Denzel Sutherland-Wilson

…The province recently initiated the overdue Kispiox timber supply review, which will determine the scale and nature of logging on the land base for the next 10 to 15 years. Currently set at just over one million cubic metres annually, the decision is going to impact the Gitxsan and local loggers, hunters, fishers and ranchers, not to mention the forest ecosystem and its plant and animal inhabitants. The decisions made here will also have implications for other communities in the region, as the trees cut in Kispiox forests are hauled to mills across the northwest. … Rick Carle, a semi-retired logging contractor who lives in the Kispiox Valley, says eking out a living in forestry these days is increasingly hard. Part of the problem, he explains, is the province gives little to no consideration to local loggers and out-of-town companies are often in a better position to secure a cutting licence. 

Tensions have been high for the last year after blockades were put up to protect old growth trees in Fairy Creek. On May 4, a group of forestry workers were caught on video yelling at protesters near the Walbran Valley to get off Western Forest Products Land. They were expressing frustration that their jobs have been affected by blockades since August of last year. The Rainforest Flying Squad … say they are protecting forests near Port Renfrew Vancouver Island. …On May 6, John Jack, chair of Huumiis Ventures, and Shannon Janzen, chair of the TFL 44 LP board, condemned the violence in a statement after watching the video. “The behaviour of the individuals in the video is completely unacceptable and is entirely at odds with our shared values. The use of racist language, intimidation, and acts of violence have no place in our society or our workplaces, and we have zero tolerance for such behaviour,” the statement said.

Additional coverage in Canada’s National Observer: Forestry crew at loggerheads with Fairy Creek activists

A wildfire burned about one-third of Slave Lake in northern Alberta in May 2011. Nearly 400 homes and businesses, including an apartment complex, were reduced to ash and rubble when fierce winds whipped flames through town with little warning. Here are five things we’ve learned about that fire 10 years ago. …Mike Flannigan, a renewable resources professor at the University of Alberta, says the Slave Lake fire has left a legacy. “Fire management in Canada is among the best in the world and Alberta is among the best in Canada,” he says. “What has become clear is that events like Slave Lake aren’t isolated events. …”It’s all about the extreme conditions.” Flannigan says there has been more federal funding for wildfire research. “Things have changed, but we still need to do more,” he says. “It’s not going away with climate change.”

New climate data and commitments shared by other nations during the Earth Day Climate Summit on April 22 told a promising story… Unfortunately, Canada and B.C. aren’t yet part of this group. In fact, we are laggards. …Despite its reputation as an environmental leader, B.C. isn’t doing its part to change that. Instead, the province continues to subsidize fracking, clearcutting of the last carbon-rich old growth forest, building the destructive $16 billion Site C dam, trampling on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and limiting British Columbians’ ability to finance effective climate action. …But despite Premier Horgan’s promise to implement all of the panel recommendations, old-growth logging continues unabated and the provincial budget announced last week doesn’t include funding to support communities and First Nations that seek to protect their last old-growth.

VICTORIA – An investigation of a complaint by a trapper has found that habitat for the fisher–a fur-bearing mammal that is a species at risk in B.C. – is at risk of decline near Bobtail Mountain Park southwest of Prince George. The trapper complained to the board that three cutblocks proposed by Canfor were the last remaining fisher habitat in his trapline, and he wanted them retained. “Our investigation found that government has relied on voluntary efforts by forestry licensees to conserve fisher habitat,” said Kevin Kriese, chair, Forest Practices Board. “While Canfor did make efforts to protect habitat when designing the individual cutblocks in question, these efforts will not conserve adequate habitat for this species.” The investigation found that government has not carried out landscape scale planning for fisher habitat in the district and has not used the tools available in the Forest and Range Practices Act to direct licensees.

A last-ditch attempt to save some of Canada’s vanishing caribou herds is a step closer after a scientific review panel’s approval of a plan to permanently pen some animals and breed them to repopulate other herds. The captive breeding program would be a first, said Dave Argument, conservation manager for Jasper National Park. “This idea of bringing in wild caribou (and) raising them in captivity to augment a wild herd is certainly a novel approach.” No one doubts Jasper’s caribou are in trouble. …Parks Canada has proposed a $25-million project that would permanently pen up to 40 females and five males in a highly managed and monitored area of about one square kilometre surrounded by an electrified fence. The agency suggests the captive breeding could produce up to 20 calves a year — enough to bring Jasper’s herds to sustainable levels in a decade.

Huu-ay-aht First Nations will start restricting access to active logging areas in Tree Farm Licence 44 starting on Monday, saying logging activists and ­protests in its territory are ­putting forestry workers at risk.  The nation said in a statement that access is being restricted in response to an incident Thursday in which a forestry protester drove through barriers into an active logging area, putting the safety of the driver and forestry workers at risk.  The nation pointed to recent incidents in active forestry areas of the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht First Nations, “where individuals associated with environmental non-government groups disrupted logging operations by putting safety at risk.”  The decision follows a heated confrontation on Tuesday, when a group of loggers clashed with protesters near the Walbran ­Valley.

An investigation of a complaint by a trapper has found that habitat for the fisher – a fur-bearing mammal that is a species at risk in B.C. – is at risk of decline near Bobtail Mountain Park, southwest of Prince George.  The trapper complained three cutblocks proposed by Canfor were the last remaining fisher habitat in his trapline, and he wanted them retained.  Fisher habitat consists of older forest stands with large trees, snags, and coarse woody debris — the animals prefer landscapes with large areas of connected forest and avoid non-forested openings.  Investigation findings reveal the government has relied on voluntary efforts by forestry licensees to conserve fisher habitat, The Forest Practices Board says.  “While Canfor did make efforts to protect habitat when designing the individual cutblocks in question, these efforts will not conserve adequate habitat for this species,” said Kevin Kriese, chair, Forest Practices Board.