Region Archives: Canada West

Opinion / EdiTOADial

Wildfires laid siege to BC in 2023 — time for a different approach

By Jim Stirling
The Logging & Sawmilling Journal
October 31, 2023
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

Wildfires have laid siege to British Columbia in 2023. Residents outside the province’s Lower Mainland region have endured a prolonged and surreal environment of fear and uncertainty, filled with toxic smoke and flurries of evacuation alerts and orders. …Land lost to wildfires in 2017, 2018 and 2021 set records—but the terrible trio’s toll was eclipsed by July in 2023, the beginning of what is traditionally the start of the worst two forest fire months of the season. …The warming climate’s interconnected impacts on the forest industry are the focus of a new report by the B.C. Forest Practices Board. The report says there’s an urgent need for a different and coordinated approach to forest fire management on B.C.’s Crown land. It points out fire can be a friend and not always the wildfire foe. Fire, when used judiciously, can help sustain a productive and healthy B.C. forest landscape as it did historically.

The report noted the policies that were applied in B.C. during the 20th century resulted in densely forested areas and an increase in the amounts and distribution of forest fuels. …“There is an urgent need to shift forest and fire management, policies, objectives and policies toward co-existing with fire on the landscape,” says the report. “Restoring landscape resilience is required and the first step toward that is to introduce landscape fire management into the land management framework in B.C.” The report continues: “Bold and immediate action is required by the provincial government to align policies and programs across all levels of government with a vision of landscape resilience and human co-existence with fire.” …The document’s recommendations are pertinent and timely. Suggestions for working practically with nature can help restore a badly damaged landscape diversity in B.C. That in turn will indicate paths forward for the forest industry to continue its renewal and vigour.

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Business & Politics

Alberta aiding in $28.5 million expansion of Structural Truss Systems in Fort Macleod

By Joel Mendelson
The Lethbridge News Now
November 10, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT MACLEOD, Alberta – With help from the Alberta Government’s Investment and Growth Fund, Structural Truss Systems Ltd. is investing $28.5 million into a new Fort Macleod facility. Nearly $1 million in funding was allocated to Structural Truss from the fund’s rural stream. …Structural Truss was established in 1981 in Fort Macleod. The company designs and manufactures building systems such as roof trusses, open-web floor truss systems, prefabricated wall panels, and laminated posts. Brent Feyter, Mayor of Fort Macleod and CEO of Structural Truss Systems Ltd. said, “The Alberta government’s support is a big boost.” …The new 180,000-square-foot facility is expected to be ready by the end of 2024 and will have an in-house training facility. Officials say the new facility will strengthen the regional economy, creating 33 permanent jobs and 12 temporary ones.

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BC invests $1.2 million in five value-added manufacturing companies

By Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation
The Government of BC
November 6, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Government of BC is investing more than $1.2 million in a variety of expansion projects to help manufacturing companies grow and create well-paying, sustainable jobs across northern BC:

  • Terrace – Monster Industries will receive as much as $466,000 to build a new fabrication facility and purchase a new crane that will help manufacture drying kilns for the forestry industry.
  • 150 Mile House – OT Timber Frames will receive as much as $235,000 to scale up the production of pre-fabricated homes, with expansion of the production facility and addition of two CNC machines. 
  • 100 Mile House – New Wave Docks will receive as much as $300,000 to double manufacturing capacity and provide space to diversify production.
  • Mackenzie – Conifex  will receive as much as $105,000 to optimize production and increase product quality by purchasing new equipment.
  • Vanderhoof – Bid Group Technologies will receive as much as $100,000 to expand manufacturing capacity to keep production in-house instead of outsourcing it.

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B.C. at a critical point as it moves from value extraction to value addition

By Andrew Petter, president emeritus of Simon Fraser University
The Vancouver Sun
November 3, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. is at a critical turning point — from a province whose past prosperity has been based upon extracting value from our abundant natural resources to one whose future prosperity is dependent upon adding value across our economy. …Fortunately, B.C. has significant innovative capacities that are moving us in this direction. …For example, B.C.’s leadership in the development of mass timber — engineered wood products that convert low-quality wood fibre into high-quality construction materials — is recognized by industry players around the world. B.C. boasts the most mass timber buildings per capita in North America. In other cases, increased value can be gained by targeting resource extraction to higher value products. …In other cases, adding value involves increasing the productivity while decreasing their environmental costs. …Advanced economies around the world are making major investments in green energy, innovation and talent development to navigate the transition to a zero-carbon future.

