Hundreds out of work in Terrace Bay, Ont., after pulp mill idles operations

OCCUPY UNDER WORKERS CONTROL


CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024 

An employee loads logs at Ledwidge Lumber Co. in Halifax in 2017 to be shipped to pulp and paper mills for processing. This week, the company that owns the paper mill in Terrace Bay, Ont., announced it would be shut down indefinitely. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press - image credit)

The Terrace Bay Pulp Mill in northwestern Ontario is temporarily shutting down with no opening date in sight.

As the northwestern Ontario town braces for the potential loss of its biggest employer, the mayor and union representing mill workers say they're trying to stay positive.

On Tuesday, the mill's owners, AV Group, which is part of Aditya Birla, announced there will be a "temporary idling of its pulp operations, with immediate effect, due to prevailing market conditions," meaning 400 workers are off the job.

"It's obviously a big blow for Terrace Bay. I mean, we're a population of 1,600 people," said Mayor Paul Malashewski.

The shutdown will be devastating for businesses in the town and ripple through other surrounding communities on the north shore of Lake Superior, he said.

NBSK pulp used in everyday paper products

The type of pulp produced in Terrace Bay is premium grade, said pulp industry analyst Brian McClay, chair of Trade Tree Online and Brian McClay & Associates (TTO BMA).

Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) is used in items like tissue, toilet paper and paper towels.

"It's really the best pulp fibre in the world," he said. "It's the thing that holds the sheet together."

Terrace Bay Mayor Paul Malashewski says he's disappointed to see the pulp mill shut down again.

Terrace Bay Mayor Paul Malashewski says he's disappointed about another pulp mill shutdown. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

As mills producing NBSK shut down, manufacturers could face greater difficulty and higher expenses in making these products, and consumers could find themselves paying more for flimsier toilet paper.

Terrace Bay, which is about 220 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, was once an economically thriving town. The pulp mill, which was established in the 1940s, grew to employ thousands of people by the late 1970s.

The mill fell on hard times in the early 2000s when the pulp and paper industry entered a period of uncertainty. It went through cycles of shutting down, changing ownership, then shutting down again as different owners found themselves in debt.

The current owner, Aditya Burla, stepped up to buy the idled pulp mill in 2012. The mill was fined $250,000 after pleading guilty in 2015 to seven offences under the Environmental Protection Act, and was temporarily shut down in wake of an explosion that killed a worker in October 2011.

Malashewski said he's optimistic the mill will reopen as it has after previous closures. It will be kept in a state of warm idle to allow for a potential future restart of operations, leaving the mayor hopeful.

"It's a positive sign," he said. "I mean, they just didn't shut it down, and turn the heat off and all that."

Union mill workers also hope the market conditions cited as the reason for closure will improve.

"The markets change. There's really good reason to keep that place operating. It's an efficient mill," said Cody Alexander, staff representative for the United Steel Workers (USW) in Thunder Bay.

Workers 'kind of in shock,' union says

The union represents approximately 275 of the mill's steelworkers who are now without employment, said Alexander.

"Everybody's kind of in shock right now about it. It's a really small community and that pulp mill is the anchor."

A worker guides toilet paper on a conveyor belt at the Tissue Plus factory, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Bangor, Maine. The new company has been unexpectedly busy because of the shortage of toilet paper brought on by hoarders concerned about the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A worker guides toilet paper on a conveyor belt during the manufacturing process. An industry analyst says continued closures at pulp and paper mills could lead to higher prices for common consumer items like toilet paper. ((Robert F Bukaty/Associated Press) )

Currently, pulp prices are low and demand is weak, said McClay.

"We went through a couple of pretty volatile years where prices reached record levels and now they've come back down," said McClay.

Pulp mills are expensive to operate and maintain, he said, and inflation has exacerbated this. Some mills have closed even when pulp prices are high due to the sheet capital investment required to operate.

"It's not just a question of where the market is today; it's what companies have to spend to keep the mills in decent running order."

McClay said he couldn't predict whether the Terrace Bay mill will reopen.

Hundreds out of work in Terrace Bay, Ont., after pulp mill idles operations

Story by Michelle Allan • CBC

21h


The Terrace Bay Pulp Mill in northwestern Ontario is temporarily shutting down with no opening date in sight.

As the northwestern Ontario town braces for the potential loss of its biggest employer, the mayor and union representing mill workers say they're trying to stay positive.

On Tuesday, the mill's owners, AV Group, which is part of Aditya Birla, announced there will be a "temporary idling of its pulp operations, with immediate effect, due to prevailing market conditions," meaning 400 workers are off the job.

