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Over 150 Fairy Creek old-growth defenders to appear in Nanaimo court today

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This is among the largest number of people appearing before Justice Thompson in a single day since Fairy Creek protests began.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

December 5, 2022 

VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES – One hundred and sixty Fairy Creek land defenders are scheduled to appear in a Nanaimo court this morning, one of the largest groups in a single day since police action to clear logging roads into old-growth forests in the Fairy Creek area in Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territory on Vancouver Island ramped up in the spring of 2021. Another 25 forest defenders are scheduled for sentencing hearings this week, also marking the largest number in a single week since the protests began.  

The conflict between logging company Teal-Jones and forest defenders has escalated into one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canadian history, with over 1,100 protesters arrested on the site as of February 11, 2022. Land defenders want the provincial government to follow through on their promise to protect globally rare and endangered old-growth forests in B.C.  

“This day in court is a dramatic example of the consequences of misguided police action to defend the status quo at almost any cost and continue clearcutting the last old-growth despite the climate and biodiversity crisis. The tax dollars spent to clear logging roads would be better spent financing Indigenous-led conservation solutions,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner.   

“B.C.’s last old-growth forests continue to disappear at a similar rate as Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. There is very little time left for Premier Eby to implement the old-growth promises of his government before it’s too late,” added Wieting.  

While logging has been deferred for the Fairy Creek watershed, adjacent at-risk old-growth forests on Southern Vancouver Island and in many other parts of the province remain without temporary protection. B.C. will continue to see similar conflicts as old-growth logging continues with no certainty whether at-risk stands will be spared. 

According to the latest provincial update, logging has been deferred in less than half of the 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk stands recommended for deferrals.  

Additionally, the annual old-growth logging rate has remained relatively stable before and after the provincial old-growth promises made in 2020. Provincial funding commitments to enable deferrals for all at-risk old-growth forests and Indigenous-led conservation solutions remain insufficient.  

“Premier Eby has pledged to accelerate the BC NDP’s old-growth plan and to step up urgent action to address the climate crisis. His government has a unique opportunity to partner with the federal government to secure adequate funding tied to milestones and timelines to increase protection of highly endangered and carbon-rich ecosystems across B.C.,” said Wieting.

“A strong British Columbia–Canada Nature Agreement would give people in B.C. hope that this government is stepping up to the plate and inspire confidence in other parts of the world that it’s not too late to safeguard the web of life.” 

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Background: 

For international comparison: The 10-year average rate of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest of Brazil was 0.2% per year, based on data from the National Institute for Space Research and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to B.C. government data, the last old-growth in B.C. was being clearcut at a rate of 0.3% in 2021. About 80% of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil remains standing. In B.C., the majority of old-growth forests have been logged and big-tree old-growth ecosystems have been reduced to single digit percentages of their original extent, and for certain ecosystems (Coastal Douglas Fir) to about 1% of their original extent.    


Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

 

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

200 organizations call for urgent provincial action to confront the climate emergency

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Broad coalition calls for urgent provincial action to confront the climate emergency.

September 28, 2021

Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ territories (VANCOUVER, BC) — In the wake of this summer’s deadly heatwave and unprecedented fires, today, nearly 200 organizations representing well over one million British Columbians – a diverse network of environmental, Indigenous, labour, health, business, faith, and youth groups – joined in a call to the BC government to fundamentally reboot its CleanBC plan and implement a genuine and transformative climate emergency plan.

Their open letter – “An Urgent Call to the BC Government to Confront the Climate Emergency” – calls on the government to demonstrate the necessary leadership and immediately undertake 10 bold emergency actions. (The open letter with the full list of organizational supporters follows below. It can also be found here.)

The list of signatories includes the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the First Nations Summit, and the BC Assembly of First Nations; labour organizations, including the Public Service Alliance of Canada (BC Region) and the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC; faith groups, including the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster; health organizations such as the Public Health Association of BC; arts and culture groups; community groups such as the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC; youth groups such as the Sustainabiliteens; and businesses such as Patagonia, Lush Cosmetics and Renewal Funds.

