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Returning to the community forest is our seasonal Forest Technician, Ashlyn Yanciw. Ashlyn just completed a Diploma in Environmental Assessment and Restoration from Lethbridge College. Also returning is Erich Endersby who just completed his Diploma in Forest Technology from Selkirk College. Erich accepted a permanent full time position with the community forest and will now be registering with the Forest Professionals of BC to obtain his designation as a Registered Forest Technologist. The community forest has also hired Eva Sommerfeld who will be working as our newest forestry summer student. * We will share more about these three Creston Community Forest team members throughout the summer.

Save the date! Join us at our Open House: Saturday, May 25th., 9am-1pm, Creston Valley Farmers' Market At the beginning of each wildfire season, the Creston Community Forest and partners host an Open House for the community. The Creston Valley FireSmart Resiliency Committee will attend the Open House hosted by the Creston Community Forest and the Creston Valley Farmers Market. The goal of the Open House is to bring together wildfire and wildlife practitioners and educators, government representatives, local forestry licensees and community members to discuss, learn, share and explore what work is happening in the Creston Valley and how you can play a part in making your home, community, and forest more resilient to wildfire. Head to our webpage for more information: https://www.crestoncommunityforest.com/crestonvalleyfiresmartresiliencycommittee

1. Dirtbikes and Quads are not permitted on any Community Forest Trails designated as non-motorized. 2. Important Notice: No Motorcycles Allowed on the Pack Trail To protect the safety of all trail users, motorcycles are not permitted on the Pack Trail. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our trails safe and enjoyable for everyone! 3. Leash Up! Dogs Must Be on Their Leash A friendly reminder to all dog owners using the Pack Trail: please keep your furry friends on a leash. This helps protect wildlife, other trail users, and ensures everyone can enjoy the trail safely. 4. Yield to Horses When encountering horses on the Pack Trail, please yield the right of way. Horses can be easily spooked by sudden movements or loud noises, so approach them calmly and give them plenty of space to pass. * Also, please do not take down the signs at each trailhead or in the trailhead Kiosks. Thank you for your cooperation and Happy Hiking!

As part of our forest health strategy, we are setting up funnel trap sites on Goat Mountain to collect the Douglas-fir Bark Beetle. Please do not disturb the traps. Our methods and reasons for this project are listed below. The traps have attractants on them that lure the flying beetles into the trap instead of to a Douglas-fir tree. They fall into the cup at the bottom and are collected, counted and disposed of throughout the summer. This data is then shared with the Ministry of Forests Selkirk Resource District stewardship team to aid in management decisions and guidance in the annual forest health strategy for Kootenay Lake Timber Supply Area. Photos: 1. Angela French, Planning and Development Supervisor, for the Creston Community Forest next to one of the installed traps. 2. Traps set in infected area on Goat Mountain.

The Community Forest's Wildfire Risk Reduction work includes areas in Arrow Creek. A photo of the Macaulay Forestry work crew in the Arrow Creek treatment area and a second photo showing a broad view of our site. After a forest stand is thinned by logging, work crews will clean up and dispose of the debris by hand piling and burning. Historically, many areas throughout the Creston Valley would have periodically burned. Fires were caused by lightning or First Nations using cultural burning practices on the landscape which is once again being introduced. You may have seen the prescription burn conducted jointly with the Lower Kootenay Band and BC Wildfire Service along highway 21 on March 18th. However, the province's fire suppression program formed in the early 1900's allowed many areas throughout BC to develop dense, thick stands with abundant underbrush. We are now seeing a shift from that towards province wide Wildfire Risk Reduction programs.

REMINDER: We want you all to enjoy the spring weather and hiking, but please be aware of the equipment moving about during active harvesting adjacent to the Lady Slipper Trail. Those heading to the Billy Goat Bluff trail, watch for active hauling on Goat Forest Service Road. Safety for all involved includes you, the logging truck drivers and equipment operators, as they may not see you or expect you in the area. * First photo: posing at trail head sign as a little reminder this is as far as dogs can go on the Lady Slipper Trail without being on a leash. * Second photo: Wildfire risk reduction Post-harvest views from Goat Mountain by Angela French

We wish everyone a wonderful Easter celebration and day with your families.

We would like to congratulate Kea Rutherford, recipient of UBC Faculty of Forestry's Best Masters Thesis Award for 2023. She partnered with us as one of the five community forest in the Kootenay region and measured key components of the wildland fuelbed in forest stands before and after treatment. Below is the abstract from her thesis and the full link is available on the BCCFA post. Fuel treatment efficacy in fire-prone forests of interior British Columbia, Canada. - Rutherford, Kea Abstract Extreme wildfire seasons have become a central challenge of forest management in western North America. In response to increasing wildfire risk, forest managers are proactively implementing fuel treatments. Although impacts of fuel treatments have been studied in the western United States, comparable research in the fire-prone forests of western Canada is lacking. In this thesis, I used two approaches to assess the efficacy of alternative fuel treatments to mitigate fire behaviour and effects in the seasonally dry forests of southeastern British Columbia, Canada. I partnered with five community forests in the Kootenay region and measured key components of the wildland fuelbed in forest stands before and after treatment. For the first approach, I used the pre-treatment field data as a baseline and simulated 16 alternative fuel treatment scenarios that spanned the range of thinning, pruning, and surface fuel load reduction combinations being implemented in the region. For full article: https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0432793

