Region Archives: Canada West

Opinion / EdiTOADial

Resilience—a means to positive change for the forest sector or a cloak for protectionism?

By Bob Brash, TLA Executive Director
Truck LoggerBC Magazine
July 2, 2024
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

Every few years, we witness new vocabulary emerge into the BC forest sector’s world.  The most recent term to emerge is resilience. …The question is, will it become another passing buzzword, lead towards true, positive changes to advance our sector, or will it be a cloak for protectionism? BC’s forest sector has long been a cornerstone of the province’s economy and culture deeply intertwined with the natural environment, providing livelihoods for thousands and sustaining communities. However, the sector is currently facing unprecedented challenges that require innovative and resilient approaches. In this context, building multi-dimensional resilience means considering comprehensive environmental, economic, and social factors to ensure the forest sector can adapt and thrive in the face of these stresses.

…There are many things resilience cannot mean. It should not be a surrogate for even more protectionism or unreasonable constraints. The discussions leading to implementation of any forest management plans need to be objective and not subjectively guided. The prescriptions on a stand level must be achievable and financially viable. The moves toward their utilization cannot be abrupt or ignore the practical need for a real transition strategy. Uncertainty on interpreting the impacts of new policies cannot continue ad infinitum because tangible investment decisions will simply not happen. In the opinion of many, which we share, our forests need more management, not less to become more resilient on all fronts. By adopting a strategy addressing all necessary elements, BC can ensure that its forest sector remains a vital, prosperous, and sustainable part of its economy and heritage. The challenges are significant, but if environmental, economic and social resilience is properly considered, the BC forest sector can adopt a pathway to thrive amidst the complexities of the 21 century.

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Business & Politics

Port Alberni Mayor ‘disgusted’ by workers treatment

By David Wiwchar
Nanaimo News Now
July 4, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions is speaking out after allegations were made against the San Group yesterday. The company is accused of mistreating foreign workers after 16 men from Vietnam were reported living in a small trailer on mill property with no running water. Minions said while San Group is a large part of the local economy, the community won’t tolerate the mistreatment of workers. …Minions said this is not the first time the city has become involved with San Group foreign workers after a group of men were discovered living in the company’s lunchroom two years ago. “The city has received complaints in the past which we have forwarded to RCMP and WorkSafe and have been investigated, so this is not the first time that this has been a concern from our perspective,” she said. “I’m glad that people were willing to speak up.”

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Port Alberni company denies ‘human trafficking’ allegations after Vietnamese workers leave

By Adam Chan
Chek TV News
July 3, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

PORT ALBERNI, BC — The City of Port Alberni says the provincial and federal governments are looking into a complaint about the mistreatment of temporary foreign workers. …David Wichar with 93.3 The Peak was told by the workers at San Group that they paid $30,000 to come to Canada to work at the San Mill in Port Alberni. They were also told they’d be paid $30 an hour and receive accommodations. The recent complaints revolve around the living conditions of roughly 16 men in a single trailer parked on the San Group property. …Bob Bortolin, a senior compliance officer with the San Group, says the allegations are unfounded and that the living conditions were a product of the men staying there, and not the company’s responsibility. …Bortolin says …the workers were promised a pay range between $25 an hour to $45 an hour depending on their skill set – which they have been receiving.

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What Are We Going to Do About It?

By Linda Coady, President & CEO, Council of Forest Industries
BC Truck Loggers Association
July 2, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Linda Coady

A dramatic drop in harvest levels is putting the benefits created by BC’s forest sector and its future at risk. The 2024 BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) Convention put some solutions on the table.  …The first hour of the 2024 COFI Convention identified the priority of unlocking fibre supply.  The next day and a half focused on how to do that. …Five ideas were put forward for inclusion in a strategy for predictable fibre supply in BC:

  1. Remedy current permit development processes to ensure that an environmentally sustainable and economically viable harvest can be consistently achieved.
  2. Secure agreements with First Nations that advance progress on critical issues.
  3. Expedite new regional tables for forest landscape planning.
  4. Support more innovative forest management.
  5. Develop a multi-year roadmap and economic strategy for the BC forest sector.

