VANCOUVER — A government-commissioned review of forestry in British Columbia is calling for the system to be razed and rebuilt with a focus on trust and transparency about the state of the province's forests, shifting away "from managing harvest volumes to managing lands."
The final report from the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council released Monday says trust has been eroded by inconsistent forest data controlled largely by industry and government.
It calls for the creation of a transparent forest inventory based on laser measurements with a new independent body to manage the information.
Excerpt:
Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director Ken Wu said there were useful recommendations around improved mapping and data, but it didn't address the need to quickly transition to a value-added, second-growth industry.
The statement said the recommendation for regionalized forest management, with diminished provincial authority, risked jeopardizing the protection of ecosystems.
"This approach opens up the possibility of the timber industry, which deeply pervades much of rural B.C., to undermine conservation objectives and widen logging loopholes within conservation reserves, like Old-Growth Management Areas and Wildlife Habitat Areas, under the guise of regional ‘community decision-making’ and ‘wildfire risk management,'" Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Issy Turnill said in the statement.
"This could be a Trojan horse to open up protected areas to commercial logging.”
