Region Archives: Canada West

To industry, certain plants — salal, huckleberry, red alder, and more — may be seen as pests impeding the growth of cash crops. But for Indigenous Peoples, they are traditional foods and medicines that have been relied upon for millennia.  In a recent proposal, B.C. Timber Sales, a government agency that manages about 20 per cent of the timber allowed to be cut each year, outlined a five-year pest management planfor its Chinook business area. It covers lands stretching from Squamish to Hope. …The plan outlines various options for dealing with so-called pest species, from manually cutting the brush back to spraying glyphosate-based herbicides. …The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw said it had “expressed concerns about the potential risks to the nation’s inherent rights. The nation agreed to the pest management plan on the condition that BC Timber Sales must have written consent from Squamish Nation before any herbicides can be sprayed.

The B.C. government is allocating $10 million of federal funding to help create jobs and diversify the economies of communities in the Mackenzie and Peace regions.The Intergovernmental Partnership Agreement for the Conservation of the Central Group of the Southern Mountain Caribou (Partnership Agreement) was signed in February 2020 and includes commitments to help caribou populations recover and protect more than 700,000 hectares of important caribou habitat in northeastern B.C. …As part of the Partnership Agreement process, the federal government provided $10 million to the B.C. government to help create jobs and alleviate potential impacts in the Peace Region, especially within 100 kilometres of the communities of Mackenzie, Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge. The fund will grow these local economies while showcasing the province’s natural treasures.

Re: “B.C. defers cutting big swaths of old‑growth,” April 2. Les Leyne reports that the Council of ­Forest Industries says that old-growth deferrals will result in the closure of “a dozen sawmills at a cost of up to 18,000 jobs.” If COFI is worried about mill ­closures, they should be pressing the NDP government to halt raw log exports and send these logs to B.C. mills. In 2019, 5.1 million cubic metres of raw logs were exported. COFI should also be pressing the government to stop exporting cants. …I have contacted the ministry to find out how many cants are exported each year, and … as one wrote: “We don’t collect data on cants.” From my perspective, this is one way to hide these logs as timber and not the raw logs that they are.

During routine inspections of culverts and bridges in Tree Farm Licence 46 on Vancouver Island recently, our crews found several culverts had been blocked with plywood, rebar rods, rocks, wood, and an old tire. It appears this was done by the same blockaders who posted brags about clogging the culverts last fall. We’d cleared these culverts out and regularly inspected them over the winter, so they were vandalised sometime in the last month. …Properly engineering forestry roads and the related bridges and culverts to ensure water flows well across them is a critical aspect of how Teal Jones acts responsibly on the land. Improperly placed or plugged culverts and bridges can lead to washouts and landslides that damage the environment, destroy fish habitat, and put the lives of the public and forestry workers at risk. Vandalism and deliberate blocking of culverts and damage to bridges is a crime. …We have reported the incident to provincial authorities, who are investigating.

The future of the old-growth forest of Enterprise Creek is still uncertain. Although no official deferral has been announced for the area, Interfor Corporation has agreed to bring a team — which includes Last Stand West Kootenay, the Autonomous Sinixt and the Valhalla Wilderness Society — on a walk through the area before commencing logging… Although that sentiment also applies to Russel Creek and Koch Creek, both of which contain old growth forest deferral zones, it is worrisome that logging of the old-growth areas is still a consideration, said Valhalla Wilderness Society director, Craig Pettitt. …On March 29 the ad hoc group met with Interfor and Tara DeCourcy, district manager for the Selkirk Region with the Ministry of Forests, to discuss the situation. This was the second meeting with Interfor since the Enterprise Creek blockade, where people, led by Autonomous Sinixt matriarch Marilyn James, prevented loggers from cutting old growth forest in Enterprise Creek.

The province’s forests and the forestry industry have a role to play in climate change, says one of the region’s industry professionals.  Stuart Card, chief forester with Castlegar’s Interfor, said climate change is front and centre in today’s society but a sustainable forest management practice could lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and contribute to the climate adaptation as well.  “Forest management, active forest management, it’s going to assist with the fight against climate change, it’s going to help us minimize and mitigate catastrophic fire years,” he told city council recently.  …Coun. Jesse Woodward had asked Card, and other members of the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) representatives who appeared before council, about the battle for perpetual growth in forestry, with the need to re-wild the landscape so it could store carbon.  …A healthy forest means a stronger weapon against climate change, said Card.

