Region Archives: Canada West

Recent warm, sunny weather could be the start of a much-longer hot stretch “without a very obvious end to it,” raising concerns about wildfires, says an Environment Canada meteorologist. Victoria-based Armel Castellan told reporters Monday that even with typical July temperatures, residual moisture on the forest floor can be depleted in seven to 10 days. “That is the very strong concern as we go deeper into this week,” said Castellan, who said Environment Canada collaborates closely with the B.C. Wildfire Service at this time of year. …The outlook has changed, however, with recent rising temperatures, along with lack of rain in the immediate forecast. That means a campfire ban is now under consideration, said Coastal Fire Centre information officer Jade Richardson.

Forsite is excited to announce we are now part of the Barr GeoSpatial Solutions “BGS” group of companies. BGS is a leading provider of analytics and remote sensing to help manage and protect natural resources and critical infrastructure across North America. Other companies in the BGS group include Northwest Management Inc. (NMI) (Moscow, Idaho), Airborne Imaging (Calgary) and Barr Air Patrol (Houston). Forsite, a leading provider of forestry solutions in Canada including digital tree inventories, forest land management, fire modeling, and vegetation management for utilities, is excited to join the Barr group of companies. BGS’s advanced fleet of over 25 sensors and 50 aircraft, coupled with state-of-the-art aerial LiDAR, imaging, surveillance, and Al technologies, delivers invaluable data through sophisticated processing and analytics. Being part of BGS will provide Forsite the resources and market access to allow the expansion of our technology product offerings across North America and around the world.

…Cache Creek was a hot spot on Sunday, with a daily high of 40.3 C, breaking the record of 36.9 set in 2015. It was one of almost two dozen records reset for July 7 in the province, and the hot spell continued with 46 heat alerts issued across B.C. by noon on Monday. The heat has also raised concerns about wildfire risks and the forecast calls for dry lightning in the southern Interior on Tuesday and Wednesday. Armel Castellan, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said they’re working with the BC Wildfire Service on the locations where they have the most concern for wildfires. The BC Wildfire Service said Monday the hot, dry conditions increase the potential for wildfire and the new weather pattern expected mid-week will bring high winds and thunderstorms, with dry lightning strikes. …Environment Canada says the heat wave is expected to persist until about mid-week.

Sweltering conditions from a heat wave gripping Western Canada will present challenging conditions for firefighters in northern Alberta on Tuesday. Wildfire danger warnings spread across Alberta over the weekend with extreme temperatures and out-of-control fires in the northern areas of the province. The wildfire danger level is very high in the Fort McMurray forest area, where at least one out-of-control fire continues to spread. …No evacuation orders have been declared as of 10 p.m. MT Monday. Wildfire officials forecast a southwest wind of 15 km/h Tuesday, with winds expected to shift south in the afternoon at 20 km/h. Temperatures in northern Alberta are expected to climb to between 30 and 35 C and will persist until at least midweek, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.  Several wildfires in the area were caused by lightning, all but are under control as of Monday evening. 

The company tasked with reviewing the City of Yellowknife’s response to last summer’s wildfires has released its report. KPMG’s Leon Gaber said a main finding was a lack of clarity over how roles and responsibilities were divided between the city and other agencies. “That’s a really important finding that I think is really critical to address,” he said. “It will really help, I think, the city and the territory writ large with respect to being more prepared, being more effective in a future evacuation or significant response.” Overall, KPMG identified 19 key strengths in the city’s emergency response and made 26 recommendations to address 35 areas for improvement. Strengths highlighted in the report include the use of a local state of emergency to re-allocate resources to wildfire protection efforts, and the way public communication about the re-entry plan was better coordinated compared to communication about the evacuation process.

Salmon have long adapted to wildfires by spawning in parts of rivers untouched by the fires. But the extreme wildfires are leaving fewer islands of habitat intact, making it impossible for the fish to lay their eggs. Now, wild salmon are facing a growing threat from the proliferation of hotter, larger fires, and fisheries experts warn more needs to be done to ensure they aren’t wiped out. …With climate change poised to exacerbate the number of large, intense wildfires in decades to come, Jason Hwang, chief program officer and vice president of the Pacific Salmon Foundation said compiling existing information about how to help salmon thrive could be useful to people trying to restore burned land. The goal is not to tell people what they should do; the intent is to help them decide how best to include salmon in their restoration work.