The signatory list also includes major environmental organizations Stand.earth, Dogwood, Leadnow, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Wilderness Committee, Sierra Club BC, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, West Coast Environmental Law, and Climate Caucus (a network of municipal elected councillors committed to climate action).

“Simply put, CleanBC does not sufficiently address the severity of the climate crisis,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. “The allowances for dirty emissions from the fossil fuel sector and forestry will increase the deadly and devastating impacts that communities across the province and the world are experiencing, and are not going to help us pay for a just transition to a clean economy. The Province must fully accept that they need to come up with an alternative economy because we aren’t going to achieve a clean BC with dirty fossil fuels.”

Last month, Phillip was one of five original endorsers of CleanBC who, in a piece in the Tyee, signaled they had lost confidence in the ability of the province’s climate plan to adequately respond to the climate emergency.

“Emergencies require responses that look, sound and feel to the public like genuine emergency plans,” said Seth Klein, team lead with the Climate Emergency Unit. “The current BC approach doesn’t do that. It is lacking in ambition, urgency and coherence. The 10 actions in this open letter would constitute a real crisis response.”

The 10 actions include increasing the ambition of BC’s GHG reduction targets, boosting spending on climate actions, ending fossil fuel subsidies and new infrastructure, and significantly moving forward the dates for zero-emission vehicles and buildings.

“If we are going to have a coherent climate plan, BC needs to stop supporting the expansion of fracking and LNG,” said Tzeporah Berman, International Program Director. “CleanBC has some good bones but it cannot be successful if the BC government continues to pour money into growing fossil fuels. In 2020 alone, BC provided $1.3 billion in subsidies and incentives to the oil and gas industry, double what they spent on CleanBC. The government has broken its promise to show how LNG projects are consistent with the province’s legislated targets, and it is now clear that BC will never meet its GHG targets if this industry continues to expand.”

CleanBC was tabled three years ago and isn’t sufficient to address the crisis and reach our 2030 goals. Currently, BC’s heat-trapping carbon emissions are rising, not decreasing. This summer the crisis was underscored by an unprecedented heat dome; the BC Coroner reported nearly 600 British Columbians perished in one week, due to extreme heat.

“I still taste smoke from the firestorm that erased our house and 90% of Lytton as we fled that unexpected and unstoppable manifestation of the human-caused climate emergency,” said Gordon Murray, a former resident of Lytton whose home was destroyed this summer. “Political leaders need to confront this as an existential crisis, not a PR crisis – the time for non-binding goals and aspirational incentives is passed. We as a society need to mobilize at least on the scale of our COVID response to fight this unseen enemy, and the enemy is us.”

“Living through Covid-19, we now know that our government is totally capable of a large-scale emergency response.  Like the pandemic, the climate solutions are clear: we need to act on the science, and take responsibility.  We have to help transition workers in fossil fuel dependent, Indigenous and remote communities. Otherwise, we’re just going to escalate heat domes and wildfires,” said Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Executive Director at the David Suzuki Foundation.

This call comes as the BC cabinet prepares to consider how to update the CleanBC plan, ahead of the global climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland in November. More organizations will be adding their names to this call in the days to come. Others are invited to do so here.

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Images and cutlines are available here for media use.


For media inquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Woodsworth, Dogwood, alexandra@dogwoodbc.ca: 778-316-5558

Ziona Eyob, Stand.Earth, canmedia@stand.earth, +1 604 757 7279

Seth Klein, Climate Emergency Unit, 604-836-2272

Tracey Saxby, My Sea to Sky, 604-892-7501

Peter McCartney, Wilderness Committee, 778-239-1935

Anjali Appadurai, Sierra Club BC, anjali@sierraclub.bc.ca, 604-328-6443

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Open Letter to the BC Government:

September 2021

Dear Premier Horgan and the Government of BC,

Re: Confront the Climate Emergency

We write on behalf of diverse environmental, Indigenous, labour, health, business, local government, academic, youth, and faith communities who collectively represent well over one million British Columbians.

