According To The BC Premier, 2-Yr Delay In Clearcutting 5,000 Acres Of Old Growth "Monumental Steps"
The British Columbia cabinet has agreed to defer the logging of 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest in the Fairy Creek watershed and the Central Walbran Valley, Premier John Horgan announced Wednesday. The two-year deferrals fulfil a request made by the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, but are unlikely to satisfy people who have been blocking logging activity in the area between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan on southern Vancouver Island.
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Torrance Coste, the national campaign director for the Wildnerness Committee advocacy group, wrote on Twitter that the deferrals included an important part of the Walbran but were less than what’s needed in Fairy Creek. “It sounds like approved road building and future cutblocks within the Fairy are on hold, but road building and blocks outside it aren’t,” he said. “This is a problem.”
In total the deferrals apply to a relatively small area, Coste said. “There are dozens of hectares of old-growth within this map area that are approved to be logged and currently behind blockades, and [hundreds of] hectares more at risk.”
More needs to be done to ensure permanent protection, not just two-year deferrals, he added. “These things considered, I don’t anticipate this will do a lot to turn down the heat on this issue. The public wants all old-growth protected.”
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https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/06/09/Monumental-Steps-Protecting-Old-Growth-Says-Horgan/