B.C. government to discuss old-growth logging with release of advisory panel report

The British Columbia government was expected to discuss today the next steps it will take on old-growth logging in the province.

Forests Minister Katrine Conroy was scheduled to release the findings of an independent advisory panel established in June to help the province identify at-risk old-growth ecosystems and prioritize them for deferral from logging.

The five-member panel was expected to develop maps and analyze all areas of old-growth trees in the province.

The issue has flared up in the province with ongoing protests against old-growth logging resulting in more than 1,150 arrests by the RCMP in the Fairy Creek watershed on southern Vancouver Island.

Earlier this year, the government approved a request from three Vancouver Island First Nations to defer old-growth logging across about 2,000 hectares of land.

At the time, Conroy said the province was in negotiations with Indigenous rights and title holders over the management of old-growth trees and additional logging deferrals were expected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2.

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