Category Archives: Forestry

Two wildfires start a decade apart. Both are ignited by railway operations… In the first … the province would eventually order Canadian National Railway to pay $16,000 for damages. The next — despite growing to 2,200 hectares, roughly half the size of its predecessor — would cost the company more than $16 million. …But in this case, one of the main factors in CN’s cost disparity was a document signed between B.C.’s Ministry of Forests and the Canadian National Railway in 2005 and abandoned by the railway company in 2013. Titled “Fire Control and Cost Sharing Agreement,” it was an insurance policy of sorts. CN rail would pay upfront for a portion of the province’s wildfire prevention costs each year. In exchange, the province waived responsibility for costs incurred fighting fires caused by CN operations. But details about why it ended or whether it could have made railway companies more accountable for wildfire management are mysterious…

A B.C. couple has gifted a large parcel of land near Bella Coola containing pristine old growth forest and rich riverside habitats to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.  Harvey and Carol Thommasen donated the 122-hectare parcel, now called the Snowshoe Creek Conservation Area, through the federal government’s ecological gifts program.   Steven Godfrey, the West Coast program director with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, said the couple were “impressive naturalists” who bought the land with the intention of protecting it.   “[It is] a very significant gift,” said Godfrey.   The land is part of the Bella Coola valley, with floodplains and riverside habitats and old growth forest. It is home to five species of Pacific salmon, grizzlies and multiple species of birds.  As a fertile valley, however, there are potential industrial uses that can threaten its ecological integrity.

Effective immediately, Diane Nicholls, British Columbia’s chief forester, has set a new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 33. The new AAC is 23,160 cubic metres, an increase of approximately 10% from the previous AAC of 21,000 cubic metres, set in 2011. The increase reflects updates to the inventory information used in the analysis. This decision maintains a stable timber supply and accounts for forest health factors and the protection of non-timber values. This includes cultural resources, wildlife habitat and old-growth forest, and established land-use objectives. There are several First Nations whose territory overlaps with TFL 33, including the Adams Lake Indian Band, Little Shuswap Lake Band, Neskonlith Indian Band and Splatsin Band. Prior to this determination, First Nations were consulted regarding the Information Package and Draft Management Plan, in accordance with current provincial guidance. TFL 33 is held by Canoe Forest Products Ltd. and is located north of Sicamous along the eastern shore of Shuswap Lake.

It was a record-breaking year for black bear sightings in B.C., with nearly 20,000 reports of bear sightings in communities around the province. Black bears, much like the people, were greatly affected by the harsh summer in 2021. Wildfires, billowing smoke, and higher-than-normal heat changed many of the bear’s normal habits by affecting their natural food sources, and in some cases, destroying their habitats. According to Vanessa Isnardy, of WildSafeBC, this year the province saw a rise in the number of bears seeking food sources all over B.C., from the west coast all the way to the interior. …According to Isnardy, relocation has not been proven to be very effective with bears. When they know they can find food in a community, they will return, especially when there’s not a lot of natural food available. WildSafeBC focuses on educating the public on what they can do to bear-proof their property.

Stephen Sheppard

Angela Han

…the devastation in B.C. from atmospheric rivers is a strident and urgent wake-up call to not only slash our carbon footprints in half by 2030, but also to climate-proof our communities. …While there has been criticism of the early warning systems intended to alert people at imminent risk, a bigger problem is that many B.C. municipalities still haven’t conducted vulnerability assessments or developed comprehensive adaptation plans. This is a new but necessary responsibility for which capacity-constrained municipalities need support. …A new  University of B.C. faculty of forestry Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) study outlines these achievable synergies between COVID recovery and climate change solutions, and shows they apply to the rebuilding and restoration of infrastructure, communities and ecosystems in B.C.’s currently affected areas. …The combined impact of the November floods and the pandemic call for a comprehensive reset on climate action to climate-proof our communities by 2030.

Walking around Grand Forks, BC you can still see and feel the impacts of the devastating 2018 floods. …Fast forward to 2021, when another deadly storm devastated B.C.’s Interior and Fraser Valley in November. …Again, the unfortunate collision of natural events were only part of the story in both scenarios. While the impacts and cleanup are still ongoing, some are blaming the way humans have changed the landscape for exacerbating the flooding. In the case of Grand Forks flooding in 2018 a connection between clearcutting and flooding has been made. As a result, residents have even filed a class action lawsuit against the province and the logging companies that operated in the area. Now, both residents and the provincial government are paying closer attention to the impact that clearcutting can have.

PRINCE GEORGE – Thirty-three forest industry reps were interviewed by the City recently as part of its five-year strategy and the message overwhelmingly was that forestry is still alive and well. “We heard that forestry is not a sunset industry,” says Melissa Barcellos, Manager of Economic Development. “It’s changing and businesses acknowledge that it’s changing. They appreciate why and they’re okay with that.” But it isn’t an industry without its fair share of challenges around things like labour and climate change and access to fibre is a big one. And last month, the Province added to that list in announcing the old-growth deferral, which pulls more than two million hectares of timber off the market. Industry experts predict more than a dozen sawmills and even a pulp million may disappear. Mayor Lyn Hall has joined with mayors from other potentially-impacted communities, saying the lobbying is not over.

