Category Archives: Forestry

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) defined reconciliation as the process of “establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in this country.”  For reconciliation to happen in Canada the TRC said,“there has to be awareness of the past, an acknowledgement of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes, and action to change behaviour.” The BC Community Forest Association is committed to leadership for reconciliation through community forestry. We believe that individual efforts when combined with institutional efforts can lead to meaningful dialogue and improvement in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Our goal is to encourage, foster and support community forest organizations to invest time, resources, and personal effort to build effective relationships and partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. …September 30th is a day to reflect. It’s a day to learn more about Indigenous history in Canada and in our communities. 

Logan Lake Community Forest (LLCF) day-to-day operations have been managed by Forsite Consultants since 2015. Forsite is responsible for planning, harvesting, silviculture, and other post-harvest activities of the Community Forest licence. Forsite is also involved in the expansion of recreational trails, First Nations engagement, and road rehabilitation. Forsite’s Randy Spyksma and Lindsay Hill talked about their decision to start using the Phoenix Connect Roads module to track road activities in LLCF. “Community Forests have a responsibility to manage the landbase proactively and sustainably.  Maintaining social licence is also a key part of what we do – we have a lot of stakeholders to report out to”, says Randy who leads the team. …“We see Phoenix Connect Roads as a valuable investment. Having all our roads information in one place, knowing that we are doing our due diligence on a regular basis, being able to generate reports easily –  made good business sense for us.”

…Lawyer Steven Kelliher… said the decision means it’s now up to the political realm, rather than the courts, to determine how or if enforcement measures should continue. He said RCMP have previously been reluctant to engage with matters of civil disobedience without an injunction. …Kelliher said Teal Jones “went to great lengths” in court to say, without an injunction, they could not log old-growth forests in Tree Farm Licence 46. “So if you take them at their word, that would seem to be that if the attorney general does not direct the RCMP to continue their enforcement duties in the absence of the injunction, then there would likely be no old-growth logging in Fairy Creek,” Kelliher said. …Kathy Code, a spokesperson for the Rainforest Flying Squad, “This is a major victory for us, but the trees still aren’t protected.”

The ABCFP is committed to truth, healing, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and we encourage forest professionals to spend time during Orange Shirt Day, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to learn more about the history, experiences, and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and reflect on how forest professionals can contribute to reconciliation. There are resources, courses, and professional development opportunities and events available to you on the ABCFP website, including:

• the ABCFP’s Working with Indigenous Communities e-course,
• online courses and resources about Indigenous history and culture, and
• professional development opportunities for those working in the forest sector.

We also encourage you to reflect on actions forest professionals can take to further truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Visit the ABCFP website to learn more about the work of the ABCFP to support Indigenous reconciliation.

B.C. has missed another deadline to protect old-growth forests from logging, as protests continue at Fairy Creek without any end in sight. …But summer ended last week without any government announcements. “Yes, we had hoped to bring forward more deferrals this summer and we are as disappointed as everyone else this was not able to happen,” Forest Minister Conroy said. “I recognize people are frustrated about how long this process is taking, but there are no easy solutions to this decades old issue.” Conroy said a new government-appointed “technical advisory panel” of experts has “provided government with a significant amount of data.” “We have asked the panel to do some additional work and we are waiting for this information,” she said. “We are completing our review of the materials as quickly as possible.”

A Vancouver Island company has received some big-time exposure in the United States. The news magazine program 60 Minutes featured Port Alberni’s Coulson Aviation and a new pilot project they’re involved in — fighting California wildfires at night. On Sunday’s show, the program featured Coulson’s helicopters, which will be fighting wildfires in three California counties during the two-year pilot project. During the segment, Coulson says fires are at their weakest during the night and “that’s the time to attack an enemy at its weakest point in time.” …Coulson says the company secured an $18-million contract with energy-provider Southern California Edison to provide 24-hours-a-day fire protection with four aircraft. He also says the exposure is welcome as the company looks to secure other firefighting contracts.

