Over 76,000 hectares of old-growth forests and at-risk ecosystems will now benefit from new conservancies declared by the BC government on Vancouver Island.
The 10 conservation areas are located in Clayoquot Sound and are now off-limits to the forestry industry in efforts to protect the regions and support promises of reconciliation efforts on behalf of the Province.
BC’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says these areas were chosen in partnership with the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and that they will be protected permanently.
The new conservancies will come into effect officially on June 26th and were made possible in part because of a conservation organization, Nature United, who helped provide funding to the current Tree Farm Licence (TFL) holder to support removing areas from the TFL.
The Province says the affected TFL lies within Clayoquot Sound and the creation of these new conservancies were made in efforts to reconfigure it for the benefit of the surrounding First Nations.
A group of aligned old-growth conservation organizations, the Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance, together expressed their congratulations to the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations for the conservancies that have been declared.
The Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance is an alliance of Canopy, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, SierraClub BC, Stand. Earth and Wilderness Committee.
They say that these new conservation areas nearly double the protected old-growth rainforests in the region, and that this move can only benefit the development of sustainable economic opportunities for the Nations toward conservation and community well-being.
“This is a huge environmental justice victory for Clayoquot Sound thanks to the leadership of the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation,” said Jeh Custerra, Director of Environmental Justice, Friends of Clayoquot Sound.
“We have been working in solidarity with the local Nations since the 1970s, and today we celebrate these conservancies as a significant increase that almost doubles the protected areas for Clayoquot Sound to support greater ecosystem and community health.”
Custerra added that there is still work to be done by all levels of government to expand protected areas and do so by acknowledging First Nations’ visions.
The Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance now calls on the Province to permanently cease any and all present and future mining developments in Clayoquot Sound.