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Finance & Economics

Western Forest Products reports Q3, 2023 net loss

By Western Forest Products Ltd.
GlobeNewswire
November 7, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — Western Forest Products reported a net loss of $17.4 million in the third quarter of 2023, as compared to a net loss of $20.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, and net income of $6.6 million in the third quarter of 2022. …Adjusted EBITDA was negative $11.6 million as compared to Adjusted EBITDA of negative $12.0 million in the second quarter of 2023, and adjusted EBITDA of $17.3 million in the third quarter of 2022. Operating loss prior to restructuring and other items was $25.8 million as compared to income of $4.7 million in the third quarter of 2022. …CEO Steven Hofer said, “While our results reflect the continued challenging operating environment and cost structure in BC, we are encouraged by the progress we’ve made in repositioning our business for the future. The agreement announced with the Tlowitsis, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and K’ómoks First Nations is a significant step forward.”

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Conifex Timber reports Q3, 2023 net loss

By Conifex Timber Inc.
GlobeNewswire
November 7, 2023
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — Conifex Timber reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. EBITDA was negative $6.7 million for the quarter compared to EBITDA of $4.2 million in the third quarter of 2022. The third quarter results were favourably impacted by $1.7 million in recoveries of duty deposit overpayments which were more than offset by $2.4 million in further inventory write-downs that were taken in response to lower lumber prices and after disposing of a logging camp that was lost in a wildfire this summer for $0.6 million. Net loss was $8.0 million for the quarter versus net income of $0.9 million or $0.02 per share in the year-earlier quarter. The results reflect reduced operating earnings on lower lumber prices.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Pacific HemFir: The next step in glulam’s evolution

Pacific HemFir
November 14, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Pacific HemFir has long been overlooked in favour of the other species, like Cedar and Douglas-fir. But, Pacific HemFir is taking its rightful place as a high performance and quality wood product with a key role to play in the growing mass timber market. Traditionally, glulam has been manufactured mainly with Douglas-fir, southern yellow pine, and yellow cedar. …only a small percentage of HemFir has been used in glulam manufacturing. … Western Forest Products has been at the forefront of advancing Pacific HemFir innovation and product development. …Western has a longstanding partnership with the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Dr. Frank Lam and his team at the Department of Wood Science. Together they are developing design values for Western hemlock and HemFir glulam timber, with financial support from Forestry Innovation Investment (FII).

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B.C. Building Code changes to impact seismic design, increase costs

By Grant Cameron
Journal of Commerce
November 8, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Anticipated changes to the B.C. Building Code (BCBC) are expected to affect the seismic design of new and retrofitted structures and likely escalate costs for developers, particularly for projects on Vancouver Island, warns Leon Plett, a structural engineer and managing principal at RJC Engineers in Victoria. …Plett says changes to the BCBC expected in December have been pushed back to 2024. … Plett says the changes are coming because geophysicists have determined there is an increase in the seismic hazard level… …Plett expects that, as a result of the impending changes, the industry will adapt and come up with design, technology and construction innovations that can withstand higher seismic forces at minimal cost. For example, engineers are already changing the way shear walls are designed in mid-rise wood-frame buildings to allow for a thinner assembly that has a higher force resistance. “Industry will adapt to the higher loads through innovation in structural design.” 

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Lytton issues first building permit after devastating 2021 wildfire

By Charlie Carey
The Canadian Press in City News
November 2, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

LYTTON, BC — The Village of Lytton has reached a milestone in its rebuilding process after the Fraser Canyon community was destroyed by wildfire more than two years ago. Mayor Denise O’Connor says the village has issued its first building permit for a single-family home in the downtown area. O’Connor says she has a hard time accepting that it has taken so long, but more permits are expected to be approved. The first permit comes about four months after backfilling work began on properties destroyed by the June 2021 fire. It comes as Lytton residents took to the streets last month in protest to highlight the lengthy delays on getting back to their homes. …The fire that demolished Lytton came as the community had been grappling with record-breaking heat… the highest being 49.6 degrees.

