Former BC Ministry of Environment habitat protections biologist Len Vanderstar, together with some of his colleagues, have called out the government earlier this year for allowing 1.3 million acres of conservation lands to be removed from their designation without consultation, and after years of rigorous negotiations with communities and First Nations.
One notable area in the Bulkley Valley (known as Tyee Mountain) is a popular hiking trail network and one of the last mature and old growth stands in the Valley. It was removed from the Land Act and several cut blocks have been laid out.
Much of these areas took years to designate as conservation areas or for wildlife, habitat or recreation use by community resource boards from across the region. However, since 2019 there had been over 1.3 million acres of these areas removed from the Land Act with many of them slated to be logged in the coming months and years.
