Editor:
Wow, does Minister Nicholas Simons really believe his NDP government is doing enough to save old growth in B.C.?
Hopefully Simons’ attempt, in his letter printed in the June 18 Coast Reporter (“Simons on old growth”), to rationalize the giant gap between Premier Horgan’s promise to preserve the last remnants of British Columbia’s magnificent old-growth forests and the province’s actual feeble efforts to do so, doesn’t fool your readers.
Having tracked government action on protecting B.C.’s wild forests for decades as a founder and past director of the Wilderness Committee, I’ve noticed that this NDP government has now developed a new “Talk and Log” variant: “Stall Talks and Log Faster.”
All progress so far to protect B.C.’s old growth is due to the persistent efforts of environment groups like ELF (Elphinstone Logging Focus). Truth be told, by any rational or ecological measures, the actual progress is way too slow. At the current rate of logging, recently driven by high wood prices especially for cedar, most of the critical areas of B.C.’s old growth will be clear-cut and not enough saved to protect the ecological integrity and mitigate global warming.
I am now with ActionInTime, a group I co-founded to push for the urgent actions needed to protect the health of our planet. Only urgent action will protect not just the tiny remaining pockets of old growth. Action is also needed to stop the logging of mature second growth forests that are developing old-growth stature and ecological functions. There are a lot of these on Mt. Elphinstone. These forests are vital for more carbon capture and storage to avoid an increasingly hostile and overheated Earth.
Please, Sunshine Coast residents and environmentalists, commit to helping protect a network of large parks that meets both the biological needs of nature as well as the recreational needs and safer world for our children and grandchildren. Don’t be fooled again by the false promises of the NDP. Remember their previous opposition to the Site C dam, fracking, LNG development, and fossil fuel subsidies. Next time, vote Green!
Paul George, OBC, Gibsons
