Media Release
October. 8, 2020
Conservationists Commend the Union of BC Indian Chiefs’ (UBCIC) call for the BC Government to Expand Old-Growth Logging Deferrals in Consultation with First Nations, Adopt all of the 14 Old-Growth Strategic Review Panel Recommendations, and Support Indigenous Protected Areas and First Nations Land Use Plans
Resolution 2020-23, “Implementation of an Old Growth Strategy that Protects First Nations’ Welfare and Endangered Old Growth Forests”, was passed at the Annual General Assembly of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) on September 29-30 in response to the BC government’s old-growth policy announcement on September 11 upon the release of the recommendations of the Old-Growth Strategic Review public input panel.
Conservationists are commending a resolution from one of BC’s leading First Nations organizations, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, calling for the BC government to adopt all 14 recommendations of the province’s public input panel, the Old-Growth Strategic Review, chaired by foresters Gary Merkel and Al Gorley. The resolution also calls for an expansion of old-growth logging deferral areas via consultation with First Nations communities, and to support and finance First Nations Indigenous Protected Areas and land use plans to protect old growth forests, among other items.
See the Resolution here.
“We greatly commend this excellent resolution by one of the province’s most powerful organizations – hopefully it’ll light a fire under the butt of the provincial government to commit to implementing all 14 of the recommendations of their own public input panel, and to support First Nations as they work to establish Indigenous Protected Areas and land use plans that protect old-growth forests in their unceded territories. Time is short, and First Nations, all British Columbians, and millions of life forms lose if the last great endangered stands of old-growth forests are logged due to the heel-dragging and ‘talk and log’ policies of the BC NDP government”, stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director. “There is a major forest industry alternative now, namely the fact that 97% of BC’s best growing sites are now second-growth forests, where sustainable logging can take place. To log until the end of the last great old-growth stands is like slaughtering the last herds of elephants or killing the last great whales under the guise of 'supporting jobs and the economy'.”
Some key quotes in the Resolution include:
“...old-growth forests are considered “heritage habitats” with ancient trees, some up to 2,000 years old, that not only play an integral ecological role in the biodiversity and health of BC ecosystems, but possess incalculable cultural value and significance for First Nations who use old-growth yellow and red cedar for traditional purposes, such as clothing and regalia, canoes, totem poles, and long houses;” (Page 1)
“...the current landscape of old-growth logging has been exacerbated by years of the BC government fostering an economic dependence on old-growth for First Nations communities by arranging agreements for revenue-sharing, employment, joint ventures, and tenures in old growth timber in contentious areas for First Nation bands who face limited economic opportunities as a result of years of colonialism and racism;” (Page 1 to 2)
“...the UBCIC Chiefs-in-Assembly fully support the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel’s report and recommendations that are vital to creating a new, sustainable old growth strategy, and call upon the provincial government to take immediate and sustained action to ensure that the report’s recommendations are carried out, with First Nations included and consulted every step of the way;” (Page 4)
“...the UBCIC Chiefs-in-Assembly fully support the First Nations and allies who are protesting the negligent logging and clear-cutting practices enabled by the BC government that have undermined First Nations Title and Rights and pushed Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests to the brink of collapse;” (Page 4)
"...the UBCIC Chiefs-in-Assembly fully support the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel’s report and recommendations that are vital to creating a new, sustainable old growth strategy, and call upon the provincial government to take immediate and sustained action to ensure that the report’s recommendations are carried out, with First Nations included and consulted every step of the way." (Page 4)
“...the UBCIC Chiefs-in-Assembly call upon the BC government to provide more details on its plan to shift logging deferrals to permanent protection, and working in partnership with impacted First Nations, to engage in discussions on expanding these deferrals to include all threatened old-growth forests, including areas like the Walbran Valley, Nahmint, Fairy Creek, Tsitika Valley, Mt. Elphinstone, Argonaut Creek.” (Page 4)
“...the UBCIC Chiefs-in-Assembly direct the UBCIC Executive and staff to work with other like-minded organizations to urge the provincial and federal governments to provide dedicated funding for First Nations Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and First Nations land use plans, as well as financial support for First Nations communities to manage and steward ICPAs, purchase and protect private lands with old-growth, and pursue conservation-based businesses and economies, including cultural and eco-tourism businesses, clean energy, and second-growth forestry;” (Page 4-5)
They also state that their resolution “...is intended to support sustainable old-growth cultural harvesting as an important First Nations livelihood and source of culture.” (Page 5)
The BC government announced on Sept.11 their new policy direction regarding the fate of BC’s old-growth forests with the release of the Old-Growth Strategic Review public and stakeholder consultation panel’s powerful recommendations. The BC government has failed adopt most of the Panel’s recommendations thus far, including placing key moratoria on logging the extremely endangered high-productivity old-growth stands (ie. the high-productivity or “classic” old-growth forests with the biggest trees at the heart of the old-growth logging and protection controversy, with 415,000 hectares remaining across BC or 3% of its original extent) and the most endangered forest types, as recommended by the Panel, and states they are now proceeding with consultations with First Nations about their old-growth policies (which should have occurred much earlier – before public and stakeholder consultations began).
