Region Archives: Canada West

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.”

Stephanie Ewen

An outdoor enthusiast at heart, Stephanie Ewen was delighted to discover an outdoor career path. While studying sciences at The University of British Columbia, she toured a research forest in Maple Ridge. Her interest was immediately piqued. Her curiosity about forestry wasn’t held by everyone, however. She recalled family members sending her newspaper clippings of mills that had shut down, anything to discourage her from going into the industry … they didn’t see forestry as a viable career path. …She went on to pursue her Master of Science in Forestry at Laval University, which was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Once she graduated, she began doing various subcontracts before applying for a job she said she felt underqualified for. Still, she landed the job and began working as a planning forester for the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest. This brought her to Williams Lake in 2014.

Wildfire risks in Canada are currently elevated and continue to increase in severity and frequency. Many values are threatened including forest ecosystems, water supply, timber, and recreational values, as well as the properties within the wildland-urban interface, and the resource roads and related infrastructure in the forest. We need to improve our understanding of wildfire risks and how these are likely to change in the future. FPInnovations recently conducted a review of how wildfires impact B.C. resource roads now and in the future, and summarized the findings in two recent reports. The first report, Wildfire Risks to Resource Roads in British Columbia, summarizes available information about wildfire hazards and the established links to known resource road vulnerabilities such as loss of access during wildfires, burnt or degraded crossing structures, and post-wildfire storm flows.

NORTH COWICHAN, BC — The results of an online survey held on how North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve should be managed indicate that the vast majority of respondents favour conservation scenarios for the public woodlands. More than 40 per cent of the almost 2,000 respondents to the survey said they would prefer the municipality move towards active conservation management of the forest. …Almost 30 per cent of survey respondents said they would prefer the passive conservation option, which is to let the forests within the MFR develop with minimal human intervention. …Approximately 20 per cent of respondents said they would prefer the status-quo option, which calls for the historical harvesting practices within the MFR to continue as they were before harvesting stopped three years ago. …The least popular option, which calls for reduced harvesting, received just 12 per cent support among the survey’s respondents.

Mr. Larry Pynn, like so many environmentalist journalists, panders to the green movement but, like most of us, lives the modern lifestyle. He takes ‘bemusement’ in disparagement of Mr. Jeklin and his professional colleagues who question the report of the UBC partnership which has presented a report suggesting a choice of four forest management routes. Mr. Jeklin and colleagues have worked for free and also professionally for North Cowichan for many years and are highly respected. …Throughout his career he has been a registered professional forester having graduated from the forestry program of UBC. (It appears that none of the so-called UBC Partnership Group are registered professionals. From my perspective as a professional engineer and past university president I cannot understand how one teaches a profession without being registered as one oneself!)

Since before wildfire season began on March 1, Parks Canada has been hard at work doing wildfire risk reduction work. A few weeks ago, Parks began fireguard work near the base of Signal Mountain. This last week saw the start of further efforts near Pyramid Lake Resort including along a section of trail 2. Crews are doing a thinning as part of a larger vegetation management practice over the last several years. They have been working in response to the mountain pine beetle outbreak. Some of the work started from FireSmart guidelines, but crews have modified them for an enhanced protection zone around structures. “Typically, in FireSmart, it’ll extend from 10 to 30 metres from a structure. We’ve modified it slightly so that we’re extending 30 metres approximately from the leasehold, which typically is pretty close to 30 to 40 metres from structures,” said Katie Ellsworth, fire management officer with Jasper National Park.

As a cold-blooded species, salmon are at the mercy of the water they swim in when it comes to their internal temperature. Globally, fish are feeling the heat from climate change, but in interior B.C. decades of logging in the headwaters of salmon streams has cranked those temperatures even higher, new research shows. As trees are cut down along waterways, small streams are exposed to more direct sunlight, while logging across watersheds can change the way water flows throughout the whole system. The combined effect can leave wild salmon swimming in waters that are warmer than they’d like. …“Forestry is exacerbating the impacts of climate change,” Jonathan Moore, a biology professor at Simon Fraser University and co-author of the study published said. It’s pushing these river systems “closer to a place where they can no longer support thriving species that rely on cold water, like salmon.”

