Old-growth logging near the Avatar Grove on Vancouver Island.

Ben Parfitt: Sneaky Liberals are planning a B.C. forest giveaway

Given the short duration of the upcoming legislative session and the provincial election to follow, a government plan to introduce a scant two-paragraph bill granting it powers to fundamentally alter the course of forestry in B.C. is disturbing, to say the least.

Roadside logging project put on hold

Logging company Island Timberlands is putting its plans to harvest a roadside section of forest near the Alberni Highway summit on hold. They are pressing the pause button on the logging project after being hit with a wave of outrage from citizens in the Valley. Many say a roadside cut will destroy the beauty of the region and could affect tourism.

A map detailing the area of planned logging.

Alberni’s "Hump" gets reprieve as Island Timberlands delays logging plans

“We considered our plans over the weekend and now we are putting a temporary suspension on the harvest of the buffer along the highway,” Island Timberlands spokeswoman Morgan Kennah said in an interview Monday.

A map detailing the area of planned logging.

Island Timberlands’ logging of Alberni summit could denude the Hump

On Monday, Island Timberlands starts logging about 40 hectares of privately managed forest land beside a hilly section of Highway 4 known as the Hump. It tops out at the 400-metre-high Alberni summit, about nine kilometres east of Port Alberni.

Cortes Island logging dispute moves to the market

As the dispute between Cortes Island residents and Island Timberlands escalates, activists are moving the debate to where it will hurt: the market.

Adrian Dix’s Not-So-Secret Agenda

A New Democratic Party government led by Adrian Dix would expand child care, reduce fees for seniors' long-term care, ban the cosmetic use of pesticides, put a moratorium on independent power projects, stop renovictions and create disincentives for exporting raw logs.

Red-legged frog.

Give trees (and frogs) a break

Cortes is very lucky to have forests like this because they are rare and quickly disappearing. Red legged frogs are rare too. They are provincially listed and declining in numbers. On Cortes Island, those rare forests are about to be logged, and the little frogs may be facing their last winter.

Old-growth Douglas-fir trees on Cortes Island.

Province forsaken its role on Cortes

A big issue in the Cortes dispute is the extent to which our government regulates activity on private land. The private foresters claim they are governed by more than 30 acts and regulations. However, the environmentalists say companies like Timberlands are allowed to apply a model of “professional reliance” which means that there is little meaningful regulatory oversight. It’s a pity the current administration has all but forsaken its role as steward and peacekeeper in the woods. A measure of leadership would go a long way right about now.

中投斥1億購卑詩林業股

買私企12.5%權益 不影響決策 毋須批准 負責為中國政府管理外匯投資的中國投資有限責任公司(簡稱中投),正計劃投資1億加元資金,收購卑詩第二大私人林地業主海島林地公司(Island Timberlands)12.5%股權,由於不影響公司決策,毋須批准。雙方未有透露細節,但業界人士稱,雙方近期將宣布該收購案。 中投為成立於2007年9月的中國國有獨資公司,中國財政部當時以發行特別國債方式,籌集1.55萬億元人民幣,以此購買相當於2,000億美元的外匯儲備,作為中投註冊資本金。

OUR VIEW: Provincial oversight missing in Cortes logging dispute

The current impasse over logging on private land on Cortes Island is unique by B.C. standards. In a province where wars in the woods have often been bitterly waged, the Cortes standoff stands apart. Cortes environmentalists and Island Timberlands have been debating the company’s logging plans for about four years without coming to serious blows. The islanders are not trying to ban logging altogether, they are asking for Timberlands to adopt an ecosystem-based, selective logging harvesting plan that spares old growth.