Region Archives: Canada West

Breaking News

New President and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries

By Greg Stewart, Chair, COFI
Council of Forest Industries
December 19, 2024
Category: Breaking News
Region: Canada, Canada West

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), I am pleased to announce the appointment of Kim Haakstad as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of COFI. Kim Haakstad brings a wealth of experience and expertise to COFI, with over two decades of leadership in executive roles across government, industry, and stakeholder relations. A seasoned strategist and relationship builder, Kim has consistently demonstrated her ability to navigate complex policy landscapes and forge strong partnerships that drive shared success. She has served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the BC Premier and Chief of Staff to Cabinet Ministers. Her deep understanding of governmental processes, coupled with her strong connections across sectors, positions her as a uniquely qualified leader to guide COFI and the forest sector through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

As we welcome Kim to COFI, I would also like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to Linda Coady for her leadership and service as President and CEO. Linda’s work underscored the forest sector’s role in Indigenous reconciliation and supporting the diverse values BC’s forests provide — community well-being, environmental resilience, and economic prosperity.

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Opinion / EdiTOADial

CODE RED Not Orange & Green For BC Forestry

By David Elstone, Managing Director
The Spar Tree Group
December 18, 2024
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

As most may have heard by now, Premier Eby has announced an agreement in principle between the BC NDP and Greens. …Of key significance to the forest sector, the agreement commits “to undertake a review of BC forests with First Nations, workers, unions, business and community to address concerns about sustainability, jobs, environmental protection and the future of the industry.” Such broad encompassing reviews typically take several months, if not over a year to complete and even longer before acting on recommendations. To propose such a review now is a prime example of just how forestry in British Columbia has truly become all about politics and not common sense. The two parties in their wisdom, have agreed to a review while the BC forest industry is literally in its death throes.

People, please we are in a CODE RED situation when it comes to solutions and immediate action for the survival of BC forestry. Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on Canadian goods and the US softwood lumber duties of 14.4%, which are expected to double mid-next year will bring the BC forest sector to a stop. …One of the most painful aspects of this proposed review is that it implies more uncertainty as the outcome(s) of a review are awaited. If there is one thing the BC forest sector most definitely does not need is more uncertainty, in fact, it is the absolute worst idea at this moment in time. …Putting aside my grumblings about this pending review, and in support of Minister Parmar’s “getting to work” attitude, the following ideas are suggested for the Minister to explore as solutions in anticipation of tough times ahead in 2025. …I agree with Minister Parmar on getting to work because it is immediate action that is needed now.

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Another review of forest policy in BC should not be a priority right now: Linda Coady

Linda Coady, President & CEO
BC Council of Forest Industries
December 16, 2024
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

Linda Coady

VANCOUVER – Linda Coady, President & Chief Executive Officer of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), issued the following statement in response to a commitment to undertake a “review of BC forests” that is part of the cooperation agreement announced by the BC NDP and the BC Green Party. “Another review of forest policy in BC should not be a priority right now”. “Premier Eby has already publicly acknowledged that rising US duties and tariffs on forest products would have a ‘devastating’ impact on thousands of jobs in resource communities across the province. In light of this very real threat, now is the time for urgent action on the commitments the government has already made to maintaining a competitive and sustainable forest products manufacturing sector in BC. In recent years, several major reviews, reports, and new initiatives have already focused on forestry in BC.

Last week, the new BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said that “now is the time to be bold…you are not going to see a bunch of frameworks and vision statements and grandiose plans. I think we’ve done all of that work and am very thankful to my colleagues for getting us to this place. For me, it’s now (about) focusing on those clear objectives on what we need to accomplish to have a robust, sustainable industry for the next decades.” Before yet another review is launched, Minister Parmar should be given time to put forward his plan for the completion and implementation of existing initiatives before any more new ones are introduced. …Forestry is at the forefront of advancing Indigenous reconciliation through real, on-the-ground practices and partnerships. Implementation of new land use planning processes and initiatives on conservation financing have been at least two years in the making, and are still not happening at scale. 

