Dave Weaver
A survey by a private forest management company on Vancouver Island shows thousands of outdoor enthusiasts want better access to forest land — but an alliance of wilderness advocates is also raising concerns about environmental accountability. Mosaic Forest Management, which oversees roughly 550,000 hectares of privately owned forest land between Victoria, Sooke and Campbell River, reports that the survey received over 7,600 responses and the feedback was clear: open the gates. …Steve Mjaaland, Mosaic’s manager of forest protection, says the company would like to enhance recreational access, but gate closures are often necessary for safety and to prevent wildfires. “It’s a working forest. There are a lot of high-risk hazards, especially hauling on the roads, which would probably be the biggest risk with traffic,” he said. …Jenn Holland, who chairs the Vancouver Island Private Managed Forest Land Action Alliance says, “It’s not just access for recreation, but it’s access for accountability that’s missing.”
B.C.’s employers in forestry-related businesses, sawmilling, stone cutting and oil and gas field servicing could be seen as the biggest beneficiaries of WorkSafeBC’s $2 billion surplus as the corporation proposes cuts to their service premiums approaching 40 per cent or more. WorkSafeBC’s policy is to maintain enough of a surplus “to avoid rate volatility” during economically difficult times. The corporation’s 2024 surplus, however, is equivalent to 141 per cent of liabilities, far more than its 130 per cent target. The corporation says its strong financial position has been helped along by “higher than-required investment returns,” according to WorkSafe’s statement, which is similar to workers-compensation agencies across the country. Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has used its 2024 surplus to issue $4 billion in rebates, over two rounds, to employers and in May, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Manitoba did likewise with $122 million in rebates, which is something the Canadian Federation of Business would like to see.
British Columbia remains at the forefront of mass timber design and implementation globally. The province has the highest number of mass timber buildings per capita of any other place in North America, and leads the country with more than 285 mass timber buildings. B.C.’s Mass Timber Action Plan has driven the expansion of mass timber construction, manufacturing, and workforce development across the province. This has increased the number of mass timber buildings and positioned B.C. as a critical exporter of knowledge and products to international markets. Metrics such as overall building count, advancements in carbon reduction, and the adoption of encapsulated mass timber construction (EMTC) standards in other regions all reflect our sustained leadership. Eric Andreasen, the vice-president of marketing and sales at Adera Development, spoke to Tanya Martins of Construction Canada and shed light on how B.C. is on its way to becoming the leader in mass timber development globally.
Join us for our 22nd Annual GBM September 4th to 6th, where we will host international buyers and specifiers from all around the world, to meet our Canadian suppliers in Whistler. If you are an industry member and thinking about exhibiting to get yourself in front of these buyers and decision-makers, ACT FAST! We only have 5 booth spaces left, and they will go on a first-come basis. Industry surveys from 2024 indicated an anticipated $37 million in new sales from contacts made at the GBM. We anticipate many “new to GBM” Buyers again this year, and with hard work of our overseas staff, the continued assistance of the federal International Trade Commissioner Service and the provincial Trade & Investment Representatives abroad, we expect an excellent group of Buyers from across the globe. As usual, we will host BC Wood’s AGM, deliver Specifier Workshops and the exclusive Building Connections program. 
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Kamloops, B.C.– The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) recently approved up to $1.7 million to the Woodlot Product Development Council (Woodlots BC) to carry out wildfire risk reduction treatments over a 2-year fiscal period. Treatments will be conducted on woodlots throughout British Columbia, each located within a Wildland Urban Interface, endorsed by the local Forestry District and following BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) wildfire risk reduction standards. Through this work, Woodlots BC looks forward to building capacity across the forest sector and helping promote innovative ways to complete treatment of wildfire risk reduction projects to reduce combustible forest fuel loading, thereby better protecting communities. “Woodlots are vital to B.C.’s forestry sector as they support local jobs, keep our forests healthy, and help reduce wildfire risk where it matters most: right where people live,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. 
Vancouver Park Board staff are seeking commissioners’ approval to proceed with the next phase of a tree removal project in Stanley Park due to an extensive looper moth infestation. Work has been underway to cut down thousands of trees in Vancouver’s biggest park since the summer of 2023, due to fire and public safety risks posed by dead and dying trees. …While the tree removal plan has faced sharp criticism staff say they have a plan that will see the least number of trees removed. “This aims to balance key public safety risks resulting from the hemlock looper outbreak while leaving a moderate extent of internal forest areas to undergo natural forest stand regeneration,” the staff motion says of its preferred approach. If commissioners approve of the staff plan, planning for tree removal and mitigation work would begin later this year and conclude in the first quarter of 2027.
Clear-cutting can make catastrophic floods 18 times more frequent with effects lasting more than 40 years, according to a new UBC study. In one watershed, these extreme floods also became more than twice as large, turning a once-in-70-years event into something that now happens every nine. “This research challenges conventional thinking about forest management’s impact on flooding,” said senior author Dr. Younes Alila, a hydrologist in the UBC faculty of forestry. “We hope the industry and policymakers will take note of the findings, which show that it matters not only how much forest you remove but also where, how and under what conditions.” The UBC-led study draws on one of the world’s longest-running forest experiments at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina and is published in the 
The Coastal Fire Centre will put a campfire ban into effect this week. The ban will be in place starting at noon on Thursday, July 17, noted a Coastal Fire Centre information bulletin issued Tuesday, July 15. Campfires will be prohibited on Vancouver Island and throughout the Coastal Fire Centre region with the exception of Haida Gwaii and the portion of the Central Coast Regional District within the North Island Central Forest District. Existing open fire prohibitions in the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction enacted May 30 will remain in place, and fireworks and burn barrels are restricted in most areas. “Open fire is the largest cause of human-caused fires provincially,” noted the information bulletin. “Human-caused wildfires are entirely preventable and may divert crucial resources from naturally occurring and/or existing wildfires.” The campfire ban and previous burning bans will be in place until Oct. 31 or until the orders are rescinded.
With the wildfire season intensifying in recent years, post-wildfire restoration has become increasingly critical. A Vancouver tech company drawing investor attention says it has an answer for not only replanting trees, but helping to rebuild forests that are more resilient to future fires. Veritree Technology Inc. is a platform that uses ecological data and monitoring tools to support tree planting, tracking and reporting. “Today, areas that historically wouldn’t have burned from wildfires are actually burning much hotter. At times, that burns the seed stock that would otherwise naturally regenerate after a wildfire,” said Derrick Emsley, CEO and co-founder of Veritree. He said that without intervention, deciduous species could grow back fast, crowding out the chance for a mature, healthy natural forest to regenerate, which leaves the area more vulnerable to wildfires in the future.
…In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, Japan shut down not just Fukushima but all of its nuclear plants, a move that resulted in the loss of a third of its electrical power. …Japan faced a daunting energy crisis that it addressed… with conventional fuels such as natural gas and “bioproducts” including wood pellets derived from the logging of BC’s Interior forests. …Last year, roughly two million tonnes of those pellets arrived Japanese ports from BC, linked to a dozen mills in the province that make wood pellets derived from trees logged in the province’s rapidly dwindling primary forests — natural forests never previously subject to industrial logging. …Which means that in the name of creating allegedly clean energy, forests are being razed just to burn the wood. …The strain on the province’s stressed forests is [also] coming from other bioenergy producers, including those who want to use wood to make jet fuel.
