THE CALL FOR A NEW FOREST FRAMEWORK IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

A Letter To Government Decision-Makers

We're calling on you, caring individuals, academics, professionals, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations to sign and send the attached letter to your elected officials to develop a new forest model and perspective.  Forests, particularly mature and old-growth systems, are living thriving beings, not simply feedstock or fibre to be clearcut and shipped overseas.  We need to change how we live in and with nature if we are to survive.  We need to do that now. 

The Ecoforestry Institute Society has co-authored The Call for a New Forest Framework in British Columbia in partnership with Jonathan O'Riordan, former Deputy Minister of the Environment and founder of the Gail O'Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy series.  This action arose from the EarthFest - Creative Solutions for a New World webinar series, specifically the two-part series on Nurturing Nature's Ecosystems presented by EIS Board members Peter Jungwirth and Erik Piikkila found here.

Please copy this letter to your computer, sign it and send it to the email addresses we’ve provided below:

Subject: A call for a New Forest Framework in British Columbia

The forests of British Columbia are by far the most extensive ecosystem in British Columbia covering two-thirds of the land base.  Thriving ecosystems provide a wide range of ecological services, have the potential to provide significant and diverse employment and are critical to the culture of Indigenous peoples.

The current track record shows the primary focus of government and the forest industry is to create tree plantations of commercially acceptable feedstock and fibre – trees are a commodity instead of an ecosystem.  Over the decades, communities have suffered boom and bust cycles as jobs decline due to technological changes and the export of raw logs.  Our forests and our communities deserve better.

Ecoforestry offers an eco-centric approach to forests, viewing them as thriving living beings, rich in biodiversity. Intact forests provide valuable ecological services, including the air we breathe and the water we drink, carbon storage, and critical habitat for a wide range of living beings from fungi to apex predators.  They also offer climate change services that buffer pests, floods and drought- services which will become much more valuable as the climate changes.  Ecoforestry recognizes that we are a part of nature and that we must work with nature. To destroy nature is to destroy ourselves.

I call upon you for a bold new forest framework based on an eco-centric approach that allows ecosystems and communities to thrive.  The principles and practice of ecoforestry require that we live and work within ecological parameters and that we protect and restore natural ecosystem richness, complexity and resiliency that we can enjoy and help us adapt to a rapidly changing climate.

It is this approach that provides for an ecologically appropriate level of harvest resulting in greater job creation when the full range of economic values is realized.   A rich diversity of direct and indirect jobs is created, from logger, miller, naturalist, restoration ecologist and healer positions to value-added wood crafters and community event planners.  Local businesses and suppliers benefit from the uptake of local accommodations and eating establishments.

I no longer support business as usual in the management of our forests.  Our health and that of communities is dependent on the health of the entire forest ecosystem.  Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples cannot be fulfilled without healthy forests.  We can do better.  We must do better.

Time is of the essence and now is the time for transformation.  We must start the shift to this ecosystem-centric approach to our forests now.

Signed:

(Your name here)

** Please be sure to CC your letter to:  info@creativelyunited.org when sending your letter.

Thank YOU!

Our Jan. 15, 2021 letter to Premier Horgan and Minister Conroy

Read the letter here:

The Ecoforestry Institute Society Requests an immediate moratorium on OG logging