Richmond, BC – Today Paper Excellence announced the donation of $50,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation to support regeneration and recovery of wild Pacific salmon. These funds will support the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Community Salmon Program which supports volunteer and community–driven organizations that undertake salmon conservation and restoration projects. “With half of Pacific salmon populations in a serious state of decline, we welcome the generous donation from Paper Excellence, which will advance vital community-based salmon enhancement and conservation activities,” said Michael Meneer, President & CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation. “The Community Salmon Program supports more than 300 volunteer-led programs in B.C. with dedicated individuals committed to improving salmon habitat and survival.”  “We value protecting our freshwater and marine environments that represent our critically important wild salmon habitat,” said Graham Kissack, Vice President, Environment, Health & Safety, and Corporate Communications.

Eddie Petryshen

An all too familiar charade from the forest industry continues to paint environmentalists and the protection of irreplaceable forests as a major driver of current and future job losses in the forest sector.  Forestry workers and communities have every right to be upset — we’ve lost nearly 50,000 jobs in the forest sector since 2000.  But the problem is not environmental protection, it’s corporate investment, automation, poor management decisions and B.C.’s largest forest companies no longer being as invested in our communities as they once were.  Over the last twenty years, B.C.’s largest forestry companies have used their record breaking made-in-B.C. profits to invest in mills in the United States and Europe while closing B.C. mills.  Since 2005, 35 sawmills in B.C.’s interior and nine on the coast have permanently shuttered. 

A B.C. conservationist is sounding the alarm about logging and climate change, with a warning that logging roads built on hillsides can increase the frequency and severity of landslides. Concerns have been raised in the past by B.C.’s independent watchdog for forestry management practices about unsafe logging roads being built. The issue is becoming more pressing as weather becomes more severe and accessible timber is depleted, causing logging roads to be built on ever steeper terrain, says Peter Wood with Canopy Planet. …Wood says roads built on a slope interrupt the natural flow of water. …The B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development acknowledged in a statement to CBC that logging practices increase the risk of flooding. …Younes Alila, a UBC professor in the department of forest resource management, said there are steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of landslides while logging sustainably.

TERRACE, BC — A SkeenaWild Conservation Trust project saw workers breaking beaver dams and restoring the ecosystem of Willow Creek this summer. The work was focused on the riparian zone of the creek — the area directly on either side of the creek that influenced by water. …Willow Creek is located north of Terrace, and is a tributary of Spring Creek, which is in turn a tributary of the Kitsumkalum River. Sarah Railton, the registered professional forester contracted to work on the project. …In June, Skeena Wild received a $125,000 grant to restore the creek. Funding was through the Real Estate Foundation of BC and Watersheds BC’s Healthy Watersheds Initiative, with financial support from the provincial government.

The downtown area of “Tree Farming Country” was taken over Wednesday by a large group of forestry workers, family members, politicians and other supporters of the industry. Due to the B.C. government announcing an old growth deferral back in November, roughly 60 to 80 people gathered together on a chilly afternoon in Port McNeill across from the IGA parking lot to show their support for the forestry industry. …While B.C. environmentalists and Indigenous leaders have criticized the policy as not going far enough in terms of protecting old growth, those rallying in Port McNeill were definitely in the corner of business interests who say it will be devastating. Port McNeill mayor Gaby Wickstrom … noted her family has strong ties to the forestry industry … she and councillor Shelley Downey were at the rally holding signs “to support the industry and the men and women that work in it.”

This week’s question comes from Trip Kennedy in Victoria, British Columbia. He asks: With all the recent attention being paid to climate change and decarbonizing our atmosphere, I am curious, which takes more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere – 100 hectares of mature old growth forest, or 100 hectares of young forest? Gregory Paradis, a forester, engineer, and assistant professor of forest management in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC has an answer. …Young vigorous stands grow and sequester carbon at maximum speed. …Paradis said that research has shown that the optimal landscape-level carbon sequestration policy may be to harvest and replant stands when they reach their peak growth rate. This is typically between 80 and 120 years old … much younger than what is typically called old growth. Ideally we would use the harvested forest material … to displace as much fossil fuel, steel, and concrete as possible, to reduce carbon dioxide releases.

Protests over old-growth timber harvesting are nothing new in British Columbia (BC). As in Washington, Oregon, and California over the past four decades, protesters have held rallies, set up blockades, and otherwise done all they could to halt the cutting of large, old trees. …On November 2, the BC Ministry of Forests… announced that it would “work in partnership with First Nations to defer harvest of ancient, rare, and priority large stands of old growth within 2.6 million hectares of BC’s most at-risk old-growth forests.” …Reaction to the old-growth harvest deferral was swift.

