Region Archives: Canada West

The idea that clear-cuts help stop forest fires is a myth. That is the conclusion of a number of recent studies in the western U.S. Clear-cuts provide an area hotter and drier than the surrounding forests in fire season. Without trees, clear-cuts have no wind breaks, which allow wind speeds to increase. Clear-cut logging tends to spread invasive grasses, which are flammable. In the first several years after logging, fires in a clear cut will burn hotter and travel faster than in the surrounding forest. In the western U.S., forested areas around a community are some times clear-cut to reduce fire risk. This is termed “thinning.” However, this actually increases risk. One example is the Camp Fire which destroyed the town of Paradise, CA., in 2018. The forested area around Paradise had previously been “thinned.” No forest treatment more than 30 metres from a dwelling has been shown to reduce fire risk.

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) needs to invest more into its initial (IA) crews and equipment to tackle wildfires before they grow into destructive interface fires. That’s what Allan Willcocks, a retired professional forester and resource manager with 40 years of experience, says. Willcocks sat down with Rick Maddison on KelownaNow Live to discuss BC’s current approach to forestry and fire management. Willcocks, who now lives in West Kelowna, worked with Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for seven and a half years and has also fought fires and practiced forestry in BC. He says natural resource management in Ontario was an integrated approach involving land and resource managers, firefighters and a well-budgeted initial attack program.

A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society British Columbia found the province’s Old Growth Management Areas “do not meet conservation standards and contain little old growth.” The report found that the actual composition of these areas, called OGMAs, are mostly (58 per cent) young forest, with old forests (roughly 141 to 250 years), making up just under one third of the total area protected by Old Growth Management Areas. The remaining 13 per cent is either not forested or does not have sufficient data. …CPAWS recommends that the province amend the OGMA guidelines to ensure old growth is protected … and reform laws to ensure boundary changes and industrial activity cannot take place in the protected areas. …The Ministry of Forests responded to the report, saying that “it is correct that many Old Growth Management Areas contain more mature forests than old growth. However, mature forests were included to capture larger, more contiguous areas.”

KAMLOOPS — Mike Anderson says slash burning has been the way to clean up a cut block after harvest. “I’ve been working for Skeetchestn for about 27 years now,” Anderson recalls. “What we’ve seen for the last 10, 15, 20 years is a lot of ‘waste wood’ go up in smoke.” As an advisor and negotiator for Skeetchestn Natural Resource Corporation, Anderson saw that a significant amount of usable fibre wasn’t being used, so suggested a way for some industry partners to salvage that fibre. “We kind of pushed on Kruger and Arrow to figure out what they can do with these waste piles,” Anderson says. Kruger generates power at its Kamloops pulp mill operation by burning biomass, in the form of hog fuel. …For Anderson, collaborations like this represent economic reconciliation with First Nations communities in the region, who can get a say on how the resources taken off their lands are harvested.

Additional coverage from Forest Enhancement Society of BC: A local Interior First Nation takes the lead to add value to low-value wood fibre

Masters in Sustainable Forest Management students from the University of British Columbia (UBC) toured forestry management areas between the Okanagan and Kootenays as part of their final course marks, as well as to meet people living and working in the areas. The group paid a visit to Christina Lake on Jan. 24 to meet members of the public and take in a presentation and project assignment from Dan Macmaster, forestry manager with the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and a graduate of the UBC program. This excursion is part of an intense capstone course for the students, said Ken Byrne, lecturer and coordinator with the MSFM Program. Students have been visiting active forestry projects, mills and meeting with residents to get real-world data for their projects, as well as a sense of what their careers and lives will be like once they are professional foresters.

Workers in British Columbia’s silviculture sector, including forestry workers, tree planters and staff at nurseries, will benefit from new training to better prepare them to prevent and mitigate wildfires. …In partnership with the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association, a two-year pilot project will ensure workers around the province are trained to understand risks, mitigations and have the skills required for best fire safety practices in B.C.’s forests. …New training in fire prevention, climate change awareness and hands-on training with forestry tools will be provided through $900,000 from the 2022-23 Canada-British Columbia Workforce Development Agreement. …“The silviculture labour-force strategy will ensure that B.C.’s silviculture sector continues to grow and diversify its workforce, while learning new skills necessary to restore our forests and mitigate the effects of climate change on our landscapes,” said John Betts, executive director, Western Forestry Contractors’ Association.