We call on the BC government to recognize the urgency and alarm that people all over the province are feeling as the climate crisis directly impacts our communities and our health: deadly heat waves, wildfires, drought, floods, crop failure, fisheries collapse, and costly evacuations and infrastructure damage. These climate-related impacts are unprecedented and intensifying. Indigenous peoples stand to be disproportionately impacted by climate events despite successfully taking care of the land since time immemorial.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a ‘code red’ for humanity. The International Energy Agency has called on world governments to immediately stop investments in and approvals of new oil and gas projects. The provincial government’s CleanBC climate action plan is insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C and will not keep British Columbians safe from the worst impacts of climate change.

We therefore urge the BC government to develop and implement a transformative climate emergency plan that recognizes the interconnected climate, ecological, and social crises; embeds equity, anti-racism, and social justice at its core; and upholds Indigenous Title and Rights, and Treaty Rights.

To implement the rapid systemic change that is required, we call on the provincial government to demonstrate the leadership necessary to confront the climate emergency, and immediately undertake the following 10 actions:

  1. Set binding climate pollution targets based on science and justice
    Reduce BC’s greenhouse gas emissions by ~7.5% per year below 2007 levels. Set binding reduction targets of 15% by 2023; 30% by 2025; 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2040 (below 2007 levels). Review and update targets regularly as climate science evolves.
  2. Invest in a thriving, regenerative, zero emissions economy
    Invest 2% of BC’s GDP ($6 billion dollars per year) to advance the zero emissions economy and create tens of thousands of good jobs. Spend what it takes to immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create new economic institutions to get the job done. Ensure that the economic component of Aboriginal Title is recognized through the sharing of benefits and revenues that result.
  3. Rapidly wind down all fossil fuel production and use
    Immediately stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure including fracking, oil and gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and fossil fuel-derived hydrogen. Rapidly phase out and decommission all existing fossil fuel production and exports.
  4. End fossil fuel subsidies and make polluters pay
    End all fossil fuel subsidies and financial incentives by 2022. Ensure that those industries that profit from fossil fuel pollution pay their fair share of the resulting climate damage.
  5. Leave no one behind
    Ensure a just transition for fossil fuel workers, resource-dependent communities, and Indigenous and remote communities impacted by fossil fuel production. It will be critical to collaborate in true partnership with Indigenous peoples in climate action. Prepare our communities for the impacts of the climate crisis to minimize human suffering and infrastructure damage. Support those most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
  6. Protect and restore nature
    Protect 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030; support and invest in Indigenous-led conservation initiatives; restore natural ecosystems to enhance ecosystem functions and services, preserve biodiversity, increase carbon sequestration, and improve human and ecosystem resilience to climate impacts. Impose an immediate moratorium on the industrial logging of all old growth forests which are critical carbon sinks.
  7. Invest in local, organic, regenerative agriculture and food systems
    Incentivize carbon storage in soil, restore biodiversity, and ensure food sovereignty and food security across the province. Increase consumption of plant-based foods, and reduce food waste. Support Indigenous communities that wish to maintain traditional food systems and enhance their food security.
  8. Accelerate the transition to zero emission transportation
    Invest in affordable, accessible, and convenient public transit within and between all communities. Reallocate infrastructure funds from highway expansion to transit and active transportation (cycling, rolling, and walking). Mandate zero emissions for all new light vehicles by 2027, and all medium and heavy duty vehicles by 2030.
  9. Accelerate the transition to zero emission buildings
    Ban new natural gas connections to all new and existing buildings by the end of 2022. Create a Crown Corporation to mobilize the workforce to retrofit all existing buildings and eliminate fossil fuel heating by 2035, and to build new affordable zero emissions buildings.
  10. Track and report progress on these actions every year
    Embed all of these actions in legislation to ensure accountability, transparency, and inclusion. Establish rolling 5-year carbon budgets that decline over time towards zero emissions by 2040 or sooner.

