Statement on announcement that BC will no longer log Skagit Headwaters

Today, the British Columbia provincial government banned logging in the upper Skagit River watershed (known as the Skagit Headwaters) in the space between two provincial parks in the North Cascades dubbed the “Donut Hole”.

B.C.’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman and forest minister Doug Donaldson made the announcement this morning to ban logging in the contentious 14,330 acres of forest, streams and mountains surrounded by E. C. Manning and Skagit provincial parks.

The Skagit watershed is the focus of an international treaty and oversight by the board of directors of the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, who seek the environmental values of the Skagit watershed protected.

“We welcome the news that B.C. will no longer allow logging in the heart of the Skagit Headwaters, and are deeply grateful to all the First Nations and conservation partners who’ve long worked towards this important outcome,” said Joe Scott, Bellingham-based International Programs Director for Conservation Northwest.

“Yet the threat of industrial mining still hangs over the transboundary Skagit Watershed, and the orcas, salmon, tribes and local communities that depend on its clean water,” said Scott. “Along with dozens of groups on both sides of the border, we’re continuing to call on Premier John Horgan and provincial leaders to deny the mining application from Imperial Metals.”

Conservation leaders in Canada at CPAWS BC and Wilderness Committee also put out detailed news releases.

Read more in THIS SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE, or VISIT OUR WEBPAGE for background on work to protect the Skagit Headwaters