Category Archives: Forestry

Bob Brash

Two weeks ago, North Island MLA Michele Babchuk suggested that “more consultation needs to happen” in response to questions about the lack of meaningful consultation between government and affected stakeholders with respect to forest policy changes. Not only are we still waiting, but the MLAs assurances are cold comfort to those already adversely affected by policy changes announced so far without any kind of consultation whatsoever. Consultation does not happen on its own. It is a policy decision in itself, and Ms. Babchuk could and should take a more proactive stance and start the process in her own backyard where forestry continues to play an important role in the lives of many now, and for the foreseeable future.

A retired forester presented the Comox Valley Regional District board with some key findings from a study concerning four watersheds in the Fanny Bay area. The Beaufort Watershed Stewards 2021 Hydrological Health Report Card reveals potential issues with watershed health, specific to the elevated risk of high peak flows in associated creeks. It also illustrates that forest land ownership matters, specifically in terms of the rate of harvest. …The volunteer project was spurred by a Forest Practices Board report that found sediment from forest harvesting roads increased the risk to fish survival. It recommended an ECA percentage review. …Board chair Jesse Ketler said she and the local mayors were shocked to see the extent of logging in the region during a helicopter ride in the summer.

Larry Spencer (right)

Forestry workers took to the streets of Port Alberni on Thursday to protest a recent B.C. provincial government decision to defer old-growth logging for the next two years. The Dec. 9 rally was the second, and much larger, in two weeks designed to bring attention to the province’s deferral of logging on up to 2.6 million hectares of forest identified as rare, ancient or sustaining big trees. …the Council of Forest Industries estimates the number of jobs lost could be as high as 18,000. Well over 100 forestry … supporters lined Johnston Road in front of Mid Island-Pacific Rim MLA Josie Osborne’s office. …Larry Spencer has been working in the logging industry for 45 years and is a part owner in a forestry company. “I’m fourth generation Port Alberni. We’re good, hard working members of the community,” he said. “There was no consultation—nothing. Just let’s do it because of…a protest movement that was essentially started elsewhere. That’s the Fairy Creek protests,” he said.

Douglas firs in the wild are in danger. A “relatively new” fungal disease called Swiss needle cast disease is causing Douglas firs to prematurely shed, or “cast” its needles — and it’s spreading quickly. “It’s an epidemic status because a lot of trees are infected and it impacts the growth of the tree,” said Dr. Nicolas Feau, a scientist with Natural Resources Canada. Scientists first noticed the disease in Oregon and Washington roughly 20 years ago, but now it’s suddenly becoming a problem in B.C. “We think this change is related to a change in the climatic condition,” said Dr. Feau. B.C.’s now warmer winters and wetter springs are allowing the fungus to thrive. Cowichan Lake, Parksville, and Campbell River have been identified as some ‘Swiss needle cast disease’ hotspots on Vancouver Island. …B.C.’s Ministry of Forestry is already 4-5 years into breeding a Douglas fir type that is resistant to the disease.

CLINTON, B.C. — The 2017 Elephant Hill wildfire forced the village of Clinton to evacuate and left a path of destruction behind. Four years later, the Clinton Community Forest has been working to monetize even the trees that were completely scorched. “We have probably done 1,000 hectares or so,” said GM of the Clinton Community Forest Steve Law. “And that’s been the severely burned stands primarily.” Due to the threat of landslides along Highway 97, the community forest started clearing an area high above Clinton two years ago. The final product during the first phase of clearing only provided three-quarters of its original value, but it’s all that could be done. “The only thing we could do with it was biomass. It was shipped to Domtar to run their plant,” said Law. Harvesting the low-value fibre could only be done with funding from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC.

Eight provincial environmental organizations have joined their voices to call on the Nova Scotia government to impose an immediate moratorium on all forest harvesting on Crown lands until the Lahey forestry recommendations are fully adopted. “Enough is enough,” Raymond Plourde, senior wilderness co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, said …“Lahey’s recent evaluation report confirms what we have been seeing on the ground and what Nova Scotians across the province have been saying, reporting, defending, decrying and even going to court or jail for.” …William Lahey, the author of the report and president of University of King’s College, said … that little or no evidence exists of any significant change since his report was released three years ago.

Additional coverage in CBC: Environmentalists call for an end to cutting on Crown land until Lahey guidelines in place

Joe Alphonse

The Tŝilhqot’in government and the University of British Columbia signed an agreement to help with reconciliation efforts and incorporate more Indigenous values into research. A key part of the memorandum of understanding is to ensure research at UBC is undertaken with cultural sensitivity, free of racism and discrimination toward Indigenous people. “I think research should be culturally appropriate,” Tŝilhqot’in Chief Joe Alphonse said. “Often we see projects with no regard to our values and our ways of doing things.” Alphonse said not taking Tŝilhqot’in values into consideration has led to a place where they feel their territories, which are in the region around Williams Lake, have been greatly mismanaged, for example making clearcut logging decisions without consideration of protection of wildlife. …He said plans to change some courses at the university are still in the works but added that he was pleased by the movement to incorporate more Indigenous culture and history.

