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Scientists conclude B.C.’s count of old-growth forest greatly overestimated

Jun 9 2020/in News Coverage

Vancouver Sun
June 9, 2020

An independent report by a trio of scientists warns that the tiny amount of old-growth forest remaining in B.C. is in peril if the province doesn’t implement sweeping policies to protect it.

The report, released last month by Karen Price, Rachel Holt and Dave Daust, was done to aide the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review, a two-person expert panel expected to provide its own report soon. The scientists volunteered their time to inform the panel and submitted their own findings over the past six months.

The scientists found that the province’s count of 13.2 million hectares of old forest — about 23 per cent of forested areas in the province — is accurate but does not tell the whole story.

“We believe that (number) to be a misleading and unhelpful piece of information, so we looked at that in more detail,” said Holt, who owns Veridian Ecological Consulting and has been a contractor for First Nations, industry and the province over the past two decades.

Of the 13.2 million hectares of old-growth forest in B.C., about 80 per cent is home to small trees and only three per cent supports the large trees British Columbians picture when they are thinking about old-growth, the scientists found.

“We need to have representation of all these different ecosystem types — including the ones that have big trees — and we don’t have that in our protection,” Holt said.

The scientists said they found that more than 85 per cent of productive forest sites have less than 30 per cent of the amount of old-growth that would be expected naturally. Of those, half have less than one per cent of expected old-growth.

“This current status puts biodiversity, ecological integrity and resilience at high risk today,” they said in their report.

The scientists recommend three key actions, starting with government immediately stopping the harvesting of the “rarest of the rare” trees.

This would mean retaining all old forest in any ecosystem that has less than 10 per cent of old trees remaining, focusing on retaining higher-productivity sites and the irreplaceable older and ancient forests, and retaining productive, mature stands — smaller management units of trees used for forestry — where there is little or no old-growth left.

They recommend government develop and implement “ecologically defensible” targets for the protection of old forest, protecting at least 30 per cent of each naturally occurring ecosystem.

And they recommend government improves how it implements policy, such as closing loopholes used by the forest industry, to ensure old-forest retention protects the last remaining productive old forest, and provides functional forests for years to come.

“Without immediate action, we will lose these globally priceless values — and still have to deal with a volume-based industry that has not planned ahead for transition,” the scientists wrote.

“The provincial government must provide funding, commitment and management authority to ensure that staff can implement effective forest conservation. Little human effort is tasked with protecting old-forest values, while much is focused on harvesting.”

Minister Doug Donaldson said in an email that his ministry is aware of the report.

“Building a consensus on managing old-growth forests has been a challenge for more than 30 years, this includes trying to get all parties to agree on what is and is not old-growth and how old-growth areas are measured,” said Donaldson, who is minister of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development.

He said the problem is “many years in the making” and won’t be solved immediately, which his why his ministry launched a review and engagement process. Donaldson said the solution will require more work with environmental organizations, First Nations, industry and other groups.

“We’re all excited by the buzz this is creating inside and outside government,” said the independent report’s lead author, Karen Price. “We hope that our work will support the minister in his attempts to build policy focused on resilience.”

The full report is available at veridianecological.ca.

neagland@postmedia.com

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B.C. vastly overestimates size of its old-growth forest, independent researchers say

Jun 4 2020/in News Coverage

CBC News British Columbia
June 4th, 2020

Old growth cedar is pictured in Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island. (Chris Corday/CBC)

Self-published report concludes most old growth areas counted by province are small alpine or boggy forests

A team of independent researchers claim in a new report that the province’s accounting of old growth trees is vastly larger than the actual number of trees most people would consider old growth, namely coniferous giants.

The three co-authors of B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity write that most of what is currently considered old growth are small subalpine or bog forests.

“They don’t distinguish between all the different types of old growth,” said Rachel Holt, co-author and registered professional biologist.

The B.C. government reports that of the province’s 57.2 million hectares of forest, 23 per cent is old growth or 13.2 million hectares.

“Only about one per cent of that total forest is old growth in the way that you or I, or pretty much anybody would think of as being old forest,” said Holt.

Old-growth logging threatens culture, says Nuu-chah-nulth tribal council

The precise number in Holt’s report is 400,000 hectares, or 0.8 per cent of the forested area in B.C.

