SPRING 2024 Landscapes, our award-winning newsletter has links to complimentary, balanced educational activities on sustainable natural resource management, including Indigenous voices, bursaries & youth contests with đź’° prizes. |
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Forestry in crisis, says new labour union report.
Where will we get our wood for BC 🏡 building? |
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|   | This April, the BC Government announced changes in the building code to allow timber to be used in taller, 18-storey high-rise homes (up from 12-storey limits) as well as schools, shopping centres and libraries. But a big question still looms.
Where will all that wood come from? 🪵🏡 A new report 📔A Better Future for B.C. Forestry, by several labour unions cites the dismal state of the B.C. forest industry. They describe the industry as in “crisis,’ with inadequate response from the provincial government.
“Total 🌲🌲🌲 production has declined by up to half in recent years, with devastating effects on employment, output, exports and taxes,” says the report by Unifor, the United Steelworkers and the Public & Private Workers of Canada. Combined direct employment in the provincial forest |   | |
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|   | industries fell to 44,000 jobs last year from 79,000 in 2001, it says. Some 9,000 jobs have been lost since 2018.👷🏽👷🏻‍♀️Adjusted for inflation in 2017 dollars 💵, the value of forest industries to the B.C. economy fell to $5.2 billion in 2023 from a high of about $8.5 billion in the mid-2000s, said the report, prepared with the help of labour economist Jim Stanford and Ken Dalaney of the Canadian Skills Training & Employment Coalition.
Another recent April economic impact report done for the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) found BC's forest sector represents 6.6 Billion dollars in contributions to government revenue that pay for healthcare, education and more, the report said. |   | |
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National Indigenous youth contest MAY 19th deadline đź”” |
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To celebrate the rich cultural and heritage traditions of Indigenous peoples of B.C., FORED is again sponsoring its annual NATIONAL artwork 🎨 contest with cash prizes for Indigenous youth. The theme is: "Traditional Knowledge & Medicine."
Three B.C. winners & a national winner will each receive a $150 prize 🤑. Group work eligible for shared prize. 🏆 Previous winner in photo.
Artwork may include: drawings, paintings, photography or video featuring interviews with an elder or other traditional activity.
Contest Details on our website.
Please share if you can. Thank you 🙏.
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Students visit FORED exhibit at VSB Sustainability Fair |
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FORED BC volunteers were proud to participate again in SPARK, the annual Vancouver School Board (VSB)-sponsored one-day sustainability conference organized by the student-led organization, Vancouver School Board Sustainability Connection. The April 22 event, now in its 12th year, at Prince of Wales Secondary School, featured workshops about technology and sustainability, NGO exhibits, an e-waste recycling drive and a forum for hundreds of students to share ideas. One of our youth volunteers has autism. He told us that participating in this event helped boost his self-confidence in public settings. đź‘Ź |
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Meet FORED's newest volunteer board member
and project coordinator |
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FORED BC is delighted to announce that communications professional Jennifer Siddon has volunteered to join our board of directors. Lara Mickel has also joined our team offering project
and digital marketing support. A warm welcome to both! |
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|   | Jennifer Siddon has more than 20 years’ experience delivering strategic communications 💬 for companies and organizations in the energy, mining, transit and transportation infrastructure sectors, as well as helping Indigenous nations tell their stories. 📖
Recently, she led communications and community relations activities that resulted in environmental approvals and Indigenous support for the $1.6-billion Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish. She was spokesperson for BCRTC (SkyTrain/West Coast Express), Director of Communications for Cedar LNG Project - and led communications engagement planning for the Haisla Nation. She is currently an Indigenous Engagement Consultant with the Red Chris Mine Block Cave Project.
Jennifer was previously a news writer and producer for BCTV/Global News 📹. She serves on the City of Vancouver’s Transportation Advisory Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of B.C. 🎓, a Diploma in Journalism from the B.C. Institute of Technology and a Certificate in Communications in a Crisis from the Justice Institute of BC. She just completed her "microcredential" in Carbon Mitigation Through Best Management Practices from Holland College. |   | |
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|   | Lara Mickel is a project coordinator and marketing support consultant. She is also in Event Operations for BC's favourite family fun park,
the PNE.
Lara attended Simon Fraser (Liberal Arts) and University of Manitoba (Arts Program). She brings many years of experience in a variety of sectors, from the beverage industry to transportation. She worked in a senior administrative support role at TransLink, and was one of the key event organizers for the opening of the Evergreen Line on SkyTrain!
Lara delivers quality content for digital, traditional, and social media with a proven record of achievement in planning, program execution, creative leadership, and special event management. She recently obtained a certificate in Leadership of Safety Excellence, from the BC Construction Safety Alliance.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her cat, good friends and volunteering for United Way's programs tackling child bullying, poverty alleviation and helping seniors in isolation. |   | |
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Explore our newest video, prepared by youth volunteers from Douglas College & Gastown Business College.
