ForestEthics calls on Minister of Forests to clarify BC’s position on logging protected areas

Environmental organization ForestEthics is alarmed by published statements made by Council of Forest Industries (COFI) vice-president Doug Routledge calling for BC’s protected areas to be opened up for logging. ForestEthics is calling on Forests Minister Pat Bell to clarify his government’s position on the question.

“While Minister Bell hasn’t specifically supported COFI’s proposal, he hasn’t opposed it either,” said Candace Batycki of ForestEthics. “Is this the BC we are preparing to showcase to the world this winter: a province that logs its parks and protected areas, and responds to climate change by destroying its forest carbon storehouses?”

Since 2005 the annual allowable cut (AAC) has increased by up to 78% (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/aac.htm) as a provincial response to the pine beetle situation. Between 2005 and 2006 the province allocated over $50 million for  “Objective 1” of the Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan to help communities prepare for the predicted downfall of timber available after the dramatic cut uplift in the regions (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/actionplan/2005/obj1.htm).

“The province has spent millions planning for the inevitable downfall in pine beetle timber. For the industry to now say they need to log our protected areas shows that they aren’t interested in creating a truly sustainable timber industry. They have become addicted to increased cutting levels,“ said Batycki.

“When will this industry wake up to 21st century environmental realities?”

Scientists, including the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agree that forests need to be protected in the face of climate change. BC’s old growth forests and soils store vast amounts of carbon; when these forests are logged carbon is released in the form of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Since about half of BC’s greenhouse gas emissions are due to logging, increasiong logging in order to prop up inflated cutting levels is completely unsupportable. Forests also provide critical ecosystem services like clean air, clean water, climate regulation and wildlife habitat.

“We are calling on Minister Bell to show leadership and assure the world that BC’s protected areas are truly protected. What COFI is proposing might have flown back in the 1950s, before we knew about climate change and how ecosystems work,” said Batycki.