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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Log moving done by barge at Seaspan

Seaspan International moves logs on the water. They do it on the west coast and run logs from Alaska to California, but we’re talking to the Vancouver offices, and Glen Mcgee, Manager, Log Barge Division. “We celebrated our 100th anniversary a couple years ago,” says Mcgee.
    
First Nations work for Seaspan in positions, “across the whole fleet, captains, mates, deck hands,” and logs moved by Seaspan come from First Nation forestry operations more and more on the west coast, “It’s changing,” says Mcgee, “It used to be the big forestry companies. Now First Nations and a lot of smaller companies are brokering wood and moving logs to market.”
     
Seaspan makes direct contact with First Nations or intermediaries to market fibre, “A company like John Mohammed’s A & A Trading hires us to move the wood that is owned by First Nations Nuxalk Nation and Klahoose First Nation.” Other things have changed with Seaspan, “We used to be in log towing by log boom, but now we operate log barges, three of them, moving logs, and chip scows to barge chips to pulp mills.”
    
Safety comes first in the business of moving logs at Seaspan. “It looks simple but there are no second chances. We find various levels of safety on the docks are facilities that we visit, but the big companies like ourselves put in tons of training and adhere to the highest standards. It varies and we are more vigilant in some of the local pick-ups.
    
A run from Vancouver to Anchorage for example is a 10-day round trip. Nanaimo to Port Alberni is a 36 hour voyage. Seaspan log barges have a crew of six, four working at a time (two on respite). The crews are flown in and out. The personnel are machine experienced employees receiving good pay and good tme-out periods. “Our crews are ‘crane-safe’ operators working on our three barges. The loads are 600 to 700 truck-loads per barge on the biggest vessel. It takes about eight to 12 hours to load.”
    
The dump sites are usually on the Fraser River, or as they say in the  industry, ‘The River,’ including Haney, and Riverview, and in the New Westminster log sorting ground. Seaspan discharges on both dock and into the river. Howe Sound used to be a area of intense log sort activity but that is no longer the case, although logs continue to be discharged there, with a lot of chips delivered to Howe Sound Pulp and Paper.
     
Other sites for discharge include Ladysmith Harbour and Bernice Arm, and Nanaimo as well, especially when shipments are destined for Asian markets. Seaspan's Log Barge Division employs 16.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Two First Nation historic sites for summer visits, Rocky Mtn House, and Hat Creek

Eight different First Nations as well as Métis are known to have traded at Rocky Mountain House over the 76-year history of the trading posts. This includes the Nehiyawak, Piikani, Siksika, Kainai, Ktunaxa, Tsuu T’ina , Nakoda, and Atsina.
    
The year 2010 marks the sixth year of partnership between Parks Canada’s Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site and the Métis Nation of Alberta. At Bastions & Bones, August 20 – 22, 2010, Blackfoot culture will feature special guest drummers, dancers and ceremonialists from the Piikani Nation.
    
The event commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Piikani blockade on the North Saskatchewan River.  The blockade prevented David Thompson and his North West Company Brigade from continuing west to trade with First Nations on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. This is part of the International David Thompson Bicentennial initiatives.
    
Historic Hat Creek Ranch is in Bonaparte First Nation territory, and Bonaparte is well-represented on-site.  Sandra Gaspard, Bonaparte member, is Manager of Historic and Cultural Operations, and Curator of the significant First Nation presence at the facilities. “We have five different knowledge streams of Shuswap culture to explain,” says Gaspard.
    
On display are cooking and food preservation, lodging, hide and tannery, a replica kikuli that can house 23 people. The historic site features many outstanding structures like an 1860 Roadhouse to go along with the Shuswap Native Interpretive Site, which itself employs eight people, all with First Nation heritage.
    
On the second weekend of August the First Nations host a traditional Pow-Wow on-site at the Historic Hat Creek Ranch, “It’s no-charge admission and we are often feeding the crowd with breakfast or lunch during the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.,” says Gaspard. 

