It all started with a campaign promise. John Horgan, seeking re-election for his party in last October’s B.C. snap election, committed an NDP government to fully adopt recommendations from its independent expert panel that called for a paradigm shift in the province’s management of old-growth forests. Politically, it made sense at the time. …The NDP did secure its majority in that election, and the Green Party lost the leverage it had enjoyed in the previous minority government. But the Premier raised expectations that there would be some tangible change in forestry practices. …If anything, his commitment has become a weapon for his critics, who want at least a moratorium on old-growth logging. …Mr. Horgan’s aims will soon be clear. In early June, after consultation with Indigenous communities, the Horgan government will table… what changes it plans to make to the provincial forest policy.

The District is sending two proposals to public hearing, both of which will shape the way the town’s waterways and some of its waterfront space will be governed. The first relates to Oceanfront Squamish, while the second involved proposed new marine zoning for the town’s waters. …the proposed regulations … will allow more density …allowed height would also be increased to accommodate the creation of mass timber buildings, which are expected to be more environmentally friendly. …council voted 6-1 in favour of granting a second reading to a proposed change in marine zoning. Coun. Eric Andersen was the sole dissenting vote. …Andersen is concerned about the proposed M4 log storage zone. “I’m not satisfied that … proper consultation has taken place, and I’ve heard this with industry people as well,” he said. Andersen recommended the municipality talk with the Council of Forest Industries.

The First Nation whose traditional territory includes the Fairy Creek watershed on Vancouver Island, where RCMP arrested anti-logging protesters over the long weekend, believes the campaign to stop harvesting ancient trees is undermining its sovereignty and putting further strain on its community during the pandemic. Pacheedaht First Nation supports the Teal-Jones Group’s plans to log the area, which is near Port Renfrew about 80 kilometres northwest of Victoria, but opponents set up blockades in August that have stopped that activity. The First Nation owns three sawmills and has a revenue-sharing agreement with the province for logging on its traditional territory. The nation said the months-long protest is interfering with its ability to provide for community members and manage the delicate old-growth forest. …Rod Bealing, the nation’s forestry manager, said the protest campaign is a “distraction” from the First Nation’s work to shield the community from the coronavirus, care for elders and move toward self-governance.

The pandemic has pushed many issues into the background. And one of them is a throwback to the NDP’s previous time in government. …I am referring to the events unfolding on southern Vancouver Island. …Both the loggers and the protesters have accused each side of assault and tempers have flared. …Unlike the 1990s, the current NDP administration has not shied away from policies that enrage some of the environmental activist community. …So not stopping the logging of a small stand of old growth timber is not particularly out of character. Plus… The logging operations at Fairy Creek have the strong backing of the Pacheedaht First Nations. …This explains why the NDP government will try its best to not become involved in this dispute. It has proudly boasted about being the first jurisdiction to endorse and implement UNDRIP and it hardly wants to be seen clashing with First Nations when it comes to logging.

As you read this, I am either at the old-growth logging blockades on unceded Ditidaht and Pacheedaht territories on the west coast of BC, or I am in jail. This won’t be the first time I have blockaded the logging of old-growth rainforests on Vancouver Island. The first time was 27 years ago… in Clayoquot Sound. …Today, the majority of remaining old-growth rainforests in Clayoquot Sound are off limits to logging. However, across the province, 27 years later, ancient giant trees are still falling. This is in spite of scientific evidence that there is so little left, and that these last old-growth forests are critical to maintain ecosystem services. …Instead of taking a leadership position and following through on its own promises, the B.C. NDP government has instead ramped up a misinformation campaign and is driving divide-and-conquer tactics.

Additional coverage in the Georgia Straight, by Charlie Smith: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman returns to frontlines to fight to save old-growth forests

Bob Brash

B.C.’s forest industry is currently facing a number of challenges, and the biggest one is that there is no collective vision for forestry in the province, according to Bob Brash, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association.  The TLA represents more than 500 independent logging companies in B.C.  Brash, along with TLA member Sig Kemmler, spoke to the board at the Cowichan Valley Regional District at its meeting on May 12 and said there is a lot of discussion around forestry issues these days, including the ongoing fight between environmental groups and forestry companies over logging old growth forests at Fairy Creek, but not a lot of constructive dialogue between the industry and its detractors.  …Brash said the industry understands that it has to be more innovative in its logging practices in certain areas….Brash said the TLA and the forest industry would love to have information-based discussions with those opposed to their logging practices.

There was a time when B.C. was a global leader in fish, wildlife and habitat conservation, said Jesse Zeman of the B.C. Wildlife Federation in a May 10 news release. But now it is “a landscape which can be characterized as at risk, endangered and extirpated,” he said. (Extirpated refers to local extinction; a species may not be extinct overall, but has become extinct in a particular region where once it was found.) Moreover, this has happened in just one generation.  The news release announced the creation of the B.C. Fish, Wildlife, and Habitat Coalition, which brings together 25 organisations from widely differing sectors: environmental and conservation organizations, hunting and angling guides, wildlife viewing, ecotourism, naturalists, hunters, anglers and trappers.  …  Because successive governments have valued the economy over nature, and thus over the wellbeing of future generations, not to mention all the species with whom we share this still-beautiful but scarred land. 

A report by the Forest Practices Board reveals management of B.C.’s forest recreation resources has failed to protect the province’s forest recreation interests.  The Forest Practices Board, considered B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices, published the special report earlier this week after hearing many concerns and complaints about how governments and licensees have been managing forest recreation in the province.  Investigators heard from forest recreation groups, government staff, forest industry staff and commercial resort operators and found issues with access management to recreational sites and trails, logging impacts, and user group conflicts.  The board found the province has done little planning for recreation resources over the past two decades, and has no blanket objective for recreational resources.  There are few up to date objectives for recreation sites and trails, and few recreation resources are protected through government regulations.

Mounties say they arrested more than two dozen people on southern Vancouver Island as officers enforce a court injunction ordering the removal of blockades set up to protest old-growth logging.  Skirmishes have been ongoing since Monday at the Caycuse blockade on McClure forest service road near Cowichan.  Activists had raised alarm that logging activity was starting up while two tree sitters were still protesting nearby. Police Saturday extracted and arrested the individuals. One tree-sitter used a zip line to evade arrest for some hours, but was eventually arrested.  Activists and media have also raised questions about the legality of a media exclusion zone, where journalists are kept at a distance that’s determined by police.  Westward near Port Renfrew, six people were arrested Saturday at the blockade there.

Three cutblocks located in the Gibsons aquifer recharge zone have been removed from a long-term planning map “to ensure clarity and remove ambiguity” about its five-year cutting plan, according to B.C.’s forests ministry.    The blocks, including one covering Chaster Creek tributaries, which supply the aquifer, appeared on a map in the province’s data catalogue described as representing “the most up to date spatial information,” published by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) through the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD).   The map diverged from the most recent five-year operating plan map for the Sunshine Coast.  …According to FLNRORD, “the openings on the Multi-Year Development Plan map should not be used for any other purpose beyond the intended support of BCTS regulations.”  The ministry said the blocks would be removed from the map, “to ensure clarity and remove ambiguity about which blocks are planned in the next five years.”