WEDNESDAY, September 21, 2022 C1www.kamloopsthisweek.com NATIONAL FOREST WEEK SEPTEMBER 18 - 24,2022
At the Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. project location with Tŝideldel First Nation Coun. and CCR director Percy Guichon, Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars and Tŝideldel First Nation Coun. Paul Grinder.
“The projects highlighted facilitated the participation of Indigenous peoples in the forest economy and, through their leadership in these projects, they have a larger voice in the stewardship of the land for future generations,” FESBC board chair Jim Snetsinger said.
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“Indigenous people are sharing their perspectives about the inter-connected ness of everything in our world,” Kozuki said.“Traditional cost/benefit analyses tend to emphasize things that can be measured such as job creation, eco nomic activity, animal populations, etc. Although social benefits may be difficult to quantify, they may be just as impor tant.”To learn more about the forest enhancement projects led by Indigenous peoples, read the digital copy of the accomplishments report at bit.ly/ FESBCWinter2021Update.
With a deep connection to the land and a multi-generational perspective on sustainability, it is natural that Indigenous peoples throughout British Columbia have stepped up to lead so many projects that protect communities from wildfire, enhance wildlife habitat, reduce green house gases and more.
He noted that the FESBC is seeing Indigenous values and interests increas ingly reflected in project outcomes.
wood fibre, increasing the opportunity to enhance the production of food sources from forests and more,” Snetsinger said.
62 Indigenous-led forestry projects in B.C.
DENNIS OWEN/GLOBE AND MAIL
An accomplishments update released by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) highlighted 62 FESBC-funded projects led by Indigenous peoples.
Projects range from wildfire risk reduction and wildlife habitat enhance ment to the increased utilization of wood fibre and rehabilitating forests, each pro ducing an array of environmental, eco nomic and social benefits.
FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki also pointed to a social benefit emerging that was perhaps unexpected.
Designed for tough conditions
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“The 62 projects, plus 23 others funded by FESBC that involve First Nations, are demonstrating approaches that harmo nize traditional and modern forestry practices in community wildfire risk man agement, ensuring the wise utilization of
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• Lower North Thompson Community Forest Society, $129,381: Manual treatments, with hand tools, on the area identified in its Wildfire Risk Management Plan that will enhance the wildfire resiliency of the community forest;
“Through provincial invest ments, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC has funded critical projects to help reduce wildfire risk and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Doug Routley, parliamentary secretary for “Divertingforests.materials away from slash piles not only reduces fire risk, but creates new opportunities in our province’s forest economy. These projects accomplish mul tiple objectives to help communi ties be more resilient to climate change.”TheFESBC is a Crown agency established in 2016 to advance the environmental and resource stew ardship of the province’s forests by preventing wildfires and mitigating wildfire impacts, improving dam aged or low-value forests, improv ing wildlife habitat, supporting the use of fibre from damaged or lowvalue forests and treating forests to improve the management of greenhouse gases.
Work has already begun and all projects are expected to be completed by March 2024. To date, approved funding from the FESBC 2022-2023 funding program totals
Reducing fire risk, enhancing forest health
“Along with the historic invest ments in Budget 2022 to transform the BC Wildfire Service into a yearround service and double funding for proactive wildfire prevention, these new projects funded by FESBC will help build communi ties that are safer and more resil ient to climate
• Logan Lake Community Forest Corporation, $746,550: This project aims to develop prescrip tions and treat areas near Logan Lake, creating a large landscapelevel fuel break;
“The FESBC is thrilled that communities will be able to continue this important work to reduce their wildfire risk and to better protect their residents and important infrastructure,” FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki said.“These newly funded proj ects take a proactive approach to reduce wildfire risks. Many will also improve wildlife habitats, increase the health of forests, make them more resilient to cli mate change and use the leftover wood waste to make green energy. Achieving multiple objectives is good forest management and good value for money.”
“For this project, the treatment area is immediately adjacent to numerous rural homes and prop erties. We believe it’s the logical second phase to the interface harvesting that we completed in the early summer of 2022,” said Don Gossoo, general manager of the Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corporation.
Above is FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki in Logan Lake. On the left side is an area with wildfire reduction treatments. On the right side is an area without such work having been done.
LOWER NICOLA PHOTO
$14Additionalmillion. applications through the FESBC portal are welcome and will be accepted until the $25-mil lion fund has been allocated.
