Region Archives: Canada West

The Kwiakah First Nation is a small nation of 21 members but it is fighting to save the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia. The M̓ac̓inuxʷ Special Forest Management Area covers 7,865 hectares of forested land. …“We as Kwiakah people have a vision of the future — where grizzly bears roam through the mossy, misty forests of our territory, and where the youth only know their forests as protected and abundant,” said Chief Steven Dick. The protected forest area will also help create forest steward jobs and a research centre for an Indigenous-led conservation economy. This is the ninth management area within the Great Bear Rainforest, which prohibits commercial harvesting and allows Kwiakah to practice regenerative forestry to bring the forest back to its pre-industrial state.

BANFF, Alberta — The loggers’ work was unmistakable. Flanked by dense forests, the 81-acre expanse of land on the mountainside had been stripped nearly clean. …The harvesting of trees would be routine in a commercial forest — but this was in Banff, Canada’s most famous national park. Clear-cutting was once unimaginable in this green jewel, where the longstanding policy was to strictly suppress every fire. But facing a growing threat of wildfires, national park caretakers are increasingly turning to loggers to create fire guards: buffers to stop forest fires from advancing into the rest of the park and nearby towns. “If you were to get a highly intense, rapidly spreading wildfire, this gives fire managers options,’’ David Tavernini, a fire and vegetation expert at Parks Canada, the federal agency that manages national parks, said as he treaded on the cleared forest’s soft floor. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]

Paper Excellence is delighted to share the successes that our partner, Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF), has accomplished in the past year. We value the work PSF does to preserve salmon habitat and restore the salmon population because it supports our commitment to protecting freshwater and marine ecosystems. One of their recent projects is the creation of new salmon habitats in Northern B.C. by the Kitsumkalum Band.

Snow levels in British Columbia are well below normal levels, according to the most recent data from the province. The May 15 snow survey and water supply bulletin, released by the province last week, showed the provincial snowpack is at 57% of normal levels across the province. The May 1 data was 66% of normal. On average, around 17% of the seasonal snowpack had melted by May 15, but this year, 31 per cent of the peak snowpack had melted by that date. This was the result of low elevation melt in April and warm weather from May 9 to 12. …The Vancouver Island snowpack was at 34% of normal as of May 15, while the Stikine snowpack was at 101% of normal. This was the only snow pack reporting above-normal levels. Because of the low snowpack in much of the province, reduced flood risk is expected. In addition, there is an increased risk of drought this year.

Although it is still early in the fire season, wildfires are burning in parts of British Columbia. Figures from the BC Wildfire Service show wildfires have been reported in all parts of the province except the northwest. The majority are in the Prince George Fire Centre’s coverage area. The fire activity at this time of year is disturbing, especially when watching past fire statistics. …So far this year, more than 140,000 hectares have been destroyed by fire. This figure is far lower than 2023, 2018 or 2017. However, this is significantly greater than the amount of land burned during the entire fire season in 2022, and around 10 times the amount of land destroyed by wildfires in 2020. …This year, because of the level of wildfire activity this early in the fire season, there is cause for concern. …The 2024 wildfire season has started aggressively and it is possible this year will result in destruction similar to that seen in recent years.

British Columbia’s chief forester has set a new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 46, located on southern Vancouver Island. The new AAC for TFL 46 is 360,000 cubic metres, a 5.5% reduction from the previous AAC set in 2012. This decision recognizes the suspension of old-growth harvesting in the Fairy Creek Watershed and the Central Walbran Valley through orders, identifying them as temporary deferral areas within TFL 46. The current temporary deferral areas remain in place. This new AAC supports old-growth forests, accounts for wildlife habitat retention, visual quality and First Nations cultural heritage resources and practices, while allowing for sustainable harvest levels. The determination includes two partitions… with specific rules: one outlining that no more than 180,000 cubic metres can be harvested from forest stands more than 250 years old; and the other outlining that no more than 180,000 cubic metres can be harvested from stands 250 years old or less.      

