Old Growth Forests Under Threat on Northern Vancouver Island - 2023

Here is video footage captured by Ancient Forest Alliance in late summer 2023 that reveals the active destruction of rare, “big-tree” old-growth forests missed for deferral on northern Vancouver Island in Quatsino territory. Western Forest Products has approval to cut 36.5 hectares (roughly 68 football fields) of endangered old-growth in these blocks alone.

Home to scores of giant trees, some of which were more than 10 ft (3 m) wide and likely 500+ years old, this particular grove — and many others like it — was not recommended for logging deferral due to the forest being incorrectly labelled as only 212 years old (38 years younger than the province’s 250-year-old threshold for being considered old growth on the coast).

This highlights the urgent need for the BC government to proactively identify at-risk old-growth forests that were missed during the deferral process due to government data errors. These areas were thus left open for logging, and Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC government to ensure the addition of these forests for deferral where identified by scientists, citizens, and industry.

Currently, the BC government only allows for incorrectly identified at-risk old-growth forests to be subtracted from rather than added to logging deferral areas, putting potentially thousands of hectares of ancient forest at risk. This is a significant conservation loophole that must be closed while the BC government moves forward with major policy progress.

To help identify and defer these at-risk stands, forest engineers should be legally bound to field-verify planned logging cutblocks against the deferral criteria and report any discrepancies to the BC government so adjustments can be made. Citizens and scientists should also be able to submit the locations of key old-growth stands they’ve identified.

The BC government must also ensure that forthcoming conservation funding for First Nations links the deferral and protection of these stands to sustainable economic alternatives to old-growth logging.

🔺 TAKE ACTION! Send-a-Message calling on the BC government to help protect endangered old-growth forests: https://ancientforestalliance.org/tak...

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📄 See our media release for more details: https://ancientforestalliance.org/anc...