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Business & Politics

Province appoints new BC Hydro board chair, three directors (including Don Kayne)

By Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions
Government of British Columbia
December 20, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The B.C. government has appointed a new chair and three new directors to the BC Hydro board of directors. …Glen Clark has been appointed the new chair of the BC Hydro board of directors. Clark will take over the post from current chair, Lori Wanamaker, whose term will end on Dec. 31, 2024. …Merran Smith is president of New Economy Canada and brings award-winning leadership uniting industry, government and civil-society partners. …Brynn Bourke is executive director of the BC Building Trades (BCBT). …Don Kayne is president and CEO of Canfor Corporation, and former CEO of Canfor Pulp Products Inc. Kayne has deep experience in international sales and marketing, human resources and executive compensation through 45 years with the forest company. 

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New President and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries

By Greg Stewart, Chair, COFI
Council of Forest Industries
December 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kim Haakstad

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), I am pleased to announce the appointment of Kim Haakstad as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of COFI. Kim Haakstad brings a wealth of experience and expertise to COFI, with over two decades of leadership in executive roles across government, industry, and stakeholder relations. A seasoned strategist and relationship builder, Kim has demonstrated her ability to navigate complex policy landscapes and forge strong partnerships that drive shared success. She has served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the BC Premier and Chief of Staff to Cabinet Ministers. Her deep understanding of governmental processes, coupled with her strong connections across sectors, positions her as a uniquely qualified leader to guide COFI and the forest sector through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I would also like to take extend our appreciation to Linda Coady for her leadership and service as President and CEO. 

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San Group’s creditor protection extended, monitor given more powers

By Carla Wilson
The Times Colonist
December 20, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The monitor for the San Group of companies has been granted broader powers by the Supreme Court of B.C. to manage and make decisions about the financially troubled forestry company, which has operations in Port Alberni. The San Group’s protection from creditors was extended at a court hearing in Vancouver on Thursday. The next hearing is set for Jan. 16. Expanded powers granted to Deloitte include the ability to administer the company’s restructuring and any winding down of the business, plus liquidating property and disposing of assets. The monitor is permitted to continue running the business, and said it anticipates working with current management. The various parties are expected to be back in court to ask for approval for a sale and investment solicitation process. …The court agreed the company can increase its borrowing limit to $1 million — up by $400,000 — to keep operations going.

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Arbitrator determines Cariboo Pulp and Paper worker not entitled to full compensation

By Bob Mackin
The Prince George Citizen
December 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

An arbitrator with the BC Labour Relations Board ordered Cariboo Pulp and Paper to pay a Unifor Local 1115 member $5,750 in damages in a long-running grievance. …The grievor worked in the mill since 1988 with a clear disciplinary record. …But trouble began on Feb. 26, 2020, when the worker failed to respond to 17 alarms in the control room.” …The company became concerned about potential cognitive impairment due to a stroke he had in 2017. “The employer opted to investigate whether a potential medical issue was a causal factor,” the decision said. “This triggered a lengthy series of contentious interactions with the union.” …Peltz concluded the company, in general, “proceeded reasonably expeditiously,” and is not responsible for the grievor’s loss of full wages during the return to work period. Peltz denied the union’s claim, “except for two months of wages and benefits for undue delay by the company” in retaining an occupational therapist.

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5 Questions: New forests minister Ravi Parmar on helping the struggling sector, incoming tariffs and being mentored by John Horgan

By Nathan Caddell
BC Business Magazine
December 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Parmar

Ravi Parmar was named B.C.’s minister of forests three days after his 30th birthday. He’s the youngest MLA in the legislature and holds one of its most important titles. Parmar, the MLA for Langford-Highlands, is a career politician. … the forestry industry is in some peril of late, and Parmar’s performance in the role will likely be a major factor in whether the NDP are successful over the next four years. We took some time to talk to him about the massive job that lies ahead of him.

  1. You’ve … spent your working life in government. …How have you risen so quickly up the ranks?
  2. Some were concerned about electing an MLA who had no experience outside of politics. How do you respond?
  3. A lot of people in those areas didn’t vote for your party. How are those conversations going?
  4. COFI has been very vocal about what they’d like to see. Have you met with them? 
  5. Government is intent on restricting carbon footprints as well as supporting industry. Is balancing those two things going to be critical for you?

