Rachel Holt

Herb Hammond

A local ecologist who is often critical of the B.C. government’s forest practices is cautiously optimistic about a new plan to improve biodiversity and ecosystem health. Dr. Rachel Holt, in a public presentation, said the Draft BC Biodiversity and Ecological Health Framework, released in November, contains statements never before made by the provincial government. “It’s quite unusual for the government (to state that) the health of ecosystems and biodiversity is really paramount … and that the other things (including logging) have to fall into place around that,” she said. …Holt says the big question is whether the government can get all ministries on board with a new way of thinking. …She said the new framework document uses the term “ecosystem based management.” West Kootenay forest ecologist Herb Hammond has been using variations on that term, and helping his clients practise it, since the 1980s. He now uses the term “nature-based stewardship.”