Daily Archives: May 28, 2019

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will examine the activities of the BC Timber Sales (BCTS) program and timber sale licence holders in the Clearwater Field Unit portion of the BCTS Kamloops Business Area during the week of June 3, 2019. Auditors will examine whether harvesting, roads, bridges, silviculture, fire protection activities and associated planning carried out from June 1, 2017, to June 7, 2019, met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. The audit area is in eastern British Columbia in the North Thompson River watershed, between Little Fort and Valemount. The area contains important caribou habitat and scenic areas, which require specific forest management considerations.

The salvage of approximately 4,200 cubic metres of blown-down trees on Maple Mountain will begin this week. As well, a request-for-proposals to salvage approximately 1,800 cubic metres of blown-down trees on Stoney Hill and 1,000 cubic metres on Mount Tzouhalem is currently open for bids. …In March, North Cowichan’s council decided to proceed with just completing existing 2018 logging contracts within the 5,000-hectare municipal forest reserve in 2019, and to harvest trees that blew down or were heavily damaged in the 2018 windstorm in December. Council wanted time to consult with the public and determine the best use of the forest reserve before making plans for the future.

Wildlife biologist Helen Davis has been fond of bears for as long as she can remember. …These days she hammers plywood roofs onto hollow stumps and builds plastic dens for black bears on Vancouver Island, where extensive clear-cutting of old-growth forests and the absence of rules to protect dens has left females with a severe housing shortage when it comes time to birth and nurture their cubs. …But there are no such protections for black bears — denning trees can be logged even when cubs inside are tiny….In April, Davis filed a complaint with B.C.’s Forest Practices Board, hoping the board would launch a special investigation. …The board rejected Davis’ request for a special investigation but agreed to look into her complaint. Forest Practices Board spokesperson Darlene Oman told The Narwhal the board’s investigation is still on-going and it has not yet issued a report.

Hundreds of B.C. tree planters are being trained to stop harassment and prevent sex assaults in their remote work camps. Workshops — often inside makeshift tents with dirt floors — have been held at tree planting camps from Smithers through Clinton at the request of reforestation companies. “We’ve been running around like crazy, going to these very remote camps,” said Airika Owen, who is heading up the workshops run by a Smithers-based women’s group, Northern Society for Domestic Peace. …The conversations encompass consent and harassment, supporting victims and how bystanders can interrupt potential sexual assaults. …The tree planters’ “Camp Security” course …was adapted from a “Campus Security” workshop developed for rural students heading off to university. …”We’ve got the same demographics as the campuses,” agreed John Betts, with the Western Forestry Contractors Association… “We were coasting on the assumption that we’re pretty progressive. We’ve got up to 40 per cent of our crews made up of women. 

The number of ash trees infested with emerald ash borer in Winnipeg is growing and the beetle which burrows under bark has been found kilometers from where it was initially discovered. Fifteen infested trees in the city have been confirmed. Thirteen of them were identified in the Archwoord area in 2018. Another two have since been discovered on Marion Street. The beetle is also on the move. The City of Winnipeg said in summer 2018 an adult beetle was found as part of its monitoring program in Windsor Park, five kilometres from the Archwood where the infestation was first detected. …The city said to slow the spread of the beetle it has injected about 1100 ash trees with insecticides to help give them temporary protection.

The BC Timber Sales (BCTS) response to Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF) court challenge of the auction of cutting rights on block A93884 in the Clack Creek area says the agency was acting within its authority and ELF’s petition for a judicial review “lacks merit.” In the petition filed with BC Supreme Court in Victoria on April 23, ELF argued that plans to harvest timber from the block should not move forward until the government acts on recommendations from a 2018 Forest Practices Board report on at-risk plant species, and the province and shíshálh Nation complete a new land use plan. BCTS went ahead with the auction and earlier this month it awarded the Squamish-based company Black Mount Logging the rights to remove roughly 29,500 cubic metres of timber. The company is not expected to start the work before September.

The BC Wildfire Service will conduct a wildfire training exercise with Whistler Blackcomb resort staff and members of the Whistler Fire Rescue Service on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, near the top of the Fitzsimmons Express chairlift. This exercise will include small controlled burns that will start at about 10 a.m. and continue until early afternoon. BC Wildfire Service firefighters will monitor these fires at all times and ensure they are fully extinguished. Smoke will be visible in the Whistler area, but the resort will remain open to visitors. The Whistler Blackcomb resort is one of the largest employers and stakeholders in the area and operates under a commercial recreation agreement, which includes an obligation to assist with wildfire response. The small controlled burns will provide real-time training for responding to a wildfire.

Implementing caribou recovery measures in the South Peace could cut tens of millions of dollars from the local economy as well as government and worker pocketbooks, a new study has concluded. The Peace River Regional District hired Stantec Consulting last year to study the socio-economic impacts of two agreements drafted to protect endangered herds around Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge. It’s separate from a similar study started by the federal and provincial governments in April. …The study predicts a dramatic drop in economic activity under the moratoriums, with estimates the annual allowable cut in the Dawson Creek Timber Supply Area and Tree Farm Licence 48 could be reduced from 2.7 million cubic metres to 1.9 million — or a 29% drop.

The B.C. government is inviting British Columbians to provide input into improving the Forest and Range Practices Act. “Making changes to the act is essential to strengthen government’s oversight of the forest sector and improve public trust in how our forests and rangelands are managed,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “We want to improve the legislation to ensure it will continue to sustainably manage our forests and rangelands in the face of climate change.” A discussion paper, Forest and Range Practices Act Improvement Initiative: Renewal and Resilience, and feedback form are available online. Feedback can be provided until July 15, 2019. …Guiding principles for proposed changes include putting the resiliency of the land first, public trust, reconciliation with First Nations and scientific knowledge, as well as flexibility and adaptation.