Meanwhile, until the closing at the end of September, visitors can experience Shuswap ancestry performing drum, flute, and 17 styles of dance. 

Monday, July 19, 2010

ACES certification for ocean fisheries continues to evolve

The coastal people on both sides of the Americas made their diet from the oceans. They sustained a relationship with a pristine environment and whether it ever returns to pristine is an open question but people in the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association want to work in that direction. Therefore they created Aboriginal Certification of Environmental Sustainability in Aquaculture (ACES).
    
Chief Richard Harry, Homalco First Nation in Campbell River, B.C., has spent more than a decade developing awareness about fish and seafood from the First Nation point of view through the AAA.  ACES was developed to identify First Nation criteria, and Chief Harry says, "We have some assistance to develop ACES pilot programs on the west coast of Canada, including local First Nations and Mainstream Canada."
    
ACES begins with integration into existing programs and engages various industry and environmental players to create a sustainable fisheries and seafood economy. It includes everything from farm-based components to area-based components, to regional components. Certification under an emerging Aboriginal system would be supported by program monitoring, auditing, and other certification processes, and program compliance incentives are built-in to the ACES framework.
    
ACES was first introduced in 2006, "The concept we've got is what we're putting legs to." The program reaches all levels of coastal fisheries and covers a wide range that needs to fit with models of sustainable development. "Environmentally speaking the First Nations often have different concerns from place to place." Example: the Haida have large fishery in Dungeness Crabs that exists no other place. 
    
 Mainstream Canada (Cermaq) contributed funding to launch a pilot program on monitoring fish farm developments from the Aboriginal perspective, with the intention to make operations compliant with the wider area of interests operating in the coast. ACES will be developing out of these pilot efforts to operate sustainable development in the coastal economy.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Recession hurt but Millbrook remains on track toward self-sufficiency

Millbrook First Nation in Truro, Nova Scotia, is well-positioned to develop their community into a self-sufficient First Nation, says Chief Lawrence Paul, “We have a wide range of developments underway, including a land-based aquaculture development growing Arctic Char,” and, the chief notes, the reason for a land-based growing facility, is, “Apparently the saltwater is too contaminated to grow healthy fish for human consumption so they are growing them in a land-based re-circulation system.”

Alex Cope, Millbrook Band Manager, says fish farms are not that friendly to the environment and can not be controlled as in land based facilities. The chief says the Arctic char are currently growing in the tanks in a Millbrook-owned facility, “There are buildings on our Millbrook First Nation property, leased from us, where they are hatching and beginning to grow out the Arctic char, and some salmon and trout.”

This is but one in a list of economic developments that puts the Millbrook First Nation on the pathway to self-sufficiency.  “We developed the Truro Power Centre in 2001, which now includes a call centre, motel, RV park,  restaurant, and Tim Hortons,” and an anchor tenant in Sobey’s, which was the first tenant at the Truro Power Centre.

On a satellite-reserve in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Millbrook First Nation constructed a new building that General Dynamics leased a couple years ago. General Dynamics is designing, maintaining, and servicing software for the new Canadian Forces Sikorsky helicopters, which will begin arriving in Dartmouth in November 2010.

In fact, this Mi'kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia governs the reserves of Millbrook IR 27, Cole Harbour 30, Beaver Lake I.R. 17, Sheet Harbour IR 36, Truro 27a, Truro 27b,and Truro 27c. Chief Paul works with a 12-member council that has highly qualified personnel in elected positions. They are elected from a membership over 1,400, “Closer to 1,500,” says the chief, “and that will increase to we expect close to 1,800 with a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision,” McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs), [2009] B.C.J. No. 669, the B.C. Court of Appeal, “that affects Band membership across Canada.”

