Region Archives: Canada West

Special Feature

Frontline Operations Group to join Forsite

By Carleigh Drew
Forsite Consultants Ltd.
January 23, 2023
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

Salmon Arm, BC – Forsite is excited to announce that Frontline Operations Group is joining the Forsite team as we continue to build an innovative and industry leading fire services team. This collaboration further expands our wildfire and forestry expertise, fortifying our commitment to our clients across Canada as we respond strategically and collaboratively to wildfire risks. Frontline Operations is an industry leader in integrated wildfire and forestry services. Frontline Operation’s partners John and Andy have five decades of combined wildland fire management experience. Along with their staff, they will bolster the Forsite team to apply significant industry expertise, innovation and operational delivery excellence to wildfire risk assessment, community planning, fuel management, cultural and prescribed fire, and wildfire operations. 

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Beetles, fires, NDP policies eat into timber supply

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
January 18, 2023
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

Russ Taylor and Paul Quinn

It was perhaps akin to announcing funding for a new fish processing plant in response to the total collapse of fish stocks. In response to last week’s announcement by Canfor Corp. … Premier David Eby announced a $90 million fund aimed at encouraging investments in value-added wood industries… While that is “nice,” it completely misses the point, David Elstone writes in in his View From the Stump  – the point being that there is simply not enough affordable timber in B.C. to sustain the current number of operating sawmills and pulp mills.

Analysts speaking at the BC Truck Loggers Association Convention in Vancouver echoed Elstone’s point. …“If the future is mass timber, you still need lumber to make mass timber,” said Paul Quinn with RBC Capital Markets. …Russ Taylor, with Russ Taylor Global said “You have to have a healthy sawmilling industry, and you have to have a fair stumpage and stable timber volumes to make the sawmill costs competitive and fair.” Quinn went so far as to suggest the current government is indifferent to the plight of forestry dependent communities because that’s not where its voter base is. …Taylor noted that sawmill capacity in the U.S. – mainly the Southern U.S. – has grown 40 per cent since 2014, while B.C. sawmill capacity declined 30 per cent. …Premier David Eby will have a chance to defend his government’s policies on forestry tomorrow, when he gives a keynote address to the TLA Convention.

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Business & Politics

$68.8M to retool B.C. mill to produce wood-based single-use plastic replacements

By Don Bodger
The Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News
January 20, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s beleaguered forest industry received a significant boost today with the announcement of a new project designed to fill the gap created by the global move away from single-use plastics.  About 100 jobs are expected to return to the Crofton Catalyst pulp mill on Vancouver Island through a partnership involving the provincial and federal governments and mill owner Paper Excellence.  Premier David Eby headlined a press conference at the mill site Friday morning brought together government, company and workers to announce the mill is retooling to manufacture new pulp products to replace single-use plastics.  The feds are contributing $14.3 million and the province $4.5M for a combined $18.8M along with Paper Excellence’s investment of $50M to restart Crofton’s dormant C2 paper machine. …One key benefit is getting people back to work so quickly after paper operations were curtailed in December due to weakening Chinese paper markets and escalating input costs.

Additional coverage:

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Four more Treaty 8 nations sign land use agreement

By Nelson Bennett
Buisness in Vancouver
January 20, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bevin Wirzba & Justin Napoleon

Four more First Nations belonging to Treaty 8 have signed an agreement with the province on a land and resource use agreement for northeastern B.C.  Earlier this week, the province announced an agreement with the Blueberry River First Nation that will limit industrial development like forestry and oil and gas extraction in the First Nations traditional territory to address the cumulative impacts that constituted a breach of treaty rights.   …On Friday, the B.C. government announced four more Treaty 8 First Nations in northeastern B.C. have also now signed a consensus agreement on land and resource use: the Doig River, Halfway River, Fort Nelson and Saulteau First Nations.  The consensus agreement sets out the parameters for upholding treaty rights, addressing environmental impacts through restoration, and supporting “responsible resource development and economic activity in the northeast.”

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Uncertainty for the future of forestry in B.C.

