Every member of a former panel the British Columbia government appointed to identify old-growth for potential protection in 2021 now says they’re concerned about continued logging in those same rare and “irreplaceable” forests.
The five former panellists say in a document sent to Premier David Eby and other officials this week the proposed old-growth deferrals were meant to be an interim measure to reduce the risks of logging, allowing time for long-term planning.
But the process has not worked as intended, ecologists Rachel Holt and Karen Price, landscape analyst Dave Daust, veteran forester Garry Merkel and economist Lisa Matthaus say in the document provided to The Canadian Press.
Instead, the B.C. government continues to approve logging in forests the panel identified, while long-term plans have yet to be finalized, Holt said in an interview.
“Purposely causing extinction is not just a moral failure but also a high economic, ecological and social risk,” says the document sent to Eby, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar and Resource Stewardship Minister Randene Neill.
A scan of public B.C. government mapping shows about half a dozen proposed BC Timber Sales cut blocks overlapping with ancient and big-treed forests on the slopes around Nahmint Lake, southwest of Port Alberni, B.C., with more in the surrounding area.
Overlap between proposed cut blocks and old-growth mapped by the advisory panel can also be seen in the Tsitika area of northeastern Vancouver Island.
A message to users opening the mapping website says the proposed harvest areas may require additional planning activities and consultation with First Nations and other stakeholders, and may be subject to change.
The B.C. government had tasked the advisory panel with identifying old-growth ecosystems at very high and near-term risk of irreversible biodiversity loss in response to recommendations of an old-growth strategic review, released in 2020.
The result was the panel’s mapping of 2.6 million hectares of unprotected old-growth, released in November 2021.
Speaking to The Canadian Press at the B.C. legislature last month, Parmar said that upon receiving the report from the old-growth strategic review, “one of the first things that we did as a government was defer 2.6 million hectares of old-growth.”
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In fact, the province announced deferrals in just over 350,000 hectares of old-growth in nine areas when it released the report in September 2020. The next year, it released the panel’s mapping and asked more than 200 First Nations if they supported the logging deferrals for an initial two-year period.
Deferrals for about half the 2.6 million hectares are “not currently supported by First Nations,” the Forests Ministry said in an email this month.
First Nations have supported deferrals for about 1.1 million hectares from the panel’s mapping and identified an additional 0.9 million as “priorities,” it said.
Parmar said the “core” of the old-growth review was to respect First Nations’ rights and title “and make sure they have a seat at the table, and we’ve done that.”
The message from the advisory panel this week says conservation financing, or funding in lieu of foregone logging revenues, “has not been part of the deferral conversation,” and the lack of alternatives “leaves First Nations with no real choice.”
“We ask the province to take responsibility for maintaining these exceptional forests and not place the burden of harvesting decisions entirely on (First) Nations,” it says.
The panel’s message says the public needs to understand that every decision to log a deferral area is a decision to further increase the risks of “ecosystem extinction.”
The stability of the forest and wood products industry is also at risk, it says.
The Forests Ministry has said the deferrals were meant to be a temporary, short-term measure, and its focus is now on long-term management approaches.
That includes forest landscape planning processes underway in just over a dozen regions involving First Nations, community and forest industry stakeholders.
The development of each plan will be informed by “meaningful engagement with local communities, forest licensees and other interested parties … ensuring diverse voices help shape the future of B.C.’s forests,” the ministry said in an email.
The plans are to establish clear directions for managing old-growth, biodiversity, climate resilience, watershed health, wildfire risk and economic opportunities, it said in response to questions about logging in proposed deferral areas.
Holt is involved in one of the regional forest landscape planning processes and notes they’re still underway, with the results yet to be finalized.
Under the old-growth strategic review, which B.C. has committed to implementing, priority old-growth was meant to be retained in the meantime, she said.
Yet she points to the government mapping showing the province’s own logging agency has proposed harvesting in areas throughout Vancouver Island that are specifically identified as containing what she describes as the “best of the best” old-growth.
Holt said she was “shocked” to see the extent of the overlap, especially in areas such as the Nahmint Valley. The area is prized by environmentalists for what Holt describes as its “extreme high value” old-growth forests, some of which has already been logged.
Responding to questions, the Forests Ministry said it was “inaccurate and misleading” to suggest BC Timber Sales is targeting the “best of the best” old-growth.
It said the agency’s policies and activities are “guided by an overarching commitment to sustainable forest management” and align with the old-growth strategic review.
All the agency’s activities include programs to identify and manage multiple values, including old forest, cultural values, wildlife habitat and recreation, it said.
“Many professionals, including professional foresters, geotechnical engineers, hydrologists and biologists, provide recommendations and input into the harvest practices, composition and location of timber sale licences,” the email said.
Where First Nations do not support old-growth deferrals, it said BC Timber Sales operations follow the requirements of government-to-government agreements.
In the absence of any agreement with First Nations, the ministry said the agency continues to defer logging for “remnant” old-growth forests, referring to heavily logged ecosystems with less than 10 per cent old-growth remaining.
“B.C.’s approach is focused on the full value of ecosystems — including the protection of watersheds, wildlife habitat, and areas of cultural significance,” it said.
In February, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs passed a resolution condemning the provincial government for its “ongoing failure” to follow through on its commitment to implement the recommendations of the old-growth strategic review.
The resolution says the province has “stalled or abandoned” the key recommendations and continues to “misrepresent the status of old-growth management to the public, to First Nations, and to the international community.”
Holt notes a review of BC Timber Sales initiated by the province concluded its forest stewardship should follow the guidance of the old-growth review.
“Clearly, that’s not happening,” she said.
