Region Archives: Canada West

Opinion / EdiTOADial

BC forest sector – a view to 2024 (and a look back on 2023)

By David Elstone, Managing Director
The Spar Tree Group
January 16, 2024
Category: Opinion / EdiTOADial
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Elstone

Will 2024 be another year of turmoil? It’s a provincial election year, which is typically when advocacy magic happens, but in the case of BC, will the politicians be listening more to the woes of the forest sector or that of the ENGOs? Here’s my quick prognostication on what to expect:

  1. Softwood lumber trade agreement? – Given the distraction of the US election, do not hold your breath waiting.
  2. Direction of North American markets in 2024? Market direction largely will depend on what the US Federal Reserve does with the federal funds rate. China does not look to be a major market mover. All in, we are likely to experience a sideways to modestly positive market.
  3. BC forest policy will remain the slow-moving train wreck that it is. …If you thought the implementation of old growth deferrals has been disruptive, you had better buckle up given the Province’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (although implementation could come after the election).
  4. BC’s Crown (public lands) timber harvest will continue to decline in 2024, although maybe not by as much as in 2023.
  5. The BC forest sector will continue to shrink – Challenging economic availability of log supply (including lack of permits) will cause sawmills and other forest products manufacturers to curtail or outright close. Interior collective agreements expired in 2023 without much progress.
  6. Will a new cross-laminated timber (CLT) type, value-added wood products mass timber plant be proposed? Probably not, but if there is, it will likely be in partnership with a First Nations.

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Business & Politics

B.C. Forestry Being Chopped Down By Government

By Jock Finlayson
ICBA: The Independent
January 23, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The forest products sector has long served as both BC’s leading source of exports and a foundation for jobs and other economic activity across the province. …In reviewing trends affecting forestry over the past decade, I was shocked by the magnitude of the drop in timber harvesting in BC. Much of this reflects fallout from the pine beetle infestation that devastated the BC Interior in the early to mid-2000s. …However, government policy has also contributed to the sharp decline in timber harvesting which, in turn, has reduced the supply of logs and other raw materials needed by lumber manufacturers and pulp and paper mills in B.C. As a consequence, not only has the upstream logging industry been badly hurt by curtailed harvesting – the commercial viability of the wood products and pulp and paper segments of the larger industry has also been put at risk by a mix of “natural” and “policy-driven” developments.

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Richmond wood manufacturer bags $2.3M provincial funding boost

By Daisy Xiong
The Richmond News
January 22, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

RICHMOND, BC — A Richmond company received $2.3 million in funding from the province to support its wood products manufacturing. Richmond Plywood, a long-time Richmond-based forestry company that produces wood products, is one of the eight wood-product or fabricated-metal manufacturers that received funding from the province. The province earmarked another $8.6 million on Wednesday through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund to help manufacturers expand and diversify their operations, set the stage for a sustainable business and create new jobs. Richmond Plywood will use the funding to purchase and install new equipment to enhance its manufacturing processes using second-growth fibre and waste wood. The project will result in improving job skills for 24 employees and creating 14 new jobs at the company.

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Catalyst mill in Crofton fined $25,500 for discharging waste water into ocean

By Robert Barron
Nanaimo News Bulletin
January 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Crofton’s Catalyst mill has been fined $25,500 by the province for two instances in which more than one million litres of waste water was discharged into the ocean in 2021. …This discharge was due to a failed expansion joint associated with one of the pumps responsible for conveying the effluent from a bleach tank through a heat exchanger. Catalyst submitted that it was not possible to have predicted the expansion joint failure [and] that it did not cause the discharge and said it was its tenant, Mosaic Forest Management, that caused the discharge. …“I find that Catalyst has failed to provide any evidence to support these assertions and I attribute little weight to them,” the ministry’s report said. “I find that Catalyst, and Catalyst alone, has all of the rights, obligations, and liabilities under its permit. …While Mosaic’s operations may have possibly contributed to the discharge, I find that Catalyst was ultimately responsible for meeting all permit requirements.”

