Three Takeaways from the WFCA 2024 Conference
Recently, Leader Silviculture attended the Western Forestry Contractor’s Association Conference & Tradeshow in Victoria. It was a great experience to meet so many friendly faces who are as passionate about the silviculture industry as we are, and to learn from industry experts about how we can create a better forestry sector and protect BC’s forests for generations to come. Many topics were covered across the three days, but a few topics stood out to us as significant focuses over the next few years. Obviously, many of these updates affect people with boots on the ground, which is why we wanted to share what we learned and provide some of our thoughts on their impacts and how we’ll be incorporating what we learned into our company’s practices.
Forest Fire Management is Crucial
Obviously, forest fires have become a big problem. There isn’t a singular cause responsible for this, however, the culmination of climate change, outdated fire prevention strategies, and insufficient resources for wild firefighters have resulted in a massive uptick in both the number of forest fires and the total number of hectares burned over the last 10 years compared to previous decades.
We heard from Sonja Leverkus, an ecosystem scientist who was working on a prescribed burn for the 2023 season. Unfortunately, rather than being able to complete her plan, she was deployed on five fires throughout northern BC. She witnessed first-hand the dangers, stresses, and losses of wildfire fighting, and came to the seminar with thoughts on what needs to change to better manage fires in the future.
The first issue she brought up was the lack of resources. She explained that supply lines to more northern and remote communities were closed because it was too dangerous to make deliveries. As a result, not only were necessary supplies unable to reach them, but neither were many specialized personnel, such as danger tree fallers. Danger trees were a massive hazard, causing the tragic deaths of several people in 2023. Unfortunately, there was very little that could be done because there were very few people who were trained to do the job properly. Sonja added that because of government restrictions, many people who wanted to help weren’t able to. Even her and her crew, who were type III wild firefighters, weren’t allowed on the fire line without a Type I firefighter, making it difficult to divide personnel as effectively as they needed.
Sonja outlined a few solutions that she thought were crucial for preventing these problems in the future. First, she argues that far more planning and preparation needed to happen. Controlled burns are a great way of reducing fuel in key areas to reduce risk and prevent outbreaks. She also noted that more resources into weather patterns could give more insight into potential risks, allowing teams to prevent them or jumpstart resourcing that area. Education and training would also be crucial for ensuring that there are enough people available when needed, especially those with specialized skills such as danger tree fallers, who help reduce the risks for everybody else. Finally, an opportunity she highlighted for remote communities was that there were many able bodies who were desperate to help but weren’t able to because of government restrictions. She argued that lifting or amending these restrictions so that community members could be trained to help, even in lower-risk roles, would be a great way of providing some relief in situations like they experienced in 2023, where personnel was severely limited.
Health & Safety
Building and maintaining effective health & safety practices for silviculture workers was another huge topic of conversation. The main two areas of discussion were drug and alcohol use, and addressing concerns around forest fire smoke.
Drug and alcohol use is relatively common in our industry, and due to the decriminalization of drugs in BC, there have been concerns on if this will become more common in the future. Tom Yearwood, the President of Denning Health Group, presented the potential safety risks of drug use, especially for those using machinery such as drivers and brushers. He noted that both employees and employers have a responsibility to ensure that no work is done under the influence. He notes that either party can be found liable for any accidents that occur if the proper due diligence is not done. Leader would like to note that if you are a designated driver working this season, expect potential random drug testing, and if there is an incident, this will become a common occurrence.
Jeannette Campbell and Don Macfadgen, two Occupational Hygienists from WorkSafeBC, presented some of the health and safety risks of heat and smoke for tree planters. They stated that the primary concern for most people would be heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Although similar, there are some key differences between the two which you can learn about in the image. The most important thing to note is that heat stroke is far more serious than heat exhaustion. The primary method for distinguising between the two is that people with heat stroke stop sweating, at which point medical attention is vital.
Smoke can also have some serious health impacts. These harms can manifest quite quickly in people with asthma or other respiratory illnesses, but even for those who are otherwise healthy, smoke can be an irritant, make breathing challenging, and cause respiratory issues over time. The presenters mentioned several ways to protect yourself from heat and smoke. Wearing clothes that will protect you from the sun and help you stay cool is critical. Staying hydrated and resting regularly is also important.
The main factor they highlighted, however, was the importance of acclimatization. Most of the issues with heat and smoke are attributed to overexertion, and giving your body time to acclimate to the elevation, heat, and air quality is crucial for staying healthy. The first thing you can do is to make sure that you’re in the best shape possible going into the season. If you would like some training tips, we have a few blogs on the topic. Once your season has started, rather than going full out on your first day, they highlight the importance of starting slow and working your way up to full speed. Allowing your body time to acclimatize significantly reduces your risks with heat and smoke, and maximizes your chances over coverage if any issues arise.
Adjusting your levels of exertion to your work conditions is important for staying healthy. It’s also important to remember that employees have the right to refuse any work that they deem to be unsafe. We’d also like to note that the WFCA is trying to ensure that the ministry or WorksafeBC will come up with a methodology for measuring smoke levels in the air, and ways of testing on the field. we hope that in the future, if work conditions are deemed as too high of a risk, we would stop working.
Working with Indigenous Communities
The last core topic of discussion at WFCA this year was regarding Indigenous relations and the importance of the forestry industry’s engagement with these communities. We heard from Flavio Caron, a Corporate Trainer for truth and reconciliation, who provided resources for learning about the Indigenous Communities in Canada, and how our industry can build better relationships with them. Truth and Reconciliation has been a major topic of conversation in the forestry sector for years, and there has been a lot of work done to ensure that Indigenous communities are being included and respected in our work.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has three calls to action regarding business and reconciliation:
i) Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects.
ii) Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities in the corporate sectors, and that Aboriginal communities gain long-term sustainable benefits from economic development projects.
iii) Provide education for management and staff on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
As part of our commitment to working to educate our team on the truth of Canada’s mistreatment of residential schools, we’ve provided some links to relevant resources and articles, which you can find as hyperlinks in the text above. If any of you have additional resources that you’d like to share with us, please send them here.
Leader Silviculture would like to acknowledge that our operations are on the traditional, unceded territories of Snpink’tn Nation. Our team has noticed that in previous years, our conversations have revolved around the “truth” aspects of Truth & Reconciliation, and the realities of the harms on these groups that have been committed by our Government in the past. More recently, however, we’ve shifted towards the “reconciliation” piece, and how our industry can move ahead with its operations while having everyone involved in the process. We’re happy that this progress is being made, and are committed to being part of the solution, not the problem.