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Cutting edge prairie sawmill

By Tony Kryzanowski
The Logging and Sawmill Journal
December 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Installation of the final few pieces of equipment at the Edgewood Forest Products stud mill in Carrot River, Saskatchewan marks the end of a three-year journey, with a more than $240 million investment by Dunkley Lumber that has resulted in a significant achievement for the company. The new state-of-the-art, two-line stud mill owned by the Strathnaver, B.C.-based company leverages some of today’s most advanced digital and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for sawmills, and the mill is now capable of producing 70 per cent more lumber on a two-shift basis than what they were able to produce previously with three shifts on a single line. Truly, a big win, production-wise. The company still employs roughly the same number of workers, as with this production uplift and investment in new technology they were able to reassign some staff and add a third shift at their planer mill. They have 171 employees.

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Forests minister promises to help build strong, sustainable industry while touring North Island

By Robin Grant
Campbell River Mirror
December 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Parmar, right

B.C.’s new minister of Forests toured the North Island last week to gain insight into the region’s forestry industry and engage with workers. During a stop at the Campbell River Mirror office on Dec. 13, Ravi Parmar acknowledged this riding did not re-elect the NDP candidate in the October provincial election. “It’s important for me to get back on the ground in these communities and to let you know we hear you,” he said. ….In 2025, Parvar said he will launch a review of B.C. timber sales. “We’re looking at transforming B.C. timber sales in a way to ensure that it delivers for British Columbians, and that it delivers, most importantly, for workers,” he said. An additional focus is to double the size of community forests, which are forestry operations managed by a local government, First Nation, or community-held organization for the benefit of the entire community.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

‘Tinder of construction’ aims to keep B.C. building waste out of landfills

By Dirk Meissner
The Canadian Press in CTV News
December 30, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Recently, more than 150 development industry leaders, including those in contracting, manufacturing, demolition, deconstruction and waste management, gathered in Nanaimo and Victoria to nail down partnerships to keep waste materials in circulation and out of the dump. The launch in November of the Building Material Exchange, abbreviated to BMEx, aims at getting the word out to the construction and development community that their project leftovers have value, said Gil Yaron. …The unique in-Canada program is free to join, he said. In early 2025, the project will launch an online BMEx Marketplace, which will become a business-to-business platform for the construction industry to list and exchange excess or salvaged construction materials, said Yaron. …Recycling construction materials rather than sending them to landfills saves money, while participating in the program can elevate and showcase the business as a supporter of environmental and sustainable practices, he said.

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Fire-torn Jasper entering new year with hope and anxiety

By Jack Farrell
The Canadian Press in the Edmonton Journal
December 27, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

JASPER — About 5,000 residents and 20,000 visitors were safely evacuated before the fire breached the western edge of town and destroyed 350 homes and businesses, including 820 housing units. The Insurance Bureau of Canada pegged the damage at $880 million. Six months after the fire, debris is still being cleared — lot by lot. Locals including Kim Stark are quick to say things could have been worse. But anxiety over temporary living situations and what may be a long and slow rebuild process has many residents and municipal leaders feeling unsettled heading into 2025. For Sabrina Charlebois and David Leoni, the top concern is the Alberta government’s $112-million modular housing project. It’s to put up 250 pre-built rental units in the town and rent them to those displaced by the fire. Their anxiety is heightened when they consider the unpredictable nature of the town’s tourism economy and how it could complicate the pace of rebuilding.

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BC implements new measures to boost home construction

By Ministry of Finance
The Province of BC
December 20, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

New actions are being implemented to help more people find affordable homes in the communities where they live and work. …Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the B.C. home-flipping tax will be in place to discourage investors from buying housing to turn a quick profit. People who sell their home within two years of buying will be subject to the tax, unless they qualify for an exemption, such as divorce, job loss or change in household membership. It is expected approximately 4,000 properties will be subject to the tax in 2025. All revenue from the tax will go directly into strengthening housing programs and building new affordable homes in B.C. …Other measures to help make homeownership more accessible and improve the supply of housing, which came into effect April 1, 2024, are new thresholds for the first-time homebuyers’ program and the newly built home exemption.

