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University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre report calls for a minimum of thirty per cent old-growth protection across B.C.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 10, 2019

VICTORIA—A new report prepared by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre (ELC) for Sierra Club BC calls for thirty per cent base level protection of old-growth ecosystems and intact forests across the province as part of the provincial government’s amendments to provincial forestry regulations.

The report entitled Applying Solutions from the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements to Vancouver Island, the South Coast, and Beyond recommends implementing the minimum level of protection that is used in the Great Bear Rainforest in all parts of B.C. The Great Bear Rainforest is the only major B.C. region with a land use framework that seeks to maintain ecological integrity as the basis for human well-being.

This is in stark comparison to weak current provincial forestry standards, which have led to an ecological emergency for many old-growth ecosystems across the remainder of the province. The report comes as the B.C. government is inviting input until July 15 to improve the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA).

“Increasing protection of old-growth and intact forest to a minimum of thirty per cent in every landscape across the province can be considered one of the most important steps the B.C. government should include in reformed forestry laws in 2020 to address the growing climate and biodiversity crisis,” said Keith Schille, the law student who wrote the ELC report.

“British Columbia’s forestry regulation is in dire need of reform, but we have one major region in the province with a conservation model based on modern science in the Great Bear Rainforest. B.C. should apply some of the learnings from this region in the rest of the province, alongside traditional ecological knowledge from Indigenous peoples,” said Erin Gray, one of the supervising lawyers on the ELC report.

“Many of B.C.’s old-growth forests are close to the brink. Time is running out and we need government leadership action that respects the limits of nature in the interest of future generations. This report describes a first step the province can take to address this emergency,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s senior forest and climate campaigner.

In addition to the base level protection, further conservation must be determined as part of the process of modernizing regional land use plans with Indigenous Nations on a government-to-government basis. These agreements should incorporate traditional ecological knowledge into all decision making processes.

Solutions that address Indigenous rights and interests are needed for both public and private lands, all of which are on the territories of Indigenous peoples. The B.C. government should partner with the federal government to enable Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and contribute to the international and national commitment to protect seventeen per cent of the land by 2020.

“From T’Sou-ke natural law, only together can we ensure a healthy environment for our children and our children not born yet,” said Chief Gordon Planes Hya-Quatcha of the T’Sou-ke First Nation, a member of the Indigenous Circle of Experts.

Sierra Club BC is calling for improved forest management to protect remaining intact rainforest, endangered ecosystems, Indigenous values and carbon stored in forests, combined with support for the forestry sector to phase out destructive logging practices. This will translate into more jobs and less ecosystem damage per cubic metre of wood.

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Attachments:

Environmental Law Centre report, Applying Solutions from the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements to Vancouver Island, the South Coast: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/ELC-Applying-solutions-from-GBR-2019.pdf

Sierra Club BC aerial photos of clearcuts on Vancouver Island (July 2018): https://www.flickr.com/photos/94279740@N07/sets/72157698359993961

Media contacts:

Gordon Planes
Chief of the T’Sou-ke First Nation
gordonplanes@icloud.com

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

Keith Schille
Law Student
Environmental Law Centre, University of Victoria
204-260-2881
keith.schille@gmail.com

Erin Gray
Associate Counsel
Environmental Law Centre, University of Victoria
Interviews can be arranged through Sierra Club BC

Backgrounder to the Environmental Law Centre report, July 2019

The University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre (ELC) report Applying Solutions from the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements to Vancouver Island, the South Coast, and Beyond summarizes the key principles applied in the Ecosystem-Based Management framework in the Great Bear Rainforest and recommends the minimum conservation level in this region as a starting point elsewhere in B.C. This would ensure a base level of protection and, where necessary, require the restoration of old-growth forests.

The key recommendation of the report is to set aside thirty per cent of old-growth by ecosystem and landscape unit (used for planning purposes) in areas that are ecologically similar to the Great Bear Rainforest (such as Vancouver Island, the South Coast and inland temperate rainforests). In those parts of the province where trees typically don’t grow as old as in temperate rainforests, the thirty per cent target should be applied to those forests that are least damaged from industrial logging and have the highest value for biodiversity.

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” The amendment process for B.C.’s forestry law gives the B.C. government a generational opportunity to apply a key element of the Great Bear Rainforest solution across the province.

The 6.4 million hectare Great Bear Rainforest is the only major region in B.C. that has science-based conservation thresholds for old-growth forests. About eighty-five per cent of the forest in the region is set aside in a combination of protected areas and stringent logging regulation.

The Ecosystem-Based Management framework aims to ensure seventy per cent of the natural amount of old-growth forest of every type of forest is set aside from logging across the region (a low risk threshold for ecological integrity). Additionally, the framework calls for a minimum of thirty per cent of the forest set aside at the landscape level (the high risk threshold for ecological integrity) to maintain connectivity.

