*We have a similar longtime movement in #BritishColumbia for same government approved aerial herbicide toxic spraying issue #StopTheSprayBC *

#FirstNations and #environmentalists have denounced the practice of aerial #herbicide spraying on #forestlands for decades. This year, #Indigenous groups in Northern #Ontario have announced a ban on blanket herbicide use, while in #NovaScotia, residents have resorted to peaceful #DirectAction to enforce their own ban.

The #ForestIndustry routinely dumps tons of chemicals like #glyphosate, the main ingredient in #Roundup weedkiller, on logged areas to kill off naturally-regenerated trees and shrubs in favour of commercial #TreeFarms. The problem is, these herbicides are #lethal to frogs, lizards, and salamanders. They wipe out #MedicinalPlants and berry bushes that Indigenous people and #wildlife rely on. Glyphosate, a suspected #carcinogen, #contaminates #rivers and #groundwater far and wide through indiscriminate spraying.

https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/spray-down/

#Backroads on #DididahtTerritory.
This is part of the #SanJuanRiver & forests in the valley. The #watershed area is under ongoing #ecological threats by industrial #clearcut #logging. This is near #CarmannahWalbran #BritishColumbia provincial park.
The forests here are longtime foraging, mating & birthing grounds for the #CowichanValley Roosevelt elk herd. The San Juan is an important salmon bearing river. The old growth forests here are home to several #SpeciesAtRisk & #EndangeredSpecies.
There is ongoing eco activism work to try & protect more of the forests & #waterways in this #wilderness valley on Southern #VancouverIsland.

May the #forests outlive us all.

We need serious #ForestryReform in #BritishColumbia immediately. We need to implement the science-based recommendations from experts who were commissioned multiple times by #BCNDP #BCgovernment to produce #OldGrowth Strategic Reviews (twice during Horgan's regime). They promised to implement the recommendations but they have not done so. Our old growth forests aren't numerous anymore & yet our #capitalist driven, #neoliberal government is still allowing them to be cut. In a severe #ClimateCrisis - we're stuck with political leaders who are still siding with ecocidal corporations. We need to ban corporate lobbyists. They never have citizens' best interests at heart & our politicians are too easily bribed.

The message has not changed.

Arrest the real criminals -> #RCMP #CIRG goons - #BCgovernment & greedy corporations/corporate lobbyists.

Primitive colonial resistance. Powered by deep & pure love for Mother Nature & Creator.

BC Cons: Environmental & Indigenous rights activists are domestic terrorists. We must use militarized police forces on them & protect our corporate lobbyists' interests.

BC NDP: Environmental & Indigenous rights activists are domestic terrorists. We must use militarized police forces on them & protect our corporate lobbyists' interests.

BC Greens: Environmental & Indigenous rights activists are trying to do what governments promised & failed to do. We must not put corporate lobbyists interests above our environmental & citizens' best interests.

More than two dozen lobbyists who served as public officials under David Eby and John Rustad’s past governments have actively lobbied the two party leaders since 2020, an IJF analysis has found.

Ahead of the B.C. election, the IJF has identified 25 lobbyists who held public office over the last two decades and have since communicated with B.C. NDP Leader Eby or B.C. Conservative Leader Rustad, or both.

That includes a former health and environment minister who served alongside Rustad in the last B.C. Liberal cabinet, two former staff members from the office of John Horgan, Eby’s predecessor as NDP premier, and a handful of ministerial chiefs of staff and deputy ministers under the Liberals.

Bryan Evans, a politics professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, said it’s always a concern when someone makes the switch from government to lobbying.

“Lobbying is very much about who you know — the kind of social and political capital one carries based on networks that they build while working in government,” he told the IJF.

“The public, the media, the opposition, whatever it may be, should know who is actually talking to people in positions to make authoritative and consequential decisions.”

https://theijf.org/bc-lobbying-communications

This week, I am voting for #BCGreens. I'd #NeverVoteConservative & after what's happened to me, my family, my BIPOC friends & my clients under #BCNDP leadership, I'd #NeverVoteNeoliberal either.

No one can expect me to support #BCNewDeathParty after they keep approving more budget increases for #RCMPCIRG to protect #ecocide #CorporateGreed over protection of our environment/ecosystems, especially irreplaceable #AncientForests & over #BCcitizens #PublicHealth.

