Region Archives: Canada West

Business & Politics

Western Forest Products donates $10k to Port Alberni Salvation Army

The Alberni Valley News
December 18, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Salvation Army in Port Alberni has received a helping hand from Western Forest Products. Western announced on Thursday, Dec. 15 a contribution of $100,000 to community groups and First Nations partners across B.C. and Washington State to help provide food and toys for the holidays. The company’s donations to individual groups vary in amount corresponding to community size or needs, and the Salvation Army in Port Alberni has received $10,000. “We are pleased to be extending our year-long commitment to communities with this seasonal tradition again this year,” said Steven Hofer, Western’s president and CEO. “By partnering with community groups across the areas where we operate, we are able to lend a helping hand to those in need.” [END]

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Fire in Fort St. James biomass plant sparks lawsuit

By Mark Nielsen
The Prince George Citizen
December 15, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

FORT ST. JAMES, BC — The former owner of a biomass power plant in Fort St. James is laying the blame for a fire on the company hired to build the facility. Iberdrola Energy Projects Canada Corporation… are named as defendants in a notice of claim Fort St. James Green Energy Partnership filed December 8 in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. The plaintiff is seeking damages related to the cost of repairing the damage. It says that on or about Dec. 31, 2019 a surge capacitor in the plant’s main termination box “failed”. …In July 2021, the owners announced they were no longer operating the plant, which had employed 38 people. In  October 2021, BioNorth Energy… announced a plan to restart the facility. At that point, the 40-megawatt plant still had 26 years left on an electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro, and there is a forest licence associated with it. 

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Aspen Planers temporarily halts all Merritt operations

By Marius Auer
Merritt Herald
December 15, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Aspen Planers has temporarily shut down their Merritt operations, closing two work sites in the Nicola Valley due to a lack of steady log supply. The closure is currently planned to last three weeks, but executives with Aspen Planers say it will ultimately be government approval of cutting permits and market conditions that determine the mill’s reopening date. Approximately 150 employees of Aspen Planers, owned by locally founded but Surrey-based company AP Group, are affected by the shutdowns. … The issue at hand, according to AP Group: a lack of logs. …Bruce Rose, executive vice president with AP Group said their main frustration is the “unnecessarily complicated and opaque” process for obtaining a cutting permit, which he said stems from the government addressing outside pressures from environmental organizations and other groups. He believes these processes can be improved while remaining climate friendly and continuing to advance reconciliation with Indigenous communities. 

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San Group hopes to develop public art program for berm around its property

By Susie Quinn
Alberni Valley News
December 14, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Two metal sculptures have cropped up on a berm at the corner of Stamp Avenue and Roger Street in Port Alberni, where a dozen mature trees were recently removed. Alberni Valley artist Michael Wright created the sculptures—a grey whale and a sea turtle—over the past few months. They were installed on the berm on San Group property in late November. …Wright was looking for an appropriate place to display his sculpture… He approached San Group about putting it up on the berm. San’s community liaison Amit Chandra Shekar, who had seen the whale exhibited along the highway, immediately said yes. …Artists with ideas for public art on the berm can submit them to amit.chandra@sangroupinc.com.

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Canfor donates $50,000 to College of New Caledonia

By Mark Nielsen
Prince George Citizen
December 13, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Students in the College of New Caledonia early childhood education programs will be able to secure any of 20 bursaries with the help of a $50,000 donation from Canfor Corporation. For the 2022-2023 academic year, CNC will offer five $2,000 bursaries and 15 $1,000 bursaries and they will be awarded to students in one- and two-year certificate and diploma programs based on their academic standing, financial need, and overall commitment to early childhood education. The donation was made through Canfor’s Good Things Come From Trees fund. “It’s important to Canfor that we invest in the next generation of early childhood educators so that we can help to provide parents in our communities with the support network they need, and enable them to join the local workforce,” said Canfor senior vice president-people Kay Player.

