Region Archives: Canada West

The B.C. government introduced sweeping changes Tuesday to emergency management legislation meant to step up preparedness for climate-fuelled natural disasters and to provide an expanded leadership role for First Nations. The province also announced who will be appointed to a wildfire task force announced by Premier David Eby three weeks ago. The announcements were delivered on the same day the B.C. Ombudsperson’s office released a report that concluded financial support programs for people displaced by extreme weather emergencies are outdated and are not meeting people’s needs. The new emergency management legislation and the task force are meant by Eby’s NDP government to signal they are serious about helping B.C.’s communities build climate resiliency — to reduce the effects of wildfires and floods, droughts and extreme heat that have been hammering the province in the past decade.

What the climate will look like in the future concerns David Chaplin, and he says the feeling is shared by many.  It’s why he was out to show his support at a Victoria demonstration against the continued logging of old-growth forests in B.C. – joining 17 similar actions outside MLA offices province-wide on Thursday (Sept. 28).  “Three years have passed since the B.C. government promised to implement a paradigm-shift in forest stewardship laid out in its own Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR). Yet the government has made little progress on their promises,” event organizers said.  Intact old-growth forests are one of B.C.’s best allies amid the climate crisis, the demonstrators said, noting they help mitigate environmental disasters and support ecosystems.  Chaplin touted how the forests absorb carbon pollution and help to cool communities.

Between April 1 and August 17 of this year, 1,818 wildfires burned across British Columbia, destroying around 1.61 million hectares, according to the B.C. government. Several cities throughout the province also experienced record-breaking temperatures, including Lytton, B.C., which reached 49.6C on June 29, 2023. …In a statement to Black Press Media from West Fraser, they said:  “Sustainable forest management is one of the core values that we hold both as West Fraser employees and as individuals living and working in our communities and forests.  West Fraser aims to always look for ways to continuously evolve and improve our sustainable forestry practices.  …We work with Indigenous peoples, communities, scientists and governments to ensure that our forestry practices are inclusive, responsible, thoughtful and informed. This includes the relationship and partnership built with the Wells Barkerville Community Forest.

Members of the group Last Stand West Kootenay cut down some trees on Hall Street in Nelson on Thursday.  The trees were people, who fell to the wet pavement after being cut down by chainsaws that were running but had the chains removed.  This piece of street theatre was performed to dramatize what the organizers say is continued logging of old growth forest three years after the publication of the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review.  Steve McGee was one of the “loggers.”  “The B.C. government has created a situation of duress,” he said, “where us ‘loggers’ feel like we have to cut these trees, but knowing full well that in this day and age it’s unethical and unsustainable, and as ‘loggers’ we need support to move away from this as soon as possible.”

Last week, Jimmy Pattison was in town to open the new Save-On Foods. …Yet if you criticize Jimmy and the failed economic model he represents, the air goes out of the room. I’m all for celebrating success in business… but in the meantime, I’m just wondering what product Jimmy Pattison ever brought to the world? …You become a billionaire when you dominate a regional economy, just like how Canfor dominates Prince George forestry. …What I do know is he plays a sophisticated political game. He pilfers the wealth of the provincial hinterland to butter up the metropolitan, big-city elite with board chair positions and big donations and status. …Even in a place like Prince George, where we feel the impacts of an economy rigged in Pattison’s favour with every mill shut down.

Protesters rallied outside nearly 20 MLA constituency offices across B.C. to speak out against old-growth logging… Premier David Eby maintains his government is taking the issue at hand seriously. “We put in place protections for more old-growth forest than any government in the history of British Columbia. The vast majority of our big trees across the province are protected from logging right now,” he said on Thursday. “Anywhere that there is logging taking place in old-growth areas, it is because the local First Nation wants that work to continue for their own economic development, and they are saying where and how that takes place. We respect the right of First Nations to be able to make those decisions…” …He says the forestry industry is “incredibly important” for B.C., adding, “one of our solutions to climate change is to use more wood products in our province.”

Aside from the visual shock left by looking at the charred landscape, there are concerns about what the impact on drinking water could be after heavy rain or next spring’s snow melt. UBC Okanagan assistant professor of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences Mathieu Bourbonnais says the impacts could be significant. …Bourbonnais believes there will be both long-term and short-term impacts because of the wildfire. In the short-term, West Kelowna could see more sediment in the reservoir’s water. …Looking longer term, Bourbonnais said it is not clear forests will regrow in the watershed due to the high severity of the burn and climate change. If there is a bright spot, Bourbonnais says the wildfire will also help regenerate growth of grasslands that serve as protection against major wildfires.

