Region Archives: Canada

I read with concern Will Johnson’s latest coverage on Ymir’s struggle to protect their fragile water supply. What’s unclear is why ILMA and BCTS “need” to log in our watersheds. Is it because all of the low hanging fruit lie in our watersheds? Is it because there is easy access in watersheds, access and infrastructure communities have built to protect their water? Why are BCTS and ILMA getting a pass on tax payer improvements? We are not, as Mr. Kalesnikoff suggests, “all on the same page.” Nor are Mr. Laroche and Ms. Mungall’s reassurances that the process will sort this out soothing. ILMA, BCTS and FLNRO are more than capable of hijacking that process. Examine the record.

A Fort Langley man who was a pioneer in Fraser Valley sawmills will be in Langley Saturday with copies of his new autobiography.It Can Be Done: An Ordinary Man’s Extraordinary Success is out now from Harbour Publishing. Donald “Chick” Stewart of Stewart and Rempel Sawmills wrote the book. …S&R Sawmills grew from one mill to five along the Fraser River and a workforce of more than 500 by the 1990s. Along the way, Stewart had some interesting adventures – including the time he headed down to the Co-op in Langley to buy some dynamite, to free up the mill’s logs from the ice on the frozen river.

The Board received a complaint from two water users on McClure Creek, north of Kamloops, about increased sediment loading in the McClure Creek drainage following harvesting and road construction by International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor). The complainants were concerned that the activities have resulted in a buildup of sediment at their domestic water system’s dam and water intake. The Board examined the licensee’s forest operations on the ground, and their planning activities at the cutblock and watershed level.

Five helicopters and 43 firefighters are working to fully contain a wildfire near Coleman, about 230 kilometres southwest of Calgary. The province lifted the final evacuation orders for the Crowsnest Pass region Thursday morning, allowing all residents to return to their homes. The local state of emergency for the area was cancelled Thursday evening. The fire is now classified as being held. Highway 3 has been reopened, but the province is warning motorists to proceed with caution while driving through the area.  Evacuees are being asked to obtain re-entry information packages from the municipal office before returning home and are asked to avoid the area if possible to allow fire crews to continue working. …Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter told CBC News that while the past few days have been stressful, he’s grateful the municipality had no casualties and no homes were lost.

Youbou residents are circulating a petition to urge TimberWest not to log the southern slope of Mount Holmes above the community. According to Kim Ring of the Save Our Holmes action group, the petition is worded as a letter to the forest company. It explains they became organized after the recent town hall meetings initiated by the company Aug. 28, Sept. 7 and 20. …Residents tell TimberWest they are pleased with the idea of paving the road from Youbou to Cottonwood Creek. …“From these meetings arose the very real threat of logging the south slope of Mount Holmes and a community wide awareness of the impact this would have on our community.

James Hargrave

A volunteer firefighter from southern Alberta died while battling a blaze that straddled the border with Saskatchewan Tuesday night — one of almost a dozen windswept wildfires that forced hundreds of people to flee and torched homes in several communities. RCMP announced Wednesday afternoon that James Hargrave,a 34-year-old volunteer firefighter with Cypress County Fire Services — which handles the southeast corner of Alberta — died as he worked to fight a wildfire that started near Hilda. …On Tuesday, fires were burning across the province from the Alberta Foothills in the west to the Saskatchewan border in the east. Officials issued numerous evacuation orders in communities that were in the path of the flames…

Local and provincial firefighters battled at least five major blazes in the southern half of Manitoba on Wednesday. However, at least two potentially dangerous wildfires fanned by winds gusting up to 80 km/h were reporting happy endings by late Wednesday afternoon. In Belair Provincial Forest, fire charred about 15 acres of forest before crews brought it under control. “It’s basically a matter of putting out hot spots and embers now,” said Mark Sinclair, chief of the East Beaches Fire and Rescue, late Wednesday afternoon. “Considering the winds we had, everything worked out really well.” On the west side of the province, fire threatened the town of Camperville, on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipegosis, all day Wednesday. “It looks like it’s tapering off,” said an official at the town office, who was interviewed late Wednesday afternoon. However, the strong winds made everyone cautious about declaring victory too soon.

What’s a community forest? What’s involved, who’s involved, and what are the benefits? Residents in the Northern Rockies are encouraged to attend an open house Thursday night at the Phoenix Theatre to learn those answers and more about the push to develop a community forest in the region. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality has partnered with the Fort Nelson First Nation to try to secure a 25-year provincial community forest agreement that would allow the partnership an annual allowable cut of 185,000 cubic metres of timber. “At its core, community forestry is about local control over and enjoyment of the monetary and non-monetary benefits offered by local forest resources,” reads a brochure to be distributed at the meeting.

Torrance Coste

Mark Worthing

Last March, we travelled to northern Vancouver Island and hosted four public meetings about logging in the span of five days. The topics? The loss of old-growth rainforests, raw-log exports, and how unsustainable forestry is affecting ecosystems and communities up and down the Island. The meetings were tense, emotional and exhausting. There was pushback against a lot of our message, and many conversations were raw and difficult. We learned a tonne. In a few weeks, we’re going back to do it again. The vast majority of Vancouver Island’s original forest has been logged. One way or another, the end of old-growth logging is coming. We have to talk about what this means. We have to talk about how communities adjust so that the trend of shuttered businesses and shrinking logging towns doesn’t continue to grow.

