First Nations Leaders, Greens Have A New Plan To Protect BC Old-Growth

"Ancient forest advocates are weary of political promises that have so far been unable to slow the pace of clearcut logging in B.C. Here’s how visionaries think the province should move forward to protect beloved trees and critical habitat while making good on commitments to uphold Indigenous rights"

"Ken Wu became captivated by old-growth forests at the age of 10, when he saw a photograph of four couples dancing on a giant red cedar stump at the turn of the 20th century. As a UBC ecology student in the early 1990s, smitten by the grandeur of ancient trees, he helped organize rallies and protests to protect the Walbran and Capilano valleys and Clayoquot Sound.

“I became a big tree fanatic,” jokes Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and co-founder and former executive director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

It’s been 30 years since Wu embarked on a quest to save B.C.’s oldest forests and trees, which he equates to protecting the last of the world’s endangered elephants or whales. “They’re some of the most impressive, grandest organisms on our planet.”

But despite decades of protests, petitions and campaigns, only 2.7 per cent of B.C.’s original high productivity old-growth forests remains — and more than three-quarters of that small fraction is slated to be logged."

Sarah Cox reports for The Narwhal November 21, 2020.

Source: The Narwhal, 11/23/2020