Category Archives: Forestry

NELSON, BC — BC Timber Sales is talking to residents about logging and wildfire protection planned for the Falls Creek watershed in the Bonnington area. In a June 6 letter to residents posted on social media, Mark Tallman, planning forester for BCTS, said the agency is beginning a community watershed planning process that will include local residents. …Will BCTS have already decided which trees will be cut before the watershed plan is created? …A Ministry of Forests spokesperson said potential cut blocks have not yet been mapped. “The project is being designed to use early engagement with interested parties to help guide BCTS planning around forest harvesting, road construction, and wildfire risk reduction.” …An initial draft of the watershed forest plan is expected to be completed by “early winter 2026” and the “timing of the timber sale is anticipated to be around 2028-29 at the earliest.

It’s a widely-accepted mystery: whether or not a tree that falls in the forest makes a sound. But what about the riddle that Jasper National Park officials were faced with last year: If hundreds of thousands of burned trees are down in high visitor use areas, who clears them away? Since the Jasper Wildfire Complex razed 33,000 ha of Jasper’s forests last July, Lethbridge’s Adam Ross and his team of arborists, foresters, danger tree specialists and wildlife tree assessors, have been cutting, pruning, clearing, mulching, sawing, chipping and generally making passable the area’s roads, right-of-ways and trails. “Bush surgeons, that’s who we are,” says Ross, who owns and operates Rossco’s Tree Service.  Ross’ company has been contracted to clear all of Jasper’s campgrounds, day-use areas and roadways impacted by the fire. The enormity of the crews’ task is difficult to put into perspective, and not just because of the sheer volume of trees to be cleared.

Eli Pivnick

Late last month, the new documentary film, B.C. Is Burning!, was shown in Kelowna and Vernon. …The solutions [to reducing wildfire] proposed by the film include prescribed burns to reduce fuel load. By burning forested lands when conditions are not conducive to forest fires, the fires will be more controllable and cooler and not overly damaging to trees and soil, as can be the catastrophic fires we are now seeing. The other solution offered is thinning tree stands so fires spread less rapidly through the forest. …In the film, Murray Wilson, the film’s primary narrator and promoter, with more than 40 years experience working in the forest industry, perpetuates a number of the forest industry’s most frequently repeated myths. First, the film does not mention clearcut logging… Clearcut logging is the elephant in the room.

The Interior Logging Association is very pleased to announce they will be hosting the Merritt B.C. premiere of the newly released “BC Is Burning” documentary on Thursday, July 17th at 7pm at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. Tickets are capped at a maximum of 140 and both premiere events in Kelowna and Vernon sold out quickly! Tickets are just $15.00! Get your tickets today on line through Eventbrite at the read more link below.

B.C. plans to log old-growth forest, threatening endangered southern mountain caribou habitat, despite commitments to conserve these forests, warns a new report. The report, from three B.C. conservation groups — Wildsight, Stand.earth, and the Wilderness Committee — uses provincial satellite data to show that 57 square kilometres of old-growth forests are either approved or pending approval for logging in the ranges of three endangered caribou herds: the Columbia North, Groundhog and Wells Gray South herds. …For the report, the researchers used Forest Eye alerts — Stand.earth’s remote sensing systems developed two years ago that detect an unseasonal drop in forest cover using satellite monitoring. This showed old growth logging across the endangered herds as recently as May. …In an emailed statement Friday, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said the government is performing a balancing act between conservation and forestry.

At BCIT, putting people at the core of everything we do is paramount. The Forest and Natural Areas Management (FNAM) and the Fish, Wildlife and Recreation (FWR) program is seeking three (3) temporary full-time (1.0 FTE) contract appointments for an Assistant Instructors from August 26th to December 20, 2025, to assist in the delivery of a range of courses within the FNAM and FWR diploma programs. The Forest and Natural Areas Management (FNAM) and the Fish, Wildlife and Recreation (FWR) program is a practical two-year diploma that is part of the Renewable Resources Department at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology). These two diploma programs are designed to give students a broad range of applied skills, experiences, and knowledge for careers in the dynamic and diverse field of natural resource management and stewardship. Posting closes July 19, 2025

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Communities in southern Yukon will reduce their wildfire risk after a combined investment of more than $17 million from the federal and Yukon governments. The funding was announced by Dr. Brendan Hanley, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs and Member of Parliament for Yukon. …Funding for the Government of Yukon’s Wildland Fire Management branch will decrease fire risk in the communities of Whitehorse, Teslin, and Haines Junction—communities which are part of the northern boreal forest region and prone to aggressive wildfire behaviour. …New treatment will include reducing or managing materials that are flammable or combustible in the wildland-urban interface. These measures follow national standards set out by FireSmart Canada and will increase the wildfire resilience of these three communities.

Four years ago, British ­Columbia endured the ­deadliest weather event in recorded ­Canadian history. The 2021 heat dome claimed the lives of more than 600 ­people, many of whom died alone in overheated homes. As we mark the fourth anniversary of this devastating mass casualty event with record-breaking heat elsewhere in the country, we must confront a troubling truth: B.C. remains dangerously unprepared for the next one. Despite some advancements, including updated building codes, rebates for heat pumps and a now-depleted $30-million fund to provide vulnerable households with air conditioning units, one of the most critical aspects of climate readiness has seen little to no progress. In fact, it’s getting worse. Our communities are rapidly losing tree canopy, green space and permeable surfaces — the very elements that keep cities cooler during extreme heat.

With wildfire season in full swing, an immigration consultant says there is a simple way to end the shortage of qualified people to fight wildfires: Let existing, trained firefighters who are non-residents stay once their work permits expire by letting them choose a path to permanent residency. Jennie McCahill is representing Irish national Jake McGavin, a team leader with a wildfire-fighting contractor called Carmanah Wildfire, which is based in Sidney but has firefighting crews spread all over B.C. …McGavin, who turns 29 in September, is in his third season fighting wildfires in B.C. He’s been lucky to have received a pair of two-year work permits, but the second is soon to run out. …He wants to stay in Canada not only because he’s fallen in love with B.C. …”Unfortunately, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada does not recognize wildland firefighting as skilled work.”

In the northernmost parts of the greater Robson Valley sits the Walker Creek watershed, a lush land with countless species of flora and fauna. …The area is also at the heart of a conflict between advocacy group Conservation North and BC Timber Sales (BCTS). In May, Conservation North found out BC Timber Sales is proposing cutblocks in the area, which would be auctioned off to forestry companies. The group held a letter-writing night in Prince George, where they encouraged attendees to contact the Ministry of Forests expressing opposition to the proposed auction cutblocks. …The area is one of the last untouched forests in the province, says Conservation North Director Michelle Connolly. “There are virtually no roads, mines or cutblocks. [Walker Creek] represents a place where mother nature makes the rules: it’s self-managing, self-maintaining, it’s a wild valley,” Connolly told a crowd of dozens during the letter-writing night.