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85 years of business in the West Kootenays and still going strong — Kalesnikoff mass timber products and lumber

By Ari Lord
The Nelson Daily
July 3, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kalesnikoff mass timber products and lumber recently celebrated 85 years of business in the West Kootenays. The company, started in the 1930s by three immigrant Russian Doukhobor brothers, for years has tried its hand at many timber-related ventures and now does milling and mass timber construction. Ken Kalesnikoff, President and CEO, says the company’s success is due to its stellar employees, constantly adapting, and getting into value-added wood products. “One of the very unique things that we have going is the generations,” he said of the four-generation business. …By 1940, the three brothers had built a sawmill. After several relocations within the Castlegar area, the brothers established their operation in Thrums in 1972, where the sawmill stands today. It has truly been a family business for all 85 years. Kalesnikoff’s father, Pete Jr., went to work in the mill at age 14, and was President and CEO of the company until 2005.

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BC’s Minister of Forests, Bruce Ralston, not seeking re-election

By Tom Zytaruk
The Surrey Now-Leader
July 2, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bruce Ralston

Bruce Ralston, the five-term NDP MLA for Surrey-Whalley has decided not to run for a sixth term in the October provincial general election, ending a storied career as MLA that began when he defeated incumbent Democratic Reform MLA Elayne Brenzinger for the seat in 2005. …”The session is very busy, I had a little bit of a chance to reflect and just to think about the prospect of going forward for another four years,” Ralson said. “I’ve been at it almost 20 years so I decided that’s it’s time for the next, time to do something else, time for the next phase of my life.” A criminal defence lawyer by trade, Ralston, now 71, also ran his own law firm in Surrey. …His career as MLA saw him serve as president of the BC NDP from 1996 to 2001, and replace John Horgan as NDP House Leader in 2014 so Horgan could run for the party leadership.

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3 First Nations, Manitoba government sign deal on 20-year forestry plan

By Darren Bernhardt
CBC News
June 28, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Three Manitoba First Nations and the province of Manitoba have struck a deal to create a long-term forestry plan in the Swan Valley region, an agreement being called an act of economic reconciliation. The memorandum of understanding, announced Friday, calls for the provincial government, local First Nations and Louisiana-Pacific Canada to work together to create a 20-year forest management plan to protect treaty rights and jobs. It aims to put an end to a long and legally contentious matter in the Duck Mountains, Porcupine Provincial Forest and Kettle Hills area, between Lake Winnipegosis and the Saskatchewan border. “We fought hard for this agreement,” said Chief Derek Nepinak of Minegoziibe Anishinabe (formerly Pine Creek First Nation), one of three First Nations chiefs to sign the agreement. …Premier Wab Kinew said the agreement marks a significant moment and sets a new standard for the relationship between the province and First Nations.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Made in British Columbia

By Government of British Columbia
You Tube
July 3, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund supports high-value industrial and manufacturing projects that create and protect long-term, well-paying jobs for people in their communities. The fund is committing $180M with a focus on increasing production of higher-value products, getting the most out the trees we harvest.

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WoodTALKS at the Global Buyers Mission

BC Wood Specialties Group
July 3, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC Wood will be hosting the 21st Annual Global Buyers Mission (GBM), September 5th-7th, 2024, in Whistler Village. The GBM is BC Wood’s premier business development activity connecting the value-added wood manufacturers and suppliers with hundreds of qualified international buyers, architects, designers, contractors, builders, engineers, developers, public officials and product specifiers. WoodTALKS is designed to inform and inspire on the use of wood in design and construction, and will explore current architectural projects and manufacturing advancements. WoodTALKS registered delegates will have opportunities to participate in accredited seminars, trade show with demonstration workshops, project site tours, and GBM networking activities during the 3-days event. If you are registered for WoodTALKS, the Aava Hotel offers comfortable accommodations, great service, spectacular views and is only a 3-minute walk to the Whistler Conference Centre! Our $199 CAD discounted rooms are booking up quickly, register now for WoodTALKS to gain access to the discounted rooms!

