The B.C. government says logging deferrals could be coming to up to 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest, pending discussions with affected First Nations.
The deferrals are based on recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review, which was presented in 2020 – and recent work completed by the independent Technical Advisory Panel (TAP).
Currently, the province has an estimated 11.1 million hectares of old-growth forest, of which 3.5 million is protected. The remaining 7.6 million is considered "unprotected," where logging is largely permitted.
TAP recommended deferring logging in old-growth areas that were considered particularly rare, such as "big tree old-growth," "ancient old-growth" and "rare old-growth."
These three types of old-growth forests account for 7.6 million hectares of the total 11.1 million hectares of old-growth in B.C.
While 3.5 million hectares of old-growth forest are already protected, the province says up to 2.6 million more could soon be deferred from logging for the next two years.
- with files from CTV -