After logging at B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS) cutblock TA0521 (Joe Smith Creek) just off the B & K logging road in upper Roberts Creek wound up early this summer, Coast Reporter toured the block with Sam Grill of primary contractor Oceanview Logging, to discuss the operation and its next steps.
Tadpoles active on the site
Our first stop was at a former industrial quarry site on the block, the home of a Northern red-legged frog population and other amphibians. The presence of the red-legged frogs, initially brought the attention of BCTS by local forest protection group Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF), delayed harvesting activities while a plan to ensure the protection of the red-listed species’ habitat was developed.
Although no frogs were spotted on our visit, the pond contained likely thousands of tadpoles (which are difficult to photograph). According to Grill, he was advised by a biologist working with BCTS, the adult frogs leave the quarry area in August and return with cooler weather in the following months.
The pond sits several metres away from what was once a logging road. Grill pointed out the siting of that road was adjusted for the original plan to distance it from the pond, and that the road was “completely rehabilitated." When we visited, it did not appear to be a road, as the driving surface used to access the timber had been contoured and rendered impassible for most vehicles. That road area and others created for Oceanview's harvesting are to be replanted with trees, likely next spring, Grill explained. Road rehabilitation, which was done on those roads on the block, goes much further than standard “deactivation," used on many harvest block roads, he noted.
Post-harvest monitoring
As we pulled up to that first stop, we encountered a Ministry of Forests truck and two staffers. One explained she was doing planning for the issuance of block replanting contracts and the other noted she was working on hydrology monitoring.
Asked if it was unusual to see the ministry onsite, Grill said it was a pretty common occurrence.
“They will be monitoring that block for the next eight years. In any harvested public tenures (i.e. BCTS, Community Forest, etc.) you have to replant. Seventy per cent of seed stock you use has to be from the area…. they monitor the success of those plantings and do surveys annually,” he said
He added that if the replanting program doesn’t reach a prescribed success rate, infill planting is required until the harvested block reaches “free to grow” status, a point where it is deemed ready for growth without further monitoring. “That can be up to 10 years later,” he said.
As we travelled farther into the cutblock, we passed a number of tree retention areas, and Grill explained the purpose of each.
“Of the gross harvestable cutblock area, 50 per cent of trees have been retained through a variety of ways.” Logging set aides include wildlife reserve areas, riparian areas around streams and watercourses and “leave trees,” of which there were more than 500 on the block.
For those trees, the contractor brings in staff that climb and limb or “windfirm” trees so that the are better able to withstand winds after the area is harvested but before the replanted trees mature.
“This type of harvesting is called partial retention; it is not clear-cut logging. After replanting, within the new forest there will be varying age classes, a mix of retained and replanted trees and that adds an element of structure to the forest that increases biodiversity."
What about slash piles?
A dominating feature of the lower portion of the harvest block is slash piles, which towered over the top of the pickup truck we were travelling in. Those are set to be addressed later this year, according to Grill.
They are a point of concern for Ocenview’s manager, who had planned to take an innovative step for forestry on the Sunshine Coast by bringing in a machine called a carbonizer from off-Coast to burn the waste wood but recover carbon as bio-char for use as a soil additive. But spending on legal proceedings to have a peaceful protest from ELF removed, meant the logging firm spent more than double budgeted funds in that area, which restricted what it could do in other areas.
ELF had personnel on the site access road, in an effort to halt operations over environmental concerns, asserting that BCTS should not have put the block up for auction. On May 7, B.C. Supreme Court judge J. Thomas found “it just and convenient to order the injunction sought by Oceanview” barring the protestors from inhibiting access to the site. The proceedings continued over two days in a Vancouver courtroom.
“Our society works and functions on the basis of the rule of law. The protestors in this case had invested a great deal of time, scientific and emotional energy, in order to challenge the timber licence. However, this court in this proceeding is not the appropriate place to make these arguments…The rule of law requires that when the processes have been followed and completed, as they have in this case, those who have been granted the rights to do so, must be permitted to proceed," the judge stated in his decision.
Grill is hopeful the carbonizer option, which minimizes the production of smoke, is still a possibility for the site, if there are other jobs for the equipment to do in the area and noted that the company that owns the unit has spoken with the Sunshine Coast Community Forest about a demonstration project.
“Mobilization is expensive. Carbonizer use is going to have to make sense and we are hoping it does because it is a much better way for us than just lighting the piles on fire…It is what you have to do, but it’s not fun; lighting BTU’s and shooting carbon into the air isn’t what anyone wants to do…but we are mandated (by the Ministry) to do it. We can’t have those piles staying here, we have to do the job we are asked to do and meet regulations in the context of being profitable or there’s no forest operations and no jobs.”
Dollars and cents
Grill wasn’t sure if the contracted volume was harvested from the cutblock. Scaling of the yield for quality, volume, species and size hadn’t been completed. He did note that timber suitable for utility poles was cut, along with logs likely destined for peeler mills and custom cutters. Once scaling is completed Oceanview will owe the province $56 per cubic metre logged for stumpage fees. “If we hit 10,000 cubic metres,” he stated “it would be $560,000 in revenue to the province."
