Rumour Mill RoundUpDate Vol 15 Issue 11

Western Silvicultural Contractors’ Association
Rumour Mill RoundUpDate

May 29, 2015
Vol. 15, Issue 11
Warning: inappropriate reader use of the facts contained in this volume may lead to bias, sudden changes in opinion, swings in perspective, oversimplification, misplaced confidence, and argumentative tendencies.

WSCA Meets Minister to Discuss Compensation Fund Inclusion

Members of the WSCA Executive met recently with MFNRO Minister Steve Thomson to discuss government’s progress in bringing silviculture service providers under the Forestry Service Provider’s Protection Act. At the moment only logging and road building contractors are eligible for the $6-million government sponsored compensation fund. The WSCA pointed out that silviculture contractors, seedling nursery operators and forestry consultants who contract to licensees face the same, if not greater, exposure to crippling losses if their clients go out of business leaving them unpaid for work completed as harvesting operators. The WSCA stated that government had to make it a matter of public policy to offer service provider protection to silviculture firms being the seedlings planted and the Crown lands improved are actually owned by the government. It would be impossible for unpaid contractors to place a lien against Crown property. At the moment government’s position is that the fund is not sustainably funded to include silviculture. The WSCA suggested to the minister possible ways to address this and is now working with the Forest Tenures Branch to look at options.

BC Silviculture Labour Group Produces Final Report

After three years of research and analysis the BC Silvliculture Workforce Human Resource Committee has released its final report summarizing the Labour Market Initiative’s principal accomplishments and recommendations for recruiting and retaining B.C. silviculture workers. The highly readable synopsis written by the Committee Chair Steve Mueller gives his perspective drawn from the outcomes of the various labour market analyses, workforce survey’s and training materials developed by the Initiative. Mueller frames some of the challenges the industry faces regarding its workforce and proposes steps to address them. Meanwhile front line products from the Initiative are beginning to find their way into the sector as training materials, a revised community of practice website replacing BC Bushwhacker and a smart-phone app for workers to track daily tree tallies and use as a resource regarding employment standards rights and rules.

LMP 2012-2015 BC Silviculture Workforce Initiative Committee – Final Project Report (docx)

MFLNRO Extends Mandatory ORV Registration Date to 1 November 2015

Mandatory registration for ORVs was previously set for the beginning of June, but the new registration system will now remain voluntary until 1 November 2015. The new requirement is for ORVs operating on Crown land or forest service roads on Crown land. ORVs operated solely on private property do not require registration or a number plate. For more information visit
http://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registration/specialty-vehicles/Pages/Off-road-vehicles.aspx

Just for the record…

Earlier this month CBC News reported a group of twenty crews had planted 20,000 trees in one hour breaking a planting record. Which is great. Congratulations to the Sustainable Forest Initiative for sponsoring the contest, getting the media coverage and planting those seedlings. Meanwhile, not that anyone’s nose is out of joint at this end, but just for the record BC planting crews have that feat beat. By a lot. Right now seedlings are being planted across the province at a conservative rate of at least 100 seedlings per second, 6,000 a minute, 360,000 an hour. No contest. For another comparison, the ergonomic effort it has taken so far to plant the province’s grand total of +7-billion seedlings is equivalent to picking up the Great Pyramid and putting it down eight times. Our industry could win that contest as well. Although pyramid lifting has been pretty much out of fashion since the end of the Egyptian Early Dynastic Period.