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BC United would move province’s forestry ministry to Prince George: Falcon

By Wolf Depner
Victoria News
January 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kevin Falcon

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said a government under his leadership would move the ministry of forests to Prince George, “so we got decision-makers that actually come from the communities that their decisions impact.” Falcon made that announcement Wednesday while speaking at the Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. …Forest Minister Bruce Ralston later dismissed the promise, noting that about 81 per cent of ministry staff, some 2,400 people, already work outside Victoria already. …When asked what a government under his leadership would do differently, Falcon said it would “create certainty for the sector through the prompt issuance of permits and approvals to access the land base,” a point also found in Douglas’ letter. …But another line of thought holds that larger forces outside of any government’s immediate control such as climate change and American protectionism will ultimately determine the fate of the forestry sector. Falcon acknowledged those forces.

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San Group lands $2.5M for equipment for Port Alberni manufacturing facility

By Andrew A. Duffy
Victoria Times Colonist
January 19, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Langley-based San Group, which operates lumber mills and a large value-added manufacturing facility in Port Alberni, will receive as much as $2.5 million from the province’s ­Manufacturing Jobs Fund for new ­equipment. The company, which has invested more than $100 million in the Alberni Valley, produces value-added and engineered wood products. The money is for equipment for an innovative process that creates engineered cedar products using ultra-thin sheets of veneer, which means the company can use a fraction of the fibre and produce less waste compared to conventional wood products, while adding another 30 jobs at the plant. …The money is part of $8.6 million the province is providing through the $180-million Manufacturing Jobs Fund that will go to eight projects around the province. …Cobble Hill-based C.W. ­Creative Woodcraft, a ­cabinet and millwork manufacturer that specializes in using ­second-growth fibre, will receive about $286,000 from the fund to expand its facility and add new machinery.

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Canada Contributes $13.5 Million to Advance Innovative Forest Technologies and Clean Energy Projects in BC

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
January 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jonathan Wilkinson

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – At the 21st annual B.C. Natural Resources Forum, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced a contribution of $13.5 million to two forest industry transformation projects and six clean energy projects in British Columbia.  …Projects funded through the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program include: 

  • $500,000 for Daizen Joinery Ltd’s Wood Fibre Stabilization Project: Located in Kamloops, B.C., this project involves a new proprietary wood stabilization process suitable for materials such as underutilized species that are typically difficult to dry and process. 
  • $4.5 million for Kalesnikoff Mass Timber’s Robotic Processing Line Project: This South Slocan, B.C. project will drive mass timber products further up the innovation curve by deploying a new robotic processing line for enhanced mass timber products with superior acoustic and moisture-resisting performance. 

Additional coverage in Business in Vancouver by Nelson Bennett: Federal grants announced for B.C. forestry, energy projects

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21st Annual BC Natural Resources Forum – Long term visions for BC’s Export economy

By Maureen McCall
BOE Report
January 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Tim McEwan

The 21st Annual BC Natural Resources Forum presented a great collection of panel discussions and keynote speakers. Premier David Eby opened the conference speaking at the opening banquet. Day two of the …conference was packed full of insightful discussion sessions on topics such as indigenous leadership in BC LNG industry: pioneering global solutions, Building a BC Forest Sector Roadmap to 2030, Building a BC Forest Sector Roadmap to 2030 and Sustainable Energy Solutions with a great keynote by Cynthia Hansen, President Gas Transmission and Midstream at Enbridge. The panel discussion that made the strongest impression on this reporter was the last panel of the day on the topic of long-term visions for the BC Export economy. …Tim McEwan with the Mining Association of BC advised that there is an general lack of understanding of natural resources as the economic engine of the BC economy.

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Funding helps Columbia Shuswap employers grow, keep people working

By Lachian Labere
Eagle Valley News
January 18, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Nick Arkle

An influx of provincial funding will help two Columbia Shuswap employers keep people working in the resource and manufucturing sectors. The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation announced the province would be contributing as much as $8.6 million “to help manufacturers grow and diversify their operations.” Among the recipients announced iwere Downie Timber (owned by the Gorman Group) in Revelstoke, and Access Prescision Machining Ltd. in Salmon Arm. Downie, a lumber-milling and remanufacturing wood processor, will receive as much as $825,000 to purchase and commission a new debarker system, alongside facility upgrades “that will enable the company to reduce reliance on old-growth fibre and optimize operations, while protecting 229 existing jobs within the company.” …“With the rapidly changing log profile and reduced available volume in the Revelstoke area, Downie Timber is having to adapt quickly, increasing its focus on second-growth logs,” said Gorman CEO Nick Arkle.

