Entries by TJ Watt

Media Release: Timber Committee Opens Back Door for Potential Logging of Protected Forests

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Today the Special Committee on Timber Supply released its report on how to deal with a timber shortfall in BC’s Central Interior in relation to the forest industry’s regional overcapacity. Of greatest environmental concern was the committee’s recommendation to create local committees to review the possibility of opening up protected forest reserves for logging. The committee also recommends continued overcutting, logging of “marginal” stands (ie. slow growing subalpine forests) and creating more “area-based tenures” ie. increasing private property-like rights on public forest lands.

Lift on logging restraints would be ill-advised

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As members of a hastily convened committee of the provincial legislature meet to consider a controversial government proposal to escalate logging activities in British Columbia's already hard-hit Interior forests, questions arise about whether the commit-tee is in any position at all to make an informed decision.
 

More logging won’t cure forestry trade’s ills

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The B.C. Liberal government stirred up controversy recently by proposing to remove scenic forest protections in the Harrison, Chehalis and Stave Lakes regions near Vancouver. Their “quick-fix” attempt to provide more timber for logging fails to recognize that the coastal forest industry’s 20-year decline has fundamentally been driven by their own resource depletion policies.
 

Here’s what B.C. needs to do to save forestry

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As a publicly owned resource, British Columbia's forests must be harvested in a manner that promotes sustainability and healthy forests that are ecologically diverse. This would protect and promote existing and new jobs in communities dependent on well-managed forests.

Opening protected areas not ideal: Bercov

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To access more timber, the Clark government is floating a plan that includes logging in areas that were previously off limits for environmental or visual quality reasons and changing the boundaries of forest districts to add more timber to the supply. Bercov said that while the focus of the committee is currently on the Interior, he fears that any changes to policy that would allow more logging in protected areas would inevitably apply to the Island.

Big trees by the numbers

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Vancouver Island is home to some of the largest trees on the planet. From the well-known towering giants of Cathedral Grove to those newly discovered near Port Renfrew, ancient forests have been wowing visitors to Canada’s West Coast for centuries.

URGENT: BC’s FOREST RESERVES in PERIL! PLEASE WRITE-IN and SPEAK UP!

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WRITE-IN and SPEAK UP!
 
Until July 20th, the Special Committee on Timber Supply, consisting of four BC Liberal and three NDP MLA’s (Members of the Legislative Assembly), will be taking written public input (and video messages, if you are so inclined), holding public hearings in rural communities in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region, and meeting with stakeholders in Vancouver.

B.C. warned not to touch reserves for short-term supply

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To access more timber, the B.C. government is floating a plan that includes logging in areas that were previously off limits for environmental or "visual quality objectives" and changing the boundaries of forest districts to add timber to one district at the expense of another.