Organizations across B.C., including one in the Comox Valley, are pushing the province to deliver on a promise to create legislation that will protect biodiversity.

The promise stems from a five-year-old independent Old Growth Strategic Review Report, which was undertaken to inform policies around old growth forest management. The report made 14 different recommendations for the province to act on.

In a recently-made public letter from March to the minister of water, land and resource stewardship, 88 different organizations urged the province to move forward on implementing a biodiversity and ecosystem health framework and associated laws that would see the protection of vital natural areas in B.C. One of the 88 organizations that's critical of the province's lack of action in this area is Save Our Forests Comox Valley, a group committed to advocating for old growth and urban forests.

Jen Groundwater, a volunteer for Save Our Forests Comox Valley, told the Discourse she's been spending time digging through provincial government initiatives going back to the 1990s and has seen little progress on its promises.

"Every time you turn around, there's another panel," she said. "It's like, 'Let's get everybody's input and we'll do something about it,' and then nothing happens."

One of the reports Groundwater dug through was the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review: "A New Future for Old Forests." The review was submitted by two registered professional foresters, Al Gorley and Garry Merkel, who began travelling across the province and undertaking research for the report in 2019.

"Facing diminishing available timber supplies, ecosystems at risk of biodiversity loss in several areas and significant public concern, the Government of British Columbia announced that an independent panel (Al Gorley and Garry Merkel) would carry out a province-wide Old Growth Strategic Review to inform the development of new management policies and strategies," the report says.

It was submitted in April 2020 after the foresters spoke to "nearly 800 people" through surveys, emails and written submissions about the management of old-growth forests in B.C.

The review led the two foresters to conclude that, "despite the good intentions and efforts of many people ... the overall system of forest management has not supported the effective implementation or achievement of the stated and legislated public objectives for old forests."

In the review, Gorley and Merkel say this has happened because of many different choices made over several decades "within an outdated paradigm."

In 2023, another document came out -- the Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework -- from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. This document was a response to recommendation number two from the Old Growth Strategic Review: "prioritizing ecosystem health and resilience."

The document says, "The British Columbia Government commits to the conservation and management of ecosystem health and biodiversity as an overarching priority and will formalize this priority through legislation."

Groundwater told The Discourse the 88 groups that signed the letter in March are demanding action on B.C.'s commitment that was made in the Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework. But the groups say that two years since the framework was released, the province is yet to put the management of ecosystem health and biodiversity into legislation.

Groundwater said it's discouraging to see these promises made without action.

"That's the reason we were keen to sign [the letter] and get involved with it," she said.

In 2024, the province published another document titled "From Review to Action," which shared the progress B.C. has made so far since the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review report came out. Within the 2024 report, the province said it "accepts the review's 14 recommendations in full," but added that "achieving the full intent of the review is work that will span generations."

Groundwater met with The Discourse at a local cafe on Sept. 22 and was joined by local senior and environmental advocate, Wendy McNiven.

She is part of a group called Seniors for Climate and has been involved in climate advocacy for 50 years. McNiven said she is exhausted with the lack of action from the province.

"I love big trees. I just feel spiritually better when I'm near them. But of course there are so many scientific reasons for us to maintain old growth forests as healthy ecosystems," she said.

"Everyone's already heard of the scientific reasons, but they are somehow not choosing to prioritize them."

The province defines old growth trees as typically 250 years old for the wet coastal and interior wet belt regions, and 140 years old for dry interior forests.

In 2021, scientists estimated that B.C. once held about 25 million hectares of old growth forest, of which 11.1 million hectares remains. Of that, 5 million hectares is unprotected and at risk, meaning that it is both valuable and available to forest companies.

However, reporting from The Narwhal shared that ecologists believe less than three per cent of old-growth forests with the largest trees and richest biodiversity are left.

According to a 2022 scientific review from the Environmental Chemistry Letters journal, old trees create "micro climates that can slow global warming," and their ability to store carbon in the soil is also crucial to keep the climate cool. Old-growth forests are also "irreplaceable habitats" for many endangered species.

In B.C., one example of an important at-risk species that relies on old-growth forests is the oldgrowth specklebelly lichen, which is listed as a species of special concern under the Species At Risk Act.

In the interior of B.C., the highly endangered mountain caribou often visit and rely on old-growth forests for their winter habitat, and the endangered northern myotis bat relies on large-diameter trees to roost. They raise their pups underneath the thick bark.

The 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review report says, "In addition to their intrinsic value, the timber [old-growth forests] provide is important to the provincial economy, and a primary source of income in many communities. These same forests anchor ecosystems that are critical to the wellbeing of many species of plants and animals, including people, now and in the future."

"The conditions that exist in many of these forests and ecosystems are also simply non-renewable in any reasonable time frame."

Jessica Clogg, executive director and senior counsel at West Coast Environmental Law, is also critical of the province's lack of action on biodiversity and thinks the province has instead pushed through legislation that may harm biodiversity.

"Implementation of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework and law is an essential environmental guardrail needed for good projects to move forward in a way everyone can support," she said in a Sept. 11 news release.

"Instead [of implementing the biodiversity legislation], B.C. rammed through Bills 14 and 15, raising concerns that environmental safeguards will be circumvented to fast-track projects, while their promise to develop a biodiversity and ecosystem health law languishes in the doldrums."

