Christopher Lee
OTTAWA, ON−The Canadian Federation of Forest Owners is proud to announce the launch of the Christopher Lee Memorial Scholarship to recognize the achievements of dedicated, post-secondary forestry students, studying in Canada. This award honours the legacy of Christopher (Chris) Lee and celebrates his innumerable contributions in forestry to the advancement of social and economic development in communities across Canada. The Canadian Federation of Forest Owners (CFFO) exists today because of Chris’s vision and his belief that we are stronger together. “Chris was a strong believer in the future of forestry, propelled by a new generation of leaders making a difference in our world, by creating forest policy that provides sustainable solutions to climate change,” said Jean-Pierre Martel, Executive Director, Canadian Federation of Forest Owners. The $2,000 scholarship will be awarded each year to a post-secondary student enrolled in a forestry-related discipline at a Canadian university, college or technical school.
Port Alberni, B.C. – A new Indigenous-led approach to resource planning has launched on Vancouver Island that will be coordinated by C̕awak ʔqin Forestry Limited Partnership (C̕awak ʔqin Forestry; formerly named TFL 44 LP). C̕awak ʔqin Forestry will work with nations on whose traditional territories Tree Farm Licence 44 is located to develop an Integrated Resource Management Plan for forest and ecosystem management. The TFL 44 IRMP will consider the present and future needs of the nations and ecosystems while bringing together the teachings of the nations’ ancestors, the wisdom of the nations’ elders and the input of the nations’ citizens and members. …The plan will inform provincially-legislated processes such as forest landscape plans, old-growth management and on-the-ground operational planning to ensure long-lasting socio-economic, environmental and cultural benefits across the area. 
There were more questions than answers at the Feb. 17 Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District Timber Supply Review public information session. The online event was hosted by a handful of Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) staff to explain and get input on that review and a pilot-project Forest Landscape Plan in the district. Both will shape future forestry operations in the timber supply area (TSA) on the Coast. A couple dozen audience members signed in for the discussion. Multiple members of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Board and staff as well as representatives of local community and environmentally-focused groups attended. Those included the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society, Elphinstone Logging Focus, Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere Reserve, and others.
The importance of protecting and enhancing the ecological benefits of North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve was a strong theme during the first phase of the public-engagement process to determine the future of the reserve. Megan Turnock from Lees & Associates gave a presentation to the municipality’s committee of the whole on Feb. 8 summarizing the consultant company’s findings after hearing from 1,275 community members through an online survey, four online workshops and other outreach strategies. The consulting company was chosen by the municipality in 2019 to carry out the public-engagement process to help develop a management plan for the MFR. ….“Some participants are supportive of the current management of the MFR,” she said. …“Non-residents are saying they want to see changes in the MFR, while the residents generally want to see things progress they way they are,” Manhas said.
Stakeholders in the Woodlot Licence Program are still working hard to interpret and assess the ramifications of the Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations recent Old Growth Deferral and Recruitment strategy. It was set out in their document, A New Future For Old Forests. Industry experts predict that as many as 12,000 jobs could be lost as a result of this initiative… For many woodlot licensees, the consequences of this sudden policy shift will be terminal to their woodlot operations. As small-scale, area-based tenures, licensees can’t simply pull up stakes and move to a part of the Crown forest that isn’t under deferral or recruitment. …The province stands to lose some of the best Crown forest stewards…and small towns will be losing the economic benefits of small-scale forestry in their community. We asked licensees to explain the impact in their own words. We heard from Mark Adamson, Rod Blake, Stu Deverney, Kevin Webber, and John Marlow. 
Nelson’s fire chief submitted a report summer of 2021 regarding ways to mitigate wildfire threats. The Chief named water as the only proven effective way to battle wildfires once they flare. The Chief referred to rooftop sprinklers and large capacity pumps to move water from the lake to areas of the City under threat. In both instances, though, getting water where it’s needed is hampered by lack of pipe, pumps and infrastructure. …Our City is regarded as one of the most at-risk wildfire communities in all of Canada. …If water can minimize the threat of losing the city, how much would it cost for pumps to feed pipe, hydrants, and water cannons along the City uphill at the forest line? …Cost always emerges as the determining factor, and some will say they can’t afford a tax increase. But, what may be the cost of doing nothing?
A letter signed by 25 municipal officials from communities throughout B.C. urges the province to allocate funding to support its plans to defer harvesting in old-growth forests as part of the budget set to be released next week. The letter, addressed to Premier John Horgan, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy and other provincial officials, says significant funding is needed to support First Nations who would be affected by the deferral of old-growth logging in their territories. It says the government cannot ask communities that depend on logging to choose between logging and conservation when the latter is not economically viable, and adds that additional funds are needed to support workers in the forest industry. The letter was released by the Ancient Forest Alliance and signed by the mayors of Duncan, Port Moody and the Village of Tahsis.
I learned yesterday that the government is currently engaging with forestry districts to establish the allowable logging quotas for the next 10 years. I searched online but found it impossible to get the whole story. What I did find was that in each succeeding 10-year period, logging companies cut down more trees than in the period previous. …the amounts of timber logged are always higher than what the government considers sustainable. [With] fewer harvestable trees, companies are now taking them from sites that are less suitable for logging … I mention that because the Sunshine Coast Community Forest, once it is finished logging HM50, is planning to log the adjacent cutblock (HM70), which is even steeper and more unstable (it is literally a mountain of small rocks held in place by the forest). Logging should not be permitted there, and I join with ELF and others in calling on the SCCF to abandon that plan. 