"It's obviously a big blow for Terrace Bay. I mean, we're a population of 1,600 people," said Mayor Paul Malashewski.

The shutdown will be devastating for businesses in the town and ripple through other surrounding communities on the north shore of Lake Superior, he said.
NBSK pulp used in everyday paper products

The type of pulp produced in Terrace Bay is premium grade, said pulp industry analyst Brian McClay, chair of Trade Tree Online and Brian McClay & Associates (TTO BMA).

Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) is used in items like tissue, toilet paper and paper towels.

"It's really the best pulp fibre in the world," he said. "It's the thing that holds the sheet together."





Terrace Bay Mayor Paul Malashewski says he's disappointed about another pulp mill shutdown. (Marc Doucette/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

As mills producing NBSK shut down, manufacturers could face greater difficulty and higher expenses in making these products, and consumers could find themselves paying more for flimsier toilet paper.

Terrace Bay, which is about 220 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, was once an economically thriving town. The pulp mill, which was established in the 1940s, grew to employ thousands of people by the late 1970s.

The mill fell on hard times in the early 2000s when the pulp and paper industry entered a period of uncertainty. It went through cycles of shutting down, changing ownership, then shutting down again as different owners found themselves in debt.

The current owner, Aditya Burla, stepped up to buy the idled pulp mill in 2012. The mill was fined $250,000 after pleading guilty in 2015 to seven offences under the Environmental Protection Act, and was temporarily shut down in wake of an explosion that killed a worker in October 2011.

Malashewski said he's optimistic the mill will reopen as it has after previous closures. It will be kept in a state of warm idle to allow for a potential future restart of operations, leaving the mayor hopeful.

"It's a positive sign," he said. "I mean, they just didn't shut it down, and turn the heat off and all that."

Union mill workers also hope the market conditions cited as the reason for closure will improve.

"The markets change. There's really good reason to keep that place operating. It's an efficient mill," said Cody Alexander, staff representative for the United Steel Workers (USW) in Thunder Bay.

Workers 'kind of in shock,' union says

The union represents approximately 275 of the mill's steelworkers who are now without employment, said Alexander.

"Everybody's kind of in shock right now about it. It's a really small community and that pulp mill is the anchor."



A worker guides toilet paper on a conveyor belt during the manufacturing process. An industry analyst says continued closures at pulp and paper mills could lead to higher prices for common consumer items like toilet paper. ((Robert F Bukaty/Associated Press) )© Provided by cbc.ca

Currently, pulp prices are low and demand is weak, said McClay.

"We went through a couple of pretty volatile years where prices reached record levels and now they've come back down," said McClay.

Pulp mills are expensive to operate and maintain, he said, and inflation has exacerbated this. Some mills have closed even when pulp prices are high due to the sheet capital investment required to operate.

"It's not just a question of where the market is today; it's what companies have to spend to keep the mills in decent running order."

McClay said he couldn't predict whether the Terrace Bay mill will reopen.

ENCHANTMENT

Remote Woodland – Home to Scotland’s Oldest Wild Pine – Saved as Part of Rewilding Initiative

The oldest pine has been dated to at least 1458 by St Andrews Tree-Ring Laboratory, and is believed to be even older.

December 30, 2023 by Pressat 


By Trees for Life

A remote ancient woodland – home to Scotland’s oldest wild Scots pine, which is at least 565-years-old – has been saved from being lost forever and given a chance of regeneration thanks to Trees for Life, as part of the charity’s vast Affric Highlands rewilding initiative.

The pinewood remnant of some 57 pines, all several centuries old and scattered through Glen Loyne in the northwest Highlands, was at risk from overgrazing by excessive numbers of deer – a key threat to surviving Caledonian pinewoods that prevents them from naturally regenerating.

The oldest pine has been dated to at least 1458 by St Andrews Tree-Ring Laboratory, and is believed to be even older. The ancestry of such pines stretches back to the last ice age.

In cooperation with the landowner, whose love of the pinewoods made the project possible, Trees for Life has created a new deer-proof ‘exclosure’ of fencing to protect the woodland, including the most ancient pines, and to allow young seedlings to grow without being eaten.

“Glen Loyne’s wild pines and other Caledonian pinewoods are globally unique, and a special part of Scotland’s character and culture. Saving and restoring them offers a major opportunity for tackling the nature and climate crises,” said James Rainey, senior ecologist at Trees for Life.

Trees for Life surveyed the site as part of its four-year Caledonian Pinewood Recovery Project, one of the most comprehensive surveys of the health of Scotland’s pinewoods. The team found that some of the oldest pines were outside an area of fencing which had been erected in the 1990s to protect the trees from grazing pressure. Deer had also breached the fenced area.

