Forestry company, CanWel appears to be gearing up to carry out logging above Fernie, within sight of downtown on private land they own. Preparation works are underway to the east of town, above Ridgemont Rd. The entrance to the Kush mountain biking trail has been damaged by tracked machinery preparing the area for logging access. Logging plans were confirmed by the Fernie Trails Alliance, which manages trails uphill of Ridgemont. “We are happy to report that CanWel is planning for logging to occur above the Kush trail, and below the Bear Chutes trail, meaning that none of the FTA trails should be impacted,” said Todd Penke of the FTA, who added that while the entrance to the Kush trail will be affected, the FTA would carry out repairs as required when logging was completed.

In separate legal proceedings, two forestry operators and a contractor each took responsibility for their roles in road repairs gone wrong that resulted in a significant release of water and sediment into Nesslin Lake in July 2019. As part of an alternative measures agreement that concluded April 5, 2022, A.C. Logging Ltd. of Spiritwood accepted responsibility for its role in the incident and contributed $20,000 to the provincial Impacted Sites Fund. As part of a previous court agreement, Carrier Forest Products Ltd. of Big River accepted responsibility for its role and contributed $75,000 to the fund. The fund helps support the cleanup of contaminated sites across the province. Carrier has also completed work to stabilize the road and decommission the creek crossing. Additionally, OS-ARC Enterprises Ltd. pleaded guilty to one count under The Environmental Management and Protection Act. 

The Canim Lake Band continues to work with the B.C. government to ensure its values are incorporated into the modern forestry industry. Canim Lake Coun. Carl Archie was in Victoria last week to attend the announcement of additional old-growth deferrals by Forests Minister Katrine Conroy, as part of B.C.’s old-growth preservation strategy. The announcement was an update to negotiations underway with 200 indigenous groups across the province to create new areas of protection for old-growth forests. Canim Lake has accepted the government’s proposed old deferral areas but reserved the right to change the designated areas in the future. Archie said this could occur if logging is a matter of forest health, such as removing beetle-killed trees.

Before heading to Fairy Creek, Emily Kane’s closest brush with the law was… “a mild speeding ticket.” That changed on May 27, 2021 when the local business owner was arrested after locking herself into a “sleeping dragon”—essentially a hole in the ground reinforced by concrete and piping that protesters have locked themselves into throughout the blockades. …Just weeks after her arrest, the charge was upgraded to criminal contempt, [which] meant she faced a possible criminal record, along with 24 days in jail. …Fortunately for the Yogacara Whistler owner, the judge showed some leniency, reducing her sentence to a $2,250 fine and no jail time. …Although understandably relieved, Kane was prepared for the possibility of prison if it came to that. …When there is less than 2.7 per cent of these [old-growth] trees left in forested areas, that’s urgent. 

My letter is prompted by the letter from Tony Greenfield (SC Community Forest) in response to Sara Lowis (Living Forest Institute). I am the president of SC Streamkeepers Society. Clearcutting forests destroys stable ecosystems, seriously affecting the natural hydrology of a watershed. The atmospheric river this past November had catastrophic consequences; the unprecedented weather event due to climate change wiped out most of the salmon Redds (nests) in the creeks on the Sunshine Coast. The severe flooding took out numerous creek culverts and roads. We are not living in normal times, and we must transition to new ways of doing things, that includes logging sustainably and in appropriate locations. The argument that we must continue to decimate forests directly above our communities, destabilizing the ground for more wood products is frankly, ludicrous!

City of Powell River councillors have taken issue with a potential provincial initiative to harmonize stumpage rates, which could affect Powell River Community Forest’s revenues.  At the April 5 committee of the whole meeting, council reviewed correspondence from Chris Laing, who manages the community forest’s logging operations, asking for support in a request from the BC Community Forest Association.  City chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said the ask is that council consider submitting a resolution to Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM).  “If the committee wished to do so, they could send it to council to forward onto UBCM,” added Brewer.  . …Mayor Dave Formosa said “If [the provincial government] changes the stumpage rate to the community forest, it’s going to take a big chunk of that money out. We need to get behind this resolution to UBCM. We should also probably send a letter from the city saying we do not support the change.”

Chief Robert Denni

The Huu-ay-aht First Nation is charting its own path toward the conservation of old-growth forests across a swath of western Vancouver Island as the province works through a process to defer logging in 26,000 square kilometres of critical old-growth habitat.  The Huu-ay-aht outlined their position this week in a commissioned assessment of old-growth forests in Tree Farm License 44, the long-term forest tenure around Port Alberni that the First Nation holds an interest in. And it isn’t out of sync with the province’s mapping of old-growth areas it hopes to temporarily take off the table.  Huu-ay-aht Chief Robert Dennis, however, said his people intend to use that assessment in future management decisions, including those that involve the harvest of old-growth trees, which he wants the province and other interest groups to recognize. 

With wildfire season on the horizon, months of controlled burning have come to an end on Westbank First Nation land.  … Between November 2021 and April 2022, nine parcels of land were combed through by forestry crews, who removed dead and hazardous trees, ladder fuels, and brush vegetation. This work aims to slow any possible wildfires that may move through the area in the future.  “With the increase in wildfire intensity we have seen over the past few years, this mitigation work has come at an optimal time,” WFN Chief Christopher Derickson said in a press release.  …“In most of the treatment units our primary focus was to maintain the health and the fire resiliency of the forest by removing diseased trees, surface and ladder fuels, as well as the lower branches of the remaining trees,” said Dave Gill, Ntityix’s general manager of forestry.

EDMONTON – The Alberta government has released recovery plans for two herds of threatened caribou in the province’s north that it says will bring the amount of usable habitat on their ranges up to the level required by a deal signed with Ottawa.  “(These) plans make good on our commitment to take action on caribou recovery while maintaining local industry and jobs and building strong communities,” said a statement from Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon.  … But one observer who’s been closely involved with drafting the plans said the final documents delay most of the hard work for at least a decade and lack specifics on how habitat will be maintained and restored.   “If we’re not doing much in the next five to 10 years, that just kicks some of the hard decisions down the road,” said Carolyn Campbell of the Alberta Wilderness Association.

The province’s forests and the forestry industry have a role to play in climate change, says one of the region’s industry professionals.  Stuart Card, chief forester with Castlegar’s Interfor, said climate change is front and centre in today’s society but a sustainable forest management practice could lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and contribute to the climate adaptation as well.  “Forest management, active forest management, it’s going to assist with the fight against climate change, it’s going to help us minimize and mitigate catastrophic fire years,” he told city council recently.  …Coun. Jesse Woodward had asked Card, and other members of the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) representatives who appeared before council, about the battle for perpetual growth in forestry, with the need to re-wild the landscape so it could store carbon.  …A healthy forest means a stronger weapon against climate change, said Card.