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WoodWorks Summit Shaping the Future of Sustainable Construction

By the Canadian Wood Council
Canadian Architect
November 1, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

For practitioners that want to expand their networks and keep pace with new developments in wood design and construction, there’s a valuable new event happening November 15-16 in Vancouver, BC. The WoodWorks Summit 2023 is a 2-day educational conference for AEC+D professionals that has a dynamic program of mass timber building tours, a mass timber manufacturing tour, networking opportunities, an exhibitor showcase, and an impressive educational program packed with high-profile speakers. “For design and construction industry professionals this specialized conference is dedicated to sharing the latest advancements and applications for wood products and building systems alongside valuable market information and code updates,” says Martin Richard, VP of Communications and Market Development at the CWC. “This .” The theme of the Summit, Shaping the Future of Sustainable Construction, signals the important and growing role that wood construction will play in the built environment.

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Forestry

Logging in Chehalis draws renewed advocacy for endangered spotted owl

By Adam Louis
The Abbotsford News
November 10, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

HARRISON MILLS, BC — Recent logging activity in the Chehalis area is seen as a setback for one of the rarest birds in British Columbia. In 40 years, a swath of forest north of Harrison Mills could have qualified as old growth, which would have been viable habitat for the spotted owl. The forest that had been growing since around World War II was approved for logging this year, and it’s being harvested. …Joe Foy with the Wilderness Committee, said that while the harvesting of the Chehalis area trees isn’t necessarily fatal for spotted owl conservation efforts, it would make species recovery less likely. …Foy said the fragmented nature of potential habitat for spotted owls comes down to the federal and provincial governments having different plans to preseve the species.

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Inside the struggle to save Canada’s most endangered bird

By Stefan Labbé
The Squamish Chief
November 10, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

James Hobart trudges up an old logging road and into the territory of the last wild-born northern spotted owl in Canada. …Chief of the Spô’zêm First Nation, Hobart has put his people’s weight behind saving the owl. …Where once that territory supported upwards of a thousand owls, today, the survival of Canada’s wild-born population has dwindled to a single female, who lives high up in the Spô’zêm watershed in the territory of Hobart’s people. Early failures to reintroduce captive bred owls have revealed duelling visions over what’s causing the bird’s near extinction — and how best to pull it back from the brink. On one side, B.C.’s provincial government says it’s focused on the culling and removal of invasive barred owls, while breeding the endangered species back; on the other, a federal ministry says it makes no sense to release owls into a forest ecosystem when its integrity remains shattered.

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Wildwood’s old-growth forest is an education in eco-forestry

By Hans Tammemagi
British Columbia Magazine
November 8, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An enchanting forest called Wildwood, south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, has tall old-growth Douglas-firs soaring into the sky, the rat-a-tatting of pileated woodpeckers echoing through the trees and emerald-green moss blanketing the ground. Surprisingly, this magnificent 31-hectare patch of old-growth forest has been commercially logged since 1945 and stands in stark contrast to the patchwork clear cuts of modern industrial forestry. At Wildwood, nature rules, while also yielding a harvest for humans to reap. …Merv Wilkinson logged this land, not by clear-cuts and monoculture plantations, but instead by selective logging. For more than seven decades, the old-growth beauty has been preserved, the habitat maintained for black-tailed deer, squirrels, bats, pileated woodpeckers and more. His logging was revolutionary not only in method, but also in philosophy. Although Merv’s methods are ignored by the provincial logging industry, his wisdom was recognized by others. 

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Mara Mountain Lookout trail restoration in Shuswap nearing completion

By Lachlan Labere
The Vernon Morning Star
November 7, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VERNON, BC — The long process of restoring trails lost to the Bush Creek East wildfire will begin with wildfire impact assessments. Assessments for two of those trails… are being initiated by the Shuswap Trail Alliance (STA) with Forsite Consultants. “Forsite will be creating a process for us, as well as doing the initial assessments,” said Jen Bellhouse. …“There will be slope stability assessments required because soil becomes hydrophobic after a fire so it’s a longer process for that,” said Bellhouse, noting the process will involve reassessing slope stability after year of snow melt and precipitation, to see how slopes impacted by the fire are holding up – recognizing there may be slides. …Bellhouse said BC Parks is going through a similar process for its trails impacted by the wildfire.