Juvenile salmon in British Columbia are growing larger than they did 100 years ago due to climate change, according to a new Simon Fraser University-led study. Century-old fish scales are yielding new insights into how salmon populations are responding to climate change in northern B.C., and how maintaining the integrity of freshwater habitats may help salmon adapt to warming temperatures. SFU biological sciences Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow Michael Price, with other SFU researchers and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, have used modern genetic tools to analyze fish scales collected from fisheries since 1913 to reconstruct the historical growth of juvenile sockeye in various lakes across the Skeena watershed. Their paper, published in Global Change Biology, finds that the annual freshwater growth of juvenile salmon is substantially higher in recent years than it was a century ago, by about 35%. 

With parts of Alberta gripped by severe drought, fire chiefs across the province are asking the government to share its strategy for fighting wildfires this year. The Alberta Fire Chiefs Association (AFCA) published an open letter (opens in a new tab)to the Alberta government Wednesday, expressing “significant concern” over the upcoming wildfire season. AFCA president Randy Schroeder said fire chiefs have been meeting with government officials, but no plans for this year’s wildfire response have been shared yet. “They’re acknowledging that if things don’t change in 2024, it’s going to be a problem for this province,” said AFCA president Randy Schroeder. “And we don’t have a plan in place that says, ‘This is what the province is doing to prepare for response for the upcoming wildfire season.'”

Rob Logan is a tree cruiser, and like all of the people in Silvicola, a new documentary about B.C.’s forest industry as seen by the people it employs, his story isn’t simple. Silvicola won the John Kastner Award at Hot Docs 2023 and the Best Canadian Feature Film at Planet in Focus 2023. It plays Feb 4 at the Victoria Film Festival, and Feb 28 at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival as well as online viewing. For director and producer Jean-Philippe Marquis, the film’s complex reflections are the point. “The main goal of the film is to touch into the internal dilemma,” he said. “‘I love the forest, but I destroy it.’” …I made the choice to only feature people who work in the forest — I didn’t want a bad-guy, good-guy dichotomy. I wanted criticize some aspects of the industry, but always with respect for the workers, knowing that they love the forest, and have a deep understanding of it.

Mosaic Forest Management and the Arrowsmith Cycling Club (ACC) have reached a formal agreement that sanctions access to the Hammerfest Trail Network in Errington. The agreement gives ACC formal access to manage, maintain and recreate in the Hammerfest Trail Network, while providing Mosaic with assurance of a high level of conduct among users and a focus on safety, according to a news release by Mosaic. “The agreement with Mosaic Forest Management celebrates the potential of the Hammerfest Trail Network as a showcase for this region,” said Jake Friesen, ACC president. “We’re thrilled that these sanctioned trails will become a part of Vancouver Island’s world-renowned class of single-track mountain bike trails.” ACC will be responsible for stewardship of the trails to ensure compliance with industry standards for trail building.

The Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change says eastern and southern Alberta are facing some of the worst drought conditions on record. …He says the snowpack in the Rockies is overall around 70 per cent below the median for this time of year, and the recent warm spell has started significantly melting. Snowpack and glaciers help keep reservoirs up, limit low water levels during summer months and keep rivers cooler and better oxygenated. “It’s lower than it was last year at this time, and last year turned out to be a disaster,” Pomeroy said. “So I’m quite concerned.” …Last year – 2023 – was the worst fire season on record – hot, dry and destructive, triggering mass evacuation orders and stretching the world’s firefighters to the limit. …He cautions it’s too soon to know for sure what the upcoming season will bring.

