Yesterday BC’s Forests Minister Pat Bell announced that he is considering protecting the endangered Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, and is also looking at developing new legal tools to increase protection of exceptional ancient trees and old-growth stands in BC. This would be an important step forward!
“Certainly we have been hearing the message . . . that we should be considering some tools, perhaps new tools that we could use when particularly unique trees are identified. They may be individual trees or small areas like the Avatar Grove that provide incremental value over and above the timber resource value,” Bell told media.
Bell, who has previously emphasized that B.C. has ample protection for old-growth trees, said the change is driven by the public mood.
Super, natural British Columbia is awesome, with more than 4,373 known forms of life. At more than double the size of the state of California, B.C. is breathtaking.
"Certainly we have been hearing the message for some time from different organizations that we should be considering some tools, perhaps new tools that we could use when particularly unique trees are identified. They may be individual tees or small areas like the Avatar Grove that provide incremental value over and above the timber resource value," Bell said.
Voluntary efforts by forest companies answerable to shareholders aren’t enough, but the report is a start toward real protection for trees with historic significance every bit as real as ancient ruins.
Forests Minister Pat Bell’s statements comes on the heels of a new
Forest Practices Board report released on Thursday that calls on the
BC government and industry to seek “creative ways” to save ancient
trees, that the land-use policy framework exists for the BC government
to readily protect the Avatar Grove
The forest practices board made a recommendation that BC should find creative ways to protect monumental trees and ancient forest stands. This is the government’s watchdog. They appointed the body to review forestry in BC and now their own watchdog is saying we need to move farther to save our old growth forests
The minister’s acknowledgment that more needs to be done to protect monumental trees is not exactly a revelation. Environmental groups, particularly the Ancient Forest Alliance and the Wilderness Committee have been pushing for it for years.
The watchdog board investigated a complaint about massive old-growth trees being cut near Port Renfrew and concluded that, although the forest company -Teal Cedar Products Ltd. -did nothing wrong, government and forest companies should pay more attention to trees of exceptional size, form, age or historical significance.
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