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Mass Timber Demonstration Program issues fourth Expression of Interest

naturally:wood
July 2, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Expressions of Interest are now being accepted for Intake 4 of the Mass Timber Demonstration Program (deadline October 2024). Priority will be given to projects that leverage the new 2024 BC Building Code provisions such as encapsulated mass-timber construction (EMTC) up to 18 storeys for residential and office buildings, as well as new building types, such as schools, retail, and industrial occupancies. While advancements in mass timber products and wood construction can help to build more resilient, climate-smart communities, there are still barriers, such as limited knowledge and experience about technical performance, constructibility and cost management best practices. Since 2020, the Province of British Columbia (B.C.) and Forestry Innovation Investment have invested over $9.1 million through B.C.’s Mass Timber Demonstration Program (MTDP) to help with the incremental costs associated with the design and construction of 19 building projects and 8 research projects that demonstrate emerging or new mass timber or mass timber hybrid building systems and construction processes.

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Single stair buildings will be allowed in BC’s new building code

By Cloe Logan
The National Observer
July 2, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC’s next building code will allow single-staircase buildings: a design element common in much of the world, but banned in Canada for decades. The building types are touted as a simple design solution that allow for denser housing on smaller lots, which could help bolster “missing middle” housing stock (multiplexes, townhouses, and apartment buildings less than five storeys) while delivering climate benefits. A report commissioned by B.C.’s Ministry of Housing provided recommendations on how the buildings could be safely allowed in the next provincial building code, due this upcoming fall, explained Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon. …Currently, low- and mid-rise apartment buildings in the province (and most of North America) require two staircases. …Building code officials will “do a little bit more consultation” before implementing single-stair buildings into the code this fall.

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Lytton, B.C., rebuild continues three years after wildfire destroyed most of town

The Journal of Commerce
June 27, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

LYTTON, B.C. – Three years after a wildfire destroyed much of the British Columbia village of Lytton, the tiny Fraser Canyon community is still struggling to get back on its feet. Mayor Denise O’Connor told a news conference Tuesday ahead of the anniversary that there’s good news, with the first building permit being issued for a grocery store, but bad news too, with some residents deciding not to return to rebuild their lives. She said the community had about 200 residents before the wildfire destroyed 90 per cent of the structures in the downtown core and it is now home to far fewer people. …But despite the barriers facing Lytton, O’Connor cited rebuilding progress over the past year. That has included 13 residential and two commercial building permits being issued, the opening of a temporary village office, the restoration of municipal water and sewer infrastructure.

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Forestry

Predator Ridge in Vernon, B.C. fully equips resort with AI-based wildfire detection systems

By Victoria Femia
Global News
July 7, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.

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University of BC Sustainability Education Fellows

UBC Faculty of Forestry
July 5, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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. 

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Over half of Clayoquot Sound’s iconic forests are now protected — here’s how First Nations and B.C. did it

By Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood
The Narwhal
July 8, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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. 

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On Small Islands Off Canada’s Coast, a Big Shift in Power

By Norimitsu Onishi
The New York Times
July 4, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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]

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Deciduous Heroes visit Prince George with a message: Forests are at risk

Prince George Citizen
July 4, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.

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B.C.’s drought: Forests at risk from drought, but climate change isn’t the only culprit

By Carla Wilson
Victoria Times Colonist
July 4, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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. 

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Anti-greenwashing laws should apply to forestry industry

By David Charbonneau, retired electronics instructor
Armchair Mayor
July 4, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.

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Okanagan fire/drought/flood: The Emperor Wears No Clothes

Letter by Danica Djordjevich
Vernon Morning Star
July 4, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.

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Majority of B.C. residents support 30 X 30 conservation goals: Poll

By Tiffany Crawford
The Province
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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%).

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Pass Creek logger wants better forestry

By Anna Dulisse
The Castlegar Source
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.’”

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Green peace: forest-bathing in Vancouver

By Jessica Rawnsley
The Financial Times
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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. 

