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2020.4.2.1.45 · File · Dec. 1980
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Land Resource Issues in BC and the Tough Choices Ahead" for the Surrey Rotary.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech, with the exception of the beginning and the ending is largely the cobbling together of two previous speeches. The new introduction draws upon several headlines from contemporary newspaper articles as examples involving land and water use decision-making. The next several pages largely repeat portions of [2020.4.2.1.42] "The Rural - Urban Continuum: Tough Land Use Choices Ahead". The latter half of the speech draws from [2020.4.2.1.44] "Land Resource Issues in B.C. - UBC Seminar".

The speech ends with a suggestion that there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel offered by the proposed "Planning Act". The speech closes with 3 broad concepts for consideration:

  1. Land and water use planning is fundamental in determining the economic opportunity and environmental quality of the future;
  2. Good rural planning demands good urban planning and the race for space will accelerate; and
  3. There is a need to reflect on the interdependence of man within natural systems in our planning for rural and urban land and water.

While farmland preservation isn't central to this speech the rural resource and planning theme is relevant."

2020.4.2.1.47 · File · Mar. 1981
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Expanding Needs from a Finite Resource: the Necessity for Sound Land Use Planning" for the Manitoba Land Use Conference Land User for the 80's - Private Rights and Public Interests, March 11 & 12,1981.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"The conference theme of "Private Rights and Public Interests" is one that GGR often turned to. In this fairly lengthy speech GGR pulls together, in one paper, many of the themes and positions he has turned to in other speeches. He explains the 'land and water maze' and lists 12 uses competing for limited land and water resources. It is noted that the imbalance between agriculture vs urban uses, due to urban uses commanding much higher values resulting in agriculture finding itself in a defensive position, is discussed.

As the conference theme enunciates - GGR explores the tug-of-war between the myth of limitless land and community needs vs property rights and the fallacy that individual land use decisions do not impact the larger community. GGR emphasises the slowness of changing attitudes and the even slower political response and policy change. The confusion of jurisdiction concerning what level of government is best positioned to deal with resources issues is considered. GGR emphasizes the need to plan the use of land resources in an integrated and comprehensive fashion and the need for shared decision making.

Policy 3 of Manitoba's Regulation #217/80 - "Rural residential development should not be thought of, nor normally planned, as an evolutionary step from a rural landscape to an urban development" is noted. It is emphasized that the planning process has to catch up with the rural reality.

Central message - the importance of planning land and water use must be in keeping with the natural characteristics of the land and the needs and values of the local community. This latter point is of interest from the point of view that local community values and plans may dash with provincial values or policy."

2020.4.2.1.49 · File · [June 1981]
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agricultural Land and Land Use Decision Making in the 1980s" for the Western Land Directors' Conference, Victoria BC (June 7-11,1981).

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"The speech is a collection of familiar themes but GGR's assemblage and delivery is becoming ever-more refined. The speech was accompanied by overheads but they are not included.

The paper starts with two quotes from Hans Blumenfeld and O'Malley. In the case of Blumenfeld - North Americans want to live in efficient, convenient, healthy and pleasant environment but as individuals we want to be able to make an honest dollar out of every piece of property we own. The two concepts are basically incompatible. The O'Malley quote speaks of land as a mother because she gives life, is a provider, protector and comforter.

Some (but far from all) of the important observations include:

  1. integrated land use policy is slow in coming;
  2. issues have to be addressed at each level of government;
  3. for each use option and the resulting integrated policy framework must be established through appropriate legislation and regulation;
  4. we are all well aware, there are some use demands that by definition, exclude other use demands (agriculture is highlighted as a prime example);
  5. non-agricultural or urban demands vary according to location, as does the "resistance" of agriculture to the change.
  6. some private demand is purely speculative, especially in an inflationary period. During these times, the demand, particularly for irreversible uses of land, often greatly exceeds the real requirements for use;
  7. we have always been able to produce the "next frontier", why not now?
  8. understanding the land is the most important prerequisite to its wise and proper use;
  9. an integrative spirit and process is essential if sound planning is the target.

The paper ends with the following quote from Bill Moyers, "Government is the art of trying to solve problems. Politics is the art of trying to attain power. The two meet sometimes, but not often."