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The new Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub brings industry leaders together to talk wood and add value

By Andie Mollins
Williams Lake Tribune
December 20, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Stephanie Ewen

The Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF) and partners are stirring things up for Cariboo woodworkers who on Dec. 12 were invited to visit the research forest’s main office in Williams Lake. It’s all part of a new initiative known as the Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub (CWITH), an opportunity for the Cariboo to strengthen its wood industry by coming together and sharing ideas. “We’re hoping to start offering courses in January, but I think that will just be the first step,” said Stephanie Ewen, manager of the AFRF, the University of British Columbia’s research forest. What the innovation hub will come to be is not entirely clear, but there are ideas, and the team of bright minds supporting the project, which includes the Cariboo Regional District, are encouraging others to contribute their own ideas. An open house was held December 12… 

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An in-depth look at University of British Columbia’s $560 million student residence complex

By Grant Cameron
Journal of Commerce
December 18, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Some early prep work has started at the site of a new, $560-million student residence complex that is slated to be built in the Lower Mall Precinct of the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver. The venture represents the largest provincial contribution to any single post-secondary institution capital project in B.C.’s history. There will be five buildings ranging in height from eight to 22 storeys tall. …One of the structures will be a mass timber hybrid building. …The mass timber building will be eight storeys tall. …For the complex, the design team will be focused on carbon resilience, biodiversity and hydrology and use materials to create sustainable spaces and enhance the well-being of inhabitants. The team is aiming for LEED Gold certification.

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Forestry

Dead and dying trees crucial to Vancouver Island ecosystems: biologist

By Jessica Darling
The Parksville Qualicum Beach News
December 22, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

NANAIMO, BC — Dead or dying trees, also called snags, are sometimes viewed as an eyesore, but a B.C. scientist is warning that if they don’t present a safety hazard, it’s important to leave them be. “There’s systematic elimination of those roost trees and habitat trees because of forestry and safety concerns, residential and agricultural development – we have so few snags in our environment and so many species require them,” said wildlife conservation biologist Christoph Steeger at a presentation this month in Nanaimo. Steeger has spent a career researching wildlife trees, and his work has included a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of wildlife tree retention. “Because of forestry and other forces there are hardly any left and that’s of grave concern.” His talk was titled ‘the importance of wildlife trees for bats’.

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From new mines to closed mills, 2024 marked year of shake-ups for B.C. resource sector

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
December 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

For B.C.’s resource sector, 2024 was a year of openings and closings, beginnings and endings. While one cornerstone industry, forestry, was battered with sawmill closures, it was something of a banner year for mining, and oil and gas. …Here are some highlights and lowlights from 2024: Forestry – The year began with Paper Excellence announcing in January that it would “indefinitely” shut down its paper-producing operation at its Catalyst Crofton mill, but would keep operating the pulp side of the mill, which has close to 400 employees. The same month, West Fraser Timber Co. announced the permanent closure of its sawmill in Fraser Lake. In May, Canfor Corp. announced the permanent closure of its Polar sawmill in Bear Lake, and the suspension of its planned reinvestment in its Houston mill, which it had shuttered in 2023. In September, Canfor announced the closure of its Plateau sawmill in Vanderhoof, and its sawmill in Fort St. John.

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Why this company says thousands of trees must be removed from Stanley Park

By Simon LIttle and Alissa Thibault
Global News
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The consulting company that recommended the removal of thousands of trees from Stanley Park is sharing its perspective on a project that’s spurred considerable local controversy. The Vancouver Park Board began removing trees from the park after it revealed in November 2023 that up to 160,000 of them had been killed by a hemlock looper moth infestation and had become unsafe. The report that led to the removal was authored by B.A. Blackwell and Associates, which also worked to restore the Stanley Park forest after a damaging windstorm in 2006. “I felt this was an opportunity to provide an education moment because there’s a lot to learn about this issue, it’s complicated,” Bruce Blackwell, the company’s principal, told Global News during a tour of the affected areas of the park on Thursday. Blackwell was emphatic that the only purpose of the tree removal in the park is public safety.

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BC Forest Enhancement Society Projects Update

The Forest Enhancement Society of B.C.
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

With the winter chill in the air, it seems like a good time to reflect on the role that wood plays in keeping us warm. According to Natural Resources Canada, in 2023, there were 646 bioheat systems in Canada. Wood chips and wood pellets are the most common fuel types.  Quebec is leading the way with 221 systems, the Northwest Territories is a distant second with 96 systems and B.C. is a close third with 81. There are 105 community-owned systems across Canada and 40% are in Indigenous communities. This is a good start, but we have a long way to go to catch up to some of our boreal peers. …FESBC programs are helping to ensure that wood fibre harvested for timber, to reduce wildfire risk or to salvage stands damaged by fire or insects that don’t make their way into sawmills, and which would otherwise be burned to reduce wildfire risk, is instead being used to generate heat and energy. 

