Through cooperation with conservation groups like the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation is able to support projects such as the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development’s study of grizzly bear mortality in the Kootenay region. This project builds upon a large base of research to provide recommendations on how best to solve pressing conservation concerns in a region with one of the highest rates of human caused grizzly bear mortality in the province. Project lead Clayton Lamb is working with researchers and local authorities in the Elk Valley to track bear populations and implement precautionary measures designed to limit human/bear conflict.

North Cowichan council’s decision to split the forest review into two phases is threatening to derail a successful public engagement process. The interim (first) phase is designed to shape a 16 month forest management plan covering the period from September 2020 to December 2021 and the second phase is designed to shape the forest management plan from Jan 2022 onward. What is the purpose of the interim plan other than to continue logging for another 16 months? Why not do the public engagement in one phase and do it right? It is inevitable that we are going to end up in a fight over the interim logging plans in the fall and this will overshadow and taint the whole engagement process. Another problem is the shortened timeline due to COVID-19.

This story is part of the World on Fire series, a five-part podcast that takes us to the front lines of out-of-control wildfires in Canada, Australia and California. …A combination of more rain and less human activity in Alberta’s forests due to COVID-19 restrictions has contributed to a slower start to the wildfire season this spring compared to recent years. …Fewer than 500 hectares of forest have burned in the province since March, according to the province’s data. At this time last year, four large fires, including the Chuckegg Creek fire near High Level, had already burned more than 350,000 ha. By the end of the 2019 fire season, almost 900,000 hectares of forest in Alberta had been consumed. In big fire years, the province typically calls in reinforcements from other jurisdictions, something that wouldn’t be easy during a pandemic, Gagnon said. 

For almost 50 years, the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and the citizens of Bamfield have been asking for a paved road. On average, 340 vehicles a day dare to travel this hazardous and deplorable logging road. Despite its condition, it is an important route that serves not only the communities of Bamfield and the First Nations but is also home to the Canadian Coast Guard and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, which brings in scientists from five Canadian universities. Even more important to the global community is that Bamfield is at the head of the world-famous West Coast Trail. I imagine that visitors to the area are shocked by the road conditions. This is not the case at the other end of the trail in Port Renfrew, from where you can travel all the way to Victoria or Lake Cowichan on nicely paved roads.

Dominik Roeser

UBC Faculty of Forestry, in partnership with FPInnovations and spatial analytics platform provider LlamaZOO, has been awarded $300,000 in funding to further develop and commercialize TimberOps, an immersive visual analytics platform for forest operations and land management. TimberOps is designed to address the many challenges encountered by managing forest resources over vast areas. The digital landscape, integrates different datasets that can be reviewed through intuitive, analytical tools that factor in all aspects of forest management planning, ranging from consultation and road surveying to cutblock planning. “Working and teaching in virtual reality has the potential to revolutionize the way we work in forestry in the future,” says UBC Forestry’s forest and wildfire operations associate professor Dr Dominik Roeser. “The Ignite grant could not have come at a better time as we are forced to move teaching from the field into an online environment due to COVID-19.”