Over harvesting in the Kootenay Lake Timber Supply Area (TSA) has depleted primary, old and high-value forest and left most ecosystems unable to meet even minimum legal old-forest targets, according to the Save What’s Left Conservation Society. And that message needs to be communicated to the province, the society contends, through the public comment period — open until Aug. 22 — on the pending Kootenay Lake Forest Landscape Plan (FLP), a document expected to determine forestry decisions in the area for the next 10 years. The society claims the province has offloaded conservation decisions onto First Nations, communities and community forests, while avoiding tenure reform, while it has stalled implementation of the Old Growth Strategic Review and its technical advisory panel recommendations. “Corporations dominate local forestry decisions and they are obligated to shareholders, not to the public trust,” the society stated.