In contrast, across the vast majority of the province, old-growth forests and intact forest landscapes undisturbed by industrial activity have been reduced dramatically. In high productivity forest ecosystems like valley bottom rainforests with very big trees, remaining old-growth is less than ten per cent of its original extent, and an even smaller amount is formally protected.

On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than thirty per cent of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last twenty-five years (684,000 hectares or thirty-one per cent in 1993 and 469,000 hectares or twenty-one per cent in 2018).

B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about thirty-four soccer fields per day.

On average, temperate rainforests store more carbon than tropical rainforests, helping to slow down global warming. When left intact, they are relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests.

Globally, the loss of primary forests—forests that are largely undisturbed by human activity—is a threat to species, carbon storage, clean air and clean water. In some countries, this is mainly due to deforestation. In other countries such as Canada, this is mainly through the cutting and replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest.

Read the report: Applying Solutions from the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements to Vancouver Island, the South Coast, and Beyond

Groups call out Senate for putting a key environmental commitment at risk

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Unelected Senate must honour government commitment to a B.C. North Coast oil tanker moratorium, groups say 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 16, 2019

BRITISH COLUMBIA – Northern British Columbia communities and grassroots groups, alongside labour organizations and environmental groups throughout BC and Canada, are reacting with disbelief to the Senate Transport Committee’s recommendation to reject Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act.

“The Oil Tanker Moratorium Act was an election promise that helped the government get elected, and it was passed over a year ago by the democratically-elected House of Commons,” said Des Nobels, Chair of Friends of Wild Salmon. “It’s not acceptable that, after dragging its feet on this bill, the Senate is now considering rejecting the bill at the eleventh hour.”

Bill C-48 would prohibit oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude or persistent oil from stopping, loading or unloading at ports in northern British Columbia. Northern communities and supporters have worked to secure such a formal oil tanker ban on the north Pacific coast since the 1970s.

On Wednesday evening, the Senate Transport Committee decided in a tie vote to recommend against passing Bill C-48 (according to Senate rules, ties result in a negative vote). The Committee’s recommendation will go to the full Senate for a vote, with time running out before the Senate rises in June.

“Recently there has been a lot of rhetoric opposing this bill which disregards the fact that crude oil tankers have never plied the waters of BC’s north coast. This is true only because of 50 years of advocacy by Indigenous nations and local communities, with broad support from British Columbians and Canadians, to protect this remote and ecologically important place from the possibility of crude oil tanker spills,” said Gavin Smith, Staff Lawyer at West Cost Environmental Law Association. “We urge Senators to keep that in mind and cut through the rhetoric to pass Bill C-48 as written.”

“Passing Bill C-48 is a critical step in ensuring that BC’s North Coast remains healthy and productive for future generations. We urge all Senators to do their part for this incredible coastal ecosystem, and for the people and wildlife who depend on it,” said Kim Dunn, Senior Specialist, Ocean Conservation at WWF-Canada.

“The Senate is on the brink of directly disregarding a key promise of the federal government and abandoning an important commitment to protect the ocean-based economy of BC’s north coast,” said Joy Thorkelson, President of United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union – UNIFOR. “We and countless others have spent years supporting the intent of this bill through democratic channels. I want the Senate to know that, in a democracy, I am not okay with our decades of efforts to secure this protection being sacrificed at the stroke of the Senate’s pen. It’s time to pass Bill C-48.”

Groups supporting this statement include:
David Suzuki Foundation
Dogwood
Douglas Channel Watch
Friends of Morice Bulkley
Friends of Wild Salmon
Living Oceans Society
Pacific Wild
Prince Rupert Environmental Society
SeaLegacy
Sierra Club BC
SkeenaWild
T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation
United Fisherman and Allied Workers’ Union – UNIFOR
West Coast Environmental Law Association
World Wildlife Fund – Canada

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For more information, please contact:

Des Nobels, Chair, Friends of Wild Salmon
250-627-1859

Joy Thorkelson, President, United Fisherman and Allied Workers’ Union – UNIFOR
250 624 6048

Gavin Smith, Staff Lawyer, West Coast Environmental Law Association
604-601-2512

Caitlyn Vernon, Campaigns Director, Sierra Club BC
250-896-3500

Sierra Club BC applauds B.C. government on end of grizzly bear hunt

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 18, 2017

Sierra Club BC release the following statement from climate and conservation campaigner Mark Worthing:

 

“Sierra Club BC applauds today’s announcement by the B.C. government of the immediate end of the grizzly bear hunt in British Columbia.

“It is very heartwarming to see the B.C. government move to end the killing of such magnificent animals.  I have seen firsthand the horror of this archaic hunt and the negative impacts on local economies.  This turn towards a more respectful and economically savvy policy is a welcome step in the right direction.

