Canada protects ancient Pacific coast forest from logging, hunting

“An agreement about conservation, an agreement about decision making between the B.C. government and First Nations and an agreement that allows forestry companies to have some certainty where logging can happen without major conflicts”.

The deal, which will be enshrined in legislation this spring, applies to a stretch of 6.4 million hectares of the coast from the north of Vancouver Island to the Alaska Panhandle.

85 per cent of the Great Bear Rainforest will now be protected from logging under a new landmark agreement between the government of British Columbia, twenty six First Nations, environmental groups and coastal forestry groups.

“This is what Vancouver used to look like”, said Clark as images of vast forests were displayed on screens during a news conference at the University of B.C.

Environmental groups, First Nations and the forest industry admitted the hard-fought agreement was forged in conflict dating back to the 1900s, but painstaking negotiations where everybody knew there was no turning back sealed the deal.

“It’s unprecedented in the history of our province”, said Jeffery.

“First Nations oversight of their lands and opportunities for their communities has been strengthened”. Environmentalists had given the area the name years before that in an effort to protect the central coast from logging.

The deal also bans the commercial grizzly bear hunt in all Coastal First Nations territories, increases forest carbon credits for them and the Nanwokolas First Nation, and protects freshwater ecosystems and wildlife habitats.

“It’s frustrating for us as First Nations people that it took the white spirit bear to draw the worldwide attention that it did when my communities have been living in third-world conditions from the start”, he said.

The Great Bear rainforest is home to 26 First Nations tribes, as well as a variety of animal species and ecosystems.

“The Great Bear Rainforest, there’s no question, it’s a jewel in the crown of magnificent landscapes in British Columbia”, Premier Christy Clark said at an event on Monday.

Wieting said those involved in the agreement realized the region is globally important because there are so few temperate rain forests left on the planet.