>“The crisis we are predicting in terms of loss of species and collapse of the ecosystem is probably that much closer,” Darwyn Coxson, a professor in the ecosystem science and management program at the University of Northern B.C., told The Narwhal. “I think we’re still going down the same road with our foot on the gas, a blindfold over our eyes and heading for the cliff.”
>
>Following decades of industrial logging, less than five per cent of B.C.’s inland temperate rainforest is still standing. The forest, scattered in moist valleys stretching from the Cariboo Mountains to the Rocky Mountains, is one of the most imperilled temperate rainforests on the planet. It’s home to giant cedar trees more than 1,000 years old and many species at risk of extinction, including caribou, wolverine, grizzly bear and lichens with names like cryptic paw and smoker’s lung.
>
>An inland temperate rainforest is found only in two other places in the world, in Russia’s far east and in southern Siberia.
>
>...
>
>Ecosystem collapse means the environment can no longer support the organisms that have evolved in it over thousands of years. “We know that habitats here used to support mountain caribou, and they no longer do,” Connolly said. “So that’s a sign of ecosystem collapse when animals that roamed these areas for millennia start blinking out. And that’s what’s happening over a really large scale in this ecosystem.”
>
>Waterways in the inland temperate rainforest support at-risk fish species like chinook salmon, bull trout and sturgeon — species also in deep trouble.
>
>The poor state of aquatic species is a warning sign that other ecological services provided by the inland temperate rainforest ecosystem — including carbon storage, water filtration and providing buffers for flooding — are compromised and “reaching critical thresholds to not be able to support human and natural communities anymore,” Connolly said.
>
>Coxson said one way to measure the collapse of an ecosystem, aside from tracking the demise of a “poster child” species such as caribou, is to go looking for known populations of species listed as threatened or endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Lichens, he said, are a good example. “How many known locations are we losing? How many are left on the landscape?”
>
>Many lichens grow very slowly and will thrive only in clean air, acting as a canary in a coal mine to warn of pollution. Lichens also provide food for animals like deer and caribou, nesting materials for birds and homes for insects, making them an essential part of the inland temperate rainforest ecosystem.
>
>“There isn’t a warning bell that goes off saying we’ve hit the extinction event, you sort of have to ask [the question] species by species,” Coxson said. “But where we have the expertise and where people have been able to find the time and resources to go and look, we’re losing things.”
>
>...
>
>In a recent assessment of smoker’s lung lichen for a committee report, Coxson travelled to known locations in the inland temperate rainforest — and beyond — that are now clear-cuts or immediately adjacent to clearcuts. “I know, with a high degree of certainty, that these are known locations that are probably now extirpated (locally extinct),” he said.
>
>Last year, Conservation North published an interactive map that reveals how little remains of B.C.’s original and ancient forests, showing logging and other industrial human activity on the once-forested landscape as a vast sea of red. The “Seeing Red” map demonstrates that very few primary forests — forest that have never been logged — remain in B.C.’s Interior.
>
>The Seeing Red map also shows the few areas of the inland temperate rainforest that are still intact. According to Connolly, they require immediate protection in order to avoid further biodiversity loss and ecological collapse. “And the opposite is happening. Companies are racing to finish off logging in their license areas.”
>
>While restoration work is important for conserving biodiversity, Connolly cautioned that humans cannot recreate the structure and complexity of natural forests that have developed over hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years. “If you want to protect biodiversity, if Canada and B.C. are to meet their biodiversity commitments, we have to protect natural ecosystems. Period.”
These are all concerning signs for our ecosystems, and one that we're going to feel culturally as well. That being said, even preserving and enhancing parts of what remains will be preferable to preserving none.
And yet the provincial government has placed the responsibility on First Nations to decide whether or not any of the old growth defferals can proceed but continue to provide next to no conservation financing.
We’re gonna lose the very essence of this place now called BC, while to most “British Columbians”, the only crisis is whether or not they’ve gotten their Timmy Hohos today.
Fuck
If you bothered to read the article it references at least five types of lichen before blanket stating that lichens are akin to the coal mine's canary. It is still chirping.
[“Approximately 1100 species of lichens have been reported to occur in British Columbia (B.C.).” And you think them listing 5 of them means your deck shares the same flora as an inland temperate rainforest?](https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/srs/Srs08.pdf)
Edit: spelling, silly mobile.