Tackling the climate crisis offers an unprecedented opportunity to generate new, vibrant economic and social wealth as we transform where our energy comes from and how it is used. It offers an opportunity to achieve energy security, ensure food security, develop more sustainable local economies and jobs, transform our buildings, redesign transportation, reduce pollution, improve  human health and wellbeing, and enhance our quality of life. The transition from fossil fuels to a zero emissions economy has clear benefits for people and natural ecosystems, and is an opportunity to create a more prosperous, just, and equitable society.

Every person, every business, every industry, and every government has a role to play as we coordinate individual and collective actions to create a thriving, resilient, and regenerative society that respects its interdependence with healthy ecosystems and a safe climate.

British Columbia is positioned to become a visionary world leader and demonstrate that innovative and rapid change is possible as we transition to a zero emissions economy.

We urge you to seize these opportunities, and demonstrate to British Columbians that our government is indeed a true climate leader by implementing the 10 climate emergency actions set out in this letter.

We must act now.

Sincerely,

Signatories (by sector)

Indigenous

British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
First Nations Summit
Gidimt’en Checkpoint
RAVEN
Union of BC Indian Chiefs

Arts / Culture

Brackendale Art Gallery
Canadian Media Producers Association (BC)
Claymates Ceramics Studio Inc.
Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice
Hummingbird Music Studio
Indian Summer Arts Society
Neworld Theatre
South Cariboo Arts and Culture Society
Spring Magazine
Women in Film and Television Vancouver

Business

1st Knowledge Bank Ltd
Audiopile Records
Barnacle Strategies Consulting
Bydand Wealth Management
Calmura Natural Walls Inc.
Climb On Equipment Ltd
Cool.World
Crowned Vitta LLC
Curio Research Ltd.
Drinkfill Beverages LTD
Earnest Ice Cream
Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society
Goldilocks Goods
Harvey McKinnon Associates
Hollyhock
KWENCH
Lush Cosmetics North America
Nada
New/Mode
OMC Inc.
Patagonia
Persephone Brewing Company
Rain or Shine Ice Cream
Redroof Enterprizes
Renewal Funds
Rethink2gether
Salish Soils Inc.
Sea To Sky Cable Cam Inc.
Squamish ReBuild Society
Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery (SPUD)
Tegan McMartin Photography
TREE WORLD Plant Care Products, Inc.
Vedalia Biological Inc.
Viridian Energy Coop
Visual Science

Community group

Alliance4Democracy (Sunshine Coast)
BC Hydro Ratepayers Association
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C.
Council of Canadians (Campbell River Chapter)
Council of Canadians (Comox Valley Chapter )
Council of Canadians (Nelson Chapter)
Council of Canadians (Terrace Chapter)
Council of Canadians (Victoria Chapter)
Courage Coalition
Food Stash Foundation
Friends of Tilbury Working Group
Global Peace Alliance BC Society
Kaslo Community Action Team
Language Partners BC
Out Here Ski & Board Club
Philosophers Anonymous
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
South Park Family School
Tree of Life Nature Playschool
UNBC Outdoors Club

Health

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Canadian Health Association for Sustainability & Equity (CHASE)
Doctors for Planetary Health (West Coast)
Inner Light Healing Arts
Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance
Public Health Association of BC

Faith

Anglican Diocese of New Westminster
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
First Unitarian Church of Victoria
Holy Cross and Saint Patricks RC Parishes
KAIROS (BC-Yukon Region)
Naramata Community Church
North Shore Unitarian Church Environmental Action Team
Salt Spring Island Unitarian Fellowship
Squamish United Church
Vancouver Unitarians
Yasodhara Ashram Society

Labour

Douglas College Faculty Association
Federation of Post-Secondary Educators
North Island College Faculty Association
Public Service Alliance of Canada (BC Region)
Worker Solidarity Network

Seniors

Canadian Senior Cohousing Society
Pacific Park Place Housing Cooperative
Squamish Seniors Society
Suzuki Elders

Youth

Douglas Students’ Union
My Sea to Sky Youth Council
Quest Student Environmental Committee
Reel Youth
Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG)
Students for Mining Justice
Sustainabiliteens
Take a Stand: Youth for Conservation