Global News
January 21, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

There’s been mixed news for the forestry industry in the last few weeks, from the closure of a pulp mill in Prince George to new money announced for jobs. Linda Coady, President and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries, talks about how the sector can overcome the uncertainty it currently faces.

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Can we create more jobs while cutting fewer trees?

Editorial by Matthew Claxton
Blackpress – Maple Ridge News
January 21, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The forest industry in B.C. supplies building materials for homes and businesses, furniture, and the fast-growing mass timber construction industry, not to mention pulp for paper. The good thing about trees is that they grow back. Unlike oil or coal or metals dug up out of the ground, we can ensure a fresh supply of timber pretty much in perpetuity, if we manage our forests in the right way… Unfortunately, we haven’t always done that, and now we’re faced with an ecosystem that’s under stress, with too few stands of old growth left, and an industry that is used to having access to more wood than is actually sustainable. …The goal for forestry in B.C. has to be to cut fewer trees, while turning what we do cut into useful products that we can export across Canada and the world. It’s been a dream of multiple B.C. governments, and no one has managed to make it work.

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New fund to increase access to fire damaged timber

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
January 19, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

Premier David Eby promised faster permitting and $50 million to increase access to fire damaged wood at the Truck Loggers Association Convention Thursday. The recent announcement that Canfor is shutting down its pulp mill in Prince George has underscored a fibre crisis in B.C. that has seen a wave of sawmills curtailed or permanently shuttered, followed by a wave of pulp and paper mill closures. Eby blamed the timber supply crisis in part on “inadequate land use planning,” and acknowledged the economic pain such closures can cause in smaller forest dependent communities. …Joe Nemeth, project manager for the BC Pulp and Paper Coalition, said the program would make up to four million tonnes of waste wood available to pulp mills, if the program were to become permanent, as a opposed to a one-off grant. …Eby also announced $1.5 million in grant funding to give loggers and tenure holders access to up-to-date data on log pricing.

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Premier Eby at Crofton mill Friday morning for an announcement

By Don Bodger
The Cowichan Valley Citizen
January 19, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia Premier David Eby will be at the Paper Excellence Catalyst Crofton mill Friday morning for an announcement about supporting workers and promoting value-added innovation in Crofton. He’ll be joined by Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey, and Parliamentary Secretary for Forests and Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley. The announcement is expected to involve the repurposing of paper operations. Paper Excellence has been working with both the provincial and federal governments while conducting studies at the Crofton facility to consider accelerating its conversion into natural food and packaging grades.

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British Columbia’s Forestry Woes, Explained with John Brink, Brink Group

By Stu McNish
Conversations that Matter
January 20, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

In December 2021, Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer penned a startling piece about British Columbia’s forest industry. His headline read, “BC forest companies expanding at a rapid pace, but not at home.” That means BC-based forest companies were and continue to invest heavily in wood product production everywhere except the home province they come from. The flow of forestry capital out of BC is accelerating, including investments made by Canfor, which last year invested $420 million to acquire Alberta-based Millar Western Forest Products. And the rush to get out of BC continues to spiral upward; on the day of this recording, Canfor announced the closing of a pulp line in Prince George, terminating 300 jobs. It’s not all bad news. …We invited John Brink to join us for a Conversation That Matter about how we got to the current state of forestry in BC.

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BC Liberal leader says continued lumber tariffs, possible mega bust may be problematic for the north

By Brendan Pawliw
MY PG NOW
January 19, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kavin Falcon

The lack of a Softwood lumber agreement with the United States and ongoing duties continue to be a thorn in the side of BC’s struggling forestry sector. Currently, most companies pay 8.59% in tariffs in order to ship their product south of the border. BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon stated to local media in order for the province to shed its “highest cost producer label”, the NDP government needs to make a concerted effort to meet with officials neighbouring states like Washington and Oregon. …“The industry in the states has been very challenging in terms of constantly going after our forestry sector, suggesting that everything we do here is unfair. They have never really understood the government’s role in the forest industry here in British Columbia. The whole idea of crown tenure completely blows their mind because that’s not the paradigm that they operate in.”

