ONE GOVERNMENT. TWO WATERSHEDS. OPPOSITE POLICIES.
In Greater Victoria, the regional district just paid $33.3 million to retire 1,973 hectares of land from a logging company so that drinking water for 350,000 people stays protected.
Six hundred kilometres east, twenty-five rural households near Nelway are asking the province for the same protection for their watershed (Eldorado + Lomond Creeks, 2,250 hectares).
The province isn't paying to protect it. The province is paying its own agency, BC Timber Sales (BCTS), to LOG it. BCTS lost the public approximately $3.65 billion across 2009 to 2019 and carries $167 million in unfunded reforestation obligations. They're building roads now in the Eldorado Creek watershed, on a karst limestone aquifer where springs already ran dry during the 2017 wildfires.
On April 16, 2026, the Regional District of Central Kootenay voted UNANIMOUSLY to ask the province for protection. The Forests Minister, Hon. Ravi Parmar, has the authority to bring this to Cabinet under the Ecological Reserve Act. He hasn't done so.
What we're calling for: extend equivalent watershed protection to Eldorado + Lomond. Honour the unanimous Regional District vote with a moratorium on FOM 2153.
Three calls. Three minutes:
📞 Forests Minister's Office: 250-387-6240
📞 BCTS Kootenay (Nelson): 250-825-1100
📞 MLA Brittny Anderson: 250-354-5944
Because BCTS will not stop here.
@brittnyandersonbc@bcndp@davideby@bcgov@rdck_official@wildernesscommittee@AncientForestAlliance@SierraClubBC@fairycreekblockade
#SaveRosebud #FOM2153 #EldoradoCreek #SalmoCanada #KootenayBC #SookeWatershed #SookeLakeReservoir #BCTimberSales #BCForestry #ProtectKarst #StopTheCut #KootenayWatersheds #PublicLand #BCndp #BCpoli #WatershedDefenders #DrinkingWater
⚠️ @rparmarbc BC’s Minister of Forests oversees one of the most unsustainable timber industries still operating in the developed world.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of acres are clearcut in BC, despite what @rparmarbc may think. This includes tens of thousands of acres of old-growth forests, containing ancient trees many which are over 1000 years old.
BC is fully capable of transitioning it’s forestry sector to second growth, yet the Ministry continues to say old growth logging will remain part of BC’s forestry sector. But by definition, old growth is not renewable on human timelines — once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Ravi Parmar should retire and make way for a new Minister of Forests who will LISTEN TO THE SCIENCE and implement all of the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review on the recommended timeline.
📣 Contact the BC Ministry of Forests and ask for:
Full implementation of the Old Growth Strategic Review
A rapid transition to second-growth forestry
An end to old-growth logging
📞 BC Ministry of Forests: 250-387-6240 📧 Minister of Forests office: [email protected]
On Tuesday, communities rose up in a province wide day of action led by grassroots groups to put @davidebybc , @rparmarbc , @bcndp , the Ministry of Forests and BC Timber Sales (BCTS) back in the spotlight for their continued broken promises to protect old growth forests.
From the BCTS headquarters and BC Legislature in Victoria where hundreds gathered to a massive turnout of 800+ in Nelson where David Suzuki and Suzanne Simard rallied the crowds, the message was loud and clear: we will remain steadfast until there is a real shift toward sustainable forest stewardship.
BC Timber Sales (BCTS), a Ministry of Forests agency managing 1/5 of the Timber Harvest land base, continues to issue logging permits for irreplaceable old-growth, including the most at-risk areas recommended for temporary logging bans (deferrals) by the Technical Review Panel. In fact, a recent investigation found that logging is 4 times more likely inside at-risk old growth forests that were recommended for deferral than in other old growth.
Instead of subsidizing big logging corporations and the current destructive model of forestry to the tune of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, the BC government should provide conservation financing to First Nations to end old growth logging and prioritize human and ecological well-being.
Send a personal message to decision makers to amplify this groundswell of public pressure. Comment “BROKEN PROMISES” to get the action via DM!
#BrokenPromisesProtest