The bills were put in place in May as a response to the rise of economic uncertainty and tariffs imposed by the U.S.

Bill 14 expedites renewable energy projects in the province and puts the BC Energy Regulator -- which oversees oil and gas -- in charge of those projects. It also exempts projects like the $3-billion North Coast Transmission Line and certain wind energy projects from the environmental assessment process.

Bill 15, which received backlash from First Nations, municipalities and environmental organizations, gives the province power to override permitting or environmental assessment requirements to fast-track any major infrastructure project.

In Bill 14, there is only one line about Indigenous consultation, stating regulations and orders under these bills "may not be made in relation to provisions of an enactment respecting engagement with Indigenous Peoples, as defined in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act."

Bill 15 contains the same line, plus one more that states the lieutenant governor of B.C. may make regulations "prescribing consensus-seeking opportunities in relation to participating Indigenous nations."

In a news release from May 6, Grand Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said that in the development of the bills, the province did not meaningfully consult or cooperate with First Nations.

"While we support the province taking action to counter Trump's erratic behaviour, such action must be principled, respect First Nations' basic human rights and be done in consultation and cooperation with First Nations. We are deeply alarmed by the province's continued backsliding on reconciliation," Philip said in the news release.

In the more recent Sept. 11 news release, Phillip added that "by fast-tracking resource projects without delivering on its commitment to co-develop a biodiversity and ecosystem health law with First Nations, B.C. is setting the stage for escalating resource conflict and unacceptable impacts on inherent rights and First Nations' territories."

Elder Bill Jones, the Pacheedaht Elder who is taking his own Nation to court over its involvement in old-growth logging in the Walbran Valley, noted in the same Sept. 11 news release that little has changed since the province released its Old Growth Strategic Review report five years ago.

"The government talks and talks about protecting forests, but it feels like lip service. Old growth is still being logged, and people like us are left fighting in the courts just to defend what should already be safe. These forests aren't just trees -- they give us clean water and healthy air," he said. "Instead of making us battle for the old growth, the government should be stepping up to protect the ecosystems, not propping up industry. We have to start expressing our bitterness in our votes. These forests keep us all safe and well now, and in the future."

The province has taken some action since the Old Growth Strategic Review report came out in April 2020. Early this year, the province announced that it approved an order to extend the deferral for temporary protections in the Fairy Creek watershed until 2026.

The watershed and forests around it were where the 2021 Fairy Creek blockades took place. More than 1,100 people were arrested as they defied court orders to remove the blockades and allow logging activity to take place. It was considered the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

In an email to The Discourse, the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship did not include information about specific legislation regarding biodiversity or ecosystem health, but it stated the province is "committing to protect 30 per cent of B.C.'s lands and inland waters by 2030."

The ministry said it received more than 7,000 responses from the public regarding the Draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework.

"Many responses were supportive in principle and also emphasized the complexity of this shift to prioritize biodiversity and ecosystem health over species-specific management. There was also a consistent request for more consultation and engagement, so the draft framework and specific actions are better understood, and the implementation path is clear," the ministry said.

It also pointed to recent protections in the Incomappleux Valley, the Klinse-za Park expansion, the Tŝilhqox Qay Naguten Wildlife Management Area and the Kishkosh and Kitkiata inlets Wildlife Management Area.

The ministry said it invested $100 million in 2023 to restore watersheds through the province's Watershed Security Fund and invested $150 million in the BC Conservation fund, which is to be equally matched by the BC Parks Foundation to "protect diverse ecosystems throughout the province such as old-growth forests, wetlands and rare habitats."

Funding has also been made available through the Silviculture Innovation Program for projects that support implementing innovative silviculture in B.C., including techniques for maintaining and recruiting old growth characteristics, the province said.

In 2024, the ministry said its Old Growth Nature Fund contributed to the protection of more than 300 hectares of land "to conserve old growth."

The B.C. government, the federal government and seven land trust and conservancy organizations worked together to secure critical old growth and habitat for species at risk at eight different sites, totalling 316 hectares. About $7.9 million from the Old Growth Nature Fund, along with $8.2 million contributed by private donors and organizations, were used to purchase these privately owned lands.

But for Groundwater, MicNiven and the other province-wide organizations who are hoping the province will finalize the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, these actions aren't enough.

They think the holdup in finalizing the framework through legislation is "leading to further and rapid loss of old-growth forests and their attendant species."

The implementation of bills that fast-track resource projects in the province, rather than adhere to environmental assessment processes, also remains a concern.

One Island-based group -- the Esquimalt United Church Justice Team -- notes that while the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework document remains a draft, old-growth forests and species that inhabit and rely on them are disappearing quickly.

Groundwater said that when the Old Growth Strategic Review first went out in 2020, she and others had hoped that those recommendations within the review were received by the province in good faith.

She said it's frustrating for her to watch the province continue to publish reports with little follow-up and action, despite the reports laying out recommendations and a path forward.

"It's discouraging when the government continually promises change and then doesn't do anything about it," she said.

McNiven added that she wants to see the NDP government fulfill some of its past promises about old-growth forests, but thinks "so far, they're going backwards."

Comox Valley group joins dozens of others in urging province to do more for biodiversity