Region Archives: Canada West

PARKSVILLE, BC — Parksville council has endorsed a resolution that urges the province to purchase and conserve 30 per cent of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR). Amit Gaur brought the motion, which will go to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) convention in April. …Gaur said he chose 30 per cent because it aligns with the federal government’s goal of conserving 30 percent of Canada’s land and water by 2030. He added close to $1 billion has been set aside in the tripartite agreement. …Mayor Doug O’Brien said he has “reservations” and pointed out much of the land is owned by Mosaic Forest Management, rather than the Crown. “I feel it would exceed your billion dollars easily, just for one land purchase,” O’Brien said. …Council voted in favour of Gaur’s resolution, with O’Brien opposed.

British Columbia’s use of glyphosate has drastically declined in recent years. Yet, the landscape of monoculture forests left after decades of chemical herbicide spraying could still spell a widespread ecological disaster for the province. …Convenient and cost-effective, Roundup has been vehemently opposed by First Nations and other groups and its use has declined. However, the monoculture forests it produced are still being maintained by other means. UBC Professor of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Cindy Prescott and her colleagues agree that it is far more “ecologically intelligent” to have diverse species that include non-conifers, for both the above and below-ground health of the forest. …the focus on rapid regrowth of conifer crops is an outdated and problematic perspective, according to Prescott. …Fortunately, in recent years the has been a paradigm shift in the forestry sector, at least partly due to the work of Gary Merkel. 

EDMONTON — Sunk in bedrock, the Marmot Creek well in Kananaskis Country has been there for generations, says University of Saskatchewan water scientist John Pomeroy. It’s one of the few groundwater monitoring wells that Alberta has in the mountains. Away from any human influence, it’s a good indicator of what’s actually happening. “The lowest water levels are all in the last seven years and the levels are much lower now than they were in the ’70s and ’80s,” Pomeroy said. “It’ll be a climate signal that we’re seeing.” …About 600,000 Albertans depend on groundwater, and scientists and rural officials say not enough is known about the effects years of drought have had on the unseen flows beneath our feet. “We have to make sure we’re managing groundwater and surface water as a common resource,” said Pomeroy. “If we deplete one, we’re depleting the other.”

Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) received an update on the future of the Lakes Timber Supply Area from representatives of the provincial forest ministry. Anthony Giannotti, pricing and tenure director, informed board that the current allocations of allowable annual cut in the Lakes TSA have 970,000 cubic meters, which were decided in 2021. …Michael Riis-Christianson, said he was concerned about the shelf-life of burnt and mountain pine beetle-killed timbers and how these volumes can vary from the 2018 wildfires. …Neal Marincak, Nadina Natural Resource District’s resource manager, said from his understanding that Fraser Lake is still salvaging the 2018 wildfire burnt timbers and addressed that the shelf-life remains only for a year. …Clint Lambert was concerned about burnt timber sales and questioned where it could be salvaged quickly.

After last year’s record-breaking wildfire season, crews across western Canada are looking to new technology to help in future fights. Alberta has added a new tool capable of tackling wildfires from the air — in the dark.

Rachel Holt

Herb Hammond

A local ecologist who is often critical of the B.C. government’s forest practices is cautiously optimistic about a new plan to improve biodiversity and ecosystem health. Dr. Rachel Holt, in a public presentation, said the Draft BC Biodiversity and Ecological Health Framework, released in November, contains statements never before made by the provincial government. “It’s quite unusual for the government (to state that) the health of ecosystems and biodiversity is really paramount … and that the other things (including logging) have to fall into place around that,” she said. …Holt says the big question is whether the government can get all ministries on board with a new way of thinking. …She said the new framework document uses the term “ecosystem based management.” West Kootenay forest ecologist Herb Hammond has been using variations on that term, and helping his clients practise it, since the 1980s. He now uses the term “nature-based stewardship.”

