B.C. Timber Sales change

Re. Change at B.C. Timber Sales (Castanet, Sept, 23)

The recent article on new parameters for B.C. Timber Sales highlights optimism from wood manufacturers about a more predictable fibre supply.

What is being presented as good news for industry but very bad news for forests, watersheds and the public. In reality, the BCTS Task Force report means more logging, more subsidies and less accountability.

The most troubling recommendation is the first, to move B.C. Timber Sales to “arm’s length” from government. That is a recipe for secrecy and deregulation. BCTS already approves its own cutblocks with minimal oversight. Turning it into a Crown corporation—or worse, a privatized entity—would strip away what little public accountability remains.

Equally concerning is the plan to expand harvest volumes under the guise of wildfire mitigation and salvage logging. The science is clear. In most cases, large clearcuts and plantation regrowth make forests more flammable, not less, and salvage logging has devastating ecological consequences. Using fire as an excuse for industrial logging is misleading and dangerous.

Old-growth logging, which the government promised to end in 2021, is also quietly entrenched in the report. British Columbians overwhelmingly want these globally rare forests protected, yet BCTS continues to auction them off, often in wildlife corridors, watersheds and culturally significant areas. Other government messaging even suggests logging in provincial parks and old-growth management areas may soon be on the table.

The task force boasts BCTS is “100% SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) certified.” But the Sustainable Forestry Initiative is a discredited “greenwashing” scheme, criticized internationally for allowing destructive practices. Real sustainability requires independent science, not marketing spin.

Most glaring is what the report leaves out. There are no binding measures for climate adaptation, hydrological risk or watershed security - despite floods, fires and droughts already devastating communities.

Save What’s Left Conservation Society submitted an alternative in May, a 52-page report titled Public Forests, Public Trust.

It called for a legislated public-interest mandate, an end to old-growth liquidation, true transparency, and redirecting subsidies toward restoration and watershed protection. The task force ignored all of it.

The government now faces a choice, continue treating our forests as fibre farms - at costs that far exceed the benefits - or finally honour the public interest by protecting ecosystems, communities and ensuring a truly sustainable industry for future generations.

Joe Karthein
Save What’s Left Conservation Society
Nelson