miscellany

• The provincial total area of old forest (~13.2 million hectares) matches our total.

• The vast majority of this forest (80%) consists of small trees:

› ~5.3 million hectares have site index* 5 –10; another ~5.3 million hectares are at SI 10–15.

› Small trees characterize many of BC’s natural old forest types, including black spruce bog forests in the northeast, subalpine forests at high elevation, and low productivity western red cedar forests on the outer coast.

› Large areas of this old forest type remain because the trees are too small to be worth harvesting (under today’s prices).

• In contrast, only a tiny proportion of BC’s remaining old forest (3%) supports large trees:

› ~380,000 hectares have a site index 20–25, and only ~35,000 hectares of old forest have an SI greater than 25.

› These types of forests match most people’s vision of old growth. They provide unique habitats, structures, and spiritual values associated with large trees.

› Productive old forests are naturally rare in BC. Sites with the potential to grow very large trees cover less than 3% of the province. Old forests on these sites have dwindled considerably due to intense harvest so that only 2.7% of this 3% is currently old (see pie charts below). These ecosystems are effectively the white rhino* of old-growth forests. They are almost extinguished and will not recover from logging.

› Over 85% of productive forest sites have less than 30% of the amount of old forest expected naturally, and nearly half of these ecosystems have less than 1% of the old forest expected naturally. This current status puts biodiversity, ecological integrity and resilience at high risk today.

*site index (SI) refers to the height of dominant or codominant trees at age 50; it is used as a measure of site productivity and to estimate tree growth over time; example: a site index class of 5–10 means tree seedlings will grow between 5 and 10m tall in 50 years across the range of sites included in the class; similarly, a site index of 20–25 means trees are expected to grow between 20 and 25m tall in 50 years