The recent extreme cold in Alberta has done much to assist the province’s efforts in battling the mountain pine beetle. Mountain pine beetle populations in Alberta have declined 98 per cent since their peak in 2019, said the Ministry of Forestry and Parks. Extended periods of extreme cold below -38 C can cause up to 95 per cent mortality of over-wintering mountain pine beetles. …In Jasper National Park, the last population survey in late 2022 showed that the mountain pine beetle’s numbers have dropped 94 per cent since 2019. The survey also showed a sharp decline in trees killed by the pest for the fourth consecutive year with zero living larvae found. In order to mitigate the risk of wildfire and other negative impacts to the forest industry, watersheds and endangered species, the province will continue to invest in the mountain pine beetle control program to ensure its continued success.

A Forest Appeals Commission panel has ruled in favour of a case put forward by the Adams Lake Indian Band, lowering an administrative penalty levelled against the band by more than $65,000. According to a written decision published by the panel, which hears appeals and other matters related to the province’s forestry act, the Adams Lake Indian Band was found to have violated the Forest and Range Practices Act in the summer of 2019 when several truckloads of unweighed logs were transported to a place other than a scaling station. …The Adams Lake Indian Band filed an appeal of the decision. Jeffrey Hand, panel chair of the Forest Appeals Commission decided on the appeal. The band appealed the original penalty on the grounds that it “did not receive any economic benefit as a result of this contravention.” The band asked for the fine to be reduced to $2,000.

The deputy leader of the federal Green party, Angela Davidson — also known as Rainbow Eyes — has been convicted of seven counts of criminal contempt for her participation in the Fairy Creek logging blockades on Vancouver Island. In a B.C. Supreme Court decision, Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled Davidson breached a court-ordered injunction and her bail conditions in connection with protest activities. Hinkson said Davidson’s conduct was “defiant, repeated and public, and certainly not minimal,” and declined to acquit her for her role in 2021 and 2022. Sentencing has not been determined. The Fairy Creek protest began after logging permits were granted in 2020 allowing Teal Cedar Products to cut timber,  in areas northeast of Port Renfrew. …Davidson contends she was subjected to “disproportionate policing resources on account of her identity as a visibly identifiable Indigenous person.” However the judge said the fact that hundred of other individuals were arrested does not support the argument.

Additional coverage in My Comox Valley Now, by Grant Warkentin: Protester-turned-politician convicted of contempt for actions during Fairy Creek blockades

The Yukon is facing the reality of longer, more intense wildfire seasons by paying special attention to how its communities are prepared, according to fire information officer Mike Fancie with Yukon Wildland Fire Management. He said that means coming up with community wildfire protection plans for all Yukon communities. “We need to have strategies in place to reduce wildland fire risk around individual communities in the Yukon,” Fancie said. ..“It’s important for us to look ahead to why we need to build our resiliency to wildfires based on the fact that in the Yukon we’ve chosen to live in the boreal forest,” he said. …Reducing the risk of wildfires involves things like FireSmart work, developing fuel breaks, prescribed fires and stand conversion, which Fancie said refers to flipping parts of the forest by removing evergreen trees and replacing them with aspen trees.

Northern myotis bats, which are federally listed as endangered, are found in many parts of Canada. They’ve been documented in different regions of B.C. According to the B.C. Conservation Data Centre, there’s a dearth of data on the size of the provincial population. Lausen says the bats’ inland temperate rainforest habitat is so badly eroded scientists aren’t sure how the bats are faring, or how successfully they’re able to reproduce in the region. “Are they still here?” she wonders. “Because if they’re still here, we should be trying to mitigate habitat loss.” The bats need all the help they can get. A deadly fungal disease called white-nose syndrome is moving westward and north. The disease, which has killed millions of bats in North America, is expected to render some bat species extinct. Detected in bats in Washington and Alberta, it’s thought to be only a matter of time before it spreads in B.C.