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Satellite imaging contradicts B.C. government claims on old-growth logging, says Stand.earth

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
November 8, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Satellite surveillance shows 31,800 hectares of old-growth trees — 50 per cent more than the government reported — have been logged in the three and a half years since the province promised a “paradigm change” in B.C. forestry practices. That’s according to a recent report from the environmental group Stand.earth, which used a satellite watchdog platform to track old-growth logging since April 2020. That month marked the release of the Old Growth Strategic Review, a landmark report that signalled government might put an end to cutting the rarest old-growth stands. The satellite tracking system, known as Forest Eye, was built with the help of the satellite firm Planet Labs. It systematically tracks forest cover change across the province since the B.C. government promised to halt logging in big treed old-growth forests nearly three years ago. The group said it manually verifies all the alerts the system flags to ensure forest cover loss occurred due to logging activity.

Additional coverage: Stand.earth press release

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Province acquires land to expand five provincial parks

By Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Government of British Columbia
November 7, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An old-growth forest on Haida Gwaii, a popular swimming hole in southern British Columbia and a lush hillside along a world-renowned canoe circuit are among the parcels of land the Province has acquired to expand B.C.’s parks and protected areas. The Province has acquired 109 hectares of land to be added to five provincial parks, enhancing protection of the province’s biodiversity. The newly acquired land is valued at $1.9 million and includes: Naikoon Park (Haida Gwaii), Wells Gray Park (near Clearwater), Gladstone Park (near Grand Forks), Bowron Lake Park (near Quesnel), and Mount Pope Park (near Fort St. James). Through the acquisition of private land and partnerships with conservation groups, individual donors, the BC Parks Foundation and supporters, the Province regularly adds land to the parks and protected areas system. …The Province is consulting with First Nations’ governments prior to making decisions about legally establishing the lands as parks and protected areas.

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B.C. old-growth forests to be protected, says government

By Patrick Davies
Williams Lake Tribune
November 7, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Province of B.C. is making moves to protect old-growth forests across B.C. including in the South Cariboo.  Last week B.C. launched a new $300-million Conservation Financing Mechanism to help protect B.C.’s rarest and oldest trees while benefitting communities.  …These tools will include the creation of new forest landscape plans that will focus on biodiversity and the long-term health of forest ecosystems. …Joyce Wagenaar, West Fraser’s communication director, said the company is working to figure out how they’ll facilitate the new forest landscape planning initiative, which they are still learning more about.  …“West Fraser’s sustainable forest management practices reflect managing for a range of environmental, social and economic values and government guidelines,” Wagenaar said. “We manage the forest resource with collaborative input from Indigenous Nations and local communities.”

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Williams Lake Community Forest 2024 grants boosted by award

Williams Lake Tribune
November 7, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Williams Lake Community Forest’s (WLCF) has more money to award community groups and schools this year thanks to an award.  WLCF was awarded the Robin Hood Memorial Award for excellence in community forestry by the Ministry of Forests in June of 2023. The award came with $10,000, which granting coordinator Mary Thurow said will go right back into the community towards this year’s grants.  Since 2019, the WLCF has been awarding grants to projects aimed at enhancing economic development, recreation and recreational structures, culture and the arts projects as they relate to forests and forest values, capital improvements, education and outreach projects for all age groups, and other projects particularly related to forest resource values. In 2023, WLCF awarded 15 projects a total of $65,000 in grant funds and expects to award $75,000 for 2024 projects.

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Tree planting in the face of Canada’s worst wildfire season

By Trina Moyles
Corporate Knights
November 7, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In the wake of the worst wildfire season on record in Canada, it isn’t as simple as just planting more trees, climate scientists say. What we’ve been planting and how we’ve been managing our forestry stock have urgent lessons for us to heed.  …Robert Gray, a wildfire ecologist agrees that we’ve set ourselves up for wildfire disaster. Over the last century, Canada has allowed timber companies to log, or clear-cut, forests and replant monoculture plantations of coniferous softwoods, including lodgepole pine and spruce. These coniferous trees are considered highly flammable: they thrive in wildfires, relying on the heat from the flames to open their cones and release seeds to reproduce. …Werner Kurz with the Canadian Forest Service agrees that one of the best things we can do to balance carbon emissions – while mitigating the risk of extreme wildfire – in Canada is to strive to reduce fuels – dead trees that feed fires – from forests. 

