Robyn Duncan

The Columbia Wetlands, an internationally recognized and highly sensitive ecosystem, is the next target of B.C.’s logging industry. Canfor is proposing to log in the fragile Columbia Wetlands Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Pitched as a beetle salvage logging operation, the company’s efforts will do little to stop the spread of Fir Bark Beetle but will do significant harm to the sensitive ecosystem here. …if [wildlife] can’t be prioritized in … a provincially designated Wildlife Management Area, where will they be given priority? …Canfor’s proposed logging west of Castledale, 50 km south of Golden, entirely overlaps with the ~17,000 ha. Columbia Wetlands WMA. While Canfor argues this is salvage logging to address beetle-affected trees — an issue endemic in the area but also increasing with changing climate — this action will not help the problem. Logging in the WMA will not control the beetle infestation.

A company owned by the Huu-ay-aht First Nation in Port Alberni has plans to acquire from Western Forest Products 28% of a tree farm licence that covers 137,000 hectares in the Alberni Valley, a move that would increase its influence on the future of the massive forestry tenure. A vote last weekend by members of the nation gave Huumiis Ventures LP, wholly owned by Huu-ay-aht, the green light to move ahead with financing the deal. Huumiis already owns a 7% stake in TFL 44, which contains 780,000 cubic metres of allowable cut around Great Central Lake and Alberni Inlet. The acquisition plan would bump ownership up to 35% and give the Huu-ay-aht company three of the seven seats on the TFL 44 board with Western Forest Products. Huu-ay-aht councillor John Jack said the deal represents an investment of $22.4 million, and lays the groundwork for an eventual majority share to be considered in the first quarter of 2023.

Estimates of grizzly bear numbers in the Swan Hills area of Alberta have always involved a lot of guesswork. Now there’s a “first-ever scientific population estimate for this area,” says a March 31 news release from FRI Research. And the news is good! Researchers, operating in an area described in the news release as, “between Whitecourt and Lesser Slave Lake,” identified 39 unique grizzly bears. Based on this evidence, the release says, it can be reasonably assumed for management purposes there are around 62 of the bears in the area. …“These results are a testament to what can be achieved when industry, government, and research organizations work together,” says Alberta Forest Products Association president and CEO, Jason Krips. “The forest industry has been supporting grizzly bear research for decades and incorporating the results into our practices.”

A win-win-win scenario to solve a wood supply problem for Seaton Forest Products is being stymied by forestry regulations. The small mill … makes square cants out of low-grade timber, mostly for export to China where they are re-milled to make shipping crates, pallets and things of that nature. The company has an allocation of 80,000 cubic metres a year, which would allow them to operate for 50 weeks employing 23 people, 75 per cent of whom are Indigenous. However, due mainly to the unprecedented wetness of last season, the mill has only received 61,000 cubic metres. … there is a supply they could tap into. Pinnacle Pellet in Smithers has an overabundance of logs in its yard. Most of it is slash only suitable for pellet making, but enough is of the grade Seaton is looking for to keep them in business. … Unfortunately, the Province’s Concurrent Residual Harvest System is proving to be a roadblock.