Currently, two isolated patches of the Raush are Protected Areas, totalling 6,667 hectares of the 101,000-hectare watershed.
“There's never been logging,” Howard said. “It's definitely old growth in the valley bottoms. It's still intact, that's the main thing.”
But that may soon change. Maps distributed to Raush stakeholders and shared with the Goat, show a proposal by Prince George-based Carrier Lumber to build roads through one of the protected areas to access unprotected forests further into the watershed.
Current land use terms restrict the protected areas from resource development, but allow road-building.
The potential development has triggered push back from some local residents.