational value that are under threat from logging or development. The Ancient Forest Alliance has called for such a fund for more than a decade, which would start with an initial investment of $70 million, to be increased by $10 million a year until the fund reaches $100 million. The fund would fill a crucial gap in BC’s current conservation policies by allowing for the acquisition and permanent protection of endangered old-growth forests and other threatened ecosystems across the province that otherwise have no form of legislated protection.

A positive note was the allocation of $21 million over three years in funding for the development of eight new Forest Landscape Planning projects. Landscape planning work includes First Nations as well as a variety of stakeholders and is part of the pathway towards permanent protection for old-growth forests. However, conservationists stress that without significant conservation financing, future land-use plans will not go far enough when it comes to protecting BC’s rarest and most productive forest ecosystems. Conservationists also argue that the implementation of logging deferrals is the essential prerequisite for fulsome and comprehensive land-use planning, as it alone ensures that those ecologically critical forests will not be lost while planning is underway. Additionally, $101 million was committed to help preserve and enhance outdoor recreational opportunities in BC Parks and outdoor recreation sites and trails.

“David Eby promised to accelerate the protection of old-growth forests as well as protect 30% of lands in BC by 2030. That would be a major step forward for conservation, but it won’t happen for free,” stated Watt. “You wouldn’t promise a paradigm shift in health care or expect to build major new infrastructure without the money to back it up. The province should be using its multi-billion dollar surplus to help solve the decades-long battle to protect old-growth forests once and for all. It must also match and accept the hundreds of millions in funding available from the federal government to support Indigenous-led conservation efforts, including protecting old-growth forests. Every day there’s a delay, we further lose our chance to protect these irreplaceable ecosystems.”

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt stands beside an old-growth redcedar tree before and after logging in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island, BC.

Ancient Forest Alliance photographer TJ Watt stands beside an old-growth redcedar tree before and after logging in the Caycuse watershed in Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island, BC.

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Background info:

Conservation financing is an approach that was successfully used on BC’s Central and North Coasts, where $120 million was committed by the provincial and federal governments and conservation groups to support First Nations business development and economic alternatives to old-growth logging. The result was a globally significant conservation achievement, with 80% of what is now known as the Great Bear Rainforest being reserved from logging.

This funding helps to supplant the lost revenues and jobs from forgoing old-growth logging through the creation of alternatives such as eco-tourism, sustainable aquaculture, non-timber forest products, renewable energy, and even sustainable second-growth logging. It can also provide funds needed for First Nations’ guardian and stewardship programs.

Old-growth forests are vital to support endangered species, First Nations cultures, the climate, clean water, wild salmon, and tourism. Under BC’s current system of forestry, second-growth tree plantations are typically re-logged every 50–60 years, never to become old-growth again.