MCBRIDE, BC — The Simpcw First Nation announced that it would continue to lead the management of old-growth forests in its territory. The Indigenous community… stated their intentions as B.C. implements its own plan to protect old-growth forests. “Any decisions about old-growth forests in our territory will be made by us, based on better practices and Simpcw ‘Six Directives’ for sustainable management of tmicw (land),” Simpcw Chief George Lampreau said in a statement. Lampreau said although he welcomes dialogue with the provincial government, B.C. did not include Simpcw while crafting its old-growth strategy. …“We will work with the provincial government as well, on old-growth and other important issues, but the final decisions will be ours.” Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson responded to Lampreau’s statement, saying, “Intra-regional relationships and trade remain vital to our community.” …McBride Mayor Gene Runtz also extended his support to the Indigenous community.

Karyn Sharp has big plans for the Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park that she says will bring more visitors to the world’s only inland temperate rainforest. Sharp, project manager for the Ancient Forest Enhancement Project, says the main focus of the group is to build a large interpretive centre for visitors, a project put on hold in 2021 when lumber prices skyrocketed. Funded by a $7.8 million provincial/federal Community, Culture, and Recreation infrastructure grant, the centre will provide the base for visitors to engage with Lheidli T’enneh members in storytelling, guided walks and self-guided tours. The visitor centre, estimated to cost $3-4 million, is still in the design stage and the bid will be put to tender this spring, with construction to begin in 2024. 

Government and the B.C.-First Nations Water Table announced an unprecedented $100-million investment in healthy watersheds and the launch of engagement on a new co-developed watershed security strategy intentions paper to help ensure safe, clean water is available to communities throughout B.C. for generations. This $100-million investment in the Watershed Security Fund builds on last year’s $30-million commitment announced in Budget 2022, and will continue to improve B.C.’s watersheds and build on the success of a previous $27-million investment in the Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) under the StrongerBC economic plan. Convened in June 2022, the B.C.-First Nations Water Table (BCFNWT) is made up of representatives from the Province and delegates from First Nations in B.C. This announcement formalizes the BCFNWT’s role co-managing the Watershed Security Fund and further co-development of B.C.’s watershed security strategy.

VANCOUVER, BC — Trimble announced that they have added to a growing list of colleges and universities around the globe which will feature a Trimble Technology Lab. This newest one also hits on a new category of science for the company’s program, as they have opened a Trimble Technology Lab specifically looking at forestry, housed at UBC at their Forest Sciences Centre. Two research forests in the area represent the main hubs for work being done at this lab: The Malcolm Knapp Research Forest and the Alex Fraser Research Forest. By opening this new lab. …This will not only be the first Trimble Technology Lab focused on forestry, but also the first lab of its kind in Canada. …The “Trimble Technology Lab will have a large application for research projects… such as creating digital twins of the forest and developing tree models using laser scanners. 

KOOTENAY LAKE, BC — BC’s forest ministry is investigating a West Kootenay logging company following a complaint that part of its timber harvest near Argenta in 2022 was clearcut when it should have been selectively logged. The provincial government has designated certain places in B.C. as scenic areas that when viewed from a distance should not be significantly altered by logging and roads. One such scenic area is the western side of the Purcell Mountains in the Argenta area as viewed from across Kootenay Lake along Highway 31. …The ministry of forests is investigating Cooper Creek Cedar’s alleged failure to meet the VQO guidelines in its logging operation at Salisbury Creek in 2022. Meanwhile, the same clearcut has been investigated by the Forest Practices Board. …In a similar case in 2016, Cooper Creek Cedar was fined $5,000 by the forest ministry for creating a clearcut in a scenic area.

