| FORESTRY
B.C. may face another season of firestorms Kenora Forest Products to shut down for one month starting June 28 B.C. may face another season of firestorms Millions of hectares of dead pine-beetle wood, decades worth of debris on the forest floor and warm temperatures could combine for one of the worst forest fire seasons in British Columbia since the fires storms of 2003. The warning came June 20th from the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals, which says it will take hundreds of millions of dollars along with political and community will to fix the problem. The 2003 fire season blackened huge sections of the province, saw hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed and thousands of people evacuated in Kelowna, Louis Creek and Barriere. “The increase in the number of dead and dying pine trees due to the mountain pine beetle epidemic. A forecast for higher-than-normal temperatures . . . and the long-term buildup of forest fuels.” Fires clean up the slash that collects on the forest floors, but fire suppression has left about 80 years of fuel in the forest that can create high-intensity fires. They can destroy a whole forest and even change the chemistry of the soil. Low-intensity fires are needed to clean up the forest, allow grass to grow back and open cones to release seeds. Knowles said B.C. communities need to take action in the nearby forests. But very few have wildfire protection plans. “To date we have 89 communities with these plans either in progress or completed, and we estimate the number of communities that need them is probably in the neighbourhood of 360.” The plans are costly and so is the cleanup at an estimated $200 per hectare. “The forest service has identified 1.7 million hectares of area around communities. . . that need fuel management.” Last year just 7,000 hectares of so-called interface forest was cleaned. “So that gives you just some idea of the magnitude of the problem we have in front of us,” he said. The other problem may be community complacency. Ian Wilson, Kelowna’s urban forest supervisor, said there seems to be growing resistance to tree removal. After the forest fire raced through in 2003 destroying 239 homes, Wilson said many residents were advocating clearcuts of the nearby forests. But he said the pendulum is now swinging the other way. “I think we’ve all kind of forgotten a little bit about the drama of 2003,” he said. “We don’t want to scare people but we want to keep that interest going, in that this is a real issue.” Forest Minister Rich Coleman disagrees with the association’s findings, saying all the recommendations of the report done by former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon were implemented. “We've spent $30 million in just the last couple years, particularly in the beetle kill area, where we’ve gone in and done work with the communities.” He does agree that all that dead beetle-killed wood will make for a more active fire season, but said that many of those fires wouldn’t be near populated areas. “I think we’ve been very active on following through on everything that Filmon recommended and will continue to do so.” New Democrat forestry critic Bob Simpson said he wasn’t surprised by the association’s dire assessment. “Forest Minister Coleman has three fire reports that were previously given to him,” he said. “They have ignored all three reports to date.” Simpson said the government has dumped the responsibility of cleaning up the forests on municipalities, without providing the financial resources or authority. Knowles said it will take every level of government – local, provincial and federal – to clean up the problem. The association recommends controlled burns, an ecosystem restoration program, better forest management and more logging to fix the problem. “The public must accept that forest fires are naturally occurring and necessary for the health of some forests,” Knowles said. Kenora Forest Products to shut down for one month starting June 28 Kenora Forest Products is shutting down for a month due to a number of factors squeezing the forestry industry. Shifts at the sawmill will cease June 28 and resume July 30 in an effort to minimize the financial impact on the operation, while allowing employees to enjoy their summer vacation time. A shortage of wood, a rising Canadian dollar and low commodity prices have all contributed to the shutdown. The mill has been caught in the middle of the softwood lumber battle between the Canadian and American governments. It is also one of several parties trying to secure fibre from the Whiskey Jack Forest, and is involved in negotiations between Queen's Park and First Nations. The local economy lost 440 high-paying jobs with the closure of the Abitibi and Devlin mills, as well as 41 permanent layoffs at ILevel – formerly Trus Joist – from their staff of 210. The ILevel plant has also had temporary shutdowns related to a soft housing market in the United States that is expected to last between 18 months and two years. However, Kenora Forest Products mill manager Rod McKay sees room for optimism. “I expect that with a tremendous amount of lumber being curtailed from all sawmills in the next few months, we should see a better economic outlook for August,'' he said in a release. Kenora Forest Products is hoping to take over the wood rights from Abitibi, so they can finance plans for a $30-million expansion that could add 50 jobs at the plant and 200 in the woodlands to their staff of 116. |
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