Rare plant communities threatened by logging
A Forest Practices Board report into a B.C. Timber Sales operation on the Sunshine Coast has revealed that rare plant communities are not receiving adequate protection from logging in B.C.
The report, based on a complaint by the environmental group Elphinstone Logging Focus, found that two cutblocks totalling 18.3 hectares of mature timber on the southwest slope of Mount Elphinstone contained plant communities considered at risk by B.C.’s Conservation Data Centre — red-listed (meaning threatened or endangered) western red cedar/sword fern, and blue-listed (of special concern) western hemlock/flat moss.
Despite those conservation concerns, B.C. Timber Sales had no legal obligation to protect the two ecosystems because neither of the two plant communities had been designated as a species-at-risk or regionally important wildlife under the Forest and Range Practices Act, the report found.
The designation could lead to conservation measures such as wildlife habitat areas and a requirement for forest licensees to prepare a forest stewardship plan that describes how the licensees will meet government objectives while conducting their activities.
The report noted there are 15 plant communities currently designated under the Forest and Range Practices Act, but that the government had not updated the list since 2006.
The board recommended the province “provide legal objectives or guidance for managing the amount and distribution” of at-risk plant communities, update the list of plant communities, and revise its protocol to include consideration of plant communities in younger forests.
In response, Vivian Thomas, spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, acknowledged Friday “there is a gap” in protection measures and that the government would look at options for improvement, including working with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy to properly identify plant and animal species most at risk.