Coquihalla Highway, leading to the reduction in risk to the highway, reducing the risk of human-caused ignitions from the highway spread ing into the surrounding forest;
WEDNESDAY, September 21, 2022 C3www.kamloopsthisweek.com
ork is underway to enhance for est resilience to protect against wildfire and climate change impacts in British Columbia.Through a provincial invest ment of $25 million, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) has funded 22 new com munity projects.
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development.Thiswillreduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, while creating new opportunities in British Columbia’s expanding forestThebioeconomy.$25million provided to the FESBC is a component of $359 million announced in budget 2022 to protect British Columbians from wildfires, including $145 million for the BC Wildfire Service and Emergency Management BC.
Since 2016, the FESBC has supported more than 260 projects throughoutSixty-threeB.C.of these projects have been led by First Nations and another 23 have significant First Nations’ involvement. FESBC proj ects have reduced wildfire risk in 120 communities and have created more than 2,100 full-time jobs.
“The Forest Enhancement Society of BC is a proven part ner in delivering projects on the ground that protect people from wildfire risks and reduce emissions from slash pile burning,” Forests Ministry Katrine Conroy said.
This includes work to reduce wildfire risk while enhancing wild life habitat, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from slash pile burning and support forest recreation and ecological resiliency.
treatments on areas identified as priority treatment areas in their Wildfire Fire Risk Management Plan with the goal to enhance wildfire resiliency;
At left is an example of a wildfire risk reduction treatment by the Lower Nicola Indian Band. From left: Band Chief Stuart Jackson, crew supervisor and band member Ernie McIvor and fuel management employee and band member Kimberly Mike.
INDIAN BAND
• Logan Lake Community Forest Corporation, $127,050: Complete planning and prepara tion required to complete treat ments along a corridor along the
$60,323:CommunityOkanaganectsWildfire-mitigationchange.”projfundedintheThompson-Regioninclude:•LowerNorthThompsonForestSociety,Wildfireriskreduction
• Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corporation, $544,425: Complete wildfire risk reduction treatments to reduce the wildfire risk to Steffens Estates subdivision located north of Lower Nicola Indian Band’s Mameet IR #1, approximately 17 kilometres north of Merritt on Highway 97C;
• Vermilion Forks Community Forest, $814,078: A steep area close to the community of Coalmont will be thinned to create a fuel break.
• Silver Star Property Owners Association, $474,600: Completing a combination of hand and mechanical, with machines, wild fire risk-reduction treatment to reduce the wildfire risk along the main road in and out of Silver Star Mountain Resort;
FESBC PHOTO
• Logan Lake Community Forest Corporation, $105,000: Complete the planning work required to complete a fuel-reduc tion treatment to allow for a safer evacuation route for the commu nity at Paska Lake;
“I am confident this area, posttreatment, will showcase how interface harvesting and wildfire risk-reduction treatments go hand in hand. We are appreciative to the Forest Enhancement Society of BC and the province of B.C. for the funding to help us achieve this work.”Aspart of the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, the province will work toward near elimination of slash pile burning by 2030 and will divert materials away from slash piles and into bioproduct
Reforestation of damaged areas supports healthy watersheds and wildlife habitats and accelerates ecological recovery after a wildfire.
Chilcotin Rehabilitation (CCR) used drones to reforest areas of the Chilcotin plateau devastated by 2017 wildfires.
approximately 50,000 seedlings — from seeds supplied by the CCR — for interplanting within the pilot area of other CCR-burned areas in the spring of 2023.
By combining new, innova tive methods of reforestation with traditional ones, the CCR and DroneSeed aim to use this hybrid approach of seed vessels and seed lings, both of which have distinct advantages in post-wildfire restora tion.As part of the collaboration, DroneSeed’s experts will regularly revisit planting sites to track the seeds’ and seedlings’ growth and report progress back to the FESBC and the “We’reCCR.here to try and figure out other ways to reforest so we can do it more rapidly, with better suc cess,” said Danny Strobbe, forestry superintendent with Tsi Del Del Enterprises Ltd.
“We have granted over $29 million of funding toward proj ects with Central Chilcotin
“There are danger trees, steep
Technology used to restore traditional land
In some areas, safety hazards, steep slopes or remoteness make traditional tree planting by humans difficult, expensive and timeconsuming. Drone technology has the potential to complement more standard methods to lessen the overall time to restoration across the vast landscapes damaged by mega-fires.Aerial-seeding services for the Chilcotin plateau project were provided by DroneSeed, a Seattlebased reforestation company.