Prior to the current endeavors in economic development, says Lawrence, “our focus had been on the Highway 102 Connector to the TransCanada Highway. Now the focus is on a new hotel in immediate vicinity to Truro, Nova Scotia, in a destination-oriented tourism property that will include an indoor climate-controlled waterpark. “It will be busy year-round,” says the chief.

Alex Cope says, “We have three buildings with VLTs (Video Lottery Terminals) in Millbrook, three centres in Cole Harbour, and one in Sheet Harbour with a total of 117 machines VLTs,” and the VLTs are making money. “These VLT’s are good income for Millbrook,” says the chief, “big breadwinners.” The 117 VLT’s supplied much needed income for some of the current development that Millbrook is undergoing, and much-needed cash benefits to the community membership.

“Every man, woman, and child receives $1,000 in the third week of June and $1,500 each November. For those under 19 years of age the money is held in trust until they become of-age.” The Millbrook community is able to thrive and people are working, “We are creating jobs for ourselves and adding community services, like a health centre and a youth centre. Our kids are enrolled in the public school system. We have 19 graduates coming out of high school this year.

“We have accessed programs at university and Nova Scotia Community College trades so our graduates can pursue post-secondary opportunities. Our administrators have university educations. For example, Alex, our Band Manager, got a B.Admin at University of New Brunswick.”

Millbrook’s leadership mentored a handful of their members to become educated and available for administrative duties for a growing group of Millbrook communities. Once the 102 connector highway was established, due to no small amount of lobbying by Millbrook, they obtained access to the mainstream of provincial life and commercial opportunities began to emerge.

“Commercially we are doing well, and the goal is self-sufficiency,” says Lawrence. “We are breaking away from government dependency and economic development is our course.” The excitement around Millbrook these days relates to the new hotel, naturally, “a $27 million facility that will employ skilled workers when it’s built,” and meanwhile, contracts to build will supply jobs for a growing Millbrook First Nation labour pool.

Chief Lawrence Paul is an elder now, and he had a long career in various kinds of endeavors, “I was an auto body man, a furnace repair man, I went to business college, and Nova Scotia Agriculture College. I was in the army in 1951,” where he spent time in Germany during the post-war period of German reconstruction. He says, “In 1984, I decided to run for chief,” and he has served 14 consecutive terms now, 28 years in the office. “I am not ready for retirement. I have another term in me after this one.”

Nine hundred Band members live in Truro area, and 100 non band members and 100 non natives dwell in the Millbrook sub-divisions beside Truro, “We have Band members all over Canada and the U.S.,” and those members can be proud of their ancestral home, “Native people are going to go forward same as the rest of society,” says the chief, “toward self-sufficiency and into the fight for the almighty dollar,” he quips.

“Now that we have leveled the playing field we are promoting education as the way forward for our people.” Self-sufficiency is in the not-too-distant future. “The recession hurt us too, but we recovered and we have opportunities to pursue that will make it happen sooner rather than later,” including management of the building and Band-owned property in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Glenn Squires is CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services of Halifax that developed and manages the Super 8 Motel located at the power centre, and Glenn says Millbrook's practical business model works well for the firm, one of Canada's largest privately-owned hotel management companies.

"We enjoy working with Millbrook and had a great experience with the partnership model, which works to the advantage of all," says Squires. "The relationship is very collaborative and geared to a win-win over the duration of any given project. We have done several quite successful projects with Millbrook and plan to do more in the future."

Power Centre businesses include a multiplex theatre, sit-down and drive-through restaurants, a 50-room hotel, a recreational vehicle retailer, a service station, a call centre, an aquaculture facility and the Glooscap Heritage Centre. Truro Power Centre is not the only location Millbrook has to offer for partnership opportunities.

The band owns other lands in Nova Scotia, including 19 hectares in Cole Harbour. In the past five years, the area has seen significant activity, and the Band built two apartment buildings in 2003 and 2007 worth more than $11 million. The buildings were designed specifically for empty nesters.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Capacity building is visionary at McLeod Lake Indian Band

McLeod Lake Indian Band, north of Prince George, B.C., is building investment and employment capacity for their Tse'khene members in a variety of industrious directions, "It started way before I came along," says Chief Derek Orr, (elected 2008), and, he says, economic development initiatives of MLIB are especially evident since MLIB joined the Treaty 8 groups of First Nations.
    