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Forest management company donates $100,000 to Nanaimo’s Kw’umut Lelum Foundation

The Nanaimo News Bulletin
December 14, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

A non-profit Indigenous family service foundation based in Nanaimo has received a significant financial boost, aimed at bolstering cultural initiatives, after a $100,000 donation from a forestry company. Mosaic Forest Management has committed $100,000 over three years to Kw’umut Lelum Foundation, an Indigenous-owned and led community foundation. The money will be spent on “language revitalization and preservation initiatives,” scholarship development programs, and securing equal access to programs. Mosaic president and CEO Rob Gough said in the release that the financial contribution is all part of the company’s work with First Nations. …Sharon Hobenshield, the foundation’s executive director, expressed gratitude for the donation.

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Forestry companies renew their employment growth

By Albert Van Santvoort
Business in Vancouver
December 13, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia’s largest forestry companies have grown for two consecutive years but have not reached their 2019 employment peak, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s list of the biggest forestry companies in BC. In 2019, the average number of BC employees at the province’s top forestry companies rose to 1,105.8. The following year, the number of local employees fell 13.6 per cent to 955.8.  Following that 2020 decline, average employment grew for two consecutive years: 5.2 per cent in 2021, followed by 3.3 per cent in 2022, to an average of 1,038.1. Median BC employment followed a similar trend as the average: A peak in 2019, a fall the following year and a slow recovery over 2021 and 2022. Despite recent growth, both average and median employment are down from where they were five years ago.

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Forest Enhancement Society of BC names new board chair and members

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
December 13, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dave Peterson

KAMLOOPS, BC: The Forest Enhancement Society of BC is pleased to announce the new Board Chair and appointment of five new Directors. Current FESBC Directors Sarah Fraser, Brian Banfill (Treasurer) and Dave Peterson will continue to serve British Columbians on the FESBC Board. Five new Directors have been appointed to the Board: Trish Dohan (Secretary), Ian Meier, John Massier, Ken Day, and Michael Kelly. Dave Peterson, soon to be retired as the Assistant Deputy Minister of Community Disaster Recovery, Lytton in the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, has been elected as the new Chair of the Board of Directors for FESBC. …Jim Snetsinger, who served as the previous Board Chair, will be stepping down. Wayne Clogg, who was the Board Chair before Snetsinger, will also be stepping off the board.

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The Forest Practices Board is seeking a Communications Manager

BC Forest Practices Board
December 12, 2022
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Board is seeking a Communications Manager to manage the corporate communications program and activities for the Forest Practices Board. The Manager develops and implements standards for all Board publications, monitors and reports on the effectiveness of communications products and activities, and recommends changes and improvements to the executive and the Board. The Manager develops and implements standards for all Board publications, monitors and reports on the effectiveness of communications products and activities, and recommends changes and improvements to the executive and the Board. The position provides advisory services to the Board and executive on all aspects of communications, including strategic communications planning, media relations and issue management, digital communications, and stakeholder relations to effectively communicate Board information to the public and stakeholders.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Fast + Epp wins structural engineering awards

The REMI Network – Real Estate Management Industry Network
December 15, 2022
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver Fast + Epp has won not one but two awards at the 2022 National Council of Structural Engineers Associations’ (NCSEA) Structural Engineering Excellence (SEE) Awards. The SFU Stadium received the Outstanding Winner Award in the Other Structures category while the Fast + Epp Home Office Building was an award winner in the New Buildings under $30 Million category. Each year, the NCSEA presents the SEE Awards to some of the most innovative and creative projects in the world. The SEE Awards highlight structural engineering ingenuity and incredible achievements in the profession. The SFU Stadium project features a striking CLT canopy which cantilevers 16 metres, providing weather protection and unobstructed views for the spectators below. …The design of the Fast + Epp Home Office is a direct reflection of the firm and embodies the notions of innovative integrated systems and biophilic design – all coming together in harmony for a truly holistic design.

