More Research and “Log arounds” Needed Now
The maps and charts contained in this paper quantify the obvious. Watersheds over 5,000 ha in the southern part of the province, where forest timber values were high, and human settlements and industry concentrated, have all been developed. In the temperate rainforest region of the lower 48 United States, there are no longer any wild primary watersheds of this size left- protected or unprotected! The message is clear: we must choose to protect the wilderness areas we need for ecological sustainability or we will lose them.
A survey must be immediately conducted to determine if and/or when resource development is planned for each existing undeveloped coastal BC watershed. These watersheds must remain intact and “log arounds” found, so that options to preserve biodiversity are not foreclosed while the current provincial land use planning process is underway.
On Vancouver Island, in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and on the southern mainland coast, the few remaining opportunities for preservation of large intact watersheds must be acted upon as quickly as possible.
In the areas where more pristine watersheds still remain, along the steep and rugged central and northern coast, watersheds need to be quickly studied. Those watersheds with the best wildlife and fisheries values, not just those with the lowest commercial timber values, must be preserved.
It is important that some partially developed watersheds and watersheds that are only somewhat modified be considered for full preservation. Left to mend themselves, these mostly-wild watersheds have a better chance of ecological sustainability if nature is allowed to reclaim the already developed areas within them. This is our best chance for representation of the 9 ecoregions that no longer have any large, still-wild watersheds.
If we are committed to a land use strategy in BC which will ensure ecologically sustainable development, we must do all we can to preserve biological diversity – our remaining wilderness – in areas which are as ecologically self-sustaining as possible—our primary watersheds.