Trees for Life has now erected 1.5 kilometres of new fencing, and has connected up, extended and repaired existing sections, with the heavy-duty materials having to be transported into the remote glen by helicopter. The pinewood will now be able to naturally regenerate for the first time in decades.

“Fencing is only a temporary fix, but for now it’s a vital way of giving these precious pinewoods a fighting chance of recovery until effective landscape-scale deer management can be properly established,” said James Rainey.

Historically part of the royal hunting grounds of Cluanie, the Glen Loyne woodlands would once have been home to capercaillie, wildcat, and lynx. Ordnance Survey maps from 1874 show a more extensive woodland in the glen, but by the 1990s there were only 85 ancient pines left – a number that has since been reduced further to just 57.

The nature recovery project has been funded by the family of Harry Steven, who with Jock Carlise wrote The Native Pinewoods of Scotland, published in 1959. This pioneering book recognised the special status of the pinewoods, and documented 35 wild pine populations that had managed to survive centuries of deforestation.

In the 1990s, the work of Steven and Carlisle led to the then Forestry Commission Scotland compiling Scotland’s official Caledonian Pinewood Inventory, which today recognises 84 sites.

Glen Loyne, on East Glen Quoich estate, lies within Affric Highlands – the UK’s largest rewilding landscape. Led by Trees for Life and Rewilding Europe, this 30-year community-focused initiative will restore woodland, peatland and riverside habitats over half a million acres from Loch Ness to the west coast, supporting re-peopling and nature-based economic opportunities.

The Caledonian forest once covered much of the Highlands, but today less than 2% survives. The pinewoods are one of Scotland’s richest habitats, and offer refuge to declining wildlife such as red squirrels, capercaillie and crossbills. Trees for Life is dedicated to rewilding the Highlands, including by restoring the Caledonian forest. See treesforlife.org.uk


Ends

Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Trees for Life, on Tuesday 12 December, 2023. 

Lost rainforest dubbed ‘jewel’ of UK wildlife could be brought back to life

Ben AshtonPublished Dec 30, 2023

An ‘incredibly rare’ and ‘special’ habitat in the UK could be revived (Picture: Andrew Michael/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The last remaining fragments of once-thriving temperate rainforests in the UK could be brought back to life.

Known as Atlantic woodland or Celtic rainforest, what was ‘one of the jewels of Britain’s nature crown’ used to cover a vast expanse of the west of the UK and Ireland.

It previously stretched all the way from Cornwall to the west of Scotland.

The archipelago’s wet, mild conditions meant it was rife with wildlife including lichens, mosses and liverworts.

But only small, isolated pockets have survived to this day because of destruction through the centuries.

In England, just 72 square miles of the ecosystem still remain – and what little is left is under threat from overgrazing sheep, invasive species and nitrogen pollution.

Now, after three years of campaigning, a new government strategy has been launched to revive the ‘incredibly rare’ and ‘special’ habitat.

Only 72 square miles of temperate rainforest remains in England, but conservationists want to see that figure doubled by 2050 (Picture: FLPA/Bob Gibbons/REX/Shutterstock)

Conservationists have praised the plans to protect and recover England’s temperate rainforests with £750,000 being committed to research and development.

The government has said it will work alongside farmers and landowners to protect the rainforest areas.

‘Before 2021, no politician had even mentioned temperate rainforests in the UK parliament,’ said Guy Shrubsole, who leads the Lost Rainforests of Britain campaign.

He told The Guardian the plans are exciting but wants the target to be to double the area of rainforests in Britain by 2050.

The Wildlife Trusts head of policy said it’s ‘really cool’ to see the plans coming together (Picture: FLPA/REX/Shutterstock)

‘’Now, the government themselves have not only mentioned it,’ he said. ‘They’ve actually devoted entire official policy documents to this habitat. That’s really cool to see.’

Joan Edwards, director of policy for the Wildlife Trusts, said: ‘Temperate rainforest is a globally rare habitat that was once one of the jewels of Britain’s nature crown. 

‘The remnants that still exist contain some of the highest floral diversity in the world, including a vast array of mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns.

‘We welcome the government’s intention to invest in temperate rainforest restoration and management, as part of protecting 30% of land by 2030, and look forward to a more detailed strategy in the coming months.’

Britain’s temperate rainforests are thought to be ‘more threatened than the tropical rainforest’ accoeding to The Woodland Trust (Picture: Christopher Jones/REX/Shutterstock)

The Woodland Trust says of Britain’s temperate rainforests: ‘Also known as Atlantic or Celtic rainforest, this special habitat is incredibly rare. 

‘In fact, it’s thought to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.