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How two Merritt-based companies are revolutionizing sustainable forest management

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
November 8, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Merritt, B.C. – In a long-standing alliance, a First Nations-owned and operated fibre management company, Stuwix Resources Joint Venture (SRJV) and Valley Carriers, a visionary multi-generational trucking and specialty transportation company, are working together to make better use of leftover forest materials, i.e., forest residuals. With support from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) funding for a Bush Grind Project, the partners aim to turn these residual materials into valuable biomass products. The BioHub Pilot Project is centred around the transition from traditional cut-to-length forestry practice to full-length tree harvesting, moving toward a full tree utilization and zero-waste approach. This is an enormous step in sustainable forestry practices with significant impacts on forestry residue management. …The Bush Grind Project is part of a Biohub Pilot Project, with an overarching vision to eradicate the age-old practice of underutilizing, piling, and burning forestry residuals…

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Tourists’ cars line these Rocky Mountain roads. Soon logging trucks will haul the trees away

By Drew Anderson
The Narwhal
November 8, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

ALBERTA — If you curve around the front mountains of the Don Getty Wildland Provincial Park in Alberta on Highway 541 and carry on into the valley that houses the popular Highwood Pass, you find yourself in an unprotected swath of land that stretches into the southern reach of Kananaskis Country. On either side of the valley, protected land climbs up the side of the low mountains in this part of the eastern slopes — a rolling carpet of green dotted with splashes of yellow in the late fall chill. The valley bottom itself is green too, but not for long. It is not protected from logging and 1,100 hectares, an area the size of over 2,000 football fields, will soon begin to be cleared by Spray Lake Sawmills. Two giant cutblocks are planned to start this winter and more to come on the other side of the highway.

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Whitehorse in the midst of building ‘Canada’s first’ permanent firebreak — out of trees

By Caitrin Pilkington
CBC News
November 5, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Crews in Whitehorse are in the process of building a very different kind of firebreak — one made out of trees. The Yukon Government is calling it “natural infrastructure.” Most cities build firebreaks on a temporary, seasonal basis, and focus on removing potential fuel sources – like trees and shrubs – rather than planting more. But this project involves clearing a corridor of flammable tree species, like conifers, and replacing them with a band of fire-retardant, deciduous species like Aspen. The ambitious design incorporates contemporary wildfire research as well as Indigenous traditional knowledge. “This is the country’s first-ever permanent firebreak,” said Yukon minister Richard Mostyn. “This is an example of the territory leading the nation.” 

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New book delves into the history of tree planting on the Prairies

By Bernadette Vanpool
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix
November 5, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Just off the press, “Trees Against the Wind: The Birth of Prairie Shelterbelts” is a treasure for those interested in trees. Author William Schroeder has done an excellent job of documenting the life and times of those involved in tree planting, from the settlement of the Canadian West in the early 1900s until the shut-down of the Prairie Shelterbelt Program in 2012. Schroeder, a scientist with expertise in tree genetics, retired in 2016 from his position with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Agroforestry Development Centre in Indian Head. During his 35-year tenure, he was a world leader in breeding woody plants and pioneered sea buckthorn research. His work at Indian Head, Saskatchewan awakened his interest in the history of tree planting. He subsequently spent many hours at Indian Head, Regina and Ottawa documenting the stories he had heard.

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B.C. conditions are magic for mushrooms in bumper season for fungi, tasty and toxic

By Nono Shen
The Canadian Press in the Vancouver Sun
November 4, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mushrooms large and small, tasty and toxic, are popping up across British Columbia this year in what experts say is a bumper season for fungi. B.C. forest ecologist and mycologist Andy MacKinnon said he’s been out picking edible fungi this year with fellow mushroom expert Paul Kroeger on Cortes Island, between Vancouver Island and the mainland. …Mary Berbee, a professor at the UBC department of botany, said last year the exceptional drought stressed fungi. This September’s rains led to a more usual flush of mushrooms, she said. …While mushrooms grow wild year-round, Luther said it’s more common to see them in the fall with rain arriving and trees moving sugar into their roots, giving the fungi an infusion of food. But there’s also a bonanza of poisonous mushrooms to be careful of. …There are over 3,400 known mushroom species in B.C. 

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Over two million hectares of land burned during 2023 wildfire season in Alberta

By Justin Goulet
Red Deer News Now
November 3, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The wildfire season in Alberta has come to an end. Unusually hot, dry and windy conditions in the spring resulted in an active wildfire season, with as many as 11 fires breaking out simultaneously due to lightning early in the season. The Government of Alberta reported that 48 communities were impacted by wildfires this year, and over 38,000 Albertans were evacuated from their homes. …A total of 1,094 wildfires burned 2,214,957 hectares of land during the 2023 wildfire season in Alberta. Compared with the five-year average (2018-2022) of 1,110 wildfires burning more than 190,000 hectares, the 2023 season was 10 times more severe in terms of area burnt. …Officials said that planning has already started for the 2024 wildfire season. This includes enhancing current and identifying new technologies or techniques that can be used effectively in Alberta.

Additional coverage in Global News, by Emily Mertz: Alberta wildfire season ’10 times more severe’ than recent averages, province says

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RCMP rejects majority of complaints it’s reviewed against B.C. unit that polices resource protests

By Steven D’Souza, Laynetter Fortune and Laurence Mathieu-Leger
CBC – The Fifth Estate
November 4, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Catherine McClarty still has nightmares about her arrest two years ago during an anti-logging protest on Vancouver Island and her experience with a controversial RCMP unit that’s been accused of improper use of force, neglect of duty and more. …McClarty filed a neglect of duty complaint against C-IRG about her treatment during her arrest. Two years later, she’s still waiting for a response. …An analysis by The Fifth Estate found that McClarty is not alone. The RCMP had reviewed less than half of the complaints it received from Fairy Creek as of September 2023, according to data provided by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC). Of the complaints it has reviewed from Fairy Creek, The Fifth Estate analysis shows the RCMP has rejected 86 per cent of the allegations against it. …McClarty locked herself to a metal gate on a logging road using a bike lock around her neck…

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Forest permits, penalties, prescribed burns targeted in new B.C. legislation

By Wolf Depner
The Ladysmith Chronicle
November 2, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The provincial government (Oct. 30) tabled legislation as part of a broader push to modernize forest management. Changes call for more flexibility in the issuance of permits for logging and road building. …Other changes call for tougher penalties and new tools to enforce existing regulations and law. …Younes Alila, forestry professor at the University of British Columbia, called these changes a “step in the right direction” toward managing forests in B.C. while questioning the practice of clear-cutting and warning of a piece-meal approach. While Alila welcomed the introduction of cultural and prescribed burning, he said it may not be that effective at all in the face of current practices. Re-planting clear-cut areas with mono-cultures, pine in particular in the Interior, creates highly flammable conditions, he said. …Michael Armstrong, with the Council of Forest Industries, said they are reviewing the changes, but welcomed changes around cultural and prescribed burning…

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Yellowknife doesn’t have a long-term plan for its firebreaks — yet

By Liny Lamberink
CBC News
November 2, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The City of Yellowknife said it intends to develop a long-term plan for the multi-million dollar firebreaks that were hastily built this summer — but those discussions are still in the early stages now. “We’re still kind of reeling from recovery,” explained Chris Greencorn, the city’s manager of public works and the city’s operations chief during the wildfire emergency. “We don’t have a solid long-term plan yet, we’re still putting our hands around it.” …The long-term plan, he said, will be about balance: allowing for some kind of natural revegetation, but also making sure the breaks can be used to protect the city from fire again. There might also be ways to repurpose them for recreational use, like cross country skiing or hiking trails, said Greencorn.

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For every tree harvested in Alberta, three others take its place

By Robin Brunet
Edmonton Journal
November 3, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A dedicated group of people work in Alberta’s forests, armed with laptops and other equipment as they carefully assess the ecosystem to ensure that flora and fauna will flourish. If this sounds like ecology in action, it is. The group in question is forest professionals, and Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA) explains that forestry in the 21st century is geared toward resource sustainability and regeneration. Aspen Dudzic, director of communications at AFPA, says, “Forest professionals have always been committed to regenerating forests. Sustainability is the foundation of forest management planning in Alberta. “People enter this profession because they love the forest; they spend their lives recreating in it and they take that passion, and they turn it into a profession. They are managing the forest not just for today, but for future generations so that their children and grandchildren will always have healthy forests to enjoy.” 

