Blog Archives

The company tasked with reviewing the City of Yellowknife’s response to last summer’s wildfires has released its report. KPMG’s Leon Gaber said a main finding was a lack of clarity over how roles and responsibilities were divided between the city and other agencies. “That’s a really important finding that I think is really critical to address,” he said. “It will really help, I think, the city and the territory writ large with respect to being more prepared, being more effective in a future evacuation or significant response.” Overall, KPMG identified 19 key strengths in the city’s emergency response and made 26 recommendations to address 35 areas for improvement. Strengths highlighted in the report include the use of a local state of emergency to re-allocate resources to wildfire protection efforts, and the way public communication about the re-entry plan was better coordinated compared to communication about the evacuation process.

VERNON, BC — Following a successful pilot project, Predator Ridge in Vernon, B.C., has announced the commercial installation of an AI-based wildfire detection system. Predator Ridge has commercially installed a Vancouver-based company’s SenseNet technology. The SenseNet is equipped with advanced sensors, AI algorithms and real-time data analysis to provide highly accurate and early alerts to wildfire. The installation follows the successful conclusion of a two-year pilot project with the City of Vernon, in partnership with Vernon Fire Rescue Services. Throughout the pilot, the SenseNet technology underwent extensive testing consistently demonstrating accuracy and speed in providing real-time data essential for deploying emergency response and protecting public safety. …One hundred sensors, five gateways and five cameras are installed around the entire perimeter of the resort providing early wildfire detection using gas sensing and thermal imaging. Vernon Fire Rescue will have 24/7 monitoring and management of the technology.

Following successful events in Oregon and the Okanagan, the “Deciduous Heroes” tour wrapped up in Prince George on Wednesday. Jen Côté of Moose, Mushrooms and Mud and local MLA and longtime trapper Mike Morris joined Stop the Spray B.C. founder James Steidle to talk about the value of deciduous trees sprayed with herbicides or suppressed with brush saws to grow conifer plantations. “The tour has been a real opportunity to connect with different communities throughout the Pacific Northwest who are facing similar issues,” says Steidle. “The common denominator is that the industrialization of our forests and discrimination against our broad-leaved deciduous species is having real impacts on communities and wildlife values.” Oregon and Washington State communities have seen heavy clearcutting and herbicide spraying of watersheds that provide communities with drinking water.

British Columbia recognized the Haida’s aboriginal title to their islands decades after the Indigenous group launched a battle on the ground and in the courts. …The Haida people have lived for thousands of years on Haida Gwaii, a remote archipelago in the Pacific Ocean off Canada’s western coast, just south of Alaska. Nearly wiped out by smallpox after the arrival of Europeans, the Haida clung to their land — so rich in wildlife it is sometimes called Canada’s Galápagos, coveted by loggers for its old-growth forests of giant cedars and spruce. For decades, despite their geographic isolation, the Haida’s unwavering fight to regain control over their land drew outsize attention in Canada. …The Haida opposed clear-cut logging, building ties with environmentalists. They forged alliances with non-Haida communities at home and found common cause with other Indigenous groups across the world. [to access the full story, a NY Times subscription is required]

PORT ALBERNI, BC — BC old-growth activists have taken before and after photos of a large area of an ancient grove that was clear-cut on Vancouver Island near Port Alberni in the Nahmint Valley. The Ancient Forest Alliance says that many of the massive trees that were cut down were over 500 years old, some being up to nine feet across. Now that the grove has been cut, they are urging the BC government to immediately correct misidentified at-risk old-growth forests that could be eligible for logging deferrals. The Nahmint Valley clear-cut spans 17.4 hectares. …The old-growth advocates added that BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the BC government’s own logging agency, owned and auctioned off this forest to the highest bidder. …The BC government has significantly ramped up their efforts to protect these at-risk areas over the past year. 

VANCOUVER, BC — Light filters through a canopy of towering Douglas firs. Trunks stretch upwards toward a band of blue sky. Bird song slices through the silence. We are instructed to stand still, feet planted in the earth, feeling the breeze on our skin, inhaling the scent of dirt and pine, listening to creatures scuttling in the undergrowth. …Despite first appearances, this is not the initiation ceremony of a tree-worshipping cult. Rather, I am taking part in guided forest-bathing in Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park, an old-growth temperate rainforest hugging the shores of West Vancouver. …The idea of guided forest-bathing might seem a little absurd. Why not just take a walk in the forest? Why the yoga mats and tree-focused meditations, intentional walks and guidance cards? …The practice, known as shinrin-yoku, originated in Japan in the 1980s in response to karoshi — death by overwork. 

A majority of B.C. residents support the province’s 30 X 30 conservation targets, suggests a new poll. The survey, conducted by Leger for Organizing for Change, a coalition of 12 B.C. environmental groups, found 85% of those polled support protecting 30% of land and water by 2030. …Protected areas now cover about 15.8% of the land base in B.C., which means the province would need to nearly double protected areas to meet its 2030 target. …This target aims to protect 30% of all land and water by 2030 in a bid to protect Earth’s biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The top areas that people support conservation in are habitats with species at risk such as old-growth forest (88%); areas of natural beauty and intact watersheds (86%); places where wildlife move between habitats (84%); outdoor recreation areas (81%); and culturally significant land to Indigenous people (67%).