The B.C. government’s response to unprecedented spring flooding and a devastating summer of wildfires will soon be examined in an external review commissioned by the province. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson confirmed the review Tuesday. “Just the scope of the natural disasters, going from the flood into the fires, we felt it demanded an indepedent oversight review,” he said. B.C. communities, particularly in the Interior, coped with widespread flooding in May and June, followed almost immediately by the worst wildfire season the province has ever seen. …John Rustad, the Liberal MLA for Nechako Lakes calls the review “much needed.” …Donaldson hopes the independent review will be ready for the spring, so any recommendations can be applied to next year’s fire season.

The B.C. government’s decision to reduce the annual allowable timber harvest in the Prince George region by a third isn’t as drastic as it appears, Forests Minister Doug Donaldson says. The allowable harvest level has been unusually high to allow for salvage harvest of beetle-killed timber in the vast northern region, which includes Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Fraser Lake and other small communities. …“I think most licensees knew that there was an uplift due to the pine beetle salvage situation, so the chief forester has made her determination,” Donaldson said. “That’s a statutory decision-making authority that she has to take that into account, not only the sustainability of the cut but the social and economic factors as well.” …Donaldson declined to comment on the possibility of further closures.

Firefighters are battling a massive blaze in the Bélair Provincial Forest, northeast of Grand Beach. The fire covers about four hectares of forest and gusting winds have whipped up the flames, East Beaches Fire and Rescue Chief Mark Sinclair said. “The fire is crowning to the tops of the trees. We have had to pull all of our firefighters back [some distance] just to protect themselves,” he said. A passerby noticed the flames on the east side of Highway 59 and called the Grand Beach fire department around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday.

…“We were eagerly waiting to see strong caribou range plans, but that didn’t happen,” said Kecia Kerr, executive director of the Northern Alberta Chapter for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. …Brent Wittmeier, spokesperson for Alberta Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips, said the province would release the Little Smoky and A La Peche Caribou Range Plan in the near future. “The current federal government has made it clear that Alberta needs to follow through with plans to protect our 15 caribou ranges, but has also recognized that necessary work is well underway after years of inaction under the previous government,” Wittmeier said.   …Ray Hilts is the director of the Alberta Forest Alliance, which represents regional forestry businesses. He said the delay wasn’t necessarily bad since caribou recovery is complex. 

The Canadian Women in Timber are born of the forest. Each and every one of our members is connected to this vast natural resource. We reserve a Wednesday in October to pay homage to the sector that supports our families, our communities and our province. So join us in celebrating Forest Awareness Day.

EARTH-i today announced that it has been appointed by the Ministry of Environment for the Province of Saskatchewan to help monitor the logging of trees across a forested area of some 3500km². Earth-i will be supplying high-resolution images that will enable the Ministry to prevent illegal logging – and ensure sustainability and compliance. Canada is the world’s largest exporter of softwood lumber. Its forests account for 9% of the world’s forest cover and 40% of the world’s sustainably managed forests. To help protect its commercial forests from over-harvesting, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Environment has been using satellite images for several years.

An open house about the Mountain Pine Beetle on Oct. 11 at the Hinton Centre gave citizens an update on the situation in Hinton and the surrounding area. Representatives from West Fraser, the Town of Hinton, Yellowhead County, the Government of Alberta and fRI Research were on site. Hans van Klaveren, parks, recreation and culture manager for the Town of Hinton, said that the town removed just under 1000 trees from town-owned and private lots in Hinton last spring. …Mayor Rob Mackin said that Hinton is the “epicentre” of Mountain Pine Beetle in Alberta, and that the focus now has to be on all levels of government and industry working together to combat the problem.

Another First Nation community in the Cariboo Chilcotin has declared a ban on moose hunting within its traditional territory. The ?Esdilagh (Alexandria) First Nation located along the Fraser River between Williams Lake and Quesnel, announced Monday they made the decision following a community meeting held Oct. 5. “The community discussed this season’s wildfires, the effects it has had so far within their traditional territory and the devastating impact it will have on moose,” stated a press release from ?Esdilagh. “Moose populations in ?Esdilagh’s territory are already at an unprecedented low level, and as a result of the 2017 firefighting, there are many new roads and access to sensitive moose habitat.”

Canfor and the forest products industry relies heavily on the skilled trades’ workforce. As a result, Canfor continually looks for ways to support the success of this important sector of our industry’s workforce. One recent example is through an equipment donation to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Williams Lake, BC. Canfor donated a Vollmer CHC20 top and face grinder. With this donation, students will be able to learn how to operate, repair and make adjustments to this machine, which is one of the important machines used by saw filers. Before it was donated, Canfor partnered with HMT Machine Tools Canada to rebuild the grinder. The work done by HMT will prolong the life of this equipment and ensure the learning environment suitably mimics the real-world.

Woodlot licensees from around British Columbia met at Sun Peaks Resort on Oct. 1-3 for the 30th annual Federation of BC Woodlot Associations and 20th annual Woodlot Product Development Council general meetings and conference. This year’s theme, which marked two important anniversaries but was also shadowed by an unprecedented wildfire season in the province, was “Achieving Peak Performance.” …Representatives from municipal and provincial governments, stakeholders in agriculture and forestry met to consider the increasing demands facing B.C.’s forests and share ideas on upholding the social license by balancing sustainable forest management with environmental, social and economic values. 

The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) and the City of Williams Lake introduced Resolution LR2 at the recent UBCM Convention that called for changes to the Forest & Range Practices Act, to include regulations that initiate a Fire Mitigation Strategy. Noting he spoke to the resolution from the UBCM floor, CRD chair Al Richmond says there has to be change on how the forests are managed. The resolution would prioritize public safety over other forest management initiatives, including harvesting and reforestation of the affected areas.