B.C. forest zoning plan pits conservation against logging targets as debate heats up
Province proposes dividing Crown land into working forest, multiple-use, and conservation zones. Forest ecologist warns the plan could protect only commercially worthless terrain.
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British Columbia is proposing to divide Crown lands into three zones—working forest, multiple-use, and conservation and protection—in a bid to clarify where logging can happen and where it cannot. But forest scientists say the plan risks protecting only the trees no company would want to cut anyway.
The zoning proposal, announced in August and detailed in leaked internal government emails, comes as Premier David Eby directs Forests Minister Ravi Parmar to find more trees for companies to log. The target: 45 million cubic metres per year through the "Path to 45" initiative, which focuses on expediting logging approvals and increasing harvest rates.
Andy MacKinnon, a forest ecologist who spent 30 years as a research scientist in the Forests Ministry, worries the logging target will drive the zoning plan. "It's entirely possible to protect large percentages of an awful lot of the province without having any timber supply impact whatsoever," MacKinnon told The Tyee. "A cynical man would suspect that that's what the government is up to."
Parmar said the working forest zone will bring certainty to the industry by clearly defining broad areas where companies can operate. It will reduce paperwork—companies won't have to submit cutting permits block by block. The minister said the Timber Harvesting Land Base (THLB) will continue to exist, though it "is not the THLB of yesterday" due to wildfires and insect damage in recent decades.
Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Minister Randene Neill said more old-growth forests will be placed in the conservation and protection zone. Upcoming zoning decisions will be guided by advice the government received six years ago from an expert panel—Al Gorley and Garry Merkel—which called for a "paradigm shift" in old-growth management. The panel recommended deferring logging in 2.6 million hectares of the province's most at-risk old-growth forests.
Parmar framed the zoning process as a long-standing idea: Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government contemplated similar land divisions in the early 2000s. The guiding principle, Parmar said, will be "no net loss" in either working forest or conserved or protected land.
How much of the proposed conservation zone consists of steep terrain or alpine areas with little commercial timber value?
What specific acreage will move into working forest, multiple-use, and conservation zones under the final plan?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
The facts
What are the three zones in British Columbia's forest zoning proposal?
Working forest, multiple-use, and conservation and protection zones. The province aims to clarify where logging can and cannot occur on Crown lands.
What is the 'Path to 45' initiative?
The 'Path to 45' initiative directs Minister Ravi Parmar to find trees for logging companies to harvest, with a target of 45 million cubic metres per year through expedited approvals and increased harvest rates.
What did the expert panel recommend for old-growth forests?
The panel, comprised of Al Gorley and Garry Merkel, recommended deferring logging in 2.6 million hectares of the province's most at-risk old-growth forests as part of a 'paradigm shift' in old-growth management.
What concern did forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon raise about the zoning plan?
MacKinnon warned that the plan could protect only commercially worthless terrain, with conservation zones excluding forests that logging companies would want to harvest anyway.
