No Time to Spare: B.C.’s Old Growth Action Plan highlights the critical importance of saving ancient trees

səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Territories (Vancouver, B.C.) – Yesterday the Province released its Old Growth Action Plan, “From Review to Action.” The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and Stand.earth are calling on Premier David Eby to immediately issue emergency logging bans in the most at-risk old growth forests, and to align all sectors with the Old Growth Strategic Review.

“The release of the Old Growth Action Plan is a welcome step and we are pleased that this government shares our concern for old growth trees. The Action Plan’s delivery after over four years of increasing temperatures and climate emergency impacts must be accompanied with significant investment and priority in order to protect the forest that is critically essential to sustaining the old growth trees we hold so dear. We must take immediate steps to stop the logging of at-risk old growth on the ground,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

In 2020, the Province committed to implement all 14 recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR), which included clear, actionable steps on a 3-year timeline. Expanded plans are needed to keep old growth forests standing in the near-term, including critical interim measures to stop logging in high-risk old growth forests while long-term, government-to-government planning proceeds. Funds must be readily available to First Nations to replace any potential lost revenue, who often face limited economic alternatives to logging as a result of many decades of colonialism and racism.

Many of the most at-risk old growth forests continue to be targeted by logging companies. A November 2023 report from Stand.earth Research Group found that at least 31,800 hectares of candidate deferrals have been destroyed since the OGSR recommended pausing harvest in at-risk forests.

“Old growth forests are falling every day, while many communities in B.C. face an existential crisis in large part due to decades of overlogging,” said Tegan Hansen, Senior Forest Campaigner at Stand.earth. “We’ve been calling on B.C. to follow through on its old growth promises for years. The provincial government must take action to keep irreplaceable old growth forests standing now, before we lose this critical opportunity.”

UBCIC and Stand.earth are calling on the Province to accelerate the Old Growth Action Plan implementation and also:

●    Immediately implement all proposed logging deferrals, including the full area mapped by the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, especially where logging and road building is continuing, as well as additional areas that meet the criteria for at-risk old growth and any areas identified by First Nations;

●    Provide full and urgent financial support to First Nations – including by leveraging the Tripartite Nature Agreement – to ensure deferrals are economically viable, especially compensation for revenue-sharing agreements and employment;

●    Direct staff to immediately improve transparency in government announcements, reporting, and monitoring to make information about forests and logging accessible and current – including by releasing updated maps and data showing where recent, ongoing and planned logging overlaps with old growth – and ensure full compliance of all decisions with Free, Prior and Informed Consent and the rights of Title holders.

###

Media contacts: 
Tegan Hansen, Senior Forest Campaigner, Stand.earth, tegan@stand.earth
Ellena Neel, UBCIC Communications Director, eneel@ubcic.bc.ca