Region Archives: Canada West

Evacuees from the devastating blazes threatening Yellowknife say the ongoing fight between Meta, the owner of Facebook, and Canada’s federal government over who should pay for news has made it harder to spread life-saving information about the wildfires in the Northwest Territories. …Bill C-18 forces large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others to compensate Canadian news publishers when their content is shared. Meta has pushed back against the law and made good on its threat to instead block news from being shared on its platforms in Canada. As a result, content from news providers like the CBC, local newspaper The Yellowknifer and digital broadcaster Cabin Radio is being blocked, which means people can’t get or share critical information from news sources on Facebook and Instagram, two of the most popular social media sites. Evacuee Delaney Poitras says social media is important where they live. “It’s how we all keep in touch.”

Just when you think you’ve heard every possible red tape delay to building critical infrastructure in British Columbia, a new government regulation comes along. Construction on a badly-needed, $135 million middle and high school on Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain has been held up by an empty hole in a single tree. The delay is caused by an overreaching policy brought in by the federal government—the result of regulations that stakeholders said would be a problem from the moment it was first proposed. Last year, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault created strict rules to further protect the Pileated Woodpecker, even though the bird is neither threatened nor endangered in Canada. …Guilbeault – over objections from industry associations representing agriculture, ranching, clean energy, and forestry – changed the regulation to say a Pileated Woodpecker nest, or a tree cavity that once housed a nest, had to be empty for three years before the tree could be removed.

Jesse Zeman

In 2003, British Columbia got a taste of catastrophic, uncontrollable wildfires and the pall of choking smoke lasting months. We were rightly frightened at the prospect of this apocalyptic new reality. The provincial government commissioned former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon to investigate and produce the Firestorm 2003 Provincial Review. More than 260,000 hectares of forest were destroyed provincewide, according to that report, which Filmon characterized as “unprecedented.” In 2003, more than 2,500 wildfires destroyed 334 homes, and more than 45,000 people were evacuated. Today, a fire season of that magnitude would be a welcome relief. …After the Filmon report was delivered, wildfire, floods, climate change and drought have steadily worsened, but action has been consistently placed on the back burner. If 2003 was a wake-up call, British Columbia’s leaders have been hitting the snooze button like some perverse game of Whack-a-Mole.

Trees of breathtaking size surround us …Self-described “big-tree nerd” Colin Spratt, 28, has a knack for spotting the shadowy grey bark indicating an ancient western red cedar. …Spratt and fellow big-tree seeker Greg Herringer invited The Canadian Press to join their search last month after hearing that a western red cedar with an estimated six-metre diameter had been spotted by forestry workers scouting the area. The pair are members of the B.C. Big Tree Registry, which has a mandate to identify, document and conserve British Columbia’s largest trees. “The sad reality is there’s so little left. What drives you is this incredible desire to sort of prove yourself wrong, that it’s not all gone, that there are still these mythically large trees you’re reading about from the 1800s,” says Spratt. As industrial logging continues to eat away at old growth, experts and advocates worry that climate change is threatening the next generation of giants.

Southern Alberta could be in for an early and potentially longer larch season this year. …Master arborist Gerard Fournier says he first noticed larches starting to turn at his tree farm in the beginning of August. …An early spring means the larches had an early growing season, he said. Now, they could be in the process of downloading all the sugars they’ve been making in their leaves and “that unmasks the pigment that is in the leaf that we see as yellow,” he said. …Fournier said he expects the larch season to reach its golden peak no later than mid-September this year. …For David Bird, an associate professor at Mount Royal University, it’s too soon to say for sure whether all larches will turn early. He says heat, drought and wildfire smoke can be big stressors for trees and plants often respond to stress by dropping leaves.

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – Thousands of Albertans are voicing opposition to a plan to clearcut about 2,000 football fields worth of forest in Kananaskis Country’s Upper Highwood set to begin this winter. Conservationists and other concerned groups say Spray Lakes Sawmills’ (SLS) plan to harvest the 1,100-hectare plot – including a stretch along the Highwood River – threatens environment, wildlife habitat and recreation in the area. “There’s a number of concerns. A lot of it has to do with implications on habitat itself,” said Amber Toner with Take a Stand for the Upper Highwood, an advocacy group formed in 2017 in response to another logging project in the area that saw 450 hectares removed. “The logging is happening along 21 kilometres of the Highwood River and that river is home to some species like our at-risk native trout species here in Alberta. That area is also home to grizzly bears and so many other species that live there.”

RCMP said they arrested three protesters Tuesday as they resumed enforcement of an injunction against old-growth logging protesters at a controversial Vancouver Island blockade. Police Liaison Team spoke with demonstrators who were blocking a bridge over the Gordon River in the Fairy Creek watershed. Police said protesters were given the opportunity to abide by the order by leaving or moving to a designated protest area or face arrest. Three people refused to move, were arrested. Mounties alleged someone also assaulted an officer before fleeing into the woods. Earlier Tuesday, RCMP said Teal Cedar had reported “numerous violations of persons obstructing, impeding and interfering with” work the Fairy Creek watershed. …Mounties said they had been “monitoring” protest activities in the area, but that the company had now requested they enforce the court order.

