Category Archives: Forestry

There is common agreement that the coastal Douglas-fir forest is the rarest and most at-risk forest type in the province. A coalition of 40 conservation organizations and all levels of government — the B.C. Forests Ministry among them — is consistent on that point. …While North Cowichan owns its 5,000-hectare-plus Municipal Forest Reserve outright — in theory, making it easier to protect — others must raise millions of dollars to acquire much smaller parcels of the same forest type from private landowners.  Case in point: the Cumberland Community Forest Society has raised about $6 million, including project costs, to purchase more than 220 hectares of coastal Douglas-fir from private timber companies. Money came from sources such as private individuals, trusts and foundations, and various levels of governments. Fund-raising activities and special events also played an important role.

CASTLEGAR, BC — The Province of B.C. is ‘logging for extinction’ despite its claims to be reducing logging in old growth forests, claims a long-time Nelson activist. Tom Prior said the provincial government recent contention that logging of old growth has declined by 42 per cent in B.C. — from an estimated 65,500 hectares in 2015 to 38,300 hectares in 2021 — is not quite as it seems. A veteran of countless logging road blockades, court battles and public protests against logging of old growth forests since the 1980s, Prior said the statement was made to pacify “armchair” environmental organizations to win green votes in the upcoming provincial election. “If they were managing our forests responsibly we would not have every ‘wide ranging’ species in the province endangered,” he said.

Rod Moorcroft

Re: Changes recommended for watershed logging. The draft hydrology report released on March 11 by BC Timber Sales recommends a reduction in cut areas on Mount Elphinstone from 25 per cent to 20 per cent, to reduce the risk of flooding and protect the health of our aquifer recharge area. This is not a good news story. It is incomprehensible why, in this time of climate change, anyone would seriously propose clear-cutting in our watershed. Mature forests are what stabilize the slopes, reduce the risk of flooding, and regulate the recharge of water into the aquifer that supplies drinking water to more than 10,000 people. The report claims that the proposed logging poses a low risk to our groundwater supply, aquifer recharge and flooding. However, the report also states that nobody really knows to what degree aquifer recharge will be affected by logging. So why take the risk? 

Local governments are invited to attend a virtual session on old growth on Thursday, April 13th. Hosted by UBCM, in cooperation with the Province, the session will focus on the Province’s approach to implementing the Old Growth Strategic Review recommendations. …On February 15, UBCM expressed concerns about the lack of local government engagement on the process and steps taken to advance the OGSR recommendations. UBCM noted that the process currently being undertaken by the Province, in partnership with First Nations, would result in the co-development of a declaration on ecosystem health and biodiversity as well as an action plan. This new, holistic approach to protecting old growth forests will result in a paradigm shift in how forests, water and lands in BC are managed. Recognizing that this new approach will have significant impacts on many BC communities, UBCM asked the Province to engage specifically with local governments. 

In the March newsletter you will find:

• Join us for the BCCFA’s 2023 Conference & AGM
• Why is the Indicators Survey so Important?
• The 2022 Robin Hood Memorial Award recipient was the Wetzin’kwa Community Forest 
• Watershed Security Strategy and Fund Intentions Paper and Engagement Survey
• The Safety Committee has developed Planning for Safety in Partial Cutting and Weather Events and Worker Safety 

VICTORIA – An audit of non-replaceable forest licence (NRFL) A89359, held by Yucwmenlúcwu (Caretakers of the Land) 2007 LLP, found Yucwmenlúcwu’s planning and practices generally complied with British Columbia’s forestry legislation. The audit covered activities conducted between Sept. 1, 2020, and Sept. 22, 2022. Activities included forest stewardship and site planning, timber harvesting, wildfire protection, silviculture, and constructing, maintaining and deactivating roads and drainage structures. Auditors assessed these activities for compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), the Wildfire Act, and applicable regulations and legal orders. “Our audit found that Yucwmenlúcwu complied with most requirements of FRPA and the Wildfire Act,” said Bruce Larson, vice-chair of the Forest Practices Board. “However, the audit identified some practices that need to be improved. Yucwmenlúcwu did not always conduct fire hazard assessments after harvesting or take precautions to prevent damage to nearby trees when burning slash piles.”

Trees communicating? Protecting their offspring? Sending warning signals? Even helping “competing” species? These are some of the incredible things we have heard about the “Wood Wide Web”. But, is it true? Or has the story got ahead of the science? A team of mycorrhizal researchers has discovered some painful truths about these fungal connections we have all come to be fascinated with. Justine Karst breaks down the myths and misconceptions about Common Mycorrhizal Networks (CMN), and the pain it caused her to do so. The first 50min is the science, the last 50 min is the story behind it. 