The shut down of Paper Excellence’s long-standing pulp and paper mill in Powell River, putting more than 200 employees out of work, must be of concern for workers at the company’s pulp and paper mill in Crofton. …I’m no forestry genius, but… it’s become clear to me… that the industry in B.C. is cyclical in nature and bad times almost inevitably turn to good times again eventually. I’ve seen miracles and phoenixes rising from the ashes in the forest industry over the years, and one that stands out is the Harmac pulp and paper mill in Nanaimo. In the spring of 2008, Harmac was shut down when its parent company Pope & Talbot went bankrupt, leaving 530 workers without a job. …the mill’s employees banded together to take over Harmac themselves and began searching for private investors. …A bit of ingenuity and a determined attitude can go a long way in hard times.

If you’ve ever wanted a job that will push you to the absolute limit, the BC Wildfire Service might have an opening for you. The provincial wildfire agency is hiring smokejumpers – front-line firefighters who parachute into remote fire zones, where they work unsupported sometimes for weeks at a time. “It’s certainly not for everyone, but for people who like it, I think most of us would tell you we love it and there’s nothing like it,” Greg Jones, a veteran smokejumper. The BC Wildfire Service employs about 70 smokejumpers every season, operating out of bases in Fort St. John and Mackenzie. …Beyond the jumping aspect, candidates must be extremely fit and be willing to spend days or weeks in the backcountry carrying their own gear, sometimes over mountains.

Bob Brash

I feel the need to respond to a letter appearing in the Prince George Citizen (Rob Mercereau, Logging practices aren’t sustainable) which shows a tremendous lack of empathy for thousands of forest workers who face the prospect of losing their livelihood. To be clear, the Truck Loggers Association of B.C. share the belief that critical at-risk old growth should be protected. …we have called for a collective vision for forestry that would ensure the livelihood of B.C. forest workers and resource communities while also addressing society’s expectations of B.C.’s forest-management. We asked for meaningful collaboration among all key stakeholders, including First Nations, community groups, licensees and non-government organizations … to find a solution that works for everyone. …To not explore and work with those in forestry will inevitably lead to failed policies and consequential impacts to communities and people the government purports to support.

No one can deny the growing support for Indigenous-led resource projects. … Unfortunately, there is virtually no media coverage of the positive things Indigenous communities and industry are doing together to move reconciliation forward. … The media loves to showcase protests and give platforms to activists who claim to be supporting the Wet’suwet’en people by shutting down government buildings and blocking railroads and highways. This is not reconciliation. In fact, it is doing significant harm to Indigenous peoples. … People are being led to believe we are all against resource development, which is simply not true. … Most of our communities are in favour of responsible resource development, as shown in elections, referendums, community meetings and polls. Indigenous people also care immensely about protecting our environment. We have been taking conservation seriously for the last 10,000 years. But we also need a vibrant economy that can support us.

Like many British Columbia residents, Tanya Taylor grew up swimming in rivers. … she moved to Nanaimo as an adult and quickly discovered one of the city’s crowning features — a stunning 78-kilometre stretch of winding river … spilling out into the Nanaimo River estuary … Red Gate  is one of the most popular of the dozens of swimming holes that dot the river … Two years ago, Taylor was alarmed to find flagging tape on some of the trees … After calling Mosaic Forest Management, which oversees the land for logging companies Island Timberlands and TimberWest [who own the land], she received confirmation from a representative that the area was slated to be logged … Mosaic told The Discourse via email that “due to legal liability and environmental risks — such as forest fires, illegal dumping and lack of washroom facilities, they “[do] not endorse public access to these areas” and to do so is technically trespassing.

Cowichan Tribes member Tl’ul’thut (Robert) Morales is the chief negotiator for the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (HTG), which is made up of member nations Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Lyackson, Ts’uubaa-asatx, and Penelakut. …  About 85 per cent of their traditional territories, which include valuable forest and watersheds, were privatized at the turn of the last century as part of the E&N land grant. … Dunsmuir and E&N were the major beneficiaries of the grant. Since then, it has passed from one corporate ownership to the next … but generally, … corporate ownership overall has stayed intact. … Not only are First Nations questioning the grant, and opposed to the grant, but … non-First Nation citizens are also in the same predicament: here is a huge tract of Vancouver Island that is in the hands of private forest companies, and they can do whatever they want on those lands. 

Deferring the harvest of old-growth trees near Revelstoke is a step in the right direction says Splatsin Kukpi7 (Chief) Wayne Christian [who] made this comment in response to BC Timber Sales’ decision to defer the harvest of 14 proposed cutblocks by Argonaut Creek near Revelstoke. … Christian, who is also chief of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, said “work must continue to protect the old-growth interior temperate rainforest and vital caribou habitat. We want to protect these areas long-term … Many areas in between the proposed deferred cutblocks… do not necessarily possess old-growth characteristics but provide vital habitat and connectivity for southern mountain caribou.” … Splatsin would like B.C.’s old-growth forest review to align with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the recommendations of the Gorley-Merkel Old Growth Strategic Review report, and to protect remaining old-growth forests that support critical southern mountain caribou habitat.