Recent incidents in BC’s forest industry, in which trees being felled have contacted energized transmission lines, have led to the creation of some new documents by BC Hydro. These new documents support discussions with forest companies/ harvesting contractors to ensure obligations to identify the hazardous areas associated with harvesting near powerlines are addressed. One of these documents, The Logging Near Powerlines Emergency Contact Form, focuses on strict compliance with current WorkSafeBC (WSBC) Regulations. …Electricity seeks the path of least resistance to the ground. That path could include a tree, mobile equipment, tools, or the human body. …Health and safety in forestry workplaces is the responsibility of all parties that have an influence on how work is carried out. …Where possible as part of the initial planning process ensure that cut block boundaries are well away from the powerline corridor.
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The sale of a former sawmill owned by industry giant Canfor in Fort St. John could be happening very soon. According to a news tip received by Energeticcity.ca, a purchase by a salvage company based in the province’s interior was “99 per cent complete” with the new ownership possessing the property and hourly employees would have their last shift on Friday, May 29th, at midnight. The sawmill at 9312 259 Road was announced as closing in 2024, following a “systematic, orderly wind-down process” affecting 220 jobs. However, when approached by Energeticcity.ca, media relations representative of Canfor, Mina Laudan, said that no sale has been finalized as of yet.
A B.C. forestry company embroiled in insolvency proceedings has been handed a $429,000 penalty and two-year ban from hiring migrant workers after it was found to have violated several federal regulations. The sanctions to San Industries (part of the San Group) came after federal inspectors found it had breached five sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, rules designed to protect temporary foreign workers. According to a May 15 decision, inspectors found pay or working conditions did not match what San Industries had advertised. The employer was also found not to be engaged in the business the workers were hired for and could not show that the job it had sought to fill matched its Labour Market Impact Assessment application. And in another violation, San Industries was found to have broken federal or provincial laws for hiring and recruiting employees. …At $429,000, the penalty is the province’s second-largest on record.
B.C.’s housing market remained tepid into April as sales pointing to another disappointing spring market. Seasonally adjusted home sales decreased by 1.1 per cent in April to 5,227 units after a 0.5 per cent drop in March. This was also the lowest monthly figure since November 2023. …Weak housing market conditions are likely to progress in the near term given the shaky geopolitical climate, sluggish economic growth and weak labour market conditions. …On the manufacturing front, sales in B.C. rose marginally in March. …Wood product manufacturing also declined for the third consecutive month, falling 2.4 per cent to $728 million. This represents the lowest level since May 2020, when sales were $623 million. Year to date, durable goods sales are up 2.6 per cent.
We studied the efficiency and productivity of BC’s secondary wood manufacturing sector using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist total factor productivity index (MPI), while incorporating data from both a survey on individual firms and Statistics Canada’s sectoral data. DEA results showed that BC’s secondary wood manufacturing firms had low efficiency and the factor contributing to the inefficiency was more lack of technical capability than scale of operations in most of the business types. The MPI results reveal that SWM consistently underperforms relative to the sawmill and panel sectors, with a clear divergence emerging after the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Weak productivity growth is largely attributable to limited and inconsistent technical change, reflecting a lack of innovation and adoption of new technologies. Policies aimed at supporting the sector could focus on factors improving firms’ technical efficiency and frontier such as process optimization, technology adoption and innovation, and training and skill development.
MANITOBA — A northern Manitoba tree-planting program is trying to replace trees destroyed by wildfires, but the cancellation of the federal two billion trees program is making that more challenging. In 2016, this forest in Manitoba’s Interlake region, about 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was devastated by a jack pine budworm infestation. It was starting to regenerate when wildfire ravaged the Devils Lake area in 2021. Areas just north are already burning this spring. Marley Moose says she felt sad when she returned to the forest three years ago as part of a tree-planting program through Nekoté LP, an Indigenous-owned corporation representing seven Swampy Cree First Nations in northern and central Manitoba. According to the Canadian Tree Nursery Association (CTNA), the country is losing trees faster than nature can grow them or people can plant them.
A new logging road project on the Sunshine Coast has drawn concern from local environmental advocates. At the same time, provincial officials say the work is designed to improve access and protect water resources. The Ministry of Forests confirmed to Coast Reporter that it is responsible for the road-building contract tied to Timber Sale Licence A94817. This project will see “just over 4km” of new road constructed to “move industrial traffic away from high-use public roads” and to create long-term access for multiple user groups. The ministry also said that the design has “enhanced overland techniques to minimize impacts to ground water,” along with water-quality monitoring and environmental oversight. However, Elphinstone Logging Focus’s (ELF) Ross Muirhead says the scope of the project is unusual for the region, saying four kilometres of brand new logging road is “unprecedented” on the Coast and that most projects are much shorter.
The start to the 2026 wildfire season has been slow with the number of fires raging across the country well below average, but government officials warn that as the summer progresses there’s a risk things could get much worse. “Despite the fact that we’re seeing so little activity so far this year … this summer retains the potential to be a significant one right across the country,” a government official said Thursday during a technical briefing. The official said that while the wildfire risk is unlikely to result in a record-breaking year like 2023 or 2025, the federal government is forecasting above average conditions as the season progresses. Whether that happens depends, officials explained, on what happens to the weather over the next few months. If the above average temperatures predicted for across the county come to pass, B.C. faces the highest wildfire risk, particularly in July.
