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Mark Lebbell and John Henderson

The District of Sechelt’s consultation on the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) kicked off Monday with a world café event at the Seaside Centre. More than 50 people came out to offer opinions on five questions set by the district… Some of the ideas that came out included making sure the board of directors has a broader base of backgrounds and better gender balance, putting decisions about how to spend legacy funds into the hands of a community-based committee or group instead of Sechelt council, and even having the SCCF ownership expanded to the SCRD, where most of the logging tenure is located. It was also suggested by the people at one table that if the community can’t come to an agreement about the future of the Community Forest, it should be turned over the shíshálh Nation to manage.

Astroturf …the well-known artificial turf’s brand name has taken on a new meaning, referring to purported “grassroots” efforts that are actually funded and supported by industry and political entities. …campaigns involved in everything from forestry to fossil fuels look and feel “grassroots”, but many are anything but. In discussions about climate change and fossil fuels, for example, we see groups like Canada Action, Ethical Oil, Resource Works, the International Climate Science Coalition, Friends of Science, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, among others. It’s one tactic in the industry playbook. In a recent column, we discussed science-denial campaigns related to climate change and caribou-habitat protection. …In B.C., they go back [to] … logging in Clayoquot Sound. To counter massive protests, the Citizens Coalition for Sustainable Development, also known as Share B.C., was launched with support from and ties to the forestry industry, later spawning a number of “Share” offshoots.

The Deninu K’ue First Nation, in partnership with environmental research consultants LGL Limited, is launching a three-year study of how boreal caribou habitat recovers after a forest fire. The territorial government announced funding for the study earlier this month through its Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources says the program focuses “on understanding environmental trends and the cumulative environmental impacts of human and natural changes in the NWT.” Twelve projects researching fish, water, and caribou will split $760,000 in funding. Rosy Bjornson, who works for the First Nation and is from Fort Resolution, is helping to lead the caribou habitat study. “The goal of this project is to address knowledge gaps that limit our ability to ensure sustainability for boreal caribou in our traditional hunting areas,” she said. The study uses a mix of traditional knowledge and western science to monitor caribou habitat.

CALGARY — The Crown says a lack of oversight on the part of a world-renowned Alberta ski resort led to endangered trees being cut down five years ago. The Lake Louise resort in Banff National Park pleaded guilty in December to cutting down a stand of trees, including some whitebark pine, along a ski run in 2013. The resort will be sentenced on two charges — one under the Species At Risk Act and the other under the Canada National Parks Act. …The hearing is also to determine how many trees were cut down. …The maximum fine under the Species At Risk Act for each tree destroyed is $300,000, while the maximum per tree is $250,000 under the National Parks Act.

…In the United States… a recently released study of 1.5 million government records of wildfires over 20 years (1992-2012) shows that 84 per cent were human caused. …That study found that humans extended the forest fire season into the spring and fall, although the worst day for human caused fires is July 4 because of the heavy use of personal fireworks in that country. But, human-caused fires accounted for only 44 per cent of the total area burned. Lightning-caused fires burned the rest. …“Humans cause slightly more than half of all wildland fires in Canada, typically in populated forest and grassland areas,” states the Natural Resources Canada website. “Because of where these fires occur, they are usually spotted early and can be reached quickly by firefighting crews. Still, the threat they pose to human safety and property makes them a major concern for firefighting crews.”

B.C. Timber Sales is about to tender cutblocks in the Skagit Valley right beside Manning Provincial Park. Roadbuilding for logging high in the subalpine is ongoing as we write. This is against the interests of B.C. Parks and the requirements of the Skagit River Treaty. Premier John Horgan can stop it with a telephone call to the responsible minister. …A little known result of the Skagit River Treaty was creation of the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission… with a mandate to conserve and protect wilderness and wildlife habitat; enhance recreational opportunities in the Skagit Valley; and acquire mineral or timber rights consistent with conservation and recreation purposes. Yet B.C. Timber Sales, a branch of the B.C. government, is now attempting to frustrate that mandate, and the long-term objective of B.C. Parks, on lands formerly protected within Manning Provincial Park.

The province of British Columbia’s review of professional reliance in natural resource decision-making was released last week with 121 recommendations aimed at 51,000 professionals in engineering, geoscience, forestry, biology, agrology and applied science. …The review findings immediately provoked strong criticism from mining, forestry and business groups. Little wonder. In the first place, the process was spearheaded by environmental lobbyist Mark Haddock, a UVic academic with strong ties to the environment minister, George Heyman. …He is tied to West Coast Environmental Law, which is concurrently advocating for “a complete overhaul of BC’s environmental assessment law.” …The province of BC could not possibly have believed that, with his appointment, a neutral arbitrator was being put in charge of the review process. …If that obvious conflict of interest is not compelling enough, consider that Haddock is also an alumnus of Ecojustice, an advocacy group that is in the business of suing Canadian governments on environmental issues.