Stop the Spray BC will be among scientists, activists, and First Nations leaders calling on the Provincial government to get pesticides out of BC forests.
Several groups will be presenting at the meeting in Vancouver tomorrow.
Stop the Spray BC Founder James Steidle will be making a presentation on the kinds of forests he says are not being allowed to grow.
“The broadleaf forests, the aspen, the birch, the cottonwood, the kind of forests we have right around Prince George, right up the hill from Ginter’s Green is a great example of the “illegal forests” I like to call it,” he explained.
“These forests are critical for moose, they’re critical for fire resistance, they’re critical for a huge amount of biodiversity, they sequester more carbon, they absorb less sunlight, so they’re critical for mitigating climate change, we’re not growing that kind of forest, we’re growing pine plantations.”
Steidle said growing the pine plantations are “a sure-fire way to increase the risk of wildfire.”
“Moose can’t eat pine trees, and when you go into those plantations after 20 years, there’s no food in them, it’s basically just pine needles,”
“That’s what I want to touch on at this presentation, just give that overarching overview of what these pesticides and herbicides are contributing to. I think a lot of times people get hung up on the chemical side of things, and they don’t look at the bigger picture of why does this really matter.”
Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree, will be the keynote speaker at the event.
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