Forest fires can have a significant effect on the amount of water flowing in nearby rivers and streams, and the impact can continue even years after the smoke clears. Now, with the number of forest fires on the rise in the western U.S., that phenomenon is increasingly influencing the region’s water supply—and has increased the risk for flooding and landslides—according to a UCLA-led study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers examined streamflow—a measure of water volume over time in rivers and streams—and climate data for 179 river basins. …Using a mathematical model they developed, the scientists discovered that streamflow in the years after a fire tended to be higher than scientists would expect based solely on 
The Oregon Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday in a case that has major implications for how the state manages forestland and whether counties can depend on timber revenue from state forests. The state of Oregon is challenging a 2019 jury verdict that required the state to pay more than $1 billion to a handful of timber counties who say they lost money as logging declined. Attorneys representing the state and 13 counties traded arguments before the court Tuesday morning. At issue in the case is whether Oregon breached a contract with these counties by failing to deliver sufficient revenue from harvesting timber on state forestland — and whether such a contract ever existed. …For years, logging state forests factored largely into the budgets of these timber counties and other tax districts and government entities that receive state forest dollars. …Timber sales dropped as protests, lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits led to tighter restrictions on logging in Oregon.
ARIZONA — After nearly a decade of delay, the plan to save the 64,000-acre watershed of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir from crown fire is finally lumbering into motion. Top Forest Service officials this week briefed Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Oak Creek) on the plans to finally award a thinning contract on 3,500-acre General Springs project in the heart of the watershed, thanks to a recent infusion of Forest Service funding included in the latest federal infrastructure bill. …Rep. O’Halleran said the Forest Service has made tremendous progress in refocusing its approach to the Four Forest Restoration Initiative since October, after giving up on the effort to find a single contractor who could thin millions of acres at no cost to taxpayers. ….O’Halleran said the Forest Service has promised to spend $50 million annually for the next five years to get 4FRI moving
WASHINGTON — Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Suzanne Bonamici this week asked the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture to follow congressional intent in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to protect and restore old-growth forests, as well as protect other carbon-rich mature forests in Oregon and nationwide. The Oregon lawmakers wrote that the U.S. Forest Service’s climate plan and 10-year wildfire strategy of hazardous fuel treatments and prescribed fire to reduce wildfire risks also must recognize the climate crisis and expand to include plans for mature and old-growth forests. …“The important climate and biodiversity values of old growth forests that Congress emphasized in this provision exist throughout the federal forests, not just in those areas most subject to fire, and not just in old growth forests but also carbon-rich mature forests”. 
Michael Hunter slammed a mallet onto a hand-held drum. Bam! Bam! …Hunter is tribal chairman of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and on this sunny Sunday, dozens of people clamored around him. Across Highway 1, nearly 50,000 acres of stately redwoods rose like a chorus of elders: Jackson Demonstration State Forest, the Pomo people’s ancestral land. …Hunter was kicking off a series of demonstrations here along the Mendocino Coast to protest the redwoods’ destruction from state-sponsored logging and research. …Those who oppose logging call it a greed-fueled operation that runs contrary to climate goals. Supporters see it as pragmatic management of a renewable resource. Now, Native American tribes indigenous to the area have joined the fray, demanding a say in the fate of their ancestral homeland. And state officials are listening.
State officials have filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Co., seeking reimbursement for nearly $33 million in costs to fight the 2020 Zogg Fire, which in 2020 killed four people and destroyed 207 buildings in Shasta and Tehama counties. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has calculated down to the penny its suppression, accounting, investigation, administrative and collection costs related to the fire, according to the lawsuit filed in Shasta County Superior Court earlier this month. …Cal Fire says a tree fell onto electrical lines along Zogg Mine Road in western Shasta County, sparking the blaze in September 2020. While the electricity had been shut off in some other areas in the county, in an effort to prevent fires being started by trees and limbs being blown by the wind into electrical lines, the power remained on in the area where the Zogg Fire started.
AUSTRALIA — Farmers and foresters will receive up to $86 million in seed capital under the federal government’s plan to grow the plantation timber industry and get its commitment to plant 1 billion trees before 2030 back on track. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be in Tasmania to announce the program, which the government hopes will spur the planting of 150 million trees by 2027. “Australia has 1.77 million hectares of plantations and we want that to grow further.” Mr Morrison said. …The Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20 torched tens of thousands of hectares of plantations and the construction industry is battling a shortage of softwood timber, used to build houses. “This program will create jobs in regional Australia, not just in the planting phase, but in 25 or 30 years’ time when that wood is harvested and processed,” said Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.
The changing climate is affecting our trees, forests and woodlands, how they grow and survive and the important ecosystem services they provide. For our forests and woodlands to thrive, adaptation measures must be considered carefully, and action taken. … Once the risks from gradual climate changes and more frequent extreme events have been assessed, the first step is to ensure that the objectives for the forest or woodland consider adaptation to climate change. Different measures will be appropriate for different woodland types and management objectives, and several measures may need to be combined. Management plans should identify the main risks and which measures are required. Once they are implemented, monitoring is important to build knowledge and inform future decisions. …