2020.4.2.1.50 · File · Nov. 1980
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Western Canadian Agriculture - A Look to the Future" for an unknown audience.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"As the title suggests, this speech is largely a look at agriculture in Western Canada and therefore breaks from many of the familiar themes in GGR's speeches and includes several interesting statistics.

For example in 1921 the average Canadian farmer could feed 11 people. By 1981 the average farm could feed 56 people. [In 2012 The average farm in Canada produced enough food to feed 120 people every day.] The average Canadian expenditure of income on food after taxes:
1947 - 25%
1969 - 22%
1980 - 18%

The speech considers the following topics:
A. The changing Picture of Western Canadian Agriculture

  • Energy Costs
  • Cropping Options
  • Northern Expansion
  • Diversification, Intensification, Specialization
  • Foreign Ownership

B. Agricultural Land Use Planning
C. Integrated Land Use Issues"

2020.4.2.1.51 · File · Nov. 1981
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Sharing the Land Resource - 1990 and Beyond" for Symposium: Local Agriculture, 1990 and Beyond (CNC, FAS-UBC & BCMAF) - November 28,1981.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech starts by looking at land philosophically and states (p. 2): "We sometimes need to be reminded that we are borrowing the land resource from the next generation".

The speech includes several important points made with clarity. A few examples include:

  • the need to provide adequate linkages and lines of communication between agencies and different levels of government;
  • while understanding the land is prerequisite to its wise and proper use - we still have incomplete and small scale inventory work available;
  • nature's laws affirm rather than prohibit. If you violate her laws, you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury.... and hangman;
  • do our planning and direct our growth from within the confines of natural systems to take advantage of their attributes and avoid their negative aspects; and
  • we need to not only understand land and water ecosystems but the people complex as well - and a great deal of patience and interdisciplinary compromise is needed.

A number of issues are reviewed:

  1. The agricultural - forestry interface
  2. Urban dreams meet rural realities
  3. The challenge of educating an increasingly urbanized population
  4. Escalating energy costs
  5. The competition for water"
2020.4.2.1.63 · File · Oct. 1994
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Action Steps to Sustainable Agriculture" at the Forum on Sustainable Agriculture in Summerland.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech opens with a relatively broad discussion of sustainability- how defined - and how this relates to agriculture. "We've got to develop the ability to view farming in a conceptual sense, to view food production sustainability over the full horizon, including the urban world, as well as farm field."

The speech is broken into 3 sections with sub-sections:
(1) From a Practical Management Point of View. What Does "Sustainability" Mean on the Farm, Orchard or Ranch? Several points are made including the protection of land through the ALR. The principles of sustainability in, "Towards a Strategy for Sustainability" are listed.
(2) From the Food Producers Perspective, What are the Gaps in Practical Requirements to move Toward Sustainability? The points identified in the July 1994 workshop "Future of Agriculture in the Okanagan" are listed and noted as key points.
(3) With Land and Water Resources under Stress, What are the Action Steps to Regional Multicommodity Agricultural Sustainability? Under this topic seven sub-topics are explored:
a) sustainability and security of the land base with a particular emphasis on parcel size and the need for consolidation, land tenure, cost and speculation;
b) sustainability and water resources;
c) land use competition, compatibility, and planning process access - with an emphasis placed on the need for the farm community to have access to the planning process and a nod to the importance of Agricultural Advisory Committees. It is recognized that this will take an integrated effort of the ALC and Municipal Affairs;
d) vertically consistent policies and regulations from local to federal;
e) Right to Farm (with a plea to revisit the then current 'Agricultural Protection Act');
f) public education;
g) food policy; and
h) Socio-economic strategy for agriculture"

2020.4.2.1.65 · File · [July 1998]
Part of G. Gary Runka fonds

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC Land Use Issues and Smiling Frogs" for the Agricultural Institute of Canada Foundation.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This presentation, which was accompanied by slides (not with speaking notes) reviews five diverse land use issues of which three involve agriculture, two of which were directly linked to the ALC.

The 'Smiling Frogs' metaphor is wonderfully explained as the heat is turned up and down on land use issues and complacency is something to be avoided.