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Prince George pulp mill closure an opportunity to reimagine forestry

By Neil Godbout
Prince George Citizen
January 20, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

When huge problems have presented themselves in Prince George history, residents have a history of stepping up with innovative, ambitious “made in PG” solutions. …Forest sector layoff and mill closures in Prince George?…The response needs to be bigger and far more creative than Premier David Eby sending a crisis response team to Prince George and throwing out $90 million over the next three years with no plan on how to spend it and no details of who will get it or how. The response also needs to shake off the prevailing attitude that “the glory days are now in the rearview mirror for the forest industry” …Forestry will only die if we let it die, and what a tragedy that would be. Properly managed, forestry is a sustainable, renewable resource, a goose that can lay golden eggs forever, a generous gift for our children and our grandchildren. That means looking 50 years ahead, not 50 days and 50 months.

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B.C.’s forestry’s future dependent on attracting new workers

By Ted Clarke
The Prince George Citizen
January 18, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The question of how to attract new talent was put to a panel at the BC Natural Resources Forum. …Suzanne Gill, CEO of Genome BC said “There’s a huge appetite in our younger generation around social justice, around protecting the environment, and we should harness that for good.” Lennard Joe, CEO of the B.C. First Nations Forestry Council said “with an aging workforce, job prospects now and in the future are healthy”. Western Forest Products VP Jennifer Foster says the problem of recruiting skilled tradespeople to operate the company’s eight sawmills is one of her most troubling concerns. Compounding the problem is the skyrocketing cost of living increases over the past two years. …Panel moderator Linda Coady, CEO of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, said … “We’ve got cost issues here in B.C., we’ve got issues around accessing economic fibre and we’ve got skill shortages, so it’s a triple-whammy.

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‘It’s challenging right now’: Future of forestry discussed at BC Natural Resources Forum

By Caden Fanshaw
CKPG News Prince George
January 18, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE GEORGE – It was a busy first full day for the 20th Annual BC Natural Resources Forum at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre. Several panels were held around forestry, the workforce, and partnerships with Indigenous people. Stakeholders said the forestry sector is facing a triple whammy with market conditions, a skilled worker shortage, and a lack of fibre forcing changes in all corners of the province. Jennifer Foster, Senior Vice President for HR and Corporate Affairs at Western Forest Products said the skilled worker shortage is one of those problems that keep her up at night. The moderator for the ‘Future of Forestry’ panel was Linda Coady, the new President and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries quick to point to the challenging times facing one of BC’s biggest industries, and the work needed to ease some of the issues.

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Canfor closure in Prince George a sign of neglected forestry policy, says Unifor

Unifor Canada
January 18, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The permanent closure of the pulp line at Canfor’s Prince George mill was preventable, says Unifor. “Hundreds of families have been forced to deal with job loss due to an entirely preventable mill closure,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President.  “Our union, along with many others, has been advocating for better and more sustainable forestry policies for years. It’s clear this government is not moving fast enough to repair the damage done by the B.C. Liberals.” Over the course of 16 years between 2001 and 2017, the B.C. Liberal government oversaw the loss of more than 45,000 forestry jobs. The sector remains weakened and in need of progressive strategies and oversight, says Unifor. …While the closure of the pulp line at the Canfor mill did not affect Unifor members with direct job loss, consequences will be felt community-wide.“Any time there’s a curtailment or a closure, it affects us all,” said McGarrigle.

