TL: BROKEN PROMISES - Executive Summary
SO: Greenpeace Canada (GP)
DT: May 1997

The Destruction Continues

This report reveals the truth about what is happening in British Columbiaþs forests.
The destruction of BC forests is a serious global issue. Recent forest inventories show that
temperate forests globally are more endangered than tropical forests. In B.C. two-thirds of the
temperate coastal rainforest has already been degraded by logging or other development.

In the face of unprecedented international concern about the exploitation of B.C.þs ancient
forests, the government began a series of high profile initiatives, including the creation of new
parks, an extensive review of B.C.þs timber supply, and the introduction of the Forest Practices
Code. The result has been a large change in perception but little change in protection.

In 1994 the Premier of B.C. went on an international tour and claimed, "We've stopped the
chop. We've changed practices dramatically."

Despite such industry and government claims that vast improvements have been made in the
provinceþs forest practices, the evidence in this report reveals a different picture. This report
shows that the BCþs forests are moving ever closer to the brink. It exposes the litany of broken
promises made by the B.C. government to the world by contrasting the rhetoric to some basic
facts, most often culled from governmentþs own documents.

This report shows that clearcutting is the designated logging method for 92% of cutblocks
approved by the Ministry of Forests since June l995. And in the B.C. coastal region, which
contains the ancient temperate rainforests, on average more than 97% of the approved
cutblocks are to be clearcut.

Hundreds of approved cutblocks in B.C. are in excess of l00 hectares þ even though the law
restricts cutblocks to 40 - 60 hectares. 

83% of streams in l996 cutblocks were clearcut right to their banks, leaving no buffer of forest
adjacent to the streams.

Clearcutting is still taking place on steep, unstable slopes where landslides are likely, and it is
the approved logging method for 92.5% of logging set to take place in the þSpecial Resource
Development Zonesþ that were supposed to protect wildlife and have limited clear-cutting. 

Despite the fact that 96% of British Columbians want endangered species protected, the
government of British Columbia has steadfastly refused to create an endangered species act
and has actively worked against attempts to get an effective Federal Endangered Species Act,
claiming that the government of Canada lacks jurisdiction to protect endangered species in the
province. In addition, none of the provisions of the Forest Practices Code that would protect
wildlife have been implemented, and so species like woodland caribou, grizzly bears and salmon
are still at risk.

At the same time, the percentage of low elevation old-growth forest protected in B.C. parks
has risen only marginally þ from less than 4% of the province in l993, to less than 6% to
date. And currently, 95% of logging in the province is of old-growth forests.

Although the Ministry of Forests admits we are overcutting our forests by millions of cubic
metres, the cut has been reduced by less than l% since 1991, leaving the amount logged
annually still some 20% above what the government says is a sustainable "long term harvest
level".

And the people who live in British Columbia þ the owners of the public forest þ want better.
New polling reveals that 77% of British Columbians think logging of old-growth forests should
be stopped or phased-out. More than 90% want strong rules to protect the environment even
if it costs a bit more and the majority of British Columbians donþt see why clearcutting should
continue.

British Columbians know their government is not doing a good job of forest management; 81%
said Premier Glen Clark is not doing enough to protect BC's forests.

The forest industry and the government know that there is widespread international concern
over BCþs forests and they have gone to great lengths to convince the international community
that all is well in the woods. Over $65 million has been spent in an intensive public relations
campaign to tell the world that BC has "world class forest practices".

The cumulative impact of the facts revealed in this report explode the myth that "the chop is
stopped". The profoundly disturbing reality is that the liquidation of B.C.þs unparalleled old
growth forests continues unabated. Action is needed now, more urgently than ever before, to
save the ancient forests of British Columbia.