Region Archives: Canada West

In 2003, BC got a taste of catastrophic, uncontrollable wildfires and the pall of choking smoke lasting months. …The provincial government commissioned former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon to investigate and produce the Firestorm 2003 Provincial Review. …Since the Filmon report started gathering dust in government storage, that one-season damage figure has been eclipsed repeatedly. In the current fire season, we have seen five times more hectares burned compared to 2003 and it isn’t even August. 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. …If the provincial government hits the snooze button again, the opportunity to save what we have will be lost forever.

A bird touches a power line and explodes in a ball of feathers and flame. Its carcass falls to the ground, setting the dried-out brush ablaze. Another “human-caused” fire has begun. Every year, hundreds of wildfires in British Columbia are declared to be “human-caused.” Such statements regularly prompt declarations that if only people behaved themselves, wildfires wouldn’t be quite so disrupting. Others increasingly use the statistic to conspiratorially blame wildfires on “arsonists.” But as our unfortunate bird demonstrates, many fires blamed on humans aren’t actually related to reckless behaviour. Instead, humans play a much more complex and varied influence on wildfire ignitions than many realize. And that has a bearing on how—and when—we seek to prevent such blazes.

In areas that faced wildfire this spring, fields of purple flowers bloomed amidst the scorched trees. It plays an important role in the forest reclamation cycle, and is a plant with many uses. Simon Landhäusser is a professor at the University of Alberta who researches forest land reclamation. He said that the plant may be considered a weed in other places… but it is native to Alberta and is not overly competitive with other species. …Fireweed can serve as a high-quality food source for many animals including pollinators, deer and rabbits, Landhäusser said.” …The plant also fully dies back in the winter and decomposes quickly, Landhäusser explained. This means fireweed is not contributing to a build up of a dry thatch layer — unlike many grasses — which serves as fuel for the next wildfire.

Loss of forest cover is associated with more frequent extreme flooding, as well as more frequent floods of any size, according to new UBC research. While it’s widely thought that loss of forest cover is strongly linked to increased flooding, most studies have suggested that the impact is limited. But the study argues otherwise. “When only 21 per cent of trees in the watershed were harvested, using clearcut logging, the average flood size increased by 38 per cent in the Deadman River and a staggering 84 per cent in Joe Ross Creek,” says first author Robbie Johnson. …Senior author and UBC forestry professor Dr. Younes Alila explains that clearcut logging affects the way snow melts. “Reduced forest cover leads to more snow on the ground and more solar radiation reaching the snowpack. With much less forest cover to catch and shade the snow, more of it melts faster, causing larger floods.”

Ally Briscoe has an impressive resume at just 22-years-old. This past June, the logger sports athlete placed second at the World STIHL TIMBERSPORTS International Women Cup 2023 in Rotterdam, breaking the world record in the single buck, along with setting national records for both underhand chop and stock saw. Briscoe was the youngest person to finish in the top 10. She says that this was her first time flying overseas to compete, but not her first time competing out of the country, as she has competed in southern Washington. “Competing overseas was super exciting and tons of fun,” she said. …Briscoe was born in Campbell River, but resides in Port McNeill. …On Aug. 13, Briscoe will be defending her Canadian Champion title in Chilliwack, after being crowned the Canadian women’s champion in 2022, winning the title in national competition held in PEI.

The public can now use an online interactive tool to check if logging has happened in any B.C. old-growth forest.  Angeline Robertson, project lead for STAND.earth’s new site Forest Eye, says the tool allows the public to see exactly where timber companies have logged in areas the provincial government has designated as old growth.  She said Forest Eye was borne out of frustration.  “What we were struggling with was trying to get information from the government, asking for maps, asking for updated figures, and getting a lot of shaping of those numbers, (telling us that) everything was just fine, that lots of things are being protected.”  …Since then the public and the media have not been able to get basic information about areas that were deferred, including the location, size and status of deferral areas.

