Category Archives: Forestry

The Ucluelet First Nation (UFN) is refuting old growth deferrals announced by the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development on Nov. 2, 2021.  In a Nov. 15 press release, UFN president Charles McCarthy said they refuse to accept the proposed old growth logging deferral within Ucluelet First Nation Traditional Territory.  “With no consultation in conjunction with First Nations, this mandate was unexpected and offers an unattainable deferral time of 30 days. 30 days is not enough allowable time to properly engage in the deferral and affects the time required to sufficiently access data, maps, and review overall impacts to harvest areas, within our Traditional Territory,” states president McCarthy in the press release.  The Ucluelet First Nation Government is currently in the process of negotiating new tenure on crown lands within their Traditional Territory.

TJ Watt

On an overcast day last August, TJ Watt made his way around the trunk of a giant western red cedar. In one hand, he clutched a yellow measuring tape. With his other, he pushed away a thick undergrowth of salal and ferns. “It’s a small hike just to get around this thing,” Watt called out. A moment later, he read the measurement of the tree’s girth: a whopping 11.6 metres. It was the biggest tree that Watt had found all day. To get here, he had hiked several hours off-trail, bushwhacking through dense, moss-laden rainforest, near Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island’s rugged west coast. The Victoria-based photographer and activist has spent much of the past 15 years searching for and photographing some of Canada’s biggest, oldest trees. The trees he finds are often upwards of a thousand years old and wide enough to drive a car through. 

On Nov. 18, the Forest Practice Board dismissed Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF)’s appeal regarding the approval of Sunshine Coast Community Forest’s (SCCF) cutblock HM50 near Trout Lake.  ELF filed the action on Oct. 22, claiming that Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District manager Derek Lefler, failed to exercise his discretion to defer approval of cutblock HM50 when ELF presented him with new information.   The appeal related to issues outside of the board’s jurisdiction, director of investigations, Chris Oman, conveyed in a Nov. 18 letter to involved parties.   “The approval of a cutblock through the issuance of a cutting permit is done pursuant to the Forest Act. As the complaint is not within the jurisdiction of the board, the board cannot investigate it,” said Oman’s letter.  

Arrowsmith Search and Rescue will be able to train for emergencies on the kind of land they tend to get called out to after signing a deal with Mosaic Forest Management for access to private lands on central Vancouver Island. The agreement, expected to serve as a template for more deals between Mosaic and other regional rescue agencies, gives the search and rescue group access to land between Cook Creek and Lantzville. “The ability to conduct crew training and practice scenarios in the areas where rescues will occur is invaluable,” said Arrowsmith Search and Rescue vice-president Nick Rivers. Rivers said volunteers must undergo extensive training … to be certified by Arrowsmith Search and Rescue. Domenico Iannidinardo, Mosaic’s chief forester, said the deal will allow the organizations to leverage the resources and strengths of each group for the benefit of public safety.

Additional coverage in press release: Mosaic and Arrowsmith Search and Rescue Reach Agreement On Training and Access

In spite of the B.C. government’s logging deferral of 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forests as a temporary measure to “prevent irreversible biodiversity loss” while developing a new forest management approach, local forest ecologists still have concerns over the health of the ecosystems surrounding Revelstoke. …Rosanna Wijenberg, forest ecologist… when compared to the condensed old growth forests on B.C.’s coast., the nature of the climate in the interior leads to fragmented patches of old growth forests. There are a number of those patches surrounding Revelstoke, mainly at Frisby Ridge. …According to Wijenberg the size designation used to classify a tree as old growth used on the coast doesn’t accurately represent the age of trees, both cedar and hemlock, in the inland temperate rainforest. …Wijenberg warned that the areas she visited are still not protected.

