Region Archives: Canada West

VANCOUVER — Crews cut down almost 2,700 trees in Stanley Park during the month of January alone, according to records released under the freedom of information law. Last November, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation announced 160,000 trees would be removed due to wildfire and safety risks caused by the Hemlock looper moth infestation and drought. The monthly report, submitted by main contractor B.A. Blackwell and Associates, showed 2,159 of the trees, measuring more than 20 centimetres in diameter, were cut around the Stanley Park Causeway. Between 98% and 100% of falling in the area was completed by the end of the month, but tree and debris removal was finished in only one of the four designated quadrants. Elsewhere, crews cut 287 trees around Prospect Point and 247 around the Stanley Park Railway. The Park Board has yet to release the figures for October to December or February and March.

ALBERTA — What if you showed up for an Alberta wildfire and your water source was frozen over? That was just one of the many challenges crews faced last year in a long, arduous and record-breaking season that burned a combined area the size of Prince Edward Island – times four. Todd Loewen, the minister of forestry and lands, said an internal review followed the unprecedented season. Among its recommendations are more use of high-tech support like night vision and thermal imaging. Effective wildland firefighting overnight is key to Alberta doing a more effective job, the member for Central Peace-Notley said. Fires tend to settle down at night because of cooler, sometimes humid conditions. The overarching goal is keeping communities, their residents and firefighters as safe as possible in 2024, Loewen said. Loewen witnessed the situation up-close. “…The experience convinced him that more night firefighting is a viable approach.

The B.C. government is making regulatory and pricing changes to allow for quicker recovery of timber from wildfires for use in sawmills, pulp and pellet mills. Timber salvaged after forest fires can still have value, if only for pulp and pellet production, and can reduce the risk of future fires. But it needs to be salvaged quickly. …Bruce Blackwell, estimated there may be up to five million cubic metres of fibre each year – about 11% of the province’s total annual allowable cut – that could be salvaged after forest fires. But after about a year, fire-damaged trees dry out, crack and become useless for any kind of sawmilling. That requires some regulatory streamlining. …”Salvaging wildfire-damaged timber on a timely basis can help restore areas for wildlife and recreation, make communities safer, and provide residual fibre that can help sustain jobs and local economic activity,” added COFI president Linda Coady.

Nathan Cullen, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, has released the following statement in response to the April 2024 snowpack bulletin: The latest snow survey and water supply bulletin from the River Forecast Centre indicates we may be facing drought conditions in B.C. once again this year. The April survey shows that the overall snowpack level for B.C. is at 63% of normal, the lowest in 50 years. The experts at the River Forecast Centre tell us these low levels and the impacts of year-over-year drought are creating significantly higher drought risk for this spring and summer. We know this is concerning news. Communities around B.C. experienced serious drought conditions last summer. It fuelled the worst wildfire season ever, harmed fish and wildlife, and affected farmers, ranchers, First Nations and industry. 

Rebecca Alty

YELLOWKNIFE, N.W.T. —As wildfire season approaches and Yellowknife’s the review of last year’s evacuation continues. The majority of Yellowknife’s media was not present in the city after the evacuation order was issued last August. Most left with the general public. To some, the media’s responsibility is to be present and document the major events of climate change firsthand — but only with proper gear and training. To others, little is to be gained from being present and the more likely scenario is the media using up precious resources. Rebecca Alty, Yellowknife’s mayor, said that is a tough balancing act. She said the media does have an important role, but with last year’s evacuation reaching international news outlets, there would need to be limits. Alty said journalists with proper safety training would make the situation safer, but there’s still a limited amount of food and medical care available under an evacuation order.

KELOWNA, BC — A community town hall on the “future of our forests” is planned for UBC Okanagan. Planned by the Interior Watershed Taskforce, which includes the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance, the event will bring together a panel of speakers. “It’s more important than ever to learn about the measures we can take to safeguard our forests,” says event organizers. “The B.C. community needs informing. Trees can no longer be seen as only dimensional lumber profits.” Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris will serve as keynote speaker. He has been critical in recent years of the impacts of clearcutting on the ecosystem. …The town hall will take place Saturday, April 13 at UBC Okanagan in the arts and sciences centre.

Formal engagement and negotiations are underway between ‘Namgis First Nation and the Province on a joint decision-making agreement to support forest stewardship and sustainable forestry operations. “Alongside ‘Namgis First Nation, we are working with local communities and forestry operators to make sure local forests are managed sustainably, while increasing certainty in forestry operations that will help to maintain family-supporting jobs for the entire region,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “By moving toward joint decision-making with ‘Namgis and working together with local partners, we can advance reconciliation, take care of the forests that sustain local communities and support good forestry jobs for the long term.” Through the Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 37 Forest Landscape Planning pilot project, ‘Namgis First Nation, the Province and Western Forest Products Inc. are working together toward sustainable forest management that will support forest health, benefit local jobs and advance reconciliation.