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‘Old-growth carnage’: Activists concerned over clear-cut forest near Port Alberni

By Curtis Blandy
Victoria Buzz
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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. 

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Carrier Lumber president backs First Nation plea to restore local forest policy decision making

By Ted Clarke
Prince George Citizen
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

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.

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60 captive-bred Vancouver Island marmots to be released

By Darron Kloster
The Times Colonist
July 2, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Six captive-bred Vancouver Island marmots looked out of their boxes on Mount Washington and took their first steps to a life in the wild last week. …Big hopes ride on the tiny backs of young marmots as researchers try to rebuild the fragile population of one of the world’s most endangered mammals. …The timid rodents face an uphill battle for survival amid food shortages, the swings of climate change and predators. …The yearlings are the first of what will be a near record release of about 60 marmots from now until mid-July, said Taylor. …The recovery effort was initiated in 1997 by a group of partners including the Marmot Recovery Foundation, the province of B.C., the Toronto Zoo, Calgary Zoo, Mount Washington Alpine Resort and timber companies like Mosaic Forest Management.

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Forest Professionals British Columbia-Why Hire a Forest Professional-2024

By Forest Professionals British Columbia
Vimeo
July 3, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

If your company or organization is undertaking activities that may affect forest and/or forest lands or forest resources, including urban forests, you should ensure a registered forest professional is part of your team. In BC, professional forestry is a regulated profession, similar to engineering, chartered accounting, law, dentistry, and architecture. Like those professions, provincial legislation grants forest professionals specific practice rights. Under the authority of the PGA, only individuals registered and licensed by Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC) are allowed to practise professional forestry. This is to ensure protection of the environment and the public.

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BC moves to protect 300 hectares of old growth at eight sites with $50M from feds

Victoria News
June 28, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The province says it’s protecting more than 300 hectares of wildlife and critical old growth in eight sites with federal funding. B.C.’s Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Ministry announced Friday that through the Old Growth Nature Fund, Environment and Climate Change Canada is providing $50 million to B.C. over three years to protect old-growth forest areas. A release says about $7.9 million from the Old Growth Nature Fund and $8.2 million from private donors and organizations were used to purchase privately owned lands. The provincial government, the federal government and seven land trust conservancy organizations worked together to secure critical old-growth and habitat for species at the eight sites. …The ministry says the province has allocated about $31 million from the Old Growth Nature fund to “help protect old growth areas from harvesting or development, directly supporting the implementation of the Old Growth Strategic Review.”

Government press release: More than 300 hectares of land secured to conserve old growth

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‘We should be in crisis mode’: B.C. wildfire ecologist

By Bill Metcalfe
North Island Gazette
June 29, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bob Gray

On a screen, wildfire ecologist Bob Gray showed his audience a pair of before-and-after photos. One was taken from a fire lookout tower in Washington in 1938. It showed a varied forest landscape, with recent burns, older burns, logged areas, and different stages of regeneration, along with some old-growth forest and areas of deciduous trees. “When fires occurred in that landscape, they were small,” Gray said during a presentation June 26 in Taghum. “They didn’t get big because there wasn’t contiguous fuels. There was vegetation there that acted as speed bumps for the fire.They basically impeded fire flow.” …The later photo, taken of the same area more than 80 years later, shows a mass of coniferous green. “That will burn very differently,” Gray said. “That will burn wall-to-wall as a continuous crown fire and a very vigorous surface fire. Fire is a contagion.”

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BC’s forest cutting permit process handcuffing industry, says Lheidli T’enneh, Simpcw chiefs

By Ted Clarke
The Prince George Citizen
July 1, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

George Lamprey & Lheidli T’enneh

PRINCE GEORGE, BC — Two B.C. First Nation chiefs are blaming the provincial government’s slow process for granting timber harvesting permits, which is causing unnecessary delays that they say are killing the province’s forest industry. Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dollen Logan and George Lampreau, chief of the Simpcw First Nation near Barriere gathered in Lheidli T’enneh’s downtown Prince George boardroom to chastise the government for delaying forestry permit approvals, which they see as a contributing factor forcing companies to close the mills that are the lifeblood of the province’s economy. …The chiefs want the province to give first nations more of a say in determining when, where and how much they can cut down trees and make that happen quickly. “We should be the ones doing the permitting,” Logan said. …“Mills are shutting down and we need to find an economy, which is forestry, to keep the North going,” she said.

