David Elstone
There has been plenty written on this year’s horrendous wildfire season. It’s justified, since it has been the worst year for hectares burnt, record value of insurance claims for destroyed property, and most sadly, the lives lost by those working to fight wildfire. Merchantable timber and non-timber natural values were burnt including old growth forests, wildlife habitat and parks – the fires were non-discerning to what we value. …The evidence is abundant that the status quo on wildfire management is no longer a viable path. In many respects, we may be quickly arriving at a pivot point on forest management driven by wildfire. The BC government recently announced a task force on emergency management during wildfire, but the task force will not address what is desperately needed. … BC has a long history of fire suppression [and] much of what we need to know has all been documented by successive reviewers, and yet not much has been done.
To substantially enhance the resilience of our forested landscapes to fire, it will require substantive change by government and by industry on how to manage our forests, and just as equally, it will require changes to our traditional notions of conservation. …This suggests areas we have protected from commercial timber harvesting will still need forest management if we want such areas to endure. …The provincial government hopefully will have the funding, but the industry is key to implementation. Unfortunately, industry capacity is shrinking and will continue to do so if something is not done to address this trend. …To some it may be counter-intuitive to believe that to promote and protect both conservation and economic values of our forested landscapes, intervention through more harvesting activities (thinning etc.), not less, will be the solution. The alternative is the status quo, no change nor action; we are already bearing witness as to how that’s working out.
The head of the B.C.-based Paper Excellence has declined to appear before a federal committee investigating its corporate structure and business relations. The disclosure, made earlier this month, came four months after committee members passed a motion calling for Jackson Wijaya, CEO and sole shareholder of the company, to answers lawmakers’ questions. NDP MP Charlie Angus submitted a notice of motion to issue a legal summons for Wijaya so that he appear no later than three weeks after it’s adopted. The committee is expected to vote on the motion next week. Should the motion pass and Wijaya step foot on Canadian soil, he could legally be detained and forced to appear in Ottawa before the committee. If he ignores the legal summons, he could be called to the bar in the House of Commons to receive questioning, admonishment or reprimand for “an offence against the dignity or authority of Parliament.”
The firing of an accountant by a B.C. pulp and paper mill for making secret recordings was justified, the B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled, even though the employer didn’t know about the recordings until the employee sued the company for wrongful dismissal. …“This decision emphasizes the importance that the court places on the privacy rights of individuals and employees and serves as a reminder that an employee’s actions, especially those that infringe upon trust and privacy, can indeed constitute just cause for termination.” The case centres on a certified professional accountant, Roman Shalagin, who worked for Mercer Celgar Ltd., which owns a pulp and papermill in Castlegar, B.C. …“The trial judge concluded that the plaintiff’s conduct in making the recordings undermined the relationship of trust between the plaintiff and the employer and constituted just cause for termination.”
Forest Professionals BC (FPBC) is recruiting for a Deputy Director, Competence and Practice. This role is for someone who has a passion for BC’s forestry profession and who can guide and coach others in the delivery of best forestry practices and behavior. The role reports to Director of Practice Garnet Mierau, RPF, is full-time, has an annual salary between $82,000 and $106,700, and is part of the 
Irreplaceable ancient forests that should meet criteria for interim protection are being left open to logging in BC due to outdated and inaccurate government data, advocates and an ecologist who advised the province say. “The deferral process was intended to stop the bleed,” said Karen Price, who served on the provincially appointed panel that identified 2.6 million hectares of high-priority old growth and recommended it be set aside from logging. …But Price said old growth remains unidentified and open to logging due to “problematic” data that underestimates its age, especially for ancient forests. …The discrepancy increases with age… so B.C.’s deferral process is missing areas that should meet the criteria for old growth, Price said. …The Forests Ministry said the panel worked with higher-level mapping and “acknowledged that the modelling would need to be verified and that some areas may turn out not to be what they had thought.”
PRINCE GEORGE — If there’s one thing this past fire season has told us, it’s that we need to get serious about reducing the fire risk around Prince George. I want to stress the pretty straightforward idea of prioritizing broadleaf over conifer, aspen over pine in particular. It’s an undeniable fact the resinous pitch-soaked pine and spruce will light up much more swiftly than a water-logged aspen should a fire sweep into our city. The burn rates are different by orders of magnitude. …Residents should be encouraged to keep their broadleaf, not the conifer. And perhaps more critically, we need to pressure provincial forestry officials to ask themselves what they care about: growing fire-trap plantation forests to threaten our communities or diverse forests with lots of aspen to dampen those flames and feed those moose and beaver?
VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Tolko Industries Ltd. on timber licence T0816 in the Okanagan Shuswap Natural Resource District, starting Oct. 23, 2023. Auditors will examine whether timber harvesting, roads, bridges, silviculture, wildfire protection and associated planning carried out between Oct. 1, 2021, and Oct. 27, 2023, meets the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is in the Okanagan timber supply area and the territories of the Adams Lake Indian Band, Little Shuswap Lake Band, Neskonlith Indian Band, Okanagan Indian Band, and the Splatsin First Nation. The timber licence is located near Mabel and Sugar Lakes, Eagle River, and the communities of Revelstoke, Lumby and Sicamous.
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