Bruce Uzelman

British Columbia’s Eby government has vigorously addressed two of the top issues facing the country. It has gone further and faster than any other provincial government to stimulate housing construction, and has most aggressively incentivized primary care providers and addressed other healthcare issues. In that context, it is disappointing that the B.C. government has been so slow to proactively reduce wildfire risk, particularly given B.C.’s extreme susceptibility to and loss from such fires. Measures to minimize wildfire risks have been identified and urged on governments for two decades or longer. …It’s clear the provincial government is seriously underfunding risk reduction measures, and that is burdening the government and residents of B.C. with extensively more wildfire destruction and cost. Prescribed burns need to be expanded rapidly within the wildland-urban interface and beyond. …The B.C. government’s approach to wildfires and wildfire risk must fundamentally change, urgently, before more, expansive wildlands are irretrievably lost.

PRINCE ALBERT, SASKATCHEWAN — Members of several First Nations around the Prince Albert area are raising concerns about work the forestry plans to do near Historical Sites. The Ministry of Environment’s Island Forests 2022-2042 Forest Management Plan includes logging in areas around Holbien and Crutwell. The Lower Hudson House is located about 35 kilometers west of Prince Albert and was the first Hudson’s Bay trading post located on the North Saskatchewan River. The forestry plans on logging in areas close to the Lower Hudson House, which could potentially cause irreversible damage. “There’s so much to be learned yet, it was obviously a gathering place for First Nations long before Europeans showed up, so there’s a pre contact history there in and around the whole area,” explained Consultation Facilitator Dave Rondeau. The area where the forestry plans to build the access trail was once a path travelled by Indigenous Peoples, leading to multiple forts and posts associated with European fur traders.

The UBC Faculty of Forestry offers online micro-certificate programs taught by leading industry professionals designed specifically for flexible learning and career advancement. In nine weeks or less, participants develop specific skills and knowledge while earning digital badges that recognize your technical and professional expertise. All micro-certificates start February 5 and run for 8 weeks. They are flexible, online micro-certificates aimed at working professionals. Explore a range of programs in Natural Resource Management, Bioeconomy, and Mass Timber Building. We offer 16 certificates, including three new programs in our lineup: Engineered Bamboo for Sustainable Construction; Landscape Level Forest Modeling; and Forest Management Planning. 

VANCOUVER, BC – A recent survey reveals that 88% of B.C. lower mainland residents believe access to natural spaces is crucial to their quality of life. This sentiment is rooted in awareness, with 89% acknowledging the importance of pollinators in food production and 88% recognizing the role of natural areas in enhancing quality of life. Notably, the survey highlights that 95% of lower mainland residents agree that protecting wildlife habitat improves the overall quality of life in the region, emphasizing a positive attitude toward conservation efforts and the need for increased funding. Respondents expressed concerns about … damage to pollinator (91%), salmon (89%), and birdlife (87%) habitats. Additionally, nearly all residents (88%) share concerns about increasing water pollution and wildfires, underlining the community’s deep connection to their environment, and the desire to see it become and remain healthy and thriving, especially in the face of climate change as robust ecosystems are more resilient to impacts such as droughts and floods.

More than 100 wildfires are still listed as burning in British Columbia thanks to a combination of a busy wildfire season, extreme drought and generally warmer and drier conditions through December. Forrest Tower of the BC Wildfire Service said that while it’s not uncommon for some fires to burn through the winter, that number usually hovers around a couple dozen, not the 106 that were listed as active on New Year’s Day. …Some underground fires, often dubbed “zombie fires,” can flare up again in the spring if conditions are right. …Lori Daniels, a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia, said the province should be prepared for more years with 100 or more fires burning in January. She said four of the last seven fire seasons have neared or surpassed one million hectares burned. 

MONTREAL — Conservationists are urging the Quebec government to finally publish its plan to protect caribou habitat, several years after it first promised a strategy to save the dwindling herds. The latest delays came last year, when the province’s Environment Department pushed back a scheduled June publication because of a record-setting wildfire season. The government said at the time it needed to consider the impact of the fires on the caribou — and on the logging industry, a lucrative sector that exploits the animals’ habitat. …The delays are a case of “history repeating itself,” says Henri Jacob, president of environmental advocacy group Action boreale. …While it has delayed the publication of the strategy, the province has relied on other measures to help save caribou, including its controversial decision to place three threatened herds in enclosures, and to kill wolves that get to close to caribou in the wild.