Media Release
November 2, 2021
Significant Progress to Protect Old-Growth Forests in BC, with Critical Funding Still Missing: “Building an Amazing Car without an Engine” – for now
BC Government Accepts Science-Based Old-Growth Mapping and Enacts Major Old-Growth Logging Deferrals in BC Timber Sales Areas (about 20% of remaining old-growth) – Vital Funding for Indigenous old-growth logging deferrals and protection sorely needed
Quote: “The BC government has announced a significant leap forward to protect old-growth forests in BC by announcing the key science-based mapping and analysis - alas without the key funding to make most of it happen. It’s like they’ve built an amazing car without an engine,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director. “On the plus side, the province has accepted the key mapping analysis using the best available science and scientists, who have identified, from an ecological standpoint, the most at-risk old-growth forests that should be deferred from logging. The province says they accept these deferrals in principle, and is moving to implement logging deferrals right now on 20% of the recommended areas, those old-growth areas controlled by the government’s logging agency, BC Timber Sales, which include some of the greatest tracts of ancient forests in BC. However, without the key provincial funding, logging deferrals on most of the 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests simply can’t happen – it would be like a government declaring their support for health care and education, just not the funding - which would obviously be a largely hollow PR move”.
Today BC NDP government took an unprecedented leap towards protecting the most at risk old-growth forests in BC by releasing and accepting the analysis and recommendation in principle of the independent science panel, the Technical Advisory Panel, to defer old-growth logging on 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk, unprotected old-growth forests in BC:
1.7 million hectares with the largest trees (which spans across the 400,000 hectares of high productivity old-growth forests, portions of the remaining 2.2 million hectares of medium productivity old-growth, and small portions of the 13 million hectares of low productivity old-growth, such as ancient yellow cedars, subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce at high elevations)
400,000 hectares with the oldest or most ancient forests
500,000 hectares of the most endangered old-growth forests (by ecosystem type).
While the government has accepted in principle the panel’s recommendation to defer new logging cutblocks on the 2.6 million hectares, the implementation of the deferrals will take effect for now on 20% of this total area (ie. about 500,000 hectares of the most at-risk old-growth) within BC Timber Sales operating areas, lands where the BC government directly plans and manages forestry where new cutblocks will not be put up for sale. For the majority of the 2.6 million hectares the BC government intends to consult First Nations on where they would like to see old-growth logging deferrals occur in the areas identified by the Technical Advisory Panel and on areas the First Nations identify themselves.
However, the critical missing piece now is the key provincial funding for economic relief for First Nations to enable the major old-growth deferrals and ultimately for the protection of these ecosystems. While the province has mentioned they will be developing support for forestry workers, which would include First Nations forestry workers in all likelihood, they have not mentioned any support for lost revenues for First Nations communities if they were to choose to enact old-growth logging deferrals.
In British Columbia, virtually all old-growth forests are on the unceded territories of diverse First Nations, and successive court rulings have affirmed that First Nations consent is vital to establish any major land use changes, including establishing new protected areas.
Across BC, many First Nations have conservation and protected areas plans, while at the same time over the past 15 years successive provincial governments have worked to foster an economic dependency on old-growth logging (in the form of revenue-sharing, joint venture, employment, and tenure agreements in contentious old-growth forests) for First Nations across much of BC.
To protect old-growth forests, the provincial government must ensure the needed funding to support First Nations efforts to enact old-growth logging deferrals in the immediate term and to later establish new Indigenous Protected Areas and land use plans. Financing is needed to ensure the capacity in First Nations communities to inventory and identify the priority old-growth areas for deferral and protection for their communities (in addition to those identified by the Technical Advisory Panel for ecological integrity) and to ensure an equivalent economic alternative to old-growth logging revenues and jobs while logging deferrals are underway. Funding is needed afterwards for the development and establishment of First Nations land use plans and Indigenous Protected Areas, and for the associated sustainable economic development like cultural and eco-tourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, value-added second-growth forestry, and non-timber forest products industries in First Nations communities, linked to the protection of ancient forests, as well as for land use planning, community engagement, and management and stewardship programs.
For private lands, a land acquisition fund is needed from the province to purchase and protect private lands with old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems, such as those in the extremely endangered Coastal Douglas-fir and very dry Coastal Western Hemlock zones on Vancouver Island.
Additional funds will also be needed from the province for a just transition for forestry workers, to legally compensate logging licensees in the case of legislated protection in certain tenure types (eg. Timber Licences or TL's), and to foster a value-added, second-growth forest industry.
In short, the BC NDP government now must:
Provide at least $300 million of provincial dollars for Indigenous old-growth deferrals and protection initiatives and for a land acquisition fund to purchase and protect old-growth forests on private lands.
Provide additional, separate funding to support a just transition for forestry workers, to ensure a value-added second-growth wood manufacturing sector, and to fulfill legal requirements to compensate logging licensees where needed.
Negotiate with the federal government to ensure that the full amount due to BC, about $300 million, from the $2.3 billion allocated to expand protected areas across Canada, is transferred to the province to protect the most endangered ecosystems across BC, including old-growth forests.
Commit at a bare minimum to the federal protected areas targets of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 of BC's land area by 2030, with science-based targets for every ecosystem type.
More background about Old-Growth Forests in BC
The magnificent old-growth forests in British Columbia are vital to support many unique endangered species, First Nations cultures, B.C.’s multi-billion-dollar tourism industry, and to provide clean water for communities and wild salmon. In addition, they store more carbon per hectare than even tropical forests do.
Unfortunately, they are being logged at a breakneck speed - old-growth logging is not a rare or isolated activity in BC, but rather is the norm across vast regions of the province - despite the fact that well over 90% of the old-growth forests with the largest trees have already been logged, and that second-growth forests now dominate most of the province and can be sustainably logged.
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, never to become old-growth again. As a result, old-growth forests are not a renewable resource under B.C.’s system of forestry and are not replicated by planting trees.
For more info contact:
Ken Wu, Executive Director, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance