Jump to content

  • The logging industry complains about losing jobs, but it can't fill existing openings

    Fred Marshall

    By Fred Marshall

     Share

    1193859548_Loggersprotestingsomething.thumb.jpg.09980d2b83a7a218e1c5c24004dc4979.jpg

    Protesting forestry workers block road, claiming their jobs are threatened by old-growth deferrals

     

    I RECENTLY CHECKED the Association of BC Forest Professionals job listings and while I didn’t count them all, there are approximately 100 listed. Likely several more that aren’t listed!

    And ditto for jobs in most any profession. Employers can’t find enough people to fill all the jobs available. In the Boundary area, the local nurseries—who have a variety of jobs available—must bring in many temporary foreign workers every year because no local people want the available jobs. So the Mexicans return year after year and are happy to be well-employed. 

    The forestry industry’s pathetic mantra is that they must be allowed to continue extirpating BC’s remaining old-growth forests or the industry will lose another 20,000 jobs—or whatever number is their favourite for that day. So what happens when the old growth is gone? No forests and no jobs for sure! That doesn’t sound like a very good deal for anyone.

    A close acquaintance of mine is a woods foreman for a lower mainland logging company; he absolutely cannot find employees to do any work and he has several job openings all the time.

    If any forestry-related jobs are lost, they are easily replaced as there are many jobs available in the market place; the government has already dedicated millions of dollars to retrain anybody who wants to remain gainfully employed so they can do so.  And there are similarly many dollars available for those who wish to take advantage of the early-retirement opportunities.

    Fred Marshall is a forester and Woodlot Licence tenure holder in the Boundary region.

     Share
    Go to records

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×



  • Snow

    INCOMING

  • Recently posted on the site

    1. 0

      Biodiversity creates stability in our forests

      James Steidle in Analysis
    2. 0

      2024: Log it and burn it: Wood pellets, climate and British Columbia’s deepening forest crisis

      Evergreen Alliance Staff in Library: Loss of primary forest
    3. 0

      Allowable annual cut (AAC) and actual cut on public land, 2000-2023

      David Broadland in Forest Trends
    4. 0

      (2014) Community Watersheds: From Objectives to Results on the Ground

      Evergreen Alliance Staff in Library: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests
    5. 0

      (2006) Salvage Logging, Ecosystem Processes, and Biodiversity Conservation

      Evergreen Alliance Staff in Library: Ecologically damaging practices
    6. 0

      Spotted Owls as bio-indicators of biodiversity doublespeak In Canada

      Loys Maingon in Analysis
    7. 0

      (2022) Economic State of British Columbia's Forest Sector

      Evergreen Alliance Staff in Economic State of the BC Forest Sector
    8. 8

      Leaked data reveals new threat to BC’s old growth forests

      This has been going on long before the 80's. In the 70's when I was in Clearwater there were calls to reduce the size of clearcuts, they have only gotten bigger and we are wiping out 30 and 40 year old trees to get at the good stuff. An absolute shame and someone should be going to jail.
      Guest in Journalism: Loss of primary forest
    9. 0

      Interior Watershed Task Force

      Taryn Skalbania in Forest Conservation Organizations
    10. 0

      FUTURE OF OUR FORESTS - Preserving BC's Primary Forests Today to Protect Water and Wildlife Tomorrow

      until
      Saturday, April 13th, 1-5:30pm UBC Okanagan Campus ASC 140 Admission by Advanced Sponsorship/Donation for Reserved Seating and Donations at the Door for Available Seating Programme 1:00 Indigenous Territorial Welcome, Grouse and Pamela Barnes, Syilx elders 1:15 Land Acknowledgment - Alex Morrison, Chair, Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance 1:20 Welcome Remarks & Introductions Eveline Wolterson; Casey Como, IWTF Hosts Taryn Skalbania, IWTF/PWPA, IWTF Address 1:30-1:55 Elliot Tonasket, Retired Councillor & Natural Resource Consultant, Penticton Indian Band Syilx Forestry Standards 2:00-2:25 Michelle Connolly, Conservation North, Protecting Primary Forests, Preserving Biodiversity 2:30-2:55 Refreshment Break, Arts & Science Foyer & Courtyard 3:00-3:35 MLA Mike Morris, Prince George-Mackenzie, Saving BC’s Wildlife – Future for Our Forests 3:40-4:15 Dr. Younes Alila, UBC Forest Resource Management, Hydrology of Convenience in BC Forestry 4:20-4:40 Jennifer Houghton, Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society, The Power of Trees: Safeguarding Communities by Protecting Forests by Law 4:45-4:55 Barry Brandow, Granby Guides & Outfitters, Acknowledgement of Speakers 5:00- 5:25 Q & A panel 5:30-5:45 Dr. John Wagner, UBCO Environmental Anthropologist, Closing Remarks 5:45 Socializing REGISTRATION for UBCO event and live zoom on Eventbrite coming soon! Here:__________________________ Live Event to be recorded and shared LOCATION: UBC Okanagan Campus ASC 140 Theatre - UBC OKANAGAN Arts and Science building, ASC 140 (ground level) – see: https://learningspaces.ok.ubc.ca/classrooms/asc-140. Adjoining Reception Foyer - https://learningspaces.ok.ubc.ca/classrooms/asc-asc-112. Parking: https://parking.ok.ubc.ca/visitor-event-parking/short-term/. (Paid parking in effect at all times.) Get directions: https://ok.ubc.ca/about/maps-directions-tours/ The Interior Watershed Task Force is a coalition of more than twenty NGOs, Community Organizations, and Professionals that was initiated in 2023. The IWTF advocates for the legal protection and preservation of water, primary and natural forests, wildlife and critical habitats in the BC interior. We are based in the Okanagan region of BC and respectfully live and work on ancestral territories of several First Nations.
      David Broadland in Coming Up
    11. 3

      Communities join forces to protect water, wild places and wildlife

      Every clear cut tree (especially those in high elevation) contributes to drought and flood.
      Guest in Portal: The need to get more organized, informed and inspired for change
    12. 0

      TimberWest flubs the first step in a critical timber supply review

      David Broadland in Examples of engaging the mindustry:
    13. 1

      Drax mills still getting material from old growth

      Time for Katrine Conway and BCTS to go. They have caused enough damage.
      Guest in Forest News
    14. 0

      Comments on TimberWest's logging plan for TFL 47

      David Broadland in Examples of engaging the mindustry:
    15. 6

      Forest Minister

      Here's the first 10 minutes or so of the video Taryn linked to. Morris is always interesting to listen to.
      David Broadland in Open Forum
    16. 6

      Forest Minister

      Totally agree Taryn... It's hard to get much detail about how MOF works on the daily from down here south of the border, but how could this job as minister be difficult when the only thing it does is delay and obstruct environmental issues in order to put almost zero limits on the loggers who have the licenses already in hand for years to come? As a viewer from far away it seems like the same thing that the ministry of fisheries was doing to prevent the end of net pen farming by deliberately lying and obstructing the environmental claims until Alexandra Morton and others finally wore them down and exposed so many of their false claims that they finally made progress in getting these salmon parasite production facilities shut down. As in, I don't see why these are difficult jobs? Listening to both sides and honestly addressing the concerns and needs of everyone with a legally valid process is definitely a difficult job, but blindly ignoring one side and parroting the industry's bullet points on the other... That's hardly even a job, that's just being a bully who's past hasn't caught up to them yet.
      Deane Rimerman in Open Forum
    17. 6

      Forest Minister

      If the left hand does not even know what the right hand is doing or can even understand it, how can they even wipe their own butts? Embarrassing beyond belief, agree this needs to be a focus and mentioned at every opportunity: ''The frustrating part is that the FPC watershed assessment guidebook states that ECA on its own is meaningless and ECA should not be used as a management target.''
      Guest in Open Forum
    18. 6

      Forest Minister

      Gov’t methodology has/should be using three key indicators when assessing watershed hydrological integrity: 1. Peak Flow Sensitivity (PFS)…of which also generally equates to low flow sensitivity; 2. Riparian Functionality; 3. Sediment Transfer. In practice, if one manages PFS at a low risk, then riparian functionality and sediment transfer are not an issue if best management practices are being applied with respect to road construction and maintenance, and riparian management practices. What I have found, is that most "forest developed” watersheds are now in moderate to high to very high risk categories of Peak Flow Sensitivity Risk based on individual watershed assessments that thoroughly consider their geomorphology and geography, among other factors. I use ECAs as “triggers" for defining a given PFS risk category, and each watershed has its own unique triggers since they are all individually different. Also, when indicators are applied properly, I have found that when a watershed approaches 20 to 30 % ECA, red flags go up, and in most cases, the watershed has entered a moderate to high risk PFS. This is in major contrast to what the government is generally stating. Case in point, check out the work that Ron Saimoto and I did on the Skeena Maps Portal for examples (I can walk anyone through this if you desire): https://maps.skeenasalmon.info/maps/702 https://maps.skeenasalmon.info/maps/672 ….oh yes, let’s not forget about the wild salmon indicators as well such as the number of road crossings and road density
      Guest in Open Forum
    19. 6

      Forest Minister

      Ralston did not seem to understand what he was talking about. I think he got confused and his “80% ECA” was supposed to be 80% retention. I seriously doubt the Ministry would allow an ECA of 80% as a target. The frustrating part is that the Forest Practices Code watershed assessment guidebook states that ECA on its own is meaningless and ECA should not be used as a management target. See page 25 (note that the hydrological recovery values have changed since this document was produced): Coastal watershed assessment procedure guidebook
      Guest in Open Forum
    20. 6

      Forest Minister

      Interesting exchange between Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston and MLA Mike Morris on BC watersheds, ECAs, reports from FPB. loss of life, billions in infrastructure damage, and forest habitat loss. According to extension #0118 ECAs should only be 20-30% whether a community drinking watershed, fishery sensitive watershed or standard watershed yet watersheds Morris has studied have ECAs of 80%, and so far NONE of these forests have recovered hydrologically due to loss of canopy increasing floods, wildfires. Morris asks Ralston if the Chief Forester is taking into account the new hydrology and old ECA calculations.... RALSTON CLAIMS 80% ECA IS THE NORMAL TARGET RATE, BUT IF THERE IS MPB INFESTATION, INDUSTRY IS ALLOWED AND NEEDS TO GO BEYOND AN 80% ECA! GOVT & INDUSTRY CAN THEN JUST ADDRESS ANY NEGATIVE HYDROLOGICAL ISSUES. Ralston then back paddles, he is inept, more so than EVEN Katrine Conroy, and does not deserve to earn a wage as Minister of Forests. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FFCzHPzw2FWBE7mvFpfYKDXfehYWmzAX/view
      Guest in Open Forum
×
×
  • Create New...