History shows MLIB began coming into its own prior to 1987 when leaders advised the Canadian Government of their intention to join Treaty 8. This move was made after a forestry  company, Duz Cho Logging, begun in the early 80's, produced enough profits to hire legal counsel and negotiate McLeod Lake’s adhesion to Treaty 8 with Canada.
    
As economic capacity grew, MLIB created Duz Cho Construction in 2002 to work in the oil and gas and coal industries of north eastern B.C.. A lobby effort with oil companies garnered the construction company its first contracts and Duz Cho Construction was profitable by the middle of the decade. Acting further on the growing oil and gas activity in North-East B.C., MLIB made a major share purchase of  Summit Pipeline Services Ltd.. 
    
Summit constructs pipelines, conducts diagnostic and repair services for pipelines, municipal sewer systems, pulp mills and other industries. MLIB in the most recent context has business development programs to assist MLIB members gain skills and establish business ventures. They are doing so with owner-operated equipment, forestry, construction, steel sales and fabrication, and business in the accommodation of work crews. 
    
Having members working in the surrounding traditional territory is not new because these lands and waters once provided abundant harvests of fur and wild game to Tse'Khene people. The key is to build a capacity to do the changing nature of work, "We targeted seven or eight members who were mentored and encouraged to join the effort at building the capacity for McLeod Lake Indian Band to participate in industrial development."
    
MLIB endured the toughest year in recent history, especially tough for a new chief, youngest in their history at age 35. "It's been one and a half years since I have been able to give members any good news. A lot of community services for youth and elders were put on hold while the world economy battered the financial stability of MLIB."
    
The MLIB operations are back in high gear and the Band is looking closely at the coming opportunities in mining, regarding Terrane Metals Mt. Milligan project in Mackenzie, B.C.. This gold/copper mine could provide good jobs and new business opportunities within their traditional territory. 
    
MLIB is working closely with Mt. Milligan Copper/Gold Mine, "We are working to ensure jobs, business contracts, revenue-sharing, and environmental monitoring. We have a Memorandum of Understanding with Mt. Milligan Mine to provide environmental monitoring at the mine site. It's important because we have a huge demand for services on reserve," says the Chief.
    
"Housing and facilities for youth are in short supply. We have people who wish to live in McLeod Lake but instead live in Prince George, Williams Lake, or Vancouver. We need more facilities in Prince George to provide services to our members who live there." Youth can choose from a variety of directions to plan a career, in jobs that work for the benefit of all Tse'Khene.
    
The MLIB elders need a facility that provides health and accommodation but remains within traveling distance, so the Band is making plans for a multi-plex that accommodates extended living and assisted living in Mackenzie, B.C.. 
    
MLIB has further opportunities for members to enter the mainstream economy in creative ways like green energy projects in wind energy (Dokie Wind/Plutonic). In fact, Mortenson Construction has begun the process of constructing the first elements of a major wind farm facility.
    
The Dokie Wind Project includes 48 Vestas V90 wind turbines, a switch-yard and transmission lines at a total project cost of $228 million. The Dokie project is on-time and on-budget and represents Plutonic Power's first wind project. Upon completion, it will be the largest wind farm in British Columbia. 
    
Mortenson Canada Corporation is a leading North American wind energy contractor, and uses a mix of their own personnel, local hires, and local subcontractors. The Dokie Ridge area - near Chetwynd, BC - is considered to be one of BC's best wind power assets in terms of generation potential. 
    