Public feedback is requested to inform the next stage of the Lakes Resiliency Project to create a forest landscape plan, co-developed with First Nations and forest and range licensees. British Columbians are encouraged to submit their feedback …through an online questionnaire …until May 12, 2023. The draft Current Condition Report examines forest and ecosystem health in the Lakes Timber Supply Area, a 1.5-million-hectare region in north-central British Columbia that consists of several communities, including Burns Lake, Decker Lake, Grassy Plains and Danskin. The report contains the condition of resource values and factors for the area, such as First Nations values, ages and growing stock of trees, as well as the current states of fish, water, wildlife and wetlands. Public responses to the report will support the creation of the forest landscape plan (FLP), aimed at strengthening healthy ecosystem management, including biodiversity, silviculture, visual management, water and wildlife habitat.

Decades of logging has led to a “consistent and strong warming effect” in several salmon-bearing rivers across central BC, adding another layer of heat stress to already struggling juvenile fish, a new study has found. The research, published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences last week, examined 28 tributaries of the North Thompson River between Kamloops and the Rocky Mountains. Along riverbanks where a third of trees had been logged over the past 50 years, average temperatures were found to spike beyond 17 degrees Celsius — enough to stress juvenile coho salmon before they get a chance to migrate toward the sea. …Juvenile coho thrive in rivers with water temperatures between 12 and 15 C in the summer. As water warms, it holds less oxygen. Anything higher than 17 C can stress juvenile coho. …As Cunningham put it: “The health of our streams is deeply connected to the health of our forests.”

A series of ancient landslides have been “reawakened” in BC’s Cariboo region, costing hundreds of millions in federal disaster assistance funds and prompting warnings that logging is connected to the problem. The slides and flooding in spring of 2020 and 2021 washed out roadways surrounding Quesnel, where geotechnical studies have also linked ongoing land movement beneath hundreds of homes with historic, slow-moving landslides. …A B.C. government web page attributes the “unprecedented slides and road washouts” in the Cariboo to wildfires and weather patterns linked to climate change, saying the historic slides were “reawakened” and “reactivated.” But University of B.C. forestry professor Younes Alila says forest loss due to extensive logging, as well as mountain pine beetle infestation and wildfires, is playing a key role in the hydrological disruptions behind the slides. Alila said he’s concerned money being spent on rebuilding roads will be wasted if officials and engineers don’t account for that.

As protesters gathered for their weekly effort to share their ‘Free the Permit’ message, MLA Jackie Tegart arrived in Merritt with other opposition members to support the Aspen Planers employees and contractors affected by recent closures and curtailments at the company’s Merritt mill. Tegart said she and her colleagues were there to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with forestry workers, who she said are being ignored by the provincial government. Along with Tegart, BC Liberal MLAs Mike Bernier and Michael Lee also joined protestors as the official critics for forestry and indigenous relations, respectively. Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz was also in attendance to show his support. “These workers and their families are hurting. They need reassurance that the government is working swiftly to get them back on the job,” said Tegart. 

A fresh case of illegal caribou harvesting on the winter road northeast of Yellowknife is being investigated, the NWT government says. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources says officers found “nine caribou suspected to have been illegally harvested” inside a Bathurst herd no-hunting zone on March 18. Evidence was collected by officers at the scene. The investigation remains open,” the department stated. An additional case related to the “suspected wastage of one caribou” northeast of the Ekati diamond mine is also being investigated. Anyone with information about that case is asked to call North Slave wildlife officers on (867) 873-7181. “Most hunters on the winter road are harvesting safely and respectfully out on the land, and we are all working together to support the conservation and recovery of threatened barren-ground caribou herds,” the department stated.

Amid devastating mill closures in B.C. communities, and warnings of declining timber supply, B.C. Premier David Eby recently announced his government’s latest forestry measures. We’ve been here before. What have politicians, communities, environmentalists and policy wonks called for in response… more selective logging that protects biodiversity and endangered species and more local manufacturing. But these solutions have been known for decades. So, why haven’t these changes been implemented? …There are two primary obstacles. The first is B.C. forestry is dominated by a coalition of forestry companies, unions and the B.C. government — what political scientist Jeremy Wilson called the “wood exploitation axis.” The axis has persisted through boom and bust, for a good hundred years. …The second obstacle to change is the constant threat of capital flight, the fear of investment moving to other, often cheaper, parts of the world. …It’s time for B.C. to quit the race to the bottom.

With a primary focus on rehabilitating dead pine stands in the Chilcotin region and transforming them into productive forests, Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR) was established in 2017. The severe wildfires that ravaged the region that same year reinforced the pressing need to restore the heavily burned forest stands with minimal economic value. In response, CCR, which is a joint venture company owned by the Tŝideldel First Nation and the Tl’etinqox Government, applied for and received a grant of $3.4 million from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to reduce wildfire risk and restore mountain pine beetle-damaged forests near Alexis Creek. Since then, CCR has continued to secure substantial grant funding from FESBC and partnered with other major players such as Natural Resources Canada, Shell Canada, and local companies like Tolko, Drax, and Atlantic Power to promote the rehabilitation and restoration of the Chilcotin forests.