Sustainable Forestry & Old Growth Protection Act
Category: Environment — Environment
Summary
Implement old growth logging deferrals while supporting forestry worker transition programs.
What this proposal changes
- Establishes immediate logging deferrals on all remaining BC old-growth stands identified as highest ecological risk by the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel.
- Creates a BC Old Growth Conservation Fund to compensate tenure holders for deferred volumes and fund ecosystem restoration.
- Funds a Forestry Worker Transition Program providing two years of wage replacement and retraining for workers displaced by deferrals.
- Requires forest companies to meet a provincial sustainability certification standard as a condition of all new and renewed licences.
Arguments for
- BC's old-growth forests are a globally irreplaceable ecological asset; once logged they cannot be replaced on any human timescale.
- Old-growth forests store 2–3 times more carbon per hectare than second-growth, making their protection a high-value climate investment.
- Worker transition support addresses the legitimate concern that environmental protection should not shift its costs onto the most vulnerable members of forestry communities.
Arguments against
- Logging deferrals reduce timber supply available to mills, threatening jobs in communities whose entire economic base is forestry.
- Compensation for tenure holders and worker transition funding may cost $1–2 billion annually, a significant long-term fiscal commitment.
- Sustainability certification requirements, if not harmonised with international markets, may disadvantage BC lumber in export competition.
Cost & implementation
Old Growth Conservation Fund: $300–600 million annually. Worker Transition Program: $100–200 million annually. Ecosystem restoration: $50–100 million annually. Fiscal offset from carbon credit revenue and eco-tourism potential.
Jurisdiction & legal authority
Forestry management and tenure is fully within provincial jurisdiction under the Forest Act and Forest and Range Practices Act. Federal involvement through Species at Risk Act for species dependent on old-growth habitat.
How to vote
Visit cascadia.vote/questions/pnwc-A22 to cast your vote: Yes, No, or Maybe.
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