EDMONTON – The Alberta government has released recovery plans for two herds of threatened caribou in the province’s north that it says will bring the amount of usable habitat on their ranges up to the level required by a deal signed with Ottawa.  “(These) plans make good on our commitment to take action on caribou recovery while maintaining local industry and jobs and building strong communities,” said a statement from Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon.  … But one observer who’s been closely involved with drafting the plans said the final documents delay most of the hard work for at least a decade and lack specifics on how habitat will be maintained and restored.   “If we’re not doing much in the next five to 10 years, that just kicks some of the hard decisions down the road,” said Carolyn Campbell of the Alberta Wilderness Association.

With wildfire season on the horizon, months of controlled burning have come to an end on Westbank First Nation land.  … Between November 2021 and April 2022, nine parcels of land were combed through by forestry crews, who removed dead and hazardous trees, ladder fuels, and brush vegetation. This work aims to slow any possible wildfires that may move through the area in the future.  “With the increase in wildfire intensity we have seen over the past few years, this mitigation work has come at an optimal time,” WFN Chief Christopher Derickson said in a press release.  …“In most of the treatment units our primary focus was to maintain the health and the fire resiliency of the forest by removing diseased trees, surface and ladder fuels, as well as the lower branches of the remaining trees,” said Dave Gill, Ntityix’s general manager of forestry.

Chief Robert Denni

The Huu-ay-aht First Nation is charting its own path toward the conservation of old-growth forests across a swath of western Vancouver Island as the province works through a process to defer logging in 26,000 square kilometres of critical old-growth habitat.  The Huu-ay-aht outlined their position this week in a commissioned assessment of old-growth forests in Tree Farm License 44, the long-term forest tenure around Port Alberni that the First Nation holds an interest in. And it isn’t out of sync with the province’s mapping of old-growth areas it hopes to temporarily take off the table.  Huu-ay-aht Chief Robert Dennis, however, said his people intend to use that assessment in future management decisions, including those that involve the harvest of old-growth trees, which he wants the province and other interest groups to recognize. 

City of Powell River councillors have taken issue with a potential provincial initiative to harmonize stumpage rates, which could affect Powell River Community Forest’s revenues.  At the April 5 committee of the whole meeting, council reviewed correspondence from Chris Laing, who manages the community forest’s logging operations, asking for support in a request from the BC Community Forest Association.  City chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said the ask is that council consider submitting a resolution to Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM).  “If the committee wished to do so, they could send it to council to forward onto UBCM,” added Brewer.  . …Mayor Dave Formosa said “If [the provincial government] changes the stumpage rate to the community forest, it’s going to take a big chunk of that money out. We need to get behind this resolution to UBCM. We should also probably send a letter from the city saying we do not support the change.”

My letter is prompted by the letter from Tony Greenfield (SC Community Forest) in response to Sara Lowis (Living Forest Institute). I am the president of SC Streamkeepers Society. Clearcutting forests destroys stable ecosystems, seriously affecting the natural hydrology of a watershed. The atmospheric river this past November had catastrophic consequences; the unprecedented weather event due to climate change wiped out most of the salmon Redds (nests) in the creeks on the Sunshine Coast. The severe flooding took out numerous creek culverts and roads. We are not living in normal times, and we must transition to new ways of doing things, that includes logging sustainably and in appropriate locations. The argument that we must continue to decimate forests directly above our communities, destabilizing the ground for more wood products is frankly, ludicrous!

Before heading to Fairy Creek, Emily Kane’s closest brush with the law was… “a mild speeding ticket.” That changed on May 27, 2021 when the local business owner was arrested after locking herself into a “sleeping dragon”—essentially a hole in the ground reinforced by concrete and piping that protesters have locked themselves into throughout the blockades. …Just weeks after her arrest, the charge was upgraded to criminal contempt, [which] meant she faced a possible criminal record, along with 24 days in jail. …Fortunately for the Yogacara Whistler owner, the judge showed some leniency, reducing her sentence to a $2,250 fine and no jail time. …Although understandably relieved, Kane was prepared for the possibility of prison if it came to that. …When there is less than 2.7 per cent of these [old-growth] trees left in forested areas, that’s urgent. 

The Canim Lake Band continues to work with the B.C. government to ensure its values are incorporated into the modern forestry industry. Canim Lake Coun. Carl Archie was in Victoria last week to attend the announcement of additional old-growth deferrals by Forests Minister Katrine Conroy, as part of B.C.’s old-growth preservation strategy. The announcement was an update to negotiations underway with 200 indigenous groups across the province to create new areas of protection for old-growth forests. Canim Lake has accepted the government’s proposed old deferral areas but reserved the right to change the designated areas in the future. Archie said this could occur if logging is a matter of forest health, such as removing beetle-killed trees.