The B.C. government says it’s extending an old-growth logging ban for part of the Fraser Canyon, located about 100 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, for another two years to help with the recovery of the endangered spotted owl.  On Friday, the province announced it had extended the suspension of old-growth logging activity in the Fraser Canyon’s Spuzzum and Utzilus watersheds — which span more than 300 square kilometres — until February 2025.   …The province says the two-year logging deferrals in the Spuzzum and Utzilus watersheds are part of its plan to bring back a “sustained breeding population” of the owl.  “These deferrals are an important component of a complex process that will allow us to learn as much as possible to support the reintegration of the spotted owl into its habitat,” Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s minister of water, land and resource stewardship said in a written statement.

BC Government Press Release by the Ministry of Forests: Province extends old-growth logging deferral in endangered spotted owl habitat

NORTH COWICHAN, BC — I’ve long known that unusual experiences await those tempted down remote dead-end roads. But nothing prepared me for the assortment of bizarre, ghoulish and even criminal artifacts I encountered on the logging roads of the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. …North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve (MFR)… simply [doesn’t have] the staff to patrol every stretch of rutted gravel road for illegal activities such as campfires, campsites, littering, poaching and gunplay – especially at night and on weekends. …One winter, I reported an individual actively cutting wood. The town investigated, told me they caught him in the act, but let him go, too, with a warning. The illegal harvest of wood is one issue. Leaving behind a mind-bending array of garbage – if one can rightly call it that – is quite another. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]

A B.C. company that wants to avoid logging sections of at-risk old growth was told by the Crown corporation that manages B.C.’s public forests to cut the trees down or pay to leave them standing. Kerry Rouck, chief forester for Downie’s owner, Gorman Bros. Lumber, said it has remained on pause since the province launched the continuing old-growth deferral process that fall. …But BC Timber Sales, told Downie it must fulfil its logging contract — or pay full stumpage fees for the trees left standing, Rouck said. …“The irony is that we’re trying to work toward a balanced conservation result, and we stand to be penalized,” he said. …Rouck said he’s since had further discussions with Forests Ministry staff, who indicated they would be open to creative solutions. “Perhaps we can change the harvesting prescription from clearcutting to an innovative partial cut that is more caribou-friendly,” he wrote.

MANITOBA — Adding the land requirements for renewable energy, biodiversity conservation, less-intensive farming, and two billion trees equals 469,273 square kilometres or 72 per cent of the area of Manitoba. This is an immense area of land to be reallocated and is it even feasible? The lesson: Do the math. In 1959, scientist and writer C.P. Snow delivered a lecture entitled “The Two Cultures,” arguing the two intellectual cultures were “science” and the “arts.” Science is represented by objective and mathematical analysis while the arts are represented by subjective, non-quantifiable, feelings and emotions. I would submit that environmentalism, writ large, is similarly split. We have scientists measuring environmental factors and delivering numerical conclusions about nature, while passionate environmental activists usually… [the access the full story a Hill Times subscription is required].

As people commuted home from downtown Kelowna to start the weekend, chants of “save our trees,” could be heard from city hall all the way to Bernard Avenue. On Friday, (March 3) a group of approximately 50 people from Fridays for Future Kelowna gathered in front of city hall for the global strike and to protest old growth logging and to advocate for a greener future. Fridays for the Future is an international environmental activism youth-led initiative started by climate activist Greta Thunberg. Carley May, a member of the Kelowna chapter, said that the group’s mission is to raise awareness of the old growth deforestation that has been happening around B.C. …She said that Fridays for Future Kelowna is joining the movement that started on the island to hold B.C. Premier David Eby accountable for his promise to protect old growth forests.