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New Sooke library wins building award

BC Local News in Victoria News
December 14, 2022
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

SOOKE, BC — The new branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) in Sooke turned another page in its latest chapter. Capital Region Commercial Building Awards named the newly constructed building a merit award winner in the Community Institutional category. The $7.5-million library opened earlier this year. Tsawout Longhouse in Saanichton won the overall award out of 58 finalists. …Amy Dawley, assistant director of VIRL’s service and building design division, said, “To be formally recognized in the Capital Region, an area of rapid growth with so many stunning building projects, is a great honour.” …The branch has been built in alignment with the B.C. Wood First Initiative, which sources local, sustainably procured wood.

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Forestry

Municipality of North Cowichan forest worth more standing

Letter by Larry McIntosh, North Cowichan
Chemainus Valley Courier
December 17, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Municipality of North Cowichan doesn’t make its money logging so why cut down the trees? On the front page of the wheredowestand.ca website there is a link to a video called “New Old Growth – Our Mature Naturally Generated Forests Vs. Tree Plantations.” The video is filmed in areas of the Municipal Forest Reserve that are presently planned to be clear-cut. I encourage Municipality of North Cowichan taxpayers to spend seven minutes watching this video. I think it is reasonable to ask yourself, “If we aren’t making any significant money logging these aging forests, why do we cut down the trees?” …I have become, perhaps, a little simplistic. I now look at much of our MFR and agree with the Fairy Creek tree huggers – Worth More Standing.

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Friends of the Community Forest: Jennifer Gunter, Co-founder, BC Community Forest Association

West Boundary Community Forest
December 15, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jennifer Gunter

At the West Boundary Community Forest, we work together to ensure the decisions we make in our forest have the best interest of the community in mind. People play a key role in the prosperity of the community forest and help build healthy communities. Today we introduce Jennifer Gunter, one of the co-founders of the BC Community Forest Association – the voice and advocate for community forests as well as communities seeking to get community forest tenures – and the long-time executive director, who has fervently supported the West Boundary Community Forest. …Gunter has always had a passion for forestry and the environment, and did her undergraduate studies in Geography and Environmental Studies from McGill University, and Masters in Resource Management from Simon Fraser University. The work that community forests across the province are undertaking, in order to adapt to climate change and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, is what excites her. 

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Local community forests get funding for wildfire risk reduction projects

By Mark Page
Valley Voice in the Penticton Herald
December 15, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

During the ‘heat dome’ of 2021 firefighters from the BC Wildfire Service battled a large wildfire in the Trozzo Creek watershed close to many Slocan Valley communities. Thankfully, some of this area was already being managed by the Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative (SIFCo) to reduce fire intensity. “It was very useful,” said SIFCo manager Stephan Martineau. “That area was used as an anchor for a backburn that burned toward the fire and created a barrier for the advancing flames.” This stopped the fire in its tracks and allowed fire crews to establish and protect the northern edge of the wildfire. …Both the Nakusp and Area Community Forest and the Kaslo and District Community Forest Society have recently received FESBC grants totalling about $350,000 each, while SIFCo received approximately $500,000. Projects range from creating access roads for wildfire crews to thinning out forests so they don’t burn as intensely.

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North Cowichan Facing Huge Forestry Losses

By W.E. (Bill) Dumont
Tree Frog News Editorial
December 15, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

As the public ponders the various manipulated options for managing the North Cowichan Forests the silliness and eco-nonsense from the anti-forestry anti-logging crowd has intensified in our local media.  This campaign is well funded and has never disclosed where its money is coming from to stop logging in this municipal jewel. Is this where some of the $2 million Fairy Creek fundraising ended up? Now our politicians have been duped into stopping logging and creating a quagmire of fake concern about sustainable forestry. North Cowichan is the only municipal forest owner in BC that is considering killing its successful forestry business, egged on by people with little understanding of forest ecology and long on environmental shrillness. It hired a bunch of unqualified university professors with little or no real world experience to present faulty options that poorly reflect on the real value of wood and exaggerated the potential economic benefits of carbon credits.

This letter was also carried in the Victoria Times Colonist.