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Skeena region Christmas tree farm owner scales back business

By Harvin Bhathal
The Caledonia Courier
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Don Coburn

Don Coburn, owner of Skeena Valley Christmas Tree Farm, is scaling down the business after years of supplying the region and province. “[In 2020], I had around 2,000 trees coming in a year and I had customers,” he said. “But then the price of trees went way up four years ago because of a shortage in North America and the world basically, so I began shipping them out to places like Vancouver, Victoria and Squamish.” In 2021, his farm expanded to around 4,200 trees. The following year he had around 3,700, around 2,600 the year after, and this year, he is down to around 1,500. “I was growing too many trees and for a few years, I had too many trees and no customers,” he said, speaking about how, when prices plateaued, he was left with overstocked inventory.  Coburn is unsure how long he will stay in the business. 

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BC’s forestry practices are antiquated

Letter by Mike P. Robinson
The Powell River Peak
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Walking through the clear-cuts north of Lund, I’ve noticed they’re not terrible by typical standards … the real problem lies in what comes next: replanting. Replanted areas aren’t forests; they’re fiber-farms—dense monocultures devoid of biodiversity. There are no birds, deer, or diverse plant life, just crowded trees competing for scarce nutrients. If we had to live off these lands, we’d starve. Replanting is a public relations greenwash, creating biological deserts instead of ecosystems. Naturally regenerating forests, by contrast, begins with nitrogen-fixing alders, enriched soils and balanced biodiversity. …Yet British Columbia clings to outdated forestry models focused on short-term profit. …Why not replant one clear-cut while letting others regenerate naturally? We could compare outcomes and learn something valuable. …We could listen to professional foresters and scientists rather than corporate lobbyists. BC could lead the world in forestry innovation, but only if we upgrade our economic belief systems. 

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One little sawmill, one big legacy

By James Steidle, Stop the Spray
The Prince George Citizen
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE GEORGE — Pete Stoner’s small sawmill operation received a lot of attention over the years, and rightly so. There’s a plaque on the wall celebrating two million board feet of production. “It’s three million board feet now,” a pretty wild achievement with a one- or two-person sawmill. Nevertheless, it’s been easy for government policy makers to ignore operations like Pete and Maggie’s. In their nearly three decades of sawmilling Pete and Maggie put out as much production as the big Polar supermill at Bear Lake, now closed, would put out in less than three shifts. …However, the BC Liberals changed all that. …Before the government did the majors a solid and squeezed the little guys off the land, there were around 30 small sawmills between Quesnel and Prince George turning out value-added wood products, much of it based on birch and aspen.

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The Canoe in the Forest

By Joshua Hunt
Hakai Magazine – Coastal Science and Societies
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

For decades, much of Sealaska’s revenue has been tied to the extraction of resources from its significant landholdings, including the patch of old-growth forest where the canoe was found. The scout who discovered the site was far from the waterline, high up in the kind of steep terrain considered ideal for helicopter logging, when he noticed an unusual number of stumps for a site where cutting had not yet begun. Then he noticed that many of the fallen logs next to those stumps were missing sections of their trunks up to 10 meters long. Only after finding a single canoe that had been carved but not hauled away did he realize where the missing sections had gone.

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Halalt First Nation sues North Cowichan, forestry firm over logging practices

By Larry Pynn
The Tyee
December 12, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Halalt First Nation in the Cowichan Valley has launched a class-action lawsuit against private forest giant Mosaic Forest Management and three levels of government for damages related to flooding on the band’s reserve on the lower Chemainus River. The B.C. Supreme Court action names several “forestry defendants,” and the Municipality of North Cowichan for logging that contributed to downstream flooding. …The suit alleges the forestry defendants “conducted their forestry operations in a careless and reckless manner” by overharvesting and failing to manage and clear harmful logging debris. It also says logging caused increased surface runoff, sedimentation and riverbank erosion in the Chemainus River watershed. …The suit also names the federal and provincial governments, Island Corridor Foundation and Managed Forest Council, which is an independent provincial agency. All three levels of government also declined to comment on the legal action. …Halalt Chief James Thomas declined to comment at this time.