The existing network of provincial roads, logging roads, and rail corridors is ideal for transporting the turbine components which can weigh as much as 70 metric tones. This project will deliver 333,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean electricity to BC Hydro, commencing on March 1, 2011, under a 25-year EPA, through a partnership between Plutonic Power and GE Energy Financial Services.
    
Chief Orr says MLIB also has plans for additional community infrastructure that includes an indoor ice-skating rink.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Industry based skills development a strong suit at Northlands College

The Northland College Campus in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, is practically speaking a First Nation college, "The majority of our students are First Nation and Metis," explains Carson Poitras, "and the college engages these students in a wide variety of programs and courses," including many through distance education delivered at communities throughout northern Saskatchewan. 

Northland College celebrated the 20th anniversary two years ago, and 22 years of Northlands College has created a large alumni of First Nation graduates. Programs include GED preparation, technical programs, and many other more advanced programs, some delivered in outlying areas, however, "Some courses are lab-oriented programs," such as one recently delivered in La Ronge, "like engineering technology where students came to the college campus in La Ronge," said Poitras.

The college provides accommodations at hotels and motels for students to stay in La Ronge comfortably for the duration of their participation. Others are delivered in a far-reaching manner, for example, "In the first week of the coming month of August 2010, the college will deliver a heavy equipment operators program using simulator technology, which will run from August 2010 to May 2011 with two trainers and one simulator." 

The heavy equipment operator program uses a portable simulator to teach students to drive rock truck, operate loaders, dozers, excavators, and other equipment. "We put the simulator on an 'air-ride' trailer and take around northern Saskatchewan to places like Buffalo Narrows and many other communities to teach eight students per session how to operate mine and forestry equipment."


The college bought their simulator in 2006 to deliver programs that run on a continuous intake basis. It is very uncommon for non-Aboriginal students to be in these courses. The courses are five weeks long and demand for delivery of courses, "is huge," says Poitras. "Uranium mining is booming and calling for skilled labour and First Nations personnel will fill those jobs. "


Skills are in demand in a resurging mining economy in Saskatchewan, "There are several new or reconstituted mines in the north," says Poitras, "thus we use a lot of industry partnerships to deliver training," he says. "We receive $3 million in funding and deliver $20 million in training each year, so you can see that industry helps deliver a lot of the programs."

Friday, June 11, 2010

Fifty percent First Nation students at North West Community College

North West Community College has campuses in Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Masset, Nass, Prince Rupert, Village of Queen Charlotte, Kaay Llnagaay, Smithers, and Terrace. Ruth Wheadon is the Director of NWCC campuses in Haida Gwaii. "In Haida Gwaii, we run developmental programs that we call Essential Skills for the Workplace (ESWK)," says  Wheadon .
 
"We also run Continuing Education and Training courses that include work-preparation in first-aid, eco-system management, natural resource management," and others, "but the ESWK contains an art focus in the past couple of years, and ESWK continues to offer development of work skills."
 
The art focus introduces business management skills to artists. "We give them the tools to take their art to the business level, and we introduce them to success strategies in marketing their work." Students range in age from their late teens to their fifties. The main purpose of ESWK is to bridge the gap between the public school system and learning today, including a culturally inclusive environment for study.

"It allows students to experience a different perspective on education," says  Wheadon. NWCC also offers university credit courses, "First year anthropology and 2nd year ethno-geography are running this summer from July 14 to 30, 2010, including a four-day trip to Swan Bay Rediscovery Camp, and other trips to four different field sites in Haida Gwaii." 

The Swan Bay Rediscovery Program operates a cultural camp to teach Haida cultural skills and knowledge, plus new life skills, self-esteem and confidence to help build character. Swan Bay puts traditional Haida values at the center, and students at the camps participate in a variety of activities designed to challenge, teach and nurture.

The NWCC website explains that the college operates in a region that encompasses 104,689 square kilometres with a combined population of approximately 83,000 people. "This region is home to seven First Nations whose students make up over 50% of the College's student population." 
 
