Monthly Archives: December 2018

Steve Kozuki

Kamloops, B.C. – The Forest Enhancement Society of B.C.’s (FESBC) fifth intake deadline for proposals was November 30. In this round of funding, the Society is making $63 million available for deployment to projects aligned with FESBC’s five purposes to advance environmental and resource stewardship of B.C.’s forests. As of the deadline, the Society received proposal requests for almost double the $63 million available from across the province. …“We are delighted with the number of good quality proposals,” says Steve Kozuki, Executive Director of FESBC. “Our team of forest professionals guided proponents through the application process to ensure funding is well spent on projects that have a meaningful impact. Our Society is now in a position to award new grants … to organizations like community forests, municipalities, and First Nations, who implement projects focused on a variety of treatments on Provincial Crown forest lands.”

VICTORIA – An audit of Western Forest Products Inc. on tree farm licence 39 (TFL 39) has found Western met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, according to a Forest Practices Board report. “The board commends Western for its good practices in TFL 39,” said Kevin Kriese, board chair. “This is the third time the board has audited TFL 39 since 2008, looking at a different geographic area of the TFL each time, and all three audits found full compliance with forest practices legislation.” TFL 39 is made up of four geographically distinct blocks. Two of those blocks were the subject of this audit. Block 2 is located near Sayward on Vancouver Island and Block 5 is located on the mainland in the Phillips River watershed.

A few years ago, American logger Eric Krume expressed some frustration that technology had not moved quickly enough to adapt to Pacific Northwest conditions and dynamics. A lot has changed since then.  To address this, Eric constantly seeks technology with flexible solutions to suit the differing forest conditions his logging crews encounter from one setting to the next. His inventiveness has led to his other business – equipment manufacturing through Summit Attachments for other loggers. In addition to other developments, Eric is now perfecting his latest innovation – a fully hydraulic 100-foot yarder for logging steep forests. A constant thirst for new knowledge makes Eric an ideal choice as one of the keynote speakers at the HarvestTECHX 2019 Conference in Vancouver in March.

Following two record-breaking wildfire seasons in the Okanagan Valley, the Penticton Indian Band and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen have teamed up on a project to reduce fire risk in the area below the Carmi Forest Service Road.  Crews are currently chopping down potential fuel for fires and laying them on the forest floor in the area, called “thinning out the understory.” “So we’re taking out all stems that are less than 12.5 centimetres in diameter,” said John Davies, Davies Wildfire Management. “They’re being [cut into logs] and [de-limbed] so that they’re flat, so they will be easier to burn in the spring.” The 150-acre project is just the latest in a string of Okanagan Valley projects that are aiming to reduce potential wildfire fuel, as well as honour local traditions of the Okanagan Nation.

John Davies

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the Penticton Indian Band are collaborating with the Wild Sheep Society of B.C. to reduce fire behaviour potential in the area while preserving the sheep habitat. …“This project was born working with PIB in this area, looking to do some wildfire mitigation work and sheep habitat restoration,” said John Davies, of Davies Wildfire Management, one of the project leads during a presentation of the site on Dec. 11. “The idea was … coming up with a prescription that would reduce the wildfire behaviour potential within this stand and promote sheep winter range, which is critical in this area.” …Davies explained funding needed to develop the prescriptions was provided by the Forestry Enhancement Society of B.C. Additional funding is also being provided by the Wild Sheep Society of B.C. and the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations Ecosystem Restoration Program.

Thanks to the ongoing cutting of old-growth forests, export of huge numbers of raw logs, and the failure of governments of all political stripes to act, we are running out of time to turn things around. [To] conserve more of our rapidly diminishing older forests we must invest in new mills to reverse decades of job losses. And …utilize wood from smaller logs from second-growth forests. …one company [is] leading by example. Langley’s San Group announced it will invest in three mills that will eventually employ up to 135 people. This marks the first time in well over a decade that any company has made a significant investment in a new coastal mill. …WFP is the largest forest company on B.C.’s coast. …Yet it is the third-largest exporter of raw logs …and has made no moves to invest in new mills. …Roughly two trees are logged for every one run through its mills.