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Paper Excellence’s Crofton mill fined $25,500 for dumping toxic waste into ocean

By Stefan Labbé
The Times Colonist
January 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER ISLAND — A pulp and paper mill has been fined $25,500 for discharging more than a million litres of toxic waste into the ocean. The penalty, handed to Catalyst Paper’s Crofton Mill, dates back to the summer of 2021, when it was found responsible for six failures to comply with its permit. …On July 23, 2021, a component on one of the mill’s pumps failed, leading to the discharge of a million litres of effluent, storm and sea water into the ocean. That discharge later led to the death of 90 per cent of rainbow trout in a toxicity test. Inspections concluded that the company had failed to regularly inspect an expansion joint on the pump. Catalyst disputed its failure to comply with its permits, submitting it could not have predicted the component’s failure. …“I find that Catalyst has failed to provide any evidence to support these assertions,” wrote Environmental Management Act director Jason Bourgeois in his Jan. 9 decision.

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B.C. taking action to support new resource-sector jobs

By Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation
Government of British Columbia
January 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

New funding for six wood-product manufacturers and two fabricated-metal manufacturers will create and protect hundreds of resource-sector jobs for people and strengthen B.C.’s value-added wood sector and local economies. …The Government of B.C. is contributing as much as $8.6 million through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund to fund eight new capital projects to help manufacturers grow and diversify their operations…. San Industries Ltd., a vertically integrated forestry company that produces value-added and engineered wood products, will receive as much as $2.5 million to support purchasing new equipment, optimizing its processing line and constructing a new storage facility at its Port Alberni plant. …Richmond Plywood Corp. Ltd., which has been operating for more than 60 years in Richmond, is receiving as much as $2.3 million to purchase and install new, innovative equipment to enhance its value-added manufacturing processes using second-growth fibre and waste wood. 

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Northern BC mostly shut out of provincial funding supporting resource sector projects, jobs

By Brendan Pawliw
My Bulkley Lakes Now
January 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bruce Ralston

The provincial government is investing 8.6 million dollars in funding through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund to support eight new capital projects. This was announced this morning (Wednesday) by Forests Minister Bruce Ralston and Jobs Minister Brenda Bailey at the BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. The funding is through the province’s Manufacturing Jobs Fund. However, very little of the money is geared towards northern BC, except $970,000 going to Coast Tsimshian Resources LP a forestry company fully owned by the Lax Kw’alaams Band, near Prince Rupert. …Ralston noted while the announcement was geared towards, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and parts of the Kootenays, there have been northern communities that previously benefited from this fund. “There have been several projects in the region that have been funded in Mackenzie and Williams Lake for example and it is open to companies in Prince George specifically and other areas to apply as well.”

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Canadian lumber industry grappling with thousands of unfilled jobs

By Joanne Roberts
Vancouver City News
January 17, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Canada’s lumber industry is being threatened by a shrinking workforce and growing job vacancies, professionals in that line of work are warning. Lumber is a big part of the Canadian economy, intrinsically tied to the country’s growing housing needs. The Western Retail Lumber Association (WRLA) estimates more than 461,000 Canadians have jobs in the lumber industry. But there could be many more. …Kovach says if the thousands of lumber jobs aren’t filled, the impacts will be felt Canada-wide. …Lumber supplier Kaitlyn Chimko, with Dakeryn Industries in North Vancouver, says it’s important to get more faces in the lumber industry as people retire and Canada continues to grow. Twenty per cent of Canada’s lumber force is set to retire within five years. …Joel Hartung, the owner of the LumberZone in Manitoba, confirms there’s “no shortage of work needed in our industry.”

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BC media baron David Black selling newspaper empire

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
January 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Black Press newspapers reported today that Black Press is being sold, with the new ownership group to include the Canso Investment Counsel, Deans Knight Capital Management and Carpenter Media Group in the US. Carpenter Media Group owns newspapers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. As part of the restructuring, Black Press will seek creditor protection in B.C. Supreme Court. Under the terms of the proposed sale, Black Press Media will continue to be Canadian controlled. Black Press owns more than 80 community newspapers in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, including the Yukon and Alaska, and Hawaii. In B.C., Black Press owns 67 community newspapers, including 23 on Vancouver Island and 13 in the Lower Mainland-Fraser Valley. …“The media company employs roughly 1,200 employees between its Canadian and U.S.” divisions.”