Olds College entomologist Ken Fry says forest tent caterpillars are native to Alberta and relatively common, but their populations go through cycles in which they increase dramatically. Municipalities in Alberta are advising residents of an increase in the caterpillars this spring. “Roughly every 10 years populations increase enormously,” he said. The cyclical population explosion is called an outbreak. He said the causes of these cyclical outbreaks are still being studied but are believed to be influenced by weather, health status of trees, and other factors like predators, parasites and disease. Forest tent caterpillars are perhaps best known for the damage they inflict on trees. …”Trees can usually withstand a one-season munching, but when it comes to prolonged persistent defoliation over two, three years, that can result in some twig death or branch death or die back, you know, vulnerability over the winter to winter kill, things like that,” Fry said.
WHISTLER — As Western spruce budworm populations continue to spread through Whistler’s forests at historically unprecedented levels, the BC government is preparing to spray thousands of hectares around the resort municipality with a biological insecticide to blunt the outbreak. The Ministry of Forests is planning to aerially treat areas using Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk)—a naturally occurring soil bacterium used for decades to control defoliating insects. Taylor Holt, the provincial resource coordinator, said… the aerial overview surveys in 2025 picked up 275,000 hectares of damage. [It’s] nearly three times as much damage as noted ever historically.” …Cheakamus Community Forest (CCF) executive director Heather Beresford, said. “So this is really the only viable treatment.” Still, she acknowledged the decision comes with uncomfortable trade-offs between wanting to prevent dead trees from posing a wildfire risk and protecting local non-budworm species who will be affected by spraying BtK.
Prescribed burning is getting renewed attention in parts of B.C. as communities look for ways to reduce wildfire risk before summer. In Kimberley, B.C., that conversation recently took residents onto the trails near the city’s nature park. The city-led walk gave residents a look at treated areas where crews have been reducing forest fuels. They also heard from local fire officials and wildfire specialists about how planned fire can help protect nearby homes, trails and forested parkland from wildfire risk. Kimberley Fire Department Chief Will Booth says the tour was meant to help residents understand prescribed burning before more fuel management work happens in the city. The local tour comes as prescribed and cultural burning are getting more public attention after years of being less visible. …Bob Gray, a wildland fire ecologist and fire scientist, says warmer temperatures and drought are adding pressure to forests that already have too many trees competing for moisture.
British Columbia’s forests support a diversity of trees, plants, fungi and wildlife, while also providing recreational opportunities, cultural values, and economic benefits to communities. As we recognized the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22 and Wildfire Awareness Month throughout May, it’s an important time to reflect on the connection between healthy forests, resilient ecosystems, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them. Wildfire resilience and biodiversity are deeply connected. Thoughtful forest management activities, including strategic fuel reduction treatments and cultural and prescribed burning, can help reduce wildfire risk while also creating healthier and more diverse forest ecosystems for generations to come. …Today, FESBC is investing in treatments that reduce wildfire risk around communities, infrastructure and other resources. We are supporting the return of cultural and prescribed burning to the landscape. We are asking questions about how wildfire risk reduction treatments can also support biodiversity and other forest values, such as recreation.
Experts are calling on the B.C. government to halt logging in a Tsitika watershed cutblock on northern Vancouver Island that has been designated for old-growth deferral. But the some First Nations whose territory it falls in say they have their own approach to managing the area sustainably. Pacific Wild, an environmental organization, says B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS) is selling off rare and ecologically significant forests for minimal economic return. In letters sent to BCTS and other government decision-makers in April, the organization presented new data, maps and field evidence showing that cutblock TA1375 — identified by the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel as a Priority Deferral Area — provides essential habitat for threatened species and stores significant amounts of carbon. The cutblock was auctioned in March despite opposition from scientists, community members and many First Nations whose territories overlap with the Tsitika watershed.
Residents and visitors to Cowichan Bay on Saturday, May 30 take note. A large-scale exercise to help emergency responders train for potential wildfires is taking place in Cowichan Bay from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Please do not be alarmed and help ensure crews can safely complete their training by obeying signage and giving personnel and equipment plenty of space,” said CVRD spokesperson Lisa Moilanen. The exercise will include Shawnigan Lake, Malahat, Mill Bay, Cowichan Bay, Duncan, Sahtlam, Ladysmith, and North Oyster fire departments, as well as BC Wildfire Services and more “working, practicing and learning together to help be aligned, prepared and keep our communities safe,” Moilanen added. The exercise features a scenario where a forest fire is threatening a developed area or community. Moilanen said people will notice emergency vehicles, personnel, traffic cones, and wildfire response activities around Falcon Crescent, and Wilmot, Galdwell, Rondeault, and Hillbank Roads.
Classification change policy in the Assessment Manual lists the possible reasons for changing a firm’s classification. Under this policy, a firm’s failure to provide timely, complete, and accurate information to WorkSafeBC, and to respond promptly to information requests or information provided by WorkSafeBC (the positive duties), is addressed under the heading of fraud or misrepresentation. This creates confusion when the contravention is inadvertent. Our Policy, Regulation and Research Department is releasing a discussion paper with proposed amendments to policy in the Assessment Manual to clarify how a contravention of the positive duties is interpreted in the context of classification change. The discussion paper and information on how to provide feedback can be found here: 
