Category Archives: Forestry

Mosaic’s second annual Citizen of the Year Award recognizes a Mosaic employee who has made a meaningful contribution to the well-being of their community. We are pleased to announce that the 2021 Mosaic Citizen of the Year Award goes to Contract Manager for South Island Operations, Chris Vukovic! Chris was nominated for his many volunteer efforts, including for the John Howard Society’s meal programs offered through the Nanaimo 7-10 Club. The John Howard Society provides hot food to families and individuals living on fixed incomes, persons with mental illness and other disabilities, individuals with substance use challenges, and people without housing.  Eight years ago, Chris and his partner took over coordinating the program. Chris will direct his $2,500 Citizen of the Year award to the Nanaimo 7-10 Club Society. Thank you, Chris, for your efforts in supporting the wellbeing of those in need in your community. 

Maude Barlow has a new book (2019) entitled Whose water is it anyway? that describes the Blue Communities Project started in Canada and now growing throughout the world where there are three primary concerns. …The importance of forests in the terrestrial water cycle was nicely displayed on one of the signs along the new trail around two ponds in the Flat Rock block of the Williams lake Community Forest. …The return section allows a good look at how forests can be thinned to create a fire break as well as retain big old trees in a park-like atmosphere with excellent visibility. …This type of project along with Maude Barlow’s discussion of the importance of grass roots involvement in water conservation reminded me of some forest landscape planning pilot projects mentioned in my latest articles about old growth.

About two dozen vehicles line the paved road that connects Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan, on southwestern Vancouver Island. …They’re parked where a logging road meets the main road, and it’s that logging road protesters have been blockading regularly since the spring. There’s a big orange gate blocking the road, and it opens only for police and logging vehicles.  On Wednesday, a surprisingly dry day, the gate is opened for a police van containing people who have just been arrested for allegedly breaking an injunction. The arrestees bang on the inside of the van walls as it passes, and people seated in tents along the road cheer.  …Protesters at the camp say confusion about the injunction is one of the reasons their numbers have shrunk over the fall, along with news of coming old-growth logging deferrals. 

Mounties on southern Vancouver Island say a can of bear spray that overheated caused chemical burns to one person and breathing troubles for others who were aboard a bus near the Fairy Creek protest site. Police say in a news release they heard a report that someone had chemical burns caused by a cooking stove, but members of the B.C. Ambulance service responded on Tuesday and determined the bear spray had exploded, leading five people, including children, to be treated at the scene. The bus also caught fire. It was the same day that three officers were hurt on a logging road between Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew… The officers had been on their way to enforce a court injunction against blockades set up to protest old-growth logging. The Mounties say they made eight arrests this week while enforcing the injunction … bringing the total number of arrests since last spring to 1,168.

The bureaucracy of fighting wildfires and red-tape obstacles firefighters face was never more apparent to John Rustad than when he heard about a missing biffy delay. …Rustad says there are lessons to be learned from the long fire season and he’s trying to convince the government and BC Wildfire Service to be more open to ideas that will create a more responsive, more effective firefighting force. “The B.C. Wildfire Service is really good at initial-attack crews,” said Rustad. …The problem is when they can’t get into a fire because they’re too busy. Instead of having private-sector crews that could go in and deal with it… they have to do an assessment before they allow any crews to go in. “Part of that is Worksafe BC and part of that is policy, but sometimes these fires can burn for days before anybody can go in.”

The Public and Private Workers of Canada urge all members to attend the “Stand Up BC Forestry” rally on November 18th at 12:45pm, in front of the legislation building in Victoria, BC. Organizers say, in response to the NDP announced deferral of 2.6 million ha’s of old growth, we are planning a huge rally in both Victoria & Vancouver! We are planning convoys of logging trucks, vehicles & people from the far north of BC & from all over Vancouver Island. We need the government to hear our voices & to see the people who will be most affected by this latest decision… Once again this government has failed those of us who own a logging business, the communities who rely on forestry & the people who work directly or indirectly in the forest industry! We need to show this government we will not stand down but will Stand Up for BC forestry! 

Event link

With the possibility of some old-growth conservation in B.C., a familiar chorus is decrying any intended protection of endangered forests as an attack on jobs. The loss of forest industry jobs is real. However, conservation isn’t driving it, and the scapegoating of environmentalism needs to stop. The forest industry is in a bad way; no one argues this. Over the last two decades, dozens of mills have closed, contractors have gone under and the industry has lost tens-of-thousands of jobs. But, simultaneously, logging in at-risk old growth has continued unabated. …Hostility between folks working in logging and those involved in campaigns to protect forests is rising. …It’s time for the environmental movement to demand war-time-level investment in economic transition for forest communities. We must insist plans to leave ancient trees standing include a path toward other opportunities for workers. …The paradigm has to shift.

Capilano University student Alysha Monk is the lead researcher studying sustainable forestry practices in the Squamish area with the Howe Sound Biosphere Region Initiative Society. The Chief spoke with Monk … to find out more about the project. In an interview, Monk said: Our goal with the project is to network and facilitate a conversation with timber harvesting businesses and people in forestry. What we are doing right now is developing a database of timber harvesting businesses in the area including those involved in harvesting, trucking, sorting, booming and so on. What we want to understand is their sustainability practices currently. Some of the companies have some pretty cool projects underway in regards to sustainability and the environment. And we want to understand what barriers there are in regards to sustainability because we know they do have to jump through a few hoops to be able to do their jobs. 