‘Its lush conditions are perfect for scarce plants, lichens and fungi, as well as remarkable birds and mammals.’

Suspected tornado splits ancient oak tree

31st December 2023
BBC

The tree which has stood for 150 years is now being assessed for safety

A 150-year-old tree has been "split in half" by what was believed to have been a tornado in east Devon.

Simon West, the tree's owner, said he was inside his house in Tipton St John, near Sidmouth, when he heard rain followed by an "enormous cracking sound" on Saturday evening.

Part of the tree fell on a driveway and knocked down a telegraph pole, which was replaced on Sunday.

A yellow wind warning was put in place by the Met Office for Devon and the wider south west region until 23:59 (GMT) on Sunday.

Simon West

The tree was hit while it was dark

Several other trees reportedly fell in the area at Tipton St John near Sidmouth following the weather event.

The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) posted on X on Sunday: "Whilst the maximum intensity is still being assessed TORRO can confirm based on a site investigation that Venn Ottery & Tipton St John were hit by a tornado yesterday afternoon."

Mr West told the BBC: "It was extremely strong wind... Sufficient to rip a 150-year-old oak tree in half."

He added: "We heard the enormous creaking and cracking sound of the tree falling apart, followed by taking out all of our electricity."

Part of the tree fell on a driveway and had to be chopped up and cleared

Mr West, who set up a reforestation charity with his wife in Kenya seven years ago, said the tree supports "over 200 species of animals directly and over 2,000 species indirectly".

He added: "I understand quite a few have come down, smaller ones, bigger ones, and it's quite devastating when we lose trees like that."

The pair vowed to replace the tree and said the charity would also continue to plant more in Kenya.\

Can Forest Expansion Balance Climate Change, Economic Growth and Ecological Health?

 

When it comes to managing woodlands to meet multiple needs, Irish activists underscore the importance of considering the forest as well as the trees.

December 31, 2023 by Ensia 

 

By Mike Waltman

When it comes to managing woodlands to meet multiple needs, Irish activists underscore the importance of considering the forest as well as the trees.

December 19, 2023 — Thousands of years ago, oak, ash and hazel trees blanketed with moss and ivy grew from a teeming understory of fern, willow and scattered mushrooms, nearly completely covering Ireland in lush green layers. That was before Vikings began pillaging Irish monasteries and chopping down trees to build their notorious raiding fleet. It was before the English felled Ireland’s forests to construct vessels bound for distant shores. Centuries of deforestation for lumber and agriculture reduced Ireland’s forest cover from 80% to around 1%.

While that number has rebounded to about 11%, Ireland remains one of Europe’s least forested countries. So, in 2022 the island nation launched an aggressive forestry expansion initiative, with a goal of increasing forest cover to 18% by planting 450,000 hectares (more than 1 million acres) before 2050, partly in an effort to uphold international commitments to carbon neutrality.

Acting on these ambitions, Coillte, a government-private organization that manages 440,000 hectares (1 million acres) of woodland and other land, including 50% of Ireland’s forests, has partnered with UK investment firm Gresham house in a US$37 million (€35 million) forestry initiative. The partnership promises to address the needs of a changing climate while enhancing socioeconomic development. However, the initiative has been met with resistance from some.

“They’re addicted to profit,” said Andrew St. Ledger, the founder of the not-for-profit organization The Woodland League, while discussing Coillte’s forestry expansion approach. (St. Ledger, who spent his life advocating for the restoration of native Irish forests and promoting the healing power of trees for both people and the environment, passed away not long after speaking with Ensia about his beloved “Inis na Bhfiodhadh,” an ancient Celtic-Bardic term for Ireland meaning “Island of the sacred trees.”)

Resistance to Coillte’s initiative was seen earlier this year when farmers and environmentalists joined forces in an unlikely alliance to express outrage over the deal. “We had protests on the street with … people assembled at Coillte headquarters for a celebration of public ownership,” said St. Ledger.

The Coillte–Gresham House deal aims to fuel the expansion of Irish woodland by funding the purchase and conversion of rural land to forestry. Opponents of the deal argue that the influx of private money will lead to a land grab, driving up the cost of land and pricing out locals.

Many also worry that the investment might continue to support the aspects of Coillte’s forestry management practices that emphasize timber harvesting by planting fast-growing tree species like Sitka spruce, which can be harvested sooner rather than later, leading to monoculture plantations and short-cycle clear-cutting.

Ecological Concerns

“They’re not forests,” said St. Ledger of nonnative Sitka spruce plantations, which account for close to half of Ireland’s tree cover. The monoculture method, where trees stand in tight rows and allow little sunlight to reach the ground, discouraging growth in the understory, is not unique to Ireland. Timber companies worldwide pack spruce, firs, pines and other fast-growing species into uniform farms to maximize profit, often at the expense of ecological health.

