Keep BC's forests public – act now!
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- Published on Thursday, 15 May 2014 12:20
- Written by editor
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Turning over public forests to corporate interests? No thanks!
Hello PAOV,
Right now the BC government is considering changes to the Forest Act that would give private companies more control over public forests.
The legislation could allow for the conversion of volume-based tenures (Timber Supply Areas or TSAs) to area-based tenures (Tree Farm Licences or TFLs). This would make crown forest land more like private land in terms of management and logging rights.
The proposed changes could essentially turn over large areas of public land to industrial logging giants. The province argues that these legislation changes would strengthen the logging economy and forestry-based communities, but we believe the opposite is true.
This isn’t the first time these dangerous changes have been proposed – last year the province attempted to ram a bill through the legislature that would have handed over logging rights on vast tracts of BC’s public forests to just a few corporations. Fortunately, the Wilderness Committee and several other environmental groups raised the alarm, and the public outcry forced the Minister of Forests to shelve the legislation.
Unlike the last time it tried to make these changes, the province is now accepting public comments before making a decision on these potential policy changes. This is your chance to speak up for our public forests!
We’re asking you to submit a comment and urge the Ministry of Forests NOT to change BC’s forestry laws to give more control to private logging companies. The deadline for public comments is noon on May 30th, 2014.
The BC government has a responsibility to protect the province’s forest resources – not give them away to corporate interests.
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