The ongoing large-scale project to reduce the risk of a wildfire sweeping into the community from the Buck Flats area will also have an additional benefit —a legacy fund for the District of Houston for related forestry or silviculture work. Although the District of Houston has a $1 million grant from the provincial Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. agency to establish fireguards and make the area less prone to the possibility of a wildfire, it also received a forest licence to log, sell and move mature timber in order for the fire reduction work to take place. And it is this revenue, minus expenses, which would then be used to set up the legacy fund. Scott Rowsell, from Pro-Tech Forest Resources in Telkwa, the company hired by the District to manage the project … indicated timber sales, with Canfor being a prime customer, came to $787,000.

“Gov’t needs to listen” is another expression against old growth logging in BC forests. We are “told to listen” to the young Indigenous woman pictured communing with a large cedar tree. …We are to “listen to the figures” produced that promote the threats to old growth trees and speak of government failures to carry out their promises. …Forest advisory boards are filled with bureaucrats and persons who advise only non-resource use. …We are told to listen to green deal groups like Stand Earth, Sierra Club who push radical activism to oppose public wealth from resource extraction. …These “listen letters” have opinions that only support crisis claims. They will use whatever weather change tales to stifle opponents. Many “green” ideas are touted as efficient. However, the bigger picture of lost jobs and economic collapse must influence the decisions about resource wealth. Oppose these letters and their programs of misguided information.

David Suzuki

…there’s a big difference between a healthy forest and a tree plantation. Primary forests, especially old-growth, are complex, interconnected communities, with a variety of trees of different ages and sizes that communicate and share nutrients through complex networks of fungal mycorrhizae. …We should be doing everything possible to protect the world’s remaining healthy forests. Instead, we’re clear cutting and burning them at an alarming rate – all for the sake of economic growth. Tension between outdated extraction-based economics and the desire to protect that which makes the planet habitable for humans and other life is coming to loggerheads at Fairy Creek northwest of Victoria on Vancouver Island. …Although Teal vice-president Gerrie Kotze says the company plans to log a small area “with the care and attention to the environment British Columbians expect,” the standoff is indicative of a larger issue around how old-growth forests are treated in Canada, particularly in BC.  

The dispute over blockades aimed at preventing old-growth trees from being logged in Pacheedaht territory on southwest Vancouver Island has revealed divisions within the First Nation’s membership. A statement issued by two Pacheedaht chiefs this week says they’re “concerned about the increasing polarization over forestry activities” in the territory, and decisions about forestry must be made by the nation. But the Rainforest Flying Squad, whose members set up camp last August to block Teal Cedar Products from accessing proposed cutblocks in and around the Fairy Creek watershed, says they’re not planning to leave. They say in a statement that Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones and other members of the nation welcome the blockades maintained largely by non-Indigenous people calling for an end to old-growth logging in B.C. The BC Supreme Court granted Teal Cedar an injunction against the blockades earlier this month.

Additional coverage in Penticton Western News: Kelowna demonstrators show support for Vancouver Island logging activists

BURNS LAKE, BC — The BC Wildfire Service will be undertaking a pile burning activity in the Burns Lake Community Forest this week to reduce forest fuels and help increase the success rate of the prescribed fire planned for this year. …The prescribed burning is part of BL Comfor’s Landscape Management Plan prepared by B.A. Blackwell & Associates. …Using prescribed fire in these areas will remove waste wood left behind after timber harvesting and reduce accumulations of forest fuels. In the event of a wildfire, this will result in less intense fire behaviour and make it easier and safer for firefighters to suppress the wildfire. Additionally, these burns are expected to improve access for tree planters; and would also provide training opportunities for the planning and implementation of future prescribed fires and wildfire risk reduction projects.

KELOWNA – The Federation of BC Woodlot Associations has released its first Woodlot Licence program report in over a decade. Woodlot licences are small area-based forest tenures. The report looks at what sets the ‘Woodlot Licence’ apart from other forest tenures in BC. It provides a brief history, examples of innovation and excellence in forest management and highlights the social, environmental and economic contributions woodlot licences provide to local communities throughout BC. This unique tenure – having individuals manage Crown forest land, often combined with their own private forest land – was structured to promote small scale enterprises and a stewardship oriented approach to managing forests. Currently, BC has 850 woodlot licences, accounting for nearly 600,000 hectares of managed forestland. Collectively, they account for ~1.4% of all timber harvested annually in BC. While that might seem like a small percentage, woodlot licences are a big deal on BC’s forest landscape because they are about much more than timber.

From the Province’s $1.5 billion StrongerBC For Everyone: B.C.’s Economic Recovery Plan, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) received $3 million and funded 14 forestry projects throughout the province to increase the utilization of wood fibre creating many positive benefits. “Our Accomplishments Update report highlights these projects and the good work happening in B.C. forests,” said Steve Kozuki, RPF, FESBC executive director. “Our report also features the people behind the projects. It is our opportunity to broadly share with British Columbians the good work not often seen or understood by non-foresters. As we like to say, in B.C. climate change heroes can often be found in the forest wearing hard hats.”