Dallas Smith

There are new measures to better protect bear and fish habitat in the globe’s largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest, thanks to First Nations’ increasing role in stewarding the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR). The new protections resulted from the latest five-year review of an agreement between the B.C. Ministry of Forests and two First Nations alliances — Coastal First Nations and Nanwakolas Council — which represent 11 of the 26 Nations with territory in the rainforest. …The original land use agreement signed in 2007 …The latest review, which started in 2021, resulted in a new land use order that goes further in strengthening First Nations’ oversight of logging operations and ensuring a role in forest planning, as well as better protections for biodiversity and Indigenous forest values, Dallas Smith, Nanwakolas board president said. …Eighteen regional monitoring and Indigenous Guardian programs now operate across seven million hectares of land and sea in the GBR ecosystem and First Nations territories. [Full story access may require a subscription to the National Observer]

The extensive project of the past four years to create a fire fuel break along the Buck Flats Road southwest of Houston is a vital tool when it comes to protecting the community, says a senior official with Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. that provided $1 million to finance the work. …“We were very supportive of this project, recognizing the risk of a wildfire coming from the south towards Houston,” said FESBC’s Gord Pratt of the work. …For Pratt and others closely connected with the project, memories go back to 1983 when the Swiss fire burned through 18,000 hectares and six residences along the Buck Flats Road. …The fire fuel break has two components with the first being a fuel-free strip of 150 metres wide on average stretching down 9.7 kilometres of the Buck Flats Road and then a swath of specifically chosen species.

Herb Hammond

Michelle Connolly

The inventory of loss in British Columbia’s forests is long and includes accelerating declines in stored carbon, salmon populations and irreplaceable ecosystems like the inland temperate rainforest. The B.C. government … has launched a process to, “prioritize ecosystem health and biodiversity.” …But it won’t happen unless the government confronts the central reason we are in this mess: decades of primary forest logging … all overseen by professional foresters. Professional forestry in B.C. is and always has been about timber exploitation, and it will not deliver the new relationship with forests that the government’s proposed framework calls for unless we confront that reality and the mindset that enabled it. …That nature can and should be “managed” is a deeply held belief in professional forestry. …The disgrace of professional forestry is … that it purports to be responsible in its dealings with other forms of life. In short, the beliefs and practices of professional forestry are antithetical to ecosystem health and biodiversity.

Chantal Dunne

PORT ALICE, BC — Chantal Dunne, a forester with Strategic Natural Resource Consultants in Prince George, gave a presentation at the Port Alice Community Centre on July 20. This was the first step of a process for preparing for the possibility of wildfire around the village. Dunne is a registered forest technologist with the Association of Forest Professionals in B.C. and has been a local firesmart representative for about three years. …Dunne explained how a community wildfire resiliency plan is built around seven firesmart disciplines. …The community can obtain funding for training, studies and equipment, including a trailer of firefighting gear, through BCM (Business Continuity Management). Dunne says there’s no guarantee, but funding is likely… “… there’s millions of dollars available for funding for this.”

Rock the Lake in Kelowna is stepping up to help with the wildfire crisis in B.C. The music festival, put on by Vancouver-based GSL Group, will donate all proceeds from ticket sales on Aug. 1-2 to the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC), SenseNet Wildfire Detection, and the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund. This is being done in conjunction with the Ambleside Music Festival in West Vancouver, which is also run by GSL Group. …“Rock The Lake has always been about more than just great music, it’s about community and solidarity,” said Graham Lee, president of GSL. “As part of our appreciation to the front-line firefighters dedicated to protecting our province, we are also providing complimentary tickets to local firefighter charitable associations in West Vancouver and Kelowna as a token of our gratitude.” 

The summer edition of the Almanac is published. Headlines include:

• External Policy and Internal Workings: Change is in the Works – General Manager’s Report: The Provincial Government has been creating external regulatory / policy changes and we have been working on Internal organization proposals. We have been working on changing the organization. In order to do this, I have been focusing on 3 main changes for the organization: 1. Restructuring of the organization. 2. Engaging with woodlots through their local associations and hearing their ideas. 3. Redesigning and populating the new contracts to perform duties for the woodlotters.
• Introducing three new Regional Reps to support woodlot licensees
• Making safety part of good community relationships

As a companion document to its special report, Forest and Fire Management in BC: Toward Landscape Resilience, the Forest Practices Board has produced a technical bulletin to help land managers put Landscape Fire Management into practice. The bulletin describes six key principles for practicing landscape fire management, including: Defining the landscape; Understanding current and projected conditions; Understanding risks to values; Setting complementary wildland fire objectives across land use zones; Coordinating intervention; and Adaptive management. The technical bulletin also includes practical examples of how these principles can be incorporated into planning and practice. It is designed for land managers working for provincial, Indigenous and local governments, as well as industry. …The Board has published this bulletin to inform dialogue and be a practical reference to assist land managers and natural resource practitioners in integrating fire and forest management across BC.