Category Archives: Forestry

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.

Stewart Muir

As a 40-year veteran of journalism and public policy in British Columbia, I must take issue with Anthony Britneff’s claim that the organization I head, Resource Works, has “become increasingly creative in overstating the contribution of the ­forest sector to the provincial economy.” Forest jobs pay the highest, $41 an hour, of any industry in B.C. The province of British Columbia’s own information shows that 18 per cent of our base economy is drawn from the forest sector. One-third of B.C.’s goods exports consist of forest products. The figure of about 100,000 forestry jobs stands up to scrutiny. These are easily authenticated facts… I do agree with Britneff that an informed public policy discussion is needed on how to transition forest management, particularly with regards to old growth. By recognizing forestry science, cultural and environmental values, economic realities and the urgency of First Nations reconciliation, it should be possible for the current Intentions process on old-growth forestry to bring about win-win solutions.

A group of forest advocates is calling on the Saskatchewan government to put an end to logging on the edge of Big River, Sask., about 185 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. …Tyson Johnson is a spokesperson for the Big River Area Forest Advocates, a non-profit trying to protect areas of land in the Prince Albert Forest Management Agreement from clear cutting. The province approved ​Sakâw Askiy Management Inc.’s 20-year cut plan in 2018. …Diane Roddy, general manager for Sakâw Askiy Management Inc., said areas closest to Big River will not be harvested in 2021 because of community concerns. …The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment is not considering a moratorium on logging in any area of the Prince Albert Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area, or withdrawing sections of land near Big River.

Comparing B.C. temporarily shedding 400,000 jobs in two months — during a pandemic — with the wholesale permanent end to well-paying forestry and wood manufacturing jobs is apocalyptic fantasy. To end forestry in B.C. would be to end all homes as we know them. What happens to all those construction and carpentry jobs on top of the forestry and wood manufacturing jobs the writer wants to eliminate? Concrete and steel don’t store carbon, are less pleasing esthetically, and much less safe in an earthquake zone. Forestry wildfires would be worse without forestry thinning, windfirming and fire hazard abatement by industry. One cannot ignore the fact that forestry does make a significant contribution to our province and that 50,000 residents and 140 communities are directly forestry dependent — and proud of it. …The world is a better place with wood and forestry jobs. Our province and communities need and want sustainable wood, along with all its positive economic, environmental, community and esthetic qualities.

Additional letters found at this link include:

• Forest industry cannot go on forever, by Harry Swain
• Forest industry gets large subsidies, by Vicky Husband

Almost 30 years after the ‘war in the woods’ stopped most industrial logging in Clayoquot Sound, the area has experienced a massive tourist boom. We visited the region to learn about solutions that emerged from the conflict and what challenges remain. …Garry Merkel, co-chair of the old-growth strategic review panel says Clayoquot Sound doesn’t quite amount to the paradigm shift for forestry recommended in his report. …But the shift in Tofino’s economy “was probably more a consequence of shifting practices and regulation,” he says. He acknowledges there may be a local paradigm shift, but “when it is isolated to a small area it doesn’t shift the province.” B.C.’s forestry system manages forests for timber “subject to constraints,” Merkel says, with ecosystem health considered a constraint. But Merkel and his co-chair Al Gorley concluded that thinking is backwards. “We really need to start focusing on land health and ecosystem health,” Merkel says. 

Old-growth trees in B.C. are bound to be spared from logging now that the months-long dispute in the Fairy Creek region has been taken up by the federal Liberal party, predicts Glen Reid, an organizer with the Rainforest Flying Squad. “It’s going to be saved,” he said Saturday. “It’s an election issue now.” The federal Liberals announced this past week that if elected they will set up a $50-million old-growth nature fund to protect old trees. Meanwhile, the number of arrests at Fairy Creek reached 824 on Friday, bringing a reminder of what was called the War in the Woods when more than 800 people were arrested in the 1990s for protesting logging in Clayoquot Sound. …On Friday, six people were arrested, processed and released.