Environment / Climate action

350 Vancouver
Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary
Alberni Climate Action
Alberni Valley Transition Town Society
Armstrong/Spallumcheen Climate Action
Association of Denman Island Marine Stewards
Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment
Babies for Climate Action (New Westminster)
Babies for Climate Action (Vancouver)
BC Climate Alliance
BC Nature
BC Sea Wolves
Below2C
Better Transit Alliance of Greater Victoria
Bowen Island Conservancy
British Columbia Cycling Coalition
Burnaby Climate Hub
Burnaby Residents Against Kinder MorganExpansion (BROKE)
Canadian Freshwater Alliance
Chase Environmental Action Group
Chemainus Climate Solutions
Citizen’s Climate Lobby (Okanagan Chapter)
Citizen’s Oil & Gas Council
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Nelson-West Kootenay Chapter)
Climate Action Now!
Climate Caucus
Climate Emergency Unit
Climate Justice Victoria
Concerned Citizens Bowen
Cowichan Valley Naturalists
Creatively United for the Planet
David Suzuki Foundation
Denman Island Climate Action Network
Dogwood
First Things First Okanagan
For Our Kids (North Shore)
For Our Kids (Sunshine Coast)
For Our Kids (Vancouver)
Force of Nature (North Shore Community Action Team)
Georgia Strait Alliance
GOAL12 Sustainable Consumption and Production Society
Green Teams of Canada
HUB Cycling
Lawyers For Climate Justice
Leadnow
Living Forest Institute Society
Living Oceans Society
Mount Work Coalition
My Sea to Sky
Nanaimo Climate Action Hub
Net0world
North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club
OneEarth
Parents 4 Climate
Planetary Resilience Council of BC
Protect Our Winters Canada
Roots on the Roof
Saanich Eco Advocates
Salish Sea Renewable Energy Cooperative
Salt Spring Island Stream and Salmon Enhancement Society
Sea Smart
Shuswap Climate Action
Sierra Club BC
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
Squamish Climate Action Network (Squamish CAN)
Squamish Environment Society
Squamish Food Policy Council (SFPC)
Stand.earth
Sunshine Coast Conservation Association
Sunshine Coast Streamkeepers Society
Sustainability Action Group for the Environment
Synergia Institute
Transition Kamloops
Transition Salt Spring
Transition Sooke
Victoria Climate Hub
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
Watershed Watch Salmon Society
West Coast Climate Action Network (WE-CAN)
West Coast Environmental Law Association
West Kootenay EcoSociety
Wilderness Committee
Wildsight
Yellow Point Ecological Society
Zero Waste BC

Sierra Club BC on heat wave and climate action

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June 28, 2021

Please be advised that Sierra Club BC’s Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting is available to comment on B.C.’s current heat wave and the urgent need for climate emergency policies that address both climate pollution and impacts.

“We can fool ourselves, but we can’t fool the atmosphere. The current heat wave is a reminder that time is running out. B.C.’s lack of climate action has severe consequences that are already being felt today. We need immediate policy change guided by what science shows is needed to save life as we know it.”

 

For background, see the following related items:

  • BC failing to do its part to address the global climate and biodiversity crisis — Canada’s recent National Inventory Report shows that B.C.’s emissions have increased every single year since 2014 and reached 65.7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2019.  LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE
     
  • Critical report shows current BC logging practices increase climate disaster risks for BC communities — Forest conservation, forestry reforms, and Indigenous expertise and knowledge are urgently needed to mitigate climate disaster risks like heat waves. LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE
     
  • Sierra Club BC calls on provincial government to end silence about skyrocketing forest emissions — B.C. government’s own data show total greenhouse gas emissions for 2018 are more than three times larger than official numbers, when including uncounted emissions from “forest management.” LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE 

 

 

Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

 

 

Photo: Mya Van Woudenberg/Sierra Club BC

Independent Advisory Panel could be turning point for the fate of at-risk old-growth forests

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Immediate deferrals, political will and funding will determine success

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

June 24, 2021 

Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (VANCOUVER, BC) — Sierra Club BC believes the creation of an independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, which was announced by the B.C. government today, could be a turning point for the fate of at-risk old-growth forests amid a delayed implementation of the promised paradigm-shift in forest stewardship in B.C. Overcoming this government’s history of ignoring the best-available science and playing politics with advisory boards will require political will and clear direction.  

