Region Archives: Canada

Do you think you have what it takes to battle the blazes that devastated B.C.’s Interior this summer? BC Wildfire says it employs about 1,000 firefighters every year, and is currently accepting applications for the 2018 wildfire season. The essential work of firefighters was front and centre in July and August as B.C. faced its most devastating wildfire season on record. …BC Wildfire says the recruiting process can be lengthy. The application deadline is January 15th and, if recruits score well in the interview and fitness assessments, they can be accepted to boot camp, which takes place in Merritt in April. Only after that, in mid-May, will BC Wildfire make job offers. BC Wildfire says between 100 and 150 candidates are invited to boot camp every year, depending on the number of vacancies on fire crews.

Bob Simpson

Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson told the Nov. 21 council meeting there was a substantial discussion about timber losses at the Nov. 17 Cariboo Regional District meeting. …In the Quesnel Timber Supply area, the mayor said it does not look like there’s a lot of salvage opportunity. “The fire ran hot, plus it was an already infested area, so there was a lot of mountain pine beetle dead timber. “It’s not like Williams Lake and 100 Mile House where there were some close fire areas that were attacked pretty fiercely [that now has] a mix of green and burnt wood. …“What is important to us, and it’s part of what we have to do as a council, is the fuel mitigation work to be done particularly in the forest between the Plateau Fire and the Fraser River.

Jeff Zweig & Chief Jeff Jones

The Pacheedaht First Nation and TimberWest Forest Corp. signed a  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalize a long-term collaborative commitment in support of First Nation culture, environmental stewardship and restoration projects, and forestry education, mentorship and business opportunities. “TimberWest believes strongly in collaborative approaches with our neighbours,” says Jeff Zweig, President and CEO of TimberWest. …The MoU commits both parties to work together for mutual benefit and share knowledge and expertise on sustainable forest management practices, while collaborating on important cultural and environmental objectives. …“We have worked closely with TimberWest for many years, specifically on environmental projects through the San Juan Stewardship Roundtable,” says Chief Jeff Jones, Pacheedaht First Nation.

A natural habitat for white-tailed deer, moose and elk near Dundurn will be protected as part of a new conservation project announced by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The NCC announced on Tuesday that it purchased about 160 acres of private land, which was deemed to be in a pristine natural state. The rolling hills made of old sand dunes are covered by aspen trees, wet meadows and native grasslands. Prairie clover, which is considered to be a species of special concern under the Species at Risk Act, can also be found there. According to the NCC, other species of local importance on the property include the sand-dune wild rye, Menzies’ catchfly and red-stemmed cinquefoil.

Come February 2018, the District of Ucluelet and Toquaht First Nation will receive a massive windfall of cash from a shared community forest project launched in July 2015. About $1.5 million will be coming back to the two communities in the New Year, which they will divvy in half. “It should be an annual thing. Obviously, with the markets right now, western red cedars are at an ultimate high,” said councillor Mayco Noel. “I think, you’ll probably see the windfalls go downhill a little bit after this. But, I think, with the markets and the model that they are using with the highest bidder wins, that it’s a model that will continue to provide positive results for the two communities.”

The Williams Lake Community Forest (WLCF) will be under new management as of Dec. 31. Recently the WLCF board selected registered professional forester Hugh Flinton and registered forest technician Kent Watson of C&P Management Group Inc. to take over the managing role from the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest. Board chair Steve Capling said the change is occurring because present manager, Ken Day, is retiring from the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest and UBC did not want to renew its management contract with the community forest. …A joint partnership between the City of Williams Lake and the Williams Lake Indian Band, the community forest is comprised of the Potato Mountain Block and the Flat Rock Block between Esler and the Fraser River.

A memorial has gone up in the Nixon Creek area near Caycuse remembering a logging truck driver who died on the job earlier this month. Ian Fraser died on Nov. 15, a week before his 69th birthday, when his truck left the road and plunged into standing water early that morning. Fraser was under contract to Kaatza Logging, a contractor for TimberWest, at the time. According to an obituary placed in the Citizen, Fraser is survived by his wife Dana, daughter Heather, and several brothers and sisters. A celebration of his life was held in Duncan on Nov. 25. …“We express our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues affected by this tragic accident,” TimberWest President and CEO Jeff Zweig said the day of the accident.

The United Way of Northern BC received a sizable donation last week. During last Wednesday’s hockey game of the Prince George Cougars, Canfor gave a $315,000 contribution to help support numerous programs in different communities throughout BC and Alberta. Part of that support will go into the programs that are up in northern BC. The funds raised came from things like barbeques, 50/50 draws and payroll donations. “This is a great example of individuals stepping up to be the hand raisers and game changers our vulnerable citizens need to achieve self-sufficiency,” says Roberta Squire, United Way of Northern BC CEO. 

