More than 100 people will get training and work experience in the forest sector, giving them opportunities for job success and improved lives, through $3.3 million in provincial government funding. “One key way to reduce poverty is to open doors for people to new jobs and careers,” said Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “This program, through training and work experience, will prepare people for a wide variety of forestry jobs, putting them on the path to better opportunities.” On behalf of government, Stillwater Consulting is delivering the Advanced Forestry Training program in three communities: Cranbrook, Kamloops and Nanaimo. Students will earn 11 different industry certifications, including silviculture surveyor certification, occupational first aid – level 3 and basic chainsaw operator. The program includes a three-week job placement with local forestry employers.

North Cowichan is looking to hire an engagement facilitator to assist the municipality in creating a long-anticipated management plan for its 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve. …Many in the community had been demanding for some time to have more say in management plans for the forest reserve. Icel Dobell, from the Where do we Stand group, said that because of the divisive nature of the forest debate in North Cowichan, the development of a new forest management plan should be handled by professional non-partisan engagement specialists. …At the meeting held on July 3, council also agreed in-principle to a proposal from the University of B.C., the Coastal Douglas Fir Partnership and 3GreenTreeConsulting to assist in developing the forest management plan….Dobell said the Where do we Stand group is intrigued by UBC’S presentation on how the municipality can make as much money not logging through carbon sales as they would logging for timber.

Until July 15th you have the opportunity to change the way logging is done in BC – to protect watersheds, tourism, biodiversity, old-growth forests and ultimately the safety and livelihood of all British Columbians. The Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) is up for review and the government is looking for public input on this important legislation which governs logging in BC. Why your input is important—The passing of the FRPA into law in 2004 was widely seen by environmental groups as a disappointing step backward in forestry management from the FRPA’s predecessor, the Forest Practices Code. Though the mainstream media largely ignored the rollback of forestry protections, environmental groups braced for a logging industry with renewed power. A report by West Coast Environmental Law outlined how the FRPA reduced or eliminated industry accountability and gave industry a mandate to set their own environmental standards. 

EDMONTON — Forest fires in Alberta’s southern Rockies would be much more manageable if the landscape looked like it used to more than a century ago, research suggests. As part of his 2016 PhD dissertation at the University of Alberta, Chris Stockdale, now a research and extension scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, looked at how forest fires have burned through southern Alberta Rockies from Bow Valley all the way to the border with the United States. …“What we found was that by changing the vegetation composition of the landscape, that the risk of high intensity wildfires was cut in half,” he said. …He said the main reason for this increase in forestation was European settlement in the region. …This increase in coniferous trees has resulted in fires burning wildly out of control, even encroaching on cities and towns.

The area consumed by wildfires in the province so far this season is less than one per cent of the area burned in each of the past two summers, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. Since April 1, 466 fires have been recorded in B.C. but just 11,568 hectares burned, more than half of that in the Prince George fire region. That’s down from 2,117 fires and 1,354,284 hectares burned last year, the worst on record. Last year at this time fires had destroyed more than four times as much forest, according to wildfire service spokeswoman Kyla Fraser. …After the disastrous fire seasons in 2017 and 2018, the provincial government increased its firefighting budget by 58 per cent to $101 million a year. A $60-million Community Resiliency Investment Program was launched last September to provide local governments and First Nations with resources for fire mitigation. To date, 85 projects have been funded, according to the ministry of forests.

Only a couple of weeks remain for the public to provide comment on key forest management legislation in the province. The online surveys form part of dual reviews launched this spring of the Private Managed Forest Land Act and the Forests and Range Practices Act that governs logging on Crown land. Both are part of the province’s Coast Forest Sector Revitalization Initiative. …“We want to hear from the public about whether there is room for improvement in the management of private forests and also weather the private managed forest land program is a benefit to private forest owners and the communities they live in,” said Doug Donaldson, minister of forests. …The public has until July 22 to respond to an online questionnaire.

I attended the Municipality of North Cowichan’s special council meeting on Wednesday, July 3 because the Forestry Advisory Committee recommendations about blow down harvesting, living tree harvesting, and UBC collaboration were on the agenda. Mayor Siebring facilitated public input, council dialogue, probing questions, decision making, and public question period giving everyone the opportunity to be heard and understood. Council supported the collaboration with UBC, 3Green Consulting, and the Coastal Douglas Fir Partnership to develop a sustainable forestry management plan for implementation on Jan. 1, 2022. …I hope North Cowichan will find effective ways to educate themselves and the public about advances in forestry thoughts and practices so we can make wise and far-reaching decisions and keep our fears in check.

More than one year ago the federal government, as required under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), ordered B.C. to protect the critical habitat of southern mountain caribou. Now that B.C. has failed, Canada must impose an emergency order for caribou to survive and the SARA process to retain any credibility. This story began in the 1970s when biologist Michael Bloomfield and others documented that widespread destruction of habitat by logging and other resource development threatened caribou survival. These majestic animals have roamed our forests and mountains for millennia and depend on large tracts of mature forest. Since then successive B.C. governments have allowed our forests to be over-harvested so that the future of both caribou and workers are threatened. …No one demands a future without resource extraction; but it must be combined with more conscientious management of our forests, water and wildlife for generations to come. 

Pierre Dion has been doing business in the South Cariboo for decades and thinks the recent mill closures and curtailments are the next closest thing to a disaster for the area. Dion is the store manager of Exeter Forest and Marine Sales Ltd in 100 Mile House but previously owned the business himself for 35 years before selling this January. “I think it’s going to be really tough on business and really tough on the community,” he said of the recent closures and curtailments. “We’re definitely going to see a major impact, there are numerous concerns.” Dion is quite familiar with the forest industry and feels that the number of locals affected by the recent closures and curtailments is much higher than the actual number of employees laid off.

A West Kootenay logging company is collaborating with local governments in an unusual effort that attempts to combine logging and wildfire protection. When Kalesnikoff Lumber Co. Ltd. logs 150 hectares in the Selous Creek drainage near Nelson starting this fall, they’ll log more selectively than they otherwise would have. They will leave certain species they would otherwise have cut. The result will not look like a clearcut and it will be more fire resistant. …The company has collaborated on the logging plan with the Regional District of Central Kootenay, the City of Nelson and the B.C. Wildfire Service. …The goal of their joint plan is to provide fire protection as well as a viable timber harvest. …“Normally our mill would like to take Douglas fir, but Douglas fir is fire resistant and drought resistant and designed for shade and it is climate change resilient.