“Last fall, the B.C. government promised to implement a paradigm-shift in forest stewardship, but to date it has failed to deliver the most pressing first step – to stop the bleeding and use interim mechanisms to ensure the most endangered old-growth forests are not being logged while forest management in B.C. shifts from a focus on timber values to one of respecting ecological limits,” said Sierra Club BC Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting. 

“This advisory panel combined with leadership from the B.C. government will allow the province to implement a precautionary approach. This requires deferring logging in all at-risk forests in the short-term to buy time to work with Indigenous decision makers on long-term designations that respect Indigenous rights and title. Speeding up change on the ground also requires funding for Indigenous-led conservation solutions and a just transition for forestry workers,” added Wieting. 

“It’s hard to get excited about steps like this when this government has gone from talk and log politics to predatory delay.  Out of one side of their mouth, they hide behind First Nations, while out the other side they actively push old-growth forest referrals through band offices and profit off of BC Timber Sales logging in territories they don’t have consent to operate in.  Science is always celebrated, but political courage is what we need most,” said Sierra Club BC Coastal Projects Lead Mark Worthing. 

”The unprecedented heatwave currently enveloping Turtle Island is a brutal reminder of how little time we have to safeguard what remains intact of our best ally in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis. Intact, carbon-rich, resilient old-growth forests are our best defense against the ravages of climate change such as heatwaves, drought and wildfires. The web of life that depends on these forests cannot withstand more industrial devastation combined with climate change impacts,” added Wieting.  

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For more information about the B.C. governments’ independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel go here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021FLNRO0043-001225


Media contacts:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

Mark Worthing, Coastal Projects Lead | Sierra Club BC
mark@sierraclub.bc.ca

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

Sierra Club BC reacts to Premier Horgan’s Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek and Central Walbran deferral announcement

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

June 9, 2021 

Sierra Club BC Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting offers the following statement in response to today’s deferral announcements. 

“Hearing first from the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations and now from the province that old-growth logging will be deferred for two years in the Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek watershed and the Central Walbran gives us a glimpse of hope for two small but highly endangered old-growth forest areas on Vancouver Island. 

“But studying the maps shared today by the B.C. government is a sobering experience and shows a consistent pattern: Minimize conservation, even temporary deferrals, to the absolute minimum; defend timber access as much as possible. 

“Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek is a dramatic example for this pattern, with hundreds of hectares of intact contiguous old-growth adjacent to the watershed left out of the deferral area. The province even insisted on creating a Zone B to allow for some degree of logging in the watershed.  

“The BC NDP government shows great creativity to defend business as usual and almost none when it comes to enabling communities and First Nations to protect the last old-growth forests. 

“At the current pace, the B.C. government will not be able to win the race to save what’s left and restore what’s damaged for future generations. The April 2020 old-growth panel recommendations included one indispensable step that came with an expiry date – defer logging in all at-risk old-growth forests within six months. Any further delay would be irresponsible.  

“In May, after a year of almost no action to protect at-risk forests, a group of independent experts shared a map with the province that used criteria from the old-growth panel report to identify the most endangered forests that need immediate deferrals from logging. Their maps show 1.3 million hectares of forests that need interim protection, 2.6 percent of all forests in B.C.  

“Today’s deferral announcement for Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek and Central Walbran adds up to 2,000 hectares or 0.15 percent of the forests that need interim protection. Almost all at-risk forests across the province remain open for logging, including thousands of hectares on Southern Vancouver Island.” 

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For more information about the deferral map developed by independent experts go here: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/new-map-of-at-risk-old-growth-forests-in-bc-is-a-first-step/ 


Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

 

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

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