GGR was directly involved in some capacity with each of the issues reviewed and, therefore is in a position to provide an "insiders" point of view. The five issues were:

  1. Burnaby Business Park (Burnaby Big Bend) - Lower Mainland - a very succinct overview is provided for this win-win accomplishment which directly involved ALC decision-making.
  2. Charlotte-Alplands (West Chilcotin) - involved an exploration of forest, recreation and wilderness tourism opportunities and the identification of potential conflicts.
  3. Fraser River Delta (Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust) - considers the successful coming together of agricultural and wildlife interests in an area that has both internationally significant wildlife habitat and an important part of the Pacific Flyway but also comprises one of the best agricultural areas in Canada.
  4. Mid-Coast (Greenpeace and Western Forest Products) - provides insights into a very hot issue that had some success and some failure in trying to get two very opposed sides together in which the Land and Coastal Resource Management Planning process is struggling.
  5. Six Mile Ranch (Kamloops) - every so often the ALC is faced with what might be referred to as an application of province wide notoriety and Six Mile Ranch assuredly fit this description. The application involved a proposal in the Kamloops area (but some distance from Kamloops) to use an area of interior grasslands ALR for urban development in the form of residential, resort and golf course. GGR sums up his feelings nicely on this land issue - "My involvement in this fiasco is indirect and that of "Citizen Runka" and perhaps more specifically as a student of government stupidity."
2023.7.3.45 · Item · 1962
Part of Grant Hazelwood fonds

Item is an original report by Teuvo Ahti entitled "Ecological Investigations on Lichens in Wells Gray Provincial Park, with Special Reference to their Importance to Mountain Caribou". Includes accompanying correspondence between Ahti and his BC Parks employers regarding travel and contract details.

"Game Management Manual"
2023.7.4.29 · Item · Mar. 1958
Part of Grant Hazelwood fonds

This manual contains a brief summary of the principles and practices of game management, as applied to the management of game in British Columbia. It has been designed to serve primarily as a reference and guide in dealing with game management problems, and aims to create a co-ordination of approach among those engaged in game management. Sections include the value of game as a natural resource, relationships between game and economic developments, livestock and game interactions, farming and game interactions, waterfowl and other land users, forestry and game, industry and game, access and game, game management principles and policies, fundamental population dynamics, population behaviour, principles of harvesting, habitat management, winter feeding, game propagation, experiment and research, game reserves and closed areas, public relations, predator control, game management techniques, sampling procedures, aging and sexing game animals and birds, effect of hunting on age classes, aging techniques, big game animals, game birds, waterfowl, upland birds, inventory of game populations (Census), direct methods of census, indirect methods of census, waterfowl, fur-bearers, measurements of browse and plant composition, range surveys, game checking stations, hunger sample or postal survey, predator control techniques, laboratory studies, biological aids to law enforcement, collecting and handling material for examination, game animals and birds of BC, breeding characteristics of the hoofed game, big game animals including moose, elk, mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, mountain caribou, Bighorn sheep, thinhorn sheep, mountain sheep, goat, grizzly bear, black bear, cougar, wolf, coyote, upland game birds, Ruffed grouse, Sharp-tailed grouse, Sooty blue grouse, dusky blue grouse, Franklin and spruce grouse, Ptarmigan, Ring-necked pheasant, Chukar partridge, California quail, band-tailed pigeon, waterfowl.

2023.2.2.7 · Subseries · 2009-2010, 2023
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

For July 1-7, 2009, Dr. Paul Sanborn did the first soils field research at the Fort Selkirk volcanic field in central Yukon, with helicopter support and funding from the Yukon Geological Survey.

Initial findings were published in the 2009 edition of Yukon Exploration and Geology, but this paper did not include most of the laboratory data:
Sanborn, P., 2010. Soil reconnaissance of the Fort Selkirk volcanic field, Yukon (115I/13 and 14). In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2009, K.E. MacFarlane, L.H. Weston and L.R. Blackburn (eds.), Yukon Geological Survey, Whitehorse, Yukon. pp. 293-304. https://emrlibrary.gov.yk.ca/ygs/yeg/2009/2009_p293-304.pdf [Note that in Fig. 1, the labels for Camp 1 and Camp 2 on map are transposed; Camp 1 should be to the east of Camp 2.]