The dense uniformity of such plantations can cause biodiversity to suffer — creating habitat less capable of supporting varied species of flora, insects and animals; altering protection from pests; and fostering poor soil composition.  

Adding to the ecological concerns is the plantation model’s reliance on chemical inputs. Seeking faster, more reliable returns on investment, timber companies apply fertilizers to accelerate growth and pesticides to defend against disease. However, without diverse ground cover or a strong root system, erosion and runoff are common problems, potentially contaminating freshwater with those chemicals.

Carbon Sequestration

Despite the ecological effects, monoculture is an effective model for rapidly planting trees at scale. Coupled with the lure of economic gains from timber, it is an attractive choice for countries pursuing ambitious climate goals, such as Ireland’s target of a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (a target the country is currently not on track to achieve). Proponents of fast-growing tree species with short life cycles often point to the higher carbon sequestration rate the trees experience in their early years. However, the reality of a forest’s carbon storage potential is complex.

“Young trees can sequester more carbon in a plantation because they’re forced to grow with fertilizer,” said St. Ledger. Proponents of monoculture plantations “really cling onto that argument. The problem is that these trees are so immature that carbon isn’t given a chance to accumulate. And it’s not just the carbon in the tree. The root and soil carbon are ignored in the debate.”

A carbon sequestration study published in 2016 supports the value of mixed-species stands for carbon sequestration, stating, “Our results suggest that local species composition plays an important role on [soil organic carbon] stock.” The research found that a diverse leaf litter, in addition to higher root turnover rates in mixed species stands, contributed to greater carbon storage than observed in single-species stands.

Additionally, a 2022 study conducted in Spain highlights the benefits of the complementary effect in mixed-species forests. The study, using a 100-year simulation period, suggests that ecological diversity allows mixed forests to more efficiently use resources, and the researchers found “a clear tendency toward higher CO2 stocks in mixed stands emerged over long simulation periods, which is consistent with previous studies.”

Balancing Economics and Ecology 

Forestry management strategies play a pivotal role in determining the ultimate value of a forest. Strategies can range from pure conservation prioritizing ecological health to intensive forest management (IFM) focusing on economic outcomes. Seeking a balance between these two ends of the management spectrum, extensive forest management (EFM) uses less intensive, nature-based silviculture practices to achieve diverse forestry values.

Nature-based silviculture utilizes natural regeneration and promotes mixed species through planting techniques such as incorporation of mosaic patterns that create clusters of diverse tree species with varied spacing and ages to mimic a natural forest structure. The approach also integrates these planting techniques with sustainable harvesting practices, eliminating clear-cutting in favor of selective tree cutting that maintains a multilayered, continuous cover forest.

“Suggesting any potential commercial use from native forests on private land, particularly harvesting timber, can be met with strong opposition from some environmentalists,” says Paul Quinlan, a trustee at the nonprofit Tāne’s Tree Trust in New Zealand. “Naturally, they fear it might erode the hard-won gains of the conservation movement.”

Quinlan’s background as a landscape architect informs his work with forestry projects that strive to balance ecological health, carbon sequestration and economic incentives. He worries that a pure preservationist approach to conservation segregates land use between commercial production and natural restoration, often marginalizing ecological priorities.

The trust’s projects implement nature-based silviculture management methods that encourage active forest management that replicates natural conditions, promotes biodiversity and balances diverse forest functions such as habitat creation, watershed regulation, timber production, carbon sequestration and public recreation. The trust also emphasizes planting, maintenance and harvesting decisions influenced by site-specific conditions.

“While there is a preference for indigenous species, stands can include exotic species or involve managing a transition from exotic monocultures to mixed species or native forest,” explains Quinlan.

“Silvicultural practices and systems could be used to convert existing stands to more suitable stand structures,” reads a 2021 study on forest carbon management, “which may increase [carbon] sequestration as well as mitigate and adapt ecosystems to the effects of global change.”

Examining the carbon sequestration differences across three strategies — pure conservation, IFM and EFM — the research finds that EFM “is a compromise between conservation and IFM and is more effective in the long term.”

As an alternative diversification strategy, integrated farming systems such as agroforestry and silvopasture aim to blend forestry and traditional agriculture, while fostering biodiversity, mitigating climate change and preserving rural cultural heritage. A 2020 study details the ecological and agricultural advantages of agroforestry systems. These benefits include enhanced productivity through improved soil health, reduced soil erosion, less need for chemical inputs, increased water retention, diversified farm income and overall resilience to pests and diseases. The study also acknowledges agroforestry’s role in combating climate change through the carbon sequestration potential of planted trees and improved soil carbon storage.

