BC Is Burning! The film and the missing elephant in the room

Forest fire film

Photo: Eli Pivnick

White Rock Lake fire in August 2021

Late last month, the new documentary film, B.C. Is Burning!, was shown in Kelowna and Vernon.

In B.C., five of the last eight years have seen the most land burned by forest fires in the recorded history of the province. That can be attributed, in part, to climate change which has caused hotter, drier summers in western Canada and the trend is accelerating. Forests, in bad fire years, emit twice as many greenhouse gases as all other sources of emissions the provincial government reports on, thereby further contributing to climate change.

The solutions proposed by the film include prescribed burns to reduce fuel load. By burning forested lands when conditions are not conducive to forest fires, the fires will be more controllable and cooler and not overly damaging to trees and soil, as can be the catastrophic fires we are now seeing. The other solution offered is thinning tree stands so fires spread less rapidly through the forest.

Around the world, the forest industry is promoting this kind of “active management” rhetoric. In fact, the current B.C. forests minister, Ravi Parmar, has stated repeatedly in the last few months, we have to manage even our protected forests. More forest management is a convenient solution for, and promoted by, the forest industry in response to increasing forest fire frequency and intensity around the world. Active management means increased access to forests for logging.

The website that accompanies the film asks supporters to write to the government asking for “increased long-term fibre access to support saw mills, pellet plants and bio-energy” and to reduce access constraints, including “mule deer winter range and old growth deferrals”.

There have been many scientific studies by researchers around the world which show thinning and clearcut logging of forests, and frequent prescribed burns degrade forests and increase fire risk. The increased amount of road building and fire breaks fragment wildlife populations, allow more invasive plants to be established and invite more human-caused fires. Leaving older trees that have survived insect or disease outbreaks or fires is important genetically to the forest, as they often are better adapted to conditions.

Some prescribed burns and some selective logging can be appropriate but frequent burns, as well as selective logging that removes large, old trees, both living and dead, damages bio-diversity, increases fire risk and eliminates the ecologically important post-disturbance recovery phase of forests. Many species of birds, insects and plants depend on that phase.

Interventions in forests can be useful to suppress invasive species, both plant and animal, replanting where natural regeneration has not been successful, removing roads, upgrading culverts and re-introducing extirpated species such as the beaver.

In the film, Murray Wilson, the film’s primary narrator and promoter, with more than 40 years experience working in the forest industry, perpetuates a number of the forest industry’s most frequently repeated myths. First, the film does not mention clearcut logging, except to say we have healthy forests from re-planting. Clearcut logging is the elephant in the room.

Second, Wilson states that over-mature trees die by 140 years and their carbon goes back up into the atmosphere. That is not true. Much of the carbon is in the ground and remains there. Also, the carbon is gradually transferred to other plants, including trees. Wilson also states one-third of B.C. forests are protected. One-third are unproductive and one-third are being logged. Recent data indicates that, of the low altitude, high value forests, only three percent have not been logged.

At the Vernon screening question and answer session, when I asked Wilson about the impact of logging on forest hydrology, which is causing more droughts and floods, he shrugged it off saying I should consult a hydrologist. In fact, Younes Alila, a professor at UBC, has spent his career demonstrating the devastating impact of the degree of logging in B.C. on damage to the hydrological cycle.

When an audience member asked about too much clearcutting, Wilson’s response was in a bad fire year, 20 times more forest is burned than cut. Logging a forest is not a natural disturbance and its consequences are much more damaging. When another audience member asked about leaving broadleaf trees, which are often removed by brushing or herbicide spraying, Wilson’s response was they make up less than 10% of B.C. forest composition. While true, many species depend on them and are known to slow down forest fires.

Based on attendance at the film showings, it is clear the public is concerned about wild fires in the Okanagan. We are all desperate for solutions, as climate change will be with us for a long while, even if we make the necessary climate actions.

A better approach to making our forests healthier and more fire resistant does require some interventions. However, lower levels of, and more ecological responsible logging, as well as more oversight of logging, would go much further to getting us back to healthy forests.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.