Private lands within the Great Bear Rainforest donated for conservation
VANCOUVER — A vast tract of pristine waterfront within British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest has been donated to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, filling in part of a patchwork of conservation efforts in the prized wilderness.
Parcels of private land are scattered throughout the Great Bear Rainforest that stretches along B.C.’s central coast and is about the size of Ireland. It accounts for one-quarter of the world’s coastal temperate rainforests.
Only about one-third of the rainforest is fully protected under parks and conservation areas, while nine per cent of the total area is available for logging.
“Ecology doesn’t respect who owns the land,” Linda Hannah, regional vice president for Nature Conservancy of Canada, said during the announcement on Thursday.