Where did all the trees go?

BC's economy has been built upon and constantly strengthened by tourism and the logging industry.  Unfortunately these two major contributers to the economy are often looking to the same trees to support themselves.  Loggers need trees for lumber and tourism needs trees to give people something to come see.  Noone is going to come to a park to wander through its clearcuts and heavy machinery.

One of the forests currently being threatened is home to the world's largest Douglas Fir tree.  This forest on Vancouver is currently protected by a municipal recreation area, but is also zoned for commercial logging.  Although there are no current plans to log this particular forest, situations like this exist all over the province.  Thew province has a very black and white landuse policy.  If an area is protected under a provincial or national park, then there is to be no industry.  If the area is not under protection then there is a free for all and industry can quite easily develop.

This causes the constant need for more parks and protection but the amount of red tape to get through makes this a very slow process.  Trust in companies with tenure can only hold for so long and eventually this will fail.  Tenures are held because companies hope to develop the area in the future.  They may promise no development in the short term but would have no need for these if they didn't eventually have plans to develop.

I think that this is one of our biggest stumbling block in protecting our wild lands.  Making it so easy for developers and so difficult for conservationists often makes efforts to protect an area too little and too late.  With a change in landuse policy and zoning, we could easily add protection without the need of a park designation.   Land could be set aside as wilderness reserves and get put under 10 or 20 year protected terms.  This would allow the area to remain protected in the short run and give conservationists and park planners time to evaluate whether or not a park would be beneficial both economically and ecologically.

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/World+largest+Douglas+risk+fearful+environmentalists+charge/2615217/story.html