2023.2.2.9 · Subseries · 2000-2002
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

With support from the Muskwa-Kechika Trust Fund as a Seed Grant, Dr. Paul Sanborn carried out a pilot study of soils in relation to prescribed burning in the Northern Rocky Mountains, in collaboration with Perry Grilz, then a Range Officer in the Ministry of Forests. Sanborn and Grilz conducted 3 days of field work in July 2001. Sanborn wanted to test the utility of plant-derived opal (phytoliths) as a soil indicator of vegetation history, in the hope of distinguishing natural grasslands from those created by anthropogenic burning.

2023.2.2.12.3 · Item · Aug. 2007
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

This document contains transcribed August 2007 field notes from 5 observation sites for Sanborn's comparative study of grassland soils in the Boreal Cordillera ecozone.

Forest soil sulphur research
2023.2.2.1 · Subseries · 1988-2011
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

Forest soil sulphur research was a continuing interest for Dr. Paul Sanborn for more than 30 years, beginning at UBC in the mid-1980s when he took a graduate course in Forest Soils from Dr. Tim Ballard. Among the things that he learned was that soils in much of BC were deficient in sulphur (S). Simultaneously, he became aware of the large amount of research on prescribed fire in BC forests, with broadcast burning being the main method of site preparation across much of the province at that time.

Sanborn undertook various projects in this area of research:

  1. UBC Postdoctoral Project on effects of prescribed fire on sulphur in forest soils (1988-90)
  2. Cluculz retrospective study (E.P. 886.10) with the BC Ministry of Forests and UNBC
  3. Sulphur stable isotope tracer study (E.P. 886.15) with the BC Ministry of Forests and UNBC
2023.2.2.2 · Subseries · 1995-2005
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Paul Sanborn worked with Dr. Lito Arocena of UNBC to assemble and interpret basic physical, chemical, and mineralogical data for typical soils at important long-term forestry research sites in central and northeastern BC. The key results were published as:

J.M. Arocena and P. Sanborn. 1999. Mineralogy and genesis of selected soils and their implications for forest management in central and northeastern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 79: 571-592. https://doi.org/10.4141/S98-07

Nine pedons were involved, with 7 located at the sites of 4 Ministry of Forests Experimental Projects (E.P.), and 2 at the Aleza Lake Research Forest.

Klutlan Glacier soils
2023.2.2.13 · Subseries · 2007-2010
Part of Dr. Paul Sanborn fonds

With the assistance of the Yukon Geological Survey, Dr. Paul Sanborn was able to visit the terminus of the Klutlan Glacier, a major outlet glacier which originates in the Alaska portion of the St. Elias Mountains. The stagnant terminus has a thick cover of debris, including a large component of White River tephra, providing enough soil material to support a boreal forest. Field work occurred on July 8, 2007, and results were published as:

Sanborn, P. 2010. Soil formation on supraglacial tephra deposits, Klutlan Glacier, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 90: 611-618. https://doi.org/10.4141/cjss10042

2006.18.1.01 · File · 1990-1996
Part of Aleza Lake Research Forest Society fonds

File consists of:

  • "A Summary of Historical Orders-in-Council affecting the Aleza Lake Forest Reserve", Mike Jull, 18 Dec. 1996
  • Photocopied memorandum from F.S. McKinnon regarding "Transfer of Aleza Lake to D.F. Prince George", 9 Sept. 1963
  • Photocopied 1928 article by P.M. Barr from Forestry Chronicle 4(3) entitled "The Aleza Lake Experiment Station: Its Development and Purpose"
  • "A Brief History of the Aleza Lake Experiment Station", [Tim Decie, 1981?]
  • Contact information for living relatives of Percy Barr, as of 1990
  • Photocopy of 1930 article by Percy Barr entitled "Spruce Reproduction in British Columbia"
  • Photocopy of records from BC Archives from a visit by Harry Coates from the file GR 1348 "The Young Mens Forestry Training Program"
  • Photocopy of excerpt regarding "Amanita Lake/Diameter Limit Logging"
  • Various small-scale maps and charts regarding Aleza Lake
  • "Aleza Lake Research Forest Information Session Notes with Mike Jull, Manager of ALRF"