Category Archives: Forestry

The massive 975-hectare controlled burn conducted on the White Rock Lake wildfire Monday was captured on video by the BC Wildfire Service. In the video, embedded above, fire crews can be seen dropping balls of accelerant from helicopters to start the burn, while ground crews also ignite areas using hand torches. By the afternoon, the fire had created a massive amount of smoke that could be seen from far and wide. The BC Wildfire Service says the area burned had more than 40 years of woody debris build-up.

A logging proposal has a conservation group worried about the potential impact on caribou habitat and endangered trout. West Fraser has submitted a Forest Harvest Plan Compartments Berland 3 and 16, which are areas in the northwest part of the Forest Management Area (FMA) between Hinton and Grande Cache. The operations … will harvest 54 cutblocks.  “As responsible resource managers, we follow government direction to ensure that our harvesting plans occur in approved areas are informed by science and reflect the many forest management values including caribou, wildlife habitat and water quality among others,” said Heather Colpitts, spokesperson for West Fraser. West Fraser has been directed by the government to operate in a specific area and away from the other areas within their FMA until the Berland Sub-Regional Taskforce completes its work on the caribou recovery. “Caribou recovery is a complex issue and their recovery and well-being touches each of us,” Colpitts said.

Simpcw Resources Group is a diversified construction resource company comprised of multiple professional operational services while preserving the Simpcw stewardship and culture announced the continued integration with Forsite’s management expertise bringing capacity in forest management services. Forsite is a very well-respected Forest Management Service company that we have had the pleasure of working with for several years now. “Their commitment to driving sustainable forest management services and their experience in this ever-changing business of forest management made it a logical choice for us to develop a formal business partnership. We are confident that this partnership will increase our capacity in forest management planning, wildfire risk management, and timber harvesting/development operations. We look forward to a long term and successful relationship!” said Brook Carpenter, Manager Business Relations, at Simpcw Resources Group.

Drought conditions and aggressive fire behaviour have contributed to this year’s extreme wildfire season. With more than 200 fires burning in B.C., the public is urged to remain vigilant and ensure their activities don’t spark any new fires over the Labour Day long weekend. “Let’s not add human-caused fires to their workload during this long and challenging fire season,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests… From April 1 to Sept. 1, 2021, the BC Wildfire Service responded to 1,562 wildfires that have so far burned more than 865,000 hectares — one of the province’s most destructive fire seasons on record. Anyone planning to spend time outdoors in the coming days and weeks is encouraged to use caution with any activity that could potentially start a wildfire. Human-caused fires are preventable and can divert firefighting resources from naturally occurring wildfires or fires that are already burning.

As treasurer of the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), which represents the 1,880 employees of the BC Wildfire Service including the front-line wildfire fighters, I want to correct some points made by Mr. Quigley (A perspective on wildfire management in B.C., Aug. 26, 2021, issue) on the role of unionization and Type 1 crews in our province’s wildfire situation. First and foremost, B.C. needs a wildfire service built around a professional core with seasonal auxiliaries. Right now, the model is backwards and its effectiveness in meeting the public’s needs suffers because successive and current governments have not dealt with the crisis of recruitment and retention across the service. There is no truth to Mr. Quigley’s union protectionism comment, and the BCGEU does not represent most heavy equipment operators. You would be hard pressed to find any fire of note that didn’t have private, non-BCGEU contractors working on it. 

Communities throughout the province are restoring watersheds and wetlands to protect aquatic ecosystems and promote healthier environments for British Columbians and wildlife. During the past six months, more than 60 Healthy Watersheds Initiative projects have been launched at more than 200 sites around the province, restoring rivers and wetlands, creating spawning grounds for salmon and expanding protection of aquatic species. First Nations and lndigenous-led organizations are managing and participating in many of the projects underway. “Investing to restore environmental health is one of the ways we are supporting biodiversity and species recovery,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “We have much to learn from Indigenous Nations about stewardship of the land and water and, by applying their traditional practices and knowledge in concert with western science, together we are creating a healthier future for communities and species across B.C.”

