Region Archives: Canada West

The District of Elkford will send Canfor the bill after the District’s fire department responded to some unattended burn piles north of the community. “We understand that Canfor has registered these piles with the BC Wildfire Service as required,” said Elkford officials. “However, these piles are being lit and burned without consultation or advisement to the District of Elkford.” Director of Elkford’s Fire and Emergency Services Enzo Calla says the company also broke Category 3 Open Burn regulations with the November fires. “This was in contravention to the burning index that was issued for that time. We had a cold front inversion,” said Calla. “It kept the smoke at a low level within the municipal district for several days.”

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board is identifying opportunities for government to enhance how it manages and enforces range activities. This is following a complaint investigation about cattle grazing practices near Grand Forks. The board investigated concerns raised by the Southern Interior Land Trust (SILT) that two range agreement holders were not following their grazing schedules or maintaining fences as required by law, and that government actions taken in response to their concerns were inadequate. From 2021 until 2023, SILT observed cattle grazing on its private land it had purchased to conserve wildlife habitat. SILT contacted the Ministry of Forests’ range staff to request corrective action, sharing proof of the cattle grazing gathered using game cameras. …“It’s crucial that government record results when it conducts inspections,” said Keith Atkinson, chair, Forest Practices Board. “Documentation helps evaluate the accuracy of complaints, the effectiveness of enforcement efforts and can support corrective measures, if necessary.”

Benedict Roeser

This summer, I had the privilege of interning with Metsähallitus in Finland, which offered an amazing opportunity to gain experience in forestry and reconnect with the country after 12 years away. Returning to Finland was both a personal and professional highlight. …One of the most insightful aspects of the internship was learning about the differences in forestry practices between Finland and British Columbia. The level of efficiency and precision in Finnish forestry was impressive, especially in their approaches to silviculture. Observing how Finland implements sustainable practices in a way that balances ecological integrity with productivity has given me a new perspective on the possibilities within forest management. A standout experience was participating in a prescribed burn, an invaluable introduction to fire ecology. Seeing firsthand the positive effects that controlled burns have on soil health and biodiversity helped me realize the positive effects fire can have in forest management.

KAMLOOPS — Details of a Wildfire Studies Diploma program at Thompson Rivers University have been unveiled. Following a 30-day public feedback process, TRU says the university’s Senate and Board of Governors approved five certificates and one diploma program at the Centre for Wildfire Research, Education, Training and Innovation (TRU Wildfire). In a news release issued Jan. 14, TRU says three of the certificates that are expected to start in September 2025 are each a semester in length and equal to nine credits. They include Wildfire Science (Faculty of Science), Sociocultural Dynamics of Wildfire (Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism) and Wildfire Communications and Media (Faculty of Arts). Two other approved certificates — Wildfire Leadership and Emergency Communications — are expected to start in 2026, along with the diploma in wildfire studies. 

The Lake Babine Nation’s forestry company has signed a long-term log supply and forest management agreement West Fraser, which owns the Pacific Inland Resources sawmill in Smithers. Lake Babine Nation Forestry Limited Partnership (LBN Forestry) will supply the mill through its new First Nations Woodland Licence (FNWL) and provides for West Fraser to work with LBN Forestry in the sustainable long-term management of the licence, consistent with Lake Babine Nation’s traditional values. “This agreement is a significant milestone marking the implementation of the Lake Babine Nation Foundation Agreement that was signed with the Province on September 18, 2020,” said Chief Wilf Adam… Adam noted the new FNWL also provides increased governance over the Nation’s resources, which supports improved fibre security to forest sector businesses in the region.

Parks Canada assures it is actively preparing for the upcoming wildfire season through risk reduction work in Jasper and Banff national parks this winter. Natalie Fay, external relations manager for Banff National Park, said in a media briefing Parks Canada uses a variety of tools and strategies such as prescribed fires, mechanical logging and tree thinning as well as the creation of community fireguards to help reduce the impacts of wildfire and climate change. “While we can never completely eliminate the risk of wildfire, Parks Canada is taking important steps to reduce that risk across the mountain national parks using safe and effective fire management,” Fay said. “Our agency is taking action to create healthy fire-resilient landscapes and communities.”