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Saskatchewan Ness Creek residents concerned about clear-cutting near iconic festival grounds

By Jeffrey Meskens
Global News
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

SASKATCHEWAN — Ness Creek, known for its camping and festival grounds near Big River, Saskatchewan, will be met with a jarring sight come summer. Clear-cutting activities are underway across the road from the festival grounds. This development has raised concerns among local… advocates [who] have pleaded with the government to exclude Ness Creek from the Forest Management Agreement, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. They believe that the forest should be managed using more selective and sustainable approaches. Saskatchewan ministry of environment says the harvesting plans are designed to be sustainable by emulating large, frequent natural disturbances, such as wildfire, to which plant and animal species are well adapted. …Sakâw Askiy Management Inc., the company responsible for the Forest Management Agreement stated that only 40% of the land would be available for timber harvesting after considering parks, protected areas, caribou habitat, water bodies, wetlands, and more.

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Kootenay Boundary wildfire resiliency plans blaze into action

The Rossland News
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Work is underway to boost wildfire resilience in six Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) municipalities. Fruitvale, Montrose, Warfield, Trail, Grand Forks, and Greenwood will participate in the Community Wildfire Resiliency Plans (CWRP), which are being developed to pinpoint and mitigate fire risks, and enhance regional readiness and recovery. The Kootenay Boundary Community FireSmart and Resiliency Committee kickstarted the CWRP project, emphasizing the area’s unique risk profile and the importance of proactive community preparation. B.A. Blackwell and Associates Ltd. is leading the project, with plans slated for completion in April 2024. CWRPs will guide the region’s wildfire resilience actions for five to 10 years, focusing on community capacity, collaboration, and actionable recommendations aligned with FireSmart principles.

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Don’t Thank Me for Being a Tree Planter

By Alana Friend Lettner
The Tyee
November 2, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The longer I do this work, the more I’m convinced its green public image is undeserved. I began tree planting seven years ago when I was 24. …Five seasons later, I can say with some confidence that I know what it is I’m doing out there, on the block. Like the loggers employed by Conifex or Canfor, like the labourers working on the Site C dam or Teck Coal miners, I, too, am making a living off the exploitation of the land. Speaking about our complicity in resource extraction, a planter friend once remarked to me: “If I had to choose, I’d rather be planting trees than cutting them down.” I’m not sure there is much good in differentiating these acts; the way I see it, planting and logging are two sides of the same coin.

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Vancouver court challenge claims Canada failed to protect endangered birds

By Stefan Labbé
Vancouver is Awesome
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Canada’s federal government failed to properly protect more than two dozen threatened or endangered migratory bird species across the country — including the marbled murrelet, a seabird that nests in the coastal old-growth forests of British Columbia — lawyers argued at a Vancouver, B.C, federal court Wednesday. The case dates back to April 2022, when the Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee sued Environment and Climate Change Canada for what they say was an “unreasonable” interpretation of the Species at Risk Act (SARA). …The court action represents an escalation of the two environmental groups’ efforts to protect critical marbled murrelet habitat. For two years leading up to the request for judicial review, they sent petitions and letters calling on the federal and B.C. governments to take action. When they failed, they turned to federal court, and will call on Justice Paul Crampton to render a decision over the coming months.

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New UBC forestry undergraduate program: Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources

University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

UBC Forestry is introducing exciting changes to its undergraduate programs by introducing a new ‘Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources’ starting in fall 2024. Five of the Faculty of Forestry’s current degree programs are being unified into one degree, with students choosing from six majors, each providing a well-rounded education in unique fields of Natural Resource studies. Students will all take a common first year, with some course selection freedom to obtain prerequisites for potential majors, and then have the opportunity to select a major in second year in bioeconomy sciences and technology, conservation, forest management, forest operations, forest sciences, or wood products. Two new first year courses will introduce students to some of the most wicked environmental problems facing humanity such as climate change, catastrophic fires and floods, resource over-exploitation, food insecurity and poverty, and will show how these sorts of challenges, are interdisciplinary needing innovative ecological, social and entrepreneurial solutions.

Original July 6, 2023 press release here 

Q&A with Associate Dean for Students in the Faculty of Forestry, Scott Hinch

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North Island Community Forest a lasting legacy

By Kathy O’Reilly
North Island Eagle
October 27, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ione Brown

The North Island Community Forest (NICF) LP held an open house on Oct. 19. …NICF is currently owned by the Tri-Port communities – Port Hardy, Port McNeill, and Port Alice – and is run by a board of directors, said Chairperson Ione Brown. “Town councils appoint the directors, they receive our financial statements, we have an annual general meeting together and updates quarterly. They are not involved in the management, so it’s an arm’s length business. We run the business ourselves with guidance and a mandate from them each year, but no day-to-day involvement,” Brown said. …There are 61 Community Forests in British Columbia, and the North Island is at number 54 on the list in size. “We need some advocacy because we really think we should be bigger and we should be able to provide more benefits to the towns and it’s hard to do that when you only have 10,400 cubic metres a year,” Brown said.

