Part of an old-growth deferral area is shown in one of Downie Timber's cut blocks north of Revelstoke, B.C. in this undated handout photo. The company wants to avoid logging sections of at-risk old growth but says it was told by the Crown corporation that manages B.C.'s public forests to cut the trees down or pay to leave them standing.
He said the company values its relationships with local First Nations and the public, and doesn’t want to jeopardize its social licence by logging areas that overlap with provincially recognized at-risk old growth, as well as caribou habitat. Rouck wouldn’t estimate how much the company would have to pay for the trees it wants to leave standing, but he said it’s a “significant” amount, in addition to roughly $200,000 that Downie has spent building forestry roads into the two areas.
In a follow-up email on Thursday, Rouck said he’s since had further discussions with Forests Ministry staff, who indicated they would be open to creative solutions. First Nations whose territories encompass B.C.’s proposed old-growth deferral areas — of which there are 2.6 million hectares across the province — must indicate their support before any deferrals are implemented for an initial two-year period.
However, The Canadian Press has seen a letter from the acting director of the ministry’s forest analysis and inventory branch, which states, “I am aware that as of August 18, 2022, priority old growth deferrals are being implemented throughout the Selkirk Natural Resource District, including the Revelstoke .”Sign up for our newsletter to get breaking news and daily digests sent to your email.
Throughout the old-growth deferral process, the province has indicated deferrals are going ahead in areas where First Nations have signed off on the plans.
Who cares what bc timber sales wants? The public have no benefit to the entire province being logged and replanted with Joyce Murray’s and Dirk Brinkmans monocrop that kills biodiversity and destroys ecological integrity.
Cut it already
Cut it while we can.
Our politicians are intentionally misleading the public.