Murray Wilson

A longtime logger turned documentary filmmaker is calling for change in the B.C. logging and forestry industry, and B.C.’s forests critic says he’s hit the nail on the head. The documentary, titled B.C. is Burning, was screened on the campus of Thompson Rivers University on Tuesday evening to a crowd well over 100 people, including some Kamloops city councillors and local MLAs. The film calls for greater management of B.C. forests to reduce fire risk, which it argues can be accomplished through the further use of practices like forest thinning, partial harvesting, prescribed and cultural burnings and “regenerative harvesting” — replacing swaths of mature or damaged trees to make way for younger and healthier forests, similar to clear cutting. …Speaking with reporters following the screening, retired logger and creator of the documentary Murray Wilson said he thinks new policy and regulation is needed to reduce fire risk, and that is part of the reason he made the film.