Region Archives: Canada West

A relatively new industry is taking off in British Columbia, as forestry companies set their sights on logging burn zones after wildfires. It’s called salvage logging — and it may disrupt forests’ abilities to naturally recover from fires. B.C. rules allow companies to remove the last remaining living trees from burn zones. Those trees can offer critical support for healing ecosystems. Now some experts and affected communities, including First Nations, are raising the alarm and calling for more selective logging practices. The provincial government is clearing the way to make salvage logging even easier, giving companies a slew of profitable perks for harvesting areas burned in B.C. wildfires, including logging the remaining living trees at a discounted rate.

British Columbia’s deputy chief forester has set the new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for Tree Farm Licence 38 (TFL) located northwest of Squamish. The new AAC for the TFL is 117,500 cubic metres. This is a reduction from the previous AAC, while remaining well above the average annual harvest level since the last AAC determination, which has averaged just under 72,000 cubic metres per year. Factors that were considered in making this determination include supporting forestry, wildlife habitat, terrain stability, biodiversity, cultural resources and ensuring old-growth deferral areas are protected while a long-term management approach is developed. …The TFL overlaps the territory of five First Nations, including the Squamish Nation, Lil’wat Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Klahoose First Nation and the St’at’imc Chiefs Council, all of which were consulted during the timber supply review process. The deputy chief forester also sought and considered public and industry input.

In this newsletter:

• Minister of Forests, Bruce Ralston, reflects on work being done by the forestry sector in B.C., by FESBC, and makes a farewell statement. 
• BC Forest Safety Council safety tip and information on upcoming events and awards. 
• A partnership between FESBC and the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation enhances wildlife habitat in BC.
• BC Forestry June Tour video.
• Faces of Forestry meet Ken Day.

A joint 40 year reunion is being planned for the UBC Forestry classes of 1983 and 1984.  There are a number of people who are Lost in the Woods … if you are already in contact with us, great!  If this is the first you are hearing about the reunion (and you are interested in attending) … please email us at 1983reunion1984@gmail.com The reunion will be held on Saturday, October 19, 2024 on the UBC campus (most likely in the Forest Sciences Centre).  A number of activities are being planned during the day and there will be an evening social as well.  We hope you can join us! Your reunion planning team …Class of 1983 (Candace Parsons and Carmen Rida) and Class of 1984 (Bruce Blackwell and Eleanor McWilliams)

A waterfront property along Okanagan Lake will gain permanent protection so more people can enjoy outdoor recreation in B.C.’s Interior. The Province, in partnership with the BC Parks Foundation, has invested $10.5 million to acquire 11.4 hectares of waterfront property. It is intended to be added to Okanagan Lake Park, a popular destination for beachgoers and water-sports enthusiasts. … Located on the north side of Okanagan Lake Park, the land includes approximately 436 metres of shoreline that has important habitat for at-risk species, such as freshwater mussels, Lewis’s woodpecker and western screech owl. …Through the acquisition of private land and partnerships with conservation groups, individual donors, the BC Parks Foundation and supporters, the Province regularly adds land to the parks and protected areas system. Several steps are required before the land is legally added to the park, including consultation with First Nations. … Since 2017, the Province has invested $45.5 million to add 1,320 hectares to 41 parks in B.C.

New wildfire modelling software, more mental health support for firefighters, and better systems for combating misinformation are among the dozens of recommendations included in a new report looking at how the Northwest Territories government dealt with last summer’s unprecedented and catastrophic wildfires in the territory. The report, released Wednesday, is based on a third-party review commissioned by the territorial government last year. Calgary-based consulting firm MNP was hired to do the review which focused on the department of Environment and Climate Change’s (ECC) preparedness and response to the 2023 wildfire season. It’s one of two reviews commissioned by the territory; the other, which looks at the government’s overall response, is expected later this year. MNP’s report is based on interviews with territorial government staff, municipal authorities and Indigenous communities, as well as analyses of ECC policies and procedures related to wildfire. 

