Our provincial government is asking for public comments about its management of old growth forests. You may make a written submission and/or answer questions in an on-line survey.
Visit the BC Government website to complete the survey and contribute your submission. The review process continues until JANUARY 31, 2020 at 4 pm.
The SCCA strongly encourages you to participate. If we don’t respond government will conclude that old growth management is not a major public concern. Wrong! Here are some helpful position papers from the Sierra Club of BC and the Ancient Forest Alliance:
Clearcut Carbon –Â Sierra Club BC report
Sierra Club BC Old Growth Forest Resources Page
Old Growth Review – Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA)
Old Growth Review Questionnaire Guide – AFA
The SCCA has many concerns about management of BC’s old growth forests. The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) makes protection of all non-timber values secondary to timber supply priorities. This means that protection of old growth or old growth dependent at-risk species is only available if such does not “… unduly reduce the flow of timber from crown land.” There are a lot of major problems; Landscape Unit Plans offer only tokenistic protection; Timber Supply Reviews wildly overestimate forest inventories; BC’s obligations under the Species-At-Risk Act have not been satisfied and forestry operations continue as if there is no such thing as global climate change.
The SCCA will address these and many other old growth issues in our submission. Sign up here for our SCCA ENews to ensure you get a copy!
Learn more about this issue and others in our latest SCCA Enewsletter here.