Five experts from BC and the US will form a panel at an upcoming virtual Conservation North event.
Salvage logging, the practice of logging areas recently impacted by fires or insect infestation, is the topic.
Michelle Connolly, the Director of Conservation North, said her organization is “really concerned about the effects of industrial logging of natural forests on wildlife, the climate, and communities.”
“We are having this reflex to immediately go in and log these areas right away,” Connolly explained, adding the provincial government just streamlined this process.
“That is a real concern, because natural forests that have been burned or had beetle outbreaks, logging them is one of the worst things you can do for the wildlife habitat, hydrological matters, a lot of different things.”
Connolly is concerned salvage logging could impact water supplies, the habitats of certain bugs and animals, and interrupt of the natural habitat cycle that comes with a fire or defoliating insect outbreak.
“A lot of these places really need to be left alone,” she said. “We think natural forests, ones that have never been logged before, are really critical to local food security, some of the best habitat for things people like to hunt or some of the best foraging is in places that have had a recent fire or outbreak.”
“One of the big myths we are fighting is the idea that forests are destroyed or it is a massive catastrophe when there is a fire. From the forest’s perspective, it is not a massive catastrophe. Our natural forests have been through this many, many times,” Connolly explained.
The panel consists of Dakelh strategic advisor Seraphine Munroe of the Maiyoo Keyoh Society, and Drs. Karen Price, Diana Six, Phil Burton and Dominick DellaSala.
The session is being held on Monday (July 15) at 7:00 pm, you can register here.
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