First Nation participation in the college serves to enrich the cuture of the NWCC community and strengthen its connection and relevance to the area. The College region's geographic boundaries are defined by Haida Gwaii on the West, Houston on the East, Hazelton to the North, and a less defined Southern boundary approximately 800 km due north of Vancouver.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Strategy is there but WFCA wonders if regulations are disappearing

The Western Silviculture Contractors Association (WSCA) is delivering tree-planting training this year through the federally funded and provincially administered Community Development Trust Fund. John Betts, WSCA Executive Director, says, "First Nations are training in driving on resource roads, operating brush saws, running all-terrain-vehicles, and driving crew buses," on highways and resource roads.
     
"We delivered training last year in the Chilcotin and Blue Collar Silviculture's Mark Courtney instructed a class in the field. It was an opportunity for the First Nation trainees to experience the life of a tree planter in a forestry bush camp," says Betts. He believes training in these close quarters produces an excellent outcome for silviculture contractors. 
     
"The trainees get the inside track on the 'stocking' standards in B.C. forestry," which species of trees are used, and the spacing and placement requirements of the seedlings. Betts notes that the province of B.C. has been depending on nature to take it's course in regeneration of forests. 
     
"We have seen a lower priority given to stocking the forests with seedlings. We went from planting 250 million seedlings a couple years ago to planting 160 million this year," and even fewer next year. He says that 40 percent of the MPB ravaged landscape is not growing any new trees. 
     
"We have 18 million hectares of MPB degraded forests in B.C. alone," including forests eaten by the spruce bud worm. "We have many areas with bug kill, other blights, and forest fire burned areas where restoration is being ignored." Betts notes that arguments made by Keith Atkinson, CEO of the First Nation Forestry Council, correctly identify the problems in a sketchy funding regime.
     
"The FNFC recognizes that we have crushing regeneration issues and huge demands for landscape level replanting operations," including transmission line corridors, highways, and watersheds. Electrical grid failure is just one of the threats in the forest fire (inferno) scenario. Destruction of watersheds also demands more attention."
     
Meanwhile the province is overrun by environment lobbies that want to lock-down forestry operations, "They are not recognizing the problem. Leaving forests alone is perilous when fires are increasing in number and severity." Betts notes that historically First Nations used a lot of fire to manage forests and make them produce specific plants, trees, and ecologies.
     
"The so-called natural fires have been eliminated by suppression and fire is gone as a forestry management tool. In place of managed fires the unnatural fires we see are non-renewing events." The intensity of these unnatural fires wipes out water resources, aquatic plants included, and all the grasses and trees in an ecology disappear. 

     
Worst of all, the soil gets super-heated and destroyed as an eco-system. Unfortunately, says Betts, "We see no real strategy and the demand is growing to get involved with biomass reclamation and refurbishing of these provincial forests.
     
"Nature won't be fooled. Interior forests are being left behind, whereas these landscapes require a change in strategy." First Nations are blazing the trail in the pursuit of a biomass economy from these decadent forests. "They see perpetual employment and management requirements for the eco-systems in their territories."
     
Betts believes the existing proposals for use of biomass are too large, and should be made smaller than those seen in the BC HYDRO call for power scenarios, like the 40 MWh cogeneration plant in Gitxsan and the 60 MWh plant in T'silcotin. "Go smaller, scale back the size of the projects to 1 to 5 MWh and make more of them," because smaller plants make more efficient use of biomass to create electricity."
     
While restoration strategies are in place the regulations behind it are being deleted left and right, and, Betts adds, "The premier may say, 'Well I'm not getting any calls on this,' but it appears that overall he's not paying attention to a degrading public resource."

Monday, February 8, 2010

Fire reduction strategy was high priority in 2010

B.C.'s forests are becoming an international concern when the release of carbon continues from the MPB ravaged timber and decadent forests are standing without producing much (if any) oxygen. Chris Akehurst of Akehurst and Giltrap Reforestation says, "The Western Silviculture Contractors Association has the numbers, but B.C. exported more carbon from forests last year than lumber."

