Where Do Old Growth Deferrals Stand 5 Years After the Strategic Review?

In April 2020, the Government of British Columbia received a report detailing the findings of its Old Growth Strategic Review, which included 14 recommendations. Recognizing the imminent risk to rare and biodiverse old growth, one of the report’s key recommendations was to immediately make some forests off limits to logging. Later that year, the B.C. NDP ran – and won – on an election promise to implement the Old Growth Strategic Review in its totality, vowing to enact the recommendation to defer logging in the most at-risk old growth forests. It echoed these promises again in its successful 2024 election campaign.

Five years after the government received its report and 14 recommendations for old growth, and six months after Premier David Eby named Hon. Ravi Parmar as B.C.’s new Minister of Forests, we’re reviewing what we’ve seen on the ground – from the sky – with Forest Eye.

Irrefutable evidence from Forest Eye on old growth

By combining satellite imagery and remote data sensing with government data, Forest Eye shines a light on what is really happening on the ground as old growth continues to fall. This tool is accessible to everyone and provides the public with the information to act.

It is indisputable that old growth logging in B.C. is ongoing. Since launching in summer 2023, Forest Eye has screened over 2,000 alerts, documenting logging in over 36,000 hectares of old growth throughout the province. More than half of this area has shown activity in ‘candidate’ deferrals – old growth stands of high ecological value and at high risk that have been mapped for deferral. Despite its past promises and misleading numbers, the provincial government has failed to put all deferrals in place.

Since David Eby became Premier of British Columbia, Forest Eye has tracked logging in over 10,000 hectares of candidate old growth deferrals.

Over half of alerts screened by Forest Eye have documented old growth logging in candidate deferrals.

Old growth logging in recent years also conflicts with the provincial government’s narrative around taking timely action on ‘supported’ deferrals – places that the B.C. government claims it has already made off limits to logging. Thanks to a leaked map, a Forest Eye analysis released in the summer of 2024 shows that industry players have continued to log old growth forests even where deferrals are confirmed and supposedly in place.

Forest Eye trends give us crucial insight into current logging practices. One trend we’ve identified is that an average of two months passes between road-building activity and subsequent logging. This information helps us equip community advocates with real-time evidence and a window to potentially stop logging before it starts – and to hold industry and government accountable.

Since launching in 2023, Forest Eye has screened thousands of alerts, including several going back to late 2019 and early 2020 when the Old Growth Strategic Review was underway. The trends show significant old growth logging continuing after the provincial government’s promises to implement deferrals, as well as after it released candidate deferral maps in late 2021.

Which old growth forests are being hardest hit – and by who

Two companies stand out when we look at Forest Eye data: Canfor and West Fraser. These two massive, multinational companies top the old growth logging charts by far, according to our alerts.

Canfor and West Fraser dominate the old growth logging alerts detected by Forest Eye. Other major companies like Interfor, Western Forest Products, and Tolko are unsurprisingly in high positions, while pipelines like Trans Mountain are also sadly responsible for old growth logging.

Fun fact! Billionaire Jim Pattison, by extension, has a lion’s share to gain from ongoing old growth logging. Pattison owns a majority share in Canfor, and a significant percentage of shares in West Fraser.

While other notorious companies like Western Forest Products (WFP) don’t rank as high on the Forest Eye charts, it’s worth noting that WFP also pursues a significant amount of logging in partnership with other companies, which dilutes the level of its impact on old growth in these findings.

Some parts of the province are experiencing more old growth logging than others, and some forests have paid a massive price in recent years. Forest Eye has tracked disproportionately high logging of old growth – including candidate deferrals – in the Omineca and Skeena regions. By ecosystem, sub-boreal spruce forests account for almost half of the total old growth loss.

Sub-boreal spruce forests, found largely in central and northern British Columbia, are over-represented in Forest Eye old growth logging alerts.

Looking ahead in British Columbia

We are in the process of updating our Forest Eye research methods to meet the emerging challenges facing forests and communities in British Columbia. We know that this government is maintaining a false claim that it’s in an advanced stage of meeting its commitments on old growth deferrals. What we’re really seeing is just more talk and log, while the new Minister of Forests courts industry executives.

With so many old growth deferrals logged and little government interest in keeping its promises, we’re now refocusing our Forest Eye research on ALL old growth – not just deferrals. And we’re honing in on regions that are hit the hardest – not just by the ecological damage of old growth logging, but also by devastating mill closures. For years, the biggest companies have logged as much old growth as they can, before closing shop and moving their operations south to the United States. As the provincial government flounders on its promises, and the forests continue to fall, we are committed to shining a spotlight on the ground and providing residents across B.C. with the tools – and information – they need to take action.

Watch this space in the coming months for our latest Forest Eye updates.