Anthony Britneff

April 22, 2022

Once again, great policy research and superb journalism. Thank you. A bitter pill for the dinosaurs in the forestry sector and profession to swallow.

January 30, 2022

This hard-core analysis puts the lie to three lines from the mantra frequently chanted by the forests ministry and industry (mindustry); repeated ad nauseum by industry lobbyists like the Truck Loggers’ Association (TLA), Council of Forest Industries (COFI) and Resource Works (RW); and parroted by the United Steelworkers union (USW) and industry-friendly journalists:

B.C.’s forests are sustainably managed for timber production;
B.C.’s forests that meet the certification standards of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) are sustainably managed; and,
B.C.’s chief foresters since 2004 are independent and their allowable annual cuts are unfettered, professional determinations.

Understandably, the result of this constant barrage of misinformation, disinformation and misrepresentation is a confused and duped general public, not to mention the First Nations negotiating forest agreements with the provincial government. If the mindustry's deception continues unchecked by First Nations' and public scrutiny, First Nations will likely find their forest agreements to have more timber on paper than is to be found on the ground, and those most vulnerable among us will be badly, if not mortally, affected by an increasing frequency in the occurrence of floods, water contamination, landslides, heat waves and wildfire. Collectively, we have an ethical responsibility to mitigate against these dangers as best we can.

The TLA, COFI and RW frequently bleat that an open, frank dialogue on forestry is needed, based on science. Any dialogue needs first to have all sides to the discussion acknowledge that science tells us that clearcut logging is:

Destroying terrestrial and aquatic habitats, extirpating species and driving others to extinction;
Fouling drinking water for communities;
Ravaging soil and the fungal life necessary for forest health;
Releasing vast amounts of carbon from below and above ground into the atmosphere;
Disturbing large and small watersheds both of which are highly sensitive to clearcut logging resulting in flooding and landslides; and,
Causing in part the large, rapidly moving and intense wildfires of recent years.

With no acceptance of the science, the forest industry has forfeited its right to dialogue and the government must disassociate from industry and start to regulate in the public interest, which includes community safety. This begins with the drafting of new forest legislation, the banning of all logging of primary forests, the ending of log exports, and the reduction of the annual timber harvest by as much as 80 per cent.

But the uncertain future presently unfolding and made the worse by the deepening climate emergency, is a future that belongs to all of us. All of us have a duty to end the mindustry's deceptions and to hold the provincial government and forest industry accountable for damages, both at the ballot box and in the law courts.

Content Type

Profiles

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Gallery

Blogs

Events

Journalism: The over-exploitation of BC forests

Library: Destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity

Journalism: Loss of forest-related employment

Journalism: The need to expedite final treaties with First Nations

Journalism: Loss of primary forest

Journalism: Loss of carbon sequestration capacity

Other notable forest-related writing and reports

Noteworthy writing and reports from the forest-industrial complex

Forest News

Library: The over-exploitation of BC forests

Library: Loss of primary forest

Library: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests

Make conservation of the hydrological function of forests a higher priority than timber extraction

Library: Loss of forest-related employment

Library: The need to expedite final treaties with First Nations

Transition from clearcut logging to selection logging

Library: Increase in forest fire hazard

Journalism: End public subsidization of BC's forest industry

Library: End public subsidization of BC's forest industry

Library: The need to reform BC forest legislation

Journalism: The need to reform BC forest legislation

Library: Creating a new vision for BC forests

Forest industry public subsidy calculator

Manufacturing and processing facilities

Forest Trends

Investigations

Community Forest Mapping Projects

Area-based calculations of carbon released from clearcut logging

Journalism: The increase in forest carbon emissions

Library: Increase in forest carbon emissions

To protect biodiversity, transition away from clearcut logging

Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance

Library: Loss of future employment resulting from exporting raw logs

Mapping old forest on Vancouver Island

Mapping old forest in Omineca Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in Skeena Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in Northeastern Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in Cariboo Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in South Coast Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in Thompson-Okanagan Natural Resource Region

Mapping old forest in Kootenay-Boundary Natural Resource Region

Forest Conservation Organizations

Mapping old forest on Haida Gwaii

Mapping old forest on the central coast

Library: Ecologically damaging practices

Journalism: Ecologically damaging practices

Critical Issues

Analysis

Comment

Listed species: Cascades Natural Resource District

Listed species: 100 Mile House Natural Resource District

Listed species: Campbell River Natural Resource District

Listed species: Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District

Listed species: Chilliwack River Natural Resource District

Listed species: Fort Nelson Natural Resource District

Listed species: Haida Gwaii Natural Resource District

Listed species: Mackenzie Natural Resource District

Listed species: Nadina Natural Resource District

Listed species: North Island Natural Resource District

Listed species: Peace Natural Resource District

Listed species: Prince George Natural Resource District

Listed species: Quesnel Natural Resource District

Listed species: Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District

Listed species: Sea-to-Sky Natural Resource District

Listed species: Selkirk Natural Resource District

Listed species: Skeena Natural Resource District

Listed species: South Island Natural Resource District

Listed species: Stuart-Nechako Natural Resource District

Listed species: Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District

Listed species: Thompson Rivers Natural Resource District

Listed species: Coast Mountains Natural Resource District

Action Group: Divestment from forest-removal companies

Fact-checking mindustry myths

First Nations Agreements