“We don’t get a second chance at maintaining these, and there is really such a tiny proportion that remains,” she said.

At risk of logging

The report warns that, in addition to the issue of overestimating old growth forest, many of the large stands of trees that would be considered old growth are at risk of being logged — as much as 75 per cent.

“We know that if it’s not protected, then the plan is to log it, that’s why we can do that math,” Holt said of the system of forest management used in the province.

An aerial photograph of the Nahmint Valley outside Port Alberni, B.C., shows protected old growth groves along the water and replanted hillsides that were previously logged. ((Chris Corday/CBC))

She said the main problem appears to be management of old growth areas.

“Lack of reporting and poor implementation of policy has left us with a big gap, and we’re just not doing a good job of protecting these, the legacy forest,” she said. “They’re not coming back.”

B.C. loggers aim to transition away from harvesting old growth — but it could take 90 years

Holt says she and co-authors Karen Price and Dave Daust have years of experience working for the B.C. government on forestry issues.

They used publicly available data and sifted through it to compile what they believe is a more accurate picture of the remaining old growth forest.

Holt said they plan to submit their work to a scientific journal, but felt there was urgency behind making it public as soon as possible.

“I’m very concerned about the ongoing, kind of whittling down, the dwindling numbers of those stands,” said Holt.

Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, said he wasn’t surprised to see the numbers presented in the new report — a draft was submitted to the independent Old Growth Strategic Review Panel that was launched in July 2019.

“That is exactly one of the reasons we commissioned … the panel,” Donaldson said of the debate over old growth forests in the province. “We’re taking this issue very seriously.”

“I respect the authors of the report,” he said, adding that the panel has received about 400 published papers and reports, as well as paying visits to 45 communities.

Donaldson said the panel has wrapped up its work and the findings will now be shared with First Nations for government-to-government discussions before the panel’s work is circulated to other groups and the public.

“We want to make sure that [old growth] is being managed properly, and we recognize the importance old forests have for biodiversity in the province,” he said. “We also recognize the importance that it provides for communities and workers who depend on harvesting.”

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Nahmint Valley, Port Alberni - Huge Tree Logging

B.C. old-growth data ‘misleading’ public on remaining ancient forest: independent report

Jun 4 2020/in News Coverage

Government touts 13 million hectares of province’s forests are old growth, but ecologists found only 35,000 hectares support the largest trees

The Narwhal
June 4th, 2020

The majority of British Columbia’s productive old-growth forests are gone, and the majority of the old growth remaining is slated to be logged, says an independent study released Thursday by B.C. ecologists who previously worked for the provincial government.

The findings of the report shed new light on provincial claims that, despite intensive logging, B.C. is still home to significant amounts of old growth.

According to the B.C. government, 23 per cent of forest in the province is old growth, about 13 million hectares.

Yet the new study found only three per cent of B.C. is capable of supporting large trees and within that small portion of the province, the ecologists found only 2.7 per cent of the trees are actually old as “old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest.”

“We’re talking a tiny fraction of a fraction. We’ve basically logged it all,” said Rachel Holt, one of the authors of the study, entitled B.C.’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity.

The research found most of the area the province considers old growth can’t support big trees, which store high amounts of carbon, support biodiversity and make forests resilient to wildfires. Instead, most of it is low-productivity forest, such as small trees at high elevations.

The study concludes there are only about 35,000 hectares of forest with the largest, most productive old-growth trees remaining in B.C., meaning areas where trees are expected to grow over 25 metres tall in 50 years.

A total of 415,000 hectares of forest contain trees that are expected to grow over 20 metres tall in 50 years.

Provincial framing of old-growth data ‘very misleading’

The province regularly publishes total old-growth data. But when the researchers analyzed that data according to ecosystem type, they found it painted a very different picture than what they were seeing in government disclosures.

“There’s very, very little of the stuff that you and I and everybody think of when they think of old growth,” said Holt. She called the government’s framing of the data “very misleading.”

Karen Price, lead author of the study, said, because government policy doesn’t differentiate between productive and non-productive old-growth forests, companies can harvest big trees and leave small, unproductive trees and still meet their old-growth retention targets.