WFCA 2022 Conference: Changing land management strategy has to be one of the priorities we consider in becoming more resilient in the face of the future and its increasing natural hazards. This summer’s wildfire emergency—one of three in the last five years—has been instructive. We are now starting to look at forest management through the lens of natural disaster management. …Just what that might look like and how we would bring it about in practice will be the key policy theme for our WFCA 2022 Virtual Annual Conference and AGM next February. …2021 Forestry Sector Study: The 2021 Silviculture Labour Market Information was supported with funding provided by the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement in collaboration with the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association. An updated human resource strategy for the forestry sector as a follow-up to the LMI study is in the works and expected to be released early next year.

Westbank First Nation (WFN) are warning Kelowna residents they may see smoke in the next few days as WFN clears forests of materials that could feed wildfires. Nine parcels of land have been identified for management, beginning with Bear Creek and the WFN ‘Cut Off Lands’. The initiative is expected to last 10 days. “Small burn piles may be visible, and trails throughout these various work areas may be temporarily closed,” the WFN press release said. Staff from Ntityix Development Corporation and Tronson Logging LTD will be helping WFN conduct the project.

A woman who stuck her arm inside a “sleeping dragon” device while blocking a logging road in the Fairy Creek area … has been fined $1,500 in B.C. Supreme Court by a judge who called her and some of her co-accused “disciplined adherents to the standards of non-violent disobedience.” Nicole Jaques, 26, admitted to criminal contempt of an injunction granted in April to … Teal Jones, which bars people from blocking logging roads. … The judge said that as a group, those found to have been in contempt of court under the injunction are “respectful, intelligent, and peaceable by nature. And, following a recognizable tradition of those in the past who have been driven by their conscience and motivated by the common good to disobey laws, she now steps forward without complaint or hesitation to accept the consequences of her civil disobedience.” The $1,500 fine was required to maintain the rule of law, [the judge] said.

Headed along Humboldt Street towards the harbour, Patty Pan and several other people hold on to a log acting as a brace at the rear of a makeshift trolley as it carries a 1,300-pound slice from a felled Douglas fir tree. “I feel a little overwhelmed to be honest with you,” he said. “It was over a thousand years old, it’s hard to wrap our human minds around that.” Pan was among more than 100 old-growth forest proponents who made their way from Victoria’s downtown library to the legislature, disrupting traffic at multiple spots along the way on Wednesday. … As he helped direct the eight-foot-diameter log section, Pan said the slice of what was a 1,200-year-old tree was a symbol for how the protesters felt. “We’re here to show the government that we’re not going to put up with business as usual.”

Not too long ago we … went through a … strike that put thousands [of forest industry workers] out of work and had North Island communities on the brink of destruction. … This last down has got me amazed on how a group of individuals that have not contributed anything close back to the economy nor back to helping replant and rehabitat any of the forest lands, has got their way by creating destruction and spending tax payers’ money … All I’m asking is the word needs to get out there to stop the cutting of jobs … It’s time to help this quiet taxpaying community that puts food on their family table and supports these small towns to ensure these towns are here to stay … our government could not stand up to this group of protestors that have not brought any good to the area besides the garbage left behind from their so-called camps.

After the SDS Lumber Company announced it was selling its vast forest and mill assets last year, the collective freak-out that occurred across the southwestern Washington was understandable. After all, the private company headquartered in tiny Bingen, Wash., had been an economic and civic powerhouse in the region for 75 years.  New owners would mean … what exactly?   No one likes uncertainty.  With the sale of the company’s 96,000-plus acres of land to three separate entities finalized on November 17, details about the ownership transition are coming into focus. …The basics: the consortium of buyers is comprised of Seattle-based Silver Creek Capital’s fund Twin Creeks Timber; Carson, Washington-based WKO, Inc.; and Virginia-based The Conservation Fund. According to a press release issued jointly by all three buyers and SDS, now that the sale is complete, each entity will solely manage its own acquired lands or assets.