The Lake Babine Nation, located in Burns Lake B.C., announced that its forestry company, Lake Babine Nation Forestry Limited Partnership (LBN Forestry), signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with West Fraser. Under the JDA, we are agreeing to combine portions of our tenure volumes from the Bulkley and the Morice Timber Supply Areas and transfer them into a single First Nations Woodland Licence (FNWL) to be held by the Lake Babine Nation. …“This agreement will contribute to the durability of forestry in our region and deliver employment and long-term benefits to the Lake Babine people, other residents, and the regional forestry sector,” said Chief Murphy Abraham.  “This agreement recognizes the central role the Lake Babine Nation has in stewarding resources in its traditional territory, while providing a measure of fiber security for West Fraser,” said Sean McLaren, President and CEO, West Fraser. 

Additional coverage in Black Press, by Binny Paul: Lake Babine Nation, West Fraser sign joint development agreement

Business in Vancouver, by Nelson Bennett: B.C.’s West Fraser Timber, Lake Babine First Nation combine tenure

Rashaduz Zaman

Climate change is hampering mountain pine beetle reproduction but also appears to slightly benefit the invasive insect in other ways, new University of Alberta research shows. The mixed scenario provides “a deeper understanding of dynamics that are crucial to building effective forest management and conservation strategies in the face of ongoing environmental changes,” says PhD candidate Rashaduz Zaman, who led the study,  in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. The study — the first to show specifically how the mountain pine beetle is affected by elevated levels of two greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and ozone — provides new insight into how the insect and its relationship with beneficial fungi are influenced by climate change. The findings signal a mix of potentially positive and negative implications for the beetle. The findings signal a mix of potentially positive and negative implications for the beetle.

D’Arcy Henderson

…West Fraser (WF), founded in Quesnel and now one of Canada’s largest forestry companies, has announced not only are they not using glyphosate any longer, they actually halted its use in B.C. in 2019, and all other herbicides too. …D’Arcy Henderson, West Fraser’s vice-president of Canadian woodlands said West Fraser recognizes sustainable and responsible forest practices are about much more than trees and includes a wide range of values like biodiversity, water management, fire suppression, climate change, and use of traditional knowledge. “Five years ago, [public feedback] led us to permanently phase out the use of herbicides in B.C.” Henderson said the company instead uses a variety of other non-chemical techniques to cut down on the plant-life competing for sun and water in reforested areas of the bush after it has been harvested.

As Alberta prepares for another threatening wildfire season, new firefighter recruits are in the field extinguishing staged fires as they prepare for real-life scenarios on the job. More than 40 new firefighters finishing up their week-long training to become a wildland firefighter were flying into a staged fire situation outside of Hinton where they put their skills and knowledge to the test. …“It’s critical to make sure these new staff can work safely in a fire environment. We don’t know how fast and furious fires are going to show up this spring, but these folks need to be prepared to work safely and effectively on  their first wildfire,” explained Nicole Galambos, the director of the Hinton Training Centre. …Despite the recent snow and rain, Alberta Wildfire is gearing up for another challenging season due to drought-like conditions across most of the province. …Alberta wildfire will have more than 500 new firefighters trained by mid-May.

Steve Roberts

Preparations for wildfire season are starting two weeks earlier than usual in Saskatchewan this year. However, Saskatchewan is bringing in the same number of seasonal firefighters as last year, unlike other western provinces like Alberta and B.C., which are adding more. Below-average precipitation, continuing drought conditions and predictions of high temperatures mean many areas in the province are at higher risk of grass fires, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) president Marlo Pritchard said at a news conference Monday. Ground crews will be ready to respond as early as next week and air crews began training on Monday, Pritchard said. …Saskatchewan will have 220 Type 1 firefighters and 410 Type 2 firefighters this summer, according to the SPSA. …”We are expecting a season that will be average or above average,” Steve Roberts, vice president of operations at SPSA, said at the news conference.

Marc Kitteringham & David Eby

When B.C. Premier David Eby walked in to the Starbucks at Quinsam Crossing, he was followed by a coterie of other MLAs, assistants and RCMP. He sat down after ordering a coffee, and remarked on how nice and new the building looked. It was Eby’s first stop, albeit an unofficial one, on his trip to Campbell River to be part of the official signing of an agreement between the Nanwakolas Council and Western Forest Products to manage timber in the North Island. …“Its really a template for what we hope to do across the province: agreements between Nations and forestry supported by the local community where there’s economic development and opportunity and stability particularly for the forest industry, which we know is facing a lot of challenges right now around price and availability of trees. …“The really remarkable thing about wood products is that they’re part of the climate solutions,” he said.