Related coverage:

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New ministers appointed for child care, children and family development, sustainable forestry

By Office of the Premier
Government of British Columbia
January 15, 2024
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Andrew Mercier

Premier David Eby has appointed Grace Lore as Minister of Children and Family Development, and Mitzi Dean as Minister of State for Child Care. …Premier Eby has also named Andrew Mercier as Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation to support the important work of Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests, to ensure that British Columbia is building a truly sustainable forestry industry. “Minister Mercier will be a key partner in government to help address the urgent demand for timber supply from industry, while working to ensure that wood products are value added to help create and protect jobs in the forestry sector,” said Premier Eby. “Our entire cabinet has one clear goal – to make life better for people in B.C., and the changes announced today will help us do just that.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Mount Pleasant could soon have Vancouver’s tallest ‘hybrid-timber’ tower Project

By Micke Howell
Business in Vancouver
January 12, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood could soon be home to the city’s tallest “hybrid-timber” residential building. An application from Henriquez Partners Architects on behalf of Westbank Projects Corp. goes to public hearing Jan. 23 for a 25-storey rental highrise at Main Street and 5th Avenue. Hybrid-timber construction has become popular in Vancouver, with a staff report pointing out the city is a leader in North America, with an increasing number of large developments incorporating mass timber as primary structural elements. …Hybrid-timber construction includes a combination of heavy steel columns and beams, a concrete core and cross-laminated timber floor slabs topped in concrete. The method has fewer design and functional limitations than an all-mass timber construction. The project calls for 210 rental units, 168 of which would be rented at market prices and 42 at below-market rates.

 

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Forestry

Parksville council hopes to see 30 per cent of biosphere region conserved

By Kevin Forsyth
The Parksville Qualicum Beach News
January 23, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PARKSVILLE, BC — Parksville council has endorsed a resolution that urges the province to purchase and conserve 30 per cent of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR). Amit Gaur brought the motion, which will go to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) convention in April. …Gaur said he chose 30 per cent because it aligns with the federal government’s goal of conserving 30 percent of Canada’s land and water by 2030. He added close to $1 billion has been set aside in the tripartite agreement. …Mayor Doug O’Brien said he has “reservations” and pointed out much of the land is owned by Mosaic Forest Management, rather than the Crown. “I feel it would exceed your billion dollars easily, just for one land purchase,” O’Brien said. …Council voted in favour of Gaur’s resolution, with O’Brien opposed.

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There’s trouble growing in British Columbia’s monoculture forests

By Georgina Whitehouse
InfoTel News Ltd
January 22, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia’s use of glyphosate has drastically declined in recent years. Yet, the landscape of monoculture forests left after decades of chemical herbicide spraying could still spell a widespread ecological disaster for the province. …Convenient and cost-effective, Roundup has been vehemently opposed by First Nations and other groups and its use has declined. However, the monoculture forests it produced are still being maintained by other means. UBC Professor of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Cindy Prescott and her colleagues agree that it is far more “ecologically intelligent” to have diverse species that include non-conifers, for both the above and below-ground health of the forest. …the focus on rapid regrowth of conifer crops is an outdated and problematic perspective, according to Prescott. …Fortunately, in recent years the has been a paradigm shift in the forestry sector, at least partly due to the work of Gary Merkel. 

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Forestry Takes Action on Climate Change and Improves Community Wildfire Safety

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
January 24, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kamloops, B.C. – The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) 2024 Accomplishments Update provides an overview of the forest enhancement work accomplished in the past year. At the Truck Logger’s Association convention in January of 2023, Premier David Eby announced that FESBC would be entrusted with administering $50 million for forest enhancement projects, focusing on waste wood utilization and wildfire risk reduction. In response to the Premier’s announcement, FESBC quickly rolled out a funding intake for First Nations, community forests, companies, and communities throughout the province. Project approvals commenced soon after that. Now, just one year after the initial announcement, FESBC is excited to report the cumulative approvals of 66 projects valued at $47.9 million, with work on those projects actively underway. …”FESBC projects show that there doesn’t need to be a trade-off between the environment or the economy – it can, and should be, a win for both,” said FESBC Executive Director Steve Kozuki.