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Canada and Yukon chart new path with agreement to help protect and conserve nature

By Environment and Climate Change Canada
Cision Newswire
December 14, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

MONTRÉAL – The Governments of Canada and Yukon are committed to working together to protect and conserve biodiversity, habitat, and species at risk in the Yukon. This will contribute to the goal of protecting 25 percent of land and fresh water in Canada by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and Yukon’s Ministry of Environment, announced the Canada–Yukon Nature Agreement—the first agreement of its kind—to advance nature conservation and protection across the territory. The Government of Canada will invest a total of $20.6 million to implement the agreement. This will support Indigenous leadership in conservation; increased protection of sensitive habitats; and recovery actions for species at risk, as well as the protection and conservation of new land in the Yukon. The ministers announced the agreement at COP15 in Montréal. The Governments of Canada and Yukon will collaborate with Indigenous peoples and governments to implement Canada’s first Nature Agreement.

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Playing defense to weather today’s skewed business environment in forestry

By Tony Kryzanowski
The Logging and Sawmill Journal
December 13, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Clint Carlson

Skill alone is rarely enough for professional athletes to succeed. …The same can be said of elite level loggers, and Clint Carlson, owner of Kaslo, B.C.-based, Sunshine Logging, is a good example of that. But even veterans like Carlson are feeling the pressure these days. …He says that the business environment today is so skewed that it’s hard to make the adjustments needed to facilitate a return to the more balanced business environment that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While adjustments have been made in the cubic metre rate forest companies are offering to loggers, it’s still not enough to address the extra costs that loggers are facing. …Because of supply chain issues, many loggers today have to wait twice as long to replace equipment, and at substantially higher prices. …Carlson logs for Kalesnikoff Lumber based in Castlegar [and] customers who have won timber sales bids, such as Stella-Jones and Celgar Pulp.

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B.C. Elders tell Trudeau to end new fossil fuel projects, old-growth logging

By Stefan Labbé
Prince George Citizen
December 14, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Elders from B.C.’s Pacheedaht and Wet’suwet’en First Nations have signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stop siding with industry looking to develop new fossil fuel projects and log old-growth forests. The Dec 14 letter, implores Trudeau to “listen to the youth” and defend “life rather than perpetuating extractivism” through six actions. They include: playing a permanent moratorium on old-growth logging; stopping all construction of new fossil fuel projects…; and ending the surveillance and policing of Indigenous land defenders opposing their development. Together with David Suzuki, the group also implores Trudeau to take federal dollars used to police extractive projects and reallocate them to Indigenous communities so they can develop their own climate solutions and prop up alternative livelihoods. …“This could be your moment, Justin. COP-15 could be the defining moment of your legacy as prime minister,” said the letter.

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Alberta notches up a win in war with mountain pine beetle

BNN Bloomberg – Commodities
December 14, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Alberta has seen the mountain pine beetle invade more than 2 million hectares of land used for forestry, but cold weather and prevention measures have radically slowed the spread. University of Alberta insect researcher Nadir Erbilgin shares the good news.

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Pelican Lake First Nation to create Saskatoon’s 9th urban reserve

By Scott Larson
CBC News
December 15, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Chief Peter Bill

Saskatoon and Pelican Lake First Nation signed an agreement to create an urban reserve at a special ceremony in front of a full room of band members at city hall on Wednesday. The urban reserve is located at 1944 St. George Avenue. Pelican Lake bought into the existing business, Adam’s Lumber, at that location. Pelican Lake Chief Peter Bill says the lumber business compliments Pelican Lake’s other forestry interests.  “What you take from the land you’ve got to give back, and reforestation is a big item that we push,” Bill said. “And what we take from, from sakaw askîy (forest and earth), that’s what we’re going to be building our our houses with.” …Pelican Lake has also signed forestry agreements with Tolko and Carrier Forest Products. “The lumber will be supplied direct to Adams Lumber, so it’s a preferred cost,” Bill said.

