What is B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS)?
B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS) is a provincial government agency within the Ministry of Forests that is responsible for managing 20 percent of the province’s allowable annual cut of Crown timber. Its mandate is to generate economic prosperity for British Columbians through the auctioning and sustainable development of public timber, claiming that “safety, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and sustainable forest management are the three principles guiding all BCTS activities.” However, BCTS has faced significant criticism for its clearcutting practices, particularly wthin old-growth forests. These operations often occur in ecologically and culturally sensitive areas, leading to environmental degradation, habitat loss, and conflicts with Indigenous communities.
The Impact of BCTS's Operations
BCTS’s clearcutting of old-growth forests disrupts ecosystems, threatens biodiversity, and contributes to climate change. The agency has been criticized for prioritizing profit over environmental stewardship and failing to consult Indigenous communities properly. Old-growth forests are vital for their role in storing carbon, supporting diverse species, and maintaining water cycles. Currently however, BCTS auctions off these irreplaceable forests to the highest bidder, and retains and logs ecologically and culturally sensitive areas under its own authority, often leading to clearcutting that leaves the land barren and ecosystems disrupted.
Pacific Wild co-founder, Ian McAllister, made a heartbreaking discovery in the field earlier this year. Ancient forests surrounding Cape Scott Provincial Park on Vancouver Island with trees up to 1000 old were being clear cut by B.C Timber Sales. Further south, in the Nahmint Valley notable old growth was also being cut down. Despite the value these forests bring to tourism, biodiversity, and climate crisis mitigation, the B.C. government shows no sign of stopping its ongoing destruction of the province’s most precious ecosystems.
Watch the video below to see what Pacific Wild discovered.
Increasingly the Province has touted its “consultation” and deferral process as being revolutionary in terms of First Nations input on deferrals being made in old-growth forests on their territorial lands, but these consultations are much more difficult than the public is led to believe. In one case, more than 200 Nations were asked to come to an agreement within 30 days. Consensus among hundreds of Nations, with diverse interests and viewpoints must be reached, or the Province gives itself the right to question the validity of Indigenous claims to the areas in question, despite archaeological evidence of continuous occupation. Essentially, the B.C. government uses colonial red tape to enforce desired policy outcomes, to prop up B.C. Timber Sales, and prevent Indigenous Peoples from becoming involved in the forest sector or its management.
The Value of B.C. Timber Sales - Does it pay the bills?
British Columbia’s logging industry is no longer the economic driver it once was. Yet the declining economic contributions of the forestry sector seem to be invisible to the politicians running our province. Despite mill closures and declining revenues and employment, the industry continues to receive government support, often at the expense of environmental sustainability. Journalist David Broadland reported that “over the past 10 years, it cost British Columbians $365 million per year, on average, to allow forest companies to log publicly-owned forests.” That works out to approximately $1 million a day that citizens pay to fund the destruction of what makes “Beautiful British Columbia” beautiful.
The substantial government subsidies given to the logging industry often go unnoticed by the public. The true cost of these subsidies extends beyond their monetary value; they also contribute to environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and the destruction of old-growth forests, each of which has its own associated costs. Despite the industry’s declining economic significance, the government continues to pour resources into supporting it, perpetuating harmful practices that threaten the health of our ecosystems.
This financial backing of logging operations not only distorts the market but also diverts funds away from more sustainable economic initiatives. With billions of taxpayer dollars funneled into the industry, the opportunity cost is significant. Resources that could be used to develop green jobs, protect vital ecosystems, and invest in renewable energy are instead propping up an unsustainable and environmentally damaging sector. It’s time for a critical reassessment of where public funds are directed and for a shift towards supporting practices that align with long-term ecological and economic health.
Change Starts from the Top
With the stroke of a pen, the B.C. government could change it all … BCTS holds lands in trust for British Columbians, and therefore as fiduciaries to the public they have the responsibility of care, good faith, prudence, and disclosure. As a government agency it must represent the will of the people and its decision making should be rooted in expert knowledge. Unfortunately this is far from the lived experience of most British Columbians.
In a long line of similar reports, a panel of experts submitted The Old Growth Strategic Review in 2020 and made 14 concrete recommendations for better forestry practices which the government committed to implement within three years. However this, like the reports that came before it, went largely ignored. Meanwhile hundreds of people signed petitions and thousands showed up in protest of the ongoing logging of old-growth forests. Both the will of the people and the science are clear where this issue is concerned. Yet the government continues to ignore its own commitments whether they be regarding the Old Growth Strategic review and recent commitments to protect 30 percent of lands by 2030 to safeguard biodiversity. The easiest place to start implementing these government promises would be with the BCTS and its own timber auction. Yet it refuses to change its policies.
In 2021, Karen Price, Rachel Holt and David Doust published findings saying that while the provincial government’s claims that about a quarter of BC’s forests are old growth are accurate. However they also said they are also misleading because “most of this area has low realized productivity, including subalpine and bog forests, and that less than one percent is highly productive old growth, growing large trees” (which is what most British Columbians picture when they think of an old growth forest). A good portion of this remaining one percent exists within BCTS jurisdiction, and mapping shows that some of these “priority areas for deferral” are slated for logging. The trajectory is clear: log it all until it’s gone. This must change, and this change needs to start with the BCTS.
Taking Action - A Movement is Brewing
One grassroots movement in particular is gathering steam. It calls for a reform in B.C. forests, focusing on the BCTS.
Transform BC Timber Sales is a citizen-led initiative committed to driving meaningful change through peaceful and nonviolent actions, grounded in the principles of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Members urgently call on the BC Government to radically transform or dissolve the BCTS entirely.
For more than 20 years, BC Timber Sales (BCTS) has prioritized timber extraction at the expense of Indigenous rights, leadership, and stewardship, while neglecting the conservation of cultural values. BCTS has also compromised watersheds, biodiversity, wildlife habitats and human sanctuaries, and has exacerbated risks from wildfires, droughts, and flooding. And while the situation is urgent, the BC government has failed to implement the 14 critical recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review panel—measures essential for preserving the remaining old-growth and primary forests in British Columbia. There is no justification to delay implementation by BCTS, the government’s in-house agency.
The initiative cites many reasons to Transform BCTS including the following:
- Despite an obviously hotter, drier climate predicted to only intensify, BCTS logging practices have barely changed since BCTS was created in 2003.
- BCTS and the NDP backtracked on promises to stop selling areas with at-risk old-growth forests, and gave direction for logging and road-building in proposed deferral areas. In the government’s own words from 2021: ‘To support the deferral process, government will immediately cease advertising and selling BC Timber Sales in the affected areas.’
- BCTS does not even recognize there are different ecological values between pristine, never-logged, ‘primary’ natural forest and a tree farm.
- BCTS is responsible for 20 percent of all clear-cutting on Crown land in B.C. (the equivalent of 167,000 logging trucks per year or 6.7 million cubic meters of timber) but it only contributes about $7 per person in tax revenue to the province.
- BCTS and the Ministry of Forests refuses to reveal what old growth is being logged in their 2024/25 sales schedule.
To get involved or learn more about this citizen-led initiative email: ReformBCTS@proton.me
