Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society (BFWSS), a grassroots citizens group in southern BC, is launching a campaign … to push for a new Forest Act so that forests are protected so that communities are safe. As a result of massive losses of intact primary forests due to industrial forestry, BC communities are faced with: decreases in agricultural and drinking water supply and quality; more drought; more fires; and more floods. Scientists, such as Dr. Younes Alila, have been sounding the alarm… Communities and Indigenous groups on the land are paying the price. Despite calls from BC residents to reduce logging of primary forests, the BC government is not changing industrial forestry practices. Volunteer-led groups do not have the resources or influence of the forestry lobby. …BFWSS has a plan to join forces with grassroots groups and Indigenous people across the province to push for a new Forest Act.

In 2021, a deadly heat dome produced a devastating wildfire season across British Columbia. While immediate media coverage often focuses on evacuations and the numbers of homes destroyed, many First Nations say what these fires do to the land in their territories — and the cultural lives of their communities — is often overlooked. IDEAS visited St’át’imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape — and their consequences for plants, animals, and humans alike. This two part-series follows a post-wildfire research project led by northern St’át’imc Nations — Ts’kw’aylaxw, Xwísten, and T’it’q’et-P’egp’íg’lha — alongside the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC and the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society. More than two years after the McKay Creek wildfire, the nation and their co-researchers are working to document the effects of wildfires — and to chart a new future based on Indigenous approaches to healing and balancing an ecosystem.

Out in the bush near Fort Babine, B.C. is a plot of recently planted tree seedlings. They are destined to be under unusual levels of scrutiny as they battle for survival and growth—if they grow at all. The odds are stacked against them. …The Fort Babine site includes species not normally planted in that part of west central British Columbia. … The list includes Douglas fir; ponderosa pine; western larch; cedar and birch. The Fort Babine plantation site initiative is being spearheaded by the B.C. Ministry of Forests with the support of a variety of forest industry partners. The hope is the Fort Babine plantation will become part of a chain across the province. The mixed species plantations are in direct response to B.C.’s warming climate. The idea is the various Fort Babine’s across the province will in time produce a useful insight into which tree seedlings respond best, and where.