Umpteenth plea to SAVE BC's FORESTS

Yup I was pushed --again-- to pen another impassioned plea to the BC Govt to save our priceless forest ecosystems -- which are dwindling disastrously due to cont'd CLEARCUT LOGGING:  THE major cause of worsened Climate catastrophes like the insane wildfires we saw this past summer!  No hyperbole needed - all is 100% verifiable.  You too can customize your own message, via https://sierraclub.bc.ca

                   Pic by me:

My fave old-growth

forest grove in BC

Dear Minister Ralston and Premier Eby, 

The 3-year anniversary of your govt's promises to implement all 14 recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Report has come & gone without meaningful measures taken.  This is unacceptable, since the extreme Climate impacts of 2023 -- & cont'd clearcut logging -- have further imperiled BC's communities & globally-rare rainforest ecosystems.

It's now crystal-clear that protecting BC's last intact unlogged primary, old-growth & mature forests is crucial to maintain natural carbon sinks, reduce Climate impacts & protect biodiversity that depends on these ecosystems.

Yet your govt. has stalled progress on the most fundamental, urgent calls to action -- eg. petitioning the federal govt NOT to issue an Emergency Order to save the last critically endangered Spotted Owl in the Spuzzum watershed (!) -- & instead allowed catastrophic clearcutting of its essential habitat, highlighting your govt's sinister true intentions.      

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The double whammy of industrial logging & Climate impacts means our iconic forests -- i.e. the ecosystems that draw tourists from all over to experience "Super, Natural BC" -- are fast shrinking, while industrially-degraded forests become parched 'dead zones' that fuel fast-spreading wildfires & jeopardize whole communities as well as entire wild foodchains. 

All so logging corps can keep reaping their outsize profits while denying BCers our Constitution-backed rights to benefit from & steward these irreplaceable LIVING LEGACIES, without which our lives will drastically decline.

* * * *

Your govt. ought to resign 'en masse' for its cont'd failure/refusal to protect the public's interests!

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In just 50 years much of the interior’s once-bountiful forests are gone, with horrendous consequences for endangered wildlife species such as woodland caribou, who need all that the forest contains, & where a “low-quality” tree for lumber is the highest-quality tree for lichen, without which caribou cannot survive.

The additional forest losses associated with Climate change & its role in fueling more prolonged & intense wildfires, tree-killing droughts, insect attacks & tree diseases, are exacerbating this ecological & economic crisis.

Surely as BC's official representatives in charge of managing our most invaluable (PUBLIC) natural resources on our behalf, you recognize the sheer folly of stubbornly keeping the (obvsly broken, harmful & unfair) status-quo -- along with the urgent need to save what’s left of our critically key forest landscapes!??

By banning ecocidal clearcut logging, protecting & restoring existing forests, & reforming forest practices (for starters), your govt. has the power to fulfill its stewardship responsibilities of supporting critical biodiversity & the health & safety of BC communities!?

* * * *

Therefore I'm calling on you to ACT NOW on your govt's promises to implement aLL 14 Old Growth Strategic Review recommendations, before it becomes even harder to save (once-'Beautiful') BC's life-saving Lungs of the Earth.

The entire world is waiting & watching, in mortal dread of the consequences of cont'd ill-advised corporate ecocide on the futures of those who will inherit the worst of its inevitable disasters:  our kids, & their kids.. & the many priceless benefits BC's native (unlogged & unsprayed) forests bestow on aLL our lives.

Allowing them to be systematically wiped out -- along with their myriad life-sustaining benefits/ biodiversity -- by greedy polluting billionaire corporations (/for export!?) is a crime worse than demolishing the Great Pyramids for the price of their stones:  & one to which your dishonest money-grubbing govt. CANNOT POSSIBLY BE ENTITLED!

