Region Archives: Canada West

British Columbia’s deputy chief forester has set a new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44, located in west-central Vancouver Island near the Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound. The new AAC for this TFL is 642,800 cubic metres, a 19% decrease below the previous AAC. The lowered AAC reflects reductions related to buffers adjacent to parks and objectives for the recovery of marbled murrelet. The new AAC also accounts for harvest reductions associated with the culturally significant Thunder Mountain area and a ministerial mandate to allocate unharvested volume to new forest licences. The new AAC also includes a partition where no more than 484,600 cubic metres may be harvested from the economic land base, the area where it is more easily harvested economically. …The TFL 44 licence is held in partnership between Western Forest Products and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. 

A new report to the City of Nelson on wildfire danger identifies several sections of nearby forest that present serious threats. They are loaded with dead and downed trees and other dry woody debris – perfect fuel for a wildfire. The hazardous areas include more than 200 hectares in the Giveout Creek drainage just south of Nelson, 27.5 hectares at Grohman Creek, 117 hectares in Blewett, and 2.5 hectares near the Nelson cemetery. Dealing with those hazards is one of 33 recommendations in the new draft wildfire resiliency plan presented to council by John Cathro of Cathro Consulting and Monica Nederend of Bruce Blackwell Associates along with the city’s fire chief Jeff Hebert on June 20. Because these forests are outside the city limits and mostly on Crown land, there is little city council can do on its own. Reducing the danger is the job of the Ministry of Forests.

The B.C. government has dropped the amount of wood that can be legally cut in a corner of Vancouver Island vital to the recovery of the marbled murrelet — a migratory seabird threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act.  On Monday, the Ministry of Forests said it was ordering a 19 per cent decrease in the annual allowable cut of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44, a swath of forest straddling the Alberni Inlet near Barkley Sound. The province said it adjusted the harvest licence as a buffer to help recover the marbled murrelet, a species that nests in coastal old-growth forests.  But Jens Wieting, the senior forest and climate campaigner for Sierra Club BC, said the reality on the ground does not square with a rationale provided by the province.  “There’s no certainty that marbled murrelet habitat will be protected,” said Wieting.

Immediate steps will help expand public engagement in forest planning and protect some of the most rare and unique forest habitats throughout the province.  Regulations are being amended to strengthen forest management, including new requirements for forest licence holders to publish forest operations maps, new legal protection for rare habitats called “ecological communities” and enhanced management for designated recreation sites and trails.  …A key feature of the new regulations is the requirement for forest companies to publish a Forest Operations Map. Companies will soon be required to make available maps of proposed cutblocks and roads for public feedback into how harvesting can account for environmental values while responding to economic opportunity.  The Province has developed a web-based tool that companies will have the option to use to display these maps and invite public feedback. 

Recent information obtained by SkeenaWild Conservation Trust shows that between 2019 and 2020, the B.C. government quietly cancelled 1.35 million acres of public recreation and conservation and land areas in northwestern B.C. The cancelled lands are almost double the size of Metro Vancouver, with many being popular recreational areas such as Klinger Lake, Tyee Mountain, Atlin and the Stewart estuaries.  The cancellations open up these areas to industrial development and logging.  After decades of land use planning between government, diverse community interests and dedicated government habitat biologists, the provincial government had designated these lands in the Skeena region for fish, wildlife, conservation, recreational use and potential protected areas under the Land Act.  But then, without due process, these land protections were cancelled quietly and without due process.

Immediate steps will help expand public engagement in forest planning and protect some of the most rare and unique forest habitats throughout the province. Regulations are being amended to strengthen forest management, including new requirements for forest licence holders to publish forest operations maps, new legal protection for rare habitats called “ecological communities” and enhanced management for designated recreation sites and trails. …We are boosting forest conservation to better support ecosystem health, including rare and critical habitat,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. …Companies will soon be required to make available maps of proposed cutblocks and roads for public feedback into how harvesting can account for environmental values while responding to economic opportunity. ..This new category establishes protections for rare habitats that are home to unique plants and support animals at risk.

Cochrane and area residents accustomed to seeing transport trucks loaded with logs coming in to town and piles of Spray Lake Sawmills lumber heading in the other direction may not be aware of what’s involved in the life cycle that sustains the harvest.  And while money doesn’t grow on trees, the 80-year-old company is keenly aware of the central role that growing trees plays in ensuring they may be around for another 80. Environmentalists and trail-users have been voicing concerns about the Cochrane-based company’s plans to log in the popular recreation area around West Bragg Creek, scheduled to start in 2026. That discussion will be taken up publicly again in 2024, when the next open house is held.  Philosophical differences aside, what may not be widely recognized is the fact that, purely from an economic standpoint, responsible environmental stewardship is in Spray Lake Sawmills’ interest.

VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC — The fall out from the protests has been mixed. The provincial government has enacted a series of temporary logging deferrals of key swaths of endangered old-growth forests and publicly crowed about a 42 per cent decrease in old-growth logging. But with all the active cut blocks the protestors tried to save, tens of millions of dollars of public money spent on police enforcement — the question of “was it worth it?” remains front and centre for many activists. “We believed that we would save these places,” Will O’Connell said. …But the cut blocks in the Caycuse were harvested. …However, for the Fairy Creek watershed itself, the province announced a two-year deferment of logging. …Crown prosecutors laid more than 400 charges. …If the protesters feel like they didn’t win — neither does Teal Jones. The long-term impact of the blockades on the logging company has been meaningful, said Conrad Browne, for the Teal Jones Group.

…Across the country, provincial firefighting services rely on a mixture of local recruits, municipal firefighters, aid from overseas and the Canadian Armed Forces. We need a national response, and probably a national forest firefighting service. Unfortunately, things aren’t going to get better. Climate change means that temperatures will keep rising, and even when we get a damp year or two, the dry years will be drier, and more prone to fire. Plus, in a country as big as Canada, we are likely to see at least one region suffering a bad forest fire season every year, and in some years – like this one – it’ll be awful coast to coast. …The natural instinct in politics is to pass the buck, and firefighting has long been provincial jurisdiction. But fires don’t respect borders, including provincial borders. As they get worse, we’ll need to reconsider how we fight them.

With another wildfire, flooding and drought season upon us – one that is forecasted to be the same if not worse than last year for British Columbia and already causing a state of emergency in other parts of the country – it is abundantly clear that the province’s forests are in desperate need of nurturing and communities are gasping for change. A recent Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest Thompson Nicola Regional District library speaking tour was a profound reminder of what so many community members are eager to hear more about – how to protect their communities from further climate change and forest loss devastation. Instead of wanting to hear more about the home-grown award-winning book and writing process, TNRD residents from libraries throughout the region repeatedly asked questions about what they can do to ensure their communities can remain healthy and intact for generations to come. 

Ed Johnson, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, said this year is turning out to be unusual for spruce trees across Calgary and he reckons he hasn’t seen such a large number of cones in 40 years. …Producing cones is a “survival strategy” that plants use to protect themselves from seed predators. “Most years there’s very little seeds being produced and the seed predators can’t harvest a lot of it,” Johnson said. “But randomly they produce large numbers of seeds … which satiates the predators and so consequently more seeds survive.”  …Gerard Fournier, arborist, added that the hot and dry weather in 2021 “stressed the trees out” and led to a massive number of cones last year. “You could sort of imagine it as if the trees think that their lives are in danger and they got to put a lot of energy into reproduction,” he said.

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will examine the activities of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber-sale licence holders in the Boundary Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of the Kootenay Business Area. The Boundary TSA covers approximately 659,000 hectares and is administered by the Selkirk Natural Resource District. It includes the communities of Grand Forks, Christina Lake, Greenwood, Midway, Rock Creek, Bridesville and Beaverdell. First Nations territories overlapping the Boundary TSA include the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Lower Similkameen Indian Band, Penticton Indian Band, Adams Lake Indian Band, Okanagan Indian Band, Osoyoos Indian Band, Shuswap Indian Band, Splats’in, and Westbank First Nation. The TSA has numerous lakes, streams and diverse forests that support a variety of fish and wildlife species.  

Houston, B.C. – A project to reduce wildfire risk, establish a defensible fuel-free zone, and modify the amount of forest fuels has been successfully completed south of the District of Houston through Forest Enhancement Society of BC funding. The project took a large-scale effort of the District, BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), Houston’s Fire Chief, the Ministry of Forests, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and several other stakeholders working together. Pro-Tech Forest Resources Ltd. lead the project.  The goals were to reduce wildfire risks in areas identified in the 2018 Houston Community Wildfire Protection Plan and establish a defensible fuel-free zone for future fire personnel. The project in total covered a 9.7 km long, 1,202.1 hectares interface zone along the southwest boundary of the district. Despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was completed successfully, including planting 330,000 trees in July 2022.

Just days after thousands of residents of Alberta’s Yellowhead County were allowed to return home following their second evacuation in only a few weeks due to forest fires, it’s now flooding that’s forcing some county residents to flee. An evacuation order was issued late Monday afternoon for residents in Lower Robb, about 250 kilometres west of Edmonton, due to heavy rainfall, although other areas of Robb are not affected by the order. Earlier in the afternoon, the county declared a state of local emergency due to overland flooding, and Chief Administrative Officer Luc Mercier told an online video update there are numerous roads in the county that are inundated with water. He warned people not to drive over roads covered with water because they could actually be washed out.

