Kootenay environmental report calls for BC Timber Sales reforms

By Bill Metcalfe
The Kimberley Bulletin
July 24, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A report from the Nelson-based organization Save What’s Left calls on the provincial government to revamp BC Timber Sales and give it an environmental stewardship mandate. The 50-page report titled Public Forest, Public Trust alleges that BCTS logs old growth forests, disturbs watersheds and interferes with wildlife corridors.  BCTS is an independent organization within the Ministry of Forests that develops Crown timber for auction. BCTS plans and designs logging operations and builds logging roads, then sells the timber to the highest bidder. The document lays out 24 such allegations, stating they are based on field verification by Save What’s Left, on satellite time-lapse imagery, and on conversations with forest professionals and forest workers. “This paper both outlines the myriad of problems with how BC Timber Sales operates and presents a new path forward,” writes prominent environmentalist David Suzuki in his introduction to the report. “What we need now is courage by leaders to walk that path.”

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