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Kevin Falcon slams NDP’s response to forest industry struggles

By Mark Nielsen
Prince George Citizen
January 18, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kevin Falcon

B.C. Liberal leader Kevin Falcon roundly criticized the New Democrats’ recently-announced plan for generating new manufacturing jobs in the wake of the permanent closure of a line at Canfor’s Pulp and Paper Mill. Fielding questions from local media Falcon said the plan lacks details and will do nothing to help displaced workers in the short term. “…why can’t they practically deal with big slash piles that are being burned that could actually be, with the proper dollars and incentives, delivered to the pulp mill? There is potentially 1.2 million cubic metres of fibre out there that is currently being burned that could be utilized to keep that mill operating,” Falcon said. …”Their solution to red tape issues…is to hire up to 200 more bureaucrats to help make the permitting process go faster, which is actually laughable,” Falcon said. “What they need to do is fix their current process for getting permits issued…”

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B.C. promises $90M for innovative projects for forest-dependent communities

Canadian Press in Chek News
January 17, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

The British Columbia government is promising up to $90 million over three years to support new industrial and manufacturing projects in communities hurt by the downturn in the forestry industry. Premier David Eby made the announcement in Prince George Tuesday, where Canfor Pulp Products said last week it was closing the pulp line at its mill, eliminating 300 jobs by the end of the year. The support program will take applications from all manufacturing sectors, but the government says the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund is aimed at areas experiencing economic impacts from changes in the forestry sector. The funding could be used by a forestry company to buy new equipment to support new product lines, for example, or by a company that wants to build or expand a plastics-alternative manufacturing facility in a rural community. …The BC Pulp and Paper Coalition says today’s funding announcement is like putting the cart before the horse for his sector of forestry.

Additional coverage in CBC News by Andrew Kurjata: B.C. announces $90M manufacturing jobs fund to help transition struggling forestry communities

BC Government Press Release, Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation: New jobs fund will support employment, resilient economies

Vancouver Sun by Katie DeRosa: B.C. announces $90 million fund aimed at protecting jobs in faltering forestry industry

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Saskatchewan farmer reclaiming and reusing abandoned grain elevators

By Grant Cameron
Journal of Commerce
January 18, 2023
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

The landscape of Canada’s Prairie provinces is dotted with the hulking presence of dilapidated wood grain elevators that are no longer needed. Many have been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. To some they are a relic of the past, posing a health and safety hazard. But to retired farmer Alvin Herman of Milden, Sask., they represent an opportunity. He started a company with other partners that dismantles the elevators, salvages thousands of feet of the weathered board and either repurposes the wood into decorative furnishings or recycles the scrap into mass timber building products like engineered wood panels, columns and beams. …The focus of the company is to remove dilapidated structures like grain elevators and reclaim and repurpose the lumber. In doing so, it removes a safety risk and stops the wood from being burned. …Much of the material used to build the elevators is old-growth wood, which is difficult to obtain.

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Forestry

Changing how we manage our B.C. forests will usher in a bright future

By Satnam Manhas, RPF
The Province
January 21, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Satnam Manhas

British Columbia has long been known for our forests, and for decades the province’s economy was dominated by forestry. But high rates of harvest due to the mountain-pine-beetle infestation, and increased wildfires due to climate change and historical fire suppression, are forcing us to make a serious choice.  Either we continue logging at the current rate and keep the status quo for another five years at most, or we consider some serious changes to how we manage our forests and forest sector: Leveraging innovations, using carbon markets to build value as our forests regrow, protecting the biodiversity we have left and integrating First Nations decision-making.  …Mills are being starved of wood because there simply isn’t enough to cut — something everyone knew would happen when these mega mills were built, despite the feigned shock we hear from so many commentators now.

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First Nations spell out how natural resource companies should work in B.C. at annual meeting

By Lee Wilson
APTN News
January 20, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Chris Roberts

First Nations, government and industry leaders gathered in Lheidli T’enneh territory to discuss opportunities in the resource sector – and what corporations need to do in the future.  Wei Wai Kum Chief Chris Roberts told the industry leaders in attendance that the First Nations need to be included projects because the land belongs to them.  “The recognition of our rights and our title and the fact the territories you’re all operating, where you have an interest, where the government the last 150 or 200 years to manage it, it is ours,” he said.  “It belongs to the nation in the territory where you live and play and work, and that acknowledgement and recognition is the foundation that leads to how we are going to be a part of it.”  …,Leaders from Haisla Nation, Saulteau First Nations and Wei Wai Kum First Nations had a panel discussion on progressive Indigenous businesses.

