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Sustainable Forestry in the Boundary Part 2

How the Osoyoos Indian Band and Vaagen are collaborating to regenerate a wildfire-devastated forest
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In 2021, the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire burned a large area east of Oliver, a small town in the southern Okanagan Valley. This area lies squarely in the traditional territory of the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and forced evacuations throughout the reservation. This catastrophic wildfire left behind over 20,000 hectares of scorched land, destroyed miles of fence line, damaged roads and trails, burned forest stands, and caused stress and concern amongst the OIB members who reside nearby.

To combat the devastation left behind by the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire, and to ensure future safety for the neighbouring communities, the OIB and Vaagen Fibre Canada (Vaagen) decided to collaborate to regenerate a new forest. Together, they have been working to cleanup the burned areas.

Dan Macmaster, Fibre Manager at Vaagen, said that the crew from Vaagen has been working with the OIB’s Nk’mip Forestry team since last fall in an effort to restore the landscape and infrastructure in the forest.

“Our primary priority is to ensure the safety of the operators, the OIB members, and the public. We also want to ensure that the culturally sensitive areas and values are protected through direction from the OIB,” said Macmaster. “Some of the key priorities include water protection, retention of trees that survived the wildfire, planting seedlings and native plants in burned areas, removal of dead Douglas-fir logs to reduce the risk of fir beetle infestations, and most importantly, maintaining regular communications and updates with the OIB Chief and Council, and Nk’Mip Forestry.”

Thorough wildfire recovery planning was undertaken in order to get the project off the ground. Vaagen started off working closely with Amanda Anderson, the senior referrals officer for OIB, along with the OIB’s referral team. Next, a preliminary field recce was completed on identified blocks by an archeologist and an OIB technician. Several areas were also walked by Vern Louie, Nk’Mip Forestry’s forest manager, as well as OIB hunters/gatherers to identify potential wildlife impacts and to discuss wildlife usage with local ranchers.

The planning stage further helped Vaagen and the OIB with some key considerations such as identifying insect and ant colonies, stubbing of danger trees for wildlife value and retention of high-value snags, avoiding steep ground during layout to reduce soil degradation, retaining trees and understory that survived the fire, and maximum utilization of pulp and low-value fibre such as burned Ponderosa Pine, firewood, and fencing.

“There is so much planning that goes into wildfire risk reduction or recovery work. It isn’t easy work; we have to consider how the work will impact the water, and how it will impact soil degradation,” noted Macmaster. “In this particular project, we are concerned with how wildfire will impact wildlife and wildlife habitat so we came up with a flexible and dynamic harvesting schedule based on the wildlife use, which was predominantly elk, as directed by the OIB.”

The work in the Nk’Mip Creek area has also seen the planting of Indigenous plants and shrubs such as Willows, Sitka Alder, New Jersey Tea, Ocean Spray, Saskatoonberry, and Junipers, key native plants that the OIB members rely on for gathering and picking. Access via existing roads and trails is also being improved wherever possible, and all new trails and roads will be fully rehabilitated and grass seeded/planted. Protecting water and wetlands is the primary focus on any rehabilitation efforts.

Vern Louie, forest manager for the Nk’Mip Forestry (OIB) noted how the work being done was possible through OIB’s relationship with Vaagen, “We work side-by-side with the team at Vaagen Fibre Canada to co-manage our forests. Our work is done through the lens of our culture and best forestry practices. Together, we’re ensuring the continued prosperity of our people and our land.”

Dan Macmaster adds “Here’s how Vaagen Fibe is able to add value to burnt logs from a wildfire:We sort the burnt logs from the green logs in the yard to ensure that we are consistent with processing the dry logs.

We tighten the debarking system so that the burnt bark is stripped off before getting to the saw. This also ensure that black char does not get into our chips that are sold to Celgar Pulp Mill.

We spray the logs throughout the milling process with water to keep the dust down and ensure the dry logs cuts properly.

We regularly monitor the kilns during the drying process to ensure the already dry boards do not crack.

We are currently running over 80% burnt logs through our mill.

Our ability to add value to burnt salvage wood results in the harvesting of wildfire stands, the utilization of marginal logs, and ensures that a new forest is planted in our permits.”

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