The British Columbia government was expected to discuss today the next steps it will take on old-growth logging in the province.
Forests Minister Katrine Conroy was scheduled to release the findings of an independent advisory panel established in June to help the province identify at-risk old-growth ecosystems and prioritize them for deferral from logging.
The five-member panel was expected to develop maps and analyze all areas of old-growth trees in the province.
The issue has flared up in the province with ongoing protests against old-growth logging resulting in more than 1,150 arrests by the RCMP in the Fairy Creek watershed on southern Vancouver Island.
Earlier this year, the government approved a request from three Vancouver Island First Nations to defer old-growth logging across about 2,000 hectares of land.
At the time, Conroy said the province was in negotiations with Indigenous rights and title holders over the management of old-growth trees and additional logging deferrals were expected.
—The Canadian Press
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