Published 4:30 am Friday, May 22, 2026

A province-wide public tour this June will bring a citizen-led proposal for forest management reform to communities across British Columbia, with stops in Campbell River on June 11, Quadra Island on June 13 and Courtenay on June 15.

Jennifer Houghton, campaign director of the New Forest Act Proposal, will lead a series of public presentations called the 2026 New Forest Act Roadshow on the future of B.C.’s forests, watersheds and forest-dependent communities.

The New Forest Act is a proposed legislative framework that aims to address long-term instability in B.C.’s forest sector, said Houghton.

“Right now, B.C.’s forest laws are built around maximizing timber extraction,” Houghton told the Mirror. “The New Forest Act is a citizen-developed proposal to shift forestry toward ecological limits, stable communities, and long-term ecological function instead of short-term liquidation.”

Houghton described the Act as built on a simple framework: protect what still functions, restore what has been damaged, and harvest carefully where the land can actually support it.

Houghton doesn’t have a professional background in the industry or environmental issues – she became involved after her home flooded during the 2018 Grand Forks floods, which she attributed to provincial forestry mismanagement and negligent logging. In the years since, she’s been mentored by local loggers, foresters and other experts, including Mike Morris, the former BC Liberal MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie. Morris served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Forests and authored several reports highlighting the troubling state of B.C. forestry industry; he remains a vocal critic today.

The grassroots legislative proposal for the industry is drafted by a coalition of citizens rather than government or corporate insiders. Spearheaded by the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society, it has been developed with contributions from forest ecologists, including forester Herb Hammond, as well as other forestry professionals and rural residents.

Houghton is emphatic that the New Forest Act is not about eliminating the forestry industry and the tour is not a protest. The goal is to move away from the current volume-based, export-focused system – which she said is already generating economic instability and ecological damage – and manage forests instead to protect essential services like water regulation, biodiversity and flood prevention.

“Forests are often talked about merely as timber supply, but the New Forest Act frames them differently – as critical infrastructure,” she said. “When people hear infrastructure, they usually think of roads, bridges, dams or water systems. But forests do infrastructure work every day.”

Unlike a bridge or highway, she adds, forests are living infrastructure that perform important ecological functions – but only if they remain functioning ecosystems. When forests are heavily degraded, communities bear the costs through flood damage, water problems, landslides, wildfire risk and economic instability, she said.

“Forests are not just timber inventory,” Houghton said. “They are living public infrastructure.”

Houghton will be speaking at the Campbell River United Church at 7 p.m. on June 11, and Quadra Island Community Centre at 7 p.m. on June 13. In Courtenay, the talk is being held at North Island College’s Stan Hagen Theatre on June 15 at 7 p.m.

More information and full tour details: https://boundaryforest.org/new-forest-act-roadshow-2026-info/