Region Archives: Canada West

…Unfortunately, the Cariboo has had a number of events like forest insect attacks and wildfires that have impacted our original AAC determinations and necessitated a review.  I have included highlights of the “Impacts of 2021 Fires on Forests and Timber Supply in British Columbia “ published in April of 2022.  “The areas affected by wildfires in 2017 (1.2 million hectares), 2018 (1.3 million hectares) and in 2021 (0.9 million hectares) were the three largest in 102 years of recorded wildfire history in B.C.  …In any management unit, the allowable annual cut (AAC) for the unit is directly related to the amount of timber on the THLB. After the 2017, 2018 and 2021 wildfires, staff from the Forest Analysis and Inventory Branch (FAIB) updated the forest inventories and assessed the timber supply projections for the most severely affected management units. …FAIB has determined that wildfires during the past five years do not pose a risk to timber supply for the coast and northern TSAs. 

Protesters against old-growth logging blocked the Pat Bay Highway’s northbound traffic near Tsehum Harbour Park and the Swartz Bay ferry terminal Monday morning. By 11 a.m., police had arrested four people. The protest started in the early morning hours and by 8:30 a.m., about 12 Save Old Growth protesters were still on scene. A trailer blocked part of the roadway and held a barrel of concrete, with one protester’s arm encased inside. …Vehicles were able to proceed north after weaving through two barriers that had been set up. …Sophia Papp, a Save Old Growth spokesperson, said early in their demonstration a member was perched atop a 15-foot ladder on the highway and one driver, “incensed that we were inconveniencing his day,” caused the ladder to topple, with the protester falling to the pavement below. …Police confirmed the individual had been taken to hospital , though a media release made no mention of what led to the collapse.

More coverage in CBC: 14 arrested, 1 person taken to hospital after old-growth protests

Lawyers for a protest group that resumed blockading BC highways say their clients are not guilty of mischief from an October protest in Richmond and want to stand trial. …A lawyer for a third protester, Kathleen Elisabeth Higgins, said she would present novel arguments at trial that her client is not guilty on constitutional grounds. …Haq and Brazier federally incorporated a not-for-profit company called Eco-Mobilization Canada on Jan. 27. They finance their activities by crowdfunding and grants from the U.S.-based Climate Emergency Fund, whose board includes documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, and Aileen Getty, daughter of oil baron Jean Paul Getty II. …The group predicts environmental breakdown will occur in March 2025. …Meanwhile, Tamara Meggitt of Clear the Road said… “Freedom of expression is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but it does not confer the right to commit criminal acts.”

Residents of the rural Kingfisher area near Mabel Lake fear a repeat of landslides if a proposed logging operation goes ahead. Prior logging on the same slope triggered a series of landslides in 1990, and an engineering report after those events stated the area is at risk of future instability. Tolko Industries proposes to log a block of timber above the Cook Creek campground. Resident Craig Haynes says the company has agreed to a site meeting with area residents on Tuesday. …”It’s the same area that had problems before,” says Haynes. He says the proposed cutblock is in “very steep” terrain and “right above a BC Hydro line that was knocked out by landslides last time.” Haynes says the 1990 slides damaged property and agricultural land. He says “Tolko has been good at responding” to resident concerns, and he’s hoping a stop can be put to the proposed logging.

VICTORIA – Forestry activities carried out by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and timber sale licence (TSL) holders in the Columbia Field Unit portion of the Okanagan-Columbia Business Area met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, according to an audit report. …“The audit did find that BCTS had some issues during the construction of two road sections in difficult terrain,” said Kevin Kriese, chair, Forest Practices Board. “There were no impacts to forest resources at these sites, but the situation created risks and required additional work. This could have been avoided if BCTS had followed all the recommendations of the professionals they hired to advise them.” The audit examined the forest stewardship plan, harvesting of 89 cutblocks, construction of seven kilometres of road and one bridge, maintenance of 885 kilometres of road and 73 bridges and major culverts, as well as silviculture and wildfire protection activities.

The devastation caused by pine beetle invasion is hard to miss. Millions of acres of red, lifeless trees fill B.C. forests and, to a lesser extent, Alberta forests. Besides the hundreds of millions of cubic metres of marketable wood destroyed, the beetles have destroyed the habitat for much forest wildlife and left forests more vulnerable to wildfires. The efficiency of modern forest firefighting efforts also contributed by leaving standing large areas of older, larger trees that pine beetles find particularly attractive. Tree expert Toso Bozic said research is showing that the destruction of the forests could also have an impact contribute to the kinds of flooding that caused so much destruction in B.C. last year. …The heat creates a glaze on top of the soil and when rain falls it does not soak in like it should but runs along the top of the soil.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation has made a fortune developing its lands on the north shore of Metro Vancouver, with the urban Indigenous community of 600 people boosting its well-being through a dozen business ventures now worth more than $1-billion. The nation’s reserve lands are in the heart of North Vancouver, but its traditional territories reach up Burrard Inlet into the mostly undeveloped watershed of the Indian River. The community has played the long game to reclaim its authority here, and this year that work has paid off. “This is our dream home, right here,” said Chief Jen Thomas, sitting on the edge of an old logging bridge that spans one of the last wild salmon rivers in the Lower Mainland. Now, a new, unique land-use agreement with the province allows the Tsleil-Waututh, whose archeological record here dates back thousands of years, to shape the future of the watershed.

