Features Environment & Sustainability
Industry welcomes Great Bear Rainforest conservation agreement

The announcement of the Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order by the Government of B.C. and First Nations is being applauded by five B.C. forest product companies as a unique solution for a globally significant area.

BC Timber Sales, Catalyst Paper Corp., Howe Sound Pulp & Paper Corp., Interfor Corp., and Western Forest Products Inc. formed the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI) in 2000. For 15 years, CFCI worked with ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace and Sierra Club to deliver joint recommendations to the province and First Nations.

“It is collaboration not conflict that ultimately drove the solutions in the Great Bear Rainforest,” said Rick Jeffery, representing CFCI. “This agreement will deliver certainty for coastal forests, local communities and jobs for years to come.”

The joint recommendations from industry and environmentalists formed the basis for one of the world’s highest profile conservation and logging agreements. It will conserve significant areas of temperate rainforests while supporting logging of old and second growth forests in 15 per cent of the forest or 0.1% annually. All logging will be according to new rules – ecosystem-based management – which was designed specifically for the Great Bear Rainforest.