A documentary by Jörg Adolph, in German and English, with English subtitles, opened August 27 at the Rio Theatre in East Vancouver. …In a year when B.C. forests are facing heightened crises—heat waves, fires, drought, logging threats—a documentary based on the 2015 non-fiction best-seller The Hidden Life of Trees by German conservationist and author Peter Wohlleben has arrived at a critical time to provide an idea of the wonder that is being, or is about to be, destroyed—and what local protestors are fighting to save. Details about trees and their role within ecosystems take centre stage here. From how parent trees feed youngster trees with liquid sugar to deciduous trees making mutual and strategic decisions about when to bloom simultaneously, Wohlleben divulges how trees act as entities and communities, with what he argues is a form of sentience. 

Daily RCMP Arrests

Amid escalating tensions with the RCMP, old-growth logging blockades on Vancouver Island show no signs of letting up. B.C.’s response, experts say, will determine the legacy of the new war in the woods. …Three notable things happened this past weekend in the annals of Fairy Creek, the watershed on southwest Vancouver Island that has become synonymous with an unshakeable movement to save BC’s disappearing old-growth forests. RCMP officers were accused of using excessive force against protesters who have blocked logging roads. …Secondly, RCMP made 40 arrests on Friday. …“This is getting close to one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience in Canadian history,” UBC professor David Tindall. …And thirdly, as RCMP carried limp and disheveled Fairy Creek protesters to police vans, the federal Liberal Party announced it would establish a $50 million old-growth nature fund for B.C. 

…B.C. has a well-trained crew of professional firefighters and sufficient equipment for the firefighters we have. The efforts of our firefighters this year have prevented or minimized losses of homes and other buildings in many areas. However, the problem is that our firefighting force is far too small to meet current needs. Bad fire years used to happen once or twice a decade. …However, the new reality is that, because of climate change, years with severe fire outbreaks are more frequent. The only reasonable response to this, in my opinion, is to double or triple the number of trained firefighters and the equipment available to them. This will require a major expenditure, but this expenditure may prevent much larger losses in terms of property damage and lost opportunities for timber harvesting.

Last Saturday…Liberal candidate for North Vancouver and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson announced that, if elected, the Liberals will “move forward to help British Columbia protect old-growth forests” by establishing a $50-million fund and reaching a “nature agreement” with the B.C. government. The announcement …elicited a surprising response from many happy just to see any sort of announcement surrounding old-growth forests. Premier John Horgan and the B.C. government have been notably silent on the issue since the announcement of a two-year deferral in the contentious Fairy Creek area in June, even though the protests there have remained active. Wilkinson’s announcement subtly draws attention to Horgan’s silence. …The problem with Wilkinson’s promise, however, is that the federal government has essentially no jurisdiction over forest management in B.C. The province makes the rules when it comes to forestry, in addition to owning approximately 95 per cent of B.C.’s timber.

In 2017, a First Nation fire chief watched as wildfires caused significant damage to communities in British Columbia. …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. …Last week, the nation signed an agreement with the BC Wildfire Service to bring the idea to life, a first in the province. …Part of his vision for the all-Indigenous crews is that they conduct prescribed burns in the cooler seasons. …Prescribed burns are one fire mitigation tactic that a University of British Columbia forestry professor Lori Daniels agrees with. …Daniels says prescribed burns are being done less in B.C. However, low-intensity surface fires are part of how ecosystems functioned in the past. …On Friday, B.C.’s premier announced the province will develop a “12-month-a-year approach” to be better prepared to fight wildfires…

Dave Gill

There’s a clear difference between having a job to get by and working with purpose. Less than five minutes into our conversation with Dave Gill,  registered professional forester (RPF), the general manager of forestry at Westbank First Nation-owned natural resource company, Ntityix Resources, this hit home with us. Gill… has been working at Ntityix Resources for almost eight years now. “We manage Westbank First Nation’s two forest tenures: one’s a community forest, and one is what’s called a replaceable forest licence that we’re trying to roll into a First Nation woodlands licence.” Gill heads up an ambitious team of seven … professional foresters and foresters in training, including Syilx Nation members who contribute their Indigenous knowledge of the land and its cycles. He says every day brings a new challenge, an opportunity to learn something new, and also a broad responsibility, which is something he truly enjoys about his work.

