Nanaimo is calling on the provincial government to defer logging of old-growth forests as public opposition mounts to harvesting them. A split council, voting five-to-four, decided Monday to send its motion in favour of holding off logging old trees to the Union of B.C. Municipalities. Coun. Ben Geselbracht said B.C. should defer logging old-growth until it has addressed recommendations in the independent Old Growth Strategic Review. …Geselbracht said areas which should be left alone for now include Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew, the Upper Walbran Valley, Nahmint Valley, Eden Grove and Nimpkish Lake. …Mayor Krog opposed addressing the logging issue, saying council had other matters, which it has jurisdiction over, to deal with. Debates around forestry belong in the B.C. legislature, he said. …Councillor Ian Thorpe said, “I’m not going to debate the merits of logging old-growth forests. I’m not an expert in that area and nobody at this table I believe is.”

The BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and timber sales license (TSL) holders in Burns Lake were audited by the Forest Practices Board and found compliance with two exceptions.  In a news release issued last week by the board, Kevin Kriese, the board chair said while BCTS complied with the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildlife Act, auditors found two bridges had guardrails that needed repair. Auditors also found that several TSL holders’ fire hazard assessment practices required improvement.  “The guardrails on the bridges had been identified for repair, but the work was not undertaken, which is a non-compliance,” Kriese said. “Some timber sale licensees did not conduct a formal fire hazard assessment following logging, although they did abate any hazards as a matter of practice. As a result, this was considered an area requiring improvement.”

Jack Woodward

British Columbians are in for a big shock when ownership of large parts of the province switches from the Crown to First Nations, says Aboriginal rights and title lawyer Jack Woodward. … Woodward said the change in ownership of large chunks of land in B.C. from Crown – or public – ownership to Indigenous ownership means that the land will be under local control. It won’t be under the control of distant capitals – like Victoria and Ottawa – nor foreign corporate head offices. “Unfortunately, the history of British Columbia has been a history of resource giveaways so that now much of the forests of British Columbia are actually owned by corporations that are owned by foreigners,” Woodward said… …First Nations are more likely to be better stewards of the land than in the present system where you have governments in Ottawa and Victoria that are somewhat remote from the local territory.

Re: Article quoting Aboriginal rights and title lawyer Jack Woodward … as someone who was spent his entire working life in the forest industry … I find his statements simply offensive. BC’s forests are not owned by foreign corporations. The VAST majority of forest land is owned by the province (i.e. all of the citizens of the province). The only significant portion that is privately held (the land, mostly on Vancouver Island, managed by Mosaic) is owned by two Canadian pension plans, one of which manages the pensions for the majority of BC’s government workers, including teachers. The majority of the corporations that have timber harvesting rights in the province … started in small communities like Williams Lake and Quesnel and have grown their operations far beyond BC’s and Canada’s borders but continue to be based here in this province. …While forest policy may be set in Victoria, the province’s forests are managed by dedicated, hard working professionals in ministry offices located … across the province.