Understanding B.C.'s old-growth logging deferrals by the numbers

A process is underway in British Columbia to temporarily deferlogging in priority old-growth forests, allowing time for thegovernment to work with First Nations to decide how they should bemanaged in the long term.

The province appointed a five-member panel of ecologists andforestry experts who identified 2.6 million hectares (26,000 square kilometres) of unprotectedold-growth forests at risk of permanent biodiversity loss in mappingreleased last November.

At the same time, it asked more than 200 First Nations acrossB.C. to decide whether they supported the deferral of logging inthose areas for two years.

Forests Minister Katrine Conroy has said that overall, about 80per cent of the total 4 million hectares of at-risk old growthidentified by the panel is not currently threatened, either becauseit was already set aside from logging, it's been deferred, or it'snot financially viable to harvest in the current market.

Karen Price, an independent member of the expert panel, saidunderstanding the deferrals requires digging more deeply into theprovince's numbers.

B.C. could defer logging across the vast majority of unprotectedareas identified as being at risk of permanent loss, and it could "still cut the heart out of our forests by removing what's left ofthe biggest trees,'' Price said.

"That's what's been logged the most and it's where harvest istargeted,'' Price said of the biggest old growth on highlyecologically productive land.

Those forests provide important habitat for wildlife, includingendangered species, along with storing massive amounts of carbon andhelping to mitigate drought and flooding through water filtration,she said, describing big, valley-bottom old growth as "thecirculatory system of the landscape."

"We need to maintain those, and we are not,"she said. "We'redown to a very small number."

In order for the deferrals to be meaningful, Price said she feels they must be within the timber harvesting land base, referring toareas the province has estimated are economically viable to harvestin the current market for wood products, and especially wherelogging was already slated to go ahead.

The Canadian Press asked the Forests Ministry to break down theprovince's publicly announced old-growth deferral numbers in greaterdetail.

4 million hectares

The total area of at-risk old growthidentified by the expert panel, including 1.4 million hectares thatwere already set aside.

2.6 million hectares

The area of at-risk old growth that wasnot set aside from logging, about half of which is within the timberharvesting land base.

204

First Nations asked whether they support deferrals inthose areas, with 75 agreeing so far and more than 60 asking formore time to review the plan.

50,000 hectares

The area within the 2.6 million hectaresproposed for deferral that overlapped with logging permits approvedbefore November.

7,200 hectares

The area that's been logged out of the 2.6 million hectares of at-risk oldgrowth since November.

1.05 million hectares

The area of old-growth forestsidentified as being at risk of permanent biodiversity loss deferredbetween November and April.

904,000 hectares

The area within those deferrals that'sclassified as "big-treed,'' with portions that are also consideredremnant and ancient.

563,000 hectares

The portion of the 1.05 million hectaresdeferred so far that falls within the timber harvesting land base.

258,000 hectares

The area within the 1.05 million hectares ofdeferrals where B.C. Timber Sales, the agency responsible forauctioning about 20 per cent of the annual allowable cut on Crownland, has paused its advertising and sales where discussions withFirst Nations about deferrals are ongoing.

25,500 hectares

The total area where cutting permitsoverlapped with the 1.05 million hectares of deferrals, representingwhat Price considers a meaningful deferral because logging wasalready slated to go ahead.

1.87 million hectares

The total area deferred from logging,including at-risk areas identified last fall, along with 198,000hectares deferred in fall 2020 and an additional 619,000 hectaresset aside at the request of First Nations.

Swaths of the first deferrals announced in 2020 already had legalprotection and contained smaller trees on less ecologicallyproductive land, Price said.

The biggest old-growth trees are "so much more valuablestanding,'' she said.

In addition to providing irreplaceable habitat for many species,from the smallest fungi to grizzly bears and endangered caribou, theold giants in B.C.'s coastal and inland temperate rainforests storemassive amounts of carbon, playing a key role in helping to containclimate change, she said.

"When you harvest them you're releasing three quarters of thatcarbon into the atmosphere in the short term,"Price said in aninterview. "So, leaving those trees standing is actually criticalto meeting our emissions targets.''

Old-growth forests are also "living sponges,"she said. Theyabsorb moisture and release it slowly, helping to mitigate bothdrought and flooding.

"That function is critically important in adapting to climatechange."

The forests minister has said B.C. is following therecommendations of an independent review of old-growth managementreleased in fall 2020.

The two-year deferrals are a temporary measure aimed at preventing irreversible biodiversity loss while the province works on "a whole new approach to sustainable forestry management," Conroy said in an interview.

The province is moving toward forest landscape planning, shesaid, which means looking at entire ecosystems rather than at treesas a commodity.