See our response and the BC government's announcement.
The BC government also has not committed any funding yet for First Nations Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas or new land use plans that protect old-growth. Funding for First Nations conservation and sustainable economic development initiatives is vital to accompany any consultations regarding old-growth policy, and is the key game-changer for actual protection of old-growth forests on the ground in BC, which are the unceded lands of First Nations.
The Old-Growth Strategic Review Panel recommended that the BC government “Establish mechanisms for local Indigenous groups to meet provincial targets and standards for biodiversity protection, and ecosystem representation” and “Establish support programs for Indigenous groups to build their land/forest management expertise and capacity.” ie. Financing for First Nations to accompany government-to-government consultations on old-growth (see page 49).
More Background Information
B.C.’s old-growth, temperate rainforests are among the grandest forests on earth next to the U.S. redwoods. Almost all stand on the unceded territories of the diverse First Nations peoples in BC.
Old-growth forests are vital for endangered species, First Nations cultures, clean water, wild salmon, carbon storage, and tourism and recreation.
In BC, the unique features of old-growth temperate rainforests take centuries to develop — in a province where the forests are re-logged every 60 to 80 years on BC’s coast. As a result, old-growth forests are not a renewable resource under B.C.’s system of forestry and are not replicated by tree-planting.
55,000 hectares of old-growth forests are logged on average each year in BC, including about 9,000 hectares on Vancouver Island in a typical year.
The first major, province-wide analysis on the status of old-growth forests in BC has just been released by an independent science team - and the results are dire.
Read the full, independent research from Dr. Rachel Holt, Dr. Karen Price, and Dave Daust at Veridian Ecological.
Key points of the report include:
1. There is now a miniscule fraction (2.7%) of the original high productivity old-growth forests in BC where the biggest trees grow (and with the greatest biodiversity levels and most endangered species).
2. The province's old-growth protection levels are grossly inadequate, jeopardizing forest ecosystems across most of BC (ie. placing them at "high risk" of species loss and losing ecological integrity) due to their insufficient scale of protection.
3. BC's accounting system for how much old-growth remains lacks critical distinctions in forest productivity (thus opting to protect sites with small trees instead of big trees) and ecosystem types, resulting in flawed policies with loopholes in forest reserve selection.
4. Most of the small amounts of remaining high productivity old-growth forests are slated for logging - over 75%.
5. We need an immediate logging moratorium of all high productivity old-growth forests, endangered forest ecosystem types (based on BEC zones), major more intact areas (known as “hot spots”), exceptionally old forests, and landscape units (clusters of watersheds) where scant old-growth levels place them at "high risk" of losing species and ecological integrity, while developing science-based regulations to protect old-growth forests systematically.
Conservationists are frustrated at how long the BC government has been dragging-out any action on protecting old-growth forests (while at the same time providing all manner of excuses, rationales, and PR-spin to defend continued large scale, industrial old-growth logging), despite having campaigned prior to the 2017 provincial election that they would manage BC’s old-growth forests based on the Ecosystem-Based Management model of the Great Bear Rainforest agreement (where 85% of all forests are now protected).
Conservationists are calling on the province to:
1. A commitment to end the logging of endangered old-growth forest types through developing science-based legislation and policies.
2. Financing of First Nations land use plans and Indigenous Protected Areas to protect old-growth forests on Crown and unceded Indigenous lands, as well as a land acquisition funding to buy old-growth on private lands.
3. An immediate moratorium on old-growth logging in exceptional areas, such as remaining high productivity stands, endangered ecosystems, and in old-growth “hotspot” areas where larger, more intact tracts of old-growth forests remain.
4. Incentives and regulations to support value-added, second-growth forestry jobs, such as rebates or relief on the PST for investment in value-added, second-growth manufacturing facilities, and restrictions to ultimately end the export of raw, unprocessed logs from BC to foreign mills.
Numerous studies show that protected areas, including protecting old-growth forests, typically results in greater net positive impacts on the economy than the traditional resource extraction industries, when factoring in recreation and tourism, enhanced real estate values near protected areas, clean water and fisheries values (commercial and recreational), non-timber forest products, carbon offsets, and attracting skilled labour (including high tech workers) who relocated to areas with a higher environmental quality of life. See National Geographic: Economic Benefits and CTV: BC Old-growth Forests Worth More Standing.
To protect old-growth forests, funding is needed to support First Nations efforts to establish new Indigenous Protected Areas and land use plans. Financing land use planning, community engagement, management and stewardship programs such as Indigenous Guardians programs, and sustainable economic development like cultural and eco-tourism, clean energy, value-added second-growth forestry, and non-timber forest products linked to ancient forest protection) is needed to accompany consultations about old-growth policy and land use, so that there is an equivalent economic alternative for First Nations in lieu of old-growth logging revenues and jobs.
In addition, land acquisition funding is needed to purchase and protect private lands with old-growth forests for new Indigenous Protected Areas and ecological reserves.
For more information contact:
Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) Executive Director: Info@EndangeredEcosystemsAlliance.org