A Federal Court ruled that Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, failed to protect habitats of at-risk migratory birds in old growth logging areas. Chief Justice Paul Crampton stated the Minister’s decision to limit protection to areas where nests were found ‘was neither reasonable or tenable.’
Continue reading Fairy Creek: Federal Court Rules Canada Failed To Protect ‘At-Risk’ Birds In Old Growth Logging Areas
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Environmental groups are applauding B.C. Premier David Eby’s new promise to protect 30 per cent of the province’s land by 2030 in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.
The goal signals a potential shift by the NDP under the new premier to improve B.C.’s lacklustre record of protecting biodiversity and endangered species hot spots, conservation groups say.
Continue reading Has B.C. turned a new leaf around protecting biodiversity?Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
British Columbia represents the country’s greatest opportunity to be a world leader when Canada hosts the landmark global UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal next month.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed to the 30×30 pledge — to protect 30 per cent of Canada’s land and waters by 2030 — and is urging other world leaders to follow suit. The goal won’t be met without gains in B.C., which boasts the greatest biological diversity of any province or territory in the country but also has the greatest number of species at risk.
Continue reading Saving B.C.’s at-risk species is pivotal to Canada’s biodiversity promises at COP15
A new report commissioned by the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC found that Federal and Provincial government policy gaps have rendered their protection of Species at Risk ineffective.
“Our study looked at terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate species in BC We needed to refine the scope a little bit just because there are so many Species at Risk in BC. In order to do this analysis, we had to narrow in on a few representative species. In total, we chose 64 species. Of the 64 species, only two of them have had their critical habitat mapped by the deadlines. The remaining 97% have experienced critical habitat mapping delays anywhere from 2 to 18 years. Then there’s 16 of the 64 species that still don’t even have their critical habitat mapped,” explained Charlotte Dawe of the Wilderness Committee.
Continue reading Government protection of Species at Risk ineffective, report says
Cortes Currents published a factually incorrect story about the proposed Anvil Lake logging road on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Few people knew this, because I pulled the story before it was broadcast on Cortes Radio.
Nick Reed, a local resident, told me, “The concern is mainly the wetlands that this road has to go through, and what effect that will have on Gunflint (and Anvil) Lakes. It is the last wetland on the southern part of Cortes.”
Mark Lombard, general manager of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership (CFGP), responded, “The CFGP never builds roads through wetlands.”
Continue reading Confusion around the proposed Anvil Lake logging road