Todd Stone, MLA Kamloops South Thompson Peter Milobar, MLA Kamloops North Thompson ToddGStone/ @toddstonebc 446 Victoria St., Kamloops, BC Phone: 250.374.2880 Toll Free: 1.888.474.2880 todd.stone.mla@leg.bc.ca 618B Tranquille Rd, Kamloops, BC Phone: 250.554.5413 Toll Free: 1.888.299.0805 peter.milobar.mla@leg.bc.ca PeterMilobarKNT/ @PeterMilobar Our forests are where we work Celebrate With Us Sept. 18-24 bcnfw.ca C4 WEDNESDAY, September 21, 2022 www.kamloopsthisweek.com
With(FESBC),SocietyEnhancementfromsupporttheForestofBCCentral
“This is just another way to improve and help the forest regen erate as fast as possible.”
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slopes and places logging equip ment can’t get to that you can’t salvage.“There are places you can’t send tree planters into. We don’t have the resources to plant all the trees lost in the fires or the resources to grow all the seedlings in a short amount of time. This is a tool to help in our current efforts in reforestation and to increase our capacity.”TheFESBC sees the potential of this program to address climate change concerns. FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki, said plant ing trees is an important action in addressing climate change because growing forests absorb carbon.
Added CCR director Percy Guichon: “We’re doing this impor tant work through CCR, rehabilitat ing forest stands that have been devastated by the wildfire. Proving CCR has the capability and capac ity to help manage our resources and our territories goes a long way towards supporting our future.”
The project, funded in part by the federal and provincial govern ments, was a trial using drones and hand deployment to direct seed close to 52 hectares — roughly the area of 128 football fields — with thousands of both lodgepole pine and Douglas fir.
The seeds are embedded in a small vessel that contains a mix of soil and nutrients to give the seeds the best chance of germination. If successful, large fire-impacted areas can be restored much faster than by hand-planting alone.
fire come through was very dev astating for a lot of people,” said Paul Grinder, councillor with the Tl’etinqox government.
Additionally, DroneSeed is growing
The DroneSeed team worked with the FESBC and the CCR on the project by providing aerial seeding with heavy-lift drones.
“Theysaid.are a fantastic group of Indigenous people that have depended on the lands, waters and forests in their traditional territo ries for thousands of years.”
Rehabilitation —they are our second-largest recipient of funds,” Kozuki
The use of drones and technol ogy to re-establish forests could be transformational if it’s confirmed it can be safer, faster and cheaper. The CCR and the FESBC will share the results of the operational trial uponLearncompletion.moreabout this project online at www.fesbc.ca.
“Generations and generations rely on the land and having the
Above: John Walker, stewardship forester with the Williams Lake First Nation (left) reviews the drone-seeding area with Danny Strobbe, forestry superintendent with Tsi Del Del Enterprises Ltd.
At right: Aerial view of area planted using drone technology and a baby tree sprouting from special pucks/seed vessels planted by drones.
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DENNIS OWEN/GLOBE AND MAIL
It is our mission to preserve our watersheds for future generations to come.
As a leader in sustainable forest management, we emphasize the quality of the water and surrounding ecosystems.
HAPPY NATIONAL FOREST
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With B.C being Interfor ’s roots, we are proud to operate in the communities of Adams Lake, Castlegar, Nakusp, and Grand Forks. Interfor com/careers
Inland Truck and Equipment’s new location is next to the weigh scales at 2505 Trans-Canada Hwy., just south of Dufferin and Pineview Valley. It has relocated from Notre Dame Drive and Dalhousie Drive in Southgate, where it had operated since 1973.
Since 1973, the operation had been run out of a three-acre property at the corner of Notre Dame Drive and Dalhousie Drive in Southgate. As the company grew, however, that space proved to be too small — especially consider ing how much larger trucks and equipment are these days, Negus said.
Negus said the business expand ed to the point where there was no
more parking for new staff.
Inland Truck and Equipment operates in three provinces and three U.S. states, includ ing B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, California, Arizona and New Mexico. The company deals Kenworth trucks, Case Construction Equipment, Link-Belt forestry and construction equipment and Tigercat forestry equipment.
“Back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, truck were only tandem axles. Now they’re tri-drive axles. The trucks are much longer. The facility was really tight,” he said.
