A local conservation group has released a petition which challenges B.C.’s forestry direction.

Save What’s Left is calling on the province to establish an independent joint commission of inquiry with Indigenous governments into concerns that B.C. may be overestimating its remaining harvestable timber supply.

The petition also calls on the premier to appoint a new minister of forests.

“We can’t have anything but reinforcement of the status quo while we have somebody like him as our forest minister.”

Joe Karthein, director of Save What’s Left, says the group’s latest petition is aimed at creating radical change in forestry policy. Save What’s Left is a Nelson conservation group that advocates to save B.C.’s primary forests. Karthein says so far, the petition has about 2,500 signatures.

The province says decisions on when and where to cut are guided by science. But Save What’s Left argues the annual allowable cut framework may not really reflect what’s happening on the ground.

“I personally did analysis on 26 proposed cut blocks by BCTS on the northern tip of Vancouver Island, and 80 per cent of them were old growth, with the average being well over 300 years old forest.”

Karthein is concerned that the threat of wildfire could be used to justify cutting in areas that have historically been protected from forestry.

“And that’s why the provincial government with intent is turning their eyes to big old trees that have previously been off limits in old-growth management areas, in provincial parks, which they’re targeting under wildfire mitigation guises.”

Forest Minister Ravi Parmar rebuts that park management falls under separate legislation and is outside his authority.

Parmar says that while he has suggested that the province consider doing some “light touch forestry, wildfire mitigation in all types of protected areas” to protect communities and assets, this is ultimately the decision of the minister of environment.

“In the organization Save What’s Left society they have been putting out comments that somehow this is going to lead to harvesting in provincial parks. That is categorically false and completely misleading. I don’t govern the provincial park system. I’m not responsible for the Parks Act, the only person responsible for the parks is the minister of environment and parks.”

Karthein rejects that explanation.

“Telling the public not to worry because Bill 14 doesn’t technically amend the Parks Act doesn’t answer the question that the public is actually asking which is, are you going to log in parks Minister Parmar, yes or no?”

Parmar said his perception of Save What’s Left is that the organization doesn’t value B.C. forestry.

“What I don’t have time for is those that want to destroy the forest sector here in British Columbia and put people out of business, and I get the sense that the Save What’s Left Society doesn’t see value in the forest sector in British Columbia and I think that’s a shame.”

But Karthein insists that questioning forestry practices does not necessarily mean one is anti-forestry.

“I’m in the business of excavation, I’m very comfortable with falling trees.”

Karthein says he’s spent hundreds of hours studying mapping data of B.C. forests, and a lot of time physically investigating sites that are allotted for harvesting. He also points to a 2020 analysis by independent researchers.

“There’s a 2020 report that said just 35,000 hectares of big-treed, iconic old growth was left. That’s the stuff that you really think of as old growth. For perspective, that’s about three or four times the size of the city of Vancouver. It’s hardly anything in B.C. … There’s very, very little old growth left, and there’s very little economically viable forest harvest … B.C. likes to say that it has 13 million hectares of old growth, and for perspective, that’s four times the size of Vancouver Island. They’re counting tiny little scrubby, sub-alpine low biodiversity stands. Forests that wouldn’t be logged anyways.”

Parmar does not see it this way and is looking to revive the forestry sector.

“The annual allowable cut is 61 million cubic metres. We’ve only been harvesting about half of that. And that is a challenge we’re facing today. It’s something that we’re looking to increase, to be able to get back up to a reasonable harvest. And there’s a number of reasons what’s driving that, much of which is economics, and the fact that the price of lumber is very low today. In the commodity sector, we have to change our sector, we need to get more value out of it.”

In response to Save What’s Left’s call for independent inquiry into remaining timber supply, Parmar asserts that the annual allowable cut is based on science conducted under the chief forester. Karthein does not agree.

“I honestly don’t think anyone who really understands the annual allowable cut believes it has a basis in science. It’s a wildly inflated benchmark set by the politics of greed. And it’s not just me saying this, a leaked 500-page-plus review recently concluded that B.C. is cutting at twice the rate that’s actually sustainable, and that article is linked at the bottom of our petition, which you can find at savewhatsleft.ca.”

Parmar defended the province’s process.

“So we have the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act that does not leave those types of decisions in the hands of me or politicians. They are made by science-based professionals. In this case, the chief forester and as well as the team that he has assembled of foresters and agrologists, as well as ecologists. And so, I feel very comfortable with the approach we’re taking, very comfortable with the work that the chief forester has done to set the annual allowable cut.”

The province says it’s expanding BC Timber Sales’ mandate, saying it would increase fibre access, support jobs, strengthen stewardship, reduce wildfire risk, and ensure forests continue providing ecological, cultural, social and economic benefits for future generations.

Karthein says he doesn’t see how these statements fit with reality.

“It’s textbook PR. It’s written by communications staff, and it’s made to sound like everybody wins … Talking about ecological benefits? I mean, that is, just sheer lies.”

Even though the petition calls for the removal of Ravi Parmar as minister of forests, Karthein argues concerns go beyond one minister.

“The problem runs deeper, it goes right to the premier’s office, so I want to point the finger in as many ways as possible at the premier’s office, really, to enable that change.”