Letter signed by 200 leaders seeks protection for BC’s primary forests

Primatologist Jane Goodall is another signatory to the letter and her message demanding that the felling of mature trees be stopped says it is “increasingly urgent” that voices are raised to protect forests.

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A Vancouver-based environmental group says more than 200 people, including scientists, indigenous leaders, politicians, actors and artists, signed a letter calling on British Columbia Prime Minister John Horgan to stop cutting down old trees. .

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Canopy says that those who sign the open letter and send messages to Horgan range from the Great Chief of the Indian Chiefs of the Union of British Columbia, Stewart Phillip, to former NASA scientist James Hansen and actors William Shatner and Dame Judi Dench. .

Shatner’s message says that standing next to a giant cedar makes it clear how small our place in the universe really is, and the prime minister should allow forests to “live long and prosper.”

A statement from Canopy says that only fragments of primary forest remain in British Columbia, and logging continues, despite recent delays announced by the province covering “relatively small areas.”

The Squamish Nation reported in June that it had identified at least 20 cut blocks within the 150 kilometers of Vancouver where logging of old trees is planned and echoed three First Nations from Vancouver Island saying they will postpone all deforestation. old as they develop in the long term. sustainability plans in their territories.

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Forestry Minister Katrine Conroy told the legislature during this week’s question period that British Columbia has deferred harvesting of old trees in 11 areas this year, totaling nearly 200,000 hectares, and has introduced a regulation of large trees that protect more than 1,500 groves.

The British Columbia government commissioned an independent panel in 2019 to make recommendations on its approach to transforming primary forest management, and Conroy said it is implementing all 14 recommendations.

“We have protected forest habitats for caribou, spotted owl, vulnerable species such as spotted merid and northern goshawk,” he said.

Primatologist Jane Goodall is another signatory to the letter and her message demanding that the felling of mature trees be stopped says it is “increasingly urgent” that voices are raised to protect forests.

“Every ancient tree felled, every species that becomes extinct, represents another threat to the future of our planet,” Goodall says in the statement.

Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s CEO, says the many calls to protect British Columbia’s oldest trees “underscore the breadth of support for conservation and how important it is to planetary health.”

This latest letter is based on a similar letter Canopy sent in June that contains the signatures of 100 opponents of ancient logging.