Managing BC’s Forests for a Cooler Planet: Carbon Storage, Sustainable Jobs and Conservation

Climate Change has hit BC forests hard. A billion or more pine trees are now dead in the interior of the province, the result of an insect attack of unprecedented proportions, made worse by warmer than average winter temperatures. Meanwhile, due to unusually dry conditions, forest fires burn with increasing intensity. As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere, there is a pressing need to manage our forests in new ways. Properly done, management techniques that maximize carbon storage both in our forests and forest products can go a considerable way to counteracting greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere in society. Such efforts can also create a stronger, more diversified and more sustainable forest economy.