Region Archives: Canada

MACKENZIE — After lengthy consultations the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) for the Mackenzie Timber Supply Area was released in early May resulting in a 20% reduction of available fibre, not a surprise according to the Mayor of Mackenzie Joan Atkinson. …The longtime Mayor argues the issue in BC is not fibre supply in some areas, it is forestry policy. According to stats provided by the District of Mackenzie roughly two-thirds of the AAC will be rolled down the highway away from the community. …Pre-2003 when appurtenancy was still law in BC, forestry companies had logs tied to local communities. When that clause was thrown out, it opened the door to the situation we have now. The BC Liberal government of the day was the one behind the move, one now brought to the forefront 20 years later.

Vancouver resident John Vaillant’s new book focuses on one day in May 2016, in the small city of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta. But from there it sweeps two centuries into the past, around the world to California, Europe and Australia, and brings us back to our own hot, smoky spring and ominous future. It is a fast-paced narrative of a disastrous wildfire and of the culture that both created the fire and was damaged by it. And it is a brilliantly written description of our own insights and follies: we saw the present disaster coming long ago. We could have prevented it, and we let it happen anyway. …Vaillant ends his book with the discovery of “revirescence,” the return of life to fire-blasted land. The forests are reviving around Fort McMurray, and in the ashes of its Abasand neighbourhood Vaillant saw tulips blooming.

Alan Westhaver

Community Wildfire Preparedness Roundtables around the region are hosting FireSmart presentations by Alan Westhaver MSc., a 30-year veteran of wildland fire, now a wildland-urban expert. Westhaver and his fellow fire researcher Dr. Jack Cohen, a world-renowned fire physicist with the U.S. Forest Service, recently completed a report on the Lytton Creek fire which destroyed that community in 2021 which focused on how homes ignited, and how fire then spread throughout the community. What Westhaver had to say may surprise many members of the public. “We’ve long considered this to be a wildfire control problem however, it is really a problem of so many homes and structures being so easily ignited,” he states in his presentation. Instead, he emphasized the answer to saving urban areas from these disasters will not come from more planes, helicopters or tanker trucks, but from mostly small measures property owners can take, over time, to make buildings less susceptible to igniting and burning.

Jared Hobbs

…For thousands of years, northern spotted owls, a subspecies of the spotted owl, lived in southern British Columbia, their range extending through Washington, Oregon and into northern California. In Canada, as many as 1,000 owls probably once lived in the cathedral-like forests. But generations of industrial development and logging have fractured the landscape and gutted their habitat. When Jared Hobbs began working for the provincial government as a species-at-risk biologist in the 1990s, there were an estimated 40 breeding pairs, but the numbers kept dropping. He noticed the adult owls were living into old age but the juvenile owls were dying before they could acquire a territory of their own and produce young. …In recent years, when the young owls left the nest to seek out new food sources and establish their own territories, they had to negotiate a patchwork of forest broken up by cleared areas or development. 

Provincial officials say the wildfire response will continue to be a marathon, but more evacuees are being allowed to return home and fire bans are set to change in some regions. Fire bans …across most of the province will be replaced with a fire restriction, which comes into effect Friday. That means wood campfires are allowed in designated campgrounds and on private property, like backyard fire pits. Under the fire restriction, all outdoor wood fires are still banned on public lands, including backcountry and some camping areas. Alberta Wildfire information unit manager Christie Tucker said that because the northern portion of the province received less rain recently and the fire danger is still high, a fire ban and off-highway vehicle restriction is still in place in the High Level and Fort McMurray forest areas. It also remains in effect for Yellowhead County, where there are still active wildfires.

BRITISH COLUMBIA — Amanda Lewis stands completely alone on the edge of British Columbia’s Stewart-Cassiar Highway, contemplating her next step as she confronts a wall of dense, dark trees. …Lewis, who has been a big-tree hunter since 2018, has been on a mission to visit each of the 43 champion trees in the B.C. Big Tree registry and chronicle that journey through her memoir, Tracking Giants. Like many big-tree hunters, Lewis’ passion for the environment continues to bring her back to the forest where ancient trees have stood for hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of years. But as each day passes, more ancient trees in B.C. disappear, felled by logging. …TJ Watt has been using his camera to document the disappearance of ancient trees in a powerful Before & After series. Watt hopes to draw viewers’ attention to their destruction by highlighting the incredible grandeur of old-growth ecosystems. 