Inland Truck and Equipment staff are loving their new facility in the Iron Mask area in southwest Kamloops. “You can’t wipe the smile off most people’s faces,” said Greg Negus, the company’s regional general manager for the Interior. “Everything is new here. Who doesn’t like coming into a nice, clean, well-lit spacious modern facility?”
Inland is growing in southwest Kamloops
“You can’t wipe the smile off most people’s faces,” Negus said. “Not that we didn’t take care of the old place, but to be honest, it was dark and dingy. Everything is new here. Who doesn’t like coming into a nice, clean, well-lit spacious modernThere’sfacility?”roomto grow, too. The company pur chased eight additional acres of land adjacent to the new 92.000-square-foot -facility. Currently, those acres is being rented to Trans Mountain Pipeline contractors, but in the future it will be used for further expansions.
An expanded truck and equipment dealer ship has opened in the Iron Mask area of south west Kamloops, nearly tripling its space and making service easier for those who need it.
The new location, located next to the weigh scales at 2505 Trans-Canada Hwy., just south of Dufferin and Pineview Valley, is also much more convenient for customers, especially those haul ing large trailers.
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Greg Negus, regional general manager for the Interior, celebrated alongside employees on July 25, when the new facility opened.
“It was very inconvenient for our custom ers to have to dolly their trailers off somewhere else in town and bring just the truck to us for repairs,” Negus said.
Now, with 24 truck bays, eight equipment service bays and plenty of space to pull in and turn around, Negus said access has greatly improved.Employees are happier, too.
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In partnership with Ledcor Group and Arrow Transportation Systems Inc., the FESBC and the CCF aimed to recover as much
A portion of the recovered fibre from the community forest didn’t have far to go.
Thisfibre.was an opportunity to pilot a solution to this challenge.
“Some of the fibre recovered was ground [into small wood chips]
A
“Usable and viable timber can still be salvaged after wildfire, but only for so long afterwards,” CCF general manager Steve Law said.
A total of $512,000 in funding was provided to recover and utilize 32,000 cubic metres of low-quality residual fibre, which is approxi mately 580 truckloads.
“This fibre was used as biofuel to make electricity and thermal power and, in some instances, the fireaffected biomass logs were trucked to and sorted at River City Fibre to make pulp products and biofuel.”
reduced in order to slow down a wildfire.“What started as a wildfire risk reduction project turned into an opportunity to also recover fibre,” FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki said. “This project showed not only what we can do to mitigate the risk of wildfire, but also what can be done to recover and salvage fibre after a fire.”
“There’s also another big rea son,” Kozuki said. “By using the wood instead of burning it in piles, greenhouse gas emissions are avoided. Therefore, the people of Clinton through their community forest are doing their part to take to action on climate change.”
from the municipality.
Often this charred woody fibre can burn again, but nevertheless is left and not salvaged as the eco nomic cost of doing so outweighs the market value.
“After being heavily impacted by wildfires, the community was interested in seeing as much of the burned wood be chipped and trucked away, instead of burned in piles.”Jennifer Gunter, executive direc tor of the BC Community Forest Association, highlighted the impor tant role of community forests in good forest stewardship.
“Community forests are impor tant, regionally and provincially, to provide a base for ingenuity and innovation.”Watchthe video on the project online at ClintonCommunityForest.bit.ly/
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The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) seeks innovative solutions to these sorts of chal lenges. The Clinton Community Forest (CCF) applied for funding to protect the community and, at the same time, recover burned, but still usable
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The project also included funding of $128,000 to create a 100-metre-wide fuel break south east of the Village of Clinton to help reduce future wildfire risk to the community.Afuelbreak is a zone where trees are spaced farther apart and the amount of flammable wood is
Protecting a village and creating bioenergy
Greg Kilba, division manager of portable wood processing and log buyer with Arrow, also noted that “there’s still good pulp and bio wood out there left over from the 2017 wildfires, but the costs are higher than the market value.”
fter a wildfire burns through a forest, a lot of debris and charred trees are left behind — which was true of the Elephant Hill fire west of Kamloops in 2017.
“This story of the Clinton Community Forest is a great exam ple of how community forests can explore forest management prac tices and try something new, which has resulted in a long-term invest ment in the land base,” Gunter said.
and trucked by Arrow and Ledcor to Kamloops,” said Ian Brown, vicepresident of woodlands and fibre procurement for the Ledcor Group.
