B.C. extends old-growth logging deferral in Fairy Creek

The province is extending its deferral of old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed area of Vancouver Island until 2025.

The deferrals first came into effect in June 2021, and were set to expire this year, following more than a year of heated protests and blockades in the region.

The province enacted the deferrals after a request came from the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht, and Pacheedaht First Nations, whose territory includes the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran areas.

The deferrals have now been extended until Feb. 1, 2025, the province announced Friday.

Over the next two years, the province says it will continue working on long-term forest management plans in the Fairy Creek watershed area.

The deferrals protect 1,183.8 hectares of old-growth trees located on Crown land in the Fairy Creek watershed.

"The entire watershed falls within the Pacheedaht territory," said the B.C. Ministry of Forests in a release Friday.

"The province continues to work with First Nations rights and title holders to take unprecedented action to protect old-growth forests," the ministry continued.

The province says more than two million hectares of old growth have been deferred across the province since November 2021.

Deferrals do not mean protection in perpetuity, but are a temporary protection against harvesting as long as they are active.

RCMP made more than 1,000 arrests during protests and blockades in the Fairy Creek watershed area in 2020 and 2021, marking one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

RCMP officers, including two wearing the 'thin blue line' patch, arrest a man during an anti-logging protest in Caycuse, B.C. on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jen Osborne