Darryn Wellstead

As wildfires burn in parts of British Columbia, rumours and conspiracy theories about them are spreading online, according to a researcher. Darryn Wellstead, who researches social media and misinformation and teaches sociology at Northern Lights College in Fort St. John, B.C., says social media covers a multitude of theories, including how climate change is a hoax used to destroy the oil and gas industry and how the government uses wildfires as a scare tactic to force people into 15-minute cities. “Most of the theories were that the fires were politically motivated and not just a consequence of accidents or bad decision making,” said Wellstead. …Forrest Tower, a B.C. Wildfire Service information officer, is no stranger to conspiracy theories. In 2021, Tower was the subject of a theory that alleged he was a government-hired actor and not a real person, given how well his name suits his job. 

FAIRY CREEK, BC — Birders and biologists are banding together to urge the B.C. government to protect ancient forests on southwestern Vancouver Island in a bid to save threatened marbled murrelet nesting sites. Around a dozen citizen scientists are documenting the rare robin-sized seabird, which raises its young in old-growth forest found in tree farm licence (TFL) 46, which includes the Fairy Creek region near Port Renfrew, said team leader and avid birder Royann Petrell. The team of birders has documented murrelets on more than 300 occasions in and around the Fairy Creek watershed. …The citizen scientists, backed by four murrelet experts on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, are pushing the province to protect 996 hectares of old-growth from logging. The proposal submitted in December suggests adding 828 hectares to an existing 603-hectare murrelet habitat area in Fairy Creek. 

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. …The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society. But is any of it true? We have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies… What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike. 

The watershed deferral in Fairy Creek, that temporarily paused logging in certain areas, could expire in a few weeks. For Pacheedaht First Nations Elder, Bill Jones, the potential of the deferral ending is extremely difficult. …Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek is located on Pacheedaht First Nation territory and is one of the last standing high productivity old growth forests on Vancouver Island. Jones is 83-years-old and still fighting to protect the forest. “We are in an exploitative, oppressive system that is about 2,000 to 3,000 years old now, and I think they’re on the end game of resource exploitation and now they’re desperately trying to take all the marbles.” …“They’re remaining very tight-lipped on the situation, no one’s contacted, there’s been no call out to community members that we’re aware of,” he said. 

The Ministry of Forests administers B.C.’s tenure system, granting companies the right to harvest timber in public forests — or helicopter clients to a remote mountain peak so they can bike down. But as groups compete for use of a limited land base, conflicts are increasing. Scott Ellis, of the Adventure Tourism Coalition, said B.C.’s backcountry has long been a “Wild West,” where the interests of large corporations trump smaller tenure holders, like ski guides, outfitters and sport fishers. …Poor communication among provincial ministries with different mandates — including forestry, mining, tourism and environment — mean a ski guide might arrive in fall to find their terrain completely logged. …Tenure applications made under B.C.’s adventure tourism policy are decided by the forests ministry, which is also responsible for logging tenures. Mining tenures fall under the mines ministry. …“There’s no branch to advocate for us,” said Kathy MacRae.

Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz

Sarah Dickson

Around 1,600 wildfires burn in British Columbia every year. While many wildfires are a natural and important part of B.C.’s landscapes, climate change is driving hotter and drier conditions that can make wildfires more threatening. As these fires grow larger and more frequent—beginning earlier in the spring and extending well into the fall—UBC experts emphasize the importance of adapting to the new reality. Drs. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz and Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, faculty of forestry wildfire researchers, share valuable insights in this Q&A. They suggest practical measures for individuals and communities to protect their homes and surroundings from the B.C. wildfire risk, while calling for broader-scale solutions.

VANCOUVER, BC – The BC Conservation & Biodiversity Awards are pleased to announce the twelve Award recipients for 2023. The twelve recipients are BC based charities honoured for their work contributing to the improvement of the natural environment of BC and the preservation of its wilderness and biodiversity. The Awards focus on land and ocean-based initiatives, clean air and water, climate change, and science-based studies. Created in 2020, the BC Conservation & Biodiversity Awards granted a sum of $225,000 to the 2023 Award recipients. …The Selection Committee is comprised of representatives from prominent BC academic institutions and conservation-based organizations. This science-based independence makes the BCCB Awards unique in the field of environment and conservation-based funding. Current members represent The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Sierra Club of BC, the Wilderness Committee, The Nature Trust of BC, the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University and the Faculty of Environment at the University of Northern BC.