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No recharge: long-term Prairie drought raises concerns over groundwater levels

By Bob Weber
Canadian Press in Prince George Citizen
January 21, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

EDMONTON — Sunk in bedrock, the Marmot Creek well in Kananaskis Country has been there for generations, says University of Saskatchewan water scientist John Pomeroy. It’s one of the few groundwater monitoring wells that Alberta has in the mountains. Away from any human influence, it’s a good indicator of what’s actually happening. “The lowest water levels are all in the last seven years and the levels are much lower now than they were in the ’70s and ’80s,” Pomeroy said. “It’ll be a climate signal that we’re seeing.” …About 600,000 Albertans depend on groundwater, and scientists and rural officials say not enough is known about the effects years of drought have had on the unseen flows beneath our feet. “We have to make sure we’re managing groundwater and surface water as a common resource,” said Pomeroy. “If we deplete one, we’re depleting the other.”

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BC’s Lakes Timber Supply Area’s allowable annual cut is 970,000 cubic meters

By Sandman Zaman
The Burns Lake Lakes District News
January 22, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) received an update on the future of the Lakes Timber Supply Area from representatives of the provincial forest ministry. Anthony Giannotti, pricing and tenure director, informed board that the current allocations of allowable annual cut in the Lakes TSA have 970,000 cubic meters, which were decided in 2021. …Michael Riis-Christianson, said he was concerned about the shelf-life of burnt and mountain pine beetle-killed timbers and how these volumes can vary from the 2018 wildfires. …Neal Marincak, Nadina Natural Resource District’s resource manager, said from his understanding that Fraser Lake is still salvaging the 2018 wildfire burnt timbers and addressed that the shelf-life remains only for a year. …Clint Lambert was concerned about burnt timber sales and questioned where it could be salvaged quickly.

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Canada looks to fight wildfires with night-vision equipped helicopters

By Heather Yourex-West
Global News
January 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

After last year’s record-breaking wildfire season, crews across western Canada are looking to new technology to help in future fights. Alberta has added a new tool capable of tackling wildfires from the air — in the dark.

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West Kootenay ecologists react to B.C.’s new biodiversity plan

By Bill Metcalfe
Trail Times
January 23, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Rachel Holt

Herb Hammond

A local ecologist who is often critical of the B.C. government’s forest practices is cautiously optimistic about a new plan to improve biodiversity and ecosystem health. Dr. Rachel Holt, in a public presentation, said the Draft BC Biodiversity and Ecological Health Framework, released in November, contains statements never before made by the provincial government. “It’s quite unusual for the government (to state that) the health of ecosystems and biodiversity is really paramount … and that the other things (including logging) have to fall into place around that,” she said. …Holt says the big question is whether the government can get all ministries on board with a new way of thinking. …She said the new framework document uses the term “ecosystem based management.” West Kootenay forest ecologist Herb Hammond has been using variations on that term, and helping his clients practise it, since the 1980s. He now uses the term “nature-based stewardship.”

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Mountain pine beetle in ‘steep decline’ since 2019 peak

By Scott Hayes
The Jasper Fitzhugh
January 22, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The recent extreme cold in Alberta has done much to assist the province’s efforts in battling the mountain pine beetle. Mountain pine beetle populations in Alberta have declined 98 per cent since their peak in 2019, said the Ministry of Forestry and Parks. Extended periods of extreme cold below -38 C can cause up to 95 per cent mortality of over-wintering mountain pine beetles. …In Jasper National Park, the last population survey in late 2022 showed that the mountain pine beetle’s numbers have dropped 94 per cent since 2019. The survey also showed a sharp decline in trees killed by the pest for the fourth consecutive year with zero living larvae found. In order to mitigate the risk of wildfire and other negative impacts to the forest industry, watersheds and endangered species, the province will continue to invest in the mountain pine beetle control program to ensure its continued success.

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Adams Lake Indian Band has logging fine reduced by more than $65K on appeal

By Luc Rempel
Castanet
January 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A Forest Appeals Commission panel has ruled in favour of a case put forward by the Adams Lake Indian Band, lowering an administrative penalty levelled against the band by more than $65,000. According to a written decision published by the panel, which hears appeals and other matters related to the province’s forestry act, the Adams Lake Indian Band was found to have violated the Forest and Range Practices Act in the summer of 2019 when several truckloads of unweighed logs were transported to a place other than a scaling station. …The Adams Lake Indian Band filed an appeal of the decision. Jeffrey Hand, panel chair of the Forest Appeals Commission decided on the appeal. The band appealed the original penalty on the grounds that it “did not receive any economic benefit as a result of this contravention.” The band asked for the fine to be reduced to $2,000.

