Region Archives: Canada West

On Jan. 15, 2026, four ministerial orders were signed to advance the implementation of the Gwa’ni Land Use Planning Project on Vancouver Island. The Gwa’ni Land Use Planning Project has been jointly developed by the B.C. government and ’Na̱mg̱is First Nation, with extensive input from industry, the public, communities, stakeholders and other interested parties. Among other goals, this project seeks to promote the values agreed upon through engagement, including: protect biodiversity, ecosystems and ’Na̱mg̱is First Nation cultural values within the Nimpkish Valley watershed; provide improved operational clarity for the forestry industry; and balance environmental, social and economic values within the planning area. The project supports the Tree Farm Licence 37 Forest Landscape Plan. In December 2025, ’Na̱mg̱is First Nation and the Province signed a joint decision-making agreement that advances reconciliation by supporting predictable harvesting and sustainable forestry operations on the north Island. 

Additional coverage in Chek News, by Jeff Lawrence: B.C. and ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation advance Gw’ani land-use plan for Nimpkish Valley

We are thrilled to introduce you to our new brand as we aim to inspire a new generation of leaders in Alberta’s forest sector! We’re here to flip perceptions: forestry is about more than just trees — it’s about futures. Our forest industry already aligns with young Albertans’ values; they just don’t know it yet. Our new brand enthusiastically explores the breadth of opportunities in forestry and celebrates the people, the environmental leadership, and the innovation that make Alberta’s forest sector a great place for young people to grow. The new iconography takes the two bold Ws from “Work Wild” to form a tree — symbolizing growth, sustainability, and connection. We are bringing Work Wild into a new era. Work Wild was built on research informed by youth values, career interests, and motivations from over 10 years ago. It was time for a change.

Domtar held a job fair in North Cowichan on Thursday to help Crofton pulp mill workers affected by the company’s permanent closure of the mill in the coming months. The private forest manufacturing company owned by Paper Excellence announced the permanent closure of the Crofton pulp mill in December 2025, resulting in more than 350 layoffs in the Cowichan Valley. Thursday’s job fair took place from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Crofton Community Centre with representatives from employers who are actively recruiting workers including Seaspan, Nanaimo Forest Products (Harmac), the Department of National Defence, Island Health, BC Ferries, the Municipality of North Cowichan, and the Cowichan Valley Regional District. Some of the recruiters said they believe the mill workers have skills that would transfer well into the job openings at their companies.

Related News: My Cowichan Now, by Scott Penfold: North Cowichan outlines response to Crofton pulp mill closure

When: Thursday, January 29, 2026 | 12 – 1 pm
Where: Forest Sciences Centre 4001
Dr. William Nikolakis will share the legal and policy context for bringing good fire – or low intensity fire – back to landscapes in British Columbia. Low intensity fires that are deliberately lit in cooler months, can reduce fuels on landscapes in the summer months – potentially mitigating the intensity and severity of summer wildfires.  The focus of this seminar will be on Indigenous fire stewardship (IFS), a form of good fire, which is being revitalized in places across the province. The goal of this seminar is to bring insight to how the legal and policy context interacts with IFS –  and to illustrate the consequences from different arrangements. Nikolakis is an assistant professor of Indigenous Land and Natural Resources Governance. This event is open to all and will be held in person only.

In this Woodlots Weekly you’ll find:

• As wildfires become more common in the world, there are some reports about the impact of wildfire to soil nutrients. At Woodlots BC, we have identified the importance of fire management, specifically the concept of good fire vs bad fire.
• BC Assessment highlights two aspects of tax law that have caused significant concern for some purchasers of private managed forest land
• The BC Fisher Habitat Working Group is pleased to announce free “Conserving Fisher Habitat in Forest Planning” workshops for forest licensees, forestry consultants, government regulators, and First Nations throughout British Columbia in early 2026. 

