BREAKING: The BC government has released the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel’s report and announced it will immediately defer logging in nine areas, including the famous Clayoquot Sound and the intact McKelvie Valley near Tahsis, and protect up to 1,500 of BC’s biggest trees while it works to develop a new provincial approach to old-growth management. More deferrals are also expected after further discussions with First Nations.

These first steps are an encouraging start and the result of concerned people like you speaking up! Thank you!!

But more work still needs to be done. The vast majority of productive big tree ancient forests, of which only 3% remain in BC, are still at-risk. There are also no funding commitments yet for the transition to sustainable, second-growth forestry, for new Indigenous Protected Areas, or for the economic diversification of First Nations communities.

The panel’s report is a blueprint for a complete paradigm shift in how BC manages old-growth forests. Now, the province must commit to fully implementing all 14 recommendations.

• Read our Ancient Forest Alliance press release below for details and our full response: https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/bc-old-growth-panel-report-announcement/

• See the BC government's announcement here: https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2017-2021/2020FLNR0058-001711.htm

• Read the Old Growth Strategic Review panel's report here: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/563/2020/09/STRATEGIC-REVIEW-20200430.pdf