Day Three of the Truck Loggers Association convention opened with a private screening of BC Is Burning, a documentary produced by professional forester Murray Wilson examining British Columbia’s escalating wildfire crisis and the forest conditions shaping fire behaviour. Introduced by moderator Vaughn Palmer as an “urgent, powerful documentary,” the film explores how fuel buildup, insect damage, drought, and decades of fire suppression have contributed to larger, more intense wildfires, while highlighting a range of forest management approaches being applied in BC and elsewhere, including California. The screening was followed by a Q&A moderated by Palmer with Dr. Carolyn Smyth of Natural Resources Canada, Rob Schweitzer of the Ministry of Forests and BC Wildfire Service, and Jim McGrath of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, all of whom also appeared in the film. Discussion focused on fuel mitigation, fire salvage, carbon dynamics, and policy and permitting constraints.
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The final session of the Truck Loggers Association convention featured an on-stage conversation with Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of BC and current Leader of the Opposition, moderated by Vaughn Palmer. Joined by TLA President Dorian Uzzell, Vice President Bob Marquis, and Past President Aaron Service, the discussion focused on forestry policy, investment certainty, and regulatory conditions affecting contractors and communities. Halford pointed to permitting delays, regulatory complexity, and policy uncertainty as barriers to investment, arguing that businesses are prepared to invest but are being held back by slow approvals. Responding to questions on DRIPA, fibre supply, and the closure of the Crofton mill, Halford framed his party’s call for repeal and his broader critique around the need for clarity, predictability, and timely decision-making. Audience questions reinforced concerns about risk aversion within government and the need for clearer authority and accountability to sustain forestry employment across the province.
Day 2 of the TLA Convention opened with a panel on First Nations partnerships, examining how collaboration between Indigenous communities and industry is reshaping forestry in BC. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session featured Lennard Joe, CEO of the BC First Nations Forestry Council; Chief Ronnie Chickite of the We Wai Kai Nation; and Klay Tindall, General Manager of Lil’wat Forestry Ventures. Joe outlined the rapid growth of First Nations tenure and investment, emphasizing operational feasibility, workforce capacity, and the need for partnerships grounded in mutual benefit. Chickite described We Wai Kai’s expansion from small licences to controlling nearly 220,000 cubic metres annually, highlighting reinvestment in employment, education, and long-term community stability. Tindall shared how partnerships helped transform Lil’wat Forestry Ventures, supporting capacity building, wildfire risk reduction, and stewardship in sensitive areas. In a discussion touching on DRIPA, the speakers emphasized inclusion, local economic benefit, and the importance of durable, collaborative governance in forestry.
At the TLA Convention’s Leader’s Luncheon, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar outlined the BC government’s current priorities for the forest sector, following a pre-recorded message from Premier David Eby, who is on a trade mission to India. Speaking from abroad, Eby emphasized strengthening international trade relationships and promoting BC products amid global uncertainty. Parmar said forestry is facing a convergence of challenges, including market volatility, high costs, trade pressures, and wildfire risk. Beginning with wildfire, he announced an expansion of the Risk Reduction Equipment Support Trust (REST) program, increasing provincial cost-sharing from 10% to 25% for eligible equipment and modifications used in fuel management and mitigation work. He also addressed fibre supply and Path to 45, stressing the need to remove operational barriers and improve planning certainty, and pointed to ongoing reforms at BC Timber Sales. Parmar emphasized balancing economic viability, environmental responsibility, and reconciliation, while underscoring the importance of international markets for BC’s forest products.
The second “fostering collaboration” panel of Day 2 at the TLA Convention brought together senior leaders from forestry and the broader business community to share organizational perspectives on BC’s economic and forest-sector challenges. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session featured Bridget Anderson, President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade; Peter Lister, Executive Director of the Truck Loggers Association; Kim Haakstad, President and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI); and Joe Nemeth, General Manager of the BC Pulp & Paper Coalition. Anderson addressed the wider provincial economic context, including growth, fiscal pressures, and business conditions. Lister focused on the state of the forest industry, fibre access, costs, and investment certainty. Haakstad examined competitiveness, tenure obligations, employment trends, and economic reconciliation. Nemeth spoke to the pulp and paper sector, highlighting cost structures, fibre availability, and conditions required for future investment.
Day 1 of the TLA Conference kicked off its technical program with the Markets & Economy panel, examining how trade disruption, shifting construction trends, and fibre supply constraints are reshaping Canada’s forest sector. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session featured David Fell, Director of Research and Analysis at Forestry Innovation Investment (FII); Rick Jeffery, President and CEO of the Canadian Wood Council; and Don Wright, Senior Counsel at Global Public Affairs. Fell outlined BC’s reliance on export markets, the importance of diversification, and the role of building codes in supporting domestic demand. Jeffery focused on housing, industrialized construction, mass timber, and the need for supply-chain adaptation to capture future growth. Wright addressed the economics of competitiveness, pointing to declining harvest levels, policy-driven fibre constraints, and their implications for government revenue. In the discussion, Wright said restoring an economically sustainable harvest level was “job number one.”
The second session of the TLA Conference featured the Closing the Gap on Fibre Supply panel, examining the BC government’s Path to 45 target and what it means for contractors and operating companies. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session brought together Jim Girvan, Associate at IFS; Paul Sadler, GM & CEO of Harmac Pacific; and Jonathan Armstrong, Vice President of Forestry and Fibre Supply at Western Forest Products. Girvan contrasted the 45-million-cubic-metre goal with current projections of roughly 28 million, stressing that the real issue is not volume alone but whether fibre is economically viable to harvest. Sadler focused on the operational realities facing mills and contractors, including cost, access, permitting timelines, and the need for predictable supply. Armstrong described how policy and regulatory layering has complicated planning and investment, particularly on the coast, and emphasized the gap between theoretical fibre and what can actually be brought to market.