Institutional Change 

“We always place emphasis on scientific data,” says Joe Gowran, the CEO of Woodlands of Ireland (WOI), in reference to their strategies for influencing policy. The charity organization advances native woodland conservation and nature-based silviculture in Ireland by, among other things, lobbying for institutional change. They collaborate with other entities, including Coillte, offering constructive, research-based feedback informed by a panel of industry, academic and landowner stakeholders.

In their 2022 Strategic Vision for Our Future Forest Estates, Coillte emphasizes a commitment to delivering multiple benefits from forests, with a renewed focus on climate action, biodiversity and recreation, while also delivering timber products. (Efforts to contact Coillte went unmet by the time of publication.)

But, says Gowran, “Coillte presents challenges because their main focus is perpetuating and expanding softwood timber supplies.” Even so, he points to entities such as Coillte Nature and The Nature Trust supported by Coillite that carry out native woodland restoration projects across Ireland.

“A main driver for these projects is the availability of native woodland scheme grants, which WOI had a key role in developing,” says Gowran. These government grants provide funding for projects that protect, enhance and establish native forests across Ireland. Gowran also highlights that the absence of institutional education in sustainable forestry management is a major obstacle in shifting toward silvicultural systems of continuous cover forest in Ireland. “There is no forestry education and training strategy here currently,” he says.

Working to fix this shortcoming, WOI collaborates with Ireland’s National Parks Wildlife Service and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, helping identify missing elements in woodland management courses as well as reviewing the requirements for establishing a silviculture apprenticeship.

Community Forestry 

“We’re seeing people come together and have conversations. And the conversations are more robust than ever,” says Daniel Wear, forest program manager at Sustainable Northwest in the U.S. At this Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit, Wear empowers local groups to take the lead on land use projects through community forestry.

“Community forestry helps to create a conversation between community members, timber companies and government agencies where they feel like their voice is being heard and their perspectives are being represented,” he says, while emphasizing that community forestry doesn’t operate by specific standards but on a case-by-case basis to meet community needs.

Gowran believes community forestry can provide the Irish public with a voice as well. “It would be useful to have committees linked to a local authority,” he says, “so that all forest owners must engage with the public and community involvement in forest management is strengthened.”

Helping empower community forestry through grassroots education, The Woodland League in Ireland has facilitated government-sponsored Forest Knowledge Transfer Groups to educate small-scale landowners on sustainable forestry practices. “Our objective is to create cooperatives to join the woodland owners together,” St. Ledger said of The Woodland League. He hoped these cooperatives would allow group participants to establish community support systems and share information.

“Ireland is a small country and could actually lead the way in natural forest restoration,” said St. Ledger. “It has a rich cultural woodland history, the tragic loss of it and now a revival. I firmly believe Ireland could be a beacon.”

Previously Published on ensia.com with Creative Commons License

This season's widespread, severe wildfires will have long-lasting impact on N.W.T.'s boreal forest

CBC
Sun, September 24, 2023 

Volunteers, including Edmund Gill, up front, clear dry branches to create a firebreak as wildfires threatened the Northwest Territories town of Yellowknife in August. More than four million hectares of N.W.T. forest have burned during the 2023 fire season. 

(Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters - image credit)

Usually fires help to maintain a healthy boreal forest, but it's all about balance.

More than four million hectares of boreal forest have burned in the N.W.T. this wildfire season, and that paired with the severity of the fires will lead to a range of long-term impacts on the landscape.

Jennifer Baltzer is a professor of biology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Baltzer says wildfires are crucial to maintaining biodiversity in the boreal forest, but this is not a typical fire season.

"Wildfire is just a really important and central component of the way the boreal system functions," she said, "But with climate warming and drying and the kinds of conditions we've seen this summer and in previous summers, we're seeing fires that are burning in ways that we haven't seen before."

Jennifer Baltzer is the Canada Research Chair in forests and global change at Wilfrid Laurier University. She says while wildfires are vital to maintaining biodiversity in the boreal forest, the 2023 N.W.T. fire season is not a typical one. This year's fires, she says, will have a range of impacts on the landscape. 

(Angela Gzowski/Wilfrid Laurier University)

What's different about this season's fires?

Area and severity of fires

This wildfire season has been the worst on record in the territory. Not only is the area burned extraordinary, but the season has been exceptionally dry, leading to the fires burning hotter, and deeper into the soil.