Ross Muirhead

The Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) decided to start road building and tree falling in HM50 four weeks ago, at the beginning of the rainy season. Was that a sound operational decision? They’ve already had to shut down several times due to rain storms, including the big one on Nov. 15.  Intense rainfall events are now commonplace because of climate change and yet SCCF wants to keep on logging “on behalf of the community” so they can hand out grants to nonprofits short on funds. However, what damage is being inflicted upon the landscape and down slope infrastructure?  …I documented a large volume of surface water from HM50 being directed into a culvert crossing Highway 101 and entering Kenyon Creek coming out of Trout Lake at a low flow. …Sometime on Nov. 15, the culvert and road at Redrooffs blew out.

We have developed this monthly newsletter to curate the good news stories we share throughout the province featuring FESBC-funded projects which are generating excellent economic, social, and environmental benefits. Stories are shared in collaboration with our project partners to highlight the exceptional work happening in our forests to reduce wildfire risk, enhance wildlife habitat, take action on climate change, and more.

• Association of BC Forest Professional’s features two FESBC projects
• A Seaton Forest Products story in Logging & Sawmilling Journal
• More burning needed to protect forests editorial in the 100 Mile Free Press 
• Clinton Community Forest approach to protect a village and create bioenergy 
• Look for our newest Winter Accomplishments Report landing December 1

REGINA, SK – Today the Brandt Group of Companies announced they are joining with the John Deere Foundation to support the immediate and emerging needs of communities impacted by the catastrophic flooding in British Columbia with a total $120,000 in funding for the Canadian Red Cross. “Stepping up when our employees, customers and the community needs us most is part of who we are at Brandt. As a family-owned company, we are proud to support the many families in the communities that support us in this time of need,” said Brandt CEO, Shaun Semple.

The Government of British Columbia recently announced the deferral of logging activity within 2.6 million hectares of B.C.’s old-growth forests. … The government has committed to develop a new approach to old-growth management that includes harvesting deferrals and further consultation. The … unknown future of the management strategies has caused significant concern in forestry-based communities across the province. In the information shared publicly to date, there are aspects of the definition of old-growth that are scientifically unclear. The Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC) and Association of Professional Biology (APB) believe the key to a successful strategy is one that supports all views and incorporates the best science and knowledge available, and encourage the B.C. government to have fulsome discussions and consultations with all stakeholders … The CIF-IFC and APB represent forest and biology practitioners across the country… Both organizations look forward to their members participating in this discussion in the future.

Lake Cowichan RCMP is investigating after a piece of logging equipment was heavily damaged in a fire in the Carmanah forested area on Nov. 11. The operator of the machine advised their employer, and the RCMP, that the buncher had last been in full functioning service the night prior, and when the operator arrived on the morning of Nov. 11 at approximately 5:30 a.m., they discovered the machine had been rendered inoperable from a fire. The equipment was working near the First Nation community of Ditidaht in a remote area, approximately a two hour drive from the Lake Cowichan RCMP detachment. The investigation is still ongoing and anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Lake Cowichan RCMP at 250-749-6668.

The idea of maintaining an ecosystem with controlled burns is not a new one. In fact it has been used by the Ktunaxa for generations. … In 2019, the Trust began working in partnership with ʔaq̓am to implement a five-year project to restore approximately 1,300 hectares of mature forest, open forest and open grassland—using prescribed burns and selective harvesting techniques—to improve biodiversity, reduce wildfire risk and enhance the overall health of this part of its traditional territory. The project is supported by the Trust’s Ecosystem Enhancement Program.  By thinning dense Douglas fir, the project aims to improve habitat … Prescribed burning increases soil fertility and, in this ecosystem has the potential to aid the growth of rare plant species … Reintroducing the practice of using fire in a controlled way … connects back to forest and rangeland management practices that have been implemented in the region by communities like ʔaq̓am for generations.

