Some of B.C.\u2019s rarest and most irreplaceable old-growth trees are being cut down despite the land having been set aside for protection, according to a leaked letter to the premier from a panel of experts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are causing extinction,\u201d ecologist and panel member Rachel Holt said in an interview. \u201cWe are causing significant global impact with the logging of some of these forests. And we need to do something about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holt is one of five experts who were appointed to a panel five years ago to advise on the creation of deferral zones for old-growth forests.<\/p>\n
Old-growth deferrals were designed as a temporary measure on the recommendation of the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review. The idea was to set aside the most endangered and important forest ecosystems while developing long-term management plans.<\/p>\n
The Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel was formed the following year to determine what areas deserved protection. The B.C. government adopted some, though not all, of the recommended deferrals and says 2.4 million hectares have been protected since 2021, with long-term plans in development.<\/p>\n
But the letter, from all five members of the panel, says deferrals are not achieving their original intent even in agreed-upon areas because some are now being planned for harvest or have already been harvested, with \u201cno visible plan on how to integrate them into ecologically based plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premier David Eby and Forests Minister Ravi Parmar emphasize the need to maintain a sustainable forestry industry and allow First Nations to have a say and a share of the profits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with First Nations, we come up with shared priorities, and work to deliver benefits that actually lift up the whole community,\u201d Eby said at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday (March 17) in response to questions about the letter.<\/p>\n
Often, the choice to log is made by a local First Nation.<\/p>\n
Parmar and Eby argue that this is as it should be: First Nations must be allowed to make stewardship decisions in line with constitutionally guaranteed rights and title.<\/p>\n
The panellists also emphasize the importance of involving nations in decision-making, but they argue that all relevant local First Nations should be involved in each harvesting decision.<\/p>\n
According to the two panellists who spoke to Black Press Media, it is often the case that when one nation wants to protect old growth in a deferral area but another wishes to log, the government sides with the nation that wants to harvest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNations who want to do conservation are ignored, and nations who want to log are held up as the blame for logging the last of the old forest,\u201d Holt said.<\/p>\n
The panellists also said that in many areas, a First Nation\u2019s only profitable path is to harvest the rarest and largest trees, with no option to earn money from conservation.<\/p>\n
In these places, the only economically viable timber left is the best of the remaining old growth.<\/p>\n
Panel member Karen Price said all the nations are being left with is \u201cguts and feathers,\u201d with no alternative income source.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are very few trees left,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they want to make money, they\u2019re essentially logging the last old growth on their territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panellists want the government to incentivize conservation through measures such as carbon credits that enable local nations to profit from conservation, and to take responsibility for implementing deferrals rather than placing the burden of harvesting decisions entirely on First Nations.<\/p>\n
Currently, the province provides no compensation for nations that decline to harvest.<\/p>\n
Parmar defended his ministry\u2019s approach to First Nations consultation, arguing that until a few years ago, nations were not engaged in a meaningful way. He also points out that many never agreed to the deferrals suggested by the panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important for those panellists to recognize that they are not at the table in conversation with First Nations,\u201d he said in a Monday interview.<\/p>\n
Parmar said his goal is to include conservationists, foresters, First Nations and industry in these discussions in an effort at \u201cstriking a balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Holt and Price, the other three panellists are Dave Daust, a forester; Lisa Matthaus, an economist; and Garry Merkel, a forester, academic, and one of the authors of the 2020 strategic review. The letter, first reported by the Canadian Press and later obtained by Black Press Media, was not intended to be made public. Merkel declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Shock at discovering the extent of harvesting activity<\/p>\n
At stake are some of the world\u2019s largest trees, which, once cut down, could take hundreds, or even thousands, of years to grow back \u2014 if that is even possible. Price says that because of a changing climate, it is unlikely this type of forest will ever return to its natural state.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrees grow back, but primary forests do not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And these types of forests are particularly prized as carbon sinks and sources of clean water. Losing them could create a cascade of ecosystem loss and species extinction.<\/p>\n
The deferral program was meant to be a reprieve while local conservation plans were created. This is also how the program is defined on government websites.<\/p>\n
But the panellists say that is not happening.<\/p>\n
Instead, they contend that the government is shrinking protected areas and allowing B.C. Timber Sales, a ministry unit, to downplay the importance of big-treed old-growth and become the primary harvester in deferral zones.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Forests, 20 per cent of B.C.\u2019s old growth is open to logging, with 80 per cent protected in some way. Where local First Nations do not agree with defined deferrals, B.C. Timber Sales uses pre-existing agreements to govern forest management.<\/p>\n
The panel had initially recommended 2.6 million hectares for protection in 2025. First Nations declined to support 1.3 million but identified an additional 0.9 million hectares for protection outside of the panel-recommended deferrals. Of those additional areas, 0.4 million hectares are now protected.<\/p>\n
Holt was alerted to some of the logging activity in northern Vancouver Island after sitting down to check the B.C. Timber Sales tenures in the area. When she pulled up a map of a particular cut block she was interested in, she was shocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I went, \u2018Holy cow! Look at all those plan BCTS cut blocks over the technical advisory deferral polygons,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy is that happening?\u201d<\/p>\n
Holt and Price say B.C. Timber Sales ought to take a leadership role in promoting deferrals, but it is doing the opposite.<\/p>\n
\u201cB.C. Timber Sales is the government\u2019s logging brand,\u201d Price said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to them whether they put things out to bid.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of this, Holt discovered a policy shift that temporarily reduces export taxes on raw logs from Vancouver Island, making timber profitable even if it isn\u2019t processed locally and doesn\u2019t have the same downstream benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat allows those lesser economic stands to be harvested just for the sake of harvesting them when there\u2019s nowhere for them to go in B.C.,\u201d Holt said.<\/p>\n
According to the ministry, the changes will not apply to cedar, cypress or Douglas-fir logs, which are highly sought after by B.C.\u2019s manufacturers. Local producers will also get first right of refusal on logs, meaning if a local mill submits a fair offer, the logs are ineligible for export.<\/p>\n
But Holt says this system leads to ancient forest being cut down with little community economic benefit.<\/p>\n
Price blames this approach on the NDP\u2019s near loss in the 2024 election and the economic strain caused by global trade uncertainty stemming from U.S. tariff decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what we\u2019re seeing is that the government is again re-establishing their focus strongly on short-term economic gain at the cost of ecosystems, communities, floods, and wildfires,\u201d she said. \u201cBut these forests are super important for us to adapt to all the disruptions with the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eby emphasized the importance of a \u201csustainable, long-term, renewable industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll voices are welcome at the table, but the core here is the sustainable forest industry, going forward, and to be able to support communities for the long term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Price sees Eby as signalling in those comments that his priority is economic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the word \u2018industry\u2019 that\u2019s in there that is problematic because that is showing the bias towards corporate profit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Holt and Price both say they sympathize with local communities and understand that the current government is not fully responsible for this situation. Decades of profit-driven clear-cutting decimated B.C.\u2019s viable timber and left local communities \u2014 and local ecosystems \u2014 clinging to the side of a cliff.<\/p>\n
The deferrals were designed to create a soft landing, preserving the most important parts of what is left.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat deferrals are doing is giving us the parachute if we jump off the cliff \u2014 we can have a parachute and still maintain some ecosystem functioning, maybe have moose and salmon in the province, maybe have some flood protection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t do anything to protect old forest, we\u2019ll just go off the cliff with no parachute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of B.C.\u2019s rarest and most irreplaceable old-growth trees are being cut down despite the land having been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-553156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}