The B.C. Forest Ministry is inviting public comment on more ways to protect the Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem. New proposed areas for protection of the Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem are along the southeast coast of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. The land parces are 1,125 hectares and supplement the more than 2,000 hectares already protected. The Forests Minstry says as part of the Province’s old growth initiative, the proposal will contribute in the long-term toward old growth protection. Of the 256,800 hectares of the range in British Columbia, only nine per cent is provincially owned.