On April 12-16, more than 700 firefighting professionals, FireSmart experts and Indigenous, municipal and community leaders will gather in Penticton for the 2025 Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit. There, they’ll share lessons learned from 2024, along with the latest research, technologies, best practices and other information to help regions and communities prepare for the upcoming wildfire season. You’ll want to register fast before this conference sells out! The theme for this year’s Summit is Living with Fire: Building resilience by bringing fire back to the land, strengthening relationships, and investing in collective well-being. The Summit will kick off with two days of training for firefighting professionals, followed by a three-day conference featuring keynote addresses, expert panels, and networking opportunities. Whether you’re a firefighter, community leader, or industry professional, this event is your chance to connect with like-minded individuals, learn from experts, and contribute to a safer, more resilient future for British Columbia. 

The lawyer for a West Kootenay environmental organization has sent a formal cease-and-desist letter to BC Timber Sales, requesting that the agency drop its plans to log a piece of forest near Castlegar. The contested cutblock is located in the Cai Creek drainage.  “It is a biodiverse forest full of old growth trees, and B.C. Timber Sales’ logging plans would irreversibly disrupt this forest,” says Joe Karthein of the Save What’s Left Conservation Society. Biologist Matt Casselman of Castlegar is pushing to save the same forest through his website entitled Save Cai Creek. …BCTS has laid out three cutblocks in the Cai Creek drainage, but it is specifically Cutblock 3 that Casselman and Karthein are concerned about. They say Cutblock 3 may not be fully an old growth forest but it has some old growth in it. It is valuable for being an 80-per-cent intact watershed, which Casselman says is rare.

Alberta says a provincial Community Fireguard Program is mitigating the risks of catastrophic wildfires in at-risk communities. It will increase wildfire resilience in Canmore and the Bow Valley, according to the province. By removing trees surrounding vulnerable communities that can act as fuel in wildfires, residents, homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure are better protected in the case of a blaze. Alberta says construction on the new Bow Valley Community Fireguard started in the late fall of 2024, after it got $750,000 in provincial funding from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta. …Work on the fireguard will be ongoing, including a combination of mechanical tree removal and forest thinning. The entire fireguard will be finished over the next three to five years, and planning is underway for the next stage of construction… Ahead of the 2025 wildfire season, the province said it is working on other fireguard initiatives, including in Whitecourt and Hinton.

The current state and future plans of the West Boundary Community Forest was available at an annual public meeting held on Thursday at the McCarthur Centre in Greenwood. Forest Manager Peter Flett and Ally Macmaster, Communications and Outdoor Education Centre Coordinator led the talk that ranged from a general overview, finances, revenue, funding, harvesting, wildfire mitigation efforts and even the Outdoor Education Centre that officially opened last summer. The purpose of the meeting, said Flett, was to let the public know what’s been accomplished in the community forest, completed projects, planned cutting and wildfire mitigation and try to answer any questions people may have about the operation. …Revenue from lumber harvested from the Community Forest totalled $400,000, which was split evenly between Midway and Greenwood, as joint shareholder communities. The Community Forest supports grants and bursaries, which totalled $112,020 in grants to 41 different groups and organizations, explained Macmaster. 

The BC Forest Practices Board (BCFPB) found five significant non-compliances in the Valemount Community Forest (VCF) audit released on December 17th, including two non-compliances in wildfire prevention measures. VCF is taking steps to establish more thorough training and pre-work planning to avoid similar oversights in the future, according to General Manager Kalina Velez. …While forestry is a complex industry and any given operation may have a handful of issues, the number of non-compliances found in VCF’s operations were alarming, said BCFPB Chair Keith Atkinson. …“It’s a wake-up call for us,” Velez said of the audit. …Now that Velez is at the helm, she has turned her focus towards drafting and revising policies that will improve the VCF’s practices in the long term. …Velez hopes that providing more thorough training and inviting questions and feedback from contractors will improve their practices without having to turn to punitive measures.

