Dear editor,
A few weeks ago, our local MLA’s letter was given the headline Courtenay-Comox MLA says senior support initiative is receiving rave reviews.
What needs to be given a front-page headline is what is not receiving rave reviews – our provincial NDP’s absolute failure to protect what little old-growth forests we have left. They established the Old Growth Strategic Review panel and requested public input. A group of independent scientists has just released BC’s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity, the report they submitted to the panel. The report is damning. The government claims that 23 per cent of forested areas are old growth. The scientists found that only three per cent are capable of growing the big trees and even those are still slated for logging.
RELATED: Big old trees almost gone forever, scientists warn
We are facing a climate and ecological crisis. We desperately need to protect what little old-growth we have left. Its value is priceless to preserve biodiversity and help mitigate the effects of climate change, not to mention its stunning beauty. This is a travesty and a tragedy, and leaves me very disheartened.
Marilyn Armstrong,
Comox
