Vancouver Island is heading into the 2026 wildfire season under precarious conditions. Island snowpack is below normal, Environment Canada forecasts warmer and drier conditions through June, and there’s a 62 per cent chance of a strong El Niño by late summer — the weather pattern behind the prolonged heat and drought that intensifies wildfire risk. For Mosaic, which manages over 550,000 hectares of private forest land across Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast on behalf of two of Canada’s largest pension plans, wildfire preparedness is fundamental to responsible land management. This year, the company is further preparing by expanding its wildfire detection and mitigation capabilities. …This season, Mosaic is set to pilot an integrated detection system in the Nanaimo Lakes drainage, combining cameras, ground-level sensors and low-orbit satellite monitoring to identify ignitions faster and across a wider area. …“Our forests support local economies, local pensions and are cherished recreational spaces,” said Steve Mjaaland, Senior Manager of Forest Protection at Mosaic.
Ottawa’s decision not to include softwood lumber among the industries that will benefit from $1 billion in tariff relief funding sparked frustration from BC Premier David Eby, who said softwood lumber in the province has been “decimated” by U.S. tariffs. “I don’t know what it’s going to take, really, to get the bureaucrats and the ministers in Ottawa to recognize that softwood lumber employs more people in Canada than steel and auto parts combined,” Eby said. …”I really feel like BC’s projects are not getting the attention they deserve.” …Eby said he does not know why the industry would have been overlooked, though he hopes a separate funding announcement just for softwood lumber is in the works. …Jeff Bromley, wood council chair with the United Steelworkers, said 150,000 workers across Canada make their living off forestry. “I wish they would have included a broader program that would have helped our forestry industry,” he said.
CROFTON, BC — Numerous companies and investors have expressed an interest in purchasing the Domtar pulp mill site in Crofton since the facility shut down operations earlier this year. Domtar said in a statement that it is exploring a variety of possibilities for the future of the waterfront site, and North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said a number of interested parties have contacted the municipality directly looking to buy the site for a range of potential uses, including manufacturing, energy production, and other industrial purposes. …“Domtar has retained BMO Capital Markets to evaluate potential purchase proposals and expects to make a decision regarding the site’s future in the coming months.” Douglas said that as decisions about the site’s future use will ultimately rest with Domtar or a prospective new owner, and not the municipality, he is encouraging interested parties to contact Domtar directly.
The Province and seven Treaty 8 First Nations have taken a next step toward creating a thriving and community-centered local economy in northeastern British Columbia. Restoration agreements will restore and protect the environment, provide predictability and stability to existing industries, as well as establish new business opportunities in the region, while ensuring historic Treaty Rights are upheld. “The restoration agreements will build on the strong partnership that we have with the Treaty 8 First Nations, which is a First Nations led approach,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions. “This work is guided by the belief that healing the land and healing the people are inseparable. …This partnership approach to land and resource management will help to uphold constitutionally protected Treaty Rights, while supporting a vibrant economy.”
MACKENZIE, BC — Conifex will temporarily curtail sawmill operations at its Mackenzie facility for about seven weeks starting May 19, 2026, with a target restart in July 2026. This planned sawmill curtailment is primarily driven by log inventory levels and fibre availability, in conjunction with seasonal logging breakup conditions impacting supply across the BC Interior. Logging operations are expected to resume in early June, subject to, among other things, weather conditions. The curtailment represents an approximately 25 million board feet supply impact. We continue to advance initiatives underway to broaden our available financing options. …Conifex restarted the Mackenzie sawmill in February after a four-week curtailment. The restart followed the completion of a $19 million secured term loan for its subsidiary Conifex Mackenzie Forest Products. 
CALGARY, Alberta — Alberta’s government is investing $6 million over three years to support the next generation of skilled trades workers with the launch of the Alberta Trades Discovery Centre. The industry-led initiative will offer junior high and high school students hands-on exposure to careers in the skilled trades before they graduate. Set to open this fall, the Alberta Trades Discovery Centre will provide a dedicated, professional space where students can explore construction trades, learn directly from experienced tradespeople and discover what they are good at and what they enjoy, helping them make informed choices about high school courses, post-secondary pathways and future careers.
Dear North Cowichan mayor and council, and Premier David Eby: It’s not surprising a four-councillor cluster voted against a cogent April 15 motion urging our province to review and strengthen our forest policies, including those governing raw-log exports. The difference this time is right-wing councillors Findlay, Manhas, Caljouw Jr., and Hogg seemingly disregarded valley forest workers, and backed corporate timber firms’ desires for less, not more, public land-harvesting rules and regulations. Coun. Chris Justice’s logical, timely motion aimed to boost wood-fibre supplies for Canadian processing and value-added manufacturing — supporting local and Island forestry jobs — partly through a long-sought raw-log export ban. …Admit the current industry’s end is near. Instead, let’s finally explore making alternative, job-rich building materials in North Cowichan and elsewhere.