#BCNDPLegacyoOfDeath includes my Dad. Their lack of taking #Covid seriously resulted in him being infected in hospital by unmasked staff. It is unforgivable. This government is still aiding/abetting unnecessary infections, deaths & long covid disability.

#BCpoli #GreedKills #CDNpoli #EthicalVoters #BCElection2024 #BCVotes2024 #VotingGreen #VotingForSustainableFutures #VotingForGreenerFutures #VotingForHumanity #ProportionalRepresentationNOW #End2PartySystem #BanCorporateLobbyists #EcoJustice #SocialJustice #Environmentalist
#Decolonize #FightAgainstColonialism #WildFirst #WorthMoreStanding #SaveOldGrowth #AbolishRCMPCIRG #CorporateMercenaries #KKKanada

The #BCNDP #BCgovernment has said no to a proposal to create a #ProtectedArea for an area of #OldGrowth #cedars near #DuncanLake.

"At this time, #BCParks is not considering including this area in the provincial protected areas system," wrote Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship #NathanCullen in a letter to Grant Trower of Howser, B.C., on Sept. 3.

Trower is the founder of the group #WildlifeHabitatsForTomorrow that has been advocating for the protection of a 531-hectare grove and wetland.

He wants #BritishColumbia to declare the #CedarGroves a protected area, which is a category of protection just short of a full-fledged provincial park.

“There are many #trees in this grove that are well over 1,000 years old, and one that is estimated to be 2,100 years old,” said Trower. “They are the largest trees in the whole southern interior #rainforest. It isn’t just old growth. It’s #ancient old growth.”

He told the Nelson Star that Cullen's letter will not deter him.

"The advocacy is ongoing to ensure this special place will remain for our kids and grandchildren, for this grove is unique and easy to experience," he said, adding that the next steps will include media attention, targeted field trips and obtaining #FirstNations #endorsement.

https://www.nelsonstar.com/local-news/bc-parks-rejects-protected-status-for-duncan-lake-cedar-grove-7523100

#RCMP was ‘unreasonable’ when setting up exclusion zones around Fairy Creek protest
By Leanne Sanders
Sep 11, 2024

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP - #CRCC says that the RCMP was unreasonable in setting up broad #ExclusionZones and checkpoints while enforcing a civil #injunction covering the #FairyCreek area in #BritishColumbia, home to #OldGrowth #forests and a #protest led by people trying to save them.

“In its review, the CRCC found that the broad exclusion zones and checkpoints used by members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group #CIRG were unreasonable,” said the report released on Wednesday. “The review determined that the RCMP’s demand to search the complainant at a checkpoint on a public road was unfounded, and his arrest, after refusing to agree to the search, was groundless.”

C-IRG is a low-profile RCMP group tasked with responding to protests and other public order events about resource based #industrial projects like #logging and #pipeline construction.

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/civilian-complaints-commission-releases-final-report-crcc

A career #OilAndGas #insider will soon be shaping #ClimatePolicy in #Alberta’s department of #Environment and #ProtectedAreas.

After a decade working in various roles for the #Canadian Association of #PetroleumProducers #CAPP , Patrick McDonald has been hired by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to serve as assistant deputy minister of air, #climate and clean technology.

CAPP is one of Canada’s biggest and most aggressive #FossilFuel #LobbyGroups; it held 91 meetings with government officials in 2023, second only to the #PathwaysAlliance with 104, according to a recent report by #EnvironmentalDefence. CAPP’s member companies are responsible for nearly three quarters of Canada’s annual #oil and #NaturalGas production.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/08/19/news/oil-insider-hired-help-shape-albertas-climate-policy

It’s no surprise that big #polluting companies are not happy about annual #CarbonTax increases. But it is #unfair that #BritishColumbians must pay the full carbon tax when the #OilAndGas industry, whose production is responsible for more than one-quarter of #BritishColumbia #CarbonEmissions, gets a carbon #TaxBreak.

The new system will also have a negative impact on B.C.’s carbon #TaxRevenues. In 2024-25, carbon tax revenues will be about $500 million lower than they would have been under the old system. This #RevenueLoss means fewer dollars to pay for #ClimateAction.

These changes point to a #BCgovernment that is far too cosy with the oil and gas #industry. And they make no sense given the urgency of acting on #ClimateChange. #Disasters in 2021 alone caused between $11 billion and $16 billion in damage to the #BCeconomy.