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Green Party deputy leader Angela Davidson convicted of criminal contempt for Fairy Creek logging blockades

By Tiffany Crawford
The Vancouver Sun
January 20, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The deputy leader of the federal Green party, Angela Davidson — also known as Rainbow Eyes — has been convicted of seven counts of criminal contempt for her participation in the Fairy Creek logging blockades on Vancouver Island. In a B.C. Supreme Court decision, Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled Davidson breached a court-ordered injunction and her bail conditions in connection with protest activities. Hinkson said Davidson’s conduct was “defiant, repeated and public, and certainly not minimal,” and declined to acquit her for her role in 2021 and 2022. Sentencing has not been determined. The Fairy Creek protest began after logging permits were granted in 2020 allowing Teal Cedar Products to cut timber,  in areas northeast of Port Renfrew. …Davidson contends she was subjected to “disproportionate policing resources on account of her identity as a visibly identifiable Indigenous person.” However the judge said the fact that hundred of other individuals were arrested does not support the argument.

Additional coverage in My Comox Valley Now, by Grant Warkentin: Protester-turned-politician convicted of contempt for actions during Fairy Creek blockades

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Protection plans intended to ready Yukon communities for worsening wildfires

By Dana Hatherly
Yukon News
January 22, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Yukon is facing the reality of longer, more intense wildfire seasons by paying special attention to how its communities are prepared, according to fire information officer Mike Fancie with Yukon Wildland Fire Management. He said that means coming up with community wildfire protection plans for all Yukon communities. “We need to have strategies in place to reduce wildland fire risk around individual communities in the Yukon,” Fancie said. ..“It’s important for us to look ahead to why we need to build our resiliency to wildfires based on the fact that in the Yukon we’ve chosen to live in the boreal forest,” he said. …Reducing the risk of wildfires involves things like FireSmart work, developing fuel breaks, prescribed fires and stand conversion, which Fancie said refers to flipping parts of the forest by removing evergreen trees and replacing them with aspen trees.

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Can fake old-growth trees help this endangered animal?

By Sarah Cox
The Narwhal
January 18, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Northern myotis bats, which are federally listed as endangered, are found in many parts of Canada. They’ve been documented in different regions of B.C. According to the B.C. Conservation Data Centre, there’s a dearth of data on the size of the provincial population. Lausen says the bats’ inland temperate rainforest habitat is so badly eroded scientists aren’t sure how the bats are faring, or how successfully they’re able to reproduce in the region. “Are they still here?” she wonders. “Because if they’re still here, we should be trying to mitigate habitat loss.” The bats need all the help they can get. A deadly fungal disease called white-nose syndrome is moving westward and north. The disease, which has killed millions of bats in North America, is expected to render some bat species extinct. Detected in bats in Washington and Alberta, it’s thought to be only a matter of time before it spreads in B.C.

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Proactive measures can reduce impending wildfire risk in B.C.

By Bruce Uzelman
Alberni Valley News
January 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bruce Uzelman

British Columbia’s Eby government has vigorously addressed two of the top issues facing the country. It has gone further and faster than any other provincial government to stimulate housing construction, and has most aggressively incentivized primary care providers and addressed other healthcare issues. In that context, it is disappointing that the B.C. government has been so slow to proactively reduce wildfire risk, particularly given B.C.’s extreme susceptibility to and loss from such fires. Measures to minimize wildfire risks have been identified and urged on governments for two decades or longer. …It’s clear the provincial government is seriously underfunding risk reduction measures, and that is burdening the government and residents of B.C. with extensively more wildfire destruction and cost. Prescribed burns need to be expanded rapidly within the wildland-urban interface and beyond. …The B.C. government’s approach to wildfires and wildfire risk must fundamentally change, urgently, before more, expansive wildlands are irretrievably lost.

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First Nations members concerned about logging damaging historical areas

By Jenna Smith
Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation
January 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE ALBERT, SASKATCHEWAN — Members of several First Nations around the Prince Albert area are raising concerns about work the forestry plans to do near Historical Sites. The Ministry of Environment’s Island Forests 2022-2042 Forest Management Plan includes logging in areas around Holbien and Crutwell. The Lower Hudson House is located about 35 kilometers west of Prince Albert and was the first Hudson’s Bay trading post located on the North Saskatchewan River. The forestry plans on logging in areas close to the Lower Hudson House, which could potentially cause irreversible damage. “There’s so much to be learned yet, it was obviously a gathering place for First Nations long before Europeans showed up, so there’s a pre contact history there in and around the whole area,” explained Consultation Facilitator Dave Rondeau. The area where the forestry plans to build the access trail was once a path travelled by Indigenous Peoples, leading to multiple forts and posts associated with European fur traders.

