Editor:
I have always been passionate about saving our old growth forests, but having just watched his latest documentary, A Life On Our Planet, David Attenborough demonstrates that it is imperative to do so, not just for the sake of the magnificence of these trees, but for the continuation of our human species on this planet. We must promote the biodiversity that old growth forests ensure if we humans want to survive. Our Dakota old growth forest bear habitat is one of them.
The new NDP majority government campaigned on an election promise to implement all 14 of the old growth review panel recommendations, one of which was to ban, not just defer, logging in at-risk old growth forests within six months. Old growth forests now make up less than one per cent of forests in B.C., yet 75 per cent of these old growth forests are unprotected and open to logging.
Public support for protecting old growth is evident: 54,000+ people have signed a petition with Stand.earth to end logging in at-risk old growth forests across B.C., and thousands more have sent emails, made phone calls, and reached out on social media. More broadly, Sierra Club’s recent polling indicates that over 90 per cent of people living in British Columbia support action to protect endangered old growth forests.
We need to take a stand for our forests, biodiversity, and ourselves!
Dhyana Bartkow, Gibsons
