Here's a new Focus magazine article by Briony Penn about Vancouver Island's old-growth forests, featuring forest ecologist Dr. Andy MacKinnon, Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce president Dan Hager, Jens Wieting of the Sierra Club, AFA, Ahousaht and Tofino councils, and the growing support among businesses, chambers of commerce, and municipal councils for protecting BC's old-growth forests.
The AFA's Ken Wu joins Ben Parfitt of the Centre for Policy Alternatives on a pundit panel on the Voice of BC (aka "the Vaughn Palmer show") on aspects of forest, water, and climate policy in BC.
The Vancouver Sun's columnist Stephen Hume came with us to see the endangered Cameron Valley Ancient Forest (ie. "Firebreak"), a truly spectacular lowland stand of densely-packed, monumental old-growth Douglas-firs akin to a "second Cathedral Grove". This grove stands out as among the finest remaining old-growth Douglas-firs anywhere left on the planet and is of international conservation significance. Please share and add your voice to the comments section at the end!
Here's a very insightful article about the shift underway in the economy and attitudes among the business community and in rural communities (spearheaded by the efforts of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce and the Ancient Forest Alliance, with a growing chorus of voices gathering steam, including the BC Chamber of Commerce and the AVICC) towards favouring increased protection of old-growth forests - in part to support a more sustainable economy! This is worth sharing! Again take note that the BC government and logging industry's stats on how much old-growth remains and is protected are deliberately misleading by including stunted non-commercial bogs and subalpine stands on steep rocky mountainsides with the productive stands with big trees targeted by the logging industry, and by combining the northern rainforest (the Great Bear Rainforest) where huge progress in protection levels has occurred as a result of environmental boycotts of logging companies (followed by 15 years of negotiations) along with the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and the southwest mainland) where protection levels are very minor, old-growth forests have been much more heavily logged, and the forests are different (ie. different biodiversity, ecosystems, and generally much larger, grander ancient trees), ie. the northern and southern coasts are two very different regions and should not be confused and mixed together, unless your goal is to mislead people...
Here's a new article featuring renowned forest ecologist Dr. Andy MacKinnon about the fate of BC's endangered old-growth forests. Take note that the forest industry and BC government are spinning the situation about old-growth forests to make it appear as if they are not endangered and that they are already well protected - this is completely false, and they do this by including vast areas of stunted marginal non-commercial stands (bog forests, high elevation and far northern old-growth forests on steep rock faces with small trees, etc.) with the productive old-growth stands with big trees that have been heavily logged, and by combining the southern rainforest (Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland) with its different ecosystems, higher levels of logging, and far lower protection levels, with the northern rainforests (Great Bear Rainforest) where 20 years of boycotts by environmental groups of logging companies in the area resulted in a far greater level of protection in a more intact region of the province, ie. they are two different regions.
"The chamber voted this week to ask the province to expand protection of old-growth forests in areas where they have, or likely would have, greater economic value if left standing. Old-growth forests and other pristine areas of B.C. attract an increasing number of visitors, and will continue to generate jobs forever. When an area is logged off, the jobs are gone until the forest regenerates, and that takes a long, long time. We should remember, too, that forests are about more than esthetics or recreation — they are vital to the health of our watersheds and even the air we breathe. Businesses are increasingly recognizing that environmental sustainability is not only good business, it is essential. More and more investors are demanding that corporations be environmentally responsible as well as fiscally responsible. They have recognized what we must all recognize — that if we don’t look after the environment, we won’t have an economy."
BC Chamber of Commerce calls for increased old-growth forest protection in BC: "The resolution also called on the province to enact new regulations — incorporating such strategies as old-growth management areas, wildlife-habitat areas or land-use orders — with an eye on eventually legislating permanent protection through provincial park or conservancy status." While the chamber of commerce also continues to support the forest industry (which is now based primarily on second-growth stands for most of its cut), as it traditionally has for decades, for the organization's membership to also vote to expand protections for old-growth forests and thus "break through" the mold of the old 1990's land use plans (which cap protection levels on Vancouver Island at 13% of the landbase and about 6% of the productive forests) is a new thing - and a very positive leap forward!
The East Creek Rainforest near the Brooks Peninsula on NW Vancouver Island, until recent years was one of the most intact old-growth valleys left on the southern coast until LeMare and Lionsgate logging began clearcutting huge sections of its ancient forests. This is an ecological travesty.
The Elphinstone Logging Focus is working to stop a BC Timber Sales (a BC government-directed logging cutblock) cutblock in the biologically rich mature forests on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone near Gibsons: https://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/elf-sets-up-new-protest-camp-wins-backing-from-sierra-club-1.2263907 You can see their website here: https://www.loggingfocus.org/
Here's a letter from Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA and Green leader Andrew Weaver about the need for the province to support a science-based plan to protect the endangered old-growth forests of BC.
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