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Don’t miss the next round of UBC Forestry Micro-Certificates – deadline is February 5

UBC Faculty of Forestry
January 17, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The UBC Faculty of Forestry offers online micro-certificate programs taught by leading industry professionals designed specifically for flexible learning and career advancement. In nine weeks or less, participants develop specific skills and knowledge while earning digital badges that recognize your technical and professional expertise. All micro-certificates start February 5 and run for 8 weeks. They are flexible, online micro-certificates aimed at working professionals. Explore a range of programs in Natural Resource Management, Bioeconomy, and Mass Timber Building. We offer 16 certificates, including three new programs in our lineup: Engineered Bamboo for Sustainable Construction; Landscape Level Forest Modeling; and Forest Management Planning

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Vancouver Residents Advocate for Conservation in Landmark Survey

By Ducks Unlimited Canada
Cision Newswire
January 15, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC – A recent survey reveals that 88% of B.C. lower mainland residents believe access to natural spaces is crucial to their quality of life. This sentiment is rooted in awareness, with 89% acknowledging the importance of pollinators in food production and 88% recognizing the role of natural areas in enhancing quality of life. Notably, the survey highlights that 95% of lower mainland residents agree that protecting wildlife habitat improves the overall quality of life in the region, emphasizing a positive attitude toward conservation efforts and the need for increased funding. Respondents expressed concerns about … damage to pollinator (91%), salmon (89%), and birdlife (87%) habitats. Additionally, nearly all residents (88%) share concerns about increasing water pollution and wildfires, underlining the community’s deep connection to their environment, and the desire to see it become and remain healthy and thriving, especially in the face of climate change as robust ecosystems are more resilient to impacts such as droughts and floods.

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More than 100 wildfires still not considered out after B.C.’s record wildfire season

By Ashley Joannou
Canadian Press in Victoria Times Colonist
January 16, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

More than 100 wildfires are still listed as burning in British Columbia thanks to a combination of a busy wildfire season, extreme drought and generally warmer and drier conditions through December. Forrest Tower of the BC Wildfire Service said that while it’s not uncommon for some fires to burn through the winter, that number usually hovers around a couple dozen, not the 106 that were listed as active on New Year’s Day. …Some underground fires, often dubbed “zombie fires,” can flare up again in the spring if conditions are right. …Lori Daniels, a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia, said the province should be prepared for more years with 100 or more fires burning in January. She said four of the last seven fire seasons have neared or surpassed one million hectares burned. 

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Conservationists still waiting on years-overdue recovery plan for Quebec’s caribou

By Morgan Lowrie
The Canadian Press in the Prince George Citizen
January 13, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

MONTREAL — Conservationists are urging the Quebec government to finally publish its plan to protect caribou habitat, several years after it first promised a strategy to save the dwindling herds. The latest delays came last year, when the province’s Environment Department pushed back a scheduled June publication because of a record-setting wildfire season. The government said at the time it needed to consider the impact of the fires on the caribou — and on the logging industry, a lucrative sector that exploits the animals’ habitat. …The delays are a case of “history repeating itself,” says Henri Jacob, president of environmental advocacy group Action boreale. …While it has delayed the publication of the strategy, the province has relied on other measures to help save caribou, including its controversial decision to place three threatened herds in enclosures, and to kill wolves that get to close to caribou in the wild.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Pro and cons of the ‘carbon market’

By Kristy Dyer
Castanet
January 23, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

If you’ve taken an airline flight recently, you may have noticed the airline offers to offset the carbon emitted during your flight for a small fee. …Environmentalists are not enthusiastic about carbon offsets. The first generation offsets were a huge disappointment. …Because of stricter certification, credits today are more trustworthy, but it’s still a work in progress. Then there’s the fact there’s no way around your flight generating real carbon emissions. …However, the voluntary carbon market (the one you participated in when you bought your flight) is expected to grow to $10 to $40 billion (US) by 2030. Why? Offering carbon credits provides investments for new technologies and for technology transfer to developing nations. …Carbon credits can be traded like stocks. A full carbon market can include all of the complex and risky vehicles available in the stock market. 

