Media Release: BC Government Confirms No Commercial Logging in Provincial Parks Amid Rising Concerns in General for Protected Areas

The BC Ministry of Environment and Parks has officially confirmed that provincial parks are off-limits to commercial logging, responding to a formal inquiry from the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA). This comes amid growing public alarm that efforts to reduce the risk of forest fires can be misused to permit commercial logging in protected areas. While the confirmation provides some reassurance, the groups also warn that forest conservation reserves like Old-Growth Management Areas (OGMAs) may remain susceptible to commercial logging under the guise of fire-risk reduction, and like many conservation reserves, including Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs) and Visual Quality Objectives (VQOs), have logging loopholes that need to be closed.  

This Earth Day, the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) and Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) are calling on the BC government to refocus on their incomplete measures to protect old-growth forests, implement their draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, and ensure a transition to a sustainable, value-added second-growth forest industry. At the same time, the groups are issuing a strong warning: commercial logging must not be permitted in protected areas under the guise of wildfire risk reduction.

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We’ve grown and accomplished much because of thousands of supporters like YOU since our inception six years ago. Coming up, we have huge tasks ahead and need your support to expand our strength.

Conservationists call for the protection of old-growth forests and incentives and regulations to ensure a modernized, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

By Ken Wu

I have an optimistic and resilient outlook on life. I feel fortunate that I have always tended towards this mindset, which has helped me with my environmental activism and with life in general. But, like billions of people around the world, there was a period recently when I experienced a feeling of major despair and a foreboding that very hard times are coming for the planet and humanity – so much so that I even stopped looking at the news for a week (which I never do).

Hello Endangered Ecosystems Alliance friends!

Please help us reach our Year-End fundraising goal of raising $50,000.
Your donations will go the farthest with us if you want to see outcomes change for the most endangered ecosystems in Canada.

We’ve grown and accomplished much because of thousands of supporters like YOU since our inception six years ago. Coming up, we have huge tasks ahead and need your support to expand our strength.

As we approach a BC election (October 19th - BC residents please register to vote at: https://elections.bc.ca/), where do the political parties stand on protecting nature? Safeguarding nature is vital for our health and well-being (even breathing in the air in nature is shown by science to boost our immune systems through plant compounds known as “phytoncides”), for the economy (protected areas attract and support a large diversity of industries and skilled labour to surrounding communities), for the climate, and for the diversity of life on Earth.

Conservationists note the latest BC government plan doesn’t include much action beyond its previous commitments, with the updated plan lacking specificity and objectives around old-growth protection, but the mention of a science advisory group is much welcomed. Key deferral funding and ecosystem-based targets are still missing. Existing commitments to protect 30% of BC by 2030 with over $1 billion in provincial-federal funding are moving protected areas progress forward, as the province has been in discussions with dozens of First Nations across BC on their Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) proposals.

As the BC Conservatives surge in the polls, party leader John Rustad — kicked out of the BC Liberal caucus for promoting a tweet spreading misinformation about climate change — says he would scrap the province’s pledge to create new conserved areas

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

Learn about forest productivity distinctions in BC.