A 34-year-old man who blocked highways in Langford and ­Nanaimo in April 2022 to protest old-growth logging and raise awareness of climate change has been handed a suspended sentence and a year’s probation. Derek Hugh Menard pleaded guilty in Nanaimo provincial court to two counts of blocking roads. Each sentence of one year’s probation is to be served concurrently. He was also ordered to complete 40 hours of community service. …Judge Brian Harvey said in his May sentencing decision that… “There is absolutely no question that this accused knew what he was doing and had every opportunity to stop and not cause members of the public any ­further inconvenience even when he had the ability to do so when requested by the police,” he said. “The accused simply chose to get his message or point across in a completely selfish manner and, ironically in my view.”

Livingstone Forest, a key habitat for several species at risk on Lasqueti Island, has been protected for the long term thanks to an environmental covenant — the first of its kind on the island.  Livingstone Forest, a key habitat for several species at risk on Lasqueti Island, has been protected for the long term thanks to an environmental covenant — the first of its kind on the island.  Christine Ferris and Doug Hopwood placed the conservation covenant on their own land “to ensure long-term protection of the property’s biodiversity and carbon stores,” said the conservancy in a release Tuesday.  The couple made use of the Islands Trust’s natural area protection tax exemption program, which lowers property taxes on the area protected by the covenant. 

A decision that will see the loss of popular trails 30 minutes west of Calgary due to clear-cutting is receiving pushback from hikers and cyclists.  Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) is working on logging 900 hectares in West Bragg Creek and in the Moose Mountain area in 2026.  “That’s the equivalent of 833 soccer fields,” Shaun Peter, Bragg Creek and Kananaskis Outdoor Recreation organizer told CityNews.  “It’s a massive area, and it’s in an area that has one of the highest concentrations of trails anywhere in Alberta. And one of the most popular areas — if not the most popular areas outside of Cameron Nordic Centre for recreation — with 300,000 users a year, so it’s pretty disconcerting.”  While SLS has not yet released specific plans for their harvest, its rough plan indicates the east-facing slope of the Moose Mountain Trail System and the south-facing slope of the West Bragg Creek Trail System will be cleared.

ALBERTA — Widespread wildfires in northern Alberta have hindered harvesting plans by two forestry companies in the High Prairie region. West Fraser that operates High Prairie Forest Products and Tolko presented their five-year plans for public comments at the Legion Hall. However, plans for 2023 harvesting season changed somewhat when wildfires in the region started May 4. Stuart Adkins, West Fraser planning superintendent… says“Right now, we are changing our plans to salvage as much we can.” He says the main fires that have impacted the company are the Grizzly wildfire, the Kimiwan wildfire and the Nipisi wildfire east of the Town of Slave Lake. …Tolko, too, has been hit by the fires, although its High Prairie mill has not been operating since a fire May 20, 2022 caused significant damage. Tolko’s Hillary Wait says the company was planning the spatial harvest sequence from the regional management plan. “Our logging plans have changed a fire salvage,” Wait says.

At the beginning of May, Whistler’s Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) released its Draft Five-Year Harvesting Development Plan, laying out the future of logging in the forest and providing an opportunity for the public to provide input on the plan.  According to CCF executive director Heather Beresford, the goal of moving to a five-year harvesting plan is to allow the community to have a better understanding of where harvesting will take place in the 33,000-hectare forest, and allow folks the chance to provide their opinion on where the forest should head.  …Some of the community’s concerns included questions on why harvesting was taking place in the forest at all, particularly with the resort so dependent on outdoor recreation, as well as a desire to protect old growth (the CCF extended its moratorium on cutting down any tree older than 250 years earlier this year, and it will remain in place until more info is gathered to make a long-term decision). 

Walker Creek’s 50,000 hectare ecosystem remains largely untouched. Unique features like rounded mountain tops rather than jagged peaks promote slower snow-melt, stabilizing river levels and gravels resulting in the best salmonid spawning and juvenile habitat in the Upper Fraser Rivershed. Indeed, on June 4^th, the Holy Cross tributary’s snow-melt waters revealed its bottom as if through crystal. These rounded mountains support expansive alpine meadow systems and prime grizzly and caribou habitat. Myself and a small group headed to Walker 22-3, locally the largest of BC Timber Sales many recently proposed cut-blocks.  Leaving the abandoned Holy Cross road, we were stunned by the natural post-wildfire recovery.  …If ecosystem health is indicated by diversity and habitat and this is supposed to be the overarching principle guiding provincial forestry decisions then why is BCTS, a provincial government body, slating this to be logged?

Sonia Furstenau said the province’s decision to extend the order deferring old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed to Feb. 1, 2025 is merely kicking the can down the road.  Furstenau, Cowichan Valley MLA and leader of B.C.’s Green Party, said the NDP government is not putting permanent, long-term solutions for the watershed on the table.  “First Nations and Indigenous communities need conservation financing to be able to diversify their economies so they aren’t solely dependent on resource extraction,” she said.  “It’s disappointing that the province will not match the funding the federal government has put on the table for conservation financing.”  A statement from the Ministry of Forests said the extension of the deferral applies to the same forest lands as those deferred in June, 2021, in response to a request from the elected leadership of the Pacheedaht First Nation.