Wildsight, a local environmental activist group, said B.C.’s newly unveiled Old Growth Action Plan is a welcomed change, but urgent action is still needed.
The Provincial Government outlined the next steps toward better forest care and job security for B.C.’s forest sector.
This will include the following:
- establishing the $1-billion Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation (the Nature Agreement).
- Ensuring forestry communities get more local jobs, including boosts to made-in-B.C. wood manufacturing.
- Improvements to mapping, data and knowledge sharing.
“Additionally, through Forest Landscape Plans (FLPs) the Province is ensuring local values drive decisions on the landbase, including those related to forest resilience, wildfire prevention, economic development and community well-being,” said B.C. officials.
They note that nine FLPs are in development with more to come later.
B.C. said more progress will come in the future.
“The Province has made significant progress on the 14 recommendations from the old-growth strategic review (A New Future for Old Forests), with the understanding that it will take years to achieve the full intent of some of the recommendations,” said B.C. officials.
John Bergenske, Wildsight’s Strategic Advisor, said B.C.’s latest announcement is a good step, but more action is needed.
“We feel like we’re moving in the right direction, but it’s going to be a matter of how that implementation plays out,” said Bergenske.
“The timelines they’ve given are long and a lot of the information they’re talking about assembling, certainly in southeast B.C., is already in front of us.”
Bergenske said planning for the future is great, but the lack of urgency is concerning.
“At this point, a lot of it is talk, but we have seen some implementation of old growth protection locally,” said Bergenske. “That said, in the bigger picture, there’s a lot that’s still under the saw and we need to change the way we do forestry.”
Bergenske emphasized that Wildsight is not against the forestry sector, but there is a need to adopt environmentally friendly practices.
“We need to change [forestry practices] so we’re leaving wildlife values intact when logging takes place,” explained Bergenske.
“This old growth strategy needs to be part of a much larger paradigm shift in forestry in British Columbia, especially in our region. We have such high wildlife values and the way forestry is practiced has a big influence on whether or not animals have the habitat they need.”
In the meantime, however, the province’s plan still leaves many old-growth forests open for logging activity.
“More than half of British Columbia’s most at-risk old-growth forests remain open to industry,” said Bergenske.
“These forests are our natural air and water filters, our wildfire buffers and our carbon stores. They must be protected for future generations, not loaded onto logging trucks.”
Wildsight feels B.C.’s current logging regulations, particularly regarding old-growth, are unsustainable and will ultimately lead to further harm to the environment and humans.
“B.C. can’t keep clear-cutting forests at the current rate and expect nature to remain resilient,” said Bergenske.
“The web of life that supports us all relies on old growth and intact forests. The Old Growth Action Plan needs to drive immediate change to business-as-usual.”
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