The government of British Columbia is protecting more old-growth forests and enhancing biodiversity by establishing another 567 old growth management areas, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson announced today.

British Columbia’s newest old growth management areas lie within five landscape units of the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District and cover 18,421 hectares, representing about 13.6% of the 134,993 hectares of Crown forested land base in those landscape units.

The establishment of old growth management areas helps protect the biological diversity of old-growth forests by ensuring that stands from different ecosystem types are protected and land use objectives are met. These areas are excluded from commercial timber harvesting, which helps preserve plant ecosystems, wildlife habitat and cultural values.

The 567 newly designated old growth management areas are located within five different landscape units. Some of them lie within existing provincial parks, wildlife habitat areas and ungulate winter ranges.

• Homfray Landscape Unit: 2,802 hectares on the east side of Homfray Channel and the southeast side of Toba Inlet, north of Powell River.
• Jervis Landscape Unit: 4,503 hectares on the east and north sides of Jervis Inlet, between Powell River and Sechelt.
• Quatam Landscape Unit: 2,971 hectares on the north side of Pryce Channel and the east side of Toba Inlet.
• Salmon Inlet Landscape Unit: 4,933 hectares on the north and south sides of Salmon Inlet, near Sechelt.
• Southgate Landscape Unit: 3,212 hectares northeast of Bute Inlet and southwest of Chilko Lake.

The process to set the boundaries of these areas began in 2010, in accordance with the Land Act, the Forest and Range Practices Act, and the land use objectives regulation. It relied on input from natural resource professionals and forest tenure holders, as well as a consultation process with affected First Nations that began in November 2013. A 60-day public review and comment period concluded on Feb. 18, 2014.

The creation of these old growth management areas in the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District reflects the government’s ongoing commitment to protect old-growth forests, promote biodiversity and preserve valuable ecosystems for the enjoyment of all British Columbians.

Quick Facts:

• There are currently over 49,000 old growth management areas in B.C., covering almost 3.1 million hectares.
• A total of about 4.5 million hectares of old-growth forest are protected in British Columbia within old growth management areas, provincial parks, national parks, ecological reserves, land conservancies and recreational areas.
• The Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District is located about 100 kilometres northwest of Vancouver and encompasses over 1.5 million hectares of land on B.C.’s southwest coast.
• A landscape unit (LU) is a natural resource planning area that may cover up to 100,000 hectares. A landscape unit’s boundaries are defined according to topographic or geographic features, such as a watershed or a series of watersheds.
• Eighteen of the 25 landscape units that make up the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District contain established old growth management areas.
• Currently, over 15% of the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District is designated as parks or protected areas.
• Communities in the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District include Powell River, Sechelt, Gibsons and Pender Harbour.

Learn More:

An interactive map of B.C.’s natural resource districts is available online at: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/maps/regdis/regdismap.pdf

Maps and legal orders related to the new Sunshine Coast old growth management areas can be viewed online at: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/SLRP/plan115.html

Media Contacts:

Greig Bethel
Public Affairs Officer
Ministry of Forests, Lands
and Natural Resource Operations
250 356-5261