Connecting students with each other and the outdoors is one of the key goals of a new program planned to start at the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF) offices on Fox Mountain. AFRF is an idyllic setting which Bryant Race is making even more youth-friendly for year-round outdoor education. His role as an education intern is to bring the lakecity and area something like Wild & Immersive, a program he worked with at the UBC Research Forest in Maple Ridge near Golden Ears Provincial Park. The program in the Lower Mainland offers a forest school to “allow children the chance to explore, interact, learn and have fun in the natural world alongside their peers,” according to the website. …Williams Lake and the Cariboo have some great ecological programs for youth, said Race, with Scout Island Nature programs and Gavin Lake Forestry Camp educating many students.

Rural B.C. is full of forestry-dependent communities — many of them right here in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. But these communities and First Nations were given a shock last Tuesday when this NDP government announced it would be implementing a moratorium on logging in 2.6 million hectares of forests in B.C. It’s a decision that was made without doing a complete socioeconomic analysis of its possible impacts and without proper consultation with First Nations. And it is sure to have serious ripple effects for all those who depend on forests… for their families. …We must find the right balance between robust biodiversity management and the social and economic well-being of the hard-working families in resource-dependent communities, in addition to ensuring we carry out proper consultation with Indigenous communities. …It’s time for this government to provide real leadership and ensure that our forestry-dependent communities have the support they need both now and in the future.

More than 1 billion trees have been planted in B.C. since 2018, 301 million of which were planted this year. In a news release, the province lauded their reforestation efforts, saying that 304 million trees were planted in 2020, 258 million in 2019 and 255 million in 2018. “B.C. is leading the country in its science-based reforestation efforts and has planted over 1 billion trees since 2018,” said Katrine Conroy, minister of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development. “This milestone would not have been possible without the hard work of thousands of silviculture workers who prepare and plant millions of diverse saplings, ensuring our forests are resilient for generations to come.” Just over 5,000 silviculture workers will be employed planting trees in 2022. … The province projects 18 million trees will be planted on the coast and nearly 247 million will be planted in the Interior in 2022.

On Nov. 2, Katrine Conroy, BC Minister of Forests … announced the government’s intention “to defer harvest of ancient, rare and priority large stands of old-growth.” However, at Fairy Creek, two days after this announcement, loggers were still felling ancient trees as fast as they can, and RCMP are still on-site in large numbers to enable this. … Talking about deferring is not the same as actually deferring it immediately. Common sense dictates that all old-growth logging be stopped during the 30-day consultation period with First Nations. … which is why the old-growth is still falling, the forest defenders aren’t going home, and the people waving “Protect Old Growth” signs in the Comox Valley will continue to wave them.

Bob Simpson

Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson says that the province’s recent decision to defer old growth logging should be viewed as a tool to prevent logging while discussions are on-going. Since the announcement, the decision has received a heaping of backlash from all sides of the issue. Many have criticized the plan for not really being a plan at all, as well as not giving First Nations enough time to respond … But Simpson says the deferral shouldn’t be viewed as a plan in the first place, but rather a means to prevent more damage while planning talks are happening. Quesnel’s economy is heavily influenced by the forestry sector, and Simpson says he expects job loss and economic struggles as a result, but something must be done to prevent irreversible ecological damage while we still can.

Dr. Darwyn Coxson

Fallout continues from industry, with fears of major job losses ahead in BC due to the deferral of 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest. Dr. Darwyn Coxson, Professor in the UNBC Ecosystem Science and Management Program says if done correctly the deferrals could not be as devastating as some suggest. “This is going to allow us, if we do it right, to have a more managed transition where we can retool the mills, where we can ensure that employment stays in local communities … If we just do nothing … when that last old-growth tree goes down, all we have is second-growth forest whether we like it or not.” … Coxson has been studying old-growth in the inland temperate rainforests across much of the eastern half of BC for many years, and a number of studies have shown without urgent action many species would become extinct.

A panel of scientific experts mapped 26,000 square kilometres of old-growth forests considered at risk of irreversible biodiversity loss, and on Tuesday B.C. asked First Nations to decide within 30 days whether they support deferrals. … A 30-day time frame for such complex analysis is “totally unreasonable,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said in an interview. … The First Nations Leadership Council … issued a statement saying it was “extremely concerned that old growth remains unprotected today, and that the province has passed responsibility to First Nations without providing financial support for nations to replace any revenues that might be lost if they choose to defer logging old growth in their territory.” … B.C.’s deferral plan includes just shy of $12.7 million over three years to support First Nations through the process, but no further funding was announced.

