Calls are out for the council in the Municipality of North Cowichan to suspend its public consultation process on the future of the 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve. The Where Do We Stand group has recently expressed concerns about the public consultation process being conducted online during summer holidays and amidst lingering fears about the COVID-19 pandemic. Group spokeswoman Icel Dobell said the WDWS is now officially asking council to suspend the process to allow time “to rethink and reset” the current process. She said members of the WDWS have read through the draft engagement materials sent to them by the consultants Lees & Associates, the firm hired by the municipality to conduct the public consultation process, and have deep reservations. …North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring said a report on the MFR is scheduled to be on the agenda at council’s next meeting on July 15.

A historic first step was made late last month when six governments came together to discuss how to best advance a Community Forest Agreement in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area. Representatives from the governments of Lhtako Dené, Nazko, Lhoosk’uz, ?Esdilagh, the City of Quesnel and the Cariboo Regional District, along with staff from the Ministry of Forests and the BC Community Forest Association met June 24 to discuss next steps in the community forest process. …The governments present at the meeting expressed interest in engaging with MFLNRORD to advance the CFA application. The next step is for ministry staff to co-ordinate an official invitation from the Minister of Forests; the anticipated timeline for the invitation is during autumn 2020.

Provincial authorities are restricting commercial wild huckleberry harvesting in B.C.’s Kootenay-Boundary region for a third year to protect huckleberry bushes and preserve a critical food supply for grizzly bears. From July 15 to Oct.15, professional pickers will be banned from areas including Summit Creek, Monk Creek, Goat River, Little Moyle, Kid Creek, Iron Creek and Sportsman Ridge. Road signs will be posted near closure areas. The B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development says the areas have been identified as critical foraging zones for grizzly bears and other species. Wild black huckleberries are also of high cultural value to the region’s Ktunaxa First Nation. “Traditionally, the huckleberry harvest was limited to First Nations’ sustenance and public household use,” the ministry said in a news release.

A study says a government-sponsored wolf kill in Western Canada has had “no detectable effect” on reversing the decline of endangered caribou populations. The study by scientists from Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the universities of Alberta, British Columbia, and Victoria finds statistical flaws in an influential 2019 report supporting a wolf cull. New research published in the international journal Biodiversity and Conservation found that addressing potential threats from wolves did not slow the loss of mountain caribou in British Columbia and Alberta. Instead, it says factors affecting population decline include loss of habitat to logging, snowpack variation and snowmobiling. The authors point to one type of caribou found across Wells Gray Park and into B.C.’s Kootenay region that suffered the steepest population losses despite having few animals killed by wolves.

Icel Dobell

Sadly, a citizens’ Working Group established to help guide public consultation on the future of the municipal forest reserve appears to be a rubber stamp. And the deep, broad, transparent, inclusive, accountable, unbiased process we had expected has not transpired. It would be easy for Where Do We Stand to walk away in cynicism. But we’re not. We’re sounding the alarm. WDWS joined the working group (WG) in good faith to contribute to a transparent engagement process. But it is being kept secret. …The discussion guide fails to outright report that UBC says carbon credits could generate as much or more cash than logging (selling to local buyers, not Chevron ). Also troubling, the consultants will allow only 5,000 words of written submissions and won’t consider the 800 citizen comments submitted with the original 1,500 person petition that began this whole process.

Saskatchewan forestry crews are keeping an eye out for a pest that kills pine trees, turning swaths of forests red: the mountain pine beetle. “The threat level is always elevated. We’re always on alert,” said Rory McIntosh, a forest insect and disease expert for the province. …The invasive species is prevalent in B.C. and Alberta, but McIntosh said it’s creeping east. Mountain pine beetles have been in the Cypress Hills for years, but have yet to be found in northern Saskatchewan, he said. …A recent survey of the area found this winter wasn’t cold enough to knock back the population in the area, McIntosh said.

Cheslatta Carrier Nation has received a grant of $1.25 million from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to rehabilitate tree stands damaged in the devastating 2018 wildfires. “This is exactly the kind of project that our government is promoting because of the multiple values it addresses… through the funding to the FESBC,” said Doug Donaldson, the Minister for Forests. …“They are rehabilitating forests that were damaged in fire in 2018. There are large areas in the Cheslatta territory that have been damaged by that wildfire and so they wanted to restore those forests to get them growing again” said the FESBC Executive Director Steve Kozuki. …About 25 per cent of the fire damaged trees will be utilized by the West Fraser —Fraser Lake Sawmill. The other 75 per cent of the wood, because it’s so fire damaged is going to Pinnacle Renewable Energy.