Region Archives: Canada West

Communities in the Kootenay region are collectively receiving $2.5 million for wildfire mitigation projects through a funding partnership between the Columbia Basin Trust and the Province. “Wildfire-resilient communities are built through partnerships and people working together to protect our forests and surrounding communities,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “These wildfire risk reduction projects are a valuable part of healthy, sustainable forest management in BC. Thank you to Columbia Basin Trust and the 20 communities and organizations around the Basin that are doing this important work.” The Columbia Basin Trust is administering the funding to 20 different communities in the Columbia Basin, as the funding partners also include the Ministry of Forests and the BC Wildfire Service, through the province’s Community Resiliency Investment Program.

Thirty years after B.C.’s War in the Woods, where do things stand in the fight for old-growth forests? That’s the question The Narwhal’s Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood and David Suzuki posed on a trip to the site of that seminal battle against logging in Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.  “The forest is still standing,” Suzuki notes, but “the bridge is breaking down.” The impacts of the historic logging blockade are on full display in Clayoquot Sound, and the subject of the brand new documentary War for the Woods airing this Friday on CBC’s The Nature of Things (you can already stream it here on CBC Gem).  Steph and David take viewers on that 30-year journey through archival footage, old-growth maps and interviews with members of First Nations who have stewarded these lands for thousands of years. 

UNIVERSITY OF BC — Forestry students are about to see a massive change in how their faculty grants undergraduate degrees. Starting in fall 2024, five of the Forestry department’s seven existing Bachelor’s degrees will become majors under a new, unified Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources. Currently, the faculty offers seven direct-entry undergraduate programs, five of which are Bachelor’s of Science. These five will be combined into the new program, with students having the option to choose bioeconomy sciences and technology, conservation, forest management, forest operations, forest sciences or wood products as majors. New students will no longer need to choose which Bachelors of Science program they want to pursue before coming to UBC. Rather, they will take a common core of 20 credits in first year before having to declare their major going into second year. 

Re: Pellet sector not to blame for forestry problems. In his letter, David Elstone’s absolution of the forest industry is history by omission, a version that does not withstand closer scrutiny. What Elstone fails to tell readers is that the forest industry made its own bed and is responsible, not for the mountain pine infestation itself, but for the way in which it chose to log dead wood and where. …As to Elstone’s trumpeting of a recent study that found that 85 per cent of the B.C. pellet industry’s fibre supply comes from byproducts of sawmills, we are left asking: Who financed the study? Drax? Who provided the data? Drax? And why didn’t the forest professionals who authored the study use the same data sourced by Ben Parfitt from official government records?

A report card from B.C. environmental organizations said the province is still continuing to score failing grades as old-growth forests remain at risk. Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth, and the Wilderness Committee issued their fifth report card, assessing the B.C. government’s progress in implementing the Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR) recommendations. The report card comes two-and-a-half years into the provincial government’s three-year timeline for implementing all 14 recommendations from the OGSR. “It is crucial because we are close to the brink with some of the last endangered old-growth forests.” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC. …“We are nowhere close to the implementation of the three-year promise from the government — it has not translated to the ground,” Wieting said. The organizations gave the province failing grades on issues including action on funding for conservation, changing course in forest stewardship and transparency.

Columbia Basin Trust’s most recent Ecosystem Enhancement Program will provide funding to ten projects that seek to enhance biodiversity and ecosystems throughout the region. CBT will distribute $2.6 million in support to four large-scale projects around the Basin and $316,000 to six smaller scale, shorter-term projects, to prioritize on-the-ground action aimed at improving ecological health and native biodiversity. The Ecosystem Enhancement Program has supported 27 total programs. …Kimberley’s Randy Moody, president of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada (WPEFC) has spent nearly two decades working to preserve and protect the endangered tree species in the Purcell and Rocky mountains.

Suzanne Simard

In her scientific memoir, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, forestry researcher Suzanne Simard gracefully intertwines her private and professional lives. As a child, she learned the rough-and-ready ways of her logging ancestors and developed a deep devotion and commitment to forests. As a researcher, she pressed colleagues to look beyond the superficial, above-ground perception that forests are merely collections of individual trees. …For her inspiring and illuminating writing, she will be presented with the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at The Rockefeller University on April 17. Named after its first recipient, noted physician-scientist and essayist Lewis Thomas, the prize was established in 1993 by Rockefeller’s Board of Trustees.

