West Kootenay old growth conservation left out of Nature Fund conversation: Prior
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The West Kootenay and its old growth forests have been left out of the latest round of protection under the Old Growth Nature Fund and one local environmentalist said it wasn’t by accident.
Tom Prior — who has been advocating for old growth forests and environmental causes for several decades in Nelson — said the Province and timber interests have been “going hard to take down as much of the B.C. southern interior old growth as possible” for years.
“The remaining intact temperate inland rainforest is far from the public eye, like the Rainbow Valley near Revelstoke and north,” he said.
Recently the Province announced it was protecting at-risk wildlife and critical old-growth habitat at eight different sites through the Old Growth Nature Fund, one of which was outside of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
The province once contained 25 million hectares of old forest but by 2021 — according to provincial government data — an estimated 11.1 million ha. of old growth remain.
Prior said the log-and-talk game by the Province is good at promising old growth protection but have not followed through as well when it comes to the forest interests outside of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
“Their goal is to destroy as much as possible to make continued protection efforts worthless,” he claimed.
In a joint submission — Old Growth Management Review (West Kootenay EcoSociety, WildSight and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative) — an analysis of the Kootenay Lake and Arrow Timber Sale Agreement (TSA) found old growth management areas (OGMA) were often not composed of old growth forests.
The review found that 82 per cent and 83 per cent of OGMAs in the Kootenay Lake and Arrow TSAs, respectively, were composed of early, mid and mature seral forests.
“This equates to a shortfall of 76,000 ha of old forest in OGMA and nearly 36,000 ha in Kootenay Lake TSA (MacKillop 2018),” the review’s authors wrote. “This management regime leaves many of the most biologically important ecosystems in the province at greatest risk.”
Under the Fund, the Province, the federal government and seven land trust and conservancy organizations secured old growth and habitat for species at risk at eight different sites, using $7.9 million from the Old Growth Nature Fund, along with $8.2 million contributed by private donors and organizations to purchase privately owned lands.
Through the Old Growth Nature Fund, Environment and Climate Change Canada provides financial support of $50 million to the Province over three years to protect old-growth forest areas in B.C.
Old Growth Nature Fund
The following locations were selected based on recommendations that land trusts and land conservancies throughout B.C. submitted for consideration:
Kwiakah, Phillips Arm (Central Coast); 75 hectares; Nature Conservancy of Canada;
Crescent Spur (McBride area); 76.9 hectares; Nature Trust of B.C.;
Bear Hill (Saanich); 2.2 hectares; Habitat Acquisition Trust;
East Sooke; 68.5 hectares; BC Parks Foundation;
Talking Trees Nature Reserve (Galiano Island); 42 hectares; Galiano Conservancy Association;
Puntledge River (Comox Valley) timber harvesting rights; about 32 hectares; Comox Valley Land Trust;
Osprey Ridge Nature Reserve (Pender Island); 4.1 hectares; Pender Islands Conservancy Association; and
Vulture Ridge Nature Reserve (Pender Island); 14.6 hectares; Pender Islands Conservancy Association.
The eight sites total 316 hectares and are biodiverse old-growth forests that support species at risk and other wildlife, such as cutthroat trout, band-tailed pigeons and horned grebes.
Many of these sites are in relatively densely populated areas of the province, making them even more important wildlife refuges.