Huge issues confront the citizens of B.C. with regards to the condition of the Crown's forests in 2010, 95 percent of B.C. forests. There are increasing numbers of interface fires, decadent forests that are mismanaged, and decreasing numbers of seedlings being planted.

"Fuel reduction programs are very important now," says Chris, "and the purpose is to remove biomass fuel from areas surrounding communities." The biomass offers too much fuel for prospective infernos. "We also need to perform prescribed burns after the clean-up to further reduce fire hazard."

Failure to do fire reduction will cause increasing incidence of city and town evacuations and losses of infrastructure, including housing.

"As these MPB destroyed trees fall it happens in a criss-cross manner and the maze of fuel is laid out to burn intensely hot. The fires travel fast and run right up to cities and towns. The fire behavior becomes so powerful that it is overwhelming."

Fire fighters have told Chris that when it gets to that stage all they can do is watch, aghast. Furthermore, as interface fires spread the problem of fire-fighting jurisdictions starts to affect tactical operations of fighting the problem.

He cites one fire near Princeton that burned away while the local fire department was restricted from entering the field. "A fire department was called in from the Merritt area instead but it was too late for the Friday Mountain fire. The fire took off into the Simillkameen." Princeton was spared but the destruction of forest was greatly magnified.

One resident of Glenrosa in Westbank, Okanagan, described on-line what he was witnessing in  2004 interface fire: "There's a shitload of wind blowing from the south, which means the fire is heading into Westbank/Glenrosa. There have been at least 3 or 4 houses that have burned down, and the neighborhood of Glenrosa (around 8000 people) is completely shut down."

Chris does a lot of work in reducing the risk of fire in these interface scenarios around the southern interior of B.C.. One recent project in Manning Park included removing coniferous trees and replanting with deciduous trees near campgrounds and other public facilities.

"The fire reduction projects don't always involve reforestation. Often it's a process of fuel removal and reduction." Meanwhile silviculture in the province is being reduced because the number of trees harvested has been shrinking in a down-turned economy.

The forests that are filled with dead trees create new priorities in forestry management. Twenty to 30 percent of the untouched MPB forests filled with dead pine trees will not come back naturally. It requires silviculture on a massive scale to restore these forests that are being written off and ignored.

Further delays will make problems worse, and Chris believes the federal and provincial governments must take responsibility for the damage ensuing from the pestilence. "Back in the 1980s and 90s we took on silviculture projects to restore the 'silviculture slums' left from the 1960s and 70s."

Chris notes that when Prime Minister Harper got off the plane in Prince George some years ago he promised $1 billion to work on the restoration of B.C. forests, with dispersals at $100 million a year. The industry is standing around wondering what happened to that money.

Foresters are grappling with the issues and growing cynical. "There is a moral obligation to do the work in these forests. The funding mechanisms aren't going to magically appear." He is aware that fire reduction programs are underway and funding is flowing to the problem. The MPB issues are magically ignored.

His own business saw a 44 percent reduction in volume last year, and this year it will fall another 10 percent. Chris works with the Upper Similkameen First Nations. Elsewhere he sees openings for forestry workers in fire reduction plans. It may be good prospects for First Nation forestry personnel, he says, because they seem to prefer working with chain saws rather than seedlings.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Geothermal utility delivering new housing energy community-wide in B.C.

Geotility is a geothermal utility service that is the brain-child of Jim Leask of Kelowna, B.C., who envisioned natural gas and other non-renewable energy sources becoming less-affordable as time goes by. The energy options to burning fossil fuel were practically non-existent in North America when he started a mechanical company in the Okanagan Valley of B.C. in the early 1990s.

Rick Nelson works for Geotility in their Kelowna office, “Jim was a visionary in setting up a geothermal utility company in B.C.,” says Rick. “Running a geothermal utility is not that difficult in this province but different provinces have different rules.” In the province of B.C., meanwhile, Geotility has  found a lot of success by working with First Nations. “They are leaders in the green energy debate in this province.”