While finalizing contracts with Europe for two dozen new firefighting planes, De Havilland Canada has amped up local production. Over the last six months or so, the company bolstered up to 300 employees at its North Saanich site (formerly Viking Air), where parts are made in anticipation of assembly in Calgary, according to Neil Sweeney, vice-president of corporate affairs. “Knock on wood, heavily, our HR people have been very good at recruiting. We’ve done recruiting fairs and been pleasantly surprised by the people who want to get into aerospace,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t holes to fill.” The Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft have been a critical part of European and North American aerial firefighting fleets for more than 50 years. …In 2016, Viking (now De Havilland) bought the Canadair program – which has been around since the mid-1960s – from Bombardier.

Last year was the most destructive wildfire season in BC’s recorded history. According to provincial data, a total of 2,245 wildfires burned more than 2.84 million hectares of forest and land—a number that doubles the last record of 1.35 million hectares burned in 2018. “The area of forests burned both in BC and across Canada in 2023 was horrific,” says Jens Wieting, senior policy and science advisor at the Sierra Club of BC. “It’s a really emotional topic because the trends are very concerning.” It begs an important question: is the Province properly ready for this year? The 2024 wildfire outlook seems grim, and not just in BC. Alberta already announced an early start to wildfire season in February, when it typically starts March 1. “We have definitely seen in the last 20 years a major change in the way that fire is spreading and heating in our forests,” says Lori Daniels, the Koerner Chair of the Centre for Wildfire Coexistence at UBC.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail this week –“Canada lost 8.6 million hectares of forest in 2023 more than anywhere in the world.” …As bad as all this is, it’s not the most destructive challenge facing our forest lands. Far from it. No, by far the greatest challenge facing our precious woodlands is something we all participate in – industrial logging. …But don’t blame the loggers! They are only doing their jobs as directed by registered professional foresters who to a man or woman are true believers in industrial forestry where “all” the trees are cut because it’s easier for heavy equipment to operate and trees can be moved to the mill faster and bigger profits made. …We’ve logged at an unsustainable rate for more than a century. If we don’t act now Beautiful B.C. will become only a sad memory.

A new dedicated wildfire training and education centre at Thompson Rivers University will welcome the province’s future wildfire fighters. The B.C. wildfire training and education centre is a first-of-its-kind program and is a flagship action stemming from recommendations from the Premier’s Task Force on Emergencies. “…By establishing the first-of-its-kind wildfire training and education centre in North America, we are preparing our future wildfire professionals for the critical work of protecting our forests, our communities and our families in a rapidly changing climate.” The centre, the first in North America to transition wildfire training into degree programs and research, will offer comprehensive wildfire training and education programs that progress from basic skills training and learning in the wildfire field, to the future development of wildfire academic diploma and degree programs in wildfire and emergency management disciplines.

Additional coverage in CityNews Everywhere, by Charlie Carey: B.C. to open wildfire education, training centre in Kamloops, first of its kind in North America

Devastating fires ignited by falling embers that destroyed hundreds of structures in the Kelowna and Shuswap areas last year underscore the need to increase the fire resiliency of homes and properties in B.C., according to the preliminary findings of a new study. Wildfire embers, some of which travelled 2.5 kilometres across Okanagan Lake, for example, were the primary mechanism by which fire entered communities in the Interior, shows an examination undertaken by FPInnovations, FireSmart B.C. and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. The preliminary findings, commissioned by the B.C. Wildfire Service and the B.C. FireSmart committee, were released this week. A final report is expected in May. …The findings show that embers ignited shrubs around homes such as junipers and cedars. …The findings also showed that homes and structures which had so-called “FireSmart” characteristics had better survival rates. …“There are simple things that people can do,” says Greg Baxter for FPInnovations.

Last year’s record wildfires in Alberta destroyed habitat for threatened species and will change the makeup of the province’s forests for decades to come, says a new report. And the assessment from the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute says the chance of a repeat of 2023’s massive burn poses an ongoing challenge for both conservation and industry. “The future of fire, and how land managers and industries respond to it, will determine the sustainability of Alberta’s forests in the coming years,” the report concludes. …The report finds that more than 10% of the economically vital foothills region was burned. Several forestry companies lost between a tenth and a third of their harvestable trees. …The fires also lowered the average age of Alberta’s forests, a crucial figure in determining which forests can be harvested. …Caribou herds, which have already lost the vast majority of their ranges to industry, lost more of them to fire.

“The community of Logan Lake spent 18 years preparing for a wildfire they hoped would never come. Then, in 2021, it did.” That is the tagline that filmmaker Vesta Giles uses for her new documentary film The Test, which has its premiere in Kamloops on April 7. The film looks at the events leading up to the Tremont Creek wildfire of 2021. The fire forced the evacuation of Logan Lake a month later, and for a time it appeared that the town might be destroyed by fire only six weeks after most of the Village of Lytton burned to the ground. “I was there the day the community was evacuated”, said Giles, “and all I could think of was, ‘This is the test, this is the first time this has been tested’” “This” refers to the signs outside Logan Lake noting that the town was the first FireSmart community in the entire country.