According to Baltzer, fires usually occur 70 to 100 years apart from one another in the N.W.T., but these intervals are getting shorter. The combination of more widespread, intense and frequent fires has several consequences to the forests.

Peat is the thick, spongy layer that forms part of the soil in boreal forests, and it's where 80 to 90 per cent of carbon in the boreal forest is stored. This layer builds up over time, storing carbon from the atmosphere as it grows.

Peatlands store carbon and provide valuable habitat for forest species.

 (Taylor Holmes/CBC)

While wildfires will burn the peat soil, they are not usually intense enough to burn through the build up between fires, and there is enough time between burns for the peat layer to recover.

However, Baltzer said that this seems to be changing. She said that in the 2014 fires there were places where all of the carbon that was accumulated during the fire-free period burned, and the fires began burning older carbon, or what is known as legacy carbon.

"This is a really important change in the way the system responds to these more severe wildfires like we saw this summer, because it means that the carbon sequestration mechanisms of the boreal forest are not working the way they have in the past when they're challenged by these really large and extreme wildfires that are really deep-burning into the soils."

In the long term, the burning of legacy carbon in the boreal forests could mean the forests emit carbon dioxide rather than remove it from the atmosphere.

Forest regrowth

The extensive, deep burning can also affect how forests regenerate after the fires. If fires occur too frequently in an area, they can kill seeds stored in the soil. Short fire intervals may also kill trees before they are mature enough to reproduce and leave new seeds.

Black spruce reestablishes well on thick peat soils; pine and aspens do not. Baltzer says that after intense burns, forests dominated by spruce trees may be replaced with aspen and birch forests.

"The forest will stay as forest, but the composition changes, which has implications for the other plants that grow in the forest and for the wildlife that use that forest," she said, "In the most extreme situation, we see burning that is severe enough that we have no regeneration of trees, and in fact, a transition toward either grassland or shrubland systems."

This change may come with some benefits. Deciduous trees like aspen and birch tend to be less flammable than jack pine or black spruce, Baltzer said. A shift from primarily coniferous to primarily aspen forests could provide natural fire breaks on the landscape.

Impacts on wildlife

As the forests change, so do the species that inhabit them.

Samuel Hache is a landbird researcher with the Canadian Wildlife Service. He said that species adapted for mature boreal forests such as chickadees, nuthatches, warblers and Canada jays may struggle as more habitat is lost to wildfires.

"For me, a growing concern is perhaps how much mature forest will be left in the Northwest Territories to be able to support communities of mature forest specialists."

Mature boreal forests take decades to regrow. As large swaths of older forests burn, some species may struggle to find habitat. Baltzer said that caribou are one species that avoid burned areas for years following a fire.

Bobby Drygeese lives in Dettah, N.W.T., and he said he's been seeing more animals out in the open since the fires, and that the animals are more skittish than usual.

Dettah resident Bobby Drygeese says animals are out in the open more than usual this year due to the wildfires burning in N.W.T. However, he's optimistic they'll return to their normal habitats over the next few years.

 (Avery Zingel/CBC)

"We've seen a lot of bears, a lot of foxes and stuff out on the highways and the roads."

However, Hache said there will be both "winners and losers."

After the fires in 2014, Hache and his colleagues discovered that some birds did make use of even the most-severely burned areas.

"In the next few years we expect that the so-called fire specialists, you can think about the black-back woodpecker, common nighthawk, and some other open-habitat species that will benefit for the first maybe two, three, four years," Hache said.

Drygeese is also optimistic about the return of wildlife. He expects animals to return to regrowth near Dettah in the coming years.

"Because of the new sprouts and all that, there'll be nice and fresh and clean food. So animals will be coming back to those burn areas, but it might not be for a couple years."

Fire and water

Wildfires can also affect permafrost thawing. Baltzer said that permafrost thawing is not only associated with the fires directly.

Peat serves as an insulating layer for permafrost, as does tree cover. When fires burn through the canopy and deep into the soil, it removes layers of insulation protecting permafrost. Blackened earth also adds to the problem, as the scorched soil absorbs more energy and accelerates permafrost thaw.

"A lot of those southerly permafrost landscapes are already thawing out just in the face of climate warming. You have that additional input of energy from wildfire, and that can be the extra energy input needed to push those systems to a permafrost-free state," Baltzer said.

There are other impacts on water systems from the wildfires.

Mike Waddington is a professor and Canada research chair in eco-hydrology at McMaster University. He studies the effects of wildfires, and said that there are multiple ways fire affects how water flows through a landscape.

After a wildfire the soil can become water repellant. This can contribute to erosion and also have impacts on water quality, as the runoff carries excess nutrients and carbon which can affect water quality, Waddington said.