Garry Merkel

It’s been four years since a pair of professional foresters hired by the BC NDP government urged the province to take a radically new approach to old-growth forests. In their strategic review, Garry Merkel and Al Gorley said the government should manage B.C.’s old forests as ecosystems rather than a source of timber. …A BC government old-growth update says “significant progress” has been made on implementing 14 recommendations made in the foresters’ review of old-growth strategy. Yet it also cautions it “will take years to achieve the full intent of some of the recommendations.” Environmental groups and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs were quick to criticize the update, saying it lacks concrete commitments to urgently protect B.C.’s remaining old-growth forests. …But Merkel, who is working for the government on contract, urged patience, telling The Narwhal much of the work is taking place behind the scenes. 

Brad Stelfox

BRAGG CREEK, Alberta — According to landscape ecologist Dr. Brad Stelfox, the Greater Bragg Creek ecosystem is an iconic landscape. …One of Stelfox’s slides was a picture of a grizzly bear as it ambled through the West Bragg Creek parking lot adjacent to where a BC logging company is planning on clearcutting next year, in the middle of a heavily-used recreation area. “There is a growing and significant amount of anxiety about a swing towards land uses that are modifying this landscape very quickly, and a new approach to decision-making may be in order.” …Stelfox is an adjunct professor in Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta and the Department of Environmental Design, University of Calgary. …All land uses have benefits, Stelfox said, just as they all have liabilities. The key is to manage land use from economic, social and environmental perspectives at the same time. It’s all about trade-offs. “

As wildfires turn large swaths of forests into seas of charred spires, wildfire experts say the blackened blotches on the B.C. landscape can have a lasting effect reducing fire risk and severity. Mike Flannigan, a wildfire researcher at Thompson Rivers University, said historic wildfire scars have less fuels available, meaning fires will burn less intensely and can be used as a break to slow the spread of a raging wildfire. “Because it’s lower intensity, fire management can manage it effectively and suppress it as opposed to a running crown fire, which they can’t,” Flannigan said. “When things are really extreme, really hot, dry and windy, it will burn through, but it generally will be lower intensity, so you can still manage it more effectively than if it was in a forest.” 

Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais isn’t going to rehash what everyone in the Central Okanagan already knows about wildfires when he opens the three-day Wildfire Coexistence Symposium in Kelowna next week. The Assistant Professor in UBC Okanagan’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences says the event is tailored toward innovative wildfire solutions. “We want to move beyond recognizing the problem to finding and implementing solutions that address the whole-of-society issue of wildfire,” he says. “This is about understanding what’s happening around our communities and making us better prepared.” Dr. Bourbonnais as well as his colleague and co-presenter from UBC Vancouver, Dr. Lori Daniels, have tailored the symposium to as broad an audience as possible. They will touch on new technology and new tactics. They’ve designed the symposium to be engaging, with panels, moderated questions and audience interaction with over 20 experts in various fields.

For more than two weeks, firefighters battled to bring the Parker Lake wildfire threatening the northeast B.C. community of Fort Nelson under control. With the fire declared as “being held” on Monday, some found time for another task — hanging a banner from a ladder truck to welcome home returning evacuees. Rob Fraser, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality which includes Fort Nelson, said he got more hugs on Monday afternoon than he has received in a long time. The evacuation orders covering Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson First Nation ended at 8 a.m. …A statement from the municipality said the community had been deemed safe to re-enter but there were still active fires in the area. An evacuation alert, requiring people to be ready to leave at short notice, is now in place for Fort Nelson and the First Nation.

The president and chief operations officer of the world’s “largest aerial firefighting company” has said not a single one of its aircraft is being contracted out in its home province of BC. Britt Coulson sat down with NowMedia this week to discuss the recent announcement that Coulson Aviation will be converting its first Boeing 737-700 into the world’s highest capacity Large Air Tanker (LAT). Last week, Bruce Ralston, minister of forests, told NowMedia all the leases were signed for aircraft for this year’s wildfire season. On Monday, NowMedia asked Coulson if the Port Alberni-based company had any aircraft contracted to BC. …He said that based on historically political issues with past provincial governments led the company to “go where we’re wanted,” which includes contracts in the US and Australia. Coulson said in the past there was “a negative stigma” attached to the use of the Martin Mars bombers in the early 2000s because they were owned by a private company.

