New Agreement Further Erodes the Working Forest
“The forest sector has long supported and participated in efforts to enhance caribou recovery and protection – working alongside partners to advance meaningful solutions, including actively supporting the Government of BC’s Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan and participating in population augmentation trials. We will continue to work to enhance caribou habitat populations and believe the Section 11 Agreement delegation to the Province provides us with a greater range of tools to do this important work. However, we are deeply disappointed that the separate Partnership Agreement signed today permanently removes a significant amount of fibre from the timber harvesting land base and creates additional operational uncertainty. This permanent removal further shrinks the working forest and will have negative impacts on forestry workers, communities and regional economies.