When the world’s biggest sawmill opened its doors on Feb. 9, 2004, then-premier Gordon Campbell enthused that it could shoot out enough lumber to build all of British Columbia’s new annual housing stock, which was then averaging 26,000 units per year. After the ribbon was cut and the first logs passed through its computerized scanners and whirring sawblades, the mill’s owner claimed it might produce 600 million board feet a year — 25 per cent more than its closest global rival, a lumber mill in Germany. Just 20 years later, however, the super-sized mill is set to close — another casualty in a province and industry that went all-in on the idea that bigger is better and must now live with the consequences.Located in Houston, a three-and-a-half hour’s drive west of Prince George, the jumbo mill is owned by Canfor, a company that has made headlines in recent weeks — but this time, not for ribbon cutting.

Jennifer Hong gives forests a human face. This 26-year-old Vancouverite works for the Canadian Forest Service providing information and analysis on the potential economic interfaces between humans and forests. She also conceived, founded and runs Faces of Forestry, launched at the United Nations’ XV World Forestry Congress 2022, to allow youth to tell their own stories about what forests mean to them. …Faces of Forestry, a project of Youth4Nature supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, provides a platform for young people to help each other and the world understand more about their relationships with forests wherever they live. At the time of the congress, we had 20 such stories told in different media. We hope there will be many more as other young people come forward to use this link to add their voices.

Joan Atkinson

MACKENZIE, BC — There’s no lack of fibre in the Mackenzie Timber Supply Area, according to Mackenzie mayor Joan Atkinson. The problem, Atkinson says, is the lumber giants have locked up the rights to harvest timber in that vast territory and they’re not willing to part with it. “It’s not fibre supply that has robbed our community of hundreds of jobs, it’s current forest policy that has crippled my community,” said Atkinson. …Atkinson said the removal 20 years ago of appurtenancy, which meant that wood sent to mills was tied to the communities from which that wood was harvested, allowed tenure holders to close community-owned mills, which is what happened in Mackenzie. “That was the beginning of the end,” said Atkinson. “Although the Canfor sawmill has been closed permanently for more than three years, they still hold the largest tenure volume. It astounds me, it disappoints me, it makes me angry.”

LOWER POST, BC – Canada has the third-largest forested area in the world, with about 60 million hectares of forests located in British Columbia. With mostly coniferous tree species, British Columbia’s forests are home to valuable ecosystems, local wildlife and habitats. By working with organizations across the country, including provinces and territories, municipalities, private organizations, Indigenous communities and local organizations, the Government of Canada aims to plant two billion trees to support natural climate solutions, build up low-carbon supply chains and create good, sustainable jobs. That’s why, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a contribution of $300,000 to the Daylu Dena Council of the Kaska Nation for their Capacity Building Strategy project. The contribution comes from the 2 Billion Trees program, aimed to motivate and support new tree planting projects.

Barrett Lenoir and Kris Brekke

Two environmental non-profit organizations, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Northwest Territories Chapter (CPAWS-NWT), have been operating in the Northwest Territories (NWT) for decades and recognize the importance of protecting these natural spaces. DUC and CPAWS-NWT acknowledge that by pooling resources and focusing on common goals, more can be accomplished. Today, a Collaboration Agreement has been signed to leverage their shared capacity – which means more positive outcomes for NWT. …DUC and CPAWS-NWT have teamed up to assist with efforts to establish an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in the Slave River Delta-Taltson watershed area, led by Fort Resolution Métis Government and Deninu Kųę́ First Nation. The Collaboration Agreement enhances DUC and CPAWS-NWT`s ability to deliver the most effective conservation outcomes for the territory by committing to work on collective goals while sharing expertise, funding, capacity, and other resources.

PRINCE GEORGE, BC — Mayor Simon Yu could not help but notice the absence of young people at the Future of Forestry forum this week. Yu is worried the current state of the forest industry in the province, with Interior sawmills and pulp mills shutting down permanently or curtailing their operations in response to current market conditions and the perceived lack of economic fibre is swaying younger generations away from considering forestry careers. He told the forum crowd he wants to establish a community forest in the city managed by local government, First Nations and/or community groups to create employment and tourism and demonstrate and foster innovative forest management practices he says will encourage teens and young adults to become tree planters, work on logging crews thinning forests or in pulp and sawmills.