The long-delayed public engagement process to determine the future of North Cowichan’s 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve (MFR) could soon be back on track. Staff informed council at its meeting on Aug. 18 that the Memorandum of Understanding with Cowichan Nation has been signed after months of government-to-government consultations with the First Nations to better understand their interests in the future of the MFR have recently been successfully concluded. The MFR is located on the traditional lands of Cowichan Nation, which consists of Cowichan Tribes, Halalt First Nation, Stz’uminus First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, and Lyackson First Nation… Many in the community had been demanding for some time to have more say in management plans for the MFR. … CAO Ted Swabey assured the public there will be no sudden resumption of logging in the MFR now that the MOU with Cowichan Nation has been signed.

The province has announced that as many as eight eligible B.C. residents will get employability and occupational skills training to prepare them for jobs as professional logging truck drivers as part of a new Community and Employer Partnerships (CEP) project. Participant recruitment is focused on youth living in the region… The province is contributing nearly $325,000 to Okanagan College in Vernon to deliver its professional truck driver training program. Participants will receive 15 weeks of employability, occupational and soft skills training, including Airbrakes and Class 1 Drivers Learners Licence training, to prepare them for the Class 1 licence exam, Mandatory Entry Level Training and BC Forest Safety Council Professional Industry Driver theory and mentorship programs. They will also receive nine weeks of on-the-job work experience with local employers and two weeks’ follow-up support to assist in their job search.

Along the Chemainus River — symptoms of rare summer drought — are obvious. The increasingly dire situation of the Chemainus is echoed in the neighbouring Koksilah and Cowichan Rivers — in most rivers along Vancouver Island’s eastern corridor, for that matter. But while most are quick to attribute water scarcity solely to drought from climate change, Piikkila takes it a step farther. The Ladysmith resident… worked for the BC Forest Service as a forest technician for several years; managed and advised 10 major forest companies with 30 different operations and completed a Bachelor of Forestry in Finland. …Beyond drought, he believes river flow is dependent on five things: ecosystem-based management, thinning, fire, ecosystem restoration, and local governance of forest resources. …“We need to stop clear-cutting. We need to go to a selective logging system.”

VICTORIA — The federal agency that holds RCMP to account has received a total of 73 public complaints associated with enforcement measures at the Fairy Creek old-growth logging blockades in British Columbia, says the legal team representing the activist group. Counsel for the Rainforest Flying Squad – the group behind the protests – received confirmation from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission about the number of complaints received as of Monday, said lawyer Phil Dwyer. To date, 17 complaints fall under the agency’s mandate and will be investigated, Dwyer said Wednesday afternoon. …And as a result, B.C.’s NDP government is taking fire from civil rights advocates while federal counterparts are calling for a public inquiry into police actions. RCMP tactics and the use of force are increasingly aggressive, according to activists involved in the year-long civil disobedience movement.

