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It’s been four years since a pair of professional foresters hired by the BC NDP government urged the province to take a radically new approach to old-growth forests.
In their strategic review, Garry Merkel and Al Gorley said the government should manage B.C.’s old forests as ecosystems rather than a source of timber. They also called for an immediate deferral of logging in old-growth forests in B.C. at risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.
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A project to protect a significant portion of Mowachaht/Muchalaht territory has been pledged $15-million from the federal government, fueling an initiative to save old growth and salmon populations in Nootka Sound over the next generation.
On Oct. 30 Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change sent a letter to Eric Angel, project manager for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation’s Salmon Parks initiative. This confirmed over $15 million in funding for the project, payable up to March 31, 2026.
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Over 650 square kilometres of forest, rivers, old growth and shoreline are in the process of being protected by the Mowachaht / Muchalaht First Nation on western Vancouver Island.
Read moreThe U.S. has pledged to ban old-growth logging, but protecting Canada's ancient forests won't be as simple, stakeholders say.
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A historic turning point in how the province prioritizes conservation over industry profits also shows Indigenous Rights and protecting biodiversity go hand-in-hand
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Celina Starnes, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Operations and Outreach Director, looks up at the big-leaf maple grove of the Burman River valley, which lies within the Mowachaht/Muchalaht salmon-park system. Photo Credit: TJ Watt
New plan from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, aided by the B.C. and federal governments, signals a shift in Indigenous-led conservation across the province
Backed by a $15.2-million commitment from the federal government, a First Nations community on the west coast of Vancouver Island intends to buy out forestry tenures to stop old-growth logging in selected watersheds around Nootka Sound.
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This draft policy is being described as a "game changer" in efforts to protect B.C.'s old growth forests. As Paul Johnson reports, conservationists are welcoming a draft plan from the provincial government that would not only consider the economic but also the ecological value of our forests.
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Today's CBC Interview with the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s (Note: Not the Ancient Forest Alliance) executive director Ken Wu on the newly announced Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, the potential ecosystem-based protection targets that it may usher in, and how it relates to the new conservation financing funds in BC worth over $1 billion…and what it all means for old-growth forests.
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BC’s government is trying to implement further steps to protect and preserve the province’s at-risk environment through a new biodiversity and ecosystem health framework (BEHF).
Right now the BEHF is just a draft proposal, but Nathan Cullen, the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, is hopeful that it will become legislation and allow for the preservation of BC’s well-known natural landscapes.
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The tripartite nature agreement comes with new and old funding to protect old-growth forests, species at risk
Federal, provincial and First Nations leaders gathered against the backdrop of Burrard Inlet Friday to announce a long-awaited nature agreement that promises further protections for old-growth forests and at-risk species.
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Conservationists thanked the BC and federal governments for the $1.1 billion launch of the BC Nature Agreement. The federal government has provided $500 million and BC is providing $563 million from diverse funding sources - now purposed towards achieving BC’s 30% by 2030 nature protection, conservation, and restoration goals via First Nations conservation agreements.
The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are greatly applauding the BC and federal governments and the First Nations Leadership Council for launching the BC Nature Agreement, with $1.1 billion in funding to start, to help achieve BC’s minimum protected areas target of protecting 30% by 2030 of its land area. The tripartite agreement, negotiated between the BC government, federal government, and the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), comes with a $563 contribution from the province and a $500 million federal contribution. The fund will continue to grow with major contributions from the philanthropic community and potentially from future government budgets over time.
Premier says fund represents modern stewardship between government, First Nations, conservationists, industry
B.C. has announced a new $300-million fund to protect threatened ecosystems in the province.
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The new funding is welcomed by conservation groups that say the province has voiced support for old forest protections while continuing to allow clearcut logging in rare ecosystems and in the habitat of endangered species
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$300-million investment aims to save B.C.'s old-growth forests by offering First Nations sustainable economic alternatives to industrial logging.
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National Biodiversity Strategy feedback
What are the key features of a successful National Biodiversity Strategy?
Protected areas must constitute the foundation to reach the 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 minimum targets – not less stringent “conserved areas” that lack the protection standards (eg. may allow commercial logging and other industrial activities) and permanency (many are readily removable) of protected areas.
Ecosystem-based targets must be set by ecological science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees to protect the full diversity of ecosystems on a sufficient scale to ensure the long-term ecological viability of each ecosystem.
Photo by TJ Watt/The Ancient Forest Alliance.
The motion, submitted by Liberal MP Patrick Weiler this week, aims to end old-growth logging on federal lands and halt the export of ancient logs and related products.
A B.C. MP representing the longest named riding in Canada has introduced a motion to ban the export of old-growth logs and any products made from them.
Patrick Weiler, Liberal MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, introduced the private members’ motion Thursday. The motion calls for an end to the export of old growth as soon as possible but no later than 2030.
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These comments highlight the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s (EEA) key input for BC’s forthcoming Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF).
We greatly commend the BC government for moving forward with this initiative, which potentially could be the framework for a paradigm shift - which the Old-Growth Strategic Review recommendations called for - that puts ecosystem health first in all land-use and forestry decisions. If done well, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework could be a globally recognized leading policy framework for protecting biodiversity, old-growth forests and endangered ecosystems - or it can fall flat if the myopic and pervasive forces of the status quo continue to undermine progress and squander the opportunity for all.
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Climbing Big Lonely Doug (TJ Watt/The Ancient Forest Alliance).
Have you ever seen a tree so big it would take 10 people to wrap their arms around its trunk – and that still wouldn’t be enough? A tree as tall as a downtown office building?
These trees exist and, in British Columbia’s coastal rainforests, are measured and even tracked by the people fighting to protect them.
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Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director Ken Wu is hopeful the B.C. government's new forestry plan will lead to protection for ancient forests around Port Renfrew and elsewhere in the province. (TJ Watt / Ancient Forest Alliance)
A “war in the woods” has simmered for decades in B.C., sometimes erupting into high-profile protests and arrests over plans to log ancient trees in places like Clayoquot Sound and Fairy Creek.
This week, the provincial government unveiled a suite of new measures that aim to accelerate old-growth protection and broker a truce. Measures include new initiatives to finance old-growth forest protection, more Indigenous participation in land-use decisions and an end to prioritizing timber extraction over all other values, including biodiversity and carbon storage.
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B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, on Feb. 5. The NDP government made a commitment in the 2020 election campaign to protect old growth – officially recognizing that the value of old-growth trees left standing can be far greater than the value of those trees as timber products. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
The B.C. government is seeking to harness the financial clout of non-profit conservation groups to protect endangered ecosystems, with a commitment to create a new trust fund to leverage charitable donations for nature with its own dollars.
Premier David Eby announced on Wednesday his plans to fast-track his government’s progress on protecting old growth, including $25-million to help First Nations participate in land-use decisions on old-growth forests, and $90-million added to the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund to help forestry companies retool their mills to adapt to second-growth timber.
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