Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday with a Deep Blue Sea Legacy: Nominating New Canadian Marine World Heritage Sites
Thursday, August 25, 2016 Next year Canada turns 150. What better present than a gift to the futur...
forests & land use
Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday with a Deep Blue Sea Legacy: Nominating New Canadian Marine World Heritage Sites
Thursday, August 25, 2016 Next year Canada turns 150. What better present than a gift to the futur...
Water win against logging giant leaves many unanswered questions
Monday, September 21, 2015 Even though water has been at the heart of logging conflicts in BC for many years, it is very rare that logging companies are actually made…
Foresters, biologists, planners take on the “fundamental impacts” of Climate Change
Tuesday, July 8, 2014 Governments and businesses rely heavily on the advice of professionals on a wide range of environmental, resource management and land use planning decisions. That’s why it’s…
Weakening BC’s environmental laws risks eroding social licence for Government’s Cleanest LNG goals
Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Several of the most contentious changes to environmental laws passed during the 2014 spring session of the BC Legislature seem to have been developed, and pushed…
Should Chevron pay for the Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic?
Thursday, May 22, 2014 The Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic – a direct result of climate change – has cost British Columbia billions in lost timber value alone – a reality…
Bill 24 – Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act: Undermining BC’s Food Security
Thursday, April 10, 2014 Following hot on the heels of the controversial Park Amendment Act (Bill 4), the BC government has introduced another bill that would open up some of…
Tell the BC government: Hands off Our Food Security!
Monday, March 31, 2014 The BC government has proposed changes to the Agricultural Land Commission Act thatput our food security seriously at risk. If passed, these changes would restrict the…
New law will regulate Off Road Vehicles
Monday, March 10, 2014 With the BC Legislature’s Spring Session in full swing, there are lots of new, proposed laws to read and comment on, and we’ve been drawing your…
When a U.S. billionaire claims BC fish and lakes
Friday, March 7, 2014 Can a private resort company own a lake? If so, are the fish in the lake private or public? And can the resort keep the public…
Climate leadership from BC Foresters
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 A little more than a week ago (on February 13th), the Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) awarded its first ever “Climate Change Innovators” Award to…
BC government’s forestry inspections target the little guy
Thursday, January 23, 2014 When the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) tries to detect violations of BC’s forest laws, do they put their efforts into detecting…
Forestry in BC – few inspections, low consequences
Friday, December 20, 2013 We’ve reviewed the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Compliance and Enforcement Annual Reports from 1998 to 2012. And what we've found raises a…
Privatizing Salmon Protection: The Failure of the Riparian Areas Regulation
Thursday, March 28, 2013 In BC, key protection for fish habitat is supposed to be provided by the Riparian Areas Regulation (RAR) – a law intended to ensure that residential…
Land Use Planning for Nature, Climate and Communities
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 In December 2012 the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria published a collection of environmental law reform proposals, with contributions from a variety of…
We can’t just roll-over when it comes to the government’s roll-over forest plans
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Last Wednesday (Feb 20th) the Provincial government announced proposed amendments to the Forest Act that will provide for the conversion of volume-based forest licences to area-based…
Upholding the Law, Protecting the Land, Sharing the Wealth
Friday, October 12, 2012 A recently announced agreement between the Province of British Columbia and the Gitanyow Nation is of deep significance not only for the people, the land, and…
Drinking water wins in Jefferd Creek logging battle
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 In 2004 the residents of the tiny community of Stillwater, near Powell River, learned that BC Timber Sales (BCTS) was planning to auction off the rights…
Climate change changes everything in our Forests
Thursday, January 28, 2010 For some time West Coast Environmental Law has been advocating for the BC government to change the way it manages forests to recognize the reality of…