"That's a concern that people in N.W.T. will need to be aware of. In many cases after fire, a decrease in the quality of the water increases nutrients, algal growth, dissolved organic carbon, which increases the cost for treatability."

While the immediate damage from the fires is easily visible, it will take years to determine the full effects of this exceptionally-severe wildfire season on the territory.

B.C. mule deer stressed by wildfire, but still much to learn about wildlife impacts

The Canadian Press
Sun, September 24, 2023 


Proof that deer experienced elevated stress in response to wildfires in British Columbia's southern Interior can be found in their poop, although researchers say there's still much to learn about what increasingly severe blazes mean for wildlife.

Shaun Freeman, a wildlife and habitat biologist with the Skeetchestn First Nation, said his team began gathering mule deer pellets in August 2021, while two large fires were still burning in the area between Cache Creek and Kamloops, B.C.

The samples were sent to the Toronto Zoo, where testing revealed elevated concentrations of the stress-induced hormone cortisol.

Stress can affect the animals' nutritional uptake, causing them to burn precious fat stores, and it can decrease their ability to produce offspring, Freeman said.

Cortisol levels have since dropped by around half in samples taken during more favourable conditions, he said, allowing the researchers to establish a baseline.

But the local mule deer population has been declining, and the Sparks Lake and Tremont Creek wildfires that together spanned 1,595 square kilometres scorched half of the animals' key winter habitat in Skeetchestn territory, Freeman said.

The winter range has mature old-growth conifers, which help deer move through the forest by shielding the ground from deep snowfall. The trees' needles and arboreal lichens also provide food during the sparse winter months, he explained.

Swathes of forests burned by the 2021 wildfires have shifted to the kind of habitat that deer would forage in during the summer, he said.

With access restrictions in response to the wildfires lifting this fall, the First Nation has asked people to stay out of the areas burned in 2021, especially at low elevations frequented by deer,in order to minimize stressors and disturbances.

Adam Ford, Canada research chair in wildlife restoration ecology based at the University of B.C.'s Okanagan campus, said there are many unknowns and variables when it comes to understanding the impacts of wildfire on wildlife.

The effects vary over the short and long term and across seasons and species, as well as different types of habitats and how animals use those areas, he said.

Ford said the return of fire to the landscape after decades of aggressive suppression efforts could actually be a "net benefit" for most wildlife.

But for that to happen it has to be the right kind of fire, and it must be combined with land-management approaches that support overall ecosystem health, he said.

"We're going to have fires regardless," Ford said.

"What we want to see is the return of good fire, cultural fire, prescribed fire."

Cultural fire — the strategicblazes Indigenous Peoples used to steward the land before fire suppression ramped up with colonization — would have led to explosions of vegetation for wildlife to feast on, among other benefits, Ford said.

Yet climate change is fuelling increasingly large, severe wildfires, and their effects interact with other disturbances, such as clear-cut logging and reforestation.

As fire returns to the landscape, Ford said it's important to manage those impacts.

If an ecosystem is already "sputtering along, then fire could be bad," he said.

The predominant approach in B.C. is to replant logged or burned areas with coniferous trees intended to feed the forest industry. It's also common practice to remove deciduous treesthat would otherwise play important roles in the ecosystem, including support for wildlife, Ford said.

"The problem is people think restoration is planting trees. You're restoring people's access to timber, but you're not restoring the habitat (or) the ecosystem," he said.

"If we want (wildfire) to be a benefit, then maybe we don't let all these other activities come in after the fire," Ford said. "Maybe we enjoy the flush of deciduous understory and don't see it as competition for softwood lumber species."

Fire can be used to promote regeneration and biodiversity on the landscape, agreed Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, an ecologist working with the Secwepemcul'ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society, of which Skeetchestn First Nation is a member.

"But that contrasts really drastically with these extensive high severity burns."

The onset of "megafire" has prompted calls for scientists to deepen their understanding of the long-term effects and trajectories of recovery, she said.

Secwepemc territories have been affected by several large, high-intensity blazes in recent years, including the 1,900-square-kilometre Elephant Hill fire in 2017.

Work so far has revealed limited short-term recovery in areas that wereseverelyscorched, said Dickson-Hoyle, an intern with the innovation organization Mitacs and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of B.C.'s faculty of forestry.

"We're seeing much lower diversity for those understory plants, for the shrubs, the grasses, the wildflowers that are not only the biggest part of biodiversity in those forests, but are really important for wildlife forage," she said.

"Understanding the impacts of these megafires is also bringing to the forefront that these fires in many of the landscapes in B.C. are not what those areas would have been adapted to. It's outside the historical range," she added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2023.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press