VANCOUVER ISLAND — The Strathcona Regional District board has set up a new Natural Resource Committee to help North Island communities make their voices heard. The idea came to the board through chair Mark Baker, who gave a report saying that communities in the North Island have “struggled to resonate with policy makers at both the provincial and federal levels regarding the continual erosion of support for resources-based operations. “Many municipalities have attempted to impress upon governments about the importance of forestry, aquaculture, mining, and other sectors continue to articulate yet their voices continue to go unheard,” he said. …However, director Robyn Mawhinney said… “Natural resources are not what they once were. With fewer resources, our focus should be on gaining more employment through value-added processes, rather than concern for corporate agendas.”

MERRITT, BC — For the fifth week in a row, employees and contractors with Aspen Planers gathered to rally community support for the city’s largest employer, who said this week it still has not received a new cutting permit from the Ministry of Forests. …The mill is already running on just one shift per day. Aspen Planers and mill union leadership say the issue behind the closure is a lack of cutting permits being issued. The Ministry told the Herald that a vast majority of local permits, which are required to harvest logs in B.C., are issued within 45 days, and that it is working to find ways to address First Nations’ concerns around sustainable forestry practices.  “We have little choice but to wait until the provincial government decides that they have completed meaningful consultation with the various Nicola Valley First Nations,” said Bruce Rose.

The B.C. government has been roundly applauded for removing a key word from the provincial regulations governing forest planning. For two decades the word “unduly” has limited the protection of so-called “non-timber” values in B.C. forests. Wildlife habitat, soil, biodiversity and even drinking water could only be protected if it did not “unduly reduce the supply of timber from British Columbia.” …While “unduly” has not been removed from all forestry regulations, this is a clear step forward. Nevertheless, crucial questions remain about the future of forests in B.C. …The province failed to adequately consult with the Indigenous nations impacted by the Private Managed Forest Lands Act. …The vast majority of public submissions to the review highlighted concern over high harvesting rates, fear over water quality and biodiversity loss and the lack of government oversight. Yet, nearly four years on, no policy changes have been proposed.

Idel Dobell

It is said what we don’t know can’t hurt us. I beg to differ… what we don’t know about each other and our forests is not only hurting us but, as our legacy, is going to be devastating for our children and future generations. If we’re going to survive as a species, it’s time to come together to protect the forests we can protect. …For four years, through consultation, we have spelled out, made clear to council our values: We want no more logging of our community forests. Leave all trees in the forests as food, nourishment, habitat – we have already taken too much.

Salmon Arm’s Top 20 program is hosted by Serviss Wealth Management in partnership with Salmon Arm Economic Development Society. This dynamic awards program identifies outstanding entrepreneurs and business professionals across the region. This year, Cam Brown is one of this year’s winners. Cam is a professional forester with 25+ years’ experience in the forestry sector – primarily in consulting roles in western Canada. He manages Forsite’s Resource Management and Technology business unit and has grown it to include offices all across Canada.

Conservation North is applauding the Prince George Natural Resource District for acting on the first recommendation from the Forest Practices Board regarding old growth forests and is now urging the provincial government to follow up on the second one. In a statement issued Wednesday, the Prince George-based conservation group says mapping of old growth within the Prince George Timber Supply Area was completed in December 2022 – as recommended by the FPB following a 2020 investigation of industrial logging of old growth forests in the TSA. The next step, according to the group, is to update a “biodiversity order” to better protect old growth forests.

The B.C. government has scuttled a federal plan to designate large swaths of core critical habitat for the endangered spotted owl, easing the way for imminent old-growth logging, The Narwhal has learned through a freedom of information request. Almost 50 per cent of core critical habitat — habitat that biologists, using the best available science, deemed necessary for the owl’s survival and recovery — was quietly removed from federal maps between 2021 and 2023, following negotiations with the province. On maps published in late January, in a proposed spotted owl recovery strategy, the areas removed from core critical habitat are labelled “potential future critical habitat.” …The BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said “no spotted owl habitat was erased” between 2021 and 2023. However, the ministry did not differentiate between legally defined core critical habitat and newly created “potential future critical habitat.” 

