VANCOUVER — A new agreement will permanently protect 85 per cent of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging along British Columbia's central coast, 10 years after plans were first made to safeguard the area.
Jens Wieting of the Sierra Club in British Columbia says the deal protects the environment and sets aside 15 per cent of the area for logging under stringent regulations.
Wieting credits an improved relationship between the province and First Nations for helping reach the agreement.
He says coastal temperate rainforests are very rare so all sides in B.C. had a responsibility to protect the ecology of the 6.4-million hectare region.
Premier Christy Clark was scheduled to announce details of the agreement today in Vancouver.