In the lead-up to last week’s announcement that the B.C. government will defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest, the conversation was sometimes muddied with invocations of “deforestation” and climate change as reasons to halt logging of old-growth forests in B.C. … While there are good scientifically grounded arguments for preserving as much old growth as possible (keeping carbon in the bank), there are equally sound arguments that younger, sustainably managed working forests are better carbon sinks over the longer term. … But cutting down trees to make wood products and replanting the trees that were cut is not deforestation. Quite the opposite: sustainable forestry has the potential to increase forest carbon sinks, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …One of the benefits of forestry, from a climate change perspective, is that when trees are turned into products like lumber, furniture and engineered wood products, the carbon is sequestered for decades. 

British Columbia has planted more than one billion trees since 2018, including 301 million this year. The Province continues its work to reduce the effects of climate change and make sure healthy forests are here for generations. “B.C. is leading the country in its science-based reforestation efforts and has planted over 1 billion trees since 2018,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests. “This milestone would not have been possible without the hard work of thousands of silviculture workers who prepare and plant millions of diverse saplings, ensuring our forests are resilient for generations to come.” British Columbia planted just over 301 million trees in 2021, a record 304 million in 2020, 258 million in 2019 and 255 million in 2018. More than 1.1 billion trees have been planted since 2018.

Next month the city of Prince George will begin targeted wildfire mitigation work in local forested areas. Contracted staff will be removing vegetation, particularly dead organic material, from three forested areas of the city that, if ignited, would pose risk to people, property, and infrastructure. Each of the three projects is expected to take about 30 days and all are anticipated to be completed by the end of winter. …“These treatment areas were identified as high priority in the City’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which is aimed at reducing the threat posed by interface wildfires, while maintaining ecological and community values,” said Kailyn van der Ham, an environmental technician with the City of Prince George. “Wildfire mitigation involves the prescriptive removal of dead and highly flammable vegetation to limit potential fire spread and intensity.”

A trio of UBC Forestry students are studying Rose Swanson Mountain in Armstrong. The Friends of Rose Swanson Ecosystem Stewardship Society (FORSES) and the Armstrong Spallumcheen Trails Society (ASTS) have formed a collaboration with UBC Forestry. The Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management program at the UBC is a nine-month program with an immersive community-engaged learning project where students put their learning into practice. Under direction of Paul Pickell, UBC Assistant Professor, three graduate students have started research projects on Rose Swanson mountain to complete their Masters of Geomatics for Environmental Studies degrees. …Rose Swanson became a hot spot for concerned citizens after it was announced a portion of the area was slated to be logged last year. Opposition from residents and elected officials prompted the province to put the logging on hold.

No one should be surprised that the BC government’s plan to consider deferring old-growth logging … angered many and pleased few. First Nations’ leaders were highly critical of the incredibly short 30-day period… The Council of Forest Industries…warned of an impending economic apocalypse… And environmental leaders noted many tracts of old growth remained unprotected… All of this was predictable, and ignores the elephant in the room. What the deferral decision underscored is the abominable point to which this government and governments before it have brought us. Successive provincial governments actively encouraged the logging industry, which is dominated by a few very powerful companies, to cut down more and more forest without any coherent plan for how healthy, resilient ecosystems … were to be maintained. …Every day that the provincial government allows the industry to maintain its present destructive course brings us one day closer to an even more brutal day of reckoning. 

Pat Byrne

The public will have to change their mindset around burning and logging in their “backyard” forests to prevent wildfires in the future, according Pat Byrne, 100 Mile district manager for B.C. Ministry of Forests. Byrne said wildfire suppression and outdated forestry management practices over the past 150 years have made local forests “unnatural,” increasing the risk of interface fires with excessive fuel on the ground and thickly wooded canopies resulting in hot, intense and prolonged fires. In the past, Indigenous or regular burning of the landscape every 15 -20 years meant forests were more open and there was less flammable fuel, including live or dead plants on the ground, making it harder for fires to get into the tree tops. …Over the past three years, about $1.3 million, funded by the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., has been spent at the community forest and the 100 Mile District woodlot to remove fuels and open up the landscape. 

The Penticton Indian Band (PIB) is working with BC Wildfire Service on a new wildfire risk reduction project using traditional syilx methods. “All of the PIB [wildfire risk reduction] projects are informed by Elders and knowledge keepers,” says James Pepper, director of PIB’s natural resource department. “They write the prescriptions, then we implement them.” Pepper says PIB has done several wildfire risk reduction projects throughout the Southern Okanagan over the last few years. The latest project, which started on Nov. 9, involves burning around 1,300 piles of wood debris in syilx territory around the city of Penticton — in the Penticton Creek watershed, around White Lake Basin, along the Naramata Bench and in the urban Carmi area.

Bob Brash

Re.: Old-growth fight hits Interior (Castanet, Nov. 6). I feel the need to respond to an article that quotes Roly Russell, NDP MLA and parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development, suggesting he is both excited and “really happy” with the announcement to defer old-growth harvesting. I understand a rebalancing needs to occur… but instead of striking a balance, thousands of family-supporting jobs are now in the process of being eliminated. Mr. Russell… please know that workers are distraught and they and their families are under immense stress and anxiety because they don’t know what the future may hold or how they will continue to pay their mortgages or put food on the table. What is most disappointing is that during a period when we would have hoped and expected the parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development to have our back, he is instead wringing his hands in excitement.