GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

(Left): Aerial view of part of the Great Bear Rainforest; (Right): One of the rare white 'Spirit' bears in the Great Bear Rainforest
[Photo: Ron Thiele. Courtesy Terrace Tourism] For more images and maps go here.


The Great Bear Rainforest, which runs along British Columbia’s North and Central Coast, covers 15.5 million acres (6.4 million hectares) - an area larger than Switzerland. It is the largest intact, unprotected coastal temperate rainforest left in the world.

The traditional territory of 25 First Nations it is also home to many unique plant and animal species including 1,000-year-old red cedars, Grizzly Bear, white ‘Spirit’ bears (a genetic variation of a black bear), bald eagles, wolves, steelhead and salmon including Coho, Chinook, Sockeye, Chum and Pink. Twenty per cent of the world’s salmon are found here.

Threatened and endangered species in the forest include wolverines, bats (Keen’s long eared myotis), birds (Peregrine Falcons, Marbled Murrelets and the Northern Goshawk), coastal tailed frogs and fish (eulachon and dolly varden).

British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest has been a site of global controversy, environmental protest and
widespread international media interest since 1995. Greenpeace, ForestEthics, Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter came together to target destructive logging here.

The groups’ efforts culminated in critical pressure from forest product customers. Over 80 companies, including Ikea, Home Depot, Staples and IBM, committed to stop selling wood and paper products made from ancient forests. This marketplace pressure drove logging companies to sit down and negotiate with environmentalists. Meanwhile, key valleys in the rainforest were protected from logging while discussions took place. The main goals were to protect the most important areas of the Great Bear Rainforest (the Central and North Coast) and Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), change logging practices and support a sustainable future for local communities.

To make these goals a reality, these four environmental organizations employed a sophisticated campaign that involved market engagement, government lobbying and civic action, participation in government-sponsored landuse forums, and negotiations with the coastal logging industry.

These efforts have led to The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, made public on February 7, 2006. It means that 1. 5 million acres (2 million hectares) is protected from logging. This includes: Previously protected parks covering 1 million acres (443,000 hectares); Newly negotiated parks that stretch over 3.3 million acres (1.3 million hectares); No logging zones that equal 736,000 acres (297,000 hectares)

In addition, by 2009, any logging that does take place will be a better, lighter touch forestry, called Ecosystem Based Management. There will be comprehensive First Nations involvement in management over their entire traditional territory and the diversification of the economy based on conservation.

The size of protected areas in the Great Bear Rainforest is equal to 6,300 times the area of New York City’s Central Park. The portion of the Great Bear Rainforest protected from logging will cover: an area more than twice the size of Yellowstone Park, eight times the size of Luxembourg, three times the size of Germany’s Black Forest

A central component of the Great Bear Rainforest Project is an innovative $120 million conservation financing package to fund conservation management projects and ecologically sustainable business ventures in First Nation territories. To date, The Nature Conservancy, Tides Canada and several private U.S. and Canadian foundations have raised almost $60 million in philanthropic funds and the provincial government of British Columbia has committed $30 million to the financing package. However, without a $30 million commitment from the Canadian federal government, the package as a whole is in jeopardy. Conservationists, the provincial government and First Nations are working to secure this federal commitment.

For full details and press coverage of this historic agreement see: www.savethegreatbear.org/