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Town of Golden celebrates historic moment 20 years in the making

By Barb Brouwer
The Golden Star
December 13, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

More than 20 years of work culminated in a historic signing on Nov. 21. Representatives of the Shuswap Band, Town of Golden and Columbia Shuswap Regional District Area A Rural Golden met at the Shuswap Band office near Invermere to sign a historic memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding a possible community forest. Through the signing, the three local governments reaffirmed their desire to come together and better understand one another while working towards the acquisition of the ‘Kenpesq’t Community Forest’ within the Golden Timber Supply Area, says professional forester and longtime volunteer Denise English. The ceremony hosted by the Shuswap Band opened with a prayer and a Shuswap Band Drumming Ceremony. “Everyone left the ceremony, feeling positive and very thankful for the opportunity to share with one another,” says English. Newly appointed Shuswap Band Salmon Chief and Coun. Mark Thomas calls the memorandum monumental.

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Private island near Nanaimo worth $3.7 million donated for conservation

Alberni Valley News
December 13, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A private island off the coast of Nanaimo is being donated in the highest-value land transfer in the history of the Islands Trust Conservancy. Link Island, a 21.5-hectare island between Gabriola Island and Vancouver Island valued at $3.73 million, has been donated to the conservancy by Betty Swift, who died in 2021. According to a release from Islands Trust Conservancy, Swift left instructions regarding the land transfer. The family’s dream is that the Link Island Nature Reserve can become a location for climate-change research. The land transfer means the reserve now has a new conservation covenant held by the Nanaimo and Area Land Trust and the Gabriola Land and Trails Trust, the release noted. …The conservancy stated that it is currently developing a management plan and is initiating conversations with multiple First Nations “whose territory and interests” include Link Island.

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Governments of Canada and Manitoba and four First Nations zero in on a new Indigenous protected area in one of the world’s largest ecologically intact watersheds

By Parks Canada
Cision Newswire
December 14, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

MONTRÉAL – Parks Canada and the Seal River Watershed Alliance, announced a commitment to work together on a feasibility assessment for an Indigenous protected area in the Seal River Watershed. The Seal River Watershed includes portions of the ancestral territory of four First Nations—the Sayisi Dene First Nation, Northlands Denesuline First Nation, Barren Lands First Nation, and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation. Together, these First Nations have created the Seal River Watershed Alliance to work on their behalves to support a shared vision of protecting the nations’ respective ancestral lands. Located in northern Manitoba, the Seal River Watershed is one of the richest carbon sinks in the world, and one of the world’s largest remaining ecologically intact watersheds, spanning over 50,000 square kilometres.

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B.C. will soon decide the fate of four projects with big climate and biodiversity impacts

By Matt Simmons
The Narwhal
December 12, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. Premier David Eby’s newly appointed cabinet is about to decide the fate of a handful of proposed projects, each with a slew of implications to biodiversity and climate. …As politicians at COP15 make promises to conserve land and water for biodiversity, it remains to be seen whether their provincial counterparts will green-light projects that eat away at critical habitat and fuel the climate crisis. …The projects B.C. will soon need to make a call on include the Sukunka open-pit coal mine, FortisBC’s Tilbury liquefied natural gas expansion, the Cedar LNG floating terminal and a Port of Vancouver expansion in the Fraser River estuary. …Canada was criticized for allegedly putting its forest industry ahead of conservation. B.C. also continues to approve logging permits in tracts of old-growth forest, home to one of the last viable caribou herds in the southern part of the province.

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Loggers are sophisticated operators

Letter by Barry Kasdorf
Castanet
December 12, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Re: Canada calls for more help to plant two billion trees (Castanet, Dec. 9) The author should be careful not to use words like “destroyed” in what should be a fact-based piece of journalism. In B.C., and most parts of Canada, the forest companies have contractors who do their logging. Those loggers make up some of the most sophisticated operators in the world today. Trees are cut using low soil impact methods and within a few years, the cut areas regenerate, most often from having been planted with native species of high genetic diversity. We need to stop slamming the people in our communities who deserve credit for the work they do. When you have time, (reporters) are welcome to come by our seed orchard in Coldstream, where we produce tree seeds for reforestation in B.C. I would be happy to give (them) a better understanding of how forestry is practiced in our province.

