BC has entered the era of extreme old-growth logging. We must stop it.
The growing public outcry and conflict over the B.C. government’s support for extreme old-growth logging shows that British Columbians want change. Tinkering around the edges is not enough. Vancouver Island and other parts of the province need a bold plan for healthy communities and ecosystems that truly acknowledges our climate and biodiversity emergencies.
The BC government is currently inviting British Columbians to provide input into improving BC’s forestry regulation, until July 15. The improvements must include an end of all forms of extreme old-growth logging. Sierra Club BC is planning a province-wide day of action at MLAs’ offices on Thursday June 6, calling on the B.C. government to protect old-growth forests and improve forest management.
Species loss due to habitat destruction across B.C. is part of a global trend hundreds of scientists warned about in early May. The UN backed report showed that globally, one million species are at risk of extinction, with habitat destruction the primary driver.
The report found that three-quarters of the world’s land has been impacted by human activity. For Vancouver Island, the numbers look even worse. Here, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. Nearly a third of what remained standing just twenty-five years ago has since been destroyed.
Conservation science used in the Great Bear Rainforest shows that destroying more than 70 per cent of old-growth means destroying the web of life that depends on ancient trees. A 2016 Sierra Club BC assessment showed about half of Vancouver Island and the South Coast are beyond this threshold for high ecological risk. By maintaining business as usual and ignoring nature’s limits, the B.C. government is now responsible for extreme, extinction-level logging across vast parts of the province.
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