Last spotted owl old-growth habitat targeted for logging
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Federally mapped critical habitat must be protected to save them
Hi Paov,
I’ve just returned from several days in the spectacular old-growth forests mapped by the Canadian government as critical habitat for the near-extinct spotted owl. Some of these same forests have been designated by the BC government as old-growth priority deferral areas.
When I set out on my journey, I was buoyed by the thought that both levels of government had finally taken action to map out remaining old forest critical habitat. That has got to be a good thing, right?
But what I discovered in the Lower Mainland forested range of the spotted owl both shocked and disgusted me. Stand after stand of old forests identified by these maps have been recently mowed down and more are falling every day. It seems pretty clear to me that rather than helping to protect critical habitat, these maps are being used by logging companies to go after the last forest habitat.
How did this happen? Government inaction made it happen!
Without taking real action to protect these areas, both governments have put a proverbial X on the maps for logging companies to swiftly plunder the land.
We can't afford bungles like this. Neither can the spotted owl. There is one wild-born spotted owl left in the forests in the Fraser Canyon region. There are about 40 captive raised spotted owls in cages in Langley waiting for release to the wild. In fact, two spotted owls have recently been released into their forest habitat.
Those are pitifully small numbers. This species' recovery will depend on luck, hard work and protection of all of the mapped critical habitat, so it’s there when they need it. We can hope for luck and many of you are stepping up to provide the hard work, but critical habitat is the wild card.
Can we get the destruction stopped in time? Together I believe we can. Please write Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen, Minister of Environment and Climate Change George Heyman and Premier David Eby. Ask them to recognize the gravity of the situation and take bold, decisive steps to protect all remaining spotted owl critical habitat forests now.
On my recent trip I also saw a lot of beautiful old forests not yet cut down. There’s still time. We are privileged to live in such a spectacular part of the world and have a duty to protect it, including ending old-growth logging and doing everything we can to prevent species extinction.
For the wild,
Joe Foy Protected Areas Campaigner
Wilderness Committee
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