The provincial government has said no to a proposal to create a protected area for an area of old growth cedars near Duncan Lake.
"At this time, BC Parks is not considering including this area in the provincial protected areas system," wrote Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen in a letter to Grant Trower of Howser, B.C., on Sept. 3.
Trower is the founder of the group Wildlife Habitats for Tomorrow that has been advocating for the protection of a 531-hectare grove and wetland.
He wants the province to declare the cedar groves a protected area, which is a category of protection just short of a full-fledged provincial park.
“There are many trees in this grove that are well over 1,000 years old, and one that is estimated to be 2,100 years old,” said Trower. “They are the largest trees in the whole southern interior rainforest. It isn’t just old growth. It’s ancient old growth.”
He told the Nelson Star that Cullen's letter will not deter him.
"The advocacy is ongoing to ensure this special place will remain for our kids and grandchildren, for this grove is unique and easy to experience," he said, adding that the next steps will include media attention, targeted field trips and obtaining First Nations endorsement.
The proposed Duncan River Ancient Cedars protected area would include the last remaining remnant of the forest in the 45-kilometre valley bottom that was flooded by the Duncan Dam in 1967. The grove is accessible from Duncan Lake Road on the east side of Duncan Lake.
A petition started in 2022 asking the province to protect the area now has 44,908 signatures.
Trower has said that a protected area designation could be created more easily and quickly than creating a new park and would still offer the protection of a park.
Cullen's letter goes on to say that most of the proposed protected area is already within either an Old Growth Management Area or an Old Growth Deferral area, and as such is protected from logging.
Trower counters that those designations can be removed at any time, and that his group wants the grove removed from forestry jurisdiction altogether and put within BC Parks’ mandate.
He says he is surprised that the proposal was turned down, given multiple recent government funding and other initiatives over the past few years that favour of the protection of biodiversity and old growth.
At a public meeting in June in Nelson at which MLA Brittny Anderson and environment minister George Heyman took questions from the public, Trower asked about progress on getting protected status for the cedars. Heyman said he knew nothing about the issue. Anderson said, "It is such a profound area and I would love to see it protected," but she did not elaborate.