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‘I get shivers’: Five old-growth trees found in remote area of North Cowichan forest

By Skye Ryan
Chek News
January 22, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Striding over moss and crackling branches, Larry Pynn and Bruce Coates hiked deep into a North Cowichan forest Sunday to show us their find. “I get shivers, you know I love it, I really do,” said Bruce Coates, president of the Cowichan Valley Naturalists’ Society. “It feels so good to find these last few,” said Larry Pynn, a Cowichan resident and publisher of SixMountains.ca. The naturalists discovered a hidden treasure of trees growing way off the beaten path last week. …The area the giants are growing in along the Chemainus River is part of the North Cowichan Municipal Forest Reserve, which has temporarily halted logging due to a public consultation to determine the future of its over 5000 hectares of forest. That consultation ends later this month, so the naturalists hope this discovery will lead more people to want to protect this unique forest from harvesting.

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Harvesting Burnt Stands with Mercer Forestry Services

Mercer International Inc.
January 20, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…Globally, in all Mercer operating areas, we’ve experienced unseasonably warm temperatures, extreme drought conditions, and wildfires increasing in both number and severity. Mercer Forestry Services (MFS) has worked with the BC Wildfire Service to help fight wildfires by using logging equipment to build fire breaks and douse flames. …These natural disturbances can have a major effect on the environment, including the carbon balance. …Depending on the severity of a wildfire, however, burnt trees within the stand are not wasted. …Time is of the essence to harvest this timber, as the longer a tree sits after a forest fire, the less moisture it will contain. Therefore, MFS aims to harvest approved stands as soon as safely possible after it’s burnt to salvage as much of the tree as we can. …these areas affected by natural forces and harvesting can be replanted, regrown, and thrive once again. 

 

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B.C. forest industry looks to get out of the woods amid meetings with government leaders

By Wolf Depner
BC Local News
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The state of the provincial forestry industry and its future is this week’s focus for Premier David Eby and other key industry leaders. …Bob Brash, TLA’s executive director, told Black Press that the association is looking for specific measures to help reduce what he called the “fair bit of concern and uncertainty” in the industry. …Forest companies have also lamented declines in the annual allowable cut with the proviso that the actual amount harvested is generally less. “Predictability on fibre supply is really critical,” said Linda Coady of the BC Council of Forest Industries. While the annual allowable cut was around 80 million cubic-meters per year around 2007… it will level out somewhere between 40 and 50 million cubic meters by 2030 – quite a swing. …Other issues facing include government’s deferral of nearly 1.7 million hectares of old growth forest.

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Parks Canada thinning forests around Banff townsite to lower wildfire, mountain pine beetle risk

By Jayme Doll
Global News
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ribbons of smoke curl up out of the forests framing the Trans Canada Highway as drivers enter and exit Banff’s townsite in the picturesque Rocky Mountains of western Alberta. There, Parks Canada crews have been hard at work trying to remove the fuel on the forest floor and canopy in Banff National Park. “What that involves is pruning and thinning the forest so we can reduce the amount of fuel load in terms of wildfire risk reduction,” said David Tavernini, Fire and Vegetation Specialist with Parks Canada. “This helps us manage wildfires safely and be able to protect the communities, people and infrastructure,” he added. This season, about 34 hectares of forest with be thinned. The forests in Banff National Park are not only old and beyond what is considered their natural burning cycle, but mountain pine beetle is also wreaking havoc on the ecosystem.

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BC Provides Funding to Expand Use of Fibre and Support Forestry Workers

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Forestry workers and communities throughout the province will benefit from new funding for the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) to increase fibre supply aimed at keeping people working and local mills running, while also mitigating wildfire risks and reducing climate emissions.  “The projects funded through the Forest Enhancement Society of BC will help us get more fire-damaged wood and logging waste to the mills that need it. At the same time, forestry contractors will have more work hauling fibre that would otherwise be too remote or costly to access. This also supports our continued focus on getting more well-paying jobs from our forests,” said Premier David Eby. With an investment of $50 million from the Province, FESBC will expand funding for projects and programs that increase the use of low-value or residual fibre, including trees damaged by recent wildfires and waste left over from logging that would otherwise be burned in slash piles.

