Diverse population, 2SLGBTQ+ students in mind as Surrey schools ban U.S. travel
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CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Experts say Manitoba needs better forest management to mitigate wildfires — but some divided on best practices
Experts say Manitoba needs better forest management practices to mitigate and prevent the devastating impacts of wildfires, but there isn't a clear consensus on the best course forward, after a season that saw wildfires claim two lives and at least 130 cabins and homes. Fires have also forced more than a dozen communities to evacuate and scorched more than seven per cent of the province's forests so far this year. This country's forest management has been in the spotlight in the last month after American lawmakers complained to Canada's ambassador to the United States about the wildfire smoke blowing south of the border. They pointed to "a lack of active forest management" as the key driver. The Canadian Council of Forest Ministers has said "suppression alone is no longer adequate" to tackle wildfires, pointing to the benefits of FireSmart Canada and other prevention and mitigation strategies, including controlled and traditional cultural burns. However, experts don't all agree on best practices. CBC News requested an interview with the Manitoba government about its forest and wildfire management plans, including prescribed burns, but the province deferred commenting until the fall, saying staff were "quite busy with wildfire suppression right now." A provincial spokesperson said there would be a review of Manitoba's preparedness and suppression efforts after the wildfire season. Land management practices British Columbia-based wildland fire ecologist Robert Gray argues communities in fire-prone regions aren't adequately protected — but he says they can become more resilient by treating about 40 per cent of the surrounding landscape to prevent or slow wildfires from spreading into towns. Fire and fuel management practices include clearing and thinning trees and prescribed burning, which involves deliberately setting an area of land on fire in a controlled way, Gray said. Practices also include restoring grasslands and wet meadows, along with shifting conifer-heavy forests to hardwoods, such as aspen and willow, which Gray says aren't as flammable. Gray pointed to a case he was involved in, at the Ktunaxa Nation community of Aq'am north of Cranbrook, B.C. He said last summer, the Canadian Rockies International Airport was spared by a wildfire, as were most of the community's homes, thanks to a large-scale, 12-square-kilometre prescribed burn in 2023. "It still wasn't big enough, but that's the start," Gray said. "We're just not doing it fast enough at a big enough scale. "Fire is a contagion. It moves through a landscape, and it finds those holes, and it'll exploit them, so you have to do a consistent job out to a good distance." That distance could be 10 to 20 kilometres from a community's edge to protect it from unforgiving embers carried by strong winds. He argues governments have a greater role to play in supporting communities and landowners to participate in fuel management, because most are bordered by Crown or private land. Gray said provinces must better regulate the forest industry to make sure activities like logging and tree planting are carried out with a focus on fire and fuel management. "If we don't do that, we won't have an industry," Gray said. "I can confidently say that the industry is scared to death." A spokesperson for Manitoba National Resources Minister Ian Bushie said in an email that the province will be having conversations with local leaders about the benefits and risks of controlled burns and thinning. Backcountry travel and fire bans Another wildfire expert said some of these practices may be controversial, because residents "love their animals and their forests, and they don't want it cleared." Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University, says proactive backcountry travel and fire bans, along with FireSmart homes, would be a more effective strategy in a country with vast boreal forests, where wildfires are a natural part of the ecology. Flannigan said Manitoba's approach of monitoring wildfires that aren't threatening communities, "which is working with Mother Nature," is appropriate, as opposed to always suppressing all wildfires, a costly practice he said is common in the U.S. Between 2016 and 2020, 58 per cent of wildfires in Manitoba were caused by lightning, a Manitoba forestry report says. The rest were human-caused. That's where Flannigan says we should be targeting our attention. Prioritizing education and travel bans in forested areas is crucial, he said, especially in spring, which is dominated by human-caused wildfires — something the province acknowledged in its first fire bulletin of 2025. Flannigan, however, says provinces are often reluctant to impose bans, "because it's so unpopular, because it means no industry and no recreation." In hindsight, Manitoba could have been more aggressive with its bans and education outreach, he said. The province first announced enhanced fire and travel restrictions, beyond annual burn permit requirements, at the end of April for Manitoba's Interlake and southeastern regions, which came into effect May 2. By mid-June, the province reported 103 of Manitoba's 116 wildfires by that point were caused by people. FireSmart homes Flannigan also advocates for provinces to make the FireSmart program mandatory in at-risk locations — an idea Minister Bushie's spokesperson said needs more review. "It is very challenging to adapt a building that may be 50 years old to current codes or guidelines," the spokesperson said. FireSmart focuses on what property owners and residents can do around their homes. It includes making sure buildings are outfitted with fire-rated materials and that immediate surroundings have fire-resistant trees that are well-pruned and spaced out. This approach is encouraged by the Manitoba government on a voluntary basis. Canada's first FireSmart community, the District of Logan Lake, B.C., credits its fire prevention and mitigation efforts with saving the town in 2021. The annual wildfire season has been intensified by climate change, burning hotter, longer, and closer to homes. In this new reality, how can communities adapt and protect themselves? Radio-Canada's Camille Vernet went searching for answers in Logan Lake. The town spent decades working on wildfire prevention, and their efforts paid off in 2021, when they successfully defended themselves against raging flames. Flannigan says FireSmart communities with sprinklers are likely to survive a wildfire, but only if nearly everyone participates. "You're only as strong as your weakest link when extremes happen," he said. Meanwhile, Gray agrees with parts of FireSmart, but the ability and willingness of most property owners to pay for landscaping and renovations means big problems for the strategy, he said. "The tangible part is fuels management. If we change the behaviour of the fire coming at a community, we reap the benefits, whether or not a majority of homes are FireSmart," he said. "That fire, if it's on the ground, the local fire department can safely action it." Is your property prepared for a wildfire? 23 days ago Wildfire seasons are getting more intense so we asked a FireSmart expert how to protect your property, and what fixes can be done right now — without breaking the bank.
Winnipeg Free Press
13 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution
A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump. Shannon 'SJ' Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park's main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of 'failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct' in their capacity as a biologist and cited the May demonstration. 'I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I'm nonbinary,' Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to 'tell myself … that we're all safe in national parks.' Joslin said their firing sends the opposite message: 'If you're a federal worker and you have any kind of identity that doesn't agree with this current administration, then you must be silent, or you will be eliminated.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies 'are pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations,' National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness.' That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Parks officials defend restriction on protests Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural. Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond,' Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency's budget next year. Parks have First Amendment areas Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'First Amendment areas' where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump. ___ Associated Press journalist Brittany Peterson contributed reporting from Denver.
Toronto Star
16 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Immigrants seeking lawful work and citizenship are now subject to ‘anti-Americanism' screening
Immigrants seeking a legal pathway to live and work in the United States will now be subject to screening for 'anti-Americanism',' authorities said Tuesday, raising concerns among critics that it gives officers too much leeway in rejecting foreigners based on a subjective judgment. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said officers will now consider whether an applicant for benefits, such as a green card, 'endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused' anti-American, terrorist or antisemitic views.
