Region Archives: Canada West

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.

WEST KELOWNA, B.C. — Evacuation orders and alerts have been lifted for all but one property in West Kelowna, B.C., about five weeks after thousands were chased out by a fast-moving wildfire. Central Okanagan Emergency Operations says BC Wildfire Service crews are now patrolling the fire’s edge, working to extinguish any remaining hot spots, but warn nearby communities can expect to see smoke within the perimeter in the coming weeks. The 139-square-kilometre McDougall Creek fire swept down on West Kelowna on the evening of Aug. 17, engulfing residential streets that were evacuated with little time to spare.

Zachary Rebitt

Zachary Rebitt is the Governor General’s Academic Medal recipient at Georges P Vanier Secondary School for 2023. Governor General’s Academic Medals have become the most prestigious award that students in Canadian schools can receive. …Besides having an overall average of 96.8 per cent in all academic courses, including Chemistry 12, Precalculus 12, Physics 12, and Physical Geography 12, Zachary was also awarded the Georges P. Vanier Summit Shield Award, presented to the top all-round student in the school. …He plans to attend North Island College this fall to begin a post-secondary education in forestry, pursuing opportunities as a registered forestry technician and eventually a degree as a forestry engineer from UBC.

On Thursday, Sept. 28, local conservation group Wildsight will host four events in Golden, Revelstoke, Radium and Nelson as part of a province-wide day of action. In Revelstoke, demonstrators will meet in Grizzly Plaza at 12.30pm. The rallies mark the end of the three-year period during which the BC government promised to implement the 14 recommendations that came out of the Old Growth Strategic Review. “None of those recommendations have yet been fully implemented and more than half of the old growth identified for protection in the review is still in danger of being clear cut — including stands in the Kootenays and Columbia,” says Eddie Petryshen, Conservation Specialist for Wildsight.

Torrent Silviculture staff were hard at work planting trees, this past summer. Unlike other companies, Torrent found itself lucky this year, as the areas they planted weren’t greatly affected by the many wildfires this past season. “We were really fortunate this year not to have any big fires in our area, but lots of other planting companies had to shut down for multiple days, evacuate camps, or their contracts were gone because the area they were supposed to plant was on fire,” said Laurie Burleigh, Torrent Silviculture’s operating manager. She’s been with the company for the last 14 years.  Other than Torrent having to shut down one day due to the smoke being unsafe to work in, their teams continued with a successful year.  …An astounding 50-million trees (give or take) are planted by Torrent Silviculture each year. 

Our family has made day hiking in our mountain parks an annual pilgrimage for most of the past two decades. My wife and I became hikers in the early years of our marriage as we accompanied her parents, who regularly spent a couple weeks every August roaming the trails in the national parks of British Columbia and Alberta. …In 2017, the Kenow wildfire engulfed 80 per cent of Waterton’s forests and the evidence of the fire was still  everywhere. From the saddle lip and the summit overlook, the breadth of the 35,000 hectare fire was vast even six years later.   Old growth forest at both ends of the trail were spared much of the fire’s thoroughness. But ascending beyond that, hikers soon emerge from the remnants of a Jurassic-like world of ferns and verdant grasses protected by the still-intact lush canopy into a world that still feels ravaged. The change is dramatic. 

Wildsight Revelstoke will be hosting a march as part of its ‘United for Old Growth Day of Action’ in town on Thursday (Sept. 28). “Communities across the province are coming together to rise up for the last remaining old growth,” said Wildsight in the event’s description. Wildsight –an organization dedicated to responsible environmental stewardship– will be hosting a rally on Thursday to draw attention to Old Growth forests. Starting at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday (Sept. 28), Wildsight is inviting community members to assemble at Grizzly Plaza. The organization will lead a march down MacKenzie Ave. and around downtown followed by a brief rally. Wildsight said that registration is not required but is encouraged to help the organization have a better sense of the number of people to expect. Registration is available on the Wildsight website.

