Forests
Our forests are our best ally in fighting climate change. Old-growth temperate rainforest has the largest carbon storage capacity per hectare on earth. Halting logging of endangered old-growth forest will help reduce BC’s carbon footprint and allow salmon, bears, wolves and many other species a fighting chance to adapt to a warming world. Learn more about forests and climate.
We advocate for an action plan to restore the health of BC’s forests, including increasing protection of rare temperate rainforest with more government and community control over corporate logging operations on public land.
To find your voice in being an advocate for forests, visit our Action-Takers Guide, “Being a Voice for the Forest.”
TAKE ACTION
Tell the BC government to protect the last remaining old-growth forests in the province! Send your letter now!
Vancouver Island and the South Coast
Coastal rainforests are in a state of ecological emergency across vast parts of Vancouver Island and BC’s south coast. This is due to a high rate of logging and the additional pressure of climate impacts like drought and storms. In this part of the coast, less than 15 per cent of the forest is protected.
Unless the provincial government changes course, much of BC’s south coast coast could turn into an ecological wasteland this century. We are urging the BC government to take immediate action to protect and restore the coastal rainforests on Vancouver Island and the south coast for species.
Remaining largely intact rainforest areas, such as the Central Walbran and the Klaskish River/East Creek need immediate conservation steps to save habitat for endangered species and restore second-growth forest to allow for connectivity.
Find out more about the state of the forest on Vancouver Island and the south coast.
Great Bear Rainforest
The Great Bear Rainforest represents the largest remaining ancient coastal temperate rainforest on the planet.
In February 2016, after years of negotiation, the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements were finally implemented. Eighty-five per cent (3.1 million hectares) of the remote region’s coastal temperate rainforests are now permanently off-limits to industrial logging.
The ground-breaking Agreements were a collaboration between environmental organizations (Sierra Club BC, Greenpeace, and Forest Ethics Solutions), provincial and First Nations governments, and the forestry industry. The Agreements represent one of the most comprehensive conservation and forest management achievements on earth and will certainly be looked at as a model for future conservation efforts.
Watch our video on the agreements and read the backgrounder.
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