Additional coverage in My Prince George Now, by Brendan Pawliw: Lheidli, Simpcw Chiefs says forestry cutting permits approvals need to be accelerated

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Neighbours near Qualicum Beach call on Mosaic to not log parcel of land

By Kendall Hanson
Chek News
June 29, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

There’s a piece of second growth forest near Qualicum Beach, bounded by Slaney Road and Hilliers Road, that neighbours and students at a nearby independent school have grown to love and are asking Mosaic Forest Management not to log. Arrowsmith Independent School uses the property almost daily. …A community petition at the forest is being signed by many, and locals are calling for the company to hold off. …In a statement, Mosaic Forest Management says it’s taken “… into consideration safety, recreation, water quality, wildlife, fish, visual quality, and other values. The harvest area is second growth, and internal retention, external retention, and individual leave tree retention are planned. Our sustainable forestry management always meets and generally exceeds all legislated requirements…”

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The Real Reason Tree Planters Work Like Demons

By Alana Lettner
The Tyee
June 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Several weeks ago, early into my seventh tree planting season, I learned that my grandmother was dying. …I got into a work truck, went to the block and started planting. But during my first bag-up, it was clear that I was in no state to work. When my crew boss came to check my trees a few hours later, I told her about what was happening. The first thing she said was that I didn’t need to work; our block was just a seven-minute drive from camp and she could arrange to have me picked up. So that’s what I did. …But even with all this support from management, I still found it difficult to let myself stop working. Part of this stems from the nature of seasonal work. The planting season in interior B.C. is four months long at most so each workday really counts.

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West Boundary Community Forest opens outdoor classroom

By Karen McKinley
The Grand Forks Gazette
June 27, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Students in the Boundary Region have a new place to learn about forestry, local ecology, the environment and the history of the region directly from nature. After years of hard work and pandemic-related delays, West Boundary Community Forest (WBCF) held a grand opening for its Outdoor Classroom at its Outdoor Education Centre on the south end of Wilgress Lake on Wednesday afternoon. Dignitaries, teachers and WBCF board partners cut the ribbon on the completed pavilion and toured the centre’s grounds while students were conducting water bug identification and analysis projects. It was a special day for WBCF master forester Dan Macmaster, who said he was a little emotional seeing the classroom being recognized and appreciated. While considered the leader of the education centre, he said there are many members that helped make this classroom and the centre as a whole accessible and a reality for students.

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Forest Enhancement Society of BC project updates

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
June 28, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West
In this newsletter:
  • Minister of Forests, Bruce Ralston, shares insights on why FESBC is crucial to B.C.’s forests. 
  • BC Forest Safety Council – Tips to prepare for emergencies.
  • CFI: Regrowth and Renewal: First Nations and Industry Collaboration. 
  • City of Kimberley makes progress in reducing wildfire risk. 
  • FESBC is accepting funding applications for wildfire risk reduction and fibre utilization projects.
  • FESBC-hosted virtual information session for proponents interested in applying for FESBC funding.
  • Meet our newest team member, Operations Manager, Travis Emsland.
  • FESBC seeks Executive Director.
  • Faces of Forestry – John Massier.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Drax addresses emission concerns raised by BBC Documentary

Burns Lake Lakes District News
July 3, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mike Comeau, a Burns Lake resident is supporting the BBC documentary alleging numerous environmental violations by Drax Global. The documentary examines various environmental and regulatory challenges linked to Drax’s biomass operations in Canada, including logging old-growth wood for the pellet plant and high emissions of its facilities in B.C.  Specifically, emissions in Burns Lake were reported to be three times the allowed limit in one instance. …Comeau expressed particular concern about emissions affecting air quality and environmental standards in Burns Lake. He said he reported instances of smog from the pellet plant to the local Conservation Officer, including sending photos during severe episodes. …The company said it undertook corrective actions and recalibrated equipment setting to ensure optimal performance, and the Burns Lake pellet plant has since passed four consecutive stack tests.  