This story is part of a series exploring the wide-ranging impacts of persistent drought conditions and climate change seen across the province in recent years. During severe storms, trees and branches often crash onto power lines, knocking out electricity for hours and sometimes days. That’s nothing new. But chronic drought is stressing some trees — such as water-loving cedars — to the point that they’re much more vulnerable during extreme weather. “Certainly with the changing climate, the drought conditions are severe,” said B.C. Hydro spokesman Ted Olynyk. “On Vancouver Island, we are seeing this prolonged dry weather that’s not typical and the vegetation [that has] evolved isn’t designed for it.” …Adverse weather, particularly wind, and falling trees and branches, causes more than half of B.C.’s power outages, according to a 2023 report from B.C. Hydro on the worst storms in the province in recent years.

Last week I was provided with a link to The Fox Mountain and South Lakeside Wildfire Risk Reduction Tactical Plan (WRRTP) and asked for my input as an adjacent resident to one of the areas. The plan will look at fuel management to reduce wildfire risk to properties in those areas. Since the plan is of interest to many other private land owners, I decided to summarize the information in this article and note the public education section below. The WRRTP is intended to streamline fuel management treatment planning across large, complex areas and enable development of connected fuel management networks in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), which is where forested areas and communities meet and put communities more at risk from wildfire. …The development of the plan was completed by Forsite Consultants Ltd. (Forsite) and Ember Research Services Ltd (Ember) with the support of Williams Lake First Nation’s Natural Resource Department. 

Mathieu Bourbonnais

Mathieu Bourbonnais, a former wildland firefighter, helped create some technology that can predict wildfires. “I was checking all my sensors, and the McDougall Creek fire burned about 15 of them,” says Bourbonnais, now a researcher and assistant professor of earth, environmental and geographic sciences at UBC Okanagan. “Seeing that, it was pretty obvious that once the fire got going, it was going to jump the lake.” Those sensors, which Bourbonnais and his UBCO team are developing in partnership with Rogers, could be a game-changer in BC. Acting as an early warning system, they are essentially small, low-cost weather stations that can be deployed across remote locations where they can monitor conditions—like air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, soil moisture and soil temperature. Using cellular or satellite networks, the real-time data can be transmitted to anyone from local fire services to forestry companies, and from utilities to First Nations.

James Steidle

B.C. needs to end the use of herbicides that are killing broadleaf trees in Okanagan forests, according to members of several environmental groups at a meeting in Peachland last week. Yearly, the province sprays thousands of hectares of B.C. clear-cut land with the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide known as Roundup, and it’s causing more harm than good, James Steidle of Stop the Spray BC said. …Under B.C.’s Forest Planning and Practices Regulation, non-conifer trees must be kept to less than five per cent of re-planted cut block. Steidle said it’s a move, aimed at bolstering the supply of trees most desirable for logging and it’s putting adjacent communities at risk. …Steidle said he’d like to see communities to take control of public forests back from private interests. …“The use of herbicides, like glyphosate has declined by over 90 per cent since the 1900s,” the Ministry said.

VERNON, BC — Following a successful pilot project, Predator Ridge in Vernon, B.C., has announced the commercial installation of an AI-based wildfire detection system. Predator Ridge has commercially installed a Vancouver-based company’s SenseNet technology. The SenseNet is equipped with advanced sensors, AI algorithms and real-time data analysis to provide highly accurate and early alerts to wildfire. The installation follows the successful conclusion of a two-year pilot project with the City of Vernon, in partnership with Vernon Fire Rescue Services. Throughout the pilot, the SenseNet technology underwent extensive testing consistently demonstrating accuracy and speed in providing real-time data essential for deploying emergency response and protecting public safety. …One hundred sensors, five gateways and five cameras are installed around the entire perimeter of the resort providing early wildfire detection using gas sensing and thermal imaging. Vernon Fire Rescue will have 24/7 monitoring and management of the technology.

