A Prince George-based environmental advocacy group says the provincial government is failing to act on recommendations from B.C.'s forest practices watchdog for protecting old growth forest in the Prince George timber supply area.
“It has been two years since the Forest Practices Board concluded that nature was at high-risk in the Prince George TSA because of industrial logging. Why is it taking so long for the B.C. government to act on the Board’s recommendations when these ecosystems are on the brink of collapse?” Conservation North’s director Michelle Connolly said in a statement this week.
In December 2020, the FPB issued findings from an investigation into a complaint that biodiversity values are not being appropriately addressed due to the high levels of mountain pine beetle salvage harvesting in the TSA.
The FPB found loggers were complying with existing regulations but that those regulations needed to be updated to better protect biodiversity. That recommendation has not yet been acted on, nor have old growth stands within the TSA been properly mapped, according to Conservation North.
Current requirements are contained in a "biodiversity order," a document Conservation North says was negotiated with industry 17 years ago.
“The Order is widely known to have been written to protect logging company access to the amount of old forest they want, where they want it,” said Connolly. “It specifies minimum areas to be retained that are way below what the science says must be protected to avoid ecological collapse.”
Conservation North also says keeping track of what has been logged and how much old growth remains in the TSA is left to a group of logging companies, as opposed to an independent scientific body or B.C. government staff and views the arrangement as a "serious conflict of interest that needs to be rectified if there is to be any hope of protecting nature in our region."
In an emailed response, B.C. Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said work is underway on a spatial approach to implementing the landscape biodiversity order "which will include identifying biodiversity areas and protecting them."
"We are taking bold action to better protect our oldest and rarest forests," Conroy added.
"Since November, our government has prevented logging in nearly 1.7 million hectares of old growth working in partnership with First Nations - an area equal to more than 4,100 Stanley Parks.
"Approximately 80 per cent of the priority at-risk old growth identified by the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel is not threatened by logging because it is already permanently protected, covered by deferrals, or uneconomic to harvest."
Conroy also made noted biodiversity management areas established in the Stuart Nechako Forest District through a process with the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.
"Harvesting within these areas is largely paused to assess and confirm that these areas will achieve goals for biodiversity, old growth, and species at risk," Conroy said.
"We are working together with our partners to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy the benefits that BC’s forests provide to people and communities."