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Mackenzie Region wins Forest Capital of Canada title two years in a row

By Ethan Montague
My Grande Prairie Now
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Mackenzie Region of Alberta has been named the Forest Capital of Canada for the second year in a row. The FCC designation has been a tradition across the country every year since 1979 and is awarded by the Canadian Institute of Forestry. The award aims to celebrate communities or regions for their connection to the forest, and Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen says his riding, Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, continues to embrace the natural beauty in its own backyard. “Congratulations to the Mackenzie Region for being recognized as the Forest Capital of Canada for the second consecutive year,” he says. “This title reflects the region’s connection to our natural environment and its commitment to forestry education and responsible stewardship.”

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Dead and dying trees important to B.C. ecosystems, says biologist

By Jessica Durling
Nanaimo News Bulletin
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dead or dying trees, also called snags, are sometimes viewed as an eyesore, but a B.C. scientist is warning that if they don’t present a safety hazard, it’s important to leave them be… Among B.C. bats, 14 of 15 species roost in trees, 11 roost in dead trees and eight of them roost exclusively in dead trees… Other species, like chickadees and nuthatches, require trees that were dead for even longer, so their beak can penetrate the ‘spongy’ wood… A solution was the wildlife danger tree assessor’s course, developed as a partnership between the B.C. government and the University of Northern B.C., which teaches professionals to identify the differences between a safe snag and a dangerous one. These factors include the tree’s root system and the direction the tree may fall.

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Back to the future: Re-establishing a historic forest landscape in B.C.

By Jim Stirling
The Logging and Sawmill Journal
December 19, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

benchland overlooking B.C.’s Chilcotin River is an ideal location to recreate an historic forest landscape from the region’s past. It was an ecosystem of grasslands interspersed with groups of trees and it reflected how much of the region once appeared. A group of First Nations forest companies are working to re-establish the diversity of yesterday’s landscape while making the forest better equipped to survive the more devastating wildfires predicted, as global warming conditions intensify. …The forest fire season of 2017 won’t soon be forgotten in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. …The decision was taken to replant the burned area near the Chilcotin River in 2021. But the elements hadn’t finished creating their havoc. “That was the heat dome year,” reminds Daniel Persson, forestry superintendent with Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd (CCR) based in Williams Lake. The heat dome wiped out about 95 per cent of the newly planted seedlings, continues Persson.

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BC Forest Practices Board audit of Valemount forestry operation finds issues

BC Forest Practices Board
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VALEMOUNT – A forestry audit of the Valemount Community Forest Company Ltd. (VCF) reveals that bridge construction and maintenance continue to be a pervasive issue in B.C. forestry. The Forest Practices Board audited all activities carried out by the VCF between July 1, 2021, and July 28, 2023. While the licensee complied with most requirements, the report identifies five significant non compliances, two of which are related to bridge construction and maintenance. Auditors had no safety concerns with the bridges installed during the audit period. However, the licensee did not have any of the legally required documents outlining how it would ensure these bridges were safe and structurally sound for industrial use. “We continue to see licensees fall short of practice requirements for their bridges,” said Keith Atkinson, chair of the board. “This can put the safety of truck drivers and other industrial road users at risk.” …The report also identifies two significant non-compliances related to wildfire protection. 

Additional coverage in Business in Vancouver by Nelson Bennett: Loggers warned to take more care with fire prevention

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B.C. tree planting to plummet 23% amid wildfire boom

By Stefan Labbé
North Shore News
December 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia’s government expects to plant nearly 60 million fewer trees next year — a 23 per cent drop from this year’s planting season at a time the province has seen a major spike in wildfire activity. The projections come from presentation slides obtained by Glacier Media and shown to industry in September, less than 10 days before the B.C.’s provincial election campaign kicked off. During the campaign, the BC NDP promised to plant 300 million trees annually across the province to “help increase forest resilience.” That promise came off the back of two of the most destructive wildfire seasons in B.C.’s history. In 2023 alone, more than 6,000 fires torched 15 million hectares of land, an area larger than England, according to Natural Resources Canada. But according to the province’s own projections, the government expects the number of trees planted to sink to 233 million in 2025, down from 291 million in 2024 and far short of its election promise.

