District Lot 33 is crown land in the Nanoose District. It is the large square of forest in the map above.
When I posted here regarding the recent B.C. government announcement of protection for some of Vancouver Island's old growth forests, I was pleased, but sceptical. Often decisions, such as the ones Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced July 30th, are made on a political basis rather than on ecosystem management. 64 hectare Nanoose District Lot 33, north of Nanaimo, might be the victim of such a decision.
Lot 33, is a patch of endangered mature coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) forest. The land is crown (public) land, a rarity in the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway east coast land grab area. 80% of the CDF forest is on private property, so Lot 33 provides a special opportunity for protection.
The Arrowsmith Parks and Land-Use Council, and forest activists, have been working hard to conserve the special forest on Lot 33. Their pleas seem to have fallen on less than sympathetic ears since the lot has been approved for logging. The Snaw-na-as First Nation is looking to log one quarter of the area to raise about $750,000 much-needed dollars.
The government puts the Nanoose Band in a position where it does not have the financial ability not to log. But intact old forests are worth more than the logs that can be harvested. The government should pay the band $750,000, and protect this forest. Lot 33 represents part of the 1% of CDF forest that is left after industrial logging decimated the old growth starting in the 1940s, and continuing to this very day.
Lot 33 is a prime candidate for protection under the governments CDF conservation plan. Local municipal governments have already voted unanimously to designate Lot 33 for protection under the CDF program. However, Forestry Minister Pat Bell says that we "can't save all the old growth".
Although the B.C. government is beginning to acknowledge the importance of old growth, they refuse to see the importance of ending old growth logging now. They fail to recognize the needs of the citizens of B.C., or the 43% of the province's species that are in danger of disappearing due to habitat destruction.
Bell does recognize the needs of the logging industry, though, and claims they must get the old growth they need.
But what will the logging industry do when all the old growth is gone? What will the Marbled murellets do? Lot 33 is a prime candidate for preservation as an example of a rare, low-level, mature coastal Douglas-fir forest.
When I posted here regarding the recent B.C. government announcement of protection for some of Vancouver Island's old growth forests, I was pleased, but sceptical. Often decisions, such as the ones Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced July 30th, are made on a political basis rather than on ecosystem management. 64 hectare Nanoose District Lot 33, north of Nanaimo, might be the victim of such a decision.
Lot 33, is a patch of endangered mature coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) forest. The land is crown (public) land, a rarity in the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway east coast land grab area. 80% of the CDF forest is on private property, so Lot 33 provides a special opportunity for protection.
The Arrowsmith Parks and Land-Use Council, and forest activists, have been working hard to conserve the special forest on Lot 33. Their pleas seem to have fallen on less than sympathetic ears since the lot has been approved for logging. The Snaw-na-as First Nation is looking to log one quarter of the area to raise about $750,000 much-needed dollars.
The government puts the Nanoose Band in a position where it does not have the financial ability not to log. But intact old forests are worth more than the logs that can be harvested. The government should pay the band $750,000, and protect this forest. Lot 33 represents part of the 1% of CDF forest that is left after industrial logging decimated the old growth starting in the 1940s, and continuing to this very day.
Lot 33 is a prime candidate for protection under the governments CDF conservation plan. Local municipal governments have already voted unanimously to designate Lot 33 for protection under the CDF program. However, Forestry Minister Pat Bell says that we "can't save all the old growth".
Although the B.C. government is beginning to acknowledge the importance of old growth, they refuse to see the importance of ending old growth logging now. They fail to recognize the needs of the citizens of B.C., or the 43% of the province's species that are in danger of disappearing due to habitat destruction.
Bell does recognize the needs of the logging industry, though, and claims they must get the old growth they need.
But what will the logging industry do when all the old growth is gone? What will the Marbled murellets do? Lot 33 is a prime candidate for preservation as an example of a rare, low-level, mature coastal Douglas-fir forest.
hope this gets saved.
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