Region Archives: Canada West

Honourable Ravi Parmar: Nature Cowichan is focused on education and conservation. We are one of about 70 naturalist groups in the province under the umbrella of BC Nature. …Our membership is a sample of the concerned citizens — concerned about the state of our forest industry. Last month, our local newspaper ran an open letter to you suggesting that you and your staff read Suzanne Simard’s latest book: When the Forest Breathes. Also last month, Creatively United ran an excellent webinar “Balancing Nature Needs with Fire Protection at Home and in Our Forests”. …I hope you are aware of THE NEW FORESTRY ACT PROJECT, and I hope you will take note that we want to see a change to what the word FORESTRY means. …On May 15, we read that $12.4 million dollars is coming to B.C. from the federal government… This is the opportunity to incorporate some ecology-based innovations into the forestry industry.

The rain this weekend … has certainly reduced the fire danger rating in B.C. The precipitation, even though it varied in different regions, was widespread throughout the province. According to Taylor Colman, fire information officer at the BC Wildfire Service, the rain lowered the fire rating from high and extreme to moderate in Chilcotin, the Peace Region, the South Thompson, and the Fraser Canyon. “The rain rehydrated those lighter forest fuels such as grasses, needles, brush, anything on the surface layer of the forest floor and then the duration and the amount was enough to penetrate into the deeper layers of the forest floor as well,” Colman explained. “… so that reduced the fire danger rating in those areas of concern.” …There are currently 16 active wildfires in B.C.

Vernon, B.C. – The BC Community Forest Association (BCCFA) hosted its Conference and Annual General Meeting in Vernon last week with a completely sold-out event. The three-day gathering brought together community forest leaders, First Nations partners, industry representatives, and supporters from across the province to connect and explore the challenges and opportunities of community forestry in the years ahead. …During the event, the Nakusp and Area Community Forest (NACFOR) was recognized for outstanding leadership in community forestry, receiving the 2026 Robin Hood Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Forestry. Additionally, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC presented its inaugural Community Forest Project of the Year Award to the Kaslo & District Community Forest Society for its Jimi Crack Corn wildfire risk reduction project. …This annual gathering also provided valuable opportunities for networking, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among community forests, government representatives, forestry professionals, researchers, and partner organizations.

Additional daily coverage is available on the BC Community Forest Assn Facebook page.

When BC’s community forestry leaders gather each year, one of the sector’s highest honours is the Robin Hood Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Forestry. Established in 2016, the award recognizes the community forest that best exemplifies the values of British Columbia’s community forestry program—leadership, innovation, local economic opportunity, stewardship, and a passion for community forestry. The award is presented jointly by the BC Community Forest Association and the Ministry of Forests. Recipients receive provincial recognition and a $10,000 grant in support of their work.

The award is named after Robin Hood—not the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest, but a respected British Columbia forester, woodlot operator, and early champion of the community forestry movement. Hood was deeply involved in both the woodlot and community forest sectors and was widely admired for his belief in local stewardship, long-term thinking, and the connection between healthy forests and healthy communities. Colleagues remember him as a principled advocate, known for his integrity, humility, technical expertise, and quiet leadership.

On Day 2 of the 2026 BCCFA Conference and AGM we heard from Hélène Marcoux from the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest as our keynote speaker. Hélène’s engaging and energizing talk focused on strengthening public understanding of forestry. With inspiring ideas for engagement, her key theme was “lean into stories, be real, be vulnerable, and don’t use so many acronyms.” At the research forest, near Maple Ridge, they have many different programs and initiatives that education the public and bring people to the forest for tours, talks, and events. They have fostered incredible partnerships and opportunities for diversification. Thank you to Hélène for sharing your ideas and inspiring us to continue our work with impactful community engagement.

Day 1 of the 2026 BCCFA Conference and AGM was a success! Hosted in Vernon, BC this year, the Monashee Community Forest were our welcoming hosts. Monashee CF is a partnership between the Village of Lumby and the Splatsin First Nation. Day 1 included a field tour on the Monashee CF above Lumby, BC, to showcase their Silvopasture work. Silvopasture is a forestry management practice that combines multiple values to achieve a few different objectives. The area that MCF showed us created grazing pasture for cattle, and integrated wildfire risk reduction for the community of Lumby. The treated area also supports good recreation opportunities. We heard from Kyle Runzer, Nick Barry, Frank Joe, Courtney Strassburger, and Nicole Williams from the Splatsin First Nation, Trish Balcaen from Coldstream Ranch, Rick Fairbairn (Area D RDNO Director), and Rob Dinwoodie, an agriculture consultant.