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Aspen is a natural fire guard. Why has B.C. spent decades killing it off with glyphosate?

By Ainslie Cruickshank
The Narwhal
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

For decades, forestry companies in B.C. have used chemical herbicides like glyphosate to kill off plants that might compete with trees destined for timber. Trembling aspen, named for its almost heart-shaped leaves that seem to quiver in the wind, is often on the hit list. But after years of destructive wildfires that have wiped out whole neighbourhoods and sometimes whole towns, more and more people are questioning the wisdom of killing off this tree. Because when wildfires sweep across the landscape, aspen can help calm the flames… “Anytime we apply herbicides, we are changing potential fire behaviour,” wildland fire ecologist Robert Gray explains… in areas where aspen and other deciduous trees are killed, a natural fire break is lost too.

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BC Commits to Reverse Declining Reforestation Program

By John Betts, dedicated to resisting writing robots and other assaults on the written word
Western Forestry Contractors’ Association
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia’s planting program will drop abruptly next year to approximately 237-million seedlings… Recognizing the risks this poses to the province’s forests and the ecosystem resilience contracting sector that grows and plants trees, BC has committed to rebuild the annual program to at least 300-million seedlings. Given the decline is driven primarily by B.C.’s shrinking annual harvest, making up for the downfall could represent doubling the Ministry of Forest’s Forest Investment Program. …it will require significant talent and funds for our government to not just sow, grow and plant these additional seedlings, but to survey, find, and prescribe the appropriate sites. Meeting this restoration objective will require concerted public and private collaboration …and involvement of the whole reforestation service supply chain. …In its upcoming meeting with Forests Minister Ravi Parmar the WFCA will urge him to make meeting our government’s goal of planting 300-million seedlings annually an operational priority.

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Statement on the Stanley Park Forest Management Project

By Bruce Blackwell, Principal, Blackwell and Associates Ltd.
LinkedIn
December 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bruce Blackwell

I grew up in Vancouver and … feel a deep connection … Stanley Park, and have advocated professionally for sound management and stewardship of urban forests within communities throughout the province. Since 2019, Stanley Park’s forested area has been increasingly affected by a western hemlock looper outbreak, which has impacted up to 160,000 trees. In 2022, the Vancouver Park Board commissioned an assessment to understand the risk to public safety, and long-term wildfire risk, posed by the looper-impacted trees. My company, B.A. Blackwell & Associates Ltd., was selected through a competitive process to conduct this impact assessment. …Our team includes some of the most experienced professionals in forestry, arboriculture, ecology, and biology. Together, we’ve developed a plan grounded in the best available science, informed by years of experience working in Stanley Park and throughout the province. Based on our experience and expertise, we believe the path we’re on is the best one for the long-term health and resilience of this beloved green space.

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Alberta Forest Products Association Community Newsletter

Alberta Forest Products Association
December 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In the December newsletter, the AFPA highlights include:

  • New team members: Alyxandra Chorney joins as full time Policy Analyst Nicole Galambos is new Director of Forest Policy
  • The Love Alberta Forests campaign – visit the 2024 year in review 
  • Alberta joins forestry trade mission to Japan to expand market opportunities 
  • Recent article: It’s Time to Fix Canada’s Species at Risk Act
  • Forestry Talks Podcast – watch the latest episodes
  • WorkWild educational events deliver forestry education to students in Alberta

 

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

The BC NDP is not the climate leader it is cracked up to be

By Barry Saxifrage
The National Observer
January 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

BC’s New Democratic Party was just re-elected in a campaign where they touted their climate leadership. Despite these reassuring words, Canadians should pay close attention to what’s happening. The province has turned into a climate laggard, with emissions stuck far above 1990 levels. And, perhaps shockingly, all the increase in climate pollution has happened while the BC NDP has been running the government. …For comparison, I’ve shown what Canada and its peers in the G7 advanced economies have done. BC is doing even worse than the G7’s climate laggard, Canada. …A second startling takeaway is how the entire rise in provincial emissions happened while the BC NDP was running the government. …Provincial emissions rose by a net total of 16 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) during the years when the BC NDP were in power. Provincial emissions fell by a net 2 MtCO2 during the years the BC Liberals controlled government.