 

Geotility runs the Sun Rivers geothermal utility in Kamloops, a housing development that resides on land belonging to Kamloops Indian Band, and recently Geotility broke ground on a centralized geothermal utility service for a  brand new  housing development for the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, in Tofino, B.C., on Vancouver Island. “It's all geothermal in Tofino at the new the Esowista housing development of the Tla-o-qui-aht community.”

 

Rick says of the company he works for, “We're passionate about delivering geothermal services. What started as a mechanical company under Jim Leask and Sons has become a complete geothermal company,” he says, including all the services involved, from drilling to mechanical installations to heat distribution, billing and maintenance.

 

Rick says, “Basically Jim Leask saw the day 20 years ago when natural gas distribution would become more and more expensive and he began looking at the options.” As a mechanical engineer Jim Leask saw geothermal as the next step in energy services and geothermal was a perfect fit for mechanical company, so, “Seven years ago Geotility was launched to pave the way for the geothermal industry to operate at the same level as other utility services.”

 

Today Geotility even owns the drills (manufactured by Multi-Power Products in Kelowna). Geotility worked with Tom Ulm, Sr., of Multi-Power Products to design a drill to fit inside an underground parkade, and as a result, Geotility is able to retro-fit buildings in the core of a city's downtown with geothermal heating systems.  Drilling is underway directly beneath existing buildings like the Georgia Hotel in Vancouver, and the Hudson's Bay Building in downtown Victoria, “We have two modified drills with short masts that can operate in all ground conditions.”

 

Geotility designs the utility systems that run heat through whole communities. “We drill 700,000 feet per year and fill the holes with geothermal pipe.” For example since the ground was laid out for new housing on Esowista property, in Tofino, drilling is commencing to supply heat to the entire community of 160 new houses plus other facilities, including a new Long House and community facilities.

 

Jordan Parrot is one of the engineers at Geotility, and Jordan is in charge of the Esowista drilling program in Tofino starting this January. “It's one large geothermal field with centralized distribution of the hot water,” says Jordan. “We are doing the field engineering and mechanical design on this project. We are producing hot water for the geothermal array from hundreds of ground-loop drill holes.”

 

Jordan says the Esowista field is a large one, “It's a substantial size field, hundreds of holes. The drilling program will take three or four months to complete, depending on  the weather.” The company is hiring some of their required labour from the Tla-o-qui-aht community.

 

Moses Martin is housing manager for Esowista Housing, the department belonging to the Tla-o-qui-aht community based in Tofino. “Construction is underway,” says Moses, “the roads are roughed in and a new bridge was built to join this project to the existing Esowista community.” Sixty-eight is the number of new houses slated for immediate construction and another 100 houses will be built within the next five years.

 

Funding for the new housing development ($17 million )was obtained under the Canada Economic Action Plan and Moses says $3 million of that was earmarked for geothermal heating. “With the overall size of the project we anticipate the return of Tla-o-qui-aht families to Tofino from places like Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Victoria, and Seattle, Washington.”

 

Moses adds, “It's a well-rounded housing plan that includes the geothermal heating for the new Long House and an eventual school for the new community.” The bridge connects this subdivision, called Ty'Tan'Us, to the existing Esowista community and the nhe new community will have three access points, says Moses.

 

Tla-o-qui-aht members will be active in the building of all phases. “We are ramping up the workforce as we speak. We will have a team of labourers working throughout the phase, and phase one alone will supply jobs and paycheques for at least two years.” Some training and apprenticeship will ensue.

 

The skilled labour will be learning new aspects of construction, says Moses, “We are looking for better quality housing construction being put into these homes. We want these homes to last at least 50 years. We are looking hard at the quality of the houses and we're going for the LEED Gold Standard of green and sustainable housing construction.”

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