In separate legal proceedings, two forestry operators and a contractor each took responsibility for their roles in road repairs gone wrong that resulted in a significant release of water and sediment into Nesslin Lake in July 2019. As part of an alternative measures agreement that concluded April 5, 2022, A.C. Logging Ltd. of Spiritwood accepted responsibility for its role in the incident and contributed $20,000 to the provincial Impacted Sites Fund. As part of a previous court agreement, Carrier Forest Products Ltd. of Big River accepted responsibility for its role and contributed $75,000 to the fund. The fund helps support the cleanup of contaminated sites across the province. Carrier has also completed work to stabilize the road and decommission the creek crossing. Additionally, OS-ARC Enterprises Ltd. pleaded guilty to one count under The Environmental Management and Protection Act. 

Forestry company, CanWel appears to be gearing up to carry out logging above Fernie, within sight of downtown on private land they own. Preparation works are underway to the east of town, above Ridgemont Rd. The entrance to the Kush mountain biking trail has been damaged by tracked machinery preparing the area for logging access. Logging plans were confirmed by the Fernie Trails Alliance, which manages trails uphill of Ridgemont. “We are happy to report that CanWel is planning for logging to occur above the Kush trail, and below the Bear Chutes trail, meaning that none of the FTA trails should be impacted,” said Todd Penke of the FTA, who added that while the entrance to the Kush trail will be affected, the FTA would carry out repairs as required when logging was completed.

Trees are important as we plan our communities. But they can also be a costly nuisance if some thought isn’t put into where they are planted and what varieties are used. The City of Duncan is currently finding this out first-hand as they look to take out American sweet gum trees that were planted in 2005… this tree variety has a number of characteristics that make it entirely unsuitable for where they’ve been planted. They don’t like pollution. They have a shallow root system, and are prone to large branch failure. So the middle of a city… isn’t a great match. The shallow root systems mean the trees are buckling roads, sidewalks and planters, and have even cut off a sprinkler system. …It all begs the question, did the folks who chose these trees for planting in Duncan do any research at all? 

SMITHERS, BC — The government’s plans to even out stumpage fees raised concerns by speakers at the Smithers town council. Currently, there is a disparity between the stumpage fees applied to woodlot licences, community forest agreements and First Nations woodland licences. According to the province’s “Modernizing Forest Policy in British Columbia” report, that is going to change. …Local forest ministry manager Cam Bentley told those present no decision has been made. …Matt Sear, a registered professional forester worried about community impact. …Wetzink’wa Community Forest also spoke to the potential impact. Aurora Lavender pointed to letter by the BC Community Forests Association that emphasizes the socio-economic success of community forests is made possible by the existing pricing policy. …“Changes will result in a decrease in direct economic benefits to the local communities,” she said.

More on stumpage rates from Powell River Peak, by Paul Galinski: Correspondence from Powell River Community Forest suggests UBCM resolution regarding stumpage rates

A prominent ecologist is raising alarms current old-growth forest management strategies won’t impose the paradigm shift needed to preserve B.C.’s timber harvesting industry while protecting the area ecosystems where the logs are removed from. Rachel Holt said… “There is denial about the fact we have a problem on B.C.’s forestry land base which is pushed by industry, who are lobbying to try to make this issue go away,” Holt said. …Cam Brown, a professional forester consultant, said 21 per cent of B.C.’s forests fall under the old-growth category, which is about 11 million hectares, and about 75 per cent of that is unlikely to ever be logged. He said the old-growth is not relegated much to big tree growth, that most old-growth forest now falls under medium or small tree categories. “We have gone from harvest equals growth from the ’40s to the ’90s… to now where we look more to integrated land use planning,” Brown said.

This is to emphasize the importance of trees. …Trees don’t have nervous systems, but they can still feel what’s going on and experience something analogous to pain. When a tree is cut, it sends electrical signals like wounded human tissue. There are many disadvantages to the removal of trees. It will affect the water cycle, destroy the flora and fauna and lead to an increase in carbon dioxide, thereby increasing global warming. Why trees must be saved? As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and give life to the world’s wildlife. They also provide us with the materials for tools and shelter. …We know that trees have senses, just like we do but they have many more than ours. Plants can see, smell, taste, hear, feel touch, and much more. Their sensory abilities often exceed ours.

A UBC researcher says there’s a more sustainable way to harvest trees that would mean faster forest regrowth and more skilled jobs for British Columbians. Forest ecology prof. Suzanne Simard is following the progress of 8 forests in B.C., including the John Prince Research Forest in Fort St. James, that were selectively harvested to leave behind the bigger, older trees that she says play a vital role in regrowth. …“The big old trees help protect biodiversity, keep carbon in the ground and help regenerate the next forest. The forest was harvested in that way about four years ago,” Simard said. The John Prince Research Forest is at the northern limit of the interior Douglas Fir in Canada and is the most northern forest being studied.

