Region Archives: Canada West

The BC Wildfire Service is expanding the use of wildfire predictive technologies. “By adding more technology to the BC Wildfire Service’s tool kit, our talented firefighters will be able to make critical decisions faster when it matters most,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. In advance of the 2024 wildfire season, B.C. is introducing technology that can produce real-time wildfire behaviour predictions and incorporate information directly from the field. This is aligned with feedback from the Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies and follows last year’s successful trial of the software. The wildfire predictive technology will first be introduced in the Coastal and Kamloops Fire Centres, where it has already been trialled to ensure compatibility with forest and fuel conditions. Collaborative efforts with jurisdictions using similar technologies, including California and Australia, have allowed the BC Wildfire Service to quickly operationalize and expand the use of these tools. 

The Province is taking several early steps to prepare for the wildfire and drought season, including working proactively with local governments and First Nations to help keep people and communities safe and informed. …Stemming from the ongoing work of the Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies, the Province has enhanced wildfire preparedness and support for evacuees across B.C. This work includes incorporating advanced wildfire predictive technologies, expanding the number of firefighting tools available to BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) crews and streamlining training for Emergency Support Services (ESS) responders. …Current forecasts indicate that British Columbia may experience an active spring-wildfire season due to persistent drought conditions. …“Many communities experienced severe drought conditions last summer. The potential for drought conditions this year is very real and we are taking steps to help people prepare,” said Nathan Cullen, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.

Lantzville, British Columbia is preparing to establish havens for future old-growth forests, where West Coast trees can thrive for hundreds of years. The district plans to set up two areas within its Foothills parkland, donated by developer Lone Tree Properties, under a new “future old growth” (FOG) zone that would be permanently ­protected. Council members have voted unanimously in favour of the first two readings of the new bylaw, and a public hearing is set for April 10. …Planned new FOG zones are in environmentally ­sensitive habitat and were already ­earmarked by the district’s ­official community plan for preservation. The initial two FOG areas will total 10 to 12 acres, said Coun. Ian Savage, who believes the new zone is the first of its kind in the province. …Savage said he came up with the idea a few years ago while looking for solutions to combat the loss of old growth on B.C.’s coast. 

VANCOUVER — Habitat disturbance is a major driver of the decline of woodland caribou in Canada. Different disturbance agents and regimes negatively impact caribou populations to different degrees. …In this work we use recent advances in satellite-based disturbance detection to quantify polygonal forest disturbance regimes affecting caribou ecotypes and herds in British Columbia from 1985 to 2019. Additionally, we utilize this data to investigate harvesting rates since the implementation of the Species at Risk Act and publication of recovery strategies for caribou in BC. Southern Mountain caribou herds are the most threatened yet experienced the highest rates of disturbance, with 22.75% of forested habitat within their ranges disturbed during the study period. Over the study period, we found that in total, 16.4% of forested area was disturbed across all caribou herd ranges. Our findings indicate that caribou in BC face high, and in many cases increasing, levels of habitat disturbance. 

Jen Baron

Canada went through its most destructive wildfire season in 2023. Wildfire services rely on data, forestry photography and mapping as a way to proactively control forest fires. However, a recent study in B.C. has found that the data being used is inaccurate and insufficient. Jen Baron, lead author of the study and PhD candidate at UBC’s Department of Conservation and Forestry, explains the inaccuracies in the data, the problems it creates and the ways it could be improved.

City of Vancouver plans to cut down nearly one-third of the trees in Stanley Park in response to wildfire concerns and a looper moth infestation are facing intense pushback from local residents and experts. “There’s just no basis in logic or science for the premise upon which this entire operation is founded, which is that there’s some kind of imminent fire danger,” said Michael Caditz of the non-profit Stanley Park Preservation Society… Brennan Bastyovanszky, the park board chair, acknowledged the need for more transparency but felt the decision the board reached was the right one. “We felt that the decisions were the right ones and we wanted the people here to understand that we want to replant, that we want to make it a more robust forest, and that there is a serious risk of forest fire with all those dead trees,” Bastyovanszky said.

Additional coverage in CBC – Video interview with Vancouver Park Board’s manager of Urban Forestry

Ross Muirhead stood at the edge of a forestry cut blockfilled with stumps, rain pelting down as he watched water rushing over the barren ground. Theenvironmental advocatewas storm watching during the atmospheric river disaster that swamped southwestern British Columbia in November 2021. Muirhead says that without a healthy forest to help absorb the excess water, it was gushing toward a creek near the Sunshine Coast community of Halfmoon Bay. “It was just complete surface run-off,” he says. …Now, Muirhead says he’s worried about plans for additional logging on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone, about half an hour’s drive north of his home. …But Muirhead is still concerned about the effects of additional harvesting and the extension of logging roads on a landscape that he describes as “dying from a thousand cuts” sustained over more than a century of development.