Despite ongoing efforts to pause the proposed Kananaskis Country timber harvest, a letter to Okotoks town council from the province stated, “at this time, a logging moratorium is not being considered.” … Numerous Foothills municipalities, including High River and Okotoks, have asked the government to halt upcoming clear cut logging until environmental research has been conducted. This would help to ensure downstream users are protected from changes in water flow and quality, as reported. “…Mayor Craig Snodgrass wrote premier Rachel Notley on Aug. 31, stating the “community is very concerned” about the logging and its impacts on High River and other downstream communities. …With the letter having been mailed months ago, Masterman said it has been a source of disappointment for council not to have received any response from the province of Alberta.

The Alberta government has approved a controversial clearcut in Kananaskis Country, southwest of Calgary, despite opposition from nearby communities, environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts. “When we heard the permits were issued, it was really disappointing,” said Katie Morrison of CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society). Opponents are concerned the harvest will scar the picturesque mountainsides, increase the risk of flooding, impact drinking water, displace wildlife and hurt tourism and livelihoods. The government, however, maintains it listened to people’s concerns and made changes as a result. …The government believes it has alleviated a lot of the opponents’ concerns by approving a plan that allows Balcaen to clear only 255 of the requested 409 hectares (an area about the size of Calgary’s Glenmore Reservoir). …While logging has been occurring in the region for years, conservation groups say people will notice this latest harvest plan.

The City of Winnipeg is funneling more money into cutting down on the list of trees with Dutch elm disease that need to be removed. In the 2018 proposed budget, the city wants to spend $4.6 million to remove more trees next year. Between initiatives to identify, prune, remove and replace diseased trees, the city expects to spend $18.7 million. In May the city had about 1,500 trees on the waiting list from the last two years to be removed, according to Martha Barwinsky, the city’s forester. “We are losing on average, anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 trees a year over the past five years,” Barwinsky said at the time. “It’s a crazy amount of trees.” In 2014 there were 5,257 trees removed with Dutch elm disease across the city, in 2015 it dropped to 4,849 and in 2016 it climbed to 6,123 trees cut down with the disease.

Several Indigenous and environmental groups have asked the federal government to step in and protect some endangered caribou herds on provincial land in Alberta. In a letter to federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, the coalition said Alberta hasn’t met Ottawa’s deadline for coming up with a plan to save five threatened herds in the northeastern part of the province heavily impacted by forestry and oilsands development. They said if Alberta won’t make the move, Ottawa should. …The formal petition delivered to McKenna on Monday, along with the letter, goes through 11 Alberta laws and concludes none offers legal protections, although Robinson [Ecojustice]  noted some companies try to minimize damage to caribou herds. Alberta and six other provinces continue to fail to meet a federal deadline to release recovery plans for threatened herds in their jurisdictions. That deadline passed in October.

LA RONGE, Sask. — A man who admitted he started several wildfires in northern Saskatchewan by flicking lit wooden matches into the forest has been fined tens of thousands of dollars. Donald Halkett Jr. recently appeared in La Ronge provincial court and was given a six-month conditional sentence and ordered to pay more than $41,000 to cover the cost of fighting the fires. Halkett Jr., who is 22, pleaded guilty to mischief and failing to comply with a fire ban.  He said he flung the matches while he was on a trail near his home community of Hall Lake in July 2015. Four fires erupted at the same time crews were trying to fight a larger blaze threatening La Ronge about 100 kilometres away. More than 13,000 people would be forced from their homes by the La Ronge fire and the military was called in to help.

A recent report from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy confirms what most people in Courtenay already know: that the city’s air quality is not up to par with the rest of the province. …The report confirms that the mean annual and daily levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are higher in Courtenay than the B.C. average and exceed provincial objectives. …An emissions inventory for the Comox Valley was completed in March this year to identify the sources of fine particulates. The inventory found that 35.5 per cent of PM2.5 came from residential wood stoves and 45.4 per cent came from open burning. Eighty per cent of PM2.5 in the opening burning category came hazard abatement practices within the forestry sector.

The governments of Canada and British Columbia have just announced an agreement to protect threatened mountain caribou in part of the province. This historic agreement between the federal and provincial governments is the first ever agreement reached under Section 11 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act. The agreement, which covers the Central Group herds located in the Northern Rockies and Peace area, will be a template for future agreements to protect the other groups of mountain caribou herds, including the southern herds in the Kootenays and Columbia region. …Without strong habitat protections, mountain caribou populations are expected to continue to decline, with many herds likely to be lost in the coming years. …“Logging, mining and recreation in the inland temperate rainforest add up to death by a thousand cuts for caribou.