Addition coverage in BlackPress by Wolf Depner: Province pumps $50-million into increasing fibre supply in B.C.

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Loggers warned to steer clear of newly mapped old-growth forest patches in central B.C.

By Ainslie Cruickshank
The Narwhal
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Two years after B.C.’s forestry watchdog warned biodiversity in the Prince George timber supply area may be at “high risk,” the provincial government has mapped important old-growth areas — and told logging companies to steer clear. Though these areas have not been legally protected, Ministry of Forests officials told logging companies in a Dec. 21 letter that they expect the old-growth parcels to be “respected as no harvest areas.” The move is “quite significant,” said Michelle Connolly, director of the non-profit Conservation North. “It’s an extensive area — it’s a quarter of a million hectares of high-value primary forest,” she said, adding, “they’re extremely important areas ecologically.” “The staff that did this actually should be commended,” she said. …The changes come two years after the Forest Practices Board, the forestry watchdog, wrapped up an investigation into the way biodiversity is managed in the Prince George timber supply area, following a complaint from a local resident. 

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‘Once You’ve Clear Cut It, That’s It’

By Zoe Yunker
The Tyee
January 20, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Chief Knox

Lemare Lake Logging Ltd., working on behalf of Kwakiutl First Nation band council, logged a tract of old-growth forest in Kwakiutl territory on northern Vancouver Island after receiving a cease-and-desist order from hereditary leaders. Hereditary Chief N’amugwis David Mungo Knox says that he tried to engage with the province and the parties in question to little effect, and that the nation has called for an old-growth moratorium for over a decade. “I’m trying to save what we have left for the future, because this is our ancient old growth. Once you’ve clear cut it, that’s it,” he said. The cutblocks are located within the Douglas Treaty area, a coastal strip of territory reaching from Port McNeil to Port Hardy… Knox said they include large tracts of red cedar, salmon spawning habitat and active bear dens, and that they reflect rare, old-growth forest in areas that have been heavily logged.

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The Hagen Family Foundation donates to a frog conservation project in British Columbia, Canada

By Rolf C. Hagen Inc.
Cision Newswire
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

BAIE-D’URFÉ, QC – The Hagen Family Foundation announces a donation towards Wildlife Preservation Canada for the conservation efforts to save the Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa), the most endangered frog in Canada. A sum of $10,000 was donated to provide financial relief and support for their recovery plan of this species at risk. Wildlife Preservation Canada’s mission is to save animal species at risk from extinction in Canada… According to the Wildlife Preservation Canada (WPC) website, the biggest factor driving the decline of the Oregon spotted frog is likely habitat loss caused by development, agricultural land conversion, resource extraction, and hydrological alterations. Other threats include invasive species and pollution. With just a handful of breeding populations left in Canada, this species could easily disappear without hands-on intervention.

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We need more community control over our forests

By Peter Ewart
Prince George Citizen
January 20, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. has some of the richest and most diverse forests in the world. But, as everyone knows, these forests are in bad shape now and the forest industry itself is in crisis. How has this come about? There are a host of problems ranging from the over-harvesting of timber to raw log exports, pine and spruce beetle infestations, lack of reinvestment, failure to extract more value from the wood, environmental degradation, and now an acute shortage of wood fibre which has contributed to the closure of the pulp line at Prince George Pulp & Paper and 300 employees losing their jobs. One thing is clear. For too long, government forest policy has been under the thumb of the giant globalized forest companies with just about everyone else relegated to the sidelines. And we are seeing the results of this lop-sided big company domination with the sorry state of our forests today.