VICTORIA — B.C.’s public safety minister says the province is extending its state of emergency to support the response to wildfires for another two weeks. Mike Farnworth announced the extension Tuesday, saying the move recognizes that fire danger persists, even as cooler weather helps firefighting crews. “Things are trending in the right direction, but we must remain alert and aware of the fires still burning and the potential for others to start,” he said in a statement. “Extending this state of emergency recognizes that the potential for significant wildfire activity persists, even as the nights get longer and the days cool down a bit, so I urge British Columbians to continue to be vigilant.” Derek Williams, with the BC Wildfire Service, says now is not the time to be complacent. 

Additional coverage – Emergency Management BC: Provincial state of emergency extended

Protesters calling for an end to police brutality blocked the Johnson Street bridge in Victoria for about three hours on Tuesday in response to RCMP officers pepper-spraying protesters in Vancouver Island forests. A group of more than 50 people characterized by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) as “BIPOC youth and settler allies” blocked the bridge in protest of police enforcement actions taken at the Fairy Creek watershed. Xwis-xwa-caa, a speaker at the bridge-blocking demonstration, talked about colonialism’s generational impacts on Indigenous communities and the ongoing hardships felt by racialized people at hands of Canadian institutions. She also called out VicPD and RCMP for police brutality – especially against BIPOC communities – as the gathered crowd chanted, “They have guns and we are unarmed.” …The protesters were acting in solidarity with Ancient Forest Protectors in Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek), Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territory. Speakers at the event included those who have spent time in Fairy Creek. 

Jennifer Cote

An owner of Prince George foraging and wildcraft business is crying foul after learning a pair favourite spots for collecting her product have been sprayed with a controversial herbicide.  Jennifer Cote, owner of Moose Mushrooms and Mud, had travelled to two cutblocks she had previously scouted and at both locations, she found signs indicating it had been sprayed with a herbicide containing the chemical glyphosate.  The signs say people should avoid the area for 72 hours, but, according to James Steidle of Stop the Spray, recent research shows berries can have more glyphosate than what is allowed in stores the following year.  Cote erred on the side of caution and did not harvest any of the berries, forgoing hundreds of pounds in the process.  “There’s so much up there, and it can’t be touched. It really frustrates and saddens me,” said Cote in a statement issued by Steidle.

CASTLEGAR – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of Kalesnikoff Lumber Co. Ltd. on forest licence A20194 near Castlegar during the week of Sept. 7, 2021. Auditors will examine whether harvesting, roads, silviculture, fire protection and associated planning carried out between Sept. 1, 2019, and Sept. 9, 2021, met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is located in the Arrow Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of the Selkirk Natural Resource District. The district is bounded by the Canada-U.S. border, the Monashee Mountains to the west and the Selkirk Mountains to the east. The forests in the TSA are among the most productive and diverse in the interior of the province. …Once the audit work is complete, a report will be prepared. If Kalesnikoff may be adversely affected by the audit findings, it will have a chance to respond.

From gene to seed, to climate science to tree planter, to forest: The workday for a tree planter starts early: breakfast shortly after dawn, before loading into the crew truck and heading to the planting site, located in British Columbia’s coastal forests. Today, the crew is working on Vancouver Island, planting a mix of western red cedar and Douglas-fir on an area harvested the previous Fall. The tree planters, foresters, and scientists who help make reforestation in BC a reality: Each year, upwards of 5,000 tree planters in British Columbia have planted more than 200 million seedlings—all by hand. In fact, in 2020, there was a record 300 million seedlings planted. Specific reforestation programs began in British Columbia in the 1930s, and since that time, more than eightbillion native trees have been planted across the province’s immense forested landscape to mimic and complement the biogeoclimatic characteristics of the region and local conditions.  

