BC Greens MLA Adam Olsen retabled a bear den protection bill for the third time Wednesday afternoon (March 6), in hopes of safeguarding areas that experts say are under threat from logging. Olsen has been pushing for the legal changes since October 2022, but has yet to have his private member’s bill heard. If passed, the bill would amend B.C.’s Wildlife Act to make disturbing, molesting, damaging or destroying a bear den on Crown or private land an offence. Olsen says this is largely targeted at logging companies whose practices risk decimating bear denning options in forested areas. A March 2022 report by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre found logging of old growth forests poses a particularly serious threat. This, the authors said, is because black bears in coastal B.C. rely almost exclusively on woody structures to wait out the winter and need large-diameter trees to do so.