The new Forest Resources Certificate provides a base-knowledge of forest ecology theory and applications in Saskatchewan complemented by experiential learning. Students will gain a broad understanding of plant identification, ecological classification schemes, forest ecology, and data collection techniques. The new certificate is offered by College of Agriculture and Bioresources (AgBio) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). “The new Forest Resources Certificate signals to potential employers that graduates have the knowledge and field skills to excel in a forestry-related position,” said Dr. Tom Yates (PhD), associate dean, academic, of AgBio. …Students taking the certificate can tailor their studies to their interests with electives related to forest measurements and techniques, modelling, planning, hydrology, and ecological restoration. 

Registration is Now Open. On April 8-12, more than 700 firefighting professionals, FireSmart experts and Indigenous, municipal and community leaders will gather in Victoria for the 2026 Wildfire Resiliency and Training Summit. There, they’ll share lessons learned from 2025, along with the latest research, technologies, best practices and other information to help regions and communities prepare for the upcoming wildfire season. You’ll want to register fast before this conference sells out! The theme for this year’s Summit is Collective Action: Empowering Communities. The Summit begins with a three-day conference featuring keynote speakers, expert panels, and valuable networking opportunities, followed by two days of specialized training for firefighting professionals. Whether you’re a firefighter, community leader, or industry professional, this event offers the opportunity to connect with peers, learn from experts, and contribute to a safer, more resilient future for British Columbia. Early bird registration is now open, so don’t miss your chance to secure your spot!

Students and instructors at North Island College (NIC) say they’re disappointed following the institution’s recommendation to suspend 15 programs from its three main campuses on mid and north Vancouver Island. The recommendations were made as part of the college’s expedited program impact assessment that began last fall, and will go to the board of governors for approval on Feb. 5. …The suspensions are not permanent cuts, but create “opportunities to re-imagine how and what programs are delivered.” …NIC faculty president Jen Wrye says many of the programs have strong enrollment and offer good job opportunities for students at the Comox Valley, Campbell River and Port Alberni campuses — regions without other college-based post-secondary opportunities. The programs facing suspension include:

• Coastal Forestry Diploma.
• Coastal Forestry Certificate.
• Furniture Design and Joinery Certificate.

Activist groups opposing resource projects in British Columbia are increasingly invoking First Nations hereditary authority to frame their campaigns as Indigenous-led, even where elected band councils have approved those developments to support economic self-sufficiency. This is fuelling conflict between hereditary and elected governance systems within First Nations, which activists are exploiting to stall or derail forestry, aquaculture, and other resource projects, warns Dallas Smith, a leading advocate of sustainable Indigenous resource development. “The activist community has really linked on to the fact that they have more credibility if they have hereditary indigenous leadership within their realm of what they’re trying to achieve,” Smith said during an interview on the Power Struggle Podcast. Smith is president of the Na̲nwak̲olas Council, an alliance of six First Nations in British Columbia that works collectively on rights, title, and resource governance. He described the activist approach as deliberate and increasingly sophisticated.

The Nakusp and Area Community Forest (NACFOR) is pleased to announce the addition of 3,434 hectares to Community Forest Agreement (CFA) K2S. This amendment increases the total CFA area from 9,192 hectares to 12,626 hectares and was approved in late 2025 by the Regional Executive Director of the Kootenay Boundary Region. The additional area will help to diversify NACFOR’s landbase and ensure the long-term sustainability of its annual allowable cut of 20,000 cubic metres. The new areas, previously part of Interfor Corporation’s Forest License, include a parcel adjacent to NACFOR’s Wensley Creek operating area and NACFOR’s Woodlot #406, the north face of Box Mountain, and a large area over Allshouse Peak, from the Summit Lake Forest Service Road to Slewiskin Forest Service Road. This area will be managed under NACFOR’s Forest Stewardship Plan…

Related coverage in the Revelstoke Review: Nakusp community forest increases land by 37%

The January 2026 edition of the Forest Genetics Council of BC eNewsletter provides updates on current initiatives and upcoming activities relevant to forest genetics and tree improvement in British Columbia. This issue includes information on the ITAC extension meeting scheduled for January 14, highlights from Tree Seed Working Group Bulletin No. 77, and a consolidated listing of key forestry conferences and technical events taking place in early 2026. The newsletter offers timely insights for practitioners, researchers, and policy professionals engaged in forest genetics, seed, and reforestation programs.