Stewart Phillip

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has demanded a special RCMP unit responsible for responding to pipeline and forestry protests be disbanded during a federal review launched earlier this year. A day after the First Nation group made the call in an open letter, the RCMP announced it would resume police enforcement of a court-ordered injunction granted to Teal Cedar Products to allow logging to continue unimpeded in the Fairy Creek Watershed area near Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The federal investigation by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP was launched in March over concerns the RCMP unit’s tactics may not have been consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. …The complaints commission has said it will be investigating the unit’s actions in at least three court-ordered injunction sites.

The College of New Caledonia Research Forest Society (CNCRFS) has selected two projects to support through its legacy fund. The Stellat’en First Nation and School District 91: Nechako Lakes will each receive a $50,000 grant to go towards their respective projects. Launched in 2019, the CNCRFS legacy fund supports projects with a focus on environmental improvement, renewable natural resource education and/or outreach programs, outdoor recreation improvement, or social/environmental commitment to local communities. The legacy fund is providing $100,000 to support the efforts of these two projects. …With help from the CNCRFS legacy fund, the Stellat’en First Nation will launch a multi-year project to reduce densities and increase foraging opportunities in a 40-hectare pine monoculture near the community of Fraser Lake. …School District 91: Nechako Lakes will use the CNCRFS funding to build an educational trail system within the W.L. McLeod Wetland in Vanderhoof.

With drought conditions forecasted to persist into fall months, the Urban Forestry team have ramped up efforts to hydrate the city’s 160,000 street trees using ground probes, 400-gallon water trucks and cannons, and are now asking residents and businesses to join the cause. “Trees are incredibly important to the health of this city,” said Joe McLeod, Manager of Urban Forestry at the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. “Besides adding moisture and purifying the air, they provide shade; an essential in protecting communities through extreme heat events due to climate change. Protect trees and they will protect us.” For effective watering: Pour 3 to 5 gallons of water around the drip line of a tree, twice a week. …In line with current water restrictions, trees are exempt from seasonal watering restrictions on residential and non-residential properties if watering is by hand or using drip irrigation. Sprinklers may be used between 5 am and 9 am on residential properties.

Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC) is recruiting for a Complaint Investigator to address and conduct (potentially disciplinary) investigations arising from complaints against registrants as directed by FPBC bylaws and the Professional Governance Act (PGA) and its regulations. …FPBC is also recruiting for the new position of Business Services Lead in our Vancouver office. This role is responsible for fulfilling governance obligations set out by the FPBC Board of Directors and the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Government. …The FPBC conference and AGM is scheduled for February 7-9, 2024 at the Delta Hotels Grand Okanagan Resort in Kelowna. Be sure to save this date in your calendar. As we did this year, the 2024 conference will be a hybrid event. …FPBC is now seeking nominations for the 2023 Distinguished Forest Professional, along with a host of other awards recognizing outstanding contributions to the profession and furthering the organization’s principles. The deadline for nominations is October 31.

The RCMP’s federal review agency recently hired an Indigenous-led law firm as concerns grow about delays in its probe of the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG). …The watchdog, created to ensure complaints against Mounties are handled fairly, launched a systemic investigation in March into the controversial C-IRG outfit, which is known for its Coastal GasLink and Fairy Creek tactical operations. “Progress is coming along well although delays in receiving the relevant material is a concern,” said the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) in an Aug. 3 email. B.C. Mounties formed C-IRG in 2017 after the massive anti-pipeline resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota. Over the next six years, activists, academics, civil liberties groups and even the courts would criticize the squad, which faces lawsuits and hundreds of individual CRCC complaints on top of the systemic investigation.

City crews in Saskatoon have started to cut down trees that were identified to be infected with Dutch elm disease. Over the coming days, the City of Saskatoon said it could cut down as many as 31 trees that have been impacted directly by Dutch elm disease. The city announced the discovery of the infected trees on Friday. Other trees located directly to the south of that stand of trees are currently being tested for Dutch elm disease and might have to be removed if they test positive. Robin Adair, the owner of Arbor Crest Tree Service in Saskatoon, explained, “Dutch elm disease moves quickly. We’ve been lucky and Saskatchewan as a whole has not really had a lot of Dutch elm disease compared to out east in Ontario and the northern United States. We’ve kind of been out on an island here in Saskatoon,” Adair stated.

Wildfires are breaking out more often, persisting for extended periods, and burning with greater intensity. So, what can be done to protect communities, save lives and preserve ecosystems? In many territories, the main causes of fire are lightning, humans, or poorly maintained powerlines. Can drones provide advantages in fire fighting situations? …“Fire has an ecological and historical role in many Canadian ecosystems,” John Davies, a senior wildland fire specialist in British Columbia, told us. “Our grasslands and our forests have evolved with fire as a natural means to regenerate. But these large, destructive fires are not natural and they can negatively impact ecosystems. Wildfire patterns are changing, and that’s causing us concern. We need to detect them early, hit them fast, and try to keep them small. By providing real-time, persistent, actionable incident information, we increase the efficiency and safety of our operations.”