The researchers — Price, Holt and Dave Daust — are calling on the province to implement an immediate moratorium on harvesting old and mature forest in ecosystems with less than 10 per cent of old forest remaining, even if they fall within existing cutblock permits. They are also asking the government to increase old-growth retention targets and improve old-growth management areas to “include larger areas rather than fragmented patches.”

In an emailed response, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said it could not comment on the researchers’ findings until it reviews a report from the old-growth strategic review panel, which was submitted in May.

In January two members of the government-appointed old-growth review panel told The Narwhal they found a surprising level of consensus among British Columbians when it comes to the importance of protecting the province’s intact ancient forests.

Scientists break silence, push for more transparent data

Holt, Price and Daust have all worked with the province before. Price said she was tired of doing reports on climate change for the government and never seeing the recommendations made public. She wants to increase awareness around old growth.

“I’m tired of speaking carefully,” she said.

The researchers presented their report to the old-growth strategic review panel in March. The province appointed the independent panel to engage with the public on old growth and report back with recommendations to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

The panel began public engagement in 2019 and submitted its report in early May. But, to the dismay of Holt and Price, the province may not make the report public for six months.

“The government needs to review the [old-growth strategic review panel’s report] thoroughly before commenting on it or speculating on how the report’s findings may affect British Columbia’s old growth strategy,” a ministry spokesperson said via email.

Price said she wants to see more government transparency, which is part of the reason they are publishing their findings now.

“This is the time to be brave,” she said. “If we want to have resilient human populations, we need to have resilient ecosystems. And right now, our policy is trashing resilience.”

Michelle Connolly surveys old-growth cedars in B.C.'s inland temperate rainforest — Forest ecologist Michelle Connolly surveys old-growth cedars in B.C.’s unique inland rainforest to estimate the amount of carbon the area holds. It is unusual for a rainforest like this to be scattered in moist valley bottoms stretching from the Cariboo Mountains east of Prince George to the Rocky Mountains close to the Alberta border. Much of the area, despite being important caribou habitat, is slated for clearcut logging. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Old forests are ‘irreplaceable’

Holt said old-growth forests are integral to adapting to climate change and maintaining biodiversity.

Large old-growth trees sequester and store carbon, acting as carbon sinks. But carbon is released when old-growth trees are cut down and left to rot or burned in slash piles.

Old-growth forests are more resilient to wildfires and absorb water from annual snow-melt. Consequently, clearcuts can lead to floods.

But old-growth forests are also valuable timber. BC Timber Sales generated $221 million net revenue in the 2018-19 fiscal year despite financial losses due to intense wildfires in 2018. According to Sierra Club BC, old growth is cut down across the province at the rate of more than 500 soccer fields per day.

Jim Pojar, a seasoned ecologist who used to work for the province, said new forests are unlikely to grow back in the same way due to the impacts of climate change.

He said it takes at least 250 years for “true old growth” to develop, but the climate will have changed so drastically in 200 years that forests will “inevitably” be made up of different plant species and soils.

“The answer is not simple, but pretending that the problem doesn’t exist is not the answer.”

“It will not return to the primary condition, even given several centuries,” Pojar told The Narwhal.

“I consider these really big, productive old-growth forests to be an irreplaceable, essentially non-renewable resource.”

Pojar said experts have known for a long time that the province’s data doesn’t reflect the extent of logging productive trees, but this recent report shows in new detail just how little old-growth forest is left.

“It alarms me, but it doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

Pojar said overlogging is largely rooted in industry deregulation under Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government, which was in power from 2001 to 2011, and other threats to forests include the mountain pine beetle and increasing wildfires. He said the current NDP government has not taken substantive measures to transition the industry to more sustainable practices. Instead, he said, the administration has left things unchanged because it is “desperate for ways to keep people working.”

Holt agrees the government is torn between the “short-term” need for jobs and “long-term” environmental sustainability but said chasing a limited amount of old growth doesn’t support either goal.

“The answer is not simple, but pretending that the problem doesn’t exist is not the answer,” said Holt. “We do not have a sustainable industry from a jobs or an environment perspective.”

Update June 4, 2020 at 5:35 p.m. PST: A previous version of this story described a study as saying that only 35,000 hectares of forest with large old-growth trees are remaining in B.C. In fact, the study concluded that there are 415,000 hectares of forest that are home to large trees, but only 35,000 hectares with the largest, most productive old-growth trees.