A special and impactful flashmob is coming our way, Victoria! Under the direction of Amalia Schelhorn, a retired First Soloist with the National Ballet of Canada and ballet teacher, and organizer/activist Jane Welton, the FlashMob for Forests will take place on Thursday, September 28th at 12 p.m. as a part of the United for Old Growth movement. the exact location in the Saanich south riding won’t be released until the day of, but it’ll be at a central and easily accessible spot—so, stay tuned! According to the release, this flashmob has been organized as part of a province-wide day of action for old growth protection and hopes to draw attention to actions needed to address rising climate issues and the continuation of logging old growth. …Schelhorn’s activist journey began in 2020 after she became involved in the Fairy Creek blockades. Since then, she has strived to combine her artistic skills with activism—choreographing and leading dances for forest protection ever since. 

James Steidle’s family owned a cattle ranch north of Blackwater River between Quesnel and Prince George. In 2010 when they were approached by a company that was going to spray up to the family’s property line, they fought back — unsuccessfully. For Steidle, the founder of Stop The Spray B.C., this began his delve into the world of herbicides and their detriment to the environment. He began asking question, after question, after question. …“Fundamentally, why are we getting rid of deciduous trees, birch and aspen, when we just had the pine beetle?,” asked Steidle. …“Aspen can stop forest fires, fertilize the soil, provide shade so seeds don’t get sun scalded. That’s not competition, they’re here to help.” …“Anyone in forestry who isn’t worried about job security or speaking out against it knows what I’m saying is true,” he said.

Proof that deer experienced elevated stress in response to wildfires in B.C.’s southern Interior can be found in their poop, although researchers say there’s still much to learn about what increasingly severe blazes mean for wildlife. …Adam Ford, Canada Research Chair in wildlife restoration ecology based at the University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus, said there are many unknowns and variables when it comes to understanding the impacts of wildfire on wildlife. The effects vary over the short and long term and across seasons and species, as well as different types of habitats and how animals use those areas, he said. Ford said the return of fire to the landscape after decades of aggressive suppression efforts could actually be a “net benefit” for most wildlife. But for that to happen it has to be the right kind of fire, he said.

Around 25,000 students have benefited from the free school programming offered at Gavin Lake Forest Education Society in the last 28 years. Located northeast of Williams Lake, the camp hosts students from school districts 27, 28 and sometimes 74. Manager Mike Tudor has been working there for 30 years. When he was first hired it was a summer camp run by the BC Forestry Association (BCFA) with a skeleton crew. …Today there is a fully-staffed outdoor education centre with Tudor, a cook, an assistant manager, who is also an instructor, and five other instructors. Typically the forester will discuss aspects of the forest such as tree aging, beetles, fungus, forked trees, woody debris, woodpecker damage, habitat for wildfire or riparian zones. Tudor said the basic costs of the program for the 28 years have been about $1 million, plus management, insurance, propane, electricity for another $1 million.

Two spotted owls have been released into protected habitat in the Fraser Canyon as part of ongoing work the Province is doing in partnership with Spuzzum First Nation to recover northern spotted owl populations in B.C.’s wild. The two male owls, named ‘sítist’ [te-syst] and ‘wíkcn’ [week-chin], were released after being assessed as healthy and ready to fend for themselves, and demonstrating that they could capture live prey and maintain a stable body weight. …This is the Spotted Owl Breeding and Release Program’s second release of captive-bred spotted owls into the wild. Sítist was originally released in August 2022 as part of the program’s first release. That autumn, sítist was found injured near train tracks in the Fraser Canyon. He was later rehabilitated by the Orphaned Wildlife Society and returned to the Captive Breeding Facility where he made a full recovery.

