Monthly Archives: July 2019

Summer jobs don’t often get much attention. …But for alumnus John Drew, a summer job changed his academic focus completely, leading him to eventually establish one of BC’s most successful forest management companies. …However the summer before entering UBC John got a job working in forestry that changed his path completely. “I was doing timber development for cut blocks as well as some firefighting, and I loved it,” he says. “I switched out of commerce to science, because back then forestry students had to take first year sciences. I never attended a single business class!” …In 1987 John established Forsite along with two partners. …“When we started out we used our diverse skills and training to give clients the services they needed,” he says. …“Our success is tied very closely to our people,” he adds. 

Carrier Lumber Ltd’s Chief Executive Officer Bill Kordyban has announced the company will no longer spray broadleaf herbicides from the air for a three year period in the Robson Valley Timber Supply Area. Kordyban thanked residents for numerous emails and letters and their respectful tone. The measure would begin this summer and last three years at which time the company would review things. “During this time, limited, targeted manual  application of herbicide will be used, but only where necessary for the control of herbaceous and broadleaf vegetation complexes,” he said. “Manual brushing will be the preferred means of treatment to meet our contractual obligations with government.” Kordyban said that the move would put Carrier at a competitive disadvantage and as such, asked for help. 

The BC NDP and BC Liberals are pointing fingers at each other over who knows best how to fix the rapidly deteriorating forest industry.  The BC Liberals are demanding Premier John Horgan oust Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, arguing he is incapable of fixing a mess that is costing hundreds of people their pay cheques. …In any event, there are no easy fixes to be had here and the BC Liberals know that. The reason they know that is their government was warned in clear terms four years ago that what is happening today was entirely predictable. A consultant’s report submitted to the forests ministry in July 2015 pinpointed the looming problems and accurately predicted the terrible result – the closure of at least seven and possibly 13 sawmills in the province’s Interior.

Under current legislation, forestry companies operating in B.C. are required to dispose of all of the debris piles they produce, unless special exemptions are made by the province. But according to Tom Sullivan, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia in biology and forestry, that requirement should be amended. Debris piles can speed up habitat restoration and should left at appropriate levels in appropriate areas, said Sullivan. “If we are trying to restore forests, a good place to start is to leave some woody debris out there that animals will make use of and colonize,” he said. …Sullivan’s studies have shown that such piles, which are often made up of branches and undesirable timber, provide valuable habitat for displaced animals such as martens, fishers, and small weasels that do not like clear-cut land.

Plans for a community forest protecting the Carmi Recreation Trails from logging are getting pushback from the Penticton Indian Band, who object to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen’s support of the proposition.  The RDOS voted to send a letter of support for the plan in April, at which time the City of Penticton had also expressed support. But the PIB had yet to formally weigh in, and now they have, with a letter to the district up for the board’s consideration at Thursday’s meeting. “We were disappointed to learn that your council also engaged with local stakeholder groups with respect to a series of recreational trails within the vicinity of proposed harvest area K713 and K714. It is our understanding that your council voted in unanimous favour to move forward with the development of a long-term management regime for this area,” reads the letter.

Camille Stevens-Rumann was a student of raging wildfires well before she began formally researching their impact on the environment. The Colorado-based forestry professor fought wildfires that swept through the region. …Her research has taken her from the charred forests of America’s Rocky Mountain ranges all the way to the Pacific Northwest, just south of the B.C. border. What she’s found: certain tree species are having a tough time growing back in areas that have been affected by wildfires due to warming temperatures — a discovery that could have major implications for both the forestry sector and long-term climate change targets. …Both studies attribute climate change to be the lead cause of why the trees are struggling to grow back in certain fire-scarred areas. Stevens-Rumann says there are many similar forests facing the same challenges in B.C.’s Southern Interior.

…To encounter a rainforest more than 500 kilometres from B.C.’s coast, with oceanic lichens that sustain endangered caribou herds during winters, is something of a miracle. By all accounts, a rainforest shouldn’t be scattered in moist valley bottoms stretching from the Cariboo Mountains east of Prince George to the Rocky Mountains close to the Alberta border. …Scientists wonder at the alignment of nature that made it possible for coastal species to hitchhike here thousands of years ago and flourish undisturbed in the sheltered dampness that kept fire at bay. …Following decades of industrial logging, much of what remains of B.C.’s undisturbed and unprotected inland rainforest is now at risk of being clear-cut — including the few unlogged inland rainforest watersheds between Prince George and the U.S. border, 800 kilometres to the south.