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C.— In the 2025 wildfire season, 199 wildfires were fought in Fort St. John, Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek areas in the “second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history.” The Ministry of Forests said in a news release on December 29th, 2025, the province has experienced over 1,350 wildfires burning an estimated 886,360 hectares of land since April 1st that year. In the news release, Ravi Parmar, minister of forests, said: “We’re coming off our second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history.” The Prince George Fire Centre specifically – the branch of the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) covering northeast B.C. – recorded 354 fires in the 2025 wildfire season. …For the 2026 wildfire season, the province says it will continue to look at new technology and opportunities for better prevention and response.

After more than three decades studying forests in western Canada and excursions from Australia to Russia, Dr. Phil Burton has come to believe that the way forests are managed needs a fundamental rethink. A Professor Emeritus at UNBC, Burton spent much of his career examining how ecosystems respond to disturbance, from wildfires and insect outbreaks to logging and climate change. Those experiences form the backbone of his new book, Resilient Forest Management, released last year by Oxford University Press. …the book outlines a new approach to forest stewardship in the face of disruption and uncertainty. “Many of the perspectives and examples presented in the book are based on my experience in northern B.C.,” Burton says. “Over the last 30 years of studying ecosystem disturbance and recovery in our region, I was repeatedly impressed by the ability of our forests to absorb or rapidly recover from both natural and human-caused disruptions.”

At Resource Works, we are angry about what happened on the Cowichan Lake logging road – and we are saying so plainly. In the early hours of January 1, three pieces of logging equipment were deliberately set on fire along Caycuse Main, near Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The damage runs into the millions. Seven workers were laid off immediately. Families lost income overnight. This was not an abstract policy debate. It was a very recent act of arson, carried out days after the holidays, with immediate and personal consequences. And while investigators have not yet determined motive, no one locally was surprised. The Lake Cowichan region has, for years, been a focal point for highly charged old-growth forest activism. That history forms the backdrop against which this attack occurred. Yet as local forestry workers and community members have pointed out, the equipment destroyed in this incident was harvesting second-growth forests, not old growth. That distinction matters.

Prince George RCMP is asking the public to keep an eye out for stolen logging equipment from a theft that occurred between Christmas and New Year’s. RCMP were called to a logging claim along the Beaver Forest Service Road on January 2, 2026, where the owner of the claim reported tens of thousands of dollars in stolen and damaged property. The incident would have occurred sometime between December 23, 2025, and January 2, 2026. “Much of what was stolen was hand tools and two-way radios,” states Corporal Jennifer Cooper, Media Relations Officer for the Prince George RCMP. “However, certainly the largest and most unique of the items stolen was the harvester head that was physically cut off a piece of machinery. A photo of the item is available on our website and social media for reference.” This is a very specific and very large piece of equipment that will be showing some damage from its forceful removal. 

This spring, the Province will conduct aerial-spray treatments in Delta and Squamish to eradicate spongy moths and minimize the risk they pose to forests, farms and trees. The following areas will be treated in accordance with B.C.’s Integrated Pest Management Act: Delta: 36 hectares – in Beach Grove by Boundary Bay, roughly around 16 and 17A avenues and Beach Grove Road; AND Squamish: 121 hectares – west of the intersection of Buckley Avenue and Third Avenue, to the edge of the Squamish River, and down to just south of Vancouver Street. B.C.’s ecosystems and economy are at risk from invasive spongy moths. …Caterpillars feed on tree leaves, which can defoliate forests, parks, crops and residential areas. Without treatment, spongy moths can spread to other areas of B.C., leading to serious harm to agriculture and forestry products, including negative effects on imports and exports.

North Cowichan will hire a wildfire specialist to support wildfire-protection planning in the municipality. At its meeting on Dec. 3, council voted to allocate $95,000 in North Cowichan’s budget for 2026 for the position from the Climate Action and Energy Plan’s reserve funds, and funding for the wildfire specialist will come from general taxation in following years. As well, council decided to allocate $115,000 in the 2026 budget for the creation of a Strategic North Cowichan Wildfire Plan, with the funding also coming from CAEP reserve funds. Council adopted a resolution establishing wildfire preparedness as a strategic priority in September, and the key actions identified and recommended by staff since then include strengthening the fire department’s wildfire-response capabilities, vegetation management, FireSmart education, evacuation planning, infrastructure standards, and community volunteer initiatives.