YOHO NATIONAL PARK – Parks Canada is creating a massive fireguard to protect Bow Valley communities and the village of Field from a future wildfire given the dense forest is prime to burn under the right conditions. The 49-hectare fireguard, about one kilometre long and 400 to 500 metres wide, will be heavily logged east of Lake O’Hara Road and northwest of Lake Louise, spanning from Ross Lake to Sink Lake along Highway 1A in Yoho National Park over winter, beginning in November. Fire experts say the containment line will help reduce the intensity and rate of spread of wildfires along the Kicking Horse Valley corridor and provide a safer area to fight forest fires on the ground. …While projects like Ross Lake and Protection Mountain are planned in advance and subject to environmental assessments, an emergency fireguard had to be bulldozed in Kootenay National Park in 2003 when the lightning-sparked Tokumm-Verendrye fire threatened the Bow Valley.

North Cowichan will take a look at just how much forested lands are in its Agricultural Land Reserve. The issue was discussed at the council table on Sept. 6. after concerns around the increasing amount of the land that is being used for commercial wineries in North Cowichan was raised in a letter to council. The letter, from community activist Peter Rusland, asked that the municipality lobby the Agricultural Land Commission, whose jurisdiction the ALR comes under, and the provincial government to exclude the clearing of forests for vineyards, which is seen as a farming use by the ALC and allowed in the ALR. Rusland also requested that council deny any permits for developing wineries on forested private land. “It’s ironic the ALC’s virtue is protecting precious farmland, yet forest lands can be lost in the mix.” Rusland was referring … rare coastal Douglas-fir zones that are only found on southeastern Vancouver Island…

Molly Hudson

From a tree planter nearly two decades ago to her new role as VP of Sustainability and Chief Forester at Mosaic Forest Management, Molly Hudson carved an uncharted path in an industry traditionally dominated by men. “Being the first woman chief forester in our organization’s history has some symbolism to it,” shares Molly, who graduated from BCIT’s Renewable Resources – Forest Ecosystem diploma program in 2008. …“Our success as an industry hinges on having different voices at the table,” emphasizes Molly, adding that the sector is changing for the better. …For Molly and her organization, giving back to BCIT students is fundamental to driving a strong, diverse workforce through high-quality education. Last year, Mosaic Forest Management was part of a combined $2.5 million donation through BCIT’s INSPIRE Campaign towards the new Trades and Technology Complex, which will provide trades students with next-generation training facilities.

VANCOUVER — Rogers Communications announced a new program aimed at early detection and prevention of remote wildfires in Northern British Columbia. The new technology, developed with the province’s wildfire service and the University of British Columbia, is “Canada’s first time deploying this type of technology,” said Neel Dayal, senior director of innovation and partnerships at Rogers. …Cameras capable of seeing wildfire smoke from 20 km away will be set up on wireless towers near Fort St. James, Smithers and Chetwynd and connected to the Rogers 5G network. Using artificial intelligence, the cameras — from wildfire-detection startup Pano AI — are expected to be able to pinpoint new fires within minutes of them starting. A Rogers system currently in place uses Swarm, SpaceX’s connectivity service for the so-called internet of things (or IoT), to get data from sensors that measure various nonvisual indicators of forest fire danger, such as soil conditions and wind.

Additional coverage in Business in Vancouver by Nelson Bennett: Rogers to tap Starlink satellites to help early detection of B.C. forest fires

Canada’s 2023 wildfires were the worst on record. Ed Trenchard, a wildfire manager in Alberta, notes first responders enlist traditional methods, such as the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, when it comes to fire planning. The system uses several environmental factors, including weather and forest conditions, to rate the danger of fires. …But Alberta Wildfire, the Province’s forest firefighting agency, switched things up in 2022 to utilize an AI-powered tool to help responding officers strategically prepare for ensuing wildfires and resource use. …AltaML, an Edmonton, Alberta, organization focusing on AI solutions, built the tool with Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning. AltaML can now forecast a new wildfire 80 percent of the time. …The model can help Alberta Wildfire save between $2 million and $5 million in yearly operating costs.