For those who support the concept of community forests, it is critical to understand that managers must use all legal channels to maximize returns to the community. Authors Susan Mulkey, Ola Stoklosa, and Ella Furnes lay out six options to consider in… a 19-page document published by the BC Community Forest Association. The authors point out that there is no legal structure or business model that exists at this time to properly manage a community forest. The many structures available must clearly state the organization’s purpose, needs and values. At this time British Columbia’s Forest Act stipulates that a Community Forest Agreement can be held by one of the six following options: a partnership, a corporation, a society, a cooperative, a municipality, or a First Nation. Depending on which option is chosen there are implications that must be considered.

Out June 21, the new book Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods, by Clearwater-based author Lyndsie Bourgon, looks at the issue of tree poaching, which is estimated to reach $1 billion worth of wood annually in North America. Worldwide the timber black market is around $160 billion and here in forest-rich B.C. the cost of timber theft from publicly managed forests sits at about $20 million annually. Bourgon’s Tree Thieves is part sociological discussion and true crime story. The book lays out a complicated and very nuanced narrative that looks at the relationship between the forests and people, conservation and livelihoods and greed and guardianship. …Bourgon was inspired to follow the poaching story after she saw a news story about the poaching in 2012 of an 800-year-old cedar in the Carmanah Walbran area on the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island. As a freelance writer she decided to dig a little deeper.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation has made a fortune developing its lands on the north shore of Metro Vancouver, with the urban Indigenous community of 600 people boosting its well-being through a dozen business ventures now worth more than $1-billion. The nation’s reserve lands are in the heart of North Vancouver, but its traditional territories reach up Burrard Inlet into the mostly undeveloped watershed of the Indian River. …The 2022 Integrated Stewardship Plan, implemented in April, covers 22,000 hectares of temperate rainforest just 30 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. The plan permits energy projects, logging, mining and tourism – if the Tsleil-Waututh Nation approves. Mostly, however, it is a design for restoring a rich, diverse ecosystem on Metro Vancouver’s doorstep. …There are no visible traces of the old village site, but signs of commercial logging operations remain, and a hydro transmission line cuts through the valley.

The Province of BC and its partners are leading a review to ensure B.C’s Great Bear Rainforest remains preserved and protected while supporting sustainable forestry… to complete a five-year review of the implementation of ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the Great Bear Rainforest. EBM is a land and resource management approach that considers the interconnectedness of people, place and ecology. EBM seeks to find the balance between conservation and economic development in a way that supports local communities and the broader ecosystem. …The goal of the review is to identify and resolve issues and make improvements to the 2016 Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order in order to achieve ecological and social goals. Technical work is complete and, in advance of decision-making, the Province is releasing proposed amendments for public comment. The engagement, which will be open for 60 days, will cover four key themes. …For more information click here.

KASLO, BC — Kaslo RCMP said that two more individuals have been arrested for violating a court-ordered injunction granted to Cooper Creek Cedar Ltd. RCMP said Cooper Creek Cedar was granted a court-ordered injunction on August 27, 2019, to conduct logging operations in an area known as Salisbury Creek near Argenta, located approximately 41 kilometers north of Kaslo. The order specifically prevents anyone from physically preventing, restricting or in any way physically interfering with… the logging and related operations in and around the area known as Salisbury Creek. …RCMP said since officer enforcement of the court-ordered injunction began on May 17, 2022, the RCMP have arrested a total of 19 individuals, all for Civil Contempt of Court.

Even before my mother was arrested I knew the day wouldn’t go as planned. RCMP officers were coming to enforce an injunction and break up a camp positioned near the bottom of a forest service road, near Kaslo, B.C. …I was there as a photojournalist to document what happened… Police officers gathered at the bottom of the road shortly after 8 a.m., approaching the roughly 35 people… …Shortly after a pre-recorded message stating anyone blocking the road was liable to be arrested under an injunction on the loudspeaker stopped, the camp’s appointed police liaison became the first arrested, followed closely by the legal observer. …My mother was the fifth or sixth, taken away after asking to leave while standing on the shoulder of the road. I bit my tongue, took a photo of her hunched, 75-year-old body being escorted away, and scribbled in my notebook. 