…Since enforcement began, RCMP have arrested 824 people, 72 of whom were previously arrested. Demonstrators told CBC that police tactics were less aggressive in the immediate aftermath of the pepper spray video, but said officers have more recently reverted back to aggressive enforcement methods, particularly when journalists and other observers aren’t present. As of Aug. 25, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said 21 of 91 complaints it has received about the conduct of police enforcement at Fairy Creek fall within its mandate and will be investigated. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Chris Manseau said… “It’s the actions of the protesters that dictate the actions of the police,” said Manseau. “[On Aug. 26] they were calm, they were quiet. Obviously, our members would much prefer to take those routes.” …A demonstrator said police tend to “do their dirtiest work” when they know the media and legal observers aren’t present.

The infamous court injunction against blockades in the Fairy Creek watershed on south Vancouver Island runs out on Sept. 26, and Teal Cedar has applied for a renewal. “In the absence of an injunction and enforcement by the RCMP, anarchy will reign in and around Tree Farm Licence 46…” it wrote in the application. On Teal Cedar’s heels are the Elders for Ancient Trees, who filed an application against the renewal. The group are against old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed north of Port Renfrew, where RCMP have arrested over 800 forest defenders… All parties will present their arguments at a Sept. 13 B.C. Supreme Court hearing. …Teal Cedar’s application for renewal relies on the legal test for granting an injunction. That test requires that “there is a serious issue to be tried; the applicant will suffer irreparable harm if the relief is not granted; and the balance of convenience favours granting the relief.”

I was extremely concerned by Anthony Britneff’s commentary which suggested the transition of 40,000 forest workers into “non-destructive forest and value-added enterprises” (i.e. tourism). Not only was his statement extremely offensive to forest workers, but he ignores B.C. forestry’s leading sustainable forest management practices and the industry’s importance to workers, families and communities from Campbell River to Prince George to downtown Vancouver. The claims made by the writer downplayed the significance of the forest industry’s role in sustainably producing low-carbon products, and its significant impact on supporting good jobs for British Columbians and their social services. He also played on the public’s fear of forest fires, with unsupported claims of young forests being more susceptible to fires, and calls the annual allowable cut “grossly inflated,” which isn’t true. …Let’s move away from the damaging rhetoric [work] together to ensure the forest industry continues to forge a positive path forward…

A group of seniors opposed to old-growth logging is asking the courts to consider the public interest when deciding whether to grant an extension to an injunction that has resulted in more than 800 arrests on logging roads near Port Renfrew. The injunction granted to the Teal-Jones Group on April 1 prohibits anyone from blocking access to roads and interfering with work by the company in a large area of southwestern Vancouver Island, where Teal-Jones has logging rights. Teal-Jones has applied in B.C.’s Supreme Court to extend the injunction for a year past its expiry date on Sept. 26. …Elders for Ancient Trees is arguing that renewing the injunction would do more harm than good to the public… It’s asking the court to reject the company’s application on that basis. …The group has hired Victoria lawyers Steven Kelliher and Diane Turner to file a response in court to Teal-Jones’s application for an extension.

John Horgan

B.C.’s premier says the province will develop “a 12-month-a-year approach” to be better prepared to fight wildfires following a 2021 fire season that has, to this point, cost taxpayers half a billion dollars. Premier John Horgan was in Logan Lake on Friday, meeting with local officials and residents less than two weeks after the Tremont Creek fire very nearly devastated the community. Speaking to reporters, Horgan hinted at big changes to come in how wildfires are fought in B.C. …Horgan said the wildfire fight in B.C. has typically been funded largely through contingency — meaning a nominal amount is budgeted for a given year, then overruns for busy fire seasons are paid for by finding money elsewhere in the budget. “If we have resources at the front end of the year, the BC Wildfire Service can retain people to assist with FireSmart, can create guards around those interface communities,” he said.

British Columbia markets itself as “supernatural BC” and yet we are one of the last jurisdictions in the world still logging irreplaceable old growth forests on public lands.  The fight for B.C.’s forests is often pitted as a battle between resource workers and environmentalists. Meanwhile, the policy failures and corporate agendas responsible for the current state of B.C.’s forests rarely make the headlines.  B.C.’s biodiversity strategy is almost exclusively reliant on old growth forest. Biodiversity is simply all of the living things that make this province so special. Old growth is one of the only things we manage at a provincial scale for biodiversity. Simply put, if we are failing old growth at a provincial scale, we are likely failing frogs, caribou, bull trout, salmon, and all of the critical living things that we collectively refer to as “biodiversity.”