“Making sure First Nations have the flexibility to practice their culture and relationship to the land is a critical component for long term success of this shift in management.

“We are pleased that the B.C. government listened to the majority of British Columbians who wanted the hunt end completely, including the meat hunt, which would have created an uncontrollable loophole for hunters pursuing trophies.

“We look forward to helping governments and communities take the next steps in responsible management: critical habitat protection, landscape level conservation, compliance and enforcement, and developing culturally relevant bear-viewing economies.”

 

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Contact:

Mark Worthing

Climate and Conservation Campaigner

250-889-3575

mark@sierraclub.bc.ca

Sierra Club BC supports the ban on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 15, 2017

Sierra Club BC released the following statement from campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon in response the government’s ban on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears:

“Sierra Club BC supports the provincial government’s ban on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears and all grizzly bear hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest, where this brings provincial policy in line with Indigenous law.

“Killing bears for sport is wasteful, opposed by an overwhelming large majority of British Columbians, and bad for our economy. These bears are worth more to our economy alive than dead.

“This announcement is also a welcome first step towards a more science-based approach to wildlife and conservation management. We welcome the consultations the government will undertake on a renewed wildlife management strategy.

“Our expectation is that the government will ensure, in implementing the ban, loopholes cannot be exploited by unscrupulous hunters. We expect to see rigorous compliance and enforcement measures put in place.

“Grizzly bear management, like that of many species and ecosystems, requires large landscape-scale conservation and the incorporation of Indigenous approaches.

“Whether in the Peace Valley, the Flathead or the Great Bear, hunting Grizzly bears has an adverse on ecosystems and wildlife dynamics in the landscape. Bears represent more than one animal, they support and are supported by entire ecological systems that need to be defended against human exploitation.”

Contact:

Caitlyn Vernon
Director of Campaigns
Sierra Club BC
C: (250) 896-3500

Petro-Corporations vs. the people of the Skeena

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Old Hazelton. Photo by Mark Worthing.

By Mark Worthing, Conservation and Climate Campaigner

August 2017

This July, I traveled north to visit communities within the mighty Skeena watershed. This was a chance to learn about the petroleum industry’s attempted incursions into Wet’suwet’en, Gitxsan and Tsimshian territories, and the communities that are defending their homes, lands and waters.

The resiliency, power and commitment of this Indigenous-led land defence work leaves me speechless.  And amongst the settler communities who have made homes in the vast drainages of the Skeena and its tributaries, there is an intensely rich understanding of their own relationships with the land.

The stories, solidarity and community-based visioning happening in these places is some of the strongest and most colourful this side of the Rockies.

Yet attempts by international corporations to push extractive industries remain at an all-time high. With recent shifts in government and successes under our belt—like cancellation of the Enbridge pipeline and tankers project, and Petronas’ fracked gas plant—people in the northwest are reviewing their tactics while remaining steadfast in long term land-based sovereignty work.

Hagwilget Canyon. Photo by Mark Worthing.

From my perspective, the general feeling is this: people are tentatively hopeful.

But the work never seems to end, and we must not let our guard down simply because there is a different flavor of political power at the helm.  The proof will be in the pudding. The collective work of cultivating healthy cultures of resistance to industrial extractivism is a lifestyle and not simply a campaign.  And there are many more existing and proposed pipelines that cross those territories without consent.

With multinational fracking and LNG corporations attempting to force projects down the throats of communities and seeking anyone who is willing to sign deals, we will need to stay true to our work in uplifting and affirming the traditional Indigenous governance structures that are inextricably linked to the land.

I admit I had never quite grasped the implications of the Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot’in court cases until I spent time in the Yintah (Territory) of the Unist’ot’en and Luutkudziiwus, different house groups with specific lands within the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Nations respectively. They are each occupying their territories full time according to their own laws. The court cases laid the groundwork for obtaining Title to lands in the eyes of Canadian law, which would return governance and authority to First Nations. This would make stopping unwanted pipelines a whole lot easier.

I also spent time with community members in Dodge Cove on Digby Island, a short boat ride from Prince Rupert. Within an hour of arriving, I heard about Petronas cancelling its controversial fracked gas plant on Lelu Island. The whole town was buzzing with excitement.  That night we raised a glass of champagne to its defeat and to the success of the land defence work of the Lax Kw’alaams and those who helped defend the salmon habitat of Flora Bank.

Unist’ot’en mural. Photo by Mark Worthing.

But for the community of Dodge Cove, the fight isn’t over. They have another battle on their hands: the massive fracked gas plant being proposed by Nexen, owned by Chinese oil giant CNOOC.

The company’s complete disregard for this community was horrific to hear about. The plant would be built less than a kilometre from this historic town, violating international siting standards and putting human safety at risk. They continue to buzz helicopters above people’s homes and conduct test-drilling without consultation or consideration. Don’t believe what you hear from this company. If you see what they are proposing on the ground, your stomach will turn.