Michel Vallée

Michel Joseph Hubert Vallée: Forester. Teacher. Nature lover. Canoe builder. Born Jan. 6, 1950, in Trois-Rivières, Que.; died Jan. 5, 2022 in Nanaimo, B.C.; of lung cancer; aged 71.  When you went for a walk in the woods with Michel Vallée you would be offered all kinds of esoteric details involving the lay of the land, the flow of the creeks, the nature of the soil and the trees – especially the trees.  Michel was a professional forester and for 30 years professor of forestry at Vancouver Island University, specializing in forest policy, soil science and silviculture. It all came naturally to him. He was a lifelong outdoorsman and always keen to share his knowledge.  Destined for a career outdoors, he studied forestry at Selkirk College in Castlegar, B.C., in the mid-1970s.  …As a teacher and a parent, Michel exuded energy and warmth. He had a wry and sometimes irreverent sense of humour. 

For Owen Stewart, weeks of evidence presented in B.C. Supreme Court can be distilled into the most basic questions: who, where and when.  “The who is the Nuchatlaht, the where is the claim area on the northwest corner of Nootka Island and the when is the date that the British assumed sovereignty in B.C.,” said Stewart, a lawyer for the Nuchatlaht First Nation. The nation is battling for control of more than 200 square kilometres of Nootka Island, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.  The case, which will resume for final arguments in front of Judge Elliott Myers in late September, is among the first to apply the precedent-setting 2014 Tsilhqot’in decision, which granted the Tsilhqot’in Nation title to 1,750 square kilometres of territory. The Nuchatlaht case is also the first title case to test the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

The long-awaited public engagement to determine the future of North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve is expected to begin again by mid summer.  In a report to council, the municipality’s manager of communications and public engagement Barb Floden said North Cowichan is currently in phase three of the forest review timeline.  She said that during this phase, the University of B.C. Partnership Group that is working with North Cowichan on its review of the forest reserve is developing the potential forest management scenarios for the MFR.  “Before sharing these scenarios with the general public, the partnership group will present them to [North Cowichan’s] forestry advisory committee for their feedback and comments before a final review by council,” Floden said.  “Any potential changes will be made at that time, and round two of public engagement will begin. “

A wildfire burning near Fort St. John has already scorched 545 hectares but an expert on forests said that’s not a bad thing at this point in the season. “A little bit of fire in the cool part of the spring … is actually a good thing in that landscape right now,” said Lori Daniels, a UBC forest ecology professor. There have been 152 wildfires in B.C. so far in 2022, down considerably from the 277 the province had already seen by this time last year. But Daniels is still worried about what summer could bring. …B.C. has already done prescribed burns in some parts of the province, but Daniels believes there should be more. She said a controlled burn under the right conditions, that doesn’t endanger communities, helps guard against larger fires in the future. Another risk factor, according to Daniels, is the pine beetle, which has affected 19 million hectares of forest in B.C.

Georgia Morris

A group of Kamloops youth are one of 15 finalists in the David Suzuki Foundations Future Ground Prize, which recognizes environmentally friendly initiatives for youth in BC and Ontario because of their project that is working to build a forest in the community of Aberdeen. The Kamloops Community Forest within the traditional territory of the Secwepemc People, is led by youth between the ages of 13 and 19 from the Kamloops Hybrid Interact Club and Aberdeen Neighbourhood Association. Project team member Georgia Morris says the forest, once planted later this fall, will create wildlife habitat, a sustainable ecosystem, and a natural fire break and cooling system in the region. …The forest will be located in the West Highland Park area near Guerin Creek… The Kamloops Community Forest has 553 votes and is hoping the public will help them bring that to 1000 by June 13 to win the David Suzuki Foundations Future Ground Prize.

Teachers have known for decades about the benefits of outdoor education. Studies have shown that when you turn nature into a classroom great things happen: retention and engagement increase, especially in students who don’t thrive in a traditional classroom setting… Heidi Christison – a Science teacher at Boundary Central Secondary School in Midway, BC – has partnered with the Boundary Woodlot Association and turned the woodlot into a classroom for her Grade 11/12 Environmental Science students. …Students were challenged to explore an environmental issue in-depth: food waste, landfills, acid rain, water use, etc. … She challenged her students to seek out experts and conduct interviews, giving them transferable skills, and creating networking opportunities, while broadening their understanding of environmental issues. …The woodlot program has grown and thrived since the late 1970s, however many of the early adopters are looking towards retirement. …Perhaps one of Heidi’s students will be inspired to take their place.

BC’s woodlot program report takes a look at what sets the ‘Woodlot Licence’ apart from other forest tenures in BC. It provides a brief history, facts and figures, examples of excellence in forest management and highlights social, environmental and economic contributions woodlot licences make in their local communities. Woodlot Licences are a unique forest tenure – having local residents manage Crown forests, often combined with their own private forest land. They were structured for small scale enterprise and a stewardship approach to managing forests. It provides opportunities for private citizens to participate directly in forestry. Currently there are 845 Woodlot Licences in BC, encompassing 579,628 hectares of managed forestland. They contribute ~2% of all timber harvested annually in BC.