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Not Your Grandparent’s Forest Sector with Derek Nighbor

Alberta Forest Products Association
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In this episode Derek Nighbor, President and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), joins Aspen Dudzic at AFPA’s 80th AGM and Conference to share his unique view of forestry in the federal landscape. Join them as they dig into big topics like net-zero carbon and what it means when we hear people talk about nature-based climate solutions, and what a forest bioeconomy is all about. Derek also shares a bit about what drives his passion for Canadian forestry and explores themes of innovation, sustainability, and why as Derek puts it, “this is not your grandma and grandpa’s forest sector.” Join Aspen and Derek for all that and a whole lot more. And if you’re eager for even more, check out ForestryForTheFuture.ca!

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Future of the Sector: Thomas Bennett, FIT

Forest Friendly Communities
January 16, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Thomas Bennett

This is Thomas Bennett, Forester In Training (FIT). He’s an Assistant Operations Engineer at Teal Jones. In this role, he works closely with his supervisor on all phases of timber development in the Fraser Valley, specifically Upper Pitt Lake, from admin and contracting to harvesting and road planning. Thomas, 23, always knew he wanted to work outdoors for his career. His enthusiasm about forestry led him to join UBC’s Urban Forestry program, before switching to Forest Resources Management to become a Registered Professional Forester (RPF). While in the program, Thomas received the Gordon Baskerville Best in Program Award. …“Challenging times in the industry bring opportunity for creativity and innovation,” says Thomas. Technological advancements like cross-laminated timber and wood-based products substituted for plastic make his future in the industry that much more exciting for him.

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Impact of Forest Practices on Water Quality near Avola, BC

BC Forest Practices Board
January 18, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Owners of a property near Avola, BC (the complainants) are concerned that:

  • given a history of landslides in the area, planned harvesting by BC Timber Sales (BCTS) will cause landslides that could cause harm or loss of life, and damage their house, property and licensed waterworks;
  • a road being constructed by BCTS caused sediment and heavy metals to enter the groundwater and surface water that they divert for human consumption, irrigation and farm animals; and,
  • sediment from BCTS’s road damaged their licensed waterworks.

The Board considered whether BCTS complied with FRPA’s requirements regarding landslides, fish habitat, drinking water and licensed waterworks.

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Province, Blueberry River First Nations reach agreement

By Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship
Government of British Columbia
January 18, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The B.C. government and Blueberry River First Nations have reached a historic agreement that will guide them forward in a partnership approach to land, water and resource stewardship that ensures Blueberry River members can meaningfully exercise their Treaty 8 rights, and provide stability and predictability for industry in the region. “This agreement provides a clear pathway to get the hard work started on healing and restoring the land, and start on the joint planning with strong criteria to protect ecosystems, wildlife habitat and old forests,” said Chief Judy Desjarlais of the Blueberry River First Nations. “With the knowledge and guidance of our Elders, this new agreement will ensure there will be healthy land and resources for current and future generations to carry on our people’s way of life.”

Additional coverage in Victoria Times Colonist, by the Canadian Press: B.C. signs ‘historic’ deal with First Nation after court fight over treaty rights

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FireSmart program envisions water reservoirs surrounding Kaslo

By John Boivin
Nelson Star
January 18, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The people working to protect Kaslo from forest fires want to establish a series of temporary ponds that could be used as water reservoirs around the town. The pitch was made by John Cathro, who has been heading up the Village of Kaslo FireSmart program for the last few years. “We know we don’t have enough water when we need it. We don’t have the ability to get the water from temporary storage to where we need it,” Cathro told the Dec. 13 meeting of Kaslo Village council. “So that [planning] is going to be a big part of the coming year.” Cathro presented the idea while updating council on the community’s work to better protect itself from wildfires. He said a lot had been accomplished in the last few years by various agencies working together on FireSmart programs – from the community forest to regional government to local fire protection services.

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Learning from Indigenous Peoples

By David Suzuki
The Vancouver Island Free Daily
January 18, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

I learned of the battle over clearcut logging on Haida Gwaii in the 1970s. Forest companies had been denuding much of the islands by clearcut logging, which had generated growing opposition. In the early 1980s, I flew to Haida Gwaii to interview loggers, forestry officials, government bureaucrats, environmentalists and Indigenous people. One of the people I interviewed was a young Haida artist named Guujaaw, who had led the opposition to logging for years. Unemployment was high in Haida communities, and logging generated desperately needed jobs. So I asked Guujaaw why he opposed the logging. He answered, “Our people have determined that Windy Bay and other areas must be left in their natural condition so that we can keep our identity and pass it on to following generations. The forests, those oceans, are what keep us as Haida people today.”

