Region Archives: Canada

We are pleased to advise you that the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) and the Coast Forest Products Association (CFPA) have decided to come together as one organization to create a stronger, unified voice for the BC forest industry. …By coming together under the BC Council of Forest Industries, the industry will work together across regions to advocate on behalf of the forest sector, its workers and the 140 communities that depend on the forest sector through their mills, operating facilities, silviculture, and logging operations. …The organizational change will be effective April 1, 2018. Until that time, COFI and CFPA will continue to operate independently, and our members and staff will work collaboratively to ensure a smooth transition. 

A world-renowned Alberta ski resort faces some legal moguls in a Calgary courtroom Monday over charges it cut down a stand of endangered trees. But an environmental law professor says the rarely-laid charges against Lake Louise Ski Area illustrate problems with how the Species At Risk Act is enforced. The ski resort in Banff National Park is expected to appear in court Monday to address charges laid after it came to light that in 2013, resort employees had cut down a stand of trees alongside a run that included at least 39 whitebark pine. …Resort spokesman Dan Markham acknowledges the trees were cut. Workers were conducting routine thinning of trees alongside a run to improve skier safety, he said. Markham said the workers were unaware the trees were endangered.

It seems like Quesnel has been a forest industry powerhouse forever. Back in the day, forest harvesting and fibre processing was booming and there were a lot of people pulling in good paycheques. … Those were the good old days when generations of families worked in the forest industry doing a variety of jobs. …Then “forestry” changed, and there were rules and regulations and tenure.  …But a new generation of knowledge came along and that practice went by the wayside. …Now, we have to look at ground fuel mitigation to supply timber to the mills and protect our wild land/urban interface, which, in turn, will protect our communities from the next wildfire season, as Mayor Bob Simpson suggested recently. …So, the forest industry is still in play, but we have to adopt new practices.

I can’t imagine any rational or knowledgeable observer believing forest management or conservation of forest landscapes and ecosystems have been “done right” in this province.  That’s any rational or knowledgeable observer outside of “public” servants and privileged corporations who have been so deeply embedded in the exploitation of B.C. forests for the past 50 years they can no longer think beyond “get as much as you can, as fast as you can.” But, hold on. A reporter for the Victoria Times (see the Penticton Herald, Nov. 20) apparently likes what he sees; “rushing in to extract” value is something he admires.  If there were such things as scientific standards, conservation or protection of old growth and biodiversity, and a regulatory permitting decision process, he parrots the corporate timber industry and thinks we should “overturn” those standards.

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board has released a new report on monitoring of forest practices: A Special Report on the Forest and Range Evaluation Program. The board examined the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development’s program, created as part of the implementation of the 2004 Forest and Range Practices Act, and finds the program is not yet meeting its intended outcomes. …“Our review found that a great deal of monitoring and some good evaluation work has been done for some forest values, but others like wildlife habitat and soils still do not have effectiveness monitoring protocols or data collection in place – the program was never fully implemented,” said board chair Tim Ryan. …The board has made five recommendations to government, including reviewing the design of the program and implementing effectiveness monitoring for all the forest values included in the act.

Ken Wu

B.C.’s old-growth forests will not go down without a fight. More than 200 people, including members of the Sooke, Port Renfrew, and West Shore chambers of commerce, First Nations, local governments and environmental groups, gathered in Victoria on Tuesday demanding the provincial government create policies to protect old-growth forests. …But 75 per cent of B.C.’s original old-growth forests have already been logged, and only eight per cent of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests are in protected areas. The Ancient Forest Alliance is seeking to have short and long-term policy changes implemented by the government. The longer term policies would involve a law to protect forests, and annual funding that would allow the government to buy and protect lands of “high conservation, cultural or recreational value.”

Chick Stewart

Born on a hard scrabble Manitoba chicken farm in 1928 (hence his lifelong nickname) Donald “Chick” Stewart has always been a hard worker, and this charming memoir tells stories from eight decades of working life-selling eggs, setting pins at a bowling alley, selling magazines door to door, working in saw mills, owning and operating sawmills on the Fraser River. …Told in fluent, simple prose that has been deftly polished and organized by his co-author Michelle Carter… this book offers more than charming anecdotes of work, play and family life. …It is also a valuable account of decades of experience in the sawmilling industry. …But some readers, including this reviewer, will find his account of helping to defeat a unionization drive at a neighbouring mill troubling.

Some pretty visible FireSmart work is about to take place in Jasper. As early as next week crews contracted by the municipality will be felling mountain pine beetle affected trees near the municipality, specifically along the sharper slopes on the Pyramid Bench on the town’s west flank. The town’s legislative services manager told the Fitzhugh on Wednesday that Infinite Forestry Consulting of Grande Prairie was selected from a number of bidders to carry out the work. The town has about $200,000 in its FireSmart war chest now and is hopeful another $200,000 will come in the new year. …“With more fuel accumulating over time and with the impact of the mountain pine beetle on our forest, we need to supplement those efforts to improve community protection in the event of a wildfire,” Mayor Richard Ireland said.