I wanted to congratulate our NDP government. You are well on the way to achieving one of your major goals, destroying an industry that has provided prosperity to BC for many years. Fraser Lake Sawmill will be closing due to not having enough timber. …Why are we in this position? The NDP government in the 90s totally mismanaged the pine beetle infestation. They ignored the many presentations asking for action. BC Liberals, you didn’t do much better. Oh yes, we will have wonderful old growth, decaying protected areas (not carbon consuming new forests). A few of us might enjoy these protected areas if we can afford to. …I worked in the forest industry since 1965. Since retiring ten years ago I enjoy a very good forest industry pension. Unfortunately, unless there are major policy changes, future generations will not be as fortunate.

West Fraser earned $9.5 billion in gross profits from 2021-2023. Yet the moment they couldn’t squeeze any more profit out of Fraser Lake, they kicked the town to the ground. It’s happened time and time again in this province. From the late 90s, we’ve lost nearly half our forestry workforce. …I think the vast majority of the public agrees that when a mill no longer exists those associated timber harvesting rights should revert back to the public’s hands. After all, every last cent of “improvements” to the tenure – the roads, the treeplanting, the spraying, all of that was paid for by the public. …Sadly, the NDP and the BC United, cut from the same corporate-captured cloth. …If our forest industry is to have any future, it won’t be in the corrupt, anti-community, neoliberal model we currently have.

B.C. must protect its forests to manage flood risk, and shift to more sustainable forestry practices, say researchers in UBC’s Faculty of Forestry. That means government needs to end the practice of clearcutting, according to a recent study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The need to stop this practice is “urgent,” said Younes Alila, a hydrologist and professor in the Faculty of Forestry, because of the mounting problems caused by human-caused climate change such as drought, flooding and wildfires. …“When you replant with monoculture it grows very dense, and it’s not diverse forest. It’s not fire resistant. It actually spreads fire quicker than you think. The trees grow very slow. And now with drought these trees are going to have more difficulty growing,” he said Tuesday.

Save the date! The 2024 BC First Nations Forestry Conference will be held in Penticton May 29-30, 2024. The BC First Nations Forestry Conference brings together First Nations, industry, and Government to share and collaborate on the many changes occurring in the forest sector. The Conference is a uniquely First Nations experience to provide meaningful networking, informative engagement, purposeful collaboration, and support Indigenous businesses. Early bird registration will open on February 19th. 

Things have been quiet lately in the Fairy Creek watershed. Logging in the area has been deferred until 2025 and the injunction that prevented protesters from blocking the area expired months ago. But for those who were on the frontlines of the biggest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, the fight rages on—this time, in the courts. Logging company Teal-Jones Group, has ramped up its lawsuit against Fairy Creek blockaders, with 15 individuals and one company, Atleo River Air Service, named in their suit against the group, nicknamed the Rainforest Flying Squad (RFS). …The suit claims that the protesters “conspired to use unlawful means to conduct the blockades,” with their primary aim of protesting being to injure Teal-Jones. …Blockaders are also taking action in court against Teal-Jones—they’ve sued the logging company for towing cars that weren’t blocking roads.

The January newsletter has these stories and more:

• New Draft BC Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework Comment Deadline: January 31. 
• UBC launches Centre for Wildfire Coexistence. Congratulations to Dr. Lori Daniels, the new Koerner Chair in Wildfire Coexistence at UBC. 
• West Boundary Community Forest and the Osoyoos Indian Band to Partner on a Project with UBC. Students in the Master’s of Sustainable Forest Management program will engage in addressing emerging resiliency issues such as planning for management of old growth, fire, and riparian areas. 
• Phoenix Connect from DR Systems – Use the Phoenix Connect’s new module to build relationships and engage with your community.  Track project tasks and communications with all interested parties for your planned development (FSP, FOM, etc.) with ease. 

If harvested quickly enough, the removal of timber left behind after a wildfire can reduce the risk of future fires and provide much-needed fibre supply to an industry facing a long-term decline. But in B.C., a lot of this timber goes to waste. …At a forestry panel discussion at the BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George, some innovative ideas were proposed. …Rick Jeffery, of the Canadian Wood Council, suggested creating a larger domestic market for lumber and other wood products. Jeffery said the B.C. government has lobbied for changes to Canada’s National Building Code that would raise the limit on tall wood buildings from 12 to 18 storeys. …Bruce Blackwell, of Blackwell and Associates said… If loggers can get in quickly enough after a fire, some timber can be salvaged to feed sawmills and pulp and pellet mills. Blackwell said wildfire salvaging could generate as much as five million cubic metres of fibre each year.