Three pieces of logging equipment owned by Fraser Valley Timber were torched overnight Jan. 1 into the morning of Jan. 2, putting multiple employees immediately out of work and potentially costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in replacement costs. …While a company spokesperson suggested to television media that the fire may be linked to nearby anti-logging protests, members of the Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek blockade denied any involvement. RCMP said investigators have not made any connection between the fire and the protest. Blockade members posted on Facebook that to assign blame to them before the facts are known “serves to vilify old-growth forest protectors without grounds.” …the Office of the Fire Commissioner brought an accelerant detection dog to the scene as part of the investigation. “…the Office of the Fire Commissioner is assisting in determining the circumstances, origin, and cause of the fires,” according to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

A group protesting old-growth logging on Vancouver Island is hitting out at an “insinuation” they were involved in the suspected arson of logging equipment last week. Sgt. Kevin Mack with Lake Cowichan RCMP says officers responded to the scene of the suspected arson at a site operated by Fraser Valley Timber on Jan. 2, and they are keeping an “open eye to all possibilities.” Two grapple yarders and a log loader reportedly sustained more than $530,000 in damage in the fires… The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but media reports quoted a spokesman suggesting that the proximity of the protest camp wasn’t a coincidence. But the Walbran Valley Blockade protest camp says its code “explicitly prohibits violence and the damage or destruction of property.” It says it supports a full and transparent investigation and that “assigning blame before the facts are known serves to vilify forest protectors.”

Related coverage from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Damaged logging equipment

…council was about to vote to log our protected community forest. At the last moment, a chief saved the day. But we are now forewarned — our forest isn’t protected. …a new council could throw down the gauntlet. So, once again we’re asking ourselves, as a community how do we protect the Six Mountains? Now that we know our North Cowichan council can ignore our public consultation, and our vote for conservation, what can we legally do? In the next election, vote in a pro-conservation council? This is our intention, but there are no guarantees. …an extraordinary solution [exists to] protect ecosystems from human destruction. It’s called the Rights of Nature movement (RoN). …founded on indigenous ancestral reverence for nature, as sacred and sacrosanct, beyond human control and ownership… it’s the perfect solution for our Valley where we, N. Cowichan and Quw’utsun, “own” the legal right to protect the ecosystem surrounding our home.

The in-creek infrastructure for the Peachland water treatment plant is at risk of a landslide in the aftermath of the summer’s Munro Lake wildfire. The wildfire in September 2025 burned 383 hectares of the south slopes of the lower Peachland Creek watershed in the Upper Princeton Avenue area. A preliminary post-fire hazard assessment completed for the Ministry of Forests has recommended the District of Peachland further study the burned slopes above its water treatment facility. “This may include any other hazard associated with the wildfire that may affect water quality and treatment as a result of the burned area uphill from the facility,” said the report. The report places a moderate likelihood — “not probable but possible over a several year period” — of a landslide impacting the dams and weirs associated with the water treatment plant. …The most pressing post-fire concerns are related to forest service roads in the area of the burn.

If we’ve reached the point where we’re fretting over barnacles being knocked off by drift logs, perhaps we’ve run out of real crises. A recent University of Victoria study warns that wandering logs — nature’s most passive travellers — are scraping B.C.’s intertidal ecosystems into oblivion. …I mean no disrespect to my academic descendants at UVic — my alma mater — but I can’t help recalling a time when a scientist would distinguish between data and drama. Anyone raised on this coast knows those “thundering” drift logs are as much a fixture of our marine landscape as kelp, rockweed, and yes, barnacles themselves. …Here lies the problem with this kind of “drive-by ecology.” A barnacle count taken on a single day, at a single beach, photographed from orbit, becomes a sweeping “coast-wide phenomenon.” Probability alone tells us that the fraction of shoreline ­simultaneously blanketed and agitated by free logs — especially those resting on sand — is marginal.