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Canadian carbon removal company scores US$40M grant from fund backed by Bill Gates

by Amanda Stephenson
Victoria Times Colonist
December 18, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Canadian Press

A Canadian company that has received a US$40-million grant from Bill Gates’ climate solutions venture firm says its Alberta test site will be removing carbon directly from the atmosphere as early as this spring. Montreal-based startup Deep Sky announced Wednesday it was awarded funding from the Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to help finance what it calls its Deep Sky Alpha project. Construction work at the project site, located north of Calgary in the town of Innisfail, is already under way… It is the first Canadian company to receive an investment from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which funds commercial projects for emerging climate technologies in an effort to accelerate their adoption and reduce their costs.

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Health & Safety

Towing effort during icy conditions turns fatal Monday near Logan Lake

RADIO NL 610
December 19, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

While details are minimal to this point, the BC Forest Safety Council is reporting a logging truck driver was killed outside of Logan Lake sometime Monday. According to the Safety Council’s bulletin issued Wednesday, the person was killed December 16th while attempting to “tow a log truck that had spun out on an icy road.” The details on a specific location, as well as the circumstances surrounding the person’s death, have not been detailed. …A separate bulletin issued by the BC Forest Safety Council this week also highlights the dangers that forestry workers face while on the front-lines of felling operations. It points to two separate, non-fatal incidents involving heavy machinery being used in different operations in the Southern Interior this fall, including one near Scotch Creek in the Shuswap. Both involve harvesting in steep-sloped areas.

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Study links wildfire smoke and dementia risk. What does it mean for the North?

By Talar Stockton
Yukon News
December 19, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Wildfire smoke in the air has become a signature of summer in the North. While rarely welcome, smoky days are growing less rare every year as climate change continues to create the ideal conditions for wildfires – and wildfire smoke. It’s common knowledge that wildfire smoke can cause a range of short-term health issues, like headaches and a runny nose. However, like other forms of pollution, wildfire smoke can have long-term effects – like dementia, as a recent study has found. The Yukon health authorities don’t feel the need to wait for research specific to the territory before recommending action. Researchers showed wildfire smoke was associated with an increase in risk of dementia diagnosis – especially for marginalized people. While the study population was located in California, health officials in the Yukon and Northwest Territories say there are things to be done to mitigate the health effects of smoke here, too.  

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Logging truck driver killed in incident near Logan Lake, forestry safety council says

BC Forest Safety Council
December 16, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

On December 16th, a log truck driver was fatally injured during an attempt to tow a log truck that had spun out on an icy road. This incident occurred in an area near Logan Lake, BC. WorkSafeBC and the Coroners Service are investigating this incident. We extend our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and our sympathies to all those affected by this incident. This is the second harvesting fatality of 2024… We extend our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and our sympathies to all those affected by this incident.

Additional coverage in Castanet by Kristen Holliday: Logging truck driver killed in incident near Logan Lake, forestry safety council says

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Board of Directors approves amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation

By Lori Guiton, Director, Policy, Regulation and Research Department
WorkSafeBC
December 19, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

At its November 2024 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors approved amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. These amendments will become effective on March 31, 2025. Strikethrough versions of the amendments with explanatory notes can be accessed below. Deletions in the regulatory amendments are identified with a strikethrough and additions are in bold text and highlighted in yellow.

The above amendments were posted online for feedback during the public hearing process. Stakeholder feedback received is available for review.

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Amendments to Part 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation

WorkSafeBC
December 17, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

At its May 2024 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors approved amendments pertaining to Emergency Planning in Part 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. These amendments will come into effect on February 3, 2025. Part 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation sets out the requirements for emergency planning relating to hazardous substances. On February 3, 2025, amendments to these requirements will come into effect, to provide additional clarity and to further reduce risk to workers and other people posed by emergencies involving hazardous substances. This resource provides an overview of the changes to help affected employers prepare for the new requirements. OHS Guidelines are also being developed to provide additional support for employers; these guidelines will be available on February 3.

For the full text of the Regulation amendments, see the Board of Directors decision document

Backgrounder: Emergency procedures for hazardous substances

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