The new NDP government and officials with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRO) appear to have rejected Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF) latest arguments against allowing logging on the Wilson Creek cut block EW28, also known as the Chanterelle Forest. …In a letter, forwarded to Coast Reporter and others, FLNRO’s director of resource management for the south coast says the ministry has reviewed that report. Scott Barrett said the ministry has no evidence to suggest Roosevelt elk are suffering from lack of winter range on the Sunshine Coast, and that there is currently “no legal requirement for forest licensees to specifically address elk winter range or habitat requirements in their Forest Stewardship Plans.”

Years after Teal Cedar spoiled Skidegate Narrows with a glaring clearcut, forestry planners hope to safeguard other scenic areas on Haida Gwaii. A planner is visiting Skidegate, Masset, and Sandspit this weekend to ask people what scenic views are most in need of protecting. “I want people to tell me which views they really value,” says Kristina Patterson, a Whistler-based planner and landscape architect. “We’ll put those on maps and start doing fieldwork — that involves photographing, visiting the sites, looking at the existing visual quality there, and then mapping what is visible.” …Hired in September, Patterson’s company, KSalin Land Planning, is working on an update of Haida Gwaii’s “visual landscape inventory” with B.C.’s forests ministry and the Council of the Haida Nation.

Alberta’s environment minister said Wednesday her government has not submitted its plan to save threatened caribou herds to the federal government yet because it wants to get it right. Shannon Phillips was reacting to criticism from several First Nations and environmental groups who said Tuesday that the federal government needs to step in and take over management of endangered herds on Alberta Crown land. The deadline to submit the draft plan was in October, but Phillips told News Talk 770’s Danielle Smith her government’s plan will be ready sometime in December. “There’s a lot of things to balance, and that’s what we’re committed to doing, and filing our plans with the feds in December,” Phillips said. Alberta’s NDP government has promised to work together with the energy sector to try and reverse the decline of the caribou population.

TimberWest has a number of very large mobile machines working at our sort yards and logistics facilities. These specialized machines perform a number of tasks such as unloading trucks, transferring logs within the facility and moving logs shipside for loading. When you see these industrial machines in motion, the sites look like a well-orchestrated ballets. Every machine operator knows his or her part in the dance, and every member of the ground crew understands the importance of maintaining the prescribed machine /human separation. Given the nature of this work, safety systems are critical. Anywhere possible, we engineer the risk out, which is complemented by very clear standards and procedures that rely on compliance with appropriate supervision. At TimberWest, we are always looking for ways to make the job site safer.

The issue of logging in watersheds is once again making headlines locally, mostly around plans to harvest timber in the Ymir watershed. As local businesses in the local forest industry, we appreciate and are listening to the concerns of the public on this issue. We agree that dialogue and conversation are needed, and we are hoping that this can be done with respectful conversation. We think it might be helpful for your readers to hear about the broader perspective on harvesting in watersheds generally. …Logging in watersheds has been carried out successfully and respectfully in our region for decades. As technical harvesting practices evolved, our companies (and the logging contractors who actually do the harvesting) evolved too. … This is our home, and we care deeply about doing the work we do — including harvesting in watersheds — carefully, sustainably, and to the high environmental standards we have in this province.

I would like to personally thank all the bureaucrats and company management that have once again allowed procedure to block logic and safety. After months of lack of and mis-communication, one plate was finally removed from the weir at the outlet of Sproat Lake on Nov. 6. …The first problem is this should have been done in mid-September. …The second problem is that with Catalyst, the two downstream First Nations, DFO, the Regional District and Island Timberlands involved, but not connected in any meaningful way, the sweep, which collects floating debris, logs, wharves, boats, windfalls and stumps from going down the river, was supposed to be cleaned out at the same time. It still hasn’t been done.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pledge in July to help “every family” affected by the 2017 B.C. wildfires is a bitter memory for Larry and Diana Badke of 100 Mile House. Their 64-acre property was burned along with many others by the Gustafson wildfire. Despite Trudeau’s July 24 pledge to “stand with British Columbians every step of the way” with disaster assistance, the Badkes have been told they receive nothing, because they couldn’t get insurance for their retirement home and small ranch. “To make matters worse, the federal government thinks logging our burned timber is some sort of capital gain,” Larry Badke wrote in a letter to his MLA, Donna Barnett. “They will tax us [on] 50 per cent for what we manage to receive from logging our decimated property.”

The province has announced a second phase of funding to help businesses affected by this summer’s unprecedented wildfire season.  At its peak, more than 45,000 people were displaced from their homes, and a record number of hectares of land burned.  On Wednesday, Forests Minister Doug Donaldson announced that those impacted will now be able to apply for up to $18,500 in assistance. Non-profits will be eligible for up to $8,500. “Coming from a rural community myself I know that small businesses are often the economic backbone of rural communities, so today’s funding will help small businesses keep that important role,” said Donaldson at a news conference in Victoria. The Red Cross is managing the funds through the support to small business program.

There is some unusual activity at Burnaby’s Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C., and the group says this year’s wildfires may be the cause.  Since August, the association has taken in 664 injured songbirds, 66 per cent more than last year’s total during the birds’ annual fall migration to the south. …Coleen Doucette, executive director of the rescue group said it’s likely the wildfires affected the migration patterns of some birds, pushing them to the coast, where they’ve been flying into windows and getting injured. In Delta, the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society says it’s already seen 50 to 100 more injured birds of prey come in for treatment than last year. …Biologist Wendy Easton said more information is still coming in, so the jury is out on the correlation between wildfires and bird migration, as well as what this means for bird populations in the future.