Sincerely,  

Sarah (Saz) Chesterman

CC: Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Nathan Cullen; Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, George Heyman

Letter #14 to BC-NDP - Minister of Forests Katrine Conroy

 

Written using Sierra Club's letter-writing TooL (ALways besT to personalize!)  You can write one too, @ this link:  

CLICK HERE 2 WRITE YOUR OWN Letter 2 BC's Forest Minister 

Here's mine:

Dear Minister Conroy, 

I am writing to denounce you & your appalling govt's inaction on Fairy Creek & FAILURE to follow through on promises to fully implement all recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review, as an urgent priority in your mandate.    

So few of our iconic, important old-growth forests remain due to clearcutting/ over-logging & egregious clearcutting which has had DISASTROUS results due to the devastation wrought by clearcut logging of whole ecosystems (including the hundreds of species of biodiversity that depend on these forests for survival, many of which are now critically endangered)..

Clear evidence of this needless destruction has been exposed this summer by dangerous -- & PREVENTABLE -- wildfires that continue to burn, despite all efforts to control them..

AS your Old-Growth Strategic Review Panel advised well over a year ago, BC desperately needs a new paradigm for forest mgmt. implemented NOW to avoid an even deadlier fire season next year!?

Without immediate action, not enough will be left to sustain the web of life as we know it & support a diverse economy.  

Last year's election made it VERY clear that the majority of BC citizens want to protect endangered Old-Growth forests before it is too late!  And the majority of us are strongly opposed to the shameful bullying & violence of the RCMP against peaceful defenders in the ancient Fairy Creek stand - despite the injunction granted to Teal Jones (in bad faith & against your govt's stated intentions for our precious forests) as well as overwhelming public support for our heroic Fairy Creek forest defenders..   

The deadlines from your expert O-G Panel have long passed, thanks to your wilful refusal to act on your party's promises, but WE cannot forget our dedicated friends who know the priceless value of these forests --ALIVE NOT LOGGED-- & remain determined to protect them from destructive, greedy & unethical logging corps.

Equally heinous is federal govt's ongoing refusal to intervene on behalf of the Species At Risk which Canada's constitution expressly delineates responsibility to prevent their extinction!!?  At this rate, under your mismanagement, we are set to lose the valuable benefits -- incl. essential habitat provision, C02 sequestration at unequaled capacities, water purification & other essential services -- that only these primary forests can effectively provide.

Allowing these few Old-Growth ecosystems to be exploited, knowing their wealth lies in their preservation (i.e. preventing them from being logged), is akin to violating Canada's constitution -- which YOU can rectify & upgrade by implementing legislated protection for all Old-Growth forests in BC. 

Please Minister, do your job & turn around the fate of our beloved forests & the lifeforms --flora & fauna-- they support.  Shrinking into the background hoping this urgent issue will disappear is what only a coward would do:  Surely you have the knowledge of the requirements of your privileged position to know that banning Old-Growth logging is the ONLY solution with any merit -- along with its assurance of a hopeful future for our kids, the next-gen recipients of results from your actions today.

Please do the right thing & resolve this matter for the best interests of BCers:   legislate protection for all remaining BC Old-Growth & commit at least $1 billion to implement the 14 recommendations, provide funding for Indigenous-led conservation solutions & support transition for forestry-dependent communities.

Time is of the essence.

Thank you very much for taking action -- your immediate intervention will be a proud moment in your career, one in which you can claim a groundbreaking part on the right side of history!!?

But you need to act now to make this happen -- for the health & wellbeing of our communities, for salmon habitat, for essential carbon storage, for tourism jobs & to help defend our communities from fires, flooding & other worsening impacts of climate change. Considering all that BCers have endured of late, it's the least you & your govt. can do to lift some of the worry from our present outlooks!!?

These big, rare old trees are vital to our resilience in the face of climate change - please don't let down our kids' hope for a thriving future!  We're counting on you, because you were appointed to protect these living elders:  a grave responsibility, & one which you should not take lightly.

(Our future health - & that of our sustaining ecosystems/ 'Lungs of the North', without which we are nothing - relies on your urgent action today..)

Sincerely, 

SARAH (SAZ) CHESTERMAN

Vancouver, BC

CC: Premier John Horgan and Minister of State for Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Nathan Cullen