These are both difficult and exciting times to be a forest professional in British Columbia. Societal expectations for B.C.’s forests are changing. How and where timber is harvested is being widely questioned and a large segment of the population wants to halt logging of all old, large trees. The role of Indigenous Peoples in forest management and ownership is rightly expanding. Forests are increasingly used for recreation, while wildfires, bugs, drought, and flooding impact forest health, the environment, and public safety. This weighs heavily on forest professionals. By law, their job is to provide advice for using the forest in a safe, responsible, and sustainable manner. It is also an exciting time for forest professionals because they care about forests; this is their passion, what their education, experience, and training prepared them for. …Forest professionals are part of the solution to ensure B.C.’s forests are here for generations to come.

Midway, B.C.: When Duane, Emily, and Kurtis Vaagen, the family ownership team of Vaagen Fibre Canada (VFC), first shared the news on January 6, 2023, that their family sawmill which has been in operation in the community of Midway for over 10 years, was shutting down indefinitely, the outpouring of support was overwhelming. …The Vaagen family are expressing their appreciation to their many partners for their years of relationship, including employees and contractors, local community members, the Osoyoos Indian Band, West Boundary Community Forest, Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, local area Mayors, Councillors, and Regional District Directors, and local Ministry of Forest staff. “For those of you who called your local MLA or wrote a letter, our collective voices were heard loud and clear, so thank you,” remarked Vaagen. 

For many Canadians, their introduction to clearcut logging came from the Clayoquot Sound protests back in 1993. …While much of the area was spared, clearcutting, instead of more sustainable logging methods, remained the status quo elsewhere in B.C. and old growth forests have continued to fall. …War for the Woods follows a new generation’s campaign against logging that once again has captured the attention of Canadians, including Stephanie Kwetásel’wet Wood, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh journalist who reports on Indigenous rights and the natural world. …Thirty years after the historic blockades in Clayoquot Sound, Wood travels to Tla-o-qui-aht territory where the protests took place to learn more about the legacy of these actions. …But as communities struggle to balance environmental stewardship with meeting their economic needs, the hurdles to protecting these ancient forests have grown. [Airs Friday, March 17 at 9:00 pm on CBC]

Simon Yu

PRINCE GEORGE — Community forests are an idea that have been implemented throughout the provinces, but Prince George is one community that does not have one. At the recent Future of Forestry forum, the idea of community forests was brought up. …Mayor Simon Yu brought up the idea at the forum and discusses how Prince George first acquired a community forest agreement back in 2006. Back in 2014, city council voted to surrender its forest tenure, and Mayor Shari Green said at the time “in terms of being in the logging business, it’s not our core service.” Mayor Yu says that that the idea of Prince George not having a community forest is bizarre. Mayor Yu says that the idea of a community forest for Prince George does need to be revisited, for the benefits it could provide to the city.

Adjustments to “the extent of harvesting” allowed in the Mount Elphinstone South watershed are recommended in a draft report released March 11 by Polar Geoscience Ltd. Prepared for BC Timber Sales (BCTS), it covers a land expanse in the Roberts Creek, Elphinstone and Gibsons areas. It includes eight stream courses. The values examined included human safety, roads and other public infrastructure, private property developments and water use rights, as well as fish habitat. Polar Geoscience assessed risks posed to those by changes in surface and groundwater flows resulting from forest harvesting. Factors including peak and low water flows, aquifer recharge, sediment, watercourse channel destabilization and the addition of pollutants were analyzed. The report advocates that BCTS “incorporate a degree of conservatism beyond what previous assessments have identified”.

I am speaking for the silent majority who are tired of the media and special interest groups vilifying the forest industry that has supported our hospitals, schools, recreational parks, arenas, and roads for generations of British Columbians, not to mention all of the homes we live in.  The B.C. forest industry and the harvesting of the North Cowichan forest reserve is nothing like the Amazon deforestation, and I blame the media for spreading this misinformation. Our forestry practices, and legal biological regulations are world renowned for ensuring ecologically sustainable management. The media continues to promote a narrative filled with mistruth and not based on renewable forest management. …There is misinformation circulating in North Cowichan that our forest reserve can supply taxpayers with more income from a carbon credit program than the mild harvesting that has occurred since 1946.