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Forest Fires

Out-of-control wildfire remains 70 km away from Fort McMurray

CityNews Everywhere
July 7, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

The wildfire 70 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray remains out of control, Alberta Wildfire says, but there has been “minimal fire behavior” in the last 24 hours. The blaze is one of several caused by lightning within the Cattail Lake Complex, which has interrupted oilsands production in the area. Night operations and cooler temperatures throughout the day and into the evening Saturday has helped wildland firefighting crews. Alberta Wildfire says there was “no significant growth towards any infrastructure.” The fire is about 12,200 hectares in size.

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Small wildfire ‘being held’ near Spences Bridge, B.C. firefighters say

By Andrew Weichel
CTV News
July 1, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Crews are responding to a small wildfire discovered south of Spences Bridge, B.C., on Canada Day. One witness told CTV News she saw white smoke billowing from outside the community – located between Lytton and Merritt along the Trans-Canada Highway – around 2:15 p.m. Few other details have been confirmed, but the B.C. Wildfire Service said the fire is suspected to be human-caused. Hours after the fire was discovered, the BCWS said it remained less than a hectare in size – and officials are not anticipating much spread.

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Quiet wildfire season so far in B.C., but dry conditions persist

By Barbara Roden
The Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal
July 2, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

As of June 28 there were only 88 active wildfires in B.C. — mostly in the northeast part of the province — with none considered to be wildfires of note (a fire that is highly visible or poses a threat to public safety). Seventy-four of those fires were under control, and 12 (all in the northeast) were out of control. Two were listed as “being held”, one of them the Tiffin Creek wildfire near Lillooet, which was discovered on June 24 and listed at 151 hectares as of June 28. Rains in May and June have helped the drought situation, but snowpack levels are very low. …So far this year, B.C. has recorded 285 wildfires, with 57 (20%) caused by lightning. Fifteen fires (5%) are of undetermined origin. The remaining 213 wildfires — 75% of the total — were human-caused.

In related coverage: Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for B.C. Interior

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Wildfire season heats up as hot, dry conditions fuel risk in northern Alberta

By Dennis Kovtun
CBC News
July 3, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Canada Day weekend in northern Alberta was also a rather fiery one. As of Tuesday evening, 62 wildfires were burning in the province, including about 20 that are out of control. Seventeen fires were concentrated in the High Level forest area, and two were in the Fort McMurray region.  Alberta Wildfire’s Melissa Story said thunderstorms have sparked some of the fires in northern Alberta. …Story said fire danger in the northern part of the province remains “high to very high.” “We are seeing those conditions that are conducive to wildfires starting easily and spreading quickly,” she said. “That does contribute to the wildfire situation that’s happening up there, coupled with the lightning strikes that we have seen in that area.” Story said most wildfires in spring are caused by humans, but now the province begins to see more naturally ignited fires. …July is trending toward being drier and warmer than usual, said meteorologist Justin Shelley. 

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Forest History & Archives

The role of animals in Vancouver Island’s early logging and mining history

By Kelly Black
The Discourse
June 27, 2024
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: Canada, Canada West

Many museums and heritage sites on Vancouver Island feature displays about workers and the technology that aided resource extraction. But don’t forget that there was a time when horses, mules and oxen were worked by people to haul logs and coal. Animals laboured above and below the ground throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Eventually, innovations in power generation and extraction methods replaced the need for animals and forced workers to adapt their knowledge and skills, relegating animal labour to old-timer reminiscences and history books. …“Drawing the logs from the bush to the skid-road called for the greatest exertion of ox-power, and a teamster who could common the unified action of 10 or 12 oxen was an animal psychologist of the first rank,” writes Nathan Dougan in his book Cowichan, My Valley, about the complex systems and special skills required for horse and oxen logging.

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