British Columbia environmental groups say the province’s newly released Coastal Marine Strategy should be the first step toward a law that would protect coastal habitats from shoreline development. …increasing frequency and severity of storms caused by climate change are prompting questions about whether building near shorelines should be regulated. …The B.C. Coastal Marine Strategy was announced last month as a unifying vision to guide decision making on B.C.’s waterways and coastal resources for the next 20 years. It does not lay out plan of action and is not legally binding. …A new comprehensive coastal marine law, administered by one ministry, could force developers and municipalities to consider cumulative effects — not just the effect of a single development, but the degradation to ecosystem health that has already occurred in that area, said Erin Gray, staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law said. She also argues it would eliminate jurisdictional overlap

Eddie Petryshen, conservation specialist with Wildsight, recently published a column discussing the practice of salvage logging following wildfires. The Bulletin reached out to Petryshen to learn more about his insight on the matter. “Some of the world’s best forest ecologists call salvage logging, or post-disturbance logging, after a fire or insect infestation a tax on natural ecological recovery and it can set those ecosystems back, just as they’re starting to recover,” Petryshen explained. When machinery is used in post-fire stands, it can disturb or destroy nitrogen-fixing plants like fireweed or ceanothus, which are among the first to sprout from charred soils. “Historically in a lot of these more fire-dominated regions, we’ve suppressed fire and things like cultural burning haven’t happened,” Petryshen said another impact is on water citing a recent study from Alberta that found sediment was nine times greater in burnt watersheds than in unburnt, but 37 times greater in salvage-log watersheds. 

It has been a very busy summer for everyone throughout BC. I want to start by saying that our thoughts are with everyone who is dealing with the multiple environmental crises that are occurring throughout our traditional lands. From wildfires to landslides we are experiencing so much this summer. In this issue we are putting a focus on wildfires. As we experience an increase in hot and dry conditions mixed with low pressure systems that result in lightning activity our lands become susceptible to wildfires. Add this to a hundred years of successfully extinguishing fires, industrialized forest practices that prohibited cultural and prescribed burning as well as an increase of human activity on the land have resulted in the perfect environment for extreme fires to occur. Read on for:

• Morel Mushroom Playbook
• Wildfire Salvage Committee
• Indigenous Forestry Scholarship Program Student Highlights
• Enhancing Wildfire Mitigation, Response, and Recovery Efforts
• Silviculture Innovation Program Survey

The government of the Northwest Territories says that on Wednesday it will release the independent review of its response to last year’s wildfires in the territory. The review looks at how the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s responded to the 2023 wildfires. A livestream of Wednesday’s 12 p.m. press conference will be available on CBC North’s website and on CBC Radio in the N.W.T. Speaking at the press conference will be Environment and Climate Change (ECC) Minister Jay Macdonald, ECC’s deputy minister Erin Kelly, ECC’s director of Forest Management Mike Gravel and ECC manager of wildfire prevention and mitigation Mike Westwick, among others. The N.W.T. government awarded the contract for the review to accounting firm MNP late last year.

In this newsletter you will find:

• BCCFA is headed to UBCM
• Get Ready for National Forest Week |  September 22-28, 2024: Get resources, tool kits and ideas for planning,
  teaching, and celebrating
• Climate Change Informed Species Selection (CCISS) Tool 
• How is it going with the Forest Operations Maps? 
• A NEW version of the Interior Stumpage Rate Request Form

A Maple Creek company was fined nearly $10,000 earlier this year after being caught illegally importing pine logs from Alberta, risking the spread of destructive mountain pine beetles. According to a provincial release issued this morning, firewood, logging and sawmilling operation Landrider Trux Ltd., was reported to the Turn in Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line in May. A conservation officer visited the business and identified and seized two piles of logs on the property and the Ministry of Environment’s Forest Service Branch confirmed the wood’s origin as Sundre, Alta. The company was fined $9,700. The log piles with bark were eventually sorted and the pine logs with bark were burned. The mountain pine beetle has killed large swaths of forest in BC and Alberta, and is also established in the Cypress Hills area, putting all of Saskatchewan’s pine forests at significant risk.

Additional coverage in CTV News by David Prisciak: Saskatchewan sawmilling operation fined for illegally importing pine logs

In collaboration with several communities in the Bow Valley, the mountain town of Canmore, Alta., is taking the lead on a project to construct a fireguard in the Bow Valley. Canmore released a plan this week for what it’s calling the Bow Valley Community Fireguard, which would run from the east park gates to Dead Man’s Flats. The Town says the plan was created with help from wildfire behaviour experts, disaster planners, forestry specialists and biologists. The goal is to slow the spread of future wildfires and protect lives, property and critical infrastructure in the Bow Valley, according to a press release. The fireguard’s construction is not a sure thing just yet, as it still needs funding. …The bulk of the work would be removing trees to create a thinned-out forest zone in multiple areas of the Bow Valley.

