A project to reduce wildfire risk to the rural areas around Big Bar Lake is nearing completion. Zanzibar Holdings Ltd. and the community of Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (SXFN) partnered to reduce wildfire risk to the area, about 40 kilometres west of Clinton, with funding support from the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. FESBC provided close to $625,000 toward two projects. The joint project with SXFN (formerly Dog Creek Indian Band and Canoe Creek Indian Band) has provided employment for local crews for the last two years. …“There is tremendous potential for a significant wildfire to come through the area close to the community of Big Bar Lake,” said Bill Layton, RPF, with Zanzibar Holdings Ltd. “Depending on a fire’s behaviour and the site conditions, the fuel breaks that we’re working on would do a lot to stop a fire’s progress from the northwest and southeast.”

The province is delivering relief to small and medium sized forestry businesses for the extra costs to address health and safety measures while operating in 2020. To be eligible, the company must be for-profit, and have forestry as its primary business activity, and the employee count at the company level must average less than 500 employees, including part time, in the last 12 months. When a  Community Forest is wholly owned by a community: the employee count is the number of people employed by the Community – including all its divisions and sub-activities.  If the community also owns other businesses and forestry is not its primary business activity, then this ‘Community Forest” would not meet the eligibility requirement.  Applications will be accepted until 4pm February 1, 2021. 

Na̲nwak̲olas Council recently announced its member First Nations had secured the cooperation of the forestry industry to sustainably steward wilkw/ k’wa’x̱ tłu large cultural cedar trees in their territories. Na̲nwak̲olas Council has worked with the forestry industry for many years to help them better understand how the First Nations make resource management decisions, and in turn to understand the economic and other impacts on forestry activities of complying with Na̲nwak̲olas First Nations’ laws. As a result of those discussions, Western Forest Products Inc. and Interfor Corporation have signed up to implement Na̲nwak̲olas Council’s Large Cultural Cedar Operations Protocol, and a number of other major forestry companies and BC Timber Sales have indicated their intention to follow suit in the coming weeks. “This commitment by these companies to follow Na̲nwak̲olas First Nations’ laws represents fundamental change for the better, for everyone,” says Na̲nwak̲olas Council President Dallas Smith.

Revelstoke’s North Columbia Environmental Society will officially become a branch of Wildsight. NCES board of directors voted in favour of the change-over in November with Wildsight board members passing the motion on Jan. 25. “The transition for the NCES can now begin in earnest,” said a news release from Wildsight. Revelstoke will be the sixth Wildsight branch, which covers the Columbia and Rocky Mountain regions. …The two organizations worked alongside each other for a long time, with Wildsight already having a presence in Revelstoke through environmental education programs, including a Climate Change pilot program at the high school last year and a recent focus on the logging that threatens Argonaut Creek. …By joining Wildsight, Christensen says, Revelstoke will have a bigger voice in speaking up on issues.

The City of Cranbrook is requesting a meeting with a provincial cabinet minister to talk about managing the urban deer population. Last year, the city washed its hands of managing urban deer within Cranbrook, shifting the onus to the provincial government, which is responsible for managing B.C.’s wildlife. Administration is following up with provincial authorities and is asking for a virtual meeting with Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. The request is to have the province step in and manage the deer to reduce the urban population, both to minimize aggressive deer encounters while also reducing the potential transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease in high density urban populations.

A concrete plan to save the McKelvie Creek valley from logging is finally underway after the village of Tahsis and Western Forest Products signed a Letter of Understanding. As part of the agreement, the forestry company has established new wildlife and old-growth reserves in the McKelvie Creek area within WFP’s Tree Farm Licence 19. By doing so the company has committed to Tahsis’ community objective of ‘no harvesting’ within the McKelvie area. …Last year, although McKelvie Creek was among the nine old-growth forest areas where the province deferred logging, Tahsis still felt this was a temporary fix and that they were running against borrowed time. …Tahsis mayor Martin Davis who was at the helm of negotiating the deal said that WFP agreed to include several areas that the village mapped out to be preserved. Some of these areas contain sensitive ecosystems, karst limestone landscapes, and/or culturally significant areas for First Nations, said Davis.