Monthly Archives: November 2017

VICTORIA – The new allowable annual cut (AAC) for the Arrow Timber Supply Area (TSA) in the southeastern part of British Columbia is being slightly reduced to 500,000 cubic metres, chief forester Diane Nicholls announced today. “After consulting with First Nations and looking at all available information on timber and non-timber resources in the TSA, I am satisfied the harvest level will accommodate objectives for all forest resources over the next 10 years and, at the same time, support social and economic goals in the area,” said Nicholls. The chief forester’s determination takes into consideration winter range for ungulates, including mule deer, white tailed deer, rocky mountain elk and moose. Grizzly bear populations are protected through wildlife habitat areas.

To Ross Muirhead of Elphinstone Logging Focus (“A rational response,” Letters, Nov. 10): It seems to me self evident that the reason our Forest District has not established Ungulate Winter Ranges for elk on the Sunshine Coast is that we do not have the “severe winter conditions” in which “a population can die off.” Our climate is considerably milder than the Kootenays or North Central Vancouver Island where such ranges have been established. The 2004 Provincial Order you have referenced only says winter ranges may be required, so it is not unreasonable that forestry and wildlife officials have not prioritized the studies you referenced for this more temperate area. … if you have concerns about the elk, please take them up with the relevant provincial authorities. 

…This year, B.C. saw a staggering amount — as much as a thousand pounds per day — of huckleberries commercially picked from the forests of the Kootenays, particularly the East Kootenays. This amount may not be a sustainable rate of harvest when thinking about the forest as an ecosystem that feeds itself. Arguably, berries in the forest are more valuable to the wildlife that live there than to us. Bears play an important role in the ecosystem and are intricately intertwined with many life processes. Though they are large, 85 per cent of a black bear’s diet is plant-based. Food is important to all animals but for bears, one season is critical to their survival.

It may seem like fires are increasing, but for mule deer populations it’s not enough to create the habitat they need. According to the BC Wildlife Federation, the reason why mule deer are moving into urban environments is the lack of wildfire in the past several decades, said director Jesse Zeman, of the fish and wildlife restoration program with the BC Wildlife Federation. Mule deer are used to adapting to the natural wildfire patterns that occur every 10 to 40 years, said Zeman. With the regrowth in Okanagan Mountain Park since the 2003 fire, the deer are in search of a new food source and have moved into town. “Generally speaking habitat quality is going down, especially in Kelowna,” he said.

The manager of the UBC research forest near Williams Lake says that after a summer of wildfires, he’s considering more frequent thinning of the forest to prevent such out-of-control fires in the future. When a fire started in the Alex Fraser research forest on the afternoon of July 7, 2017, Ken Day remembers looking out his window and seeing a stormy sky. Half an hour later, he said it looked like a volcano going off in the forest near the Williams Lake Indian Reserve.  …Day said the areas of the forest that had been thinned burned in a significantly different way “It got me thinking that maybe there’s an opportunity to manage our landscape differently if we do more thinning,” Day said. “If thinning becomes a component of our regular harvest practices, we could potentially make the landscape more fire resilient.”

MLAs touring B.C. communities in advance of the NDP’s first budget have called for incentives to salvage wildfire-damaged timber, and increased forest fuel management and reforestation. The all-party committee of the B.C. legislature held hearings in 12 communities this fall, and unanimously focused their main recommendation on the aftermath of B.C.’s record area burned in summer forest fires. …In an phone call from Tokyo during B.C.’s annual Asia lumber trade mission, Donaldson said efforts are underway to implement the main recommendations of the finance committee. “We’re expediting the harvest of fire-impacted timber and getting it to the mills in a timely manner, because we know how the wood can degrade quickly,” Donaldson said. “Also, we have allocated $140 million over the next two years into forest enhancement, and that also involves the management of urban interface forests and fuel mitigation.”

A photo of an ancient red cedar being cut down on Vancouver Island is sparking outrage among conservation groups. The Wilderness Committee has received a photo of a record-sized ancient red cedar tree being cut down. The exact location and date when the tree was harvested is not clear but it is believed to be somewhere on northern Vancouver Island. “The fact that companies are cutting down the last of them highlights the unsustainable nature of old-growth logging and the fact that some companies are not willing to change course. BC needs a law to protect remaining old-growth forests,” said Torrance Coste, Vancouver Island Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee. The tree appears to be as big or even bigger than other record-sized members of its species.

Dave Lasser

All forest licensees in B.C. have to go through a rigorous and complex process to obtain permission to harvest trees on public land in B.C.  The Community Forest is no different. It is a slow process to review and implement all of the applicable laws, regulations and requirements set by government, First Nations, utilities, etc., for each cutblock. We must meet the same requirements that the largest licensees must meet. There is a significant amount of consultation with the Sechelt Band. We have worked hard over the years to maintain a respectful and good working relationship with the Sechelt Band. …We hope when the public reviews the information on our website, they will better understand and appreciate the processes involved. 

EDMONTON – A massive and uncontrollable buildup of mountain pine beetles in Jasper National Park is starting to explode into commercially valuable forests along its boundaries. Foresters along the park’s edge have seen a tenfold increase in beetle infestation in just months, and some scientists wonder if Parks Canada could have done more to control the invasion a few years ago. “They decided to consider the pine beetle a ‘native disturbance agent,”‘ said Allan Carroll, who has studied the beetles since the late 1990s. …”Just that hesitation intrinsic to producing a management plan precluded any effective outcomes.” West Fraser Timber manages about 13,000 square kilometres along the park’s eastern edge and runs a large mill in the town of Hinton just outside the boundary. The company removed about 40,000 bug-infested trees last year. That number has grown.