Earlier this year, British Columbia appointed a new deputy minister for the Ministry of Forests. Raised in the heart of the forestry sector, born into the family of a truck logger and growing up in a forestry camp, Makenzie Leine has been tasked with supporting a sector facing significant challenges. …Working with Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar and the ministry team to fulfill a mandate focused on both immediate, short-term improvements and long-term sustainability for the sector, there are a series of deliverables she is supporting. These include increasing value by supporting value-added and innovative forest products; diversifying wood products in domestic and international markets; bringing groups together in forest landscape planning tables to chart a path forward for the stewardship of BC’s forests and forest industry; improving permitting efficiency; and, working toward ensuring a sustainable land base to enable the harvest of 45 million cubic metres a year, while fulfilling the Province’s commitment to old growth.
Easy, right? And all this with the added challenge of combatting the impacts of American tariffs—including those on softwood lumber and other protectionist measures—the price crisis in the timber sector, the impacts of wildfires and insect infestation on supply, and increasing wildfire activity due to impacts of climate change. “We’re in a very unique time right now, and it’s very, very tough,” Leine says. “It’s a time that is probably different than anything we’ve seen. …”I don’t think we can come to the table with the answers. I think we have to come to the table with our own understanding of our accountability and our part in it and work together to figure out how we sort through it, together.” Ultimately, Leine says, it can only be achieved by bringing together industry, First Nations, communities, and other interested parties to work together toward these goals, with government being stewards of the work ahead.
PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan — “It’s taking way too long, and harder than we were hoping, but we have not given up.” That’s the message being delivered by those involved with One Sky Forestry Products‘ OSB mill project planned for Prince Albert. Last week, the Saskatchewan NDP said the mill was the latest in a string of major economic projects delayed or cancelled under a Sask. Party government. …However, a source at the OSB mill project said while they were in somewhat of a holding pattern because of the trade uncertainty with the US, the board of directors had a meeting last week and made the unanimous decision not to cancel or shelve the project, but instead look at ways to move it along. …They added the timing of the project that was supposed to be completed in 2027 and provide 700 jobs, will depend on whether they can tap into financing support sooner rather than later.
Vancouver, B.C. – The British Columbia Lumber Trade Council (BCLTC) expressed deep disappointment today following the United States government’s decision to impose additional tariffs of 10 percent on Canadian softwood lumber under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. This action comes despite the fact that Canadian lumber has never posed a national security risk to the United States. Canada is a trusted ally and a secure supplier, and U.S. producers already meet most of the domestic demand. Canadian exports simply fill the gap that U.S. production cannot cover, preventing supply shortages that would harm American consumers. “These tariffs will not improve U.S. national security — they will only drive-up lumber costs, making housing even less affordable for American families and undermining the integrated trade relationship that benefits both our countries.” – Kurt Niquidet, President, BC Lumber Trade Council. …This will impose needless strain on the North American market, threaten jobs on both sides of the border, and make it harder to address the housing supply crisis in the United States.
Anderson Creek Timber is currently hauling logs from its property located just south of Nelson above the Rail Trail at Mountain Station. The work will continue for another three-to-four weeks, said Doug Thorburn, a forester with Monticola Forest Ltd. that manages Anderson Creek’s forest properties. … The 600-hectare Anderson Creek Timber property is private land and is therefore governed by B.C.’s Private Managed Forest Land Act, which provides much less regulation than the Forest Act in areas such as biodiversity, watershed protection, wildlife protection and harvest guidelines. …Anderson Creek Timber and Kalesnikoff, which has a public Crown land tenure over much of the Anderson Creek watershed, are working on a watershed assessment for the area… The reason the company has not done public information sessions about its logging plans … is that on privately owned land, compared with public land, there is less obligation to do so.