According to Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR), a joint venture of Tŝideldel First Nation and Tl’etinqox Government, forestry is a critical, yet somewhat misunderstood, sector in British Columbia. …A new five-part video series filmed and produced by CCR hopes to help change that. …The five videos will highlight various benefits of forestry, from economic and environmental benefits to social benefits for the two First Nations involved in CCR, as well as for other neighbouring communities. …The first video is titled: The Social Focus of Forestry. The video brings viewers out on to the traditional territory of the First Nations to share how forestry has brought about social benefits to the nations and communities. …Chief Otis Guichon Sr. of Tŝideldel First Nation shares how forestry has helped his band members find meaningful employment which has had positive impacts.

A group of forest-based organizations have come together to advocate for the future of forestry in the province. ForestryWorksforBC is a new, grassroots initiative, representing more than 1,000 businesses across BC’s forestry sector. The campaign is rallying to raise awareness about forestry’s critical role in the well-being of rural and urban communities. “We in the industry have done a very poor job in telling our story – all the positive things that we do, all the contributions that the industry makes,” said Ken Kalesnikoff, who appeared before the Regional District of Central Kootenay’s board of directors during its regular meeting on August 15. Kalesnikoff is President and CEO of Kalesnikoff Lumber near Castlegar. He petitioned directors to raise their voices for the future of forestry by sending a letter to the Minister of Forests, and requesting a meeting at the Union of BC Municipalities’ (UBCM) annual convention next month.

©Lamontagneart.com

The ongoing logging saga along the Highwood River in Kananaskis Country seemingly has no end in sight. Though logging was approved by the provincial government for roughly 1,200 hectares of forest in the Upper Highwood area to be cut down, conservationists have pushed back and raised alarm bells on the potential environmental impact if logging proceeds. But the nature of the project has highlighted glaring deficiencies in the approval process and understanding the long-term environmental impacts from clearcutting, specifically what level of research and study should be done before approving such a plan and who picks up the tab? …The project has already been mired in issues after a bridge constructed by Spray Lakes Sawmills, who were bought by West Fraser Timber in 2023, is in the process of being removed. …West Fraser has committed to continuing with public engagement and now has the harvest scheduled for fall 2025.

Approximately 80,000 new trees will need to be planted over the next two decades to meet the goals of the city’s Sustainable Urban Forest Strategy. This includes city and private property. “Excluding the Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) the analysis identified that Kelowna’s canopy coverage currently sits at 22 per cent,” Todd Cashin, urban forest supervisor, told council at its Aug. 26 meeting. Grassland cities, like Kelowna, typically have a canopy cover between 20 and 25 percent, he added. Of the city’s five districts, the Gateway (UBCO/Airport) and Urban Centres have the lowest canopy coverage. “However, the coverage does increase as you move from the core areas to the suburbs and rural districts,” Cashin said. Approximately 75 per cent of trees are on private property. 

Robert Dennis Sr.

Shannon Janzen

In communities up and down the coast, hard-working forestry families are worried about the rising cost of living and whether they will still have their jobs by the end of the year. In 2023, an estimated 4,000 coastal forestry-dependent workers lost their jobs. Today, more than 44,200 people living in coastal communities rely on an unstable forest sector for their livelihoods. Why is this happening? Because we have been focusing on the wrong priorities and failing to attract investment in domestic manufacturing of second-growth forests. …Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to retool and restructure sawmills and pulp mills for global competitiveness and to cost-effectively transition from old-growth to second-growth forests. …Coastal forestry has a long-standing negative reputation for investment, stemming from many factors including environmental opposition and regulatory uncertainty. …The Iskum Nations are eager to invest in the full supply chain of coastal forestry, but to do so there must be a shared vision for change.

