British Columbia’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship recommended that logging be prevented in an area where threatened southern mountain caribou live, but that was overruled by the government’s Forests Ministry.
The information is contained in a July 2025 memo from the Stewardship Ministry obtained by a group of residents after the area was logged.
The memo says the herd of about 200 animals depend on the forests for food, raising the calves and protecting themselves against predators, but the Forest Ministry allowed West Fraser Timber to log the area.
Mike James, whose family owns a cabin near Quesnel (kwih-NELL’) Lake, says he doesn’t understand why B.C.’s government would ignore its own biologists to allow the logging.
Environmental group the Wilderness Committee says satellite photos taken this month show that the area has already been logged.
James says leaving the decision to the Forest Ministry was like “wolf protecting the hen house” and he is calling for a stop to all logging in the area to help the threatened caribou’s recovery.
The Stewardship Ministry says the Ministry of Forests led the decision-making on the file, just as its own department makes the final decision on other issues when working across ministries.
The Canadian Press