Wildfire investigators found a small cabin, a barbecue, a metal campfire ring and shooting targets near where one of the most destructive wildfires in the Okanagan originated. But while the McDougall Creek wildfire was determined to be human caused, the exact cause of the fire remains “undetermined.” The McDougall Creek was first reported to the BC Wildfire Service on Aug. 15, 2023, putting up a small puff of smoke in the hills above West Kelowna. Two days later, the fire had spread rapidly through a number of Central Okanagan neighbourhoods, destroying nearly 200 homes. This past December, the Ministry of Forests completed its Wildfire Origin and Cause Investigation Report… But despite more than two years of investigation by three wildfire investigators, the cause of the massive fire remains “undetermined.” This is largely due to the fire burning back over the area of origin, destroying any evidence of its ignition.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC is highlighting a decade of work advancing forest resilience, fibre utilization, and climate action across the province. Framed by Earth Day reflections, the latest update underscores how thoughtful forest management—from wildfire risk reduction to rehabilitation and better use of low-value fibre—can play a meaningful role in addressing climate change. FESBC continues to support projects that reduce slash burning by turning residual fibre into bioenergy, cutting greenhouse gas emissions while creating economic opportunities for communities. The newsletter also points to the importance of collaboration, including Indigenous leadership, in delivering lasting forest stewardship outcomes. Featured stories include a fuel management project with Kenpesq’t Forestry, reflections from former forests minister Doug Donaldson, and recognition of FESBC’s impact at the BC Legislature. A safety tip from the BC Forest Safety Council rounds out the update, reinforcing the sector’s ongoing focus on worker safety.
Air traffic in parts of west-central Alberta has been busier than normal over the last few days as the province prepares for another wildfire season. Newly recruited wildland firefighters are participating in training sessions in Hinton, Alta., about 270 kilometres west of Edmonton. The rookies will learn how to initially attack a fire, a process that includes a helicopter ride. Meanwhile in nearby Edson, Alta., about 90 kilometres to the east, seven planes have been stationed at the Edson Air Tanker Base. The planes, which arrived on Monday, are ready to be deployed in the event a wildfire breaks out in the region, said Derrick Forsythe, an information officer with Alberta Wildfire. The area has seen less snow than other parts of the province.
Mother Nature is the expert on growing forests, but sometimes she needs a helping hand. This hand is especially helpful when something disrupts her well-honed process in the first place. Such is the case with the forestry plantations in qax mot and the effort to restore these areas by the Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT). Located at the Morrison Creek headwaters up Lake Trail Rd., the qax mot Conservation Area consists of 22 hectares of riparian forests and forestry plantations. …About 9 per cent of qax mot consists of forestry plantations. While it might seem like planting trees is always a good idea, the way the Douglas fir plantations were installed prohibit the natural regenerative cycle essential to a healthy forest. The trees were planted too closely, making it nearly impossible for light to break through the canopy, leaving the forest floor virtually barren of the undergrowth species we associate with a thriving West Coast forest.
Extreme weather events in northern Manitoba are challenging to navigate, and the lack of weather radar sites in the northern part of the province only adds to that challenge, experts say. “We experienced that a lot last summer during our forest fire,” said Mike Funk, the emergency co-ordinator for the City of Flin Flon. “We would get reports from Environment Canada, [saying] ‘We’re expecting rainfall,’ and they were great at predicting the time that it would hit [elsewhere]. But by the time it got close to your area, nothing happened.” Last spring, Flin Flon, more than 600 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg, was nearly encircled by wildfires. The city of roughly 5,000 was evacuated for weeks. Funk said a weather radar station in the north would give his community a clearer picture of what type of weather they could expect.
A motion to contact the province and urge it to review and strengthen its forestry policies, including those governing raw-log exports, failed in a 4-3 vote at North Cowichan’s council meeting on April 15. The motion by Coun. Christopher Justice, if it passed, was intended to help improve fibre availability for domestic processing, support value-added wood manufacturing, and sustain forestry employment on Vancouver Island. A number of delegations spoke to council on the issue at the meeting. Arnold Bercov, a former president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada, spoke in favour of council supporting Justice’s motion. …Brian Bull, a long-time worker at the WFP’s curtailed Chemainus sawmill, said if the motion passes, it would create a conversation about the issue at a time when many forest companies and the province don’t want to have that conversation. …Mosaic Forest Management’s Karen Brandt and Nick Broekhuizen also spoke on the issue.
Wekweètì’s senior administrative officer is hoping to get a few million dollars from both the territorial and federal governments to support a biomass district heating project in the community. Fred Behrens said he recently found opportunities to apply for money from the territorial government’s GHG Grant Program and the federal government’s Build Communities Strong Fund for the project. It involves setting up a heat plant across from the community government office in Wekweètì, which is 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife and home to about 100 people. The space will store wood chips and contain three 300-kilowatt biomass boilers that’ll pump heat to 44 homes and 11 institutional buildings through a network of underground pipes. Behrens said the system would be fueled using material gathered from forest thinning and wildfire prevention work around the community. The boilers would also be connected to the community’s diesel generators, using their exhaust as a source of heat too.