The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) is accepting expressions of interest (EOI) for projects to assist the Province of British Columbia in advancing the environmental and resource stewardship of British Columbia’s forests. These projects must occur on provincial crown land and support one or more of the core purposes of the Society, which include:
ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation and the Province are one step closer to a joint decision-making agreement that will support predictable harvesting, job creation and sustainable forestry operations on the north Island. “The best way to move fibre is by working together and that is what we are accomplishing with the ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “I am optimistic that this draft agreement will create good-paying jobs and help us in our efforts to provide stability and certainty for our coastal forestry sector, as we deal with Donald Trump’s attack on our forestry sector.” ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation and the Province have developed a first-of-its-kind draft Section 7 joint decision-making agreement for the forestry sector under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act) and Forest Range and Practices Act. 
The Chemainus River reveals its secrets in strange and unexpected ways. For years, I have wandered the forests near my North Cowichan home in search of the last few ancient trees, finding a few nice specimens here and there. In the heavily logged, 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve — popularly known as the Six Mountains, an hour north of Victoria — they are as elusive as the last rhinos of Sumatra. With a bit of luck, I hope my persistence may yet pay off. I don’t know it at the time, but my quest will launch me on a journey from the river’s headwaters to its mouth in pursuit of questions fundamental to the Chemainus and its future. How have human activities like industrial logging shaped the river, its watershed, and its salmon? …In my search for answers, I will discover modern challenges that bedevil other B.C. coastal rivers.
…the carcasses of 11 cattle were found on a logging road near Quesnel earlier this week… The owner of the animals, who holds tenure for an area of Crown land in B.C.’s Cariboo region, discovered the cows had ingested a nitrate-based fertilizer used in forestry to encourage tree growth, said Kevin Boon, of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association. “They licked it, thinking it was salt, and died of nitrate poisoning,” he said. …Boon said the rancher … fears more may have been poisoned… The fertilizer is usually applied in the winter or early spring, while cows aren’t grazing in B.C.’s forests. It appears to have been done earlier this year, due to a “lack of understanding,” said Boon, emphasizing that it doesn’t appear to be deliberate. “When you have multiple tenure-holders on the land, there needs to be communication with the stakeholders,” he said. …B.C. Forests Ministry is aware of the situation and is investigating…
Look for these stories and more in the Woodlots BC News:
Don’t miss the September BCCFA newsletter with these headlines and more:
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | Doors: 6 pm | Event: 7 pm | Reception: 8:30 pm | Location: Hollywood Theatre, 3123 W. Broadway, Vancouver
Do you remember the hydrological cycle that you learned about in school? Rain and snow fall from the sky. Tree leaves and branches slow the fall of rain. In the spring, snow slowly melts, the melt slowed because trees shade the snow and cool the air. Some of the rain and melted snow infiltrate deep into the ground, aided by the presence of tree roots, to become part of the ground water that flows downhill, slowed by tree roots. …Transpiration from tree leaves, and evaporation from the land, lakes and ocean return the water to the sky and the cycle starts over again. But wait. Remove a major part of the trees from the cycle and what happens? Rain and snow land directly on the ground. Less rain infiltrates the soil and, with no tree roots, what ground water there is flows downhill more quickly.
A hazard assessment commissioned by the B.C. government has identified 45 kilometres of old logging roads at high risk of landslides reaching Highway 99 — in the same area where a rain-triggered slide killed five people south of Lillooet in 2021. The hazard assessment, completed in 2023, was obtained through a freedom of information request by Postmedia News after the B.C. Forests Ministry refused to release the report. The report produced by Westrek Geotechnical Services Ltd., recommended further inspection to determine the best way to deactivate the roads and reduce landslide risk… They assessed Hwy. 99 between Duffey Lake and Lillooet — is about 100 kilometres northeast by road from Whistler. …It’s important to determine whether these old logging roads are diverting water out of its natural path and if this poses a landslide threat, and straighten it out from top to bottom, said Calvin VanBuskirk, an engineer with decades of experience in how logging and roads alter water flow. [This story may require a Vancouver Sun subscription for full access]