@Wiki

When a wildfire reached Kakisa in 2014, burning around the community on two sides and along its access road, it decimated many berry bushes that grew in the area. Now, the N.W.T.’s smallest community is using one of the fire breaks protecting it from future wildfires to bring back those berries — and closer to home. “If it’s going be always there, why not plant berries,” said Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation Chief Lloyd Chicot. “Rather than just taking all the trees down and leaving it there.” The berry patch is a pilot project involving the First Nation and a team of researchers from Wilfrid Laurier University who have been working with the community of just under 40 people for 13 years. Planted in 2024, some of the berry plants gave their first modest yield last summer. They complement some of the community’s other efforts to grow more food in a place where the closest grocery store is nearly 70 kilometres away. 

Kelowna has topped the list of Canadian cities most at risk from wildfires in 2026, according to a report from a Toronto-based online insurance company. Using data from Natural Resources Canada’s recently upgraded Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, MyChoice said Kelowna has a wildfire Risk Index score of 6.8/10. It was the only city to get a “very high” rating on the MyChoice Canada’s 2026 wildfire risk map. ​“While Prairie cities recorded more severe forecast fire weather conditions, Kelowna’s extremely high community exposure, driven by dense wildland-urban interface development, surrounding forest fuel, and historical wildfire activity, pushed it to the top overall,” said MyChoice in its annual wildfire study. ​To calculate the wildfire risk index, MYChoice gave equal weight to two factors: Forecast fire weather severity and community exposure.

Professionals in the built environment are increasingly being asked where their materials come from and how they’re sourced. To support these conversations, naturally:wood has two new resources focused on explaining forest management practices in British Columbia (B.C.).

From forest to form factsheet
Did you know just 0.3% of B.C.’s public forest land is harvested each year, while 63% of B.C.’s forests will never beharvested? And that 64% of B.C.’s forests are certified, accounting for 6.3% of the world’s certified forests? This overview uses data points like these to support conversations about sustainability, certifications and sourcing.

Video featuring the Chief Forester of B.C.
An authoritative perspective on how forest management decisions are made from the independent decision-maker responsible for long-term sustainable stewardship of Crown forest lands.

These resources are designed to equip architects, engineers and construction professionals with credible, evidence-based information they can confidently share with clients.

…Searching online, South Cariboo resident and retired silviculturist Will van Osch came across the New Forest Act proposal, which has been developed by the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society. The BFWSS is a non-profit society that advocates for economically sustainable forestry practices to help prevent environmental disasters caused by deforestation and climate change. …Van Osch said the New Forest Act, which has been developed by project lead Jennifer Houghton, an independent forestry analyst, spoke to him. The proposed act calls for B.C. to adopt a truly sustainable forestry model that will benefit future generations, while protecting local decision-making power. After reading her proposal, van Osch reached out to Houghton and invited her to come to the South Cariboo and give a presentation on her ideas. She agreed and is now set to host a meeting at the Forest Grove Community Hall on Monday, June 8, at 7 p.m.

Related coverage in the Keremeos Review, by Brennan Phillips: Citizen-led forestry plan presentation coming to Penticton

Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality is trying a new approach to reduce wildfire risk in the forests surrounding the community — and Thompson Rivers University (TRU) is right in the middle of it. Instead of piling leftover wood and brush from fuel-reduction treatments and burning it when conditions allow, crews are now chipping and mulching the debris and spreading it in a thin layer across the forest floor to decompose naturally. The pilot project, funded by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC since 2023, aims to … improve the long-term health of these high-elevation forests. “This project shows what can be done when municipalities, universities and the private sector get together to come up with innovative ideas to address current and future wildfire risks to communities,” says John Karakatsoulis, TRU Faculty of Science. …Forsite Consultants Ltd. (Barr GeoSpatial Solutions Company), has been working with Sun Peaks to find alternatives as the burning window shrinks every year. 

The Government of Yukon is taking steps to expand all-season timber harvesting opportunities across the territory and improve access for Yukon harvesters. The Department of Energy, Mines and Resources has reviewed existing timber harvest plans to identify areas where additional summer and all-season harvesting may be possible. There are currently summer harvesting opportunities available in most forest management districts. …The Government of Yukon is also working with the Yukon Wood Products Association to provide and subsidize pre-harvest migratory bird survey training for harvesters to support additional summer operations. …The Government of Yukon will continue working with First Nations, industry and the Yukon Wood Products Association to develop new timber harvesting projects and support existing operations throughout the territory.