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BCIT receives $2.5M towards new trades and technology complex

By Jess Balzer
Burnaby Now
December 10, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Notable forestry sector leaders have donated $2.5 million towards BCIT’s new Technology and Trades Complex, the school has announced.  The contribution was given to its INSPIRE campaign, which will help benefit more than 20 trades and technology programs.   “With ongoing innovation and growing demand for climate-friendly building solutions, Canfor is excited to support BCIT’s growth as an interconnection between the forestry and construction sectors,” Canfor CEO Don Kayne said in a news release.   “With some of the most advanced labs and simulation facilities in the country, the TTC will be a training space that showcases high-value wood product applications, including our leadership in mass timber.   “Forestry has a proud history in BC, and we see exciting opportunities for the future as the world turns to lower carbon products to build greener homes, businesses, and communities.”

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In defence of the tall and mighty

By Akshay Kulkarni
CBC News
December 11, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s newest provincial park was once slated for logging. Now, advocates and the local First Nation want to expand it. …Darwyn Coxson’s eyes light up in wonder as he walks through a trail in Ancient Forest Provincial Park, or Chun T’oh Whudujut in the Lheidli T’enneh language, in northern British Columbia. Hundreds of giant old-growth trees, stretching high enough to block out the sun, surround him.  But what catches his attention is something much smaller: a small clump of lichen. … Now they’re pushing to expand the park’s boundaries. Coxson says more than 2,400 species of plants, lichens, and mosses have been found in the region, some previously undiscovered. …In 2016, after years of lobbying by the hiking club and Coxson, among others, the provincial government worked with logging companies, including Vancouver-based forestry company Canfor, to protect the land now known as the Ancient Forest Provincial Park.

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Conservationists optimistic over David Eby’s commitments to protect B.C.’s biodiversity

By Chad Pawson
CBC News
December 11, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

In mandate letters to his land stewardship and forestry ministers, B.C. Premier David Eby says he wants to double the amount of protected land in the province, support new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and move faster on recommendations around the logging of old growth trees.  They’re conservation goals advocates have been calling on for years to protect B.C.’s unique biodiversity, which has thousands of species at risk due to development and climate change. “This is potentially a major leap toward protecting endangered ecosystems and the most at-risk, productive stands of old-growth forests left in B.C.,” said Ken Wu in a release from the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. Experts say protected areas help mitigate the worst effects of climate change, contribute to diversifying local economies and advance reconciliation with First Nations.

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Bias shown in forest reserve article

Letter by Peter Rusland
Lake Cowichan Gazette
December 9, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Peter Rusland

It’s astonishing to read the municipality’s article published free in December’s Valley Voice. That story concerns our municipal forest reserve program’s history and revenues — plus our current public discussion and survey regarding our nationally rare reserve’s future. The public input deadline is Dec. 31, 2022. Incredibly, our municipal managers fail to explain in the Voice our survey’s four forest-reserve options — spanning Status-Quo logging to Active and Passive conservation. It’s disgraceful how our staff arguably shows bias implying the survey’s Status Quo (continued logging) option No. 1 would best benefit taxpayers and municipal revenues.;:

Additional coverage in the Lake Cowichan Gazette, letter by Bryan Senft: Forestry profit analysis for public consumption

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Indigenous groups plan to develop new protected conservation area in Northwest Territories

Canadian Press in The Globe and Mail
December 9, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Caroline Cochrane and Justin Trudeau

Two Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories are working to establish a new Indigenous protected and conservation area. Deninu Kue First Nation and the Fort Resolution Métis Government are planning to protect portions of their traditional territory in the Slave River Delta and Taltson River watershed. They say the protections are crucial for food security and economic and cultural activities. The groups have signed a $3.1-million contribution agreement with Environment and Climate Change Canada to establish the new area. Ducks Unlimited Canada and the NWT chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society are supporting the effort. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau separately announced this week $800-million in funding over seven years for four large Indigenous-led conservation efforts across Canada.

