Monthly Archives: May 2019

British Columbians can now have their say on how private forests are managed. On Tuesday, the Province formally announced a review of the Private Managed Forest Land Program. It was established in 2003 with the introduction of the Private Managed Forest Land Act to encourage sustainable forest management practices, including protecting key public environmental values. “We want to hear from the public about whether there is room for improvement in the management of private forests and also whether the private managed forest land program is a benefit to private forest owners, and the communities they live in,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. …The City of Fernie and City of Nelson have called on the Province to strengthen regulations and standards for private land logging by bringing them in line with those on Crown land. …A summary report will be ready in fall 2019.

The Province has released its quarterly environmental enforcement summaries for the third and fourth quarters of 2018 to provide transparency on action taken against polluters in British Columbia.  The summaries detail a total of 1,728 environmental enforcement actions taken by the provincial government during this time period, along with $885,907 in associated penalties and fines. …The most frequently contravened acts were the Wildlife Act with 1,040 violations, the Fisheries Act (Canada) with 375 violations and the Off-Road Vehicle Act with 344 violations. …In addition, B.C. conservation officers issued 95 violation tickets related to activities that could spark a wildfire in the third quarter of 2018. The Province has taken a strong stance to protect forests and communities in the face of one of the worst fire seasons in British Columbia’s history, with more than 1.3 million hectares burned. Fines for these violations were $1,150 each and totalled $108,900 during this same period.

The public is invited to provide input on a program that helps to ensure the sustainable management of private forests in B.C. until July 9, 2019. “We want to hear from the public about whether there is room for improvement in the management of private forests and also whether the private managed forest land program is a benefit to private forest owners and the communities they live in,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. …Feedback forms and more information are available online. The objectives of the review are to confirm the primary goals of the program, which are to encourage private landowners to manage their lands for long-term forest production and encourage sustainable forest management practices, including protecting key public environmental values. Government also wants to increase public awareness and understanding of the program.

Local forest companies outlined their proposed harvesting plans at an open house May 23 in High Prairie. West Fraser and Tolko both presented their five-year plans for public comment at the Legion Hall. …Proposed areas for West Fraser include the Snipe Lake area, south of Driftpile, south of Slave Lake and northeast of Red Earth, says assistant forester Lyndsay Kohn. Current wildfires in northern Alberta are affecting forest areas planned for harvesting, says planning forester Kyle Rosychuk. …Tolko proposes to harvest in the Salt Prairie area, the Sweathouse area south of Snipe Lake and in the Whitemud area south of Falher, says Hilary Wait, forestry superintendent for the northwest region.

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will examine the activities of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence holders in the Clearwater Field Unit portion of the BCTS Kamloops Business Area during the week of June 3, 2019. Auditors will examine whether harvesting, roads, bridges, silviculture, fire protection activities and associated planning carried out from June 1, 2017, to June 7, 2019, met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is in eastern British Columbia in the North Thompson River watershed, between Little Fort and Valemount. The area contains important caribou habitat and scenic areas, which require specific forest management considerations.

The salvage of approximately 4,200 cubic metres of blown-down trees on Maple Mountain will begin this week. As well, a request-for-proposals to salvage approximately 1,800 cubic metres of blown-down trees on Stoney Hill and 1,000 cubic metres on Mount Tzouhalem is currently open for bids. …In March, North Cowichan’s council decided to proceed with just completing existing 2018 logging contracts within the 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve in 2019, and to harvest trees that blew down or were heavily damaged in the 2018 windstorm in December. Council wanted time to consult with the public and determine the best use of the forest reserve before making plans for the future.

Wildlife biologist Helen Davis has been fond of bears for as long as she can remember. …These days she hammers plywood roofs onto hollow stumps and builds plastic dens for black bears on Vancouver Island, where extensive clear-cutting of old-growth forests and the absence of rules to protect dens has left females with a severe housing shortage when it comes time to birth and nurture their cubs. …But there are no such protections for black bears — denning trees can be logged even when cubs inside are tiny….In April, Davis filed a complaint with B.C.’s Forest Practices Board, hoping the board would launch a special investigation. …The board rejected Davis’ request for a special investigation but agreed to look into her complaint. Forest Practices Board spokesperson Darlene Oman told The Narwhal the board’s investigation is still on-going and it has not yet issued a report.

Hundreds of B.C. tree planters are being trained to stop harassment and prevent sex assaults in their remote work camps. Workshops — often inside makeshift tents with dirt floors — have been held at tree planting camps from Smithers through Clinton at the request of reforestation companies. “We’ve been running around like crazy, going to these very remote camps,” said Airika Owen, who is heading up the workshops run by a Smithers-based women’s group, Northern Society for Domestic Peace. …The conversations encompass consent and harassment, supporting victims and how bystanders can interrupt potential sexual assaults. …The tree planters’ “Camp Security” course …was adapted from a “Campus Security” workshop developed for rural students heading off to university. …”We’ve got the same demographics as the campuses,” agreed John Betts, with the Western Forestry Contractors Association… “We were coasting on the assumption that we’re pretty progressive. We’ve got up to 40 per cent of our crews made up of women. 

The number of ash trees infested with emerald ash borer in Winnipeg is growing and the beetle which burrows under bark has been found kilometers from where it was initially discovered. Fifteen infested trees in the city have been confirmed. Thirteen of them were identified in the Archwoord area in 2018. Another two have since been discovered on Marion Street. The beetle is also on the move. The City of Winnipeg said in summer 2018 an adult beetle was found as part of its monitoring program in Windsor Park, five kilometres from the Archwood where the infestation was first detected. …The city said to slow the spread of the beetle it has injected about 1100 ash trees with insecticides to help give them temporary protection.

The BC Timber Sales (BCTS) response to Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF) court challenge of the auction of cutting rights on block A93884 in the Clack Creek area says the agency was acting within its authority and ELF’s petition for a judicial review “lacks merit.” In the petition filed with BC Supreme Court in Victoria on April 23, ELF argued that plans to harvest timber from the block should not move forward until the government acts on recommendations from a 2018 Forest Practices Board report on at-risk plant species, and the province and shíshálh Nation complete a new land use plan. BCTS went ahead with the auction and earlier this month it awarded the Squamish-based company Black Mount Logging the rights to remove roughly 29,500 cubic metres of timber. The company is not expected to start the work before September.