Protect B.C. rainforest lichens, urge environmentalists

The discovery of 13 new species of lichen on trees in an old-growth rainforestin the B.C. Interior by scientists has prompted renewed calls to protect the area from logging.

Environmentalists want the federal and provincial governments to set aside the Incomappleux Valley in a rugged area, southeast of Revelstoke, asa national park.

Parts of the valley that haven't been logged are full of hemlock and giant cedars.

Craig Pettit of the Valhalla Wilderness Society said the trees alone make the valley worth protecting from any further logging.

"In the southern Interior, there's no other place that you can find trees up to four metres in diameter, and upwards of 1,800 years old.

"And yet the Ministry of Forests has not recognized big or old trees as worthy of protection. It's taken the small lichens to put a focus on how special this area is."

Toby Spribille of the University of Goettingen, Germany,and B.C. scientists Trevor Goward and Curtis Bjork made the announcement of the lichen discovery last week.

They have beenstudying inland rainforests in the B.C. Interior from the U.S. bordernorth to the Clearwater area near Prince George since 2004.

Pettit said the biggest lichen is roughly the size of a penny, adding the scientists think they may find more previously undiscovered lichen, if the valley isn't logged.

He said hehopesthe possibility of new discoverieswill convince provincial and federal officials the area should be set aside as parkland.