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All three parties that now hold seats in the B.C. legislature promised major changes to the use of glyphosate in forestry operations during the recent provincial election campaign.
The BC Greens promised to ban the use of all chemical herbicides, including glyphosate, in forestry. The BC Conservatives committed to stop all aerial spraying of glyphosate. And the BC NDP, returned to government in a slim majority, promised to phase out the industry’s use of the controversial herbicide.
Ecologists and advocates welcomed the commitment, but they warn it’s not just glyphosate that needs to go — it’s the broader policies that prioritize timber over diverse ecosystems.
Those policies have resulted in more than 430,000 hectares of B.C. forest being sprayed with herbicides since the 1970s to kill off plants and trees — from berries and wildflowers to groves of fire-resistant aspen — that industry and government view as unwanted competition for conifer plantations. Those same species have been manually cut back from roughly half a million hectares more across the province, according to data analyzed by The Narwhal and Nikita Wallia, a spatial analyst and cartography specialist.
However, the sprayed area available in the government application The Narwhal retrieved data from only appears to include the initial brushing treatment even if a cutblock was brushed multiple times. When asked to confirm if more than 430,000 hectares have been brushed with herbicides, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests said its data recounts areas that have been sprayed multiple times and shows 738,000 hectares have been treated with herbicides since 1987.
While glyphosate use has declined significantly in recent years, the impacts of past spraying are still visible in forests today.
Explore where forestry companies have sprayed or cut back plants across B.C.
This map shows cutblocks that have been at least partially brushed either manually or with herbicides since the 1970s. By clicking on a particular cutblock, you can find the area of the cutblock, labelled as opening area, as well as the date, technique and area of the first brushing treatment. Ground applications of herbicides are displayed in yellow and aerial spraying is displayed in blue on the map. Manual brushing cut is displayed in red. In many cases, companies reported brushing only a portion of a given cutblock.
The Narwhal reviewed more than 2,000 pages of herbicide reports forestry companies submitted to the B.C. government in response to a freedom of information request. Those reports show companies target a host of species with herbicide treatments, from aspen and cottonwood to willows and rose.
Many of the targeted plants provide food not just for deer, moose, bears and birds but also for people, who harvest berries and medicinal plants from the land. Mixed forests, made up of diverse species, have been found to be more resistant to pests and disease. Aspen, maples, poplars and other deciduous trees return nutrients to the soil when their leaves fall each autumn.
Aspens play an important role wherever they’re found. Beavers prefer aspen trunks and twigs to build their dams. Birds nest in their cavities. Moose, deer and black bears eat their leaves. And, during the height of wildfire seasons, groves of relatively moist aspens can serve as a natural fire break. But those benefits are eroded or lost entirely when aspen are culled from forests where timber production is prioritized.
A spokesperson for the provincial Forests Ministry reiterated the government’s commitment to phase out the use of glyphosate and said the ministry is considering amending the policies that prioritize timber over other ecological values.
Updated Dec. 20, 2024, at 12 p.m. PT: The map caption in this article was updated to include details from the map’s colour-coded legend.
Updated on Feb. 13, 2026, at 10:52 a.m. PT: This story has been updated to correct the total area of B.C. forests where companies have reported spraying herbicides or manually cutting back vegetation. Government data shows forestry companies reported spraying more than 430,000 hectares of forests with herbicides since the 1970s, not more than one million hectares as previously stated. Additionally, companies reported manually removing vegetation from roughly half a million hectares, not 1.5 million hectares. The story has also been updated to add context about uncertainty in these figures due to the limitations of the data available.
Updated on Feb. 13, 2026, at 2:43 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to clarify that the 738,000 hectare figured referenced by the B.C. government referred to areas that had been brushed with herbicides
