B.C. co wants to avoid cutting old growth - Province says you pay

A B.C. company that wants to avoid logging sections of at-risk old growth was told by the Crown that it must pay to leave them standing. Logging began in two cut blocks north of Revelstoke in spring 2021, but Downie Timber halted operations when protesters blocked access to the sites. The company values its relationship with local First Nations and the public, and didn't want to jeopardize that by logging old growth areas that are sensitive to them.

Forests.BCTimberSalesHQOffice@gov.bc.ca

BC Timber Sales, the provincial entity responsible for auctioning harvesting rights for 20% of B.C.'s annual cut, said Downie Timber must fulfil its logging contract — or pay full stumpage fees for any trees left standing. That could be a significant amount. The company has spent $200k putting roads into the area. The company, trying to achieve a balanced conservation result that serves Canadians, stands to be penalized for it by bureacrats.

Mapping shows 50% of one of Downie's cut blocks north of Revelstoke overlaps with an old-growth deferral area. The second block also overlaps, to a lesser amount. There can't be much hope for what remains of old growth in British Columbia when it's guardian demands that it all be chopped down.