A Nelson ecologist who served as part of a provincial government panel that mapped B.C.乌鸦传媒檚 remaining old growth forest is concerned about the way the government has implemented the panel乌鸦传媒檚 work.

The Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel identified and mapped 2.6 million hectares of at-risk old growth forest.

In a Nov. 2 news release, the province said it would respond to the report by asking First Nations to identify forests within the 2.6 million hectares that should not be cut, and the province would defer harvesting in those areas pending further discussions. First Nations were given 30 days to do this 乌鸦传媒� a deadline that expired on Dec. 2.

But otherwise, logging has not stopped in those 2.6 million hectares, even temporarily.

乌鸦传媒淭hey haven乌鸦传媒檛 deferred anything,乌鸦传媒� Holt says. 乌鸦传媒淸They are] not deferring unless [a First Nation] sticks their hand up and says they want to defer. So that乌鸦传媒檚 the urgency, because those blocks are being logged, anywhere there is a cut block.乌鸦传媒�

The term 乌鸦传媒渄eferral,乌鸦传媒� in the provincial government乌鸦传媒檚 old growth discussions, means pausing logging in a specific area, not necessarily stopping it indefinitely.

The other members of the technical panel were forest policy analyst Lisa Matthaus, ecologist Karen Price, landscape analyst Dave Daust, and forester Garry Merkel.

The panel乌鸦传媒檚 report, entitled , released on Nov. 2, identified and mapped 2.6 million hectares of old growth in several categories, and recommended that logging there be deferred until a new forest management plan is developed for old growth.

乌鸦传媒淒efer harvest, i.e., no development or harvesting,乌鸦传媒� the report reads, 乌鸦传媒渋n all mapped highest-priority at-risk old forests (priority big-treed old growth, ancient forest, remnant old ecosystems) while development of a new approach to forest management is underway.乌鸦传媒�

Contacted by the Nelson Star, the forests ministry stated in an email: 乌鸦传媒淎t this time, licensees with previously approved cut blocks within the 2.6 million hectares are legally authorized to harvest timber within these cut blocks.乌鸦传媒�

The provincial agency B.C. Timber Sales has stopped advertising and selling timber rights in the areas identified by the panel.

The statement went on to say that the government might eventually work with logging companies to temporarily halt harvesting in some areas identified by the panel, after it makes agreements with First Nations.

乌鸦传媒淭his may include industry voluntarily halting harvest or government halting harvesting under section 13 of the Forest Act.乌鸦传媒�

This is not what the technical panel recommended, which was that all current logging in areas indicated on their map should be deferred, Holt says.

乌鸦传媒淭he point of the deferrals was to prevent harvest of the most high-value forest,乌鸦传媒� she said, adding that currently the government乌鸦传媒檚 default approach is harvesting, not protecting.

Paradigm shift

The work of Holt and her colleagues came as a result of the provincial government乌鸦传媒檚 April 2020 publication of , written by a two-person government-appointed panel of foresters who travelled the province getting feedback and information about old growth.

The report乌鸦传媒檚 authors, Garry Merkel and Al Gorley, gave the province 14 recommendations, one of which called for immediately deferring logging in old growth forests that are at risk of ecosystem loss and that would otherwise be harvested. They asked that these areas be identified and deferred within six months.

Merkel and Gorley, in A New Future for Old Forests, called for a paradigm shift from managing forests for timber supply to managing them for ecosystem health.

At the time, the province committed itself to implementing all of Gorley乌鸦传媒檚 and Merkel乌鸦传媒檚 recommendations.

乌鸦传媒淣ow it乌鸦传媒檚 18 months later,乌鸦传媒� says Holt.

乌鸦传媒淎nd [deferrals] are not the real work,乌鸦传媒� she says. 乌鸦传媒淭he real work is the next step. This deferral process was supposed to be short and sweet and point to the most at-risk forest, so that we could then get on with the real work of the paradigm shift of planning with a different framework.乌鸦传媒�

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bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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