Kevin Kriese

A man with connections to the North Thompson Valley has gone on to take important jobs at the provincial level and is now the chair of B.C.’s Forest Practices Board. The work he did while here, while it has been updated, is still an important standard in land use planning. Kevin Kriese grew up in Kelowna and Salmon Arm… After he graduated from high school he studied forestry and, in particular, integrated resource management. …One of the controversies in the early 1990s was a proposal by Weyerhaeuser to log in people’s watersheds in the East Blackpool area. …Much of the area of contention is now part of Wells Gray Community Forest but back then it took a good deal of discussion to develop an integrated management plan… His next project was coordinating the Land Resource Management Plan for the Kamloops Timber Supply Area…

In our latest Revelstoke Mountaineer podcast, we spoke with Doug Donaldson, the B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development, about a development proposal for Mount Begbie, the Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan’s ongoing herd planning process, and land use and backcountry use planning in the Revelstoke area.

Two Nanaimo men are holding a hunger strike in hopes of protecting B.C.’s remaining old-growth forests. James Darling and Robert Fuller, representing Extinction Rebellion, are into their fourth day protesting in front of Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson’s office on Dunsmuir Street. Fuller said they want a moratorium on old-growth logging until the province’s old growth strategic review report is publicly released. …Malcolmson wasn’t available for an interview Thursday, but said in an e-mailed statement that the old growth strategic review report will be released “in due time.” …“We want to protect the health and sustainability of our forests and ensure our forest industry can support good-paying jobs for people across B.C.,” she said. “We are committed to a science-based approach.”

In the midst of a heat wave, the Apex Volunteer Fire Department is especially grateful to get a donation of surplus water tanks that will help keep the area safe from the threat of wildfires. Kelly Johnston, Apex deputy chief, said the two 500-gallon portable water tanks donated by Frontline Operations Group are welcome. “They essentially store water so we can pump water out of them with portable pumps,” Johnston explained, adding they are especially useful to transport water into high-grade areas which are common around Apex. “These tanks can be used to locate water at higher elevations, and either be refilled by helicopters or be pumped up and relayed between pumps.” He said the donation is especially important as temperatures climb to nearly 40 C, calling the forest “crispy.” …Andy Low (pictured above) of Frontline Operations Group said the donation was an easy decision. 

It has been a relatively calm summer for wildfires so far, but B.C. officials are urging caution as the Interior and Kootenays enter the long weekend during a heat wave. There have been 243 wildfire since April 1. While quieter than normal, August is typically the most active month of B.C.’s wildfire season. Most concerning is that 85 per cent of those blazes were human-caused, which means natural causes such as lightning weren’t a factor. That’s compared to last year’s average of 54 per cent. “We know people want to get out into the great outdoors, but it’s important that everyone stay vigilant about fire safety,” said Forestry Minister Doug Donaldson. “…managing forest fires in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic requires BC Wildfire Service staff to operate with even greater care. I urge everyone to support our crews by using fire responsibly and making sure that their activities don’t spark a wildfire this holiday weekend.”

Doug Donaldson

A new research chair at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will help chart a new course in wildfire prediction and response in British Columbia. Driven by technology and expanded collaboration with emergency responders, communities and industry, the British Columbia Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science will work toward an improved ability to forecast, prevent and respond to wildfires emergencies. …Provincial funding of $5 million for the endowment will pay for the position, hosted by TRU at its Kamloops campus. The campus is near Emergency Management BC and BC Wildfire Service operational centres and is supported by high-speed fibre optic connections and key transportation routes. …The first appointment to the research chair at TRU is anticipated later this year.

The July 2020 updates from our Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) team shines a spotlight on some of the work being accomplished by FESBC-funded partners province-wide. A Spotlight on Forestry Jobs: together with the Provincial Government, we’ve been sharing good news stories from around the province, stories of projects helping the environment and providing good paying jobs for communities. In this newsletter, learn about projects in the communities of Burns Lake, Williams Lake, and Terrace. Conservation Projects: since mid May, we’ve worked with the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) team to collaboratively share the good news of $9.2 million in funding for conservation projects across the province. From grizzly bears and marmots, to mule deer and goshawks, our team is not only excited to support HCTF projects financially, but help tell these stories to British Columbians who are interested in wildlife habitat enhancement and conservation. 

B.C. forests have lost only 708 hectares to wildfire so far in 2020, below the modest 21,138 last summer and a tiny fraction of the record 1.4 million hectares lost in 2018. That’s a temporary reprieve for the B.C. Wildfire Service as it works to adapt firefighting in the COVID-19 pandemic, Forests Minister Doug Donaldson says. August heat and human activity will determine the final outcome. For the longer term, the ministry is providing $5 million to expand research capacity with a new research chair at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops to “help chart a new course in wildfire prediction and response,” Donaldson announced in Victoria July 30. The University of Northern B.C. in Prince George and UBC Okanagan in Kelowna are also involved in the research effort. Indigenous knowledge and use of fire to shape the landscape and its wildlife will be part of the strategy, Donaldson said. 

The return of hot weather has led the BC Wildfire Service to warn the public about tinder dry forest conditions. Although the start of this year’s wildfire season was quieter than normal, August is typically the most active month of B.C.’s wildfire season. … Human-caused fires are preventable and unnecessarily divert crucial firefighting resources from naturally occurring wildfires. From April 1 through July 29, the BC Wildfire Service responded to 239 wildfires throughout the province, 85 per cent of which were attributed to human activity. “We know people want to get out into the great outdoors, but it’s important that everyone stay vigilant about fire safety,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, “I urge everyone to support our crews by using fire responsibly and making sure that their activities don’t spark a wildfire this holiday weekend.”

I find it surprising that Cooper Creek Cedar assumed it has local support when individuals in our communities, and our Argenta-Johnsons Landing liaison committee have stated many residents do not support plans to log our hillside. On June 13, Cooper Creek Cedar held a community meeting in Argenta to communicate plans regarding logging up Salisbury Forest Service Road. The communities of Argenta and Johnsons Landing have since held meetings to discuss how to respond. From the minutes of one of those meetings: “Those present decided to set up a community committee to liaise with Cooper Creek Cedar about plans for the Argenta–Johnsons Landing hillside.” … In October 2019 the majority of adult members in our two communities signed a petition to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and other members of government requesting a moratorium on logging this hillside. I believe this request should communicate to a logging company that they do not have community support.