Felling Short), from the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), found 29 per cent of the area contained in legally protected Old Growth Management Areas (OGMA) actually have old-growth forests on them. Active cutblocks, meanwhile, were found to overlap on more than 27,000 hectares of land designated as an OGMA, an area more than double that of the City of Vancouver. …As the B.C. government moves to protect 30 per cent of its land base by 2030, the latest findings suggests it is overestimating how much is really protected, according CPAWS’s conservation research and policy coordinator Meg Bjordal. …Bjordal said the B.C. government agreed to meet with CPAWS after it shared a copy of the report. 

Related coverage in the Narwhal: BC counts poorly protected old-growth forests toward conservation targets

Prince George Daily News: Less than one-third of Old Growth Management Areas in B.C. are actually old growth – Report

A grassroots campaign to preserve what is left of primary mature forests in B.C. is taking shape in the southern Interior. Their fundraising target is $218,000, which will be used to cover the expenses associated with meeting with other groups across the province and drawing support to the campaign, initiated by the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society (BFWS). Speaking at a Zoom information meeting co-hosted by the Interior Watershed Task Force and the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance, BFWS co-founder Jennifer Houghton sees the campaign as a 12 to 14-month project to galvanize support and stand up to opposing pressure from the forestry industrial lobby. …Michelle Connolly, who runs the Conservation North, also spoke in the meeting, reinforcing the importance of legislation to protect the ecosystem in our remaining primary forests. …Both Connolly and Houghton said their volunteer groups include experts who have valid contributions to make to any debate on preserving primary forests.

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – A new field study commissioned by an environmental group outlines at-risk bull trout are present in the Highwood River area where logging is set to take place this winter. The study, commissioned by Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), found bull trout were in the Loomis Creek area where Spray Lakes Sawmills (SLS) – now owned by West Fraser Timber Company Limited – plans to clearcut 1,100 hectares of forest in the Upper Highwood area, including 26 kilometres along the river, and near Loomis and McPhail creeks. In the past, anecdotal information had bull trout in the area, but the study confirmed they are present and spawning in a much larger area than previously assumed. …Critics have called for a review of existing legislation covering forestry activities in Alberta. CPAWS has requested interviews with Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen. …SLS has agreed to meet with CPAWS in early February.

A particularly low snowpack on Vancouver Island and across the province could mean B.C. is in for another difficult fire season. A lack of snow means fuels will likely dry out earlier, which typically leads to fires earlier in the year, said Armel Castellan, meteorologist for Environment Canada. The provincial snowpack is “extremely low,” averaging just 56 per cent of normal as of the start of the year. Vancouver Island had 39 per cent of normal snowpack as of Jan. 1, raising the risk that the province could see another fire season like last summer’s, which kicked off with “extremely warm” weather in May and an unrelenting fire season “with very little precedent,” Castellan said. A bad fire season is not a guarantee. In 2019, after one of the warmest and driest springs on record, officials worried the province was on the brink of large-scale fires, but rain in July quashed those fears.

Additional BC fire coverage in Energetic City, by Tom Summer: Northern B.C. preparing wildfire resilience plans in face of severe drought

Younes Alila

PRINCE GEORGE — It’s time to rethink forestry practices and policy, according to researchers at UBC. They looked at past hydrology studies and found that many severely and consistently underestimated the impact of forest cover on flood risk, therefore leading to poorly informed forest management policies and practices. Dr. Younes Alila, a professor in the faculty of forestry at UBC found that clear-cut logging is causing major problems for people and ecosystems, and will continue to do so, unless practices are changed. …..“In B.C. alone, the flood risk is escalating as we continue to lose forest cover due to ongoing large-scale logging and wildfires. … Regenerative practices such as selective logging, small patch cutting, and other alternatives to clear-cutting are an important way forward.”