Law agreed and said reducing the burning of wood waste is a winwin, noting there was good support
“Normally, we’d selectively log Douglas fir and have about 50 per cent remaining. After a large fire, most of the work involves replanting without offsetting the cost by sell ing the logs. Without funding from the FESBC, this work would not have been economical and the fibre likely would have been burned. The financial support allowed us to recover the fibre instead.”
Regula tor y am e n dm e n t : Th e righ t to re fuse unsa fe work On August 22, 2022, amendments to Par t 3 of the Occupational Heal th and Safe t y Regulation took e f fec t Em ployers are now r e q uir e d to in fo r m wo r ke r s a bo u t a p r evio us wo r k r e fusal b e fo r e r eassign in g t h e r e fuse d wo r k To l ea r n m o r e a bo u t t h e se ch a n ge s, visi t wor ksa fe bc.com /re fusin g u n sa fe wor k Happy National Forestry Week! F O R S I T E . C A • Forest Inventories • Stewardship Planning • Wildfire Risk Management • Resource Analysis and Growth & Yield • Geomatics/LiDAR/ Remote Sensing /Data Management • Silviculture • Timber Development and Permitting • Operational Planning • License/Business Management • Environmental Ser vices We are a full ser vice forest management company and proud to contribute to sustainable forestr y practices. C10 WEDNESDAY, September 21, 2022 www.kamloopsthisweek.com
burned and waste fibre as possible.
Pratt noted one of the reasons the FESBC wanted to fund such innovative projects was to facilitate these types of learnings.
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FESBC PHOTO
Kozuki said when incinerated at higher temperatures, dirty byproducts other than carbon dioxide are largely eliminated.
Across B.C., FESBC has planted 66-mil lion trees and expects them to sequester 4.2-million tonnes of carbon dioxide (equiv
“Obviously, that’s still a greenhouse gas, but we’re avoiding those other potent green house gases that are present in open burn ing,” he FESBCsaid.has spent approximately $150 million on carbon and greenhouse gas proj ects in TheB.C.funds were acquired by the province from the federal government, which distrib uted $1.4 billion to provinces and territories that successfully applied for Low Carbon Economy Leadership funding in 2017.
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logging companies are required to plant trees following cutting, he said those trees don’t count against action toward mitigating climate change, noting any treeplanting projects are “above and beyond”
tricity, including at the Kruger pulp mill in Kamloops, where the waste from Clearwater and Adams Lake is converted into heat energy and electricity, which is used at the mill or fed back into the power grid.
Forestry projects aim to reduce emissions
the replacement trees.
Instead, slash piles at some sites have been rerouted and used to produce elec
One way in which carbon emissions and greenhouse gases are avoided are by rerouting slash piles that would normally be burned openly in the forest. Kozuki said these slow-burning piles are particularly “dirty” in how they burn and do nothing other than eliminate the unused organic matter.“The emissions profile of open burning, naturally aspirated like your campfire, it’s actually a very dirty burn. It’s low tempera ture, there’s lot of soot and smoke and invis ible greenhouse gases,” he said.
Forest Enhancement Society of BC executive director Steve Kozuki.
Forest projects across B.C., including near Kamloops, are helping in the effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change through reducing greenhouse gases and car bon emissions, according to the latest report from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC).Since2017, the organization — an agent of the provincial government — has dis tributed funds for 134 projects intended to reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emis sions.Approximately 10 projects are in close proximity to Kamloops, including funding transportation of wood fibre that would otherwise have been burned in slash piles, forest fertilization projects and more.
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alent) by the 2050 — the equivalent of taking nearly a million gas-powered vehicles off the road.FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki said the projects are part of Canada’s com mitment to meeting the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emis sions and limit global temperature increases to 2KozukiC. noted three ways in which the projects are aiding in climate change, including planting trees that otherwise wouldn’t have been planted, fertilizing trees and avoiding carbon/greenhouse gas emis sions.While
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Fertilization projects are rare in the Interior, Kozuki said, but noted one project located between Adams Lake and Barriere in the Lower North Thompson area.