WEST VANCOUVER, BC — The District of West Vancouver and the B.C. Parks Foundation announced the creation of one of the biggest municipal parks of its kind. The 7.8 square kilometres of land donated by West Vancouver makes the park almost twice the size of Stanley Park. …Mayor Mark Sager called it a monumental day during a ceremony at Cypress Pop-Up Village. “This area will help preserve sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, and store carbon to fight climate change,” Sager said. “It will also ensure that old-growth trees will continue to stand in our stunning municipality, which we know is very important to our residents and people across the globe. …Together the new park, West Vancouver’s existing parks, the surrounding Capilano and Seymour watersheds, the Old Growth Conservancy and Cypress Provincial Park form a protected area for wildlife and mature trees covering more than 320 square kilometres.

The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc forestry company has lost the majority of an appeal after it was fined $12,000 over a load of unmarked timber discovered during an investigation into an illegal firewood operation. According to a May 6 Forests Appeal Commission decision, the case dates back to 2019 when the province was investigating an illegal firewood operation in Knutsford, outside Kamloops. The investigation led officers to search a lumber yard at LeBeau Bros. Logging where they found eight decks of unmarked and unscaled timber being stored. The decision says at the time LeBeau Bros was the sole contractor for Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc owned Tk’emlupsemc Forest Development Corporation, and the law makes Tk’emlupsemc responsible if a contractor breaks the rules. …The Tk’emlupsemc Forest Development Corporation argued it had done its due diligence in making sure that all timber followed the correct procedure. 

New research from UBCO is sounding the alarm as people and the climate intensify pressure on popular provincial parks. Dr. Michael Noonan and his team at UBCO’s Quantitative Ecology Lab are looking at the future of B.C.’s provincial park system and they suggest that as the climate continues to warm, parks will feel the brunt of increased use. “The problem isn’t going to go away. Parks will suffer from overcrowding, and there will be more human-wildlife conflict in these parks. We’re calling for better education that needs to start now, not in a few years,” said Noonan. Researchers are urging the province to create a use-management strategy for provincial parks due to concerns about overuse as the parks’ popularity, and B.C.’s population, continue to increase. Noonan believes finding a balance between providing recreational opportunities and preserving a safe environment for wildlife will be a challenge.

The Province and Kwiakah First Nation have created a new Special Forest Management Area supporting regenerative forestry and conservation in the southern Great Bear Rainforest. …Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests said, “This partnership with Kwiakah represents a continuation of our joint work to ensure the Great Bear Rainforest will continue to provide sustainable jobs and healthy forests for our children and grandchildren.”Chief Steven Dick of Kwiakah First Nation, said: “By creating the M̓ac̓inuxʷ Special Forest Management Area, we are asserting our inherent responsibilities and creating an Indigenous-led conservation economy that will steward, heal and mend our territory while allowing our people to thrive.” …The M̓ac̓inuxʷ Special Forest Management Area covers 7,865 hectares of forested land within the Great Bear Rainforest. …Any lost harvesting revenue is intended to be counteracted through the generation of carbon credits and regenerative forestry jobs.

Additional coverage in the Globe and Mail by Wendy Stueck (subscription only): New forest management area inside Great Bear Rainforest aims to offset lost revenues with carbon credits

Explore the evolution of sustainable forestry practices through the lives of Indigenous families deeply rooted in the industry, as showcased in the documentary ‘Stewards of the Forest.’ “My dad was a boom man, my brother was a boom man, my uncle George was a boom man,” says Squamimsh’s Tom Harry, in the new Indigenous Resource Network documentary,”Stewards of the Forest: Indigenous Leadership in Forestry.” A “boom man” is a skilled worker who walks on the logs in the water and uses a pole to move them into a bundle. The 16-minute documentary, which is now available on YouTube, features many other locals who work in the forest industry, including Paul and Roger Lewis, Kayla Buckley, and Daniel Morckinson. Each local talks about their deep connection to the forest industry and the land. They also speak to the changes in the industry over time that have made it more environmentally sustainable. 

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – A planned logging operation in the upper Highwood River watershed threatens critical habitat for at-risk trout species, raising concerns over increased erosion, sedimentation and altered stream flows that could harm sensitive fish populations. A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and Freshwater Research Ltd. found lumber company West Fraser’s 1,100-hectare logging plan poses a high risk of significant changes to watercourses, riparian zones, and hillslopes in the Loomis Creek watershed – a tributary of the Highwood River – due to increased peak flows and surface erosion. …Based on what was presented at West Fraser’s annual open house earlier this month, no changes have been made to the logging plan. Joyce Wagenaar, director of communications for West Fraser, said the plan is still paused as the company continues to seek out actionable feedback. 

