For immediate release - Tuesday June 13, 2006

Listing of 45 species under weak forestry law designed to thwart federal intervention

Vancouver, British Columbia ~ The announcement yesterday by the British Columbia government to list 45 species at risk under the heavily criticized Forest and Range Practices Act was condemned by the Wilderness Committee as a cynical attempt to avoid federal requirements to protect BC’s growing list of species at risk.

“This listing process is simply meant to sidestep federal obligations to protect endangered species in British Columbia,” said Gwen Barlee, policy director with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. “BC is doing everything they can to give the appearance they are taking action when in actuality they are letting species at risk fall between the cracks.”

Unlike most provinces in Canada British Columbia has no endangered species legislation. There are 1,367 species listed at risk provincially according to the provincial government’s BC Conservation Data Centre.

In 1996 British Columbia signed the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk committing to a national approach to protect endangered species in Canada. Since that time the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) was also introduced, requiring provinces to meet federal standards to protect species at risk. Under SARA, if provincial governments do not take adequate measures to protect species at risk that are on provincial soil, the federal government can step in.

The decision for the BC government to list 45 species at risk under the province’s Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) is considered inadequate by many conservationists familiar with the legislation because FRPA incorporates a series of provisions which create hurdles to environmental protection. One of the key criticisms of FRPA relates to the fact that a minister is restricted from protecting environmental values, such as endangered species, if the action “unduly reduce(s) the supply of timber from British Columbia’s forests” for logging companies.

Critics of the Act point out that wildlife such as the critically endangered Northern spotted owl are already on the list of species at risk under FRPA but continue to receive inadequate protection. In British Columbia the largest logger of spotted owl habitat is the BC government’s own BC Timber Sales Program.

“The fact that the BC government listed endangered species under this weak legislation does not mean that they are protected,” said Barlee. “Listing and protection are two different things. Once again the BC government is letting politics trump science. If they were serious about protecting endangered species in BC they would introduce effective endangered species legislation.”

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For more information please call: Gwen Barlee at 604-683-8220 (work) or 604-202-0322 (cell)