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Brucefields.Morrow of Bruce Morrow Forest Consulting Ltd., who submitted the appli cation for funding to FESBC on behalf of the LNIB, noted the project was important because forest fuel treatments will make the area safer for wildfire-suppression crews accessing the area in the event of a wildfire.“Spacing of trees to reduce crown clo sure, pruning to remove ladder fuels to reduce the risk of crown fires and reduc ing the amount and continuity of ground fuels will all contribute to reducing wildfire risk, and allow wildfire crews to respond faster,” Morrow said.
two areas close to Merritt.
“We look forward to more partnership opportunities like this, which enhance communities overall.”
“We are leaving behind a much hap pier forest ecosystem. Dry belt trees com pete for moisture and nutrients and the trees there were competing for these and weakening each other,” Morrow said.
The two locations border the edge of both Merritt and the Lower Nicola Indian Band reserve lands. Lindley Creek is located south of the Nicola River, south of Lower Nicola, and Fox Farm is on the north side of the Coquihalla Highway, just
A hectare is an area equal to 100 metres by 100 metres, or about 2.5 foot ball
The project also had the full support of the local resource district and BC Wildfire Service.
is being funded through the Community Resiliency Investment Program and the Cascades Resource District.
“This project aligns with FESBC purposes, provides employment and is exactly what we want to support in terms of rural communities working to imple ment wildfire risk reduction projects.”
“This is a multi-benefit proposal to forestcommunity,thetotheandtotheareaasawhole. ”
Don Gossoo, general manager of the Lower Nicola Indian Band Development Corporation (LNIBDC), said the crews employed an average of six people from the community who are trained in the use of hand tools for this type of forestry work.
NATIONAL FOREST WEEK
The Fox Farm community is located halfway up a steep hillside. The forested area below has been subject to wildfire suppression for more than 60 years, resulting in a significant accumulation of dead and downed fuels.
“Lindley Creek is a corridor from the forest down to the valley where there are more houses,” Morrow noted. “The local winds and topography create a funnel in the Lindley Creek drainage, which can push wildfires downslope toward the homes at the bottom of the treatment area.”Similar work being done in the area on reserve land and adjacent Crown land
described it as taking a stag nant coniferous jungle and turning it into parkland, adding nutrients, sunlight and moisture to the stand.
“This is a multi-benefit proposal to the community, the forest and the area as a whole,” Pratt said.
“They provide employment opportu nities, improve safety and help support healthy forests,” he said.
Partnering up to create community safety
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“About 40 per cent of the trees were dead standing or lying on the ground ready to burn, creating a high fire hazard for a one-way in, one-way out commu nity,” Morrow said.
ith the support of close to $250,000 in fund ing from the EnhancementForestSociety of BC (FESBC), the Lower Nicola Indian Band (LNIB) removed dan gerous trees and reduced wildfire risk in
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“We created a situation where, hope fully, a fire in the area will now move along the ground instead of through the crown. This will make it easier to fight and reduce the risk of structure loss from ember spotting onto the nearby houses from a crown fire.”
Crews from Shulus Forest Enterprises Inc., a company owned 100 per cent by the LNIB, did all the manual treatments of the sites, including tree-pruning, spacing, falling, bucking, piling and burning, cov ering about 20 hectares at Lindley Creek and 11 hectares at Fox Farm.
Morrow said the project is a great example of collaboration and co-opera tion in recognizing an issue and working together to protect the community.
“This type of project provides socio economic benefits to the community through employment opportunities and an environmental benefit in improving overall forest health,” Gossoo said.
We want to thank our neighbours and partners, near and far, who contributed to the safety and protection of our community over the last year When things get difficult, little gestures become big, and we want to recognize all of the people who do small things everyday Many people have demonstrated compassion and courage, and made a huge difference in the lives of so many We thank you. And to everyone affected by wildfire, our hearts remain with you as you undertake the long journey to recovery
S E R V I N G T H E T H O M P S O N / O K A N A G A N A N D
east of Merritt on Fox Farm Road.
FESBC senior manager Gord Pratt highlighted the importance of complet ing the work in support of addressing high-risk areas identified by Merritt’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan and the BC Wildfire Service.
— FESBC SENIORGORDMANAGERPRATT
“The trees left behind are healthier and more resilient to drought, pests and weather because there’s less competi tion.”Gossoo
“The work at the Fox Farm area was done downslope of several large proper ties adjacent to the Coquihalla Highway, where someone could toss out a lit ciga rette, etc. The residents there were happy to see the work done,” Gossoo said.
Lower Nicola Indian Band Chief Stu Jackson said projects like this one have multiple benefits to the community.
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