‘A gut punch’: Forestry sector pushes back against B.C. plan to defer old-growth logging

B.C. has announced a two-year deferral on old-growth logging in 11 priority areas, but the forestry sector says it will come at the cost of thousands of jobs.

British Columbia’s forestry industry is pushing back against the province’s plans to defer logging in 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forests.

According to the plan announced Tuesday, provincial officials will work with First Nations on the deferral plan while B.C. overhauls its approach to sustainable forest management.

Susan Yurkovic, president of the BC Council of Forest Industries, said the deferral plan will result in the shutdown of 14 to 20 mills and the loss of up to 18,000 jobs, four times what the province has estimated.

“Obviously we’re going to be doing a very thorough review of this by region, because we’ll want to know exactly where on the map which mills will be going down in which communities,” she said.

“It’s not just the mill jobs that are lost. People lose their homes, real-estate markets collapse, people move away, schools close — it has a lot of knock-on effects.”

The council also estimates the deferral would  result in a $400-million loss in government revenues, and says the panel that came up with the recommendations was stacked with environmentalists.

The province says the deferrals are necessary to protect biodiversity while it develops its new forestry approach, building on recommendations from the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review.

It says it is “bringing together strategically coordinated and comprehensive supports” to help affected communities “with the necessary supports to offset job and economic impacts.”