VANCOUVER, BC — A Vancouver man on a hunger strike says he’s now into his 13^th day without food as he awaits a response from the province on holding a public meeting about old-growth forests in B.C. On Wednesday, an organization called Save Old Growth — which wants B.C. to pass legislation to immediately end all old-growth logging within the province — temporarily disrupted traffic in Vancouver and Revelstoke. In Vancouver, anti-logging protesters blocked the Lions Gate Bridge during the morning commute. In Revelstoke, two protesters blocked the Columbia River Bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway. Save Old Growth said two people were arrested in Revelstoke, while three people were detained in Vancouver.

Vancouver Island, BC—British Columbia’s largest private landowner, Mosaic Forest Management, is halting logging in nearly 100,000 acres of old-growth forest for the next 25 years. The forestry company… said it’s transitioning to a carbon credit program, which is expected to generate several hundred million dollars in revenue. Hailed the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative, Mosaic said it’s the largest project of its kind and is aiming to capture and store more than 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. It’ll be “equivalent to, or exceed what [Mosaic’s] logging revenues would’ve been from logging these stands,” read a release from the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. …Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Judith Sayers said “there is value in what Mosaic is doing,” but questioned the long-term plan. “What are they going to do after 25 years?” Sayers asked. “There’s still work to be done to make sure they’re not cutting down the old-growth.”

A North Okanagan timber company won’t have to pay B.C. Wildfire Service $156,000 to cover the cost of putting out a 30-hectare wildfire it started after a provincial appeal board ruled the company hadn’t intentionally started the fire. The B.C. Forest Appeals Commission found that while North Enderby Timber was responsible for the fire, the company hadn’t “willfully” ignited it, so therefore it didn’t have to pay a $156,602 bill the B.C. Wildfire Service had sent it. The fire dates back to 2017 and took place six kilometres east of Clearwater. According to a Forest Appeals Commission decision, North Enderby Timber burnt several piles of debris in the fall of 2016. …the following spring, the debris piles caused a wildfire as they hadn’t fully extinguished over the winter. …North Enderby Timber, along with its sister company Canadian Cedar Oil Technologies …appealed the fines and won a partial reprieve from the costs from the Forest Appeals Commission.

It may seem that the dust has settled on the old-growth protests for now. And one might think that government’s announcement to defer 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest from logging for two years is behind us. However, nothing could be further from the truth. …The reality is that BC has a growing population and demand for public services. At the same time, government is reducing, via old-growth deferrals, a key source of revenue for this province. …This is in stark contrast to Saskatchewan’s government recently announced $2 billion historical investments in forestry with increased harvesting rights to support the re-opening of a pulp mill and a new OSB plant. …No one who supports the reduction in the use of BC’s natural resources should ever again complain about a lack of teachers, long hospital waits, a lack of doctors, the closure of community clinics or shortages of police in this province.

Phil Burton

Conservation North held its second annual Rebellion for Forests rally in downtown Prince George as part of the global Scientist Rebellion week of action. Roughly 50 people came to celebrate intact old-growth forests as a defense against the climate crisis. “Unfortunately, industrial logging of old-growth … is contributing to the global climate crisis instead of providing B.C. with a natural climate solution,” explained Michelle Connolly, Conservation North’s director. UNBC forest ecologist Phil Burton, said, “the good news is that our forests in this part of the world are resilient. They do bounce back after logging but our wildlife is not so resilient after repeated logging…” “The planning of our ministry of forests, is that every tree every stick of timber is up for grabs for unless it is set aside otherwise. It puts the onus on others, on conservationists and ecologists, to say ‘please don’t touch that’ and perhaps that onus should be reversed.”

In what it calls the most accurate inventory ever taken a new report commissioned by a First Nation-owned forest company says nearly a third of its tree farm licence is old growth and that the percentage of old-growth will actually increase in the decades to come. The report analyzed Tree Farm Licence 44, located south of Port Alberni, and found 32 per cent of it contains old-growth defined as trees older than 250 years old. “Of that 76 per cent is protected or outside the timber harvesting land base and the levels of old-growth in the future are more than they are today,” said Joel Mortyn, the report’s author and Western Forest Products’ manager of inventory and analysis. The Tree Farm Licence or TFL contains 140,000 hectares of land owned by Western Forest Products and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. LiDAR technology measured the timber values in the tree farm licence in its entirety for the first time.