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Prescriptions for more climate friendly forestry

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
December 8, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Trees both give and take when it comes to carbon dioxide. If forest management is to become one of the tools of nature-based climate solutions, the trick will be to ensure they continue to take more than they give. That doesn’t necessarily mean halting all logging in Canada, according to a new report by the Canadian Council of Academies, Nature-Based Climate Solutions. However, it does suggest changes in the way forests are managed. …The report recommends:

  • For working forests… the elimination or reduction of slash burning.  
  • The use of harvest waste for bioenergy, though it argues against the harvesting of whole live trees in boreal forests.
  • Allowing trees to grow longer and larger before being cut, and harvesting trees as crops with replanting and commercial thinning.
  • Prescribed burning as a way of reducing risks of wildfires.  
  • Increasing stewardship by First Nations, and the sale of carbon credits.

Additional coverage by Nelson Bennett in Business in Vancouver: Nature based solutions play ‘modest’ role in climate mitigation

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Conserving forest, grassland and wetland ecosystems in B.C. has global impact

By Nancy Newhouse, Nature Conservancy, BC
BC Local News in Parksville Qualicum Beach News
December 8, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

This week and next governments, scientists and conservation experts… will set a course to end nature loss around the world and to create a nature-positive future. But what does that really mean for us, here in British Columbia? …When I look around my local landscape in the East Kootenay, I can see the growing impact of our activities on the forests, waterways and open spaces that surround our towns and cities. I believe most of us know we need to find a better balance in how we coexist with these places. Consider our wetlands, for example. …The loss has been substantial in places like the South Okanagan and Vancouver Island, where over 85 per cent of historical wetland habitat has been drained, filled or otherwise damaged. And still these places are under increasing pressure from development, overuse and climate change. …But we can reverse these trends. In fact, we’re well underway.

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B.C. vows to reverse ‘short-term thinking’ with pledge to protect 30% of province by 2030

By Sara Cox
The Narwhal
December 8, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

The B.C. government has committed to protecting 30 per cent of the province’s land by 2030, joining global efforts to protect nature and reverse potentially disastrous biodiversity loss. The commitment to double B.C.’s current land protections was made in Premier David Eby’s mandate letter to Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s new Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Eby instructed Cullen to ensure land operations in the province guarantee sustainability for future generations and to work closely with Indigenous communities to achieve that goal. “We have seen the impacts of short-term thinking on the BC’s land base — exhausted forests, poisoned water and contaminated sites,” Eby’s states. “These impacts… threaten the ability of entire communities to thrive and succeed.” The letter instructs Cullen to partner with the federal government, industry and communities, and to work with Indigenous communities.

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Carbon credits can earn more money than logging

By Larry Pynn
Victoria Times Colonist
December 8, 2022
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Larry Pynn

Not every day does a community ask a university forestry faculty for advice on managing a 5,000-hectare forest reserve, and get back a response along the lines of “Hey, you might consider not logging at all — and earn more cash, to boot.” But that’s exactly the scenario playing out in North Cowichan, home to the most threatened forest type in B.C. — the coastal Douglas-fir forest — and a popular recreation destination less than an hour’s drive north of Victoria. More than three years ago, North Cowichan declared a moratorium on new logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve — better known as the Six Mountains — pending a public consultation on the future of the reserve. A separate parallel but closed consultation is underway with local First Nations. …The fate of a rare forest landscape in North Cowichan hangs in the balance.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Canada and Manitoba Sign Agreement in Principle to Deepen Collaboration on Planting Two Billion Trees Nationally

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
December 14, 2022
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

OTTAWA, ON — Canada’s forests are an integral part of our fight against climate change. As part of the Government of Canada’s broader approach to nature-based climate solutions, trees planted as part of the 2 Billion Trees program will help restore nature, create healthy forest ecosystems and clean our air. Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, and the Honourable Greg Nesbitt, Manitoba Minister of Natural Resources and Northern Development, are pleased to announce that the Government of Canada and the Government of Manitoba signed an Agreement in Principle (AiP) under the 2 Billion Trees program. While the Government of Canada engages directly with individual organizations across the country toward planting trees under the 2 Billion Trees program, working closely with provinces and territories on shared planting plans is another way to strengthen the program and tailor results for local communities. 