B.C.’s forests ministry has denied reports, published by the BBC and others, that old-growth trees from the province are still being burned as pellets for fuel in the U.K. The province also pushed back on environmentalists’ claims that a leaked old-growth forests map suggests it is playing a “shell game” to allow the harvesting of old-growth trees meant to be protected. “Whole forests of any kind are not being turned into pellets by the forest sector,” said a Ministry of Forests spokesperson in a March 8 email. …Instead, the ministry said, all wood pellets in B.C. are made “almost entirely from waste fibre” such as sawdust, shavings, and leftover wood from logging, which would otherwise have to be burned. …It’s just the latest scrutiny of B.C.’s promise to protect old-growth forests. Controversy resurfaced last month when Conservation North co-authored a report alleging U.K. biofuel company Drax Group has continued burning logs and forestry waste from B.C.’s rarest old-growth forests.

Adam Green

B.C. could soon become the first province to partially ban a group of cancer-causing chemicals used in everything from firefighting equipment to makeup. Tabled by BC Green MLA Adam Olsen, the proposed law would ban per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals in the firefighting equipment used by the province’s professional and volunteer fire crews. PFAS are a class of water-, heat- and grease-resistant chemicals that do not break down in nature, earning them the name “forever chemicals.” Researchers have linked the chemicals to a suite of health issues, from negative impacts on the reproductive system to increasing the risk of cancer. …While nearly ubiquitous in modern life — they’re used in everything from makeup to raincoats — firefighters are exposed to particularly high amounts of the chemicals because of their prevalence in firefighting equipment. …A spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety said in a statement that the department is “reviewing the legislation introduced in the house.”

PORT ALBERNI, BC — A major new forestry land-use agreement between First Nations, Western Forest Products, the Province and other groups is taking final shape on the North Island. The Gwa’ni Project is a partnership between the ‘Namgis First Nation and the B.C. government to develop recommendations about land and resource management in the Nimpkish Valley. The Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 37 Forest Landscape Plan Pilot Project is one of four provincial pilot projects shaping a new framework for sustainable forest management in B.C. TFL 37 stretches down the Nimpkish Valley between Port McNeill and Woss. …The project has been in the works since the ‘Namgis First Nation and B.C. government signed a memorandum of understanding in January 2021. “It signals a move away from enhanced forestry zones towards general special management zones and promises to be beneficial to the local First Nation, Western  and the public,” added Matt Leroy.

Newly introduced legislation will expand B.C.’s parks and protected areas, strengthen biodiversity conservation and provide more opportunities for people to access outdoor recreation. The additions, proposed through legislative amendments to the Protected Areas of British Columbia (PABC) Act, add 189 hectares to six existing provincial parks and one conservancy. …The additions consist of private land acquisitions, private donations and Crown lands… As part of these amendments, the responsibility of existing roads in two parks and one conservancy is being transferred to other ministries. This includes Kikomun Creek Park, Nancy Greene Park and Yaaguun Suu Conservancy. Amendments to the PABC Act are required to add new land to parks, conservancies and ecological reserves, modify or correct boundaries and improve boundary descriptions.

Here Boy Films has announced the Canadian feature documentary Block Dog will premiere on CBC Gem on April 19. The documentary, from tree-planting cult documentary One Million Trees director Everett Bumstead, follows the daily lives of eight loyal but mischievous dogs in a remote tree-planting camp in Quesnel. Filmed during the sweltering summertime, the 44-minute documentary chronicles the highs and lows of forestry industry practices through canine eyes. Visually, the film pushes the human world to the periphery: Dogs beg for scraps of camp food or snooze in the shade while tree planters work in the background. But throughout, the dogs (and the audience) overhear snippets of conversation about the internal politics of the camp and the environmental realities of the forest industry in B.C. …Block Dog was produced by CBC with the participation of Creative BC and the Canada Media Fund.

