Panel appointed to map B.C.'s old-growth forests say province is failing to save them

Every member of a former panel the British Columbia government appointed to identify old-growth for potential protection in 2021 now say they're concerned about continued logging in those same rare and "irreplaceable" forests.

The five former panellists say in a document, sent to Premier David Eby and other officials this week, the proposed old-growth deferrals were meant to be an interim measure to reduce the risks of logging, allowing time for long-term planning.

But the process has not worked as intended, ecologists Rachel Holt and Karen Price, landscape analyst Dave Daust, veteran forester Garry Merkel and economist Lisa Matthaus say in the document provided to The Canadian Press.

Instead, the B.C. government continues to approve logging in forests the panel identified, while long-term plans have yet to be finalized, Holt said in an interview.

"Purposely causing extinction is not just a moral failure but also a high economic, ecological and social risk," says the document sent to Eby, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar and Resource Stewardship Minister Randene Neill.

A scan of public B.C. government mapping shows about half a dozen proposed B.C. Timber Sales cut blocks overlapping with ancient and big-treed forests on the slopes around Nahmint Lake, southwest of Port Alberni, B.C., with more in the surrounding area.

Overlap between proposed cut blocks and old-growth mapped by the advisory panel can also be seen in the Tsitika area of northeastern Vancouver Island.

A message to users opening the mapping website says the proposed harvest areas may require additional planning activities and consultation with First Nations and other stakeholders, and may be subject to change.

The B.C. government had tasked the advisory panel with identifying old-growth ecosystems at very high and near-term risk of irreversible biodiversity loss in response to recommendations of an old-growth strategic review, released in 2020.

The result was the panel's mapping of 2.6 million hectares of unprotected old-growth, released in November 2021.

Parmar said Friday that he hadn't yet reviewed the panel's document in detail, but he planned to in the coming days.

He said he'd recently spoken with Merkel about the panel's concerns, which he asked "them to outline" to him.

Parmar said he had asked his deputy minister to meet the panel members "to better understand what those challenges are and whether their frustrations align."

The minister said his mission as forests minister is to ensure B.C. is striking a balance.