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Vernon’s Tolko helps out Okanagan Forest Task Force

By Darren Handschuh
Castanet
January 19, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An Vernon-based forestry company has come to the aid of the Okanagan Forest Task Force. The task force has been working on a documentary, What Lies Behind The Trees, in an effort to show the extent of illegal dumping in Okanagan forests. Earlier this month, Kane Blake posted on the OFTF Facebook page that the project had to be put on hold due to “major computer issues.” However, Vernon’s Tolko Industries stepped up to provide the non-profit group with a donation to get the documentary moving forward again. …The documentary will show what is happening in the mountains surrounding the Valley and the damage illegal dumping is causing to our forests.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

More discussion needed on B.C.’s green wood pellet industry

By Jim Hilton
The Williams Lake Tribune
January 22, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

I will be the first to admit supporting the establishment of a wood pellet processing plant in Williams Lake which I thought would finally reduce the burning of logging slash piles around our communities. …In an article entitled “Cut Down Trees Just to Burn Them? We Can Do Better,” the authors describe how there is an alarming amount of logs being harvested to make wood pellets rather than using the residual logging material that was first used in the early pellet facilities. Their research, including photographs shows an alarming trend. …While the log decks shown in the photos are huge some of the material appears to be small diameter and possibly deciduous and much appears of usable quality for alternative uses.

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Announcing Support for Innovative Forest Product Technologies At the 20th Annual BC Natural Resources Forum

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
January 18, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – Natural Resources Canada participated at the 20th Annual BC Natural Resources Forum and announced a total contribution of over $10 million to HTEC and West Fraser Mills Ltd. The contribution comes from the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program, which facilitates the adoption of innovative technologies by bridging the gap between product development and commercialization. Located in Nanaimo, B.C., HTEC’s project will operate a renewable hydrogen production facility at the Harmac Pacific Pulp Mill, producing clean hydrogen by electrolysis. With a $10-million contribution through IFIT, this hydrogen will be used as clean fuel for transportation and heating… HTEC’s project with Harmac Pacific is an example of how surplus energy from mills can be utilized to lower emissions and advance federal and provincial clean hydrogen goals. Employees at West Fraser Mills Ltd. in Quesnel, B.C., are currently conducting two studies through a contribution of over $449,000 from the IFIT program. 

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Judge rejects lawsuit claiming B.C. failed to properly report climate change plans

By Wolf Depner
BC Local News in The Comox Valley Record
January 18, 2023
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

George Heyman

A court ruling favouring the B.C. government in a dispute over climate change reporting requirements also finds the province is not likely meet its immediate climate change goals. Justice Jasvinder Basran of the B.C. Supreme Court offers this assessment while dismissing a suit filed by environmental law charity Ecojustice on behalf of Sierra Club B.C. The suit claimed the Minster of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman had breached statutory obligations by not including plans for meeting climate change targets set for 2025, 2040, 2050 and the oil and gas sector target set for 2030. The group filed the suit in March 2022 with respect to the 2021 Climate Change Accountability Report.

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Health & Safety

Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls in the Workplace

WorkSafeBC
January 18, 2023
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

This book, written for employers and joint health and safety committees, describes common misconceptions about slips, trips, and falls as well as the factors that contribute to their causes. It also discusses how employers can effectively manage the risks by identifying the hazards and implementing controls related to a variety of factors, including workplace design, flooring, cleaning procedures, and worker footwear.

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Molly lift strap safety inspection

BC Forest Safety Council
You Tube
December 7, 2022
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lift strap (or molly) failures present significant safety risks to log truck drivers. It is crucial to regularly inspect the lift strap so ensure it is replaced before it fails. This video explains an inspection process and shows what to look for and when lift straps must be taken out of service/replaced.

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