While not a record, BC Wildfire Service says they are seeing a high volume of applicants which may help if 2024 becomes another devastating season. According to minister of Forests Bruce Ralston, the service has got around 1,700 applications this year and it is an encouraging sign. “I think the season last year was so intense that it did attract a lot of public attention, and I think that reflects public anxiety about what we experienced last summer and what we might experience in the summer to come,” said Ralston. “The season for applications has been a bit longer and it’s been a bit more intense.” Ralston adds that so far, ministry staff have interviewed over 500 applicants for this upcoming season. He says there is always turnover from season to season since many college and university students work in the summer and choose not to return.

Joel and Mat DeVito

Vince DeVito Shoes is in the process of not only repairing and selling fine footwear, but also producing a new line of boots for workers in the forestry. “It’s a boot that’s for people who work in the outdoor industry,” says Mat DeVito, who along with brother Joel are now working in the shoe retail and repair departments.  DeVito Boot Co.’s boot is aimed at forestry workers, wildfire fighters, and other forest-based professionals. The company has used the reputation and connections built over generations to make this new chapter possible. …The DeVito’s are in the very early stages with the boot and it won’t come to market until after Easter, but they are hard at work creating wholesaling relationships throughout BC.

QUESNEL, BC — It’s not even mid-March, but B.C. already has its first fire ban of the year. The B.C. Wildfire Service announced a ban on fires in the Cariboo region effective noon Thursday, March 28, due to “an unseasonably dry fall and winter resulting in high drought conditions.” The ban covers Category 2 and Category 3 fires, across the entire region, including the Cariboo Chilcontin Forest District, the 100 Mile House Forest District and the Quesnel Forest District. …The ban comes amid growing concern about a potentially difficult wildfire season, with drought conditions already present across most of the province. Conditions across the Interior, with the exception of the Upper Columbia Basin, are currently at Drought Level 3 and above, with the province’s northeast already at Drought Level 5, the highest possible rating. …Across B.C., the snowpack is about 34 per cent below seasonal averages.

A recent article by Archie MacDonald boiled down the problem of old forests in the province as “less diversity and more susceptibility to disease, pests and drought.” He said the solution is “the creation of forest management practices that create younger and healthier forests that are less dense, include more diversity and that allow openings and meadows to develop.” …The issue not only relates to provincial Crown lands, but also to urban forested parklands. …Salmon Arm recently unveiled planned wildfire mitigation projects for the rest of Little Mountain Park and for Park Hill. The more than 40 citizens who showed up to the city’s Open House in December were pleasantly surprised the new contractor is bringing a much more balanced approach… We are proud to see Salmon Arm taking a leadership role in this effort that reflects rational, science-based decision making appropriate for our treasured parks.

The Province is taking further action to address chronic wasting disease by conducting a limited deer harvest in the Kootenay region where two deer samples tested positive for chronic wasting disease earlier this year. The harvest, which will be restricted to within 10 kilometres of the positive cases, is another step to collect samples and help provincial wildlife experts determine if there are more chronic wasting disease (CWD) cases in the area. In recent weeks, the Province implemented mandatory CWD testing, as well as restrictions on the transport and disposal of any road-killed cervids (deer, moose, elk, caribou) in the area where cases of chronic wasting disease were first found.

A citizen scientist studying threatened bird species in a Vancouver Island forest has encountered another hurdle in her efforts. The B.C. Forest Practices Board has found that both the Forest Ministry and Teal Cedar Products Ltd. acted lawfully in restricting her access to areas in Tree Farm Licence 46, near Port Renfrew. Royann Petrell, an associate professor emerita of chemical and biological engineering at the UBC, had previously filed a judicial review application challenging the access restrictions. Petrell argued that Teal Cedar Products Ltd.’s construction of 10 gates, with approval from the forest minister, significantly hampered her ability to conduct research on threatened bird populations. The court, however, dismissed her case, citing the Forest Practices Board as a suitable alternative for addressing her concerns. …“The decision to restrict access, agreed to by the district manager, was deemed necessary to protect property and public safety during active logging operations,” said Keith Atkinson, chair of the Forest Practices Board.

Night has typically been a time for wildland firefighters to rest and regroup before temperatures spike in the morning. But according to a new study, drought is turning the “active day, quiet night” model on its head, and may force firefighters to rethink how they fight fires.  The study, published in the journal Nature Wednesday, used satellite imaging to track 1,095 overnight burning events in 340 wildfires across North America between 2017 and 2020. Researchers from the University of Alberta, Canadian Forest Service and Thompson Rivers University found 99 per cent of overnight burns were connected to the big fires larger than 1,000 hectares — fires mostly found in the continent’s western mountainous areas. While making up only 10 per cent of fires over the study period, these fires accounted for 90 per cent of North America’s burned area. …The results have major implications for firefighters, who often rely on reduced nighttime conditions to rehydrate and sleep. 