BRITISH COLUMBIA — The 2023 wildfire season is officially the most expensive and most destructive on record. According to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS), a total of 2,217 fires have been detected this year, burning almost 25,000 square kilometres of trees, bush and grassland. That makes it B.C.’s worst season by land burned, easily surpassing the previous record of 13,540 square kilometres in 2018. The cost of fighting those fires is also significantly up, to approximately $770 million so far this year, more than the $649 million spent in 2017. On Thursday, the B.C. government said higher-than-projected costs to fight wildfires had contributed an additional $2.5 billion to the province’s projected deficit for this fiscal year. The government is projecting the total spend for the 2023/24 fiscal year to be $966 million. The majority of this year’s fires — approximately 71 per cent — have been sparked by lightning, while 23 per cent are human-caused, the fire service says.

The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) has passed a resolution calling on the B.C. government to take strong steps to stop the spread of the invasive plant species Scotch Broom. Resolution NR51, ‘Control of Scotch Broom’ was sponsored by the Town of Qualicum Beach, where Broombusters Invasive Plant Society started in 2006, according to a news release by Broombusters. …Scotch Broom has been recognized as the invasive species doing the greatest harm to species at risk — the “top offender of biodiversity in B.C.” Broom spreads so quickly and densely that native species and young forest seedlings cannot compete. But the officials’ greatest concern relates to climate change and wildfires. “Scotch broom’s high flammability and its ability to spread quickly and form dense stands increases the fuel load, impeding fire management efforts, making fires more difficult to fight,” wrote Terry Peters, recently retired fire chief of Powell River.

A downpour of rain did not stop members of the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance (PWPA) from rallying against the logging of old-growth forests in B.C. They gathered just off Highway 97 in front of the Peachland Mall on Thursday afteroon (Sep. 28). “It’s been three years since the provincial government launched the old growth strategy and nothing has been done,” said Alex Morrison, communications director of PWPA. “The deferral areas that they have are still being logged, so we’re just trying to keep this front and centre.” …“There are six areas of protected old-growth that the panel said you must protect and they’re right in the heart of the Glen Lake wildfire,” said Taryn Skalbania, PWPA co-founder. …Skalbania believes that the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), which governs activities on public lands during forest planning, road building, timber harvesting, and reforestation, is very one-sided.

Additional coverage in Global News, by Darrian Matassa-Fung: Old growth activists holding ‘day of action’ across B.C.

Kelowna Now, by Megan Trudeau: Flashmob pops up at Uptown Mall to advocate for old growth

Nanaimo Daily News, by Bailey Seymour: Protesters lament ‘soccer field’-size sections of forests being logged in B.C.

To Nathan Cullen, I am writing to you on the third anniversary of your government’s acceptance of all 14 recommendations within A New Future for Old Forests. That report called for urgency and profound change to accomplish the necessary paradigm shift to adequately respond to the climate emergency and the contribution of our forestry practices to it. The unfolding disaster of our burning forests has reminded us that nature is not listening to government’s inaction. …We have been converting our province, once described as super-natural, into an impoverished landscape, capable of creating only increased risk. …We need to return to a community-based economies that can use truly sustainable harvesting methods that do not degrade the ecologies within which they operate. To do that, you have to rebuild multi-stakeholder community committees as a permanent part of landscape planning. In the meantime, please stop BC Timber Sales and the forest industry from destroying the watersheds within which we live.

The court order that made it illegal to block logging activity in the forest near the Fairy Creek watershed on southwestern Vancouver Island has expired.  Teal Cedar first sought the injunction in spring 2021, after protesters opposed to the logging of old growth trees set up camp in Tree Farm License 46. When the temporary injunction expired, Teal Cedar applied to extend it. The most recent extension expired on Sept. 26 and, so far, the company has not applied for an extension. …”I was expecting in July to start hearing about the application, then nothing happened,” said Rani Earnhart, a legal administrator for the Rainforest Flying Squad group, which she said doesn’t really operate anymore, beyond court proceedings. Lawyers and individual protesters confirmed they’ve seen no application to extend. Teal Cedar did not respond to questions from CBC News about whether it was still planning to apply for a new injunction, or take other action.

Additional coverage in the Victoria Times Colonist by Roxanne Egan-Elliott: Court injunction against Fairy Creek protest quietly expires

Thousands of hectares of Canadian forest are sprayed every year with glyphosate, a weed-killing agent, for the sole purpose of killing off grasses, shrubs, and deciduous trees. Yes, really. It sounds unbelievable, but in the eyes of Canada’s forest industry, maples, alders, aspens, birch, ferns, fireweed, bluejoint grass, every kind of local berry, and other native species are considered weeds or pests. So they are removed, sometimes through a manual process called brushing, but more often by helicopters spraying large quantities of glyphosate. …In British Columbia, for example, the Forest and Range Practices Act requires logged areas to be replanted with seedlings that must grow within a certain time into a free growing stand. The pressure to create a viable crop of trees is real. BC’s forestry companies can be financially penalized if their replanted stands don’t achieve free growing status within the mandated period.

