Activists at Langford rally want definitive protection for old growth

Activists and advocates rallied last week outside the Langford office of Forests minister and Langford-Highlands MLA Ravi Parmar. Frustrated with what they see as the province’s failure to protect regional old-growth forests, “Stop Waffling on Old Growth” event organizers from the Wilderness Committee and Stand.earth called on Parmar to shift his focus from logging trees to protecting them.

Tobyn Neame, forest campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, told The Westshore that “Five years ago, the province made a promise to conduct a paradigm shift in how old growth forests are managed and treated in this province. And in those five years, on the ground, we’ve seen very little action.

BC's old growth forests are defined as those including trees 250 years old (on the coast) or 140 years old (in the Interior). Old growth plays a role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, via cooler and moister internal forest conditions that regulate air temperature, water temperature, and fire resistance.

Parmar wasn't present when the rally was held at his Langford office; he has been travelling throughout the province meeting mainly with forestry industry stakeholders.

Years since deferrals began at Fairy Creek and other areas 

In 2020 and 2021 the Renfrew-area Fairy Creek watershed north of the Westshore were host to protests and blockades opposing logging in the area, in what became the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

In June 2021 Pacheedaht, Ditidaht, and Huu-ay-aht First Nations gave notice to the province to defer old-growth logging for two years in the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran areas while they prepared resource management plans.

In February 2025, Parmar and the province announced that BC would again further defer logging in the storied area until 2026.

Deferrals are not definitive decisions. It’s the uncertainty around what happens once they expire that rally goers want to understand. The Wilderness Committee and Stand.earth would like to see far more be protected and more transparency about the status of areas that aren’t permanently safe.

“The deferrals are a temporary measure to allow that nation-to-nation discussion on what to do with the forests moving forward,” Neame said. “We’re calling on the new minister of forests to take some real action. We want to see those promises enacted.”

Stand.earth senior forest campaigner Tegan Hansen said they simply want the minister to meet his government's promises.

“The forests they said would be off limits to logging are still being logged,” she told The Westshore, “We’re getting that proof all the time with our monitoring system, Forest Eye.”

Stand.earth says its satellite monitoring tool has identified over 38K hectares of old-growth forests destroyed by industrial activity such as logging and pipelines in recent years.

Amid tariffs, minister has focused on forestry industry

Since his swearing in, Parmar has spent significant time showing his support for the forestry sector meeting with logging and forestry representatives. Between Jan 28 and last Saturday, his social media posts show he’s had at least 9 meetings with sector representatives, from saw mill owners to the United Steel Workers.

While the rally was taking place outside his office, Parmar was headed to Mackenzie for a second visit. In January Parmar was at the TLA convention in Mackenzie where he met with leaders and workers at Conifex Lumber’s saw mill. Last Saturday, Parmar was in Mackenzie again, meeting with representatives of the forestry sector at Conifex and East Fraser Lumber, “hoping to restore confidence in the sector.”

The sector has weathered turbulence both in the short term, with the US trade war affecting softwood exports, and over the past years and decades. The Island has seen multiple mill closures recently.

The minister's message on social media this weekend was clear. “I care about Mackenzie and you should too.”

Government behind on implementing old growth recommendations 

The rallygoers say they would like to see the same level of commitment from Parmar for forest protection as for forestry.

“What we’ve seen a lot of in the last few years is the spreading of misinformation about how far along they are in meeting their commitments,” Hansen argues. “It’s a little frustrating for people to hear from the government that they are doing a good job but when we look at the facts, we see they haven’t fulfilled any of the 14 recommendations they said they would.”

The recommendations Hansen is referring to were outlined in the 2020 report “A New Future for Old Forests: A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems.”

The report was co-authored by Al Gorley, the former chair of the Forest Practices Board and Garry Merkel (Tahltan Nation), chair of the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel. Both men were once professional foresters.

 Merkel and Gorley made 14 recommendations they hoped would reconstitute the management of old-growth forests, beginning with a government-to-government framework involving BC’s First Nations. Recommendation #6 is “Until a new strategy is implemented, defer development in old forests where ecosystems are at very high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.” Many areas remain under temporary deferrals while longer-term plans are worked out with regional First Nations.

The panel recommended deferring the logging of 1.7 million hectares of big-tree old growth and about two-thirds of the rare and ancient old growth visible on 8 maps created by Merkel and other independent technical advisors. Another 2.6M hectares of old growth in those two categories was already protected. Most public forested areas outside parks and protected areas are available for logging through various types of licences issued by the province.

When the Fairy Creek-Walbran deferral and others in 2026, those at-risk forests will either be added to BC’s 3.5M hectares of old-growth forests already off-limits to harvesting, included in new forest management plans—or simply deferred again.

Last weekend's ralliers say that patience is running out for deferrals and temporary measures, and that the local minister should do more.

“We want not just a commitment, but a commitment with action to show that he is serious.”