On behalf of UBC Forestry, congratulations to the this year’s UBC Sustainability Fellows! From the Sustainability across first-year core curriculum: The Land One experience we congratulate Dr. Lindsay Cuff, Dr. Athena McKown, Dr. Fernanda Tomaselli, and Dr. Karen Taylor. From Accounting for Climate Change: Expanding civil engineering, wood science and accounting courses for climate relevancy by adding case-based carbon/sustainability accounting course modules congratulations go to Caren Lombard, Tamara Etmannski, and Qingshi Tu. Sustainability Fellowships are granted to full-time UBC Vancouver faculty members who are spearheading the development of innovative sustainability courses and programs, supported by a Sustainability Education Grant. 

The forests of Clayoquot Sound became world famous as the battlegrounds of the decades-long “war in the woods” — and now, a vast swath of the rich old-growth trees are permanently protected. In June, Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and the B.C. government announced 760 square kilometres of old-growth forests in the ecologically rich region on Vancouver Island are now safeguarded in ten new conservancies. …The new conservancies, to be managed by Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, will nearly double how much old growth is protected in Clayoquot Sound …about 62 per cent of the area. New protections include parts of Meares Island near Tofino, where Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation declared a tribal park on part of the island in 1984. …Conservation charity Nature United provided $40 million to help Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht pay compensation to the forestry-tenure holder, Mamook Natural Resources, which they share ownership of, along with the other three central Nuu-chah-nulth nations. 

British Columbia recognized the Haida’s aboriginal title to their islands decades after the Indigenous group launched a battle on the ground and in the courts. …The Haida people have lived for thousands of years on Haida Gwaii, a remote archipelago in the Pacific Ocean off Canada’s western coast, just south of Alaska. Nearly wiped out by smallpox after the arrival of Europeans, the Haida clung to their land — so rich in wildlife it is sometimes called Canada’s Galápagos, coveted by loggers for its old-growth forests of giant cedars and spruce. For decades, despite their geographic isolation, the Haida’s unwavering fight to regain control over their land drew outsize attention in Canada. …The Haida opposed clear-cut logging, building ties with environmentalists. They forged alliances with non-Haida communities at home and found common cause with other Indigenous groups across the world. [to access the full story, a NY Times subscription is required]

Following successful events in Oregon and the Okanagan, the “Deciduous Heroes” tour wrapped up in Prince George on Wednesday. Jen Côté of Moose, Mushrooms and Mud and local MLA and longtime trapper Mike Morris joined Stop the Spray B.C. founder James Steidle to talk about the value of deciduous trees sprayed with herbicides or suppressed with brush saws to grow conifer plantations. “The tour has been a real opportunity to connect with different communities throughout the Pacific Northwest who are facing similar issues,” says Steidle. “The common denominator is that the industrialization of our forests and discrimination against our broad-leaved deciduous species is having real impacts on communities and wildlife values.” Oregon and Washington State communities have seen heavy clearcutting and herbicide spraying of watersheds that provide communities with drinking water.

Drought, human-caused changes to land and groundwater, disease, insects and fast-moving wildfires are some of the factors putting B.C.’s forests at risk this summer. Wildfires are getting bigger, hotter and more frequent as a result of climate change, says ClimateReady B.C. …UBC professor Younes Alila, said snow plays an important role in replenishing groundwater. …Climate change isn’t the sole driver of drought, however; it can also be exacerbated by land use, forest-management decisions and urbanization, Alila said. For example, when areas that have been clearcut are replanted, new young trees consume far more groundwater than the old forest. Thomas Pypker, chair of the department of natural resource sciences at Thompson Rivers University, said it’s also important to look at the tree species being planted… Bill Beese, a retired VIU professor and forest ecologist, said, on the Island, moisture-loving cedars, hemlock and grand fir are suffering under drought. 

Trees in the B.C interior are being ground up into pellets and sent to the UK where they are burned to produce electricity. The plant owners claim they are “sustainable and legally harvested.” Burning trees is supposed to be carbon neutral but not when it takes minutes to burn and decades to grow. And they will probably never store the amount of carbon that the old trees did. …What could address this travesty are new federal laws to combat greenwashing — claims that do not stand up to scrutiny such as vague and misleading language like “clean energy solutions” or “low-carbon future.” The forestry sector is greenwashing in its claim that burning wood reduces carbon emissions. By the time the trees suck up the CO2 released in their burning, they will likely be consumed by wildfires.