Vanderhoof, B.C.: The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) is proud to announce over $8 million in funding for 168 fish and wildlife conservation projects across B.C. this year, with over $300,000 allocated to projects in the Omineca region, and over $1M in the northeast. … With support from the HCTF, a wide range of nonprofit organizations, First Nations and Indigenous communities, Provincial ministries, and community groups implement projects that protect B.C.’s wildlife, freshwater fish, and their habitats. Since 1981, the HCTF has funded over 3,550 projects representing an investment of over $215 million for conservation in B.C. …Among this year’s projects in Omineca is a multi-year project to study the impacts of landscape changes on moose health. Currently in its first of three years (though building on a previous project) and led by the University of Northern B.C., the project will identify variables in moose habitat that are associated with their health and survival.

Burns Lake, B.C.: The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation is proud to announce over $8 million in funding for 168 fish and wildlife conservation projects across B.C. this year, with over $800,000 allocated to projects in the Skeena region. …Among this year’s projects in the Skeena is a multi-year project to study the impacts of partial logging on the habitats of important small wildlife predator species. Currently in its second of five years and led by the University of B.C., the project will examine predator habitat use and selection in forests harvested using partial logging practices compared to traditional logging and unlogged forests. “Partial logging has benefits for fire management and timber supply and may be more favourable for wildlife, but these benefits have not been thoroughly documented,” says project lead Dr. Karen Hodges. … The project is focused on marten and the red-listed fisher, as both are focal management species and sensitive to forest loss.

The British Columbia Wildfire Service says the fire danger rating across most of the province has dropped to low or very low as cool, damp fall weather arrives. The wildfire service says there have been no new fires in the last 24 hours, and of the 384 active fires burning in B.C., roughly three-quarters are ranked as under control or “being held,” meaning they are not likely to spread. …Cooler conditions mean all open fire prohibitions, including a ban on campfires, lifts on Wednesday in the Coastal Fire Centre, while the Kamloops Fire Centre removes its campfire ban on Thursday. The wildfire service says there have been just over 2,200 wildfires across B.C. since the season began on April 1, charring almost 25,000 square kilometres of trees, bush and grassland, making it B.C.’s worst-ever wildfire season, easily surpassing the previous record of 13,540 square kilometres burned in 2018.

BC is renowned for its beauty and gargantuan trees that can be found in abundance on Vancouver Island. These trees are often part of old-growth groves, meaning the trees are between 250 and over 1,000-years-old. The BC government has promised to vastly expand the protection of old-growth groves, but some activist groups don’t think they are doing enough. This Thursday, September 28th, the Sierra Club is organizing a widespread protest to demand BC Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) stick to their word and expand old-growth protection. This action will not be one that disrupts traffic, as old-growth protests have come to be known for in Victoria, but rather protesters will be encouraged to show up at their MLA’s office. September 28th was chosen because it marks the three year anniversary of the BC NDP’s announcement that they would commit to implement all of the 14 recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review.

Last week’s WFCA Annual Business and Market Summit in Kamloops drew more participants than ever, largely due to the collective need to make sense of this difficult 2023 reforestation season. Drought, heat, wildfire, smoke, snow that evaporated straight into the air barely softening the hardened ground, floods, washouts, delays, inflation, a cold storage facility fire, cancelled projects, rising injury rates, and the list still goes on as crews now wait on the final fall plant on the west coast. One contractor put it bluntly, “This season has been a complete disaster.” By a licensee forester’s account, the seedlings may not be doing well either given the province’s drought. …As difficult a season as this year has been we will have planted 307 million seedlings by this fall according to Ministry of Forests data presented at the Kamloops market summit last week. 

The Quesnel & Surrounding Area Community Wildfire Protection Plan has been in operation since 2018 and is working hard to address wildfire risks through fire mitigation. With many forests devastated by the mountain pine beetle and the warming climate, wildfires will only continue to increase without action. Quesnel’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) has completed 260 hectares of fuel management. Robinson said another 76 hectares are scheduled for this fall and winter. …While the FireSmart program has been happening on public land, 60 per cent of land in the Quesnel & Surrounding Area Community Wildfire Protection Plan is private, said the city’s forestry initiatives manager Erin Robinson. “We have the FireSmart program we run that helps educate people, but as far as people rolling up their sleeves and digging in, it’s up to homeowners to do that.” …Robinson said we should be mitigating fires rather than responding, and once again reminded homeowners of their role.

A Kelowna-based startup is seeking to inject artificial intelligence into the forestry sector as B.C. Genesis AI Corp. is building systems that will create a “digital twin” of a forest that could have wide applications in the industry ranging from fire mitigation to silviculture or timber development. …Genesis AI project director Brent Tolmie was previously the CEO of Carbonethic, a firm that sought to provide transparency in the carbon offset sector with predictive modelling through a system called Woodlands.ai. Carbonethic was purchased by Genesis AI earlier this year with the realization that Woodlands.ai could have more applications in the broader forestry sector. The company is deploying digital sensing technology, drones with LiDAR, photogrammetry, orthographic photography and melding it into 3D models of actual forests. Tolmie said their program will eventually be able to model the impact of wildfires so agencies know where to focus mitigation efforts.