Gwen Blandov working in forestry in the Pacific
North Coast
They have been busy year on the coast, said Gwen
Blandov, "I like busy." Presently she is setting up safety
certification in accordance with Worksafe BC regulations, using the BC Safety
Forest Council guidelines to pull it together, "doing a lot of cross
referencing," she said, laughing, busy in a bureaucratic way this week.
"Once it is all up and ready I will doing
inspections, internal audits, incident reports, so it is a lot of getting
ready." Why did Gwen choose a career in forestry? "An instructor in
school saw something in me and challenged me to take a couple of natural
resources courses." Until then this particular career hadn't necessarily
occurred to her.
Once she attained the education required, to
practice forestry as a forest resource technician, "I was in the field for
a few months doing timber cruising before I joined Triumph Timber," in
their Prince Rupert, BC, offices and commercial access to forests. Basically you
are following the map from a point of access along a compass bearing going 'x'
metres, walking a straight line over windblown, over cliffs, whatever it takes,
you hike the terrain and make an inventory of timber."
She said, "You look for things, quality of
timber, defects, Culturally Modified Trees (CMT), and so forth. Decisions on
archaeology will be made and the information shared with First Nation
communities in the area related to Aboriginal Rights and Title. Archaeological
impact assessment teams will come through and process the site."
First Nations have people specifically trained to
get involved, sweep over and ribbon out the land, and place it on the map.
"CMTs are often found in cedar, and in cypress, hemlock, and spruce (for
medicine). The cedar were high value trees in providing housing, clothing,
containers, baskets. Cypress, hemlock, and spruce were modified for medicine.
It is always facinating to come upon them. It is amazing to reflect on how the
First Nations were able to do these things."
On the odd occassion she has bumped into canoes in
mid construction. "I found a beautiful one near the Lax Kw'alaams. The
elders had asked us to go in and sweep the area and try to locate a canoe that
had been talked about from decades ago. They told stories about it until over
the years the existence of this canoe joined part of the oral histories."
It was a fully carved canoe and an amazing
discovery, an overpowering piece of history. "My partner Ron Smith and I
were sweeping the ground," and had the distinct pleasure of 'ribboning it
out,' genuflecting for a period of time to respect the discovery's
significance, then composing documentation, and, "The best part was
phoning the community." It was about 50 feet from the shoreline.
The nature of the work takes people into utterly
remote wilderness. One day Gwen ran into a Spirit Bear up the Fraser Reach
located on the Princess Royal Island, a short distance from Bute Dale. It was a
couple years ago. Bears, cougars, and wildlife are always a safety issue. The
industry provides 'bear aware' courses, but the key is to get as far away as
possible. "We are invading their territory," and should take the
utmost care to avoid harming the animals.
The work has variety including liaison with 'planning foresters,' office
end duties in silviculture operations (data management, maps), and liaison with
communities. She prefers the work found more on the outdoor side, "when
you're up with the birds and into the forests, and generally we try to get
things done at the same time as the fallers simply because it is better to not
be alone out there." It's a safety issue.
Nevertheless, field duties are demanding and take
every minute of the available day, "Ron Smith and I want to be the last
pickups of the day. Constant communications keeps people aware of where
everybody is, and who is doing what on the ground or in the helicopters."
The first onto a harvest site are fallers, and
depending on how many fallers deploy, "it may be a short day in the field.
The number of fallers varies between eight and 20 men, depending on the size of
the cutblock. Regardless of the number of fallers, these operations are
manageable," and she and Smith work to provide quality assurance in the
timber selections.
"We spend a lot of time with the bull bucker
making sure the best quality timber is picked, for length, trying to get two
lengths off a tree." The best possible product is wanted from trees
destined for sawmills. "Yes I see it as a good career choice. As First Nation
person I have opportunities to ensure CMTS are intact and we are looking after
the trees and the marine environment. The First Nation perspective really
informs that part of the work for me. I'd like to see these streams and forests
in 50 years from now with important CMTs standing and places intact. It is part
of the history of the country. It's a recording of the past."
This history book exists in a living culture and
inside an active forestry, so the careers are important. "You have to find
a balance or you will have struggles in the heart and soul. Most people want it
remain pristine, and a company like ours provides a great service by taking
into consideration First Nation concerns and by adapting the plans for timber
harvests."
She noted, "Sustainability is looked at from
different angles, and it should be, because I still live off the land and the
ocean and want sustainable resources and wildlife as most people do. I work
against the plunder of forests which I saw in my youth around Port Simpson. The
trees are growing back but the mountain facing Lax KW'alaams was stripped and
the only solution was to stop looking."
The Triumph Timber company harvests a lot of first
retention timber commonly referred to as select logging. "If you are on the
water or 100 ft above sea level you should barely notice where we've been
logging. We tend to look at the visuals in coastal logging. In places like
Grenville Channel the visual quality objective is high priority. People still
see pristine forest where in fact there's been logging going on. A lot of
people really favour that kind of logging."
Salmon streams are protected and areas close to
lakes receive riparian management zones, looking after the watershed. For those
who have ever stepped on the site of a clearcut and wonder why so many trees
are left on the ground, "Defects are the ones left behind, this being the
main one of the reasons a tree is left behind, or else it is infected with
mistletoe or some kind of disease.
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