David Elstone

To correct Ben Parfitt… Mountain pine beetle outbreaks in the Interior’s lodgepole pine forests are a natural phenomenon. In the late 1990s and early 2000s these outbreaks expanded into an epidemic with the amount of pine being killed each year reaching a peak in 2005. …Faced with such a catastrophe, the government had two options: 1. Do nothing and let the dead timber decay; or 2. Encourage the industry to use as much of the decaying timber as possible by temporarily increasing the harvest before it rotted. The later scenario was adopted, and a significant volume of dead pine was salvaged, which in turn created jobs and boosted the local rural economies. At the same time, salvage harvesting created the opportunity for the prompt regeneration of these vast dead forests (thereby restarting the land base’s forest carbon absorption engine). Yes, harvesting, and lumber production rose to levels well above historical averages, but it was done with intention – this was no secret! 

MISSION, BC — The Mission forestry department reported declining profits and issues with climate change to council in their quarterly report. Director of Forestry Chris Gruenwald presented the report to council and revealed a total net profit of $848,870 in 2022 and a $183,270 net profit in the fourth quarter. The 2022 budget forecasted a year-end net profit of $624,519 and in 2021 yielded a net profit of $2,757,430. Meanwhile, the 2o21 fourth-quarter profit was $606,263 with 2022 projections at $561,017. …Looking ahead, Gruenfeld says climate change presents a significant challenge to the forestry operation and the department is undertaking several initiatives to combat the problem. “The Department is working with UBC Faculty of Forestry on completion of a climate change vulnerability assessment for the municipal forest and will be contributing funding in 2023 for two climate change related studies in the forest”.

A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed by two people who attempted to document the protests against the logging of old growth forests at Fairy Creek in 2021. Arvin Singh Dang, a professional photographer and teacher, and Kristy Morgan, owner of a media production company, are suing the Attorney General of Canada, alleging that RCMP policies and tactics in enforcing an injunction order at the Fairy Creek logging protest camp violated the charter rights of members of the public, media and protesters. “This action is brought to uphold the charter rights and fundamental freedoms of the public and to hold the RCMP accountable for its unlawful and egregious conduct … in Fairy Creek,” says the civil notice …Lawyer David Wu … predicts the class action will affect hundreds of people. “We’re seeking redress for people who were impacted by those exclusion zones. They should be rightfully compensated for having their constitutional freedoms infringed on,” said Wu.

A Vancouver Provincial Court judge has reserved decision on whether to sentence Muhammad Zain Ul Haq to jail for repeatedly blocking traffic in Vancouver and Richmond and reneging on his promises to stop. Muhammad pleaded guilty to five charges of mischief for his role in illegal Extinction Rebellion road and bridge blockades in 2021, and one charge of breaching a release order for a protest on the Cambie Bridge. Crown prosecutor Ellen Leno asked Judge Reginald Harris last month to send Haq to jail for 90 days and impose 18 months of probation. On Thursday, Haq’s lawyer, Ben Isitt, argued for a conditional discharge. …The court heard that should Haq succeed in overturning his deportation on compassionate and humanitarian grounds, he has a job waiting for him … Tzeporah Berman from Stand.earth said she would “personally … facilitate Zain’s acceptance into my organization/campaigns that are lobbying governments via legal means.”

Jackie Tegart

ASHCROFT, BC — In times of hardship, people look to government for leadership and action to make things better. But that’s not what B.C.’s forestry workers are getting from Premier David Eby and the NDP. As mills close around the province and others worry about an uncertain future — including Aspen Planers in Merritt — the NDP government seems more intent on managing the decline of the industry rather than trying to save it. …While the province has made some announcements of supports for the industry, none of them have addressed the dire issue of dwindling fibre supply and providing companies with certainty. What we need is a new, clear vision for the future of forestry in B.C. The government needs to show that it believes in a sustainable, vibrant and economically viable sector.

David Elstone

With the BC legislature sitting… how about having a real debate for the record on what is going on in the province’s forest sector. There are so many policy changes under way and yet there is absolutely no discussion. For instance, the NDP’s Old Growth Strategic Review and how it committed to, without debate or even analysis, implementing all 14 recommendations of the resultant report  …Typically, when there are issues of such great societal importance, a royal commission is struck that is legally autonomous of government, investigative, and deeply analytical. Yet there was no subsequent debate, despite the consequences. …Now there is a push by Premier David Eby to have the remaining recommendations implemented. …The way things are heading in this province, there sure seems to be the makings of a ban in effect on old growth harvesting without calling it a “ban.”