On Friday, at the Council of Forest Industries conference in Prince George, Forest Minister Ravi Parmar suggested that provincial parks and Old Growth Management Areas could be logged for so-called “wildfire resilience.”
Old Growth Management Areas were established to protect biodiversity, and parks are important for natural and cultural values.
“Parks and Old Growth Management Areas should be safe from logging, period,” said Jenn Matthews. “Minister Parmar is using peoples’ fear of fire to lessen resistance to the idea of logging in areas that are supposed to be industry-free.”
Wildfires have increased in frequency, severity and extent, globally, in western North America, and in interior B.C. due to hotter, drier weather and changed landscapes, she said. In central-interior BC, landscapes have become homogenised from colonisation, fire suppression and resource management, which is making them less resistant to wildfire. Logging is the third highest greenhouse gas emitting industry in Canada.
Natural forests that have burned are an important habitat type and are rare in parts of B.C. because fires leave behind forest structures that are important for wildlife. Burned forests recover old growth values quickly.
“We need prudent fire hardening directly around communities to protect human life and property, but what Minister Parmar suggested at COFI sounds like a timber grab,” said Michelle Connolly.
Old forests generally have lower temperatures, higher moisture and lower wind than younger forest, and logging in them can decrease their resilience by creating dry debris (sometimes called surface fuels), leading to increased ignition and intensity, said Connolly. Old forest is not more likely to burn and is less likely to ignite. Weather generally overwhelms the effects of fuel on wildfire spread.
“B.C. promised to shift to a paradigm that prioritizes biodiversity and ecosystem health and they are running in the opposite direction,” said Matthews.
One thought on “Parmar’s suggestion about ‘wildfire resilience’ logging called a ‘timber grab’”
Understory thinning to remove wildfire fuel is definitely NOT logging! Consider 100 years of wildfire suppression and prevention has resulted in huge fuel buildup that has put those park forests at high risk of catastrophic fires.