We have developed this monthly newsletter to curate the good news stories we share throughout the province featuring FESBC-funded projects which are seeing excellent economic, social, and environmental benefits. Stories are shared in collaboration with our project partners and we’ve had the opportunity to share FESBC-funded project stories out of the Skeena, Vancouver Island and Okanagan regions this month in collaboration with the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. Our projects have been featured in provincial and national publications which help build social licence for the exceptional forest enhancement work throughout our province. In this month’s newsletter, learn about:

• 39 FESBC-funded projects with co-benefits to protect recreational values 
• Skeena Region wildlife habitat enhancement projects 
• Vancouver Island wildlife habitat enhancement projects 
• A collaboration to find win-win fibre solutions 

Long-term media attention to activities at Fairy Creek is contributing to “negative effects” for Port Renfrew businesses, says the community’s chamber of commerce.  Blockades have been set up in the Fairy Creek area to protest against old-growth logging.  “While the overall protection of these magnificent and treasured old-growth forests are integral to the environment and our brand, the way in which this is being carried out is not conducive to the betterment of Port Renfrew,” the chamber said in a statement, referring to the confrontations in the area. That includes media reports in recent days on clashes between the RCMP and the protesters “to an extent visitors are now questioning traveling not only to Avatar Grove but also to Port Renfrew itself due to safety concerns.”  The chamber said that both Port Renfrew and Avatar Grove “are safe and accessible without passing close to the protester encampment.” 

David Suzuki

Where the hell is Premier John Horgan? He called an unnecessary election to gain a majority. Now that he has it, why isn’t he showing he deserves it?  …We’ve had pitched battles over B.C. forests for the same reasons decades ago. Remember when more than 900 were arrested over logging in Clayoquot Sound in the 1990s? Thirty years later, are we still left to use the same tactics of protest, only with a greater sense of urgency and a more violent response? Has there been no change in how we evaluate forests based on economics, where nature remains an externality?  Then-premier Mike Harcourt, like Horgan today, didn’t listen. He claims those protests and arrests played no part in his decision to protect the Clayoquot forests, that it was the Indigenous people who moved him to act.

April Giroux’s heart is in a forest over 800 kilometres away from Nelson. Giroux has visited the Fairy Creek old-growth forest in southern Vancouver Island, a place she describes as though it were a part of her. “There is nothing like being on the West Coast and seeing those trees and being there and feeling what it feels like to have your feet on the ground under these towering cedars that are several thousand years old,” said Giroux. Giroux was among a crowd outside the Nelson RCMP detachment on Monday that demanded police stand down against people blockading forestry operations from entering the Fairy Creek watershed, one of several similar demonstrations held around the province. …Her husband Jackson Giroux said the protests are about more than just one watershed. Indigenous rights, and how land defence is enforced, are also at stake.

Jonathan Wilkinson

As activists opposed to old-growth logging were dragged and pepper-sprayed by the RCMP in Fairy Creek over the weekend, the federal Liberal Party promised to protect old-growth forests in British Columbia. North Vancouver candidate Jonathan Wilkinson promised a re-elected Liberal government would put $50 million to help protect old-growth forests, and took a shot at the NDP for not mentioning “old-growth” specifically in its climate plans, saying he was “disappointed” in NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. Wilkinson said the Liberals would work with B.C. Premier John Horgan’s NDP government to expand protected areas. …The Green Party’s Nanaimo-Ladysmith candidate Paul Manly said it was “about time” the Liberals listened to him and pointed to a motion he introduced in the House of Commons calling for the protection of old-growth forests. Climate group Stand.Earth director Tzeporah Berman said in a statement she was encouraged by Wilkinson’s announcement… The NDP did not reply to requests for comment.

A large buildup of cardboard boxes, originally used for tree planting, can be seen in a gravel pit on the North Road. This summer, approximately 300 million trees were planted across the province of B.C. and over 35 million of them were planted in the Burns Lake Forest District according to the Ministry of Forests. The importance of tree planting for the logging industry is well known, but for all the positives that come from tree planting, there are also a few drawbacks. The pile of boxes in the gravel pit on the North Road is just a small sample of the amount of cardboard that gets stored in the woods after tree-planting season. …Lasse Lutick, co-owner of tree planting company Hybrid17 Contracting LTD. said the 30 million seedlings produce over 100,000 cardboard boxes that are burned in the fall… “they are not able to be recycled as they have a wax coating to make them weatherproof.”