Additional coverage by the Canadian Press in the Medicine Hat News: Night once brought firefighting reprieve, but no longer, Canadian study shows

Peter Christensen

Part 1 – February 28, 2024: It’s difficult these days to differentiate between NGO organizations that have a single purpose and organizations that take advantage of NGO status by mixing environmentalisms’ talking points with ideologies and political ambitions. …Environmentalism like other isms, is first about power and celebrity and second about subject. Eco-cults continue to emerge and stage emotional scenarios intended to scare the public and influence decision-makers. …Uncompromising in their ideologically driven campaigns activists and agitators strive to derail the tradition of Canada’s political parties to compromise and form coalitions from within to govern. Their agenda is to usurp the power of elected representatives and lessen the public’s commitment to hold political representatives responsible for their actions. Read the full Part 1 here

Part 2 – March 13, 2024: In the 1990s Premier Mike Harcourt, leader of the NDP, took note of the evangelistic fervour of environmentalism and toyed with the idea of harnessing this moment for re-election. American politicos were touting consensus-based conflict resolution methodology developed in the United States to quell prison riots. Could this methodology be used to quiet the “War in the Woods?” Stephen Owen, B.C.’s former Ombudsmen, was appointed Commissioner of the Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE). …What most wanted was conservation, local input into Land Use Planning and innovation; what they got was closed door government planning and permitting, attack style environmentalism and divided communities. Read the full Part 2 here

The BC government has announced that they are considering a conservancy for untouched forest areas near Clayoquot Sound, which was proposed by the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. A conservancy in this context would guarantee the protection of the forested area, ensuring that it could not be logged by the forestry industry. The proposed region that the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht Nations want protected is 77,000 hectares in total. Currently the area is part of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 54, which means that technically, it could be logged. It is the only TFL around Clayoquot Sound. According to the Province, if this is approved, 60% of the current area of the TFL would be conserved, leaving just 55,000 hectares available for logging. The BC government is seeking the opinions of all British Columbians on whether or not to grant this conservancy.

Additional coverage from the Government of BC, Ministry of Forests: Province seeks public input on proposed Clayoquot Sound conservancies

Two new reports find B.C.’s old-growth forests are still on the chopping block despite claims to the contrary by the provincial government and a U.K.-based corporation. Government data leaked to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows B.C.’s Ministry of Forestry rejected more than half the proposed logging deferrals recommended by an expert panel with a mandate to protect important old-growth forests. … The analysis shows ministry personnel removed 55 per cent of the areas of large old-growth trees the panel recommended be protected from logging. …Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston said the leaked data “confirms what we have been saying all along — that 2.42 million hectares of old-growth forests are deferred or newly protected since November 2021.” …B.C.’s old-growth forests continue to fuel a biomass power plant in the U.K., according to a new investigation by Conservation North, the Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition and Biofuelwatch UK.

…“Probably late 2020, but especially 2021, was when we noticed we’re starting to lose trees to the western hemlock looper outbreak,” he says. “We identified that this is not typical of what you would usually see.” The park board’s manager of urban forestry, Joe McLeod, is overseeing the response to the devastating infestations that have now lasted several years, a response that involves cutting thousands of dead and dying trees in the name of keeping humans safe. …For regular habitués of the park the effects can be jaw-dropping. And some have questions. …One of those alternative views comes from arborist Norm Oberson of Vancouver-based Arbutus Tree Service. Oberson feels the fire risk has been greatly exaggerated. …McLeod describes that argument as “patently false.” …McLeod says prolonged consultation could be fatal to mitigation efforts. … “If we had to get public approval for every tree that we remove in the city, we would never get 100 per cent consent.

BC Wildfire Service had a record-breaking year for applications from people wanting to be firefighters. For the upcoming season, BCWS received 1,700 firefighter applications — nearly double last year’s 860. “I’m actually surprised,” says David Greer, director of strategic engagement at BC Wildfire Service. “It’s a big jump.” The last time the service saw such interest was in 2003 when 2,000 people applied. Each year, BCWS has 1,600 to 2,000 firefighter employees. That number does not include initial attack, wildfire technicians, heavy equipment and line-locating teams. Greer credits opening the application window earlier and staggering it to the successful number of people applying. …Staffing numbers for the 2024 season are consistent with the last seven to 10 years, according to Greer. Roughly 200 firefighters are turning over and leaving the organization from last year, he tells Glacier Media.