Conservationists and the B.C. government are at odds over the strength of provincial old-growth protection measures, with the Ancient Forest Alliance pointing out what it calls a “significant conservation loophole” this month.
The group claims thousands of hectares of at-risk, old-growth forest were likely missed during B.C.’s 2021 logging deferral process, which allows incorrectly identified forest to be substracted from established deferral areas, but not added to them.
“The misclassification of some forests as being younger than they are (is) causing them to fall through the cracks,” said TJ Watt, a campaigner with the Ancient Forest Alliance.
“In this case, a forest on northern Vancouver Island was missed for logging deferral due to B.C. government data errors, and trees upwards of 10 feet or three metres wide are being cut down.”
In 2021, the B.C. government issued temporary logging deferrals for 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest to prevent irreversible biodiversity loss as long-term plans were developed. The team that identified and mapped those deferral areas, the technical advisory panel (TAP), acknowledged a gap in its work, however.
A backgrounder to its main report in 2021 states, “Important old forests may be missing from the deferral maps because: they do not meet OGSR criteria for at-risk old growth, because they do not meet OG TAP’s definition of priority at-risk old growth, because there are errors or slow updates in the provincial database or because they are within wildlife tree patches.”
The panel determined 250 years old would be the threshold for old-growth forests in most circumstances.
Now, the Ancient Forest Alliance is drawing attention to Quatsino Sound on northern Vancouver Island, where it says approvals exist to cut 36.5 hectares — about 68 football fields-worth — of endangered old-growth forest on Crown land.
In that grove, the group believes trees more than 500 years old weren’t recommended for deferral in 2021 as it the forest was incorrectly labelled as 212 years old.
Watt, who has spent more than a decade photographing and exploring the province’s old-growth forests, said the error can be rectified with proper field verification.
“If you were to walk into this forest, by all accounts, it meets the independent old-growth science panel’s criteria for deferral, which is why we’re saying that forest engineers, who are out there even more than we are, should be legally bound to verify their planned logging cut blocks against deferral criteria.”
In an emailed statement, the B.C. government said harvesting in the Quatsino Sound area would only move forward with approval from supporting First Nations. It also said it’s investing in new data and technologies, including airborne laser scanning, as well as field sampling to improve its provincial forest inventory.
“This work will recognize the inherent complexity in old forests and the range of values that they contain, including new ways of classifying and describing old and ancient forests,” the Ministry of Forests wrote Friday.
To help ensure that at-risk ancient and old-growth forest not captured in the inventory are considered for deferral, it added, it has suspended harvesting in some areas using lower age criteria than what is outlined in the old-growth strategic review.
Among the recommendations in the 2020 report produced from that review was “improving the mapping and classification of old forests to recognize multiple values,” as age alone is not considered an indicator of the complexity and values of old forests. The province’s current classification and mapping of forests ranged from “very good” to “non-existent,” the report noted.
The ministry said it’s working with First Nations to identify and defer old forests that are valued to them, as well as define priority at-risk ancient forests based on criteria other than age in areas where First Nations want deferrals.
The Ancient Forest Alliance’s criticism comes as the province announces a new $150-million conservation funding mechanism, to be matched by B.C. Parks Foundation commitment, in an effort to protect old-growth forests.
That pot is meant to leverage further donations in a crowd-sourcing approach, encouraging other organizations and people to contribute to ecosystem protection.
Watt credited the B.C. government for taking that action, but said more needs to be done.
“It shows a blatant bias towards the old-growth logging industry and it favours the logging of more old-growth forest rather than less,” said Watt.
“If the B.C. government cares about the truth here, about actually protecting old-growth forests wherever they exist … then they need to be using the field verification systems recommended by their own science panel to defer.”
He also called for additional funds to be dedicated to helping First Nations — the ultimate decision-makers — offset potential revenues lost from foregoing logging in high-value old-growth stands.
— with files from Elizabeth McSheffrey
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