[This story is making a second appearance in the news. It was first published in Vancouver is Awesome on April 23, 2024] …Many of the speakers at the annual B.C. Council of Forest Industries (COFI) convention focused on how the sector could return to higher levels of harvest or slow the pace of government regulations. Then the conversation turned to wildfires. David Coletto, head of the market research firm Abacus Data, presented the results from a poll he designed with COFI. After Canada’s most destructive wildfire season on record, the results suggested the B.C. public was ready to accept a narrative that the forestry industry could act as a saviour. As Coletto put it, everybody in this province agrees who is the villain: it’s the fire. …The call to re-frame forestry as the solution to wildfire comes less than a year after the most destructive season in Canada’s recorded history burned an area roughly half the size of Italy.

AI and other technologies may help detect wildfires sooner, but the human element is still integral to preventing fires from spreading, says a local researcher. A wildfire solutions symposium is scheduled to run in Kelowna from June 3 to 5, and one of the co-hosts has been leading the charge to snuff out the flames before they explode into the kind of destructive infernos we saw last summer in parts of the Southern Interior. Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, with the Centre for Wildfire Coexistence at UBC Okanagan, has been working with Rogers Communications for the past three years. His team has been installing low-cost sensors in the forest that collect data on moisture levels and other elements used to predict fire risk. There are about 100 scattered around the Okanagan. The data is helping craft models to predict where fires might start and what that fire might do.

PORT ALBERNI, BC — Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle met with Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation Andrew Mercier and Local 592 and 686 leadership to tour the Paper Excellence Port Alberni facility. …Unifor representatives met with Mercier to discuss B.C.’s forestry industry, including the state of the Port Alberni pulp mill and long-term economical fibre supply. …Despite the province’s enormous supply of timber, most of B.C.’s pulp and paper mills are struggling to find the fibre they require to operate on a consistent basis. …Fibre supply and strengthening B.C.’s entire forestry industry to grow good jobs and support forestry communities is a core component of the joint campaign initiated by Unifor, the United Steelworkers, and the PPWC. …Unifor representatives were joined on the pulp mill tour by Tseshaht First Nations Chief Ken Watts to explore working together on forestry and employment initiatives to help secure an ongoing local fibre supply.

The B.C. government has released a report on its progress protecting old-growth forests, but some First Nations and environmental groups say the plan released Friday falls short. …Sarah Korpan, B.C. government campaign specialist with non-profit Ecojustice, said she was disappointed to see the province change its timeline for implementing enhanced old-growth protection. …Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said in a press release the action plan is a “welcome step,” but the B.C. government must accelerate its timeline. …Tegan Hansen, senior forest campaigner for Stand.Earth, said the government’s plan lacks a commitment to bring a long-term end to logging in old-growth forests. …Jens Wieting, the senior policy and science adviser for Sierra Club B.C., says that the last time the province collected data, covering a full year of old-growth logging, was in 2021.

From massive kelp forests to monumental old-growth on land, British Columbia’s biodiversity — which is unrivalled in Canada — provides an array of cultural, economic, social and other benefits. …However, current conservation initiatives lack co-ordination and there is no independent organization or provincial governing body overseeing the many actions underway. …The fragmented nature of B.C. biodiversity work is a missed opportunity that can lead to gaps and blind spots that ultimately undermine action. Potential interconnected threats like diseases, invasive species, ecological impacts of new developments and a range of other issues may be missed. …Establishing a system of natural capital accounts would provide a clear picture of the value our ecosystems provide empowering decision-makers. …We may not have to look far for an effective model. Québec recently launched Biodiversité Québec — a partnership across government, scientific and Indigenous partners — to create an integrated monitoring system for nature.

The town of Logan Lake spent 18 years preparing for a wildfire they hoped would never come. And then, in the summer of 2021, it did. The Test is the story of the town of Logan Lake’s efforts to make their community more fire resilient, eventually becoming the first FireSmart community in Canada. But when the 2021 Tremont Creek Wildfire roared toward them, all eyes were on the little community as nobody knew if all of that work would pay off and if they would pass the test. Many thanks to FireSmartBC, The District of Logan Lake, The Co-operators, The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, and Teck Highland Valley Copper for helping to make this possible.