Currently there is a government ad on TV that depicts a “new vision for forestry.” … It is unfortunate this (B.C.) government, through this ad, is deliberately trying to mislead the people of B.C. What the government is not saying is the same rules for Coastal forests also apply to Interior forests. What this is doing is using the same old-growth parameters and applying them to the interior forests, when these are two totally different ecosystems. …  There has been four timber sales withdrawn from the Vernon Timber Sales office in the past few weeks. These timber sales would have generated close to $13.5 million in government revenue. … Make absolutely no mistake, the B.C. Forest Industry is about to be hit with an atmospheric river of government incompetence—thousands of lost jobs and millions of dollars of lost revenue, just what our province needs from this forest minister.

Huu-ay-aht Chief Robert Dennis

A Vancouver Island First Nation is 96 per cent OK with B.C.’s current old growth harvesting plan. The Bamfield-based Huu-ay-aht First Nations have decided to honour most of the B.C. provincial government’s recent decision on old growth forestry deferral. After reviewing maps provided by the provincial government to the Nation, Huu-ay-aht leadership determined 33 percent of old growth remains in their Hahuulthi (traditional territory) and TFL 44. Old growth refers to forests greater than 250 years old. Huu-ay-aht will defer harvesting for two years of 96 percent of the Technical Advisory Panel’s (TAP) proposed area, but they intend to harvest the remaining four percent. Anything less could adversely affect the nations’ economic development. Much of the area set aside for deferral is already protected under existing conservation measures or not planned for harvest in the next two years …

Katrine Conroy

Nechako Lakes Member of Legislative Assembly John Rustad had an opportunity to meet with Minister of Forests Katrine Conroy, to discuss the recent policy change deferring old growth logging. “I asked the minister if there any been any social economic analysis on the announcement of deferrals, what communities and companies would be affected, where the job losses will happen, and why is this decision a political decision when it should be based on science?” Rustad said. Rustad has been publicly fighting the policy change … due to the potential for job loss … in communities that are dependent on the forestry industry. …Rustad went on to say that he strongly believes the minister needs to accept responsibility for this chaos in the forest sector and back down on the old growth deferrals. In terms of a response to his comments and questions, according to Rustad, he was met with resistance from the minister.

Western Forest Products is again teaming up with community groups and First Nations partners across the areas it operates to give back during the holiday season. The company is contributing $100,000 to 30 community groups and First Nations partners to help provide food and toys for the holidays where they are needed the most on the coast of B.C. and Washington State. The company has donated $10,000 to the Campbell River Food Bank as part of this program. “We recognize the recent supply chain issues combined with higher-than-usual demand since the pandemic started puts additional strain on services accessed by those requiring support. This donation is one small way we can support individuals and families in need and spread some hope and happiness during the holiday season,” said Don Demens, President and CEO of Western.

CLINTON, B.C. — The charred remains from the Elephant Hill wildfire are still evident in the hills above Clinton. The 2017 blaze forced the village to evacuate and left a path of destruction behind.  Four years later, the Clinton Community Forest has been working to monetize even the trees that were completely scorched.  “We have done cutting three cutting permits. We have probably done 1,000 hectares or so,” said GM of the Clinton Community Forest Steve Law. “And that’s been the severely burned stands primarily.”  Due to the threat of landslides along Highway 97, the community forest started clearing an area high above Clinton two years ago.  The final product during the first phase of clearing only provided three-quarters of its original value, but it’s all that could be done.

A group of forest protectors and Sinixt land defenders are calling for an immediate halt to active logging of Old Growth in the Enterprise Creek watershed in the Slocan Valley.  Interfor’s cutblocks at the end of road in the Timber Creek drainage are in Englemann Spruce-Subalpine Fir (ESSFwc4) forest.   …The entire Enterprise Creek drainage has been damaged by extensive logging and forest fires (2011 and 2021). Last summer’s Rupple fire scorched another 2000 ha. “The living old growth they are logging are directly across the valley from a large burned stand,” noted Craig Pettitt, of the Valhalla Wilderness Society, “They should be salvaging the standing dead instead of decimating the Old Growth. ”  …When the B.C. government announced potential areas for deferral (temporary halt) of old growth logging and asked First Nations to respond, Autonomous Sinixt were not consulted.

