Forests Minister Ravi Parmar suggested that selective logging in old-growth forests and provincial parks could improve wildfire resilience — a position drawing criticism from environmental groups — during the recent BC Council of Forest Industries conference in Prince George.
“As BC’s minister of forests, I’ll tell you exactly where I stand. As far as I’m concerned, I have one job the premier has given me, and that is to champion our forestry workers and restore their — and the world’s — confidence in this sector,” Parmar said. “To start, all of us here need to find a path to a sustainable harvest of 45 million cubic metres. That’s the number in my mandate letter from the premier.”
Parmar spoke at the April 2-4 conference at the Civic Centre, outlining his new mandate to achieve a sustainable harvest of 45 million cubic metres of forest.
The minister’s remarks may signal a “timber grab," according to a Prince George-based environmental advocacy organization.
“The minister was presenting industrial logging as a kind of solution to fires. The relationship between those things is not a clear one,” said Michelle Connolly of Conservation North. “He presented it as a necessity to improve resilience in old growth. That’s a real misuse of the concept of resilience. Natural ecosystems have their own resilience, and extracting from them doesn’t increase that.”
Connolly added: “It was some strange language that he seems to have heard from people really embedded in the forest industry who want to do more logging of old growth. I believe he’s exploiting people’s fear of fire to get access to areas of old growth that people might not otherwise support opening to industry.”
Wildfires have increased in severity across BC’s Interior in recent years due to the effects of climate change. Conservation North argues that logging may further destabilize ecosystems and exacerbate wildfire risks.
“Logging those old-growth forests is not going to improve the resilience of those forests,” Connolly said. “Logging requires roads, which damage soil. It creates openings that increase wind speed and dry out the forest. You’re removing structure, which can make those places more vulnerable to fire.”
She also questioned the minister’s emphasis on rural old-growth areas, rather than focusing on fireproofing areas around communities.
“When Minister Parmar was speaking, it was very confusing,” Connolly said. “You couldn’t tell whether he was talking about fire hardening around communities, or whether he was just talking about logging beyond that and using fire as an excuse. Part of me thinks maybe that was on purpose — to make people think logging out in the bush is going to help forest fire situations near communities. That’s not the case.”
Connolly pointed to U.S. research suggesting the most effective way to protect lives and property is to fire-harden directly around communities, rather than logging remote areas under the banner of fire resilience.
She also said there would likely be public opposition to logging in old-growth management areas or provincial parks if such plans moved forward.
“I think there’s a lot of public resistance to the idea of logging old-growth management areas and parks. I don’t think that’ll fly with most of the public,” Connolly said. “I don’t think we should put it past them to attempt to change public opinion, especially as we enter a period of economic difficulties.”
She added: “It’s clear why they’re announcing this: they want to be seen as doing something to help the economy. But we need to think about our region as well — about the values we need to keep on the landscape. It won’t serve anyone if we eliminate the rest of our old growth and damage our parks in the long term. If that happens, we’ll look back in 20 years and wonder what we were thinking.”
The Citizen asked Parmar for a response. The Ministry of Forests provided a written statement outlining its wildfire management and land stewardship goals.
“Selective thinning — using innovative silvicultural practices — is essential to ensuring British Columbians can have a strong, sustainable forest sector for the next hundred years,” the statement said. “We did not create provincial parks to see them burn down. We did not take the important steps to protect our ancient forests to see them burn down.”
The ministry explained that “selective thinning” involves removing diseased and understory trees that can act as wildfire fuel, with the goal of improving long-term forest health and increasing resilience.
“This is about strategically removing single trees to protect the health of our forests and the safety of our communities, where appropriate,” the statement continued.
The ministry said active forest stewardship would help ensure BC's parks and protected areas are more resilient in the face of climate change. It added that the Old Growth Strategic Review recommended silviculture as one of the tools available for managing forests and their multiple values.
“The Ministry of Forests, including BC Wildfire Service, works closely with B.C. Parks on wildfire risk reduction and will continue to do so,” the statement said. “This is part of the conversation that we are having with First Nations and the Ministry of Environment and Parks.”