…One of the lawyers who argued against extending the [Fairy Creek] injunction, Patrick Canning, said the ruling puts pressure on the province to resolve the ongoing dispute at Fairy Creek. “Now the province has to come to the table with the Pacheedaht First Nation, with the company (Teal Jones), and with the protesters to talk about it. It’s time to come to a solution,” he said. Just hours before the ruling, Premier John Horgan rejected the idea of negotiating with protesters. And Minister of Forests Katrine Conroy told Postmedia that transformative change is coming to the way logging is done in B.C. “I am tabling legislation this fall in the legislature, and that will definitely be a sign of the direction we are moving in.” Canning said the decision will be a game-changer for other protests. “It’s a massive precedent because it has implications for TransMountain (pipeline) and other projects,” he said. 

Greenwood, B.C. – Jewel Lake, a 32-hectare area in the West Boundary Community Forest (WBCF) is now safer for people thanks to a forestry initiative. A significant amount of burnable wood was removed, while also protecting some old growth trees, providing employment, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to a grant from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) for $254,100, the project reduced amounts of flammable wood, which increased safety for residents and visitors in the event of a fire. “This project has been very collaborative from the start,” said Ross Elliot, Director on the Board of the WBCF. “We have consulted with our First Nations partners from the Osoyoos Indian Band who did initial field visits and supplied crews to do some of the hand treatments. We have connected with leaders from the Jewel Lake Environmental Protection Society, BC Parks, and Vaagen Fibre Canada”.

John Cathro

Extreme weather events causing fallen stands of trees prompted John Cathro, a forestry consultant working for the Village of Kaslo, to rework a proposed wildfire reduction project on the south side of the Village’s airstrip. …Cathro says the adjusted plan would see about the same amount of wood removed from the area, just in a different way. “We’re going to take out about a third to one-half of the volume, but the majority of that is small-diameter-sized trees,” says Cathro. “It’s about 2,000 cubic metres for the whole area.” …But this project is only a small part of the overall job facing Kaslo. …A new working group has been established to try to better co-ordinate and support each stakeholder’s work (federal, provincial, municipal and private property owners, to First Nations, recreational and industrial users). The idea is to bring some co-ordination to all the FireSmart activity around town.

Victoria, BC– The BC First Nations Forestry Council has received funding provided through the Canada–British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement to conduct labour market research to understand the role of mentorship in recruitment, retention and career advancement for a First Nations forestry workforce. The research project will span over two years and seek to identify current and future workforce opportunities, barriers, and solutions to inform the development of a framework for a First Nations Forestry Mentorship program. “Passing on knowledge to the next generation is an important cultural practice within Indigenous communities,” tells Chief Bill Williams, President of the Forestry Council. “Historically, many Nations have always had elements of mentorship embedded within their communities.” The research project will examine employment practices within the BC forest sector to inform an inclusive and culturally-aware mentorship framework that, in part, models itself to First Nations’ practices.

https://youtu.be/kMm8vRJcg0Q

At Fairy Creek, tensions between protesters and RCMP create heightening risk. Experts say it won’t end well. Lawyers, a doctor, a criminology professor and dozens of protesters are warning that RCMP enforcement on the frontlines of the Fairy Creek blockades could lead to serious injury or death. …Tensions have passed the boiling point on the southern Vancouver Island frontlines. For weeks protesters have been saying RCMP officers have been using increasingly dangerous tactics during arrests. …Rob Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University, said protesters are using “passive opposition techniques.” …The RCMP are asked to do “almost the impossible,” said Gordon. On the one hand, they’re required to enforce the injunction and use military tactics to clear out the protesters. On the other hand, they still have to act as a police force, not as an army.

Vancouver Island isn’t the only area where old-growth logging is happening. Despite calls for protection elsewhere in the province, Sea to Sky old-growth logging continues. …It’s a lack of public awareness that keeps the big logs coming out of the woods, they say, as well as a history of overlogging. …In the Sea to Sky specifically, there are approximately 464,000 hectares of Crown forest, 203,000 of which are considered old growth. Almost half of that old growth is protected or is in an area prohibited from harvesting, leaving 28,000 hectares of unprotected old-growth forest in the Sea to Sky. Community advocate Nick Gottlieb… “I feel like the public, especially in Whistler, would be absolutely outraged if they knew that we were logging old-growth this entire time,” he said. 