Spoiler: A Taylor Swift fun fact is revealed. |
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Teachers Helping Teachers 🧑🏽‍🏫FORED BC has developed many lesson plans over the years on a variety of subjects in age-appropriate categories 5-9, 10-13 and 14-18. Many were contributed by teachers or developed in collaboration with classroom educators.
These youth activities — are freely available on our website 🖥️. Topics include: plants and animals, endangered species, tree identification 🌲, the oceans, the environment and sustainability, forest fire safety 👩‍🚒, Indigenous knowledge and classroom adaptions for students with learning disabilities or special needs.
The featured activity for this newsletter is Musical Trees. Feel free to share your favourite lesson plan for profile and credit. |   | |
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Many fear B.C. faces another bad summer for forest fires A low snowpack and higher-than-average temperatures are expected again this summer thanks to an El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean that has many people concerned about forest fires this summer. As of April 1, B.C. had to lowest snowpack 🏔️🏔️🏔️ since 1970, according to B.C.’s River Forecast Centre. Provincial weather stations show the snowpack ❄️ is “extremely low,” averaging just 63 per cent of the historical average, says an April Snow Survey and Water Supply Bulletin. The good news is we have reduced risk of spring floods.
The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive in B.C.’s recorded history, with 2,245 fires 🔥🔥🔥burning more than 2.84 million hectares of forest lands. Fighting 👨🏻‍🚒the blazes, which resulted in 208 evacuation orders affecting 48,000 British Columbians, cost an estimated $817 million, according to the provincial government. You can take precautions to better prepare for and prevent wildfire in your community. Here are some educational resources from Firesmart BC to discuss in class. |
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Expanded mining of critical minerals in B.C. could really pay off
B.C. has known deposits of 16 of the 31 minerals the Canadian government has identified as critical for a green and digital economy moving into the future. Canada already produces 21 of the critical minerals on the list. BC, a top producer of copper, also has mines producing molybdenum, niobium, aluminum, zinc, bismuth, indium and germanium — minerals on the list. A Mining Association of B.C. report found 14 proposed critical mineral mines and two mine extensions could be expected to generate an average revenue of more than $1 billion each (more than $400 billion over their combined years of operations), $477 million in labour income, 5,590 jobs and $401 million in tax revenue. |
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UBC's Energy Engineer says mass use of Electric Vehicles, heat pumps will strain electrical grid⚡
A recent report by the Royal Bank of Canada estimates the "electrification bill needed to support a net-zero Canada by 2050 will cost $5.4 billion a year over the next three decades. Canada’s grid—its electrical generation, transmission and distribution—will essentially need to double in size in order to replace fossil fuels with clean electricity." |
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BC Hydro plans to spend billions to increase power generation to support the provincial government’s CleanBC mandate of decarbonizing the economy through electrification. Currently, the $16 billion Site C dam is expected to be completed within a year. Independent research has also shown the government's Clean BC plan will actually reduce BC's economy by $28.1 billion, meaning job losses and significant declines in tax revenues that pay for health care, schools and social services.
Business in Vancouver News spoke to Dr. Jose Marti, a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of British Columbia, who says the bigger engineering challenge is the distribution of electricity. This involves moving high-voltage electricity from the dam source, requiring conversion to a lower voltage suitable for homes, office buildings, mines or pulp mills.
The increased deployment of electric vehicles (EV), charging stations and electric heat pumps will place strain on the local distribution systems, Marti warns. “What is going to be a problem, and for which we will need other solutions, is the electrical vehicle deployment in the cities,” Marti said. “Right now, the distribution system is at its limit,” he added. “The moment that EVs are deployed en masse — then they will have real problems.”
Canadian oil production hits new record on rising world demand Canadian production of crude oil 🛢️and equivalent products hit a new high in 2023, rising to 286.4 million cubic metres — up 1.4 per cent from the output in 2022 — according to Statistics Canada. The rise was linked to geopolitical conflicts in other parts of the world as well as rising global demand đźššđź›»đźŹ, which is expected to hit a record 105 million barrels a day this year, up from 101.89 mbpd in 2023 and the pre-pandemic record of 100.27 mbpd set in 2019. |
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FORED needs your help for as little as .15 cents a day. Like all charities, FORED relies on donations from government, individuals, foundations or companies who support our important work helping to educate youth about BC's sustainably managed resource industries while preserving the environment, plus the increasing role of First Nations in managing BC's
natural wealth. A little goes a long way. Tax receipt provided. |
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Established in 1925 by volunteers and BC foresters in government, industry and NGOs to teach forest fire prevention, FORED BC is an independent, non-partisan charity that offers educational tools about the environmental, cultural and economic values of our forests and other natural resources, including the important relationship of Indigenous peoples to the lands and waters. |
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