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First Nations Forestry Council News

BC First Nations Forestry Council
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

October has been a very busy month. Our Indigenous Forestry Scholarship Program (IFSP) team has been busy traveling to many areas across our province working with our students and meeting with industry and academia to develop partnerships and grow relationships. Our organization was busy preparing for and presenting our annual FNFC Provincial Forum that was held in Kamloops on October 11-13. I raise my hands up to all our FNFC staff and the Province who made it a success. I could not be present this year due to a loss in our family and am grateful to all my colleagues and friends for reaching out to me and my family at that time to share your condolences. … The FNFC has been working with the province and industry as part of the Value Added Accelerators working group.

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FireSmart BC – Monthly Newsletter

British Columbia FireSmart
November 1, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In this edition of the FireSmart BC news:

  • The FireSmart Canada Neighbourhood Recognition Program – Princeton Neighbourhood Feature
  • FireSmart BC Education Program Update – FireSmart BC Education Program was recently launched to equip educators and students with essential knowledge on safety, fire science, mitigation, prevention, and ecosystem stewardship.
  • Call For Footage – We are looking for images or videos of the fires that impacted either West Kelowna or the Shuswap regions in the Summer of 2023.
  • Upcoming Summit: Save the Date! – The next Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit will be held April 20-24, 2024, in Prince George, BC. Stay tuned for more information and keep an eye out for updates.
  • Get FireSmart Podcast: Episode 33 – Hear from Wayne Schnitzler, Executive Director of the First Nations Emergency Services Society.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Concern rising over increasing carbon emissions from Canada’s forest fires

By Doyle Potenteau
Global News
November 9, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said that carbon emissions from wildfires across Canada from Jan. 1 to July 31 totalled 290 megatonnes – more than double the previous record for the year as a whole. It’s thought that around 40 megatonnes of that total came from B.C.’s wildfires. …“The UN framework convention on climate change dictates that non-human related activities are not reported in greenhouse gas emission inventories,” the Ministry of Environment said. “In B.C., forest fire emissions are included in our provincial greenhouse gas Inventory for transparency; however, they are not counted towards the reported totals by either B.C. or Canada, in line with international practice.” …Jens Wieting, the Sierra Club’s climate campaigner said “(The emissions) are now so huge that it’s important …to improve forest management, restore some of the forests that are very damaged and to improve the ability of forests to hold and sequester more carbon.”

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‘A’ woody biomass rating could open up regional bioenergy opportunities

By Ethan Montague
My Grande Prairie Now
November 6, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The first-ever rating for a Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone in Alberta could allow the Grande Prairie region to explore more renewable energy options. The Municipal District of Greenview and the County of Grande Prairie’s BDO Zone has received an ‘A’ rating from the BDO Zone Initiative for the area’s woody biomass. It’s reported the rating comes from the region’s “robust” forestry and wood industry sector. According to the International Energy Agency, woody biomass provides a renewable energy source, or bioenergy, through the burning of trees, sawmill residue, and forest residue such as branches which contain carbon absorbed through photosynthesis. The BDO Zone Initiative adds that strong BDO zone ratings allow distressed economies to shift to renewable energy. County of Grande Prairie Reeve Robert Marshall says the rating validates what the municipalities already know and symbolizes the efforts the region has taken to move toward a stronger renewable energy-based economy.

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Health & Safety

Peace Region Canfor facilities win President’s Safety Awards

By Nathaniel Leigh
Everything Grande Prairie
November 6, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

A pair of local mills have won Canfor’s President’s Safety Award. Canfor’s Grande Prairie facility and Fort St. John pellet plant have been awarded the Wood Products Canada Safety Award for prioritizing workplace safety. In a statement from Canfor, it was said that ‘Safety Comes First’ is a core value of the company. They’re congratulating this year’s award winners for embedding the fundamentals of occupational health, safety, and welling into their workplace environment.

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