JASPER — Parks Canada says a weekend drenching of rain on parts of Jasper National Park is doing a lot to quell fire activity, but the wet weather also comes with a warning. In a daily update on the local wildfire situation, Parks Canada says parts of the national park received over 30 millimetres of rain on Friday night. …But Parks Canada cautions all that rain could make slopes and burned trees unstable, and gusty or shifting winds could cause fire-weakened trees with loose roots to fall. The wildfire that prompted a weeks-long evacuation of the park and the Jasper townsite was declared “being held” last weekend. Jasper National Park and the town are still closed to visitors, but Highway 16 through the park is open and the Icefields Parkway that connects Jasper to Banff and Lake Louise reopened to through traffic last week.

VANCOUVER — Heavy rain in parts of British Columbia over the weekend has lowered wildfire activity in the southern part of the province, but firefighters say strong winds are creating some tree hazards for crews. The BC Wildfire Service says in its latest update that the number of active blazes in the province has fallen to around 311, continuing a downward trend where about 240 fires were burning entering the weekend. The wildfire service says while much of the southern part of B.C. received rain and some parts had heavy precipitation, it was accompanied by winds gusting up to 102 kilometres per hour. The wind “blew trees down along fire lines in the south” and forced a fire camp in Invermere, B.C., to move to another location, but no one was injured. Environment Canada is forecasting some precipitation early in the week, but most of B.C. will see warmer, drier weather as the weekend approaches.

Decades of work to suppress fires in Jasper National Park may have inadvertently contributed to conditions that fed a devastating wildfire that ripped through Jasper in July, experts say. The fire, which burned in the Jasper townsite, was the largest in the national park in over 100 years, according to Parks Canada. The fire consumed more than 33,000 hectares. While fires are not uncommon in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, studies suggest the number and size of fires has significantly decreased over the last century, largely due to suppression. “We conclude fire suppression has altered the fire regime and reduced resilience of the mountain forests in Jasper National Park,” Raphael Chavardes and Lori Daniels wrote in a 2016 research paper. The paper was part of Chavardes’s master’s degree at UBC and Daniels was his supervisor. …Chavardes said, prior to Jasper becoming protected in 1907 by the federal government, the forest burned about every 40 to 60 years, on average.

Penticton [has] tens of thousands of mature trees in its urban forest. Penticton council approved a staff recommendation to endorse the city’s first Urban Forest Management Plan following a presentation by Ysabel Contreras, parks planning and capital projects coordinator… Council also endorsed staff to incorporate tree canopy targets into the next Official Community Plan review and to submit an application to the Growing Municipal Fund: Growing Canada’s Community Canopies program in support of tree planting initiatives in the city for the next two decades. …Findings revealed mature tree canopy cover is 17 per cent within the municipal boundary, with an average of 12 per cent in urban areas, she said. The goal is to increase the overall number to 18 per cent, including an increase from 12 to 25 per cent in urban areas.

A technique called ground-ripping is being used to prepare soil for replanting in areas of the Chilcotin heavily destroyed by wildfires in 2017. It is not a new method, but something Daniel Persson, forestry superintendent with Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR), has tried before and hopes it will be a success in the region. He explained ground-ripping is typically done with a bulldozer and it has ripper teeth behind, sometimes even two or three, to cut into the soil 30 to 50 centimetres to loosen hard layers of soil and create planting spots for the planters that come in one year after. …”We are ripping the ground in a north-west and south-east direction because …it protects the trees from the sun by creating a little embankment on both sides,” Persson explained. Planters will plant the trees in the middle and even that tiny bit of shade helps the trees survive.  

Rhonda Milliken

A Whistler ecologist… released a peer-reviewed, self-funded study that supports her thesis that thinning the forests around Whistler as part of fire mitigation efforts actually increases the risk of fire in an ecosystem that is naturally more resistant to fire than forests in other parts of Canada. Millikin, a retired fire scientist… looked at the impact of thinning by comparing the microclimate of the forest floor in thinned areas and unthinned areas. According to the findings, which were published this month, “fire thinning led to warmer, drier, and windier fire environments.” …Millikin and her co-authors say their research showed forested areas that undergo fuel-thinning see microclimate variables change in the direction of an increase in wildfire potential, with more solar radiation reaching the forest floor, increased ambient temperature, and higher wind speeds. Combined with decreases in relative humidity, soil moisture, and snow depth and cover in spring conditions, fuel-thinning is increasing wildfire potential.