Castlegar biologist Matt Casselman believes public opposition to logging plans does not make much difference.

Last summer, Casselman sent a 450-signature petition to B.C.'s then-forest minister Bruce Ralston asking him to cancel or postpone logging planned by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) near Castlegar in the Cai Creek watershed.

His rationale was that BCTS was planning to of a kind that is rare and should be preserved.

The minister declined to accept the petition.

During the same period, BCTS requested public comment on the logging plan, as it is required to do under the Forest and Range Practices Act. The result was 97 comments, with 93 against the logging and four in favour.

BC Timber Sales is an independent organization within the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, created to develop Crown timber for auction. BCTS plans and designs logging operations, builds logging roads, then sells the timber to the highest bidder.

Casselman says he has come to the conclusion that BCTS "mostly considers public comments a nuisance ... BCTS will do the legal minimum to show they have considered public input, but ultimately will not budge on their logging plans." 

Asked to what degree public comments influence cutting decisions, the Ministry of Forests responded to the Nelson Star by email.

"Public comments are considered within the context of all information compiled to help inform the decision maker about local concerns," the email states, "but they are only one aspect in a broader determination, which also includes First Nation consultation."

The email went on to say that in response to public comments, BCTS made changes to the cutting plan, including establishing a five-metre machine-free zone around a hiking trail that runs to the tree called Lieutenant Dan (the province's oldest ponderosa pine tree) as well as reserving several large trees identified during the public comment period.

Casselman agrees these changes were made but argues that they are minimal and cosmetic. He says he is trying to preserve an intact watershed that contains old-growth trees. 

He contends that BCTS provided too little information to the public about old growth when it asked for public comment, and that the agency was mistaken when it wrote in a public bulletin that the cutblocks contained no old growth. BCTS later re-wrote and re-published the bulletin only after Casselman convinced them it was inaccurate.

As a result of this and other issues that he saw as gaps in information, Casselman filed a complaint with the Forest Practices Board in October, asking it to recommend that BCTS delay or halt the logging plan.

The Forest Practices Board conducts audits and investigations on how well industry and government are meeting forest practice legislation. The board has no enforcement function and does not impose penalties but makes recommendations.

The FPB investigation has not yet concluded, but BCTS nevertheless put the contested cut blocks up for , with a deadline of April 24.

In a letter attached to his submission to the FPB, Casselman wrote:

"Cai Creek is a 70-80 per cent intact watershed as identified by the . Cai Creek has many of the attributes of an old growth stand mixed with areas of younger forest. I have advocated for the protection of Cai Creek from harvest because it is an intact watershed with extensive old-growth trees. I also believe BCTS’ logging plans will irreversibly disrupt the ecological integrity and resilience of the Cai Creek watershed since it will no longer be intact post-harvest."

What is old growth?

Casselman and the ministry both use the same definition of the age of an old-growth tree: 140-plus years, which is consistent with the definition given in the provincial government's official old-growth policy entitled , published in 2020.

But that is where the similarity disappears into a thicket of definitions and classifications about where old growth exists and where it does not. 

Cassleman thinks BCTS is using this difficulty in language to its advantage.

For example, there is an Old Growth Management Area (OGMA) at Cai Creek that BCTS says it does not intend to log. But the ministry that across the province there are OGMAs that contain no old growth and there are areas outside OGMAs that do.

"While the cutblocks are not classified as old-growth forests," the ministry email states, "the timber sale licence was designed to include protections for individual large and old trees, including ponderosa pine, western red cedar and Douglas fir, as well as retention areas for individual stems, trees and wildlife tree areas."

Casselman says he has walked the cutblocks and looked at which trees are marked by the company for retention.

"You can go on the ground and you can see a big, one-metre diameter cedar, not in the way of a machine, out in the open, not marked for retention."

He added this also applies to fir and larch trees in the area.

"The area BC Timber Sales plans to harvest considerably overlaps with intact forest, and the mapped harvest area boundaries regularly extend into intact forest that includes old growth trees and stands," he says.

He wants the FPB to recommend that the ministry look more deeply into the overlaps and shifting boundaries.

But two recent clear directions taken by the provincial government indicate that this may be unlikely.

The province has of BCTS because the forest ministry believes the agency is not meeting its cutting targets. 

The stated goals of the review do not mention the environment, nor does Premier David Eby's Jan. 15 to Forestry Minister Ravi Parmar, which downplays environmental protection and old growth in favour of maximizing timber volume.