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Kelowna, B.C. company to turn wood waste into renewable natural gas

By Jayden Wasney
Global News
December 12, 2022
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Philip Viggiani

A renewable energy company in Kelowna has designed a clean energy solution that will turn wood waste into natural gas. With the help of the B.C. government and Fortis BC, REN Energies International will take bio-mass waste from the forestry and lumber industries and turn it into renewable natural gas. REN Energy President Philip Viggiani describes the project as the first of its kind in North America. “This is a very unique idea because there is landfill, there is AG waste that people are using, so, you’ve got anaerobic digestion. No one has ever dealt with something like wood waste to renewable natural gas – wood waste to almost anything,” explained Philip Viggiani. “We’ve made a hybrid of that, and we’ve gasified the wood waste — it’s not lumber… it’s nothing but wood waste from the lumber mills.”

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Guess what? Alberta is on track to meet its 2030 renewable energy goal ahead of schedule

By Drew Anderson
The Narwhal
December 7, 2022
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

In 2016, the Alberta government set itself an ambitious target to help wean the province off its reliance on fossil fuels for electricity. The Renewable Electricity Act called for 30 per cent of all electricity produced in the province to come from renewables by 2030. …Six years later, the province is on track to meet — or exceed — the goal and is close to surpassing an interim target calling for 15 per cent of electricity produced in Alberta. …In 2017, coal was still providing 59 per cent of all electrical energy consumed. …Now, coal is set to be phased out entirely by 2023 — with many plants converting to natural gas — and renewables are surging. …The 30-by-30 target was brought in by the previous NDP government, including an increased carbon price… and a renewable electricity program. In Alberta, renewables largely refer to wind and solar, but can include hydro, geothermal and biomass.

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Health & Safety

Safe driving in winter conditions

WorkSafeBC
December 15, 2022
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

While B.C. seemed to slowly creep into winter this year, seasonal driving conditions suddenly switched gears in late October, especially outside of Metro Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island. If you drive as part of your job, you need to be prepared for snow, rain, fog, and reduced daylight. While your chances of being injured or killed in a crash dramatically increase during B.C.’s winter driving season — which usually runs from October 1 to April 30 — there are ways you can reduce the risks. Do your research Checking weather and road conditions at drivebc.ca (or by calling toll-free 1.800.550.4997) and planning the timing of your trip before setting off is one of the most important ways to be a safer winter driver. …Employers have a role to play by making safe winter driving a part of their workplace health and safety program. 

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

WorkSafeBC
December 9, 2022
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

At its October 2022 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors approved amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. These amendments will come into effect on March 1, 2023. 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 approved amendments are as follows: Parts 14 and 19, Inconsistent Crane Misadventure and Zone-Limiting Devices in Tower Cranes and revisions to Item R19.25-1 of the Prevention Manual. These amendments were posted online for feedback during the public hearing process. Stakeholder feedback is available for review.

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Rotor blade failure during emergency landing caused deadly B.C. helicopter crash

CBC News
December 8, 2022
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ed Wilcock

A deadly helicopter crash that killed one pilot and damaged a building in Campbell River, B.C., was caused by a rotor blade failure during an emergency landing, according to the Transportation Safety Board. A report released Thursday said the main rotors on the Bell 206B helicopter “became deformed” some time during the flight on Sept. 24, 2019, sending the aircraft into a building. “In the last moments of the flight, the main rotor decreased to a point that could not sustain autorotational flight, and the helicopter fell vertically and impacted the ground,” the report read. The pilot was identified after the crash as Ed Wilcock, a prominent figure in the local aviation community who owned the E & B Helicopter company. He was the only person on board. …Wilcock is pictured receiving a lifetime safety award from B.C. Forest Safety in 2017. 

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