Thanks to your ongoing pressure, the B.C. government finally shared new data and maps showing the state of emergency for old-growth forests. They also announced their intention to defer logging across 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk old-growth forests in B.C. and shared the maps with all Indigenous Nations in B.C. to request their perspective.

While the new information clearly shows the forests that require immediate action, the province still hasn’t presented a coherent work plan with adequate funding to ensure logging deferrals followed by long-term solutions for these forests can become a reality.

In short, the B.C. government has accepted that some old-growth forests are as imperiled as endangered whales, but they still haven’t stopped the industrial hunt. Thousands of hectares of the most at-risk forests proposed for deferrals have already been logged in recent months and thousands more remain on the chopping block.

The escalating climate crisis shows the growing urgency to defend the lifesaving, irreplaceable benefits of intact old-growth forests before climate impacts like the recent floods, heat dome and wildfires create even more havoc. The B.C. government’s old-growth intentions cannot become reality without immediate adequate funding commitments to address short-term impacts, enable Indigenous-led conservation solutions and finance a just transition for workers.

Please add your voice today to make sure the B.C. government walks the talk of protecting old-growth forests by deferring logging in all at-risk stands and acting on all the other recommendations made by the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel. Taking action now matters for future generations and all beings that call these forests home.

Your letter will be sent to B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Bruce Ralston, and Premier Eby, and be cc’d to B.C.’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, George Heyman, and the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Nathan Cullen.