Twenty pumps are now working overtime to keep water flowing through the weir at Lake Cowichan into the Cowichan River. Brian Houle, the environmental manager with Catalyst Paper, says the pumps are necessary as the drought continues to impact the lake. “We’ll continue pumping until the lake is filled by Mother Nature. And optimistically next week, we have significant rain next week. And potentially a major system the week after,” Houle said. But even with the pumps working around the clock at the weir, no rain means water levels are dropping by almost a centimetre every day. And the lake is now at a historic low. …Overnight rains that soaked much of the south island bypassed Lake Cowichan. And that’s why Catalyst Paper has now installed its full fleet of pumps and pipes to keep water flowing into the Cowichan River.

September 24, B.C. Rivers Day highlights the decline of the province’s vital arteries. It is tempting to shrug off the latest catastrophic wildfire season as The New Normal and throw up our hands about the damage that incinerated forests do to B.C. rivers and fish habitat. Forest fires are normal, natural, and even rejuvenating for the landscape and wildlife. But the wildfires that have swept across the province this summer and over the past seven years are not normal, according to the B.C. Wildlife Federation. …B.C. government technical reports note that erosion, slides, flooding and sedimentation increase after severe wildfires. Severe wildfires also leave water-repellant soil in their wake, leading to fast-moving runoff, erosion and even landslides. That is very bad news for B.C. rivers and fish. …The B.C. Wildlife Federation doesn’t just talk the talk. We walk the walk …contributing thousands of hours each year to habitat and wetland restoration projects.

The province needs to step up wildfire mitigation efforts and help communities do the same, local government representatives said at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention on Tuesday. “We’ve been putting out fires for a century. … Now we’re at the point now we can’t put them out because of the fuel that is in the forest,” 100 Mile House city counsellor Dave Mingo told a panel on preparing for future wildfires. “I’d like call on everyone to look at mitigation as a very strong aspect, so that we can maybe reduce the effect on our communities in the future,” he said. …In another session at the convention, which goes until Friday in Vancouver, health and weather experts warned the smoke from wildfires will bring increasing health impacts. …B.C. United leader Kevin Falcon called for a full-time firefighting service with more front line personnel. The NDP government announced year-round wildfire service in 2022.

VICTORIA and the Traditional Territory of the Lekwungen Peoples – Coinciding with National Forest Week, the BC Community Forest Association (BCCFA) has released its 2023 Indicators Report: Measuring the Benefits of Community Forestry in British Columbia. In BC, forest management is undergoing significant changes driven by a provincial shift in forest policy. This includes an increased focus on Indigenous-led initiatives, co-management, and ecosystem health and resiliency. Community forests have long been leaders in implementing these priorities on the land base, operating as long-term, area-based tenures held by local communities. Representing over 100 rural and Indigenous communities across our province, the BCCFA is a network of community forests that practice ecologically responsible forest management, fostering and supporting healthy and vibrant rural communities and economies. …“Through their dedication to sustainable practices, community forests have been pioneers in driving positive change within the forestry sector,” said Jennifer Gunter, BCCFA Executive Director.

Smithers, BC – Situated in the heart of the Bulkley Valley and surrounded by the Town of Smithers, the Village of Telkwa, and the Village of Witset, the Wetzin’kwa Community Forest Corporation (WCFC) has taken on two key roles: as a steward of the land and as a provider of outdoor recreational opportunities for surrounding communities. This significance is underscored by the recent allocation of funds from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) toward a wildfire risk reduction project. With the funding, the WCFC aims to expand a crucial shaded fuel break (where some trees are removed to reduce fuel and some are left standing to create shade) along the Hudson Bay Mountain Road (which is used to access recreational areas). This treatment is a proactive measure against the ever-present risk of wildfire. The project also showcases the community forest’s commitment to integrating the management of natural spaces with the safety and enjoyment of the local residents in mind.