If B.C. really wants to be a #climate leader, the government must stop pandering to lobbying by the oil and gas industry that is causing climate change and act in the interests of all British Columbians

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/08/09/BC-Letting-Big-Industry-Evade-Carbon-Tax/

@thetyee

"The increasing severity of #wildfires and #drought highlights that reforming #ForestStewardship – taking better care of the forests, including safeguarding #OldGrowthForests – is one of our best hopes to protect communities across B.C.

Harmful #forestry practices like #clearcutting and #unsustainable #IndustrialLogging make extreme heat and wildfires worse. #Clearcuts are #tinderboxes, more prone to creating embers because dead trees and branches dry out in the hot sun and become more #flammable. Tree plantations and improperly tended young forests also increase wildfire risk: Younger trees have thinner bark and low-hanging branches that can act as ladder fuels, and the trees are often planted too close together, making it easy for fire to spread.

Fortunately, intact and properly managed #forests are more resilient to the worsening wildfires and heatwaves. For example, #OldGrowth #rainforests have dense canopies which provide cooling shade that resists fire. They are cooler and wetter than young forests, acting as giant sponges. Old-growth trees in the drier interior have thick bark, high branches and are widely spaced which all reduce #WildfireRisk.

Two changes that could change all local #MunicipalGovernment systems for the betterment of all citizens:

1. #BanCorporateLobbyists - corporate lobbyists are awfully corrupting at every level of government. Municipal governments are certainly not immune to that

2. Ban all mayors from chairing or being on any municipal #PoliceBoards - it's a huge conflict of #PublicInterest to have public elected #mayors sitting as chair on any local police board. It's ripe with corruption. It leads to more unnecessary #PoliceFunding & decreases more beneficial #CommunitySafety funding.

My nature & ancient trees loving heart breaks, every time I see more clearcut deforestation. With the rapid acceleration of climate change, our foolish, greedy, short-sighted government continues to accept dirty deals with ecocidal corporations - going against public interests. They greenwash & whitewash while still allowing mass clearcuts to happen in disappearing ancient forests on the island.

Please - don't stop fighting to #ProtectOldGrowth #forests #AncientTrees need #ForestDefenders in times of increased, rampant #CorporateGreed & sellout #ecocide enabling governments ️

#MonochromeMonday

They keep killing the ancients.
Men who kill elder trees, are men who kill their children's futures.
Souls must be disconnected from nature & their spirits desperate for money, for them to be OK destroying #OldGrowth forests, for a temporary paycheque.
There are more ethical ways to earn a living.
Stop believing industrial & government #greenwashing lies.
#ClearcutLogging kills #ecosystems & throws #ecological balance out of whack.

Government tells us to not fret, that they're managing #forestry better - they're #greedy, #sellout #LIARS. You can go see for yourself, how many clearcuts are still happening on big scales, at several places across Vancouver Island & some parts of BC interior where greedy corporations are decimating the last inland #TemperateRainforest in the world. Our #neoliberal BC NDP government is OK with ongoing mass ecocide - they get money from industry lobbyists

Don't stop, fighting to #ProtectOldGrowth #forests #AncientTrees need #ForestDefenders in times of increased, rampant #CorporateGreed & sellout #ecocide enabling governments ️

The #CowichanRiver #estuary is one of the largest & most important in #BritishColumbia. The #watershed drains 90,000 hectares & provides #CriticalHabitat to dozens of #fish species, including #steelhead, #Chinook, #chum, #coho & #PinkSalmon, as well as brown, #cutthroat & #RainbowTrout. But the #Cowichan’s troubles are by no means unique; they are a #CaseStudy for a much larger problem.

#TimberCompanies store #LogBooms all along the #BCcoast, says Jamieson Atkinson, a fish #biologist & program manager for the #Aquatic #Research & #Restoration Centre at #BritishColumbiaConservationFoundation. “It’s shocking.” While #estuaries make up less than 3% of British Columbia’s coast, they provide rich #habitat for 80% of the province’s coastal #wildlife. The #FraserRiver estuary, near #Vancouver on the mainland, supports more than 300 species of #birds & 80 species of fish & #shellfish for at least part of their life cycles.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/07/05/Estuary-Marine-Life-Smothered-Timber-Industrial-Log-Booms

@thetyee