Thompson Rivers University researchers have completed their study looking at wildfire communication during the 2017 and 2018 seasons and have come up with recommendations for communicators to reflect upon. The study was completed on June 30, meaning it does not address the issues seen during this past wildfire season, which was the most destructive on record for the Kamloops Fire Centre, with more than 160 structures lost within the TNRD alone and hundreds of thousands of hectares burned. Among the recommendations made within the report: Build and maintain trust with remote and First Nations communities; Develop a program to increase communications availability in remote/First Nations communities through either satellite phones or amateur radio; Meaningfully distinguish between risk and crisis communication; Lobby to improve broadband internet access in remote and First Nations communities; and Draw upon examples of success in wildfire communications among groups such as the Simpcw First Nation.

At the Sept. 20 Parksville city council meeting, Warren Payne, parks supervisor, provided council with information on TreePlotter, a web-based comprehensive GIS tree management software application for field data collection and data management. Operations staff use this information to plan their work, monitor and assess trees. Trees are plotted on a map in the field or in the office with any web connection. Information collected for each tree includes common and Latin name, location, condition, size, required maintenance tasks, and an inspection cycle. The program can generate reports on trees and calculate ecosystem benefits provided by the trees such as estimate of air quality, carbon, and stormwater benefits.

VICTORIA – During the week of Oct. 4, 2021, the Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Gitxsan Forest Licence Inc. on forest licence A16831 in the Skeena Stikine Natural Resource District. Auditors will examine whether timber harvesting, road construction, road maintenance, reforestation, fire protection and associated planning met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is located near New Hazelton. The area has mountainous terrain, rivers and lakes, and is home to an abundance of recreational activities and wildlife species. Once the audit work is complete, a report will be prepared. If the licence-holder may be adversely affected by the audit findings, representatives will have a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will then be released to the public and government.

Garry Merkel

A member of the Tahltan Nation in British Columbia says the province’s forestry practices need to be modernized – and the government has a report in its hands that will help it do just that. Garry Merkel, an industry expert behind a report called the Old Growth Strategic Review, says the province needs to change its ways if forests are to be saved. “Part of this report speaks on the necessity of bringing together and planning this transition together because this is a major, major shift, and you don’t want to have government trying to drive the whole thing because then they become the lightning rod trying to impose something too big on society, we need society, all the key players to collaborate plan how we move through this transition,” he said.

There has been massive clear-cutting of old growth trees in the past two decades all in the name of ‘we need the jobs’. So, has this actually created jobs? In 2009, according to Statistics Canada, there were 93,479 forestry-related jobs in B.C. Between 2009 and 2019 forestry-related jobs in B.C. decreased by the following numbers: Forestry & Logging – 6,565; Pulp & Paper – 10,596; Support Activities for Forestry – 11,262; Wood Product Manufacturing – 14,457. Thus, 42,880 in forestry-related jobs have been lost while we were busy clear-cutting old growth forests. This has been due to a number of reasons: increased mechanization, shutting down of local mills and a massive increase in the export of raw logs. …The solution … is to stop export of raw logs and to promote the development of local mills that can handle second and third growth trees and promote wood manufacturing. The solution clearly is not to cut more majestic old growth trees…

Jason Krips

In 2021, Alberta’s forest companies planted over 100 million trees in our forests.  …The tree species native to Alberta typically have a maximum lifespan of about 150 years. Without human involvement, historical fire patterns show that most trees and forests wouldn’t reach that maximum lifespan; on average, Alberta forests would burn every 50-100 years. The province has significantly more mature forests as a result of sustainable forest management practices, including measures to limit the spread of wildfire. “Planting 100 million trees in one season is a significant step in ensuring Alberta’s forests are perpetually sustainable. Our members take sustainability very seriously and are strongly committed to giving back more than we take to ensure the health of Alberta’s forests. We don’t look at our forests as just an economic benefit, but rather as a resource with crucial environmental, social, and cultural benefits”, saidJason Krips, President and CEO, Alberta Forest Products Association

The United Steelworkers Local 1-1937, a union representing forestry workers on Vancouver Island, are condemning what they call “extremist” tactics used by protesters at Fairy Creek.  In a news release, USW accused the protesters of driving metal spikes into trees to interfere with loggers, tampering with helicopter pads and encroaching on hand fallers as they cut down trees. USW Local 1-937 president Brian Butler condemned the protesters for their tactics.  …Butler said no USW members have been injured by the protest tactics, but they are on “high alert” for potential safety hazards. He expressed concern that if the tactics continue, it could result in serious injury or death of forestry workers or protesters. …Black Press Media has reached out to the Flying Rainforest Squad, but did not immediately receive a response.