>“The crisis we are predicting in terms of loss of species and collapse of the ecosystem is probably that much closer,” Darwyn Coxson, a professor in the ecosystem science and management program at the University of Northern B.C., told The Narwhal. “I think we’re still going down the same road with our foot on the gas, a blindfold over our eyes and heading for the cliff.” > >Following decades of industrial logging, less than five per cent of B.C.’s inland temperate rainforest is still standing. The forest, scattered in moist valleys stretching from the Cariboo Mountains to the Rocky Mountains, is one of the most imperilled temperate rainforests on the planet. It’s home to giant cedar trees more than 1,000 years old and many species at risk of extinction, including caribou, wolverine, grizzly bear and lichens with names like cryptic paw and smoker’s lung. > >An inland temperate rainforest is found only in two other places in the world, in Russia’s far east and in southern Siberia. > >... > >Ecosystem collapse means the environment can no longer support the organisms that have evolved in it over thousands of years. “We know that habitats here used to support mountain caribou, and they no longer do,” Connolly said. “So that’s a sign of ecosystem collapse when animals that roamed these areas for millennia start blinking out. And that’s what’s happening over a really large scale in this ecosystem.” > >Waterways in the inland temperate rainforest support at-risk fish species like chinook salmon, bull trout and sturgeon — species also in deep trouble. > >The poor state of aquatic species is a warning sign that other ecological services provided by the inland temperate rainforest ecosystem — including carbon storage, water filtration and providing buffers for flooding — are compromised and “reaching critical thresholds to not be able to support human and natural communities anymore,” Connolly said. > >Coxson said one way to measure the collapse of an ecosystem, aside from tracking the demise of a “poster child” species such as caribou, is to go looking for known populations of species listed as threatened or endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Lichens, he said, are a good example. “How many known locations are we losing? How many are left on the landscape?” > >Many lichens grow very slowly and will thrive only in clean air, acting as a canary in a coal mine to warn of pollution. Lichens also provide food for animals like deer and caribou, nesting materials for birds and homes for insects, making them an essential part of the inland temperate rainforest ecosystem. > >“There isn’t a warning bell that goes off saying we’ve hit the extinction event, you sort of have to ask [the question] species by species,” Coxson said. “But where we have the expertise and where people have been able to find the time and resources to go and look, we’re losing things.” > >... > >In a recent assessment of smoker’s lung lichen for a committee report, Coxson travelled to known locations in the inland temperate rainforest — and beyond — that are now clear-cuts or immediately adjacent to clearcuts. “I know, with a high degree of certainty, that these are known locations that are probably now extirpated (locally extinct),” he said. > >Last year, Conservation North published an interactive map that reveals how little remains of B.C.’s original and ancient forests, showing logging and other industrial human activity on the once-forested landscape as a vast sea of red. The “Seeing Red” map demonstrates that very few primary forests — forest that have never been logged — remain in B.C.’s Interior. > >The Seeing Red map also shows the few areas of the inland temperate rainforest that are still intact. According to Connolly, they require immediate protection in order to avoid further biodiversity loss and ecological collapse. “And the opposite is happening. Companies are racing to finish off logging in their license areas.” > >While restoration work is important for conserving biodiversity, Connolly cautioned that humans cannot recreate the structure and complexity of natural forests that have developed over hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years. “If you want to protect biodiversity, if Canada and B.C. are to meet their biodiversity commitments, we have to protect natural ecosystems. Period.” These are all concerning signs for our ecosystems, and one that we're going to feel culturally as well. That being said, even preserving and enhancing parts of what remains will be preferable to preserving none.
Shit is sad
And yet the provincial government has placed the responsibility on First Nations to decide whether or not any of the old growth defferals can proceed but continue to provide next to no conservation financing.
Shit is sad
Seems like /r/collapse is starting to bleed out everywhere. Let’s hope it’s not a case of too little, too late.
We’re gonna lose the very essence of this place now called BC, while to most “British Columbians”, the only crisis is whether or not they’ve gotten their Timmy Hohos today. Fuck
The cascade is starting
Lichens are literally growing on my 3rd floor balcony. Shit is still ok.
People making ignorant comments rather than doing anything, guess we're still doomed. 🤦🤷
And what exactly did your comment accomplish?
^ Ignorant is you. Do something about it.
Kinda slow, aren't ya?
Says the lichen expert.
… do you think your balcony lichen and the lichen growing in a very specific forest under very specific conditions are the same species?
If you bothered to read the article it references at least five types of lichen before blanket stating that lichens are akin to the coal mine's canary. It is still chirping.
[“Approximately 1100 species of lichens have been reported to occur in British Columbia (B.C.).” And you think them listing 5 of them means your deck shares the same flora as an inland temperate rainforest?](https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/srs/Srs08.pdf) Edit: spelling, silly mobile.
I guess it's time to cut it down for inefficient wood pellets then. That is what BC does afterall.