It's hard to find the right words to describe the provincial government's actions in allowing 23 square kilometres of oceanfront and forests to be lost to public use for all time.

Suffice it to say a series of stunningly bad decisions and complete obliviousness to the public interest will deprive British Columbians of access to some of the most beautiful undeveloped land in Canada.

The latest blow comes with the news that the University of British Columbia had attempted to buy about half the Western Forest Products property to run it as a research forest. That would have been an extraordinary opportunity to protect the land and ensure public access. The research, including pilot programs in different kinds of innovative timber harvesting, would have helped the forest sector. The university also proposed joint logging ventures with First Nations and was prepared to make some of the land available to settle native land claims.

But the province refused to provide any funding. Without support, the university was unable to make a business case for the purchase, which was to be partly financed by the logging activities.

And an opportunity was lost.

This is a mess entirely of the government's making. It has an obligation to fix it.

Until 2007, the Western Forest Products land was included in tree farm licences. The company, or its predecessors, were compensated by government for including the land in the licences.

The licences protected the land as working forest, limited log exports and required higher replanting and environmental standards. That protection had been counted on by the Capital Regional District and communities. The fundraising campaign to create the Sooke Potholes Provincial Park, for example, touted the fact that the park was surrounded by protected forest.

But in 2007, WFP asked then forest minister Rich Coleman to release the land from the tree farm licences. The company said it needed the windfall from lower costs and the chance to sell large portions of the forest land for housing and other development. And Coleman said yes.

After a public outcry, provincial auditor general John Doyle reviewed the deal and delivered a damning report.

The decision was made "without sufficient regard for the public interest," he found. The government didn't consult with stakeholders like the CRD. It didn't consider the effect on communities, damage to the tourism industry or the impact on water supplies. There was no analysis to determine whether the company needed the $200-million windfall or how helping one forest corporation with international shareholders benefited communities or the industry.

And while in the past companies compensated government for allowing land to be removed from tree farm licences, that was not even considered. The government could easily have insisted part of the land be donated for parks and public use.

Coleman's decision was based on incomplete briefing papers that "did not make a persuasive case for allowing the land removal," the auditor general said.

It was a remarkable condemnation of an irresponsible decision. We would have expected that given the findings the government would have accepted responsibility and set out to right the wrong done to this region.

And we certainly expected strong efforts from Murray Coell and Ida Chong, the region's two cabinet ministers, to address the crisis.

None of that has happened.

John Horgan, NDP MLA for the area, has noted that the government is not willing to help protect the vital lands, but has found $600 million for a new roof at B.C. Place. MP Keith Martin has proposed solutions.

The loss to our region is terrible. The land includes Jordan River waterfront used by surfers, campers and tourists and tracts beside the Juan de Fuca Trail. It includes Sandcut Beach, another popular, beautiful waterfront area used by the public. It includes forests that could, properly managed, provide jobs for generations.

Certainly the government faces a challenging period. But the chance to protect these lands comes just once; the benefits will be permanent -- unlike the new B.C. Place roof.

The government's failure to consider the public interest has done terrible damage. Its failure to right the wrong, by supporting the University of B.C. acquisition effort or buying the land directly, is inexcusable.