Canadian Maritime Engineering is one of the longest-serving businesses in the forestry industry in the Alberni Valley.  Canadian Maritime Engineering, or CME, got its start as Alberni Engineering Works, founded shortly after the First World War on Bird Street, across from the train station, where it still stands today. Fred Bacon started the company with a blacksmith and helper, and quickly made boatbuilding his specialty along with general engineering, according to historian Jan Peterson in her book Twin Cities: Alberni—Port Alberni. …  “For decades, forest industry has been a large part of our business here,” said Steve Dunagan, CME’s manager in charge of business development at the Port Alberni branch. “They’ve been our longest term customers because we build marine vessels specifically for the forest industry, in the way of sidewinders, pod dozers and small harbour tugs (tugboats).

A research initiative in southern B.C. aims to chart the impact of wildfires and human activity on one of the province’s most elusive predators — the cougar.  The Southern B.C. Cougar Project, led by students and faculty at the University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus, has been running since January 2020.  So far, it has equipped 27 cougars with GPS collars across three study areas in the West Okanagan, Boundary and Kootenay regions. It aims to have 40 collared cats by the time the project ends.  Project lead Siobhan Darlington said she and her team look at how logging and wildfires affect cougar habitats, eating habits and movement patterns.  …Darlington says there are an estimated 7,000 cougars across the province, but no accurate counts exist. She said getting a more definitive number of cougars prowling the Okanagan was one of the motivations for the study.

Plans to log old-growth forests in west central Alberta, destroying habitat for some of Canada’s most threatened caribou herds, have sparked an outcry in the province.   West Fraser Mills, a multinational wood products firm, intends to clear-cut 3,500 hectares of caribou habitat in the Berland area between Hinton and Grande Cache. The plan faces strong opposition from conservation groups such as the Alberta Wilderness Association, while the Mountain Métis Nation Association has said it will file an injunction to prevent the logging.  …Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry did not respond to questions about the logging proposal and caribou protection.  “It flies in the face of any common sense or reason,” Shane Ramstead, a local trapper and former conservation officer, told The Narwhal.  “You can’t say you’re going to do caribou protection and restoration of herds and habitats, and then go cut core habitat in the same ecosystem.”

As autumn rains extinguish the last of this summer’s fires, the final accounting for a brutal B.C. wildfire season is becoming clear. Nearly one million hectares of forest has been burnt and more than $500 million spent trying to contain the damage.  That doesn’t begin to include the human cost, as British Columbians — our friends and neighbours — were forced from their homes, tourism curtailed and agriculture disrupted. Add to that, human exposure to airborne pollutants was up to 40 times worse than maximum recommended levels, a pall that enveloped parts of the province in the worst air quality in the world.  How we manage our forests in the next five to 15 years will determine whether we can secure a future with healthy forests, healthy wildlife and safe communities.  If the effects of wildfires on fish, wildlife, habitat, the economy, provincial budget and our health aren’t enough of a concern, here comes salvage logging to harvest burned timber before it is “worthless.”

On a late August afternoon, Gitanyow hereditary chiefs gathered at the Lax An Zok fish camp on the banks of the Meziadin River in northwest B.C. to sign a unilateral declaration. Provincial representatives were notably absent in the attentive crowd of 200 who gathered to witness Simogyet (Chief) Malii Glen Williams, Simogyet Wii Litswx Gregory Rush Sr. and others declare the immediate protection of 54,000 hectares of land and water in Gitanyow territory, which includes large portions of the Kitwanga and Nass River watersheds and significant sections of the upper Kispiox River, a tributary of the Skeena River. …The Gitanyow have been working with the province to protect the Meziadin watershed for more than four years. …“The Indigenous Protected Area is not a park,” the declaration states. …This is clearly not an anti-development situation. This isn’t Fairy Creek.”