In 2017, a First Nation fire chief watched as wildfires caused significant damage to communities in British Columbia. It was one of the worst wildfire seasons in the province’s history; some 1.2 million hectares burned and roughly 65,000 people were evacuated.  Shortly after, Ron Lampreau Jr. with the Simpcw First Nation attempted to bring forward an initiative called the Indigenous initial attack crew.  “In 2018, I had meetings with BCWS, Emergency Management BC. Everyone really liked the idea to have Indigenous initial attack crews embedded right into BC Wildfire Service, but it never really gained any traction when we started talking about who was going to pay for it,” says Lampreau.  …It’s one idea that he and other forestry experts say is needed in B.C. to help prepare people and communities for dangerous wildfire seasons like the one the province is experiencing this year.  

Alberta researchers unlocking the genetic secrets of lodgepole pines that can survive attacks by mountain pine beetles hope the trees can help a new generation of hardier forests take root.   When the destructive pine beetle devours a forest — leaving swaths of canopy red and tinder-dry — only a small number of lodgepole pines will survive.  The survivors on the forest floor share DNA that is distinct from that of the dead.  DNA screening shows the beetle-resistant trees all share a similar genetic “fingerprint,” said Janice Cooke, a University of Alberta biological sciences professor leading a genomics research project.  “They’re not just lucky,” Cooke said. “There’s something about them that enables them to escape that attack, to become survivors.”  Cooke and her team made the discovery by analyzing pine cone seedlings grown from seeds gathered from infected stands in central British Columbia.  “

PORT RENFREW — In the year since the first camp was set up to prevent old-growth logging around the Fairy Creek watershed on southern Vancouver Island, an expert in Canadian environmental movements says the protests have made a mark on politics and public discourse.  Advocates have been calling for an end to old-growth logging in British Columbia for decades, but the issue flared again recently with more rallies, people speaking out and media attention, said David Tindall, a professor in the sociology department at the University of British Columbia.  He points to the speed of the B.C. government’s decision to approve the request of three Vancouver Island First Nations to temporarily defer old-growth logging across about 2,000 hectares in the Fairy Creek and central Walbran areas, and to the federal Liberals’ election pledge to establish a $50 million old-growth fund.

In 2005, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, causing a mass evacuation and unimaginable damage to communities. …Corporations moved in while communities were reeling from disaster and began privatizing schools, public housing, and hospitals. These public services relied on by everyone, but especially marginalized people, were turned into for-profit businesses. …Forest fires are raging throughout B.C., razing entire towns and filling others with smoke, all while a fourth wave of Covid-19 continues to build. We are in a state of shock. But we must remain vigilant and prepared for what corporations here might be grasping for: the last of the high-value intact ancient forests. …Logging corporations are liquidating forests in B.C. and investing the profits in new mills in the U.S. West Fraser Timber, for example, is expanding five mills in the U.S. while closing one in Chasm, B.C., west of Kamloops.

A new logging proposal has residents in Grande Cache, Alberta, worried about the impacts on local caribou habitat. Earlier this summer, Shane Ramstead received a letter proposing timber harvesting on his trapline south of the community. West Fraser plans to log 54 cutblocks side-by-side next month on land where caribou live. “It’s a slap in the face,” said Ramstead, a former fish and wildlife officer in the area for over 30 years. “This logging proposal flies in the face of reason.” …The company consulted with stakeholders, including Aseniwuche Winewak Nation, which had no site-specific objections to the proposal, a West Fraser spokesperson said. The logging is also consistent with direction from the Alberta government, they added. Although West Fraser’s proposal is within caribou habitat, collared caribou data suggests few use that area, according to a news release issued by Aseniwuche Winewak Nation.