Penticton city council has given its approval for a new cell tower on Valleyview Road, with the caveat that it be disguised as a tree to better blend in with the surroundings. The Telus tower is proposed at 18 metres tall, which fits in the size range of less than 30 metres that only requires notification to neighbouring properties. Those taller than 30 metres require a “higher level of public consultation including advertising in local newspapers,” city staff explain in their report. Chad Marlatt with Cypress Land Services says insisting on a tree disguise might slow things down….Council passed the motion to voice their approval for the tree-disguised tower, with Coun. Konanz opposed.

John Stuart Mansell

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of John Stuart Mansell on May 20, 2024. Born October 5, 1938 in England, John came to Canada at age 17 where he enrolled and graduated from UBC with a BSF (Forestry) degree. After graduation he worked in various capacities in coastal logging camps followed by employment as Woods Manager in Radium Hot Springs, Clearwater, and Williams Lake. …Everyone can relate to John’s tales and adventures about grizzly bears and fishing in the Bella Coola Valley, or his menagerie of steers, pigs, chicken, ducks and geese on his acreage. To honor John’s life as a forester and Board director, we are gathering contributions for the Gavin Lake Forest Education Society. Donations may be made to gavinlake.ca (‘donate now’, “John funds”).

On May 30, Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle and B.C. Area Director joined Local 10-B President Sheldon Morice and 1st Vice President Wes Mitchell for a tour of the Kruger pulp mill in Kamloops, B.C. McGarrigle and Unifor leaders met with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, City Councillor Katie Neustaeter, and Kruger management to discuss the mill’s struggles with a regular economic access to fibre. Kruger isn’t alone in its fibre supply troubles. “Kamloops is a key forestry hub in the interior, but its continued success relies on action from the provincial government,” said McGarrigle. Unifor raised the possibility of Kamloops city council adopting a motion of support for forestry jobs and, in turn, submitting the motion to the upcoming meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM). By putting forestry on the agenda of UBCM, a broader discussion can take place to help place even greater pressure on the provincial government to act.

VICTORIA — The provincial apiculturist says bee die-offs this spring are due to the prolonged cool weather and have nothing to do with the recent aerial spraying for spongy moths. Paul van Westendorp said adult bees first out of the hive every spring are opportunistic and follow the pollen for the greater good of their hive.  …Social-media reports that the bees were killed by spraying for the spongy moth — formerly called gypsy moths — are unfounded, said van Westendorp. Van Westendorp said the insecticide affects only moth and butterfly caterpillars after ingestion. The active ingredient — bacillus thuringiensis variation kurstaki or BTK — is a natural bacteria found in soils and affects only insects with high-alkaline digestive systems. …Bee die-offs are common in the spring and usually happen because of the weather, said van Westendorp. If flowering is delayed, they stay put. But when they appear, the bees get busy.

The rising toll of natural disasters in Canada demands a new approach — so here is an idea. Let’s give Canada’s armed forces a fully supported national mission to lead natural disaster response. This mission would extend …to actually fighting fires on the front line and mitigating natural disasters. The armed forces’ engagement in a situation would be triggered by a severity scale approved in advance by federal and provincial governments. Once an agreed severity level is tripped, the armed forces would engage and take control. The real question going forward would be not if support from the armed forces is needed, but when and where it would be deployed. …The increased risk and prevalence of forest fires is a direct product of the climate crisis. So too is our carbon tax response. …Why can’t some of the carbon tax revenue be allocated to a new firefighting mission for Canada’s armed forces?

Stop spending money on the outcome and start spending on prevention. That was one of the messages a keynote panel on living with wildfire delivered to a large crowd at the Kelowna Community Theatre Monday evening. The panel, which included academics and those on the front lines, kicked off a three day symposium on wildfires sponsored by the University of British Columbia and hosted by UBCO. West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund, part of the five-person panel, said governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in putting these fires out which is not good for anybody. “We’re not being particularly successful and we’re putting people’s lives and property at risk,” said Brolund.

In October of 2023, the City of Vancouver began a multi-year process to fell 160,000 trees, almost a third of those in Stanley Park, a Vancouver landmark that draws over eight million visitors annually. Most of the dead trees are western hemlocks that fell prey to the western hemlock looper moth. “They are voracious feeders,” says Dr. Gerhard Gries, a professor of animal communication ecology at Simon Fraser University. Looper moths have periodic population booms. According to Gries, these outbreaks occur in B.C.’s interior every 11 to 15 years and every 20 years on the coast. The outbreak started on the North Shore in 2019 and spread to Stanley Park in 2020, says Joe McLeod, the Vancouver Park Board urban forestry manager. Blackwell & Associates issued a risk assessment report to the City in January 2024, indicating that 24 per cent of Stanley Park is classified as a high and extreme wildfire risk, with an additional 60 per cent classified as moderate risk. [For full access, you may need a subscription to the National Observer]

The results of a trail survey should give North Cowichan pause for thought on how trails are developed and maintained in the 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve. The Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society and its volunteers do excellent work, but are primarily focused on mountain bike trails. …But the Six Mountains of North Cowichan are enjoyed by many different trail enthusiasts. To better understand how the trails are used, the society and Tourism Cowichan commissioned Vancouver Island University to conduct a survey late last year. An overview of the survey results presented Friday to the municipality’s economic development committee showed that hikers and walkers combined represent almost 60 percent of trail users in North Cowichan and Cobble Hill compared with mountain bikers at 30 percent. …Given the survey results, council should ensure that future work on the trails better recognizes the forests’ dominant users — hikers and walkers.

Aligned with Saskatchewan’s growth plan goal of increasing Indigenous participation in the natural resource industry, the Government of Saskatchewan is investing in the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) to deliver two training initiatives to address workforce needs and grow the Indigenous workforce in the forestry sector. …SIIT delivers programs that reflect current labour market needs of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous communities. The Forestry Log Haul Step Program will support up to 20 individuals in gaining the 980 hours of experience required to become a fully licensed log haul driver. SIIT will assist new drivers in finding employment opportunities and establishing connections with employers in the forestry sector. …In addition to the Log Haul Step Program, this funding will support the purchase of two Simlog Simulators for SIIT’s mobile job connection program, which helps job seekers in First Nation and northern communities gain virtual work-site training, and learn safety-conscious operating habits for heavy equipment. 

Lawrence Hewitt lives on a heavily forested property on the northern outskirts of the city and like many Prince George residents he’s worried about wildfires. Those are real fears after an unprecedented 2.8 million hectares of B.C. forest burned in 2023 and the lingering hangover of extreme drought conditions that have persisted this spring through much of the northern half of the province. Hewitt caught wind of the new FireSmart BC fire mitigation program the provincial government has introduced to encourage people to take charge of making their own homes less likely to burn and he’s been busy doing exactly that. …Hewitt knows there will be costs incurred by thinning the Pidherny Recreation Site forest to reduce the fire hazard and the risk of a crowning fire that moves from treetop to treetop but it’s worth it if it leaves the city less likely to burn like Fort McMurray did in May 2016.