In what it calls the most accurate inventory ever taken a new report commissioned by a First Nation-owned forest company says nearly a third of its tree farm licence is old growth and that the percentage of old-growth will actually increase in the decades to come. The report analyzed Tree Farm Licence 44, located south of Port Alberni, and found 32 per cent of it contains old-growth defined as trees older than 250 years old. “Of that 76 per cent is protected or outside the timber harvesting land base and the levels of old-growth in the future are more than they are today,” said Joel Mortyn, the report’s author and Western Forest Products’ manager of inventory and analysis. The Tree Farm Licence or TFL contains 140,000 hectares of land owned by Western Forest Products and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. LiDAR technology measured the timber values in the tree farm licence in its entirety for the first time.

Ben Parfitt

On Monday, senior staff at B.C.’s Forests Ministry were told that one of their highest-ranking members — the province’s chief forester, Diane Nicholls — was entering a revolving door that would sweep her seamlessly out of government and into the industry her ministry regulates. “Diane is leaving us to further her work in sustainable forestry in the private sector in the role of VP sustainability for North America with Drax,” Rick Manwaring, forests deputy minister, said. Whether Manwaring himself chose those words or was assisted in drafting them by government communications staff is unknown. But what can be said is that his email downplayed what Drax is or what its “presence” means for B.C.’s forests. ..Something Manwaring didn’t say about Nicholls. Two years ago she chose to be in an industry-funded video extolling the virtues of wood pellets. The video was produced by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.

Phil Burton

Conservation North held its second annual Rebellion for Forests rally in downtown Prince George as part of the global Scientist Rebellion week of action. Roughly 50 people came to celebrate intact old-growth forests as a defense against the climate crisis. “Unfortunately, industrial logging of old-growth … is contributing to the global climate crisis instead of providing B.C. with a natural climate solution,” explained Michelle Connolly, Conservation North’s director. UNBC forest ecologist Phil Burton, said, “the good news is that our forests in this part of the world are resilient. They do bounce back after logging but our wildlife is not so resilient after repeated logging…” “The planning of our ministry of forests, is that every tree every stick of timber is up for grabs for unless it is set aside otherwise. It puts the onus on others, on conservationists and ecologists, to say ‘please don’t touch that’ and perhaps that onus should be reversed.”

It may seem that the dust has settled on the old-growth protests for now. And one might think that government’s announcement to defer 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest from logging for two years is behind us. However, nothing could be further from the truth. …The reality is that BC has a growing population and demand for public services. At the same time, government is reducing, via old-growth deferrals, a key source of revenue for this province. …This is in stark contrast to Saskatchewan’s government recently announced $2 billion historical investments in forestry with increased harvesting rights to support the re-opening of a pulp mill and a new OSB plant. …No one who supports the reduction in the use of BC’s natural resources should ever again complain about a lack of teachers, long hospital waits, a lack of doctors, the closure of community clinics or shortages of police in this province.

A North Okanagan timber company won’t have to pay B.C. Wildfire Service $156,000 to cover the cost of putting out a 30-hectare wildfire it started after a provincial appeal board ruled the company hadn’t intentionally started the fire. The B.C. Forest Appeals Commission found that while North Enderby Timber was responsible for the fire, the company hadn’t “willfully” ignited it, so therefore it didn’t have to pay a $156,602 bill the B.C. Wildfire Service had sent it. The fire dates back to 2017 and took place six kilometres east of Clearwater. According to a Forest Appeals Commission decision, North Enderby Timber burnt several piles of debris in the fall of 2016. …the following spring, the debris piles caused a wildfire as they hadn’t fully extinguished over the winter. …North Enderby Timber, along with its sister company Canadian Cedar Oil Technologies …appealed the fines and won a partial reprieve from the costs from the Forest Appeals Commission.

Vancouver Island, BC—British Columbia’s largest private landowner, Mosaic Forest Management, is halting logging in nearly 100,000 acres of old-growth forest for the next 25 years. The forestry company… said it’s transitioning to a carbon credit program, which is expected to generate several hundred million dollars in revenue. Hailed the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative, Mosaic said it’s the largest project of its kind and is aiming to capture and store more than 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. It’ll be “equivalent to, or exceed what [Mosaic’s] logging revenues would’ve been from logging these stands,” read a release from the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. …Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Judith Sayers said “there is value in what Mosaic is doing,” but questioned the long-term plan. “What are they going to do after 25 years?” Sayers asked. “There’s still work to be done to make sure they’re not cutting down the old-growth.”

VANCOUVER, BC — A Vancouver man on a hunger strike says he’s now into his 13^th day without food as he awaits a response from the province on holding a public meeting about old-growth forests in B.C. On Wednesday, an organization called Save Old Growth — which wants B.C. to pass legislation to immediately end all old-growth logging within the province — temporarily disrupted traffic in Vancouver and Revelstoke. In Vancouver, anti-logging protesters blocked the Lions Gate Bridge during the morning commute. In Revelstoke, two protesters blocked the Columbia River Bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway. Save Old Growth said two people were arrested in Revelstoke, while three people were detained in Vancouver.

A UBC researcher says there’s a more sustainable way to harvest trees that would mean faster forest regrowth and more skilled jobs for British Columbians. Forest ecology prof. Suzanne Simard is following the progress of 8 forests in B.C., including the John Prince Research Forest in Fort St. James, that were selectively harvested to leave behind the bigger, older trees that she says play a vital role in regrowth. …“The big old trees help protect biodiversity, keep carbon in the ground and help regenerate the next forest. The forest was harvested in that way about four years ago,” Simard said. The John Prince Research Forest is at the northern limit of the interior Douglas Fir in Canada and is the most northern forest being studied.