Members of the community were grateful for the help Sierra Club BC’s supporters provided by sending letters to the BC Environmental Assessment Office. The EAO received so many submissions—the vast majority of which were opposed to the project—that the review was paused for nearly three months.

But now it’s up and running again, and you can be sure the company is moving full steam ahead.

LNG is not dead in BC, not by a long shot.

 

Stay up to date on the fight for a sustainable energy future in BC by signing up for our monthly newsletter and action alerts.

Feature image: Suskwa River by Mark Worthing.

We have to protect all of the world’s rainforests, not just tropical rainforests

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By Alys Granados

May 2017

Most of us have heard about how rainforests are in trouble and the rapid rate at which we are losing these spectacular ecosystems, along with the incredible diversity of species that depend on them. Globally, most of these reports focus on tropical rainforests and there has been too little awareness about the fate of temperate rainforests. Close to home, very few know that the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island is disappearing faster than natural tropical rainforests.

Few of us have the opportunity to visit tropical forests in person, which can make us feel disconnected from the problems of deforestation and degradation of tropical countries. I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work in tropical rainforests over the past seven years, as part of my graduate work in wildlife ecology. Most of this has been in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo where I investigated how selective logging disrupts interactions between trees and mammals.

Central Walbran Valley. Photo: TJ Watt.

The loss of intact tropical forests continues to be a serious threat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently estimated that globally, ten per cent of the remaining primary forests in tropical rainforest countries were lost between 1990 and 2015. These forests are home to many species which exist nowhere else on the planet and protecting their habitats is critical to their survival. Further, the livelihood of millions of people depends on intact forests and they play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change by storing massive amounts of carbon.

While all of this may be well known to many, few of us in Canada realize just how fast old-growth rainforest is being logged on Vancouver Island. I was very shocked to learn from recent Sierra Club BC data that over that same period (1990 to 2015), thirty per cent of the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island was logged. In other words, the rate of loss of so-called “primary forests” (forests that were largely undisturbed by human activity) on Vancouver Island is actually three times greater than in the tropics.  In the last few years the rate of old-growth logging on the Island has actually increased by twelve per cent to 9,000 hectares per year (25 hectares a day).

So what’s behind this forest loss? Similar to the tropics, logging plays a central role. One difference is that in many tropical countries logging often results in deforestation, while in other countries such as Canada logging generally leads to the replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest. Much of the old-growth forest on Vancouver Island has already been lost to clearcut logging and the remaining patches of old-growth (called variable retention by foresters) are too small to maintain enough habitat for species that depend on old-growth forest.

Logging in East Creek on Vancouver Island. Photo: Mark Worthing.

In response to the Sierra Club BC data, the BC government stated that it is misleading to compare the problem in tropical countries to Vancouver Island, because in British Columbia logging companies are required by law to reforest logged areas. While this is true, old-growth ecosystems with trees that are many hundreds of years of age are not growing back at a meaningful timescale and climate change means we will never see the same type of forest grow back in the first place.

Species that rely on old-growth forest such as the marbled murrelet are negatively affected by the loss of old forest stands. In addition, the resulting large areas of young trees are not offering the type of habitat that most of the typical plants and animals on Vancouver Island depend on.

Similar to tropical forests, coastal temperate forests play an important role storing carbon dioxide. In fact a single hectare of temperate rainforest can store up to 1000 tonnes of carbon, a much greater amount than most tropical rainforests. Even if replanting is carried out, along the coast it can take centuries for reforested areas to reach a similar capacity in carbon storage potential as that of intact old-growth forest stands.

Tropical forest loss rightfully deserves the attention it gets, and we are lucky here in BC to have equally amazing rainforest habitat. Given that we are living in a relatively rich part of the world compared to many tropical countries, it is remarkable that we are failing to do a better job of protecting the remaining rare and endangered ancient forests on Vancouver Island and inspire other parts of the world. Coastal temperate rainforests exist only in very small areas on the planet and very little intact areas are left. Solutions exist, for example, in the Great Bear Rainforest north of Vancouver Island. Increasing the area of forest protected and halting destructive logging practices are both vital to ensuring the continued survival of these ecosystems and for a diverse economy. They should be a primary concern to us all.

Alys Granados

Alys Granados is a PhD student in zoology at UBC. She is working as an Intern for Sierra Club BC under UBC’s Biodiversity Research: Integrative Training & Education (BRITE) program. For her PhD, Alys is studying the effects of selective logging on plants and mammals in Malaysian Borneo. Previously, Alys completed a Masters at Concordia University in QC, where she studied park-people interactions in relation to human-elephant conflict in Cameroon. As an intern with Sierra Club, Alys will help with efforts to increase awareness about threats facing old growth forests on Vancouver Island. 

 

Feature image by Andrew S. Wright

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