John Rustad

The BC Liberals say that with Christmas fast approaching, thousands of British Columbia forestry workers are still waiting for Premier John Horgan and the NDP to tell them whether they have a job. “The NDP’s injection of chaos into the forest sector is now more than 30 days old, that was how long the minister said families would have to wait to see what tenure might be taken off the market, resulting in serious job losses,” says Nechako Lakes MLA and Opposition Forestry Critic John Rustad on Tuesday. …“The premier said no mills would close under his government, but the NDP now seem intent on managing the demise of the industry. We disagree. The industry is going to change, however, by working with all the stakeholders — not setting arbitrary dates and ramming legislation through — forestry will continue to be a major contributor,” said Rustad. 

SICAMOUS, B.C.: A wildfire risk reduction project, valued at almost $1 million, will provide greater protection from wildfires around the perimeter of Sicamous, and is close to wrapping up. The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) has funded the project which is helping to protect high risk areas as outlined in the District of Sicamous’ Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The work is providing greater comfort to not only forestry professionals and District staff who recognize the need for proactive action to reduce wildfire risk, but for citizens of Sicamous as well. …Dave Conly, RPF, Operations Manager with FESBC, said, “we know that with good planning and taking action to do the proper fuel management treatments, wildfire hazards can be reduced. From the beginning, our team has been impressed with how coordinated and collaborative the project has been with many groups and agencies to ultimately reduce wildfire risk in critical areas.”

Lorne Doerkson

Last week was the final week of the fall legislative session in Victoria. It was the last opportunity for MLAs to debate legislation this year… Unfortunately, whether by poor time management, or by design, the NDP found themselves short the time needed for MLAs to fully debate the bills that had been brought forward. Two of the bills in question focused on forestry and will allow for serious changes to tenure, definitions of “special purpose” areas, and many other topics of concern… They will have serious ramifications for the industry, possibly even leading to the loss of thousands of jobs. And yet, all of the changes were made behind closed doors and with no details given to those who would be impacted. …This is just the latest example of government taking little time to understand rural B.C., making decisions without a conversation with those who will be most impacted. 

In this week’s segment of Road to Recovery with Douglas Magazine, CHEK’s Jasmine Bala chats with Brian Menzies, executive director of the Independent Wood Processors Association of British Columbia. The Independent Wood Processors Association of BC (IWPABC) represents the province’s “higher value wood manufacturers that maximize the use of every stick of wood harvested,” according to its website. …Menzies discusses in this episode what a high value-based approach is in forestry management, old growth versus new growth, and some common misconceptions about the forestry sector.

Rachel Holt

Nelson ecologist, Rachel Holt, who served as part of a provincial government panel that mapped B.C.’s remaining old growth forest is concerned about the way the government has implemented the panel’s work. The Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel identified and mapped 2.6 million hectares of at-risk old growth forest. …But logging has not stopped …even temporarily. “They haven’t deferred anything,” Holt says. “[They are] not deferring unless [a First Nation] says they want to defer. So that’s the urgency, because those blocks are being logged, anywhere there is a cut block.” …the forests ministry stated: “At this time, licensees with previously approved cut blocks within the 2.6 million hectares are legally authorized to harvest timber within these cut blocks.” This is not what the technical panel recommended, which was that all current logging in areas indicated on their map should be deferred, Holt says.

Stewart Phillip

First Nations in B.C. are concerned with the government’s old-growth deferral process, believing that the province isn’t doing enough to protect forests. In November, the government approached First Nations with 26,000 square kilometres of old-growth forests at risk of loss of permanent biodiversity. They then gave the First Nations 30 days to decide if they supported logging deferrals in those areas. Many Indigenous people, including the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, believe that 30 days is not enough time to make such a decision, as Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said it was a “critically important discussion.” “The issue of old growth is, in many ways, the metaphor for the absolute neglect of the forest lands in B.C. for the last 50 years,” said Phillip. …Elected chairperson of the Squamish Nation, Khelsilem, said that 97 per cent of all old-growth forrest have been logged in Squamish territory.

The Government of Saskatchewan recently approved up to $1 million to fight the threat of mountain pine beetle in Alberta. This is the second year of a three-year agreement with the Government of Alberta to stop mountain pine beetle from spreading into Saskatchewan’s northern forests. “Recent studies have shown that our joint efforts are working by significantly slowing the eastern spread of the mountain pine beetle,” Environment Minister Warren Kaeding said. “Renewal of this agreement is a cost-effective, proactive approach that will continue to control beetle spread in Alberta, and support our efforts to keep it out of northern Saskatchewan.” Renewal of the Alberta-Saskatchewan agreement builds on long-standing co-operation on forest insects and diseases, and will support control efforts in areas of Alberta of most concern for the beetle’s eastern spread.