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2023 B.C. wildfires pumped 102 megatonnes of carbon into atmosphere: European Union

By Wolf Depner
Campbell River Mirror
January 18, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

© BC Wildfire Service

As B.C. prepares for another potentially difficult wildfire season, the record-setting wildfire season of 2023 contributed to about 21 per cent of Canada’s carbon emissions from wildfires, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring System. CAMS’s Global Fire Assimilation System uses fire radiative power observations from satellite-based sensors to produce daily estimates of wildfire and biomass burning emissions. “CAMS estimated 102 megatonnes of carbon from wildfires in British Columbia for 2023,” Mark Parrington, CAMS senior scientist, said in a statement to Black Press Media. B.C’s contribution of 21 per cent to the Canadian total was similar to the emissions from the Alberta, which also experienced a difficult wildfire season, and only the Northwest Territories topped B.C., Parrington added. Putting the figure of 102 megatonnes into perspective, B.C.’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 reached 62 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to data from the provincial government’s environmental reporting website.

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B.C. paves the way for new clean-economy opportunities in Prince George

Government of British Columbia
January 17, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE GEORGE, BC — A proposed hydrogen project from Chilliwack-based Teralta Hydrogen Solutions is set to create sustainable jobs while driving down emissions and helping solidify Prince George as a hub for hydrogen investment in B.C. …Premier David Eby said “Teralta and their partners, Chemtrade and Canfor Pulp, are leaders in fighting climate change through creative solutions that lower carbon emissions, create good-paying jobs for people, and build healthier communities.” Teralta is planning a clean hydrogen system that will reduce natural gas use at Canfor’s pulp mill by 25%. The system collects byproduct hydrogen from Chemtrade Logistics’ sodium chlorate production facility, purifying and compressing it for use in Canfor’s adjacent pulp mill. This new project is being advanced with a regulatory change the Province recently made that allows gas utilities to acquire hydrogen to replace fossil fuels.

Related Coverage in CleanTechnica: Teralta Hydrogen For Energy Initiative Actually Makes Sense

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Teralta launches clean hydrogen system to help power Canfor Pulp Mill in Prince George

By TERALTA Hydrogen Solutions
Cision Newswire
January 16, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC – Teralta, the leader in hydrogen strategies, technology, and infrastructure, today announces the launch of the company’s clean hydrogen system at a pulp mill in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. The project began in 2022 as the first initiative in Teralta’s international waste hydrogen strategy involving the development of utility-scale low-carbon hydrogen for industrial operations. The project was publicly announced by B.C. Premier David Eby as part of the 21st Annual BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. …”Teralta and their partners, Chemtrade and CANFOR Pulp are leaders in fighting climate change through creative solutions that lower carbon emissions, create good paying jobs for people, and build healthier communities,” said Premier David Eby. Once the hydrogen infrastructure is in place and operational, the mill would benefit from a clean source of energy. The hydrogen supply would fulfill 25% of the gas energy requirements for the mill.

Additional coverage from CBC News, by Andrew Kurjata: Canfor to reduce reliance on natural gas with hydrogen power project in Prince George, B.C.

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Health & Safety

WorkSafeBC Health and Safety Enews

WorkSafeBC
January 19, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

In this edition:

  • New requirements are now in effect to support injured workers’ return to work. The duty to cooperate is designed to encourage connection between workers and employers.
  • What’s New? Regulatory updates 
  • Preventing slips, trips and falls
  • Abilities-focused language for a meaningful recovery
  • Creating a positive health and safety culture
  • Apply for a research grant to improve workplace health and safety
  • Make It Safe Conferences: March 18 and April 18

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Port Alice pulp mill site cleanup could likely be completed by March 2024

By Debra Lynn
The North Island Gazette
January 17, 2024
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

PORT ALICE, BC — BC government Assistant Deputy Minister, Laurel Nash, presented a Neucel site update at a Village of Port Alice council meeting. Deputy minister Nash informed the meeting that the cleanup of the Neucel mill site will likely be completed by March 2024. Price Waterhouse Cooper ran into several surprises that, according to Nash, were “environmental catastrophes.” When they removed a retaining wall of the 100-year-old mill, they discovered that it was contaminated with asbestos. The toxic material had to be bagged and shipped to Drayton Valley to be disposed of—a total of 120 truckloads. …No municipal landfill on the island was willing to accept the material. …Nash said it is difficult to say if the area will be able to be used as an industrial site again. There would need to be a hazard assessment, but that can’t be done until all the critical issues are dealt with.

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