Community groups concerned about clear-cut logging of primary forest and watersheds in B.C.’s Interior have organized a town hall forum for Saturday, April 14, at the UBC Okanagan campus.
Guest speakers will include Syilx Elders, MLAs, academics, community organization representatives and conservationists.
The purpose of the town hall is to inform, unite and provide the community with options to work with the provincial government to make changes to B.C.’s forest policy.
Among the presenters will be members of the Interior Watershed Task Force, which has membership roots which extend across the Okanagan, and will discuss the issue of clear-cut logging in community watersheds across B.C.
Other invited speakers include Syilx elders and knowledge keepers Grouse and Pamela Barnes plus the Cultural program lead for Okanagan Nation Alliance and former Penticton Indian Band councillor Elliot Tonasket.
“All I can say is action is better than words,” said K’ninm’tm’ta?n’q’wic’tn’s Wilfred “Grouse” Barnes of Westbank First Nation.
“For us to help protect it, to help keep it clean is far better than just talking about it.”
Prince George Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris will be the keynote speaker.
Morris has led a one-man campaign to inform his colleagues in the legislature that clear-cut logging in B.C. is unsustainable, and he has the wildlife numbers to prove it.
Morris says British Columbia’s new normal should not be wildfires and widespread flooding threatening the lives and safety of our citizens.
“It should not be the extirpated wildlife populations or depleted salmon and steelhead runs. It should not be the loss of hundreds of thousands of songbirds every year,” Morris said.
Other presenters will include the chairs of leading environmentalist community groups in B.C. including Conservation North’s Michelle Connolly and Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society’s Jennifer Houghton.
The town hall panel of experts will conclude with academics from UBC Vancouver hydrologist Dr. Younes Alila and UBC Okanagan University environmental anthropologist Dr. John Wagner.
Alila, a hydrologist and professor with the UBC Faculty of Forestry, has synthesized decades of hydrology studies, concluding that many studies have severely and consistently underestimated the impact of forest cover on flood risk, resulting in a devastating effect on forest management policies and practices.
Alila contends commercial logging has caused forest canopy loss, increasing the intensity, duration and frequency of floods and droughts.
One of the main goals of the Interior Watershed Task Force is to raise public awareness about historical and recent logging/forestry industry detrimental harvesting practices.
The task force states: “We are using factual information and new science to lead forestry reforms in this province, forcing change from our provincial government.
“It is time to stop clear-cut logging in watersheds used for human consumption. It is time to develop a proper policy that identifies climate change hazards and prevents loss to communities.
“We need a policy that ensures our watersheds are protected by mature, healthy forests, forests that protect wildlife.”
To register for the town hall or for more information, visit www.eventbrite.ca/e/future-of-our-forests-tickets-865717864437.