This case study details the prescribed fire conducted by BC Wildfire Service in partnership with the Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative (SIFCo) on April 14, 2021 in the Slocan Valley, BC. The purpose of the project was to create landscape level fuel breaks to reduce the threat of landscape level wildfires in the slocan valley. "Benefits of Prescribed Fire Cultural and prescribed fire is the planned and controlled application of fire to a specific land area. It’s a natural part of our ecosystem, which is why it’s not only ecologically appropriate to use for wildfire mitigation. It’s also one of the most cost-effective means for achieving a variety of land management objectives." - prescribedfire.ca "Cultural Burning Indigenous Peoples are the stewards of the land, fire is a cleanser of Mother Earth and cultural burning is a tool of the Fire Keeper. A new call to bring back the balance in the forest and the need to enhance the fire safety of communities is a much needed breath of fresh air. Revive cultural burning practices, bring back burn cycles, and restore the land so all can thrive." – Joe Gilchrist and Harry Spahan (members of the Interior Salish Fire Keepers Society) Quote from page 7, Blazing the Trail book "In April, 2021 the BC Wildfire Service and the Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative (SIFCo) conducted a prescribed fire of about 150 hectares of land in Slocan Valley, BC. The purpose of this project was to create fuel breaks in the landscape that will help reduce the threat of future summer wildfires, some which can burn for months on end." - FireSmart BC To learn more about the importance of prescribed fire, watch: https://prescribedfire.ca/case-study/ponderosa-prescribed-burn/?fbclid=IwAR0NJBv8Pgbz9aHS-VO25zc3xVlVSy7i2JgBHhwcrNsokfJOU9Wh1r64jT4 #GoodFire #PrescribedFire #CulturalBurning #rxfire #PrescribedBurns

For #InternationalWomansDay we want to highlight our very own Angela French, recently featured in LIVING HERE. FORESTRY WORKER VALUES HER JOB AND RESILIENT FORESTS “Most people that get into forestry love the outdoors,” says Angela French of Salmo, British Columbia. SEEING THE FORESTER FOR THE TREES Angela believes there should be a better balance between keeping our forests resilient and good jobs. One of the reasons she got into this field was to try to change the legislation that guides the forestry industry. In a way, Angela speaks as a forester and a conservationist. “B.C. needs lumber, and timber to provide for numerous expectations that our society is accustomed to. The way that large industry functions is like a machine with lots of moving parts, that create jobs, support a healthy economy, and create contributing citizens.” It’s a big job with a lot of responsibility and doing it well is no easy task, says Angela. BRINGING COMMUNITY VALUES TO THE FORESTRY INDUSTRY In August, Angela was hired by the Creston Community Forest as a supervisor. “I love community forestry. It’s how all forestry should be conducted across the province and globally. It’s based on community-centric values. The main point is that a chunk of land is managed based on what a community needs and wants,” says Angela. #internationalwomensday2024  #forester #BCForester #iwd2024womenleadingtheway  #InspireInclusion For full article featuring Angela: https://livinghere.ca/forestry-worker-values-here-job-and-resilient-forests/

This Family Day long weekend we wanted to share what we are reading. Insightful and diverse in topics, it's the winter edition of the BC Forest Professionals magazine. Each edition of Forest Professionals BC  magazine covers timely forest management issues together with news and information of relevance to BC's forest professionals. BC Forest Professional is published four times per year by Forest Professionals British Columbia. We would like to give a respectful shout out to Creston Community Forest's very own Forest Planning and Development Supervisor, Angela French, RFT. Angela sits on the editorial advisory panel for the magazine and has been reading the magazine since her days as a student in the Forestry Program at Selkirk College. Here are just a few stories to read from this edition: Cover Story Page 10, ‘Namgis First Nation and Western Forest Products – Embracing a New Paradigm in Forestry Opinion Page 26, Responding to the Climate Crisis in BC’s Forests Features Page 12, Evaluating Ecosystem Integrity on a Managed Forest Landscape Professional Interest Page 21, Introducing the Affiliated Forest Professional To read the full magazine or to simply browse a few topics, click this link: https://www.fpbc.ca/.../uploads/2024/01/2024-BCFP-Winter.pdf

On February 1, Creston Community Forest staff met with other members of the Creston Valley FireSmart Resiliency Committee (CVFRC). The committee was formed in early 2023 to talk about the importance of Fire Smarting properties and wildfire reduction projects needing to occur in the valley. The CVFRC is made up of: Yaqan Nukiy, Town of Creston, RDCK, First Nations Emergency Services Society, BC Wildfire Service, Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, JH Huscroft, Creston Community Forest and Canfor. An open house is scheduled for spring 2024 to provide information and answer questions on the FireSmart program. Watch our social media, website and newsletter for more information on our spring Open House. You can sign up here for our Quarterly Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/iwjUgk Pictured here are CVFRC members looking at a wildfire reduction project recently completed by Yaqan Nukiy.