The provincial government expects to plant nearly 50 million fewer trees this year — a 17 per cent drop from last year’s planting season at a time when the province has seen a major spike in wildfire activity. The projections come from presentation slides shown to the ­industry in September. …the government expects the number of trees planted to sink to 233 million in 2025, 47 million fewer than were planted in 2024. …About half of the anticipated drop in 2025 is due to declines in trees planted by logging companies. Drops are also expected in government programs designed to combat climate change, restore forest carbon stocks, and plant trees in the wake of wildfires, data show. The 2023 wildfires also prevented many replanting projects from occurring that year, and delays due to the time it takes to grow enough seedlings mean replanting won’t take place until 2026 and 2027, according to the ministry spokesperson. 

An aging volunteer base on top of climate change and deforestation concerns dominated the early returns of a probe into the state of B.C. salmon. Researchers provided some key findings on the project in December, based on Pacific salmon dialogues held across B.C. last year, led by the University of British Columbia and the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and partially funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). …They said stakeholders told them the compound effects of hotter, drier summers, combined with higher water levels in the winter should be looked at. Meeting attendees brought up the cumulative impacts of deforestation, due to both wildfire and forestry practices, on salmon spawning and rearing habitat. …The full report will be posted and shared out publicly on the project website once the project is completed, which is expected by March 2025.

The Kaska Dena people, who for thousands of years have lived on a vast swath of intact wilderness in northern B.C. on the Yukon border… They want to ensure it remains undeveloped… So the Kaska have come up with a plan for the province to protect an area, called the Dene K’éh Kusān — 40,000 square kilometres, an area larger than Vancouver Island, of land and water. …It would also boost B.C.’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of water by 2030, say conservation experts. …With only five years to go, and just about 16 per cent of land protected in B.C. so far, the province must double its efforts if it intends to reach those ambitious targets…Randene Neill, B.C.’s minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said that she’s aware that some areas reported as conservation measures aren’t meeting their originally intended objectives. 

The newly appointed BC Forests Minister was visiting the Northwest this week and says the forests industry is looking hopeful in the region. BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar has been meeting with local workers, community leaders and first nations leaders in the leadup to the BC Natural Resources Forum, to talk about the future of forestry. “And I think, it was perfect to see the light, the sun shining because, I’m feeling optimistic, as is the community about the future of forestry for, for this community in particular, but also for the region as well.” Parmar’s very first decision he made as Minister of Forests was to approve a tenure license tied to the Skeena sawmills for the Kitsumkalum First Nation.

In related news: Bulkley Valley community invited for foresting planning open house

A $33.3-million agreement to purchase the Kapoor Lumber Company lands next to the Sooke Lake Reservoir and the Sooke Lake Watershed will provide a buffer to help make the region’s main water supply more secure, says the Capital Regional District’s board chair. Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said the CRD has identified acquiring the lands as a priority for years, but the 4,875-acre (1.973-hectare) parcel only recently became available. The purchase was recommended by the Regional Water Supply Commission, and will be funded through long-term debt to be repaid by water users over many years… Under its agreement with the CRD, the Kapoor Lumber Company, which began in the 1920s, will continue to use sustainable logging practices in the parcel until September, when the CRD assumes ownership.

A group of Shuswap farmers in Turtle Valley near Chase have filed lawsuits against BC Timber Sales (BCTS) in an effort to protect their drinking water. The Upper Chum Creek Water Users Association, as well as impacted farmers Christine and Scott Adderson and Hillary and John McNolty, have filed a judicial review petition and notices of civil claim in supreme court to try and stop the BCTS’ planned auction of four cut blocks in the Skimikin and Ptarmigan Hills… Bids close on Jan. 15, but impacted water users hope to halt the process through legal action after trying for over a year to have BCTS complete a hydrologic assessment of the proposed logging.