Those of us in rural British Columbia are bracing for the ravages of climate change that will bear down upon us with a vengeance this year (if the government and its experts are to be believed). We brace knowing that the Emperor Wears No Clothes. The premier and the ministers (Ralston of Forests, Ma of Emergency Management & Climate Readiness, Cullen of Land, Water Resource Stewardship, and Heyman, Environment) present publicly with compassion and concern. …Every single emperor in the tacit service of timber, with loyalty to timber, is refusing to audibly and publicly acknowledge that in private, at the cabinet table and in their own ministerial offices, each one knows that poor forestry practices, and “forest stewardship” (absent rigorous checks and balances and the absent any concern for conflicts of interests – fox guarding the henhouse stuff) has exacerbated every single risk that rural British Columbians face: fire, drought and flood.

A majority of B.C. residents support the province’s 30 X 30 conservation targets, suggests a new poll. The survey, conducted by Leger for Organizing for Change, a coalition of 12 B.C. environmental groups, found 85% of those polled support protecting 30% of land and water by 2030. …Protected areas now cover about 15.8% of the land base in B.C., which means the province would need to nearly double protected areas to meet its 2030 target. …This target aims to protect 30% of all land and water by 2030 in a bid to protect Earth’s biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The top areas that people support conservation in are habitats with species at risk such as old-growth forest (88%); areas of natural beauty and intact watersheds (86%); places where wildlife move between habitats (84%); outdoor recreation areas (81%); and culturally significant land to Indigenous people (67%).

Quintin Sperling

As a logger and third-generation caretaker for his acreage near Castlegar, Quintin Sperling spent his life in the forests. “I’m a certified faller and in B.C. I’ve done practically everything related to timber harvesting, logging, road building, firefighting, and silviculture work,” Quintin says. …But recently, Quintin decided to stop working in the woods. It’s a profession he no longer feels proud to be a part of. …Quintin has documented the violations he’s seen in the forests near him and submitted evidence to local compliance officers. However, the timber license holders are allowed to continue their work with no repercussions that he’s aware of. …Quintin hopes a better way is possible. “I think if the government had the courage to rewrite and pass new legislation… saying ‘if you’re not operating ethically and sustainably, we will pull your timber license, you get no compensation for it, you have no legal recourse.’”

VANCOUVER, BC — Light filters through a canopy of towering Douglas firs. Trunks stretch upwards toward a band of blue sky. Bird song slices through the silence. We are instructed to stand still, feet planted in the earth, feeling the breeze on our skin, inhaling the scent of dirt and pine, listening to creatures scuttling in the undergrowth. …Despite first appearances, this is not the initiation ceremony of a tree-worshipping cult. Rather, I am taking part in guided forest-bathing in Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park, an old-growth temperate rainforest hugging the shores of West Vancouver. …The idea of guided forest-bathing might seem a little absurd. Why not just take a walk in the forest? Why the yoga mats and tree-focused meditations, intentional walks and guidance cards? …The practice, known as shinrin-yoku, originated in Japan in the 1980s in response to karoshi — death by overwork. 

PORT ALBERNI, BC — BC old-growth activists have taken before and after photos of a large area of an ancient grove that was clear-cut on Vancouver Island near Port Alberni in the Nahmint Valley. The Ancient Forest Alliance says that many of the massive trees that were cut down were over 500 years old, some being up to nine feet across. Now that the grove has been cut, they are urging the BC government to immediately correct misidentified at-risk old-growth forests that could be eligible for logging deferrals. The Nahmint Valley clear-cut spans 17.4 hectares. …The old-growth advocates added that BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the BC government’s own logging agency, owned and auctioned off this forest to the highest bidder. …The BC government has significantly ramped up their efforts to protect these at-risk areas over the past year. 

Carrier Lumber president Bill Kordyban is among a growing chorus of dissent getting louder in protest over how B.C. forests are being managed by the provincial government. He’s convinced there’s a better way to support an ailing forest industry left reeling from the impacts of mill closures and job losses. To do that, Kordyban says the province’s forestry ministry has no choice but to give up a large chunk of its fiefdom. …“My takeaway from that meeting is more deference has to be given from Victoria to those who want to manage the forest for the greater good, rather than just simply consuming it and leaving it to chance what happens in the forest,” said Kordyban. …Fifteen or 20 years ago, B.C. was one of the lowest producers of forest products in North America. Now, the cost of doing business is among the highest anywhere, and Kordyban blames that squarely on the province.