In the late ’90s, Suzanne Simard started what can only be (indelicately) described as a firestorm in the forestry world. Her Ph.D. findings, published in the renowned journal Nature, argued that trees weren’t the valiant loners scientists once believed them to be. Rather, they survived through symbiosis, communicating and even sharing carbon through a subterranean series of mycorrhizal networks (fungal root systems). Initially, Simard’s peers weren’t nearly as generous as the tree community—one reviewer rebuked her paper as “a dog’s breakfast”—but, over time, some listened more closely. Today, Simard isn’t just the tree world’s tallest poppy; she’s a global, Goodall-esque conservation icon.

The Syilx Okanagan Nation is calling on the federal government to issue an emergency order protecting critical habitat for Southern Mountain Caribou. In a filing under Section 80 of the federal Species at Risk Act, the Syilx Okanagan Nation is calling for immediate and enforceable protections for habitat used by the Columbia North, Frisby-Boulder and Central Selkirk herds, which occupy areas within Syilx Okanagan territory in southern British Columbia. “The current provincial and federal recovery measures have failed to address ongoing habitat destruction and cumulative effects across caribou ranges,” Chief Dan Wilson of the Okanagan Indian Band said in a media release. … “The continued logging of critical caribou habitat is inconsistent with Syilx Forestry Principles and Standards, yet the province continues to authorize logging in these core areas,” Coun. Jordan Coble, chair of the Syilx Nation Natural Resource Committee said in a media release.

Related Coverage in the Tyee, by Sarah Cox: Will Canada Issue an Emergency Order to Protect Caribou?

BRITISH COLUMBIA’s caribou are disappearing, and they may be warning us about something much larger than the fate of a single species. A recent paper by former Thompson Rivers University economics student Trang Minh Phan, A Student Journal on Sustainability and Environment, examines the relationship between old-growth forest conservation and caribou recovery in British Columbia. The findings are important. Without stronger habitat protection, some caribou herds may face local extinction within decades. One herd in particular illustrates a modern ecological tragedy of the commons. The Itcha-Ilgachuz herd in the Cariboo region once numbered close to 3,000 animals in the early 2000s. By 2019, that population had collapsed to approximately 185 caribou. In one simulated scenario, strong protection of old-growth forests, allows the Itcha-Ilgachuz herd to recover above conservation targets within a decade. In another scenario involving limited regulation, recovery remains slow and uncertain. Under continued unrestricted logging, the herd eventually collapses toward extinction by 2035.

A new logging road project on the Sunshine Coast has drawn concern from local environmental advocates. At the same time, provincial officials say the work is designed to improve access and protect water resources. The Ministry of Forests confirmed to Coast Reporter that it is responsible for the road-building contract tied to Timber Sale Licence A94817. This project will see “just over 4km” of new road constructed to “move industrial traffic away from high-use public roads” and to create long-term access for multiple user groups. The ministry also said that the design has “enhanced overland techniques to minimize impacts to ground water,” along with water-quality monitoring and environmental oversight. However, Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF) Ross Muirhead says the scope of the project is unusual for the region, saying four kilometres of brand new logging road is “unprecedented” on the Coast and that most projects are much shorter.

For the B.C. Lions, wildfire safety and preparedness is a team effort. The CFL club has announced a new partnership to help champion B.C.’s FireSmart program, amplifying wildfire prevention and preparedness messaging across the province. The Lions have teamed up with Port Alberni-based aerial firefighting company Coulson Aviation for the campaign, while FireSmart has invested $17,000 to leverage the team’s extensive reach through digital and radio advertising, including live game broadcasts on 730 CKNW. During the off-season, wildfire resiliency messaging will also be delivered directly to students through B.C. Lions school visits, with the goal of empowering young people to be equipped to protect their own turf. …Minister of Forests and MLA for Langford-Highlands Ravi Parmar said the event demonstrated what can be achieved when communities work together to reduce wildfire risk.

The start to the 2026 wildfire season has been slow with the number of fires raging across the country well below average, but government officials warn that as the summer progresses there’s a risk things could get much worse. “Despite the fact that we’re seeing so little activity so far this year … this summer retains the potential to be a significant one right across the country,” a government official said Thursday during a technical briefing. The official said that while the wildfire risk is unlikely to result in a record-breaking year like 2023 or 2025, the federal government is forecasting above average conditions as the season progresses. Whether that happens depends, officials explained, on what happens to the weather over the next few months. If the above average temperatures predicted for across the county come to pass, B.C. faces the highest wildfire risk, particularly in July.