Burns Lake Community Forest (BL Comfor) is reporting that the K1A licence has received approval of its visual amendment request to implement phase two of its landscape fire mitigation efforts across the hills of Spud Mountain from Highway 16 to Tchesinkut Lake. On May. 15, 2019, B.A Blackwell & Associates delivered a comprehensive landscape fire report. The report provided an unbiased opinion, that identified 63 per cent of the landscape in the BL Comfor that was composed of hazardous fuel types, many of these areas of high hazard zones within designated reserves for other values including old growth management areas and established visual quality objectives. The Blackwell plan emphasizes that to ignore or restrict the treatment of these areas will limit the effectiveness of this plan and substantially limit suppression resource’s ability to contain catastrophic wildfire within this tenure.

On Nov. 22, North Cowichan began a public consultation on the future of its municipal forest lands, located on unceded Quw’utsun Nation territory. The community has a rare opportunity to set the vision for the future of this significant piece of forest land, as big as 12 Stanley Parks. … In an ecosystem where little old growth remains, North Cowichan’s municipal forests hold significant potential to become the old growth of the future.  The municipality has logged and replanted about 30 per cent of the area since 1987. Profits from selling the trees support municipal services and programs. Now, the municipality is consulting First Nations, the public and experts on how the forests can best be managed into the future. … It’s a chance to lead the way on how you bring a community together for a difficult conversation towards a shared goal: healthy forests that support healthy communities. 

After wildfire burns through a forest, a lot of debris and charred trees are left behind—which is true of the Elephant Hill fire in 2017. Often this charred woody fibre can burn again but is left and not salvaged as the economic cost of doing so outweighs the market value. The Forest Enhancement Society of BC actively seeks innovative solutions to these sorts of challenges. The Clinton Community Forest applied for funding to protect the community by recovering burned fibre, an opportunity to pilot a solution to this challenge. … “What started as a wildfire risk reduction project turned into an opportunity to also recover fibre,” said Ray Raatz, RPF, operations manager, FESBC. “This project showed not only what we can do to mitigate the risk of wildfire but also what can be done to recover and salvage fibre after a fire.”

Members of the local forestry community, along with elected officials for the Village of Burns Lake have expressed their concerns about the expected impacts of old growth logging deferrals to the area. According to Frank Varga, Burns Lake Community Forest (BL ComFor) general manager, the BL ComFor is expecting a five per cent decrease to its timber harvesting land base and 663,000 cubic meters of impact long term. In terms of dollar value, Varga says that it’s difficult to say due to the constant change in market conditions. “In today’s market [Fall of 2021] the volume … could be worth upwards of $5-6 million gross value standing.” Lakes District News reached out to the Ministry of Forests … to ask why forests around Burns Lake are being included in the areas to be deferred …

Eddie Huband

In the wake of the government’s recent announcement on deferrals for old growth logging, it’s been a real eye-opener for me personally, to see how many local industry leaders, as well as elected officials, have major concerns regarding potential impacts to the area. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying my pre-conceived ideas from following this on-going issue from afar have been completely changed since moving out here and covering the local area. I’ve learned so much about the complexities of the industry, and most of all, how crucial it is to the economy of an area like this. Growing up in an place where there was virtually no logging industry, I never was able to see this perspective, and as someone who identifies environmentalist ideals, I was always pro-old growth preservation. … [but] people could lose jobs, and entire communities that have been built by the logging industry will be threatened.

Wildfire is one of the major threats to life in the West Kootenay.  Despite living in a temperate rainforest, drought and dry conditions due to climate change have increased the threat of wildfire events over the last few years.  In response to that growing threat many Kootenay communities and local governments have been proactive, performing “fuel treatment” in forested areas where they border settlements.  …Called Bannock in Bloom, the test model for agroforestry is being put forward at Bannock Point, a Crown-owned recreational area south of Silverton. …This will result in the planting of a mix of native and non-native plants — such as salmonberries and walnut trees — among trees in the area thinned for fuel mitigation. …The idea was first brought to light two years ago when Gerald Cordeiro, forest development manager for Kalesnikoff, proposed a similar idea for the Selous Creek fuel treated area above Nelson