Day 1 of the TLA Conference continued with the Government Initiatives Update panel, offering a detailed look at current policy work within the BC Ministry of Forests, reforms at BC Timber Sales, and longer-term system challenges. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session featured Makenzie Leine, Deputy Minister of Forests; Melissa Sanderson, Assistant Deputy Minister; and Garry Merkel, Co-Chair of the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council. Leine outlined the ministry’s priorities, including tariff response, the Path to 45 initiative, and a shift toward management-unit-level problem-solving rather than broad, one-size-fits-all policy. Sanderson provided an update on the BCTS review, its expanded public-interest mandate, and early implementation steps, including Category 4 value-added supply, stewardship work, and measures affecting contractors. Merkel addressed longer-term structural issues, questioning why repeated reviews have failed to deliver lasting stability and calling for governance approaches that better align economic activity, communities, and forest stewardship.
Day 1 of the TLA Conference concluded with the Improving Workplace Safety panel, examining how industry and regulators are addressing risk during a period of economic pressure and operational uncertainty. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the session featured Rob Moonen, CEO of the BC Forest Safety Council, and Todd McDonald, Head of Prevention Services at WorkSafeBC. Moonen, who noted he will retire at the end of March, warned that cost pressures and tighter margins are creating conditions that can undermine safety, stressing that the industry “cannot afford to wait for another crisis before acting.” He highlighted mental health as a growing concern and outlined the Council’s new Connection to Care counselling initiative. McDonald described WorkSafeBC’s prevention approach, emphasizing education and consultation alongside enforcement, and identified key risk areas including extreme weather, motor-vehicle incidents, ergonomics, and mental health. Both speakers underscored that sustained leadership and collaboration remain essential to protecting forestry workers.
North Cowichan’s mayor wants the federal government to extend its temporary Employment Insurance program to include workers at the Crofton pulp mill who will be working until mid-April. In letters to Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu and Jeff Kibble, MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Rob Douglas said the temporary EI measures that Ottawa introduced last summer in response to major economic conditions across the country, including mill closures, are set to expire on April 11. That’s just three days before approximately 60 workers, who are being maintained at the Crofton mill for operational considerations beyond its closure in early February, will receive their layoff notices on April 14. …Douglas said that, on behalf of the community, he is requesting that the federal government extend the temporary EI measures or implement an exemption mechanism to ensure that all Crofton mill workers affected by the closure are treated equitably.
VANCOUVER ISLAND — About 100 unionized forestry workers on the north Island who’ve been on strike since June have reached a tentative agreement with La-kwa sa muqw Forestry Limited Partnership. The United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 and the LKSM Partnership announced in a joint statement that the agreement is subject to a ratification vote by the union, and no details are being released. “The USW bargaining committee has advised that they will be recommending that its members accept this agreement,” said the joint statement. The deal was reached with the assistance of the BC Labour Relations Board. …LKSM LP is the former Western Forest Products mid-Island forest operation, which remains majority-owned by Western Forest Products. The LKSM partnership is made up of the Tlowitsis, We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and K’ómoks First Nations, all members of the Nanwakolas Council. …The operations cover about 157,000 hectares near Campbell River and Sayward.
Logging contractor Ron MacFarlane feels fortunate to have work for his eight-person crew, cutting mostly second-growth Douglas fir on a cut block …on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, while business in his industry is otherwise “flatlined.” “We’re busy until March, and then we’ll see from there,” MacFarlane said at the Truck Loggers Association annual convention. …Difficulties in getting the province to speed up permits to cut more of that timber has put the industry “in a state of crisis,” said Peter Lister, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association. “I’ve never seen it as bad. …it is really on the edge of collapse.” …For forest-management executive John Mohammed, however, Parmar is still missing a connection to short-term actions the industry desperately needs to free up some of the cutting permits companies have sitting on the shelf because they are uneconomic. …Mohammed said Parmar could take the risk of lowering [coastal] stumpage rates … to help economics.
British Columbia’s Forests Ministry has entered into a memorandum of understanding with China on modern wood construction, a development that the province hopes will bolster the provincial lumber sector as it seeks alternatives to the U.S. market. The five-year, non-binding agreement with the Chinese government also involves the Canadian federal Department of Natural Resources and is among the first reached with Beijing after the arrival of Prime Minister Mark Carney in China this week. On the other side is China’s housing and development ministry, with the memo agreeing on co-operation on the integration of modern wood construction into China’s urban renewal and rural revitalization strategies and exploring “practical approaches” for green developments. University of British Columbia political ecologist and China scholar Juliet Lu said the MOU is “relatively low-hanging fruit” in Carney’s attempt to rebuild trade momentum with Beijing…
Day 1 of the TLA Conference featured the Politics over Lunch session, a wide-ranging and candid discussion of BC’s political landscape and its implications for the forest sector. Moderated by Vaughn Palmer, the luncheon brought together Rob Shaw, Political Correspondent with CHEK News, and Richard Zussman, Vice President of Public Affairs at Burson. The pair examined shifting government priorities, with Zussman arguing that economic growth and jobs are increasingly shaping policy decisions amid trade uncertainty and fiscal pressures, while Shaw highlighted inconsistent communication around those priorities. They explored the BC Conservative leadership race, the challenges of translating regional resource issues into urban political discourse, and ongoing uncertainty surrounding land use and DRIPA. Discussion also touched on the province’s projected $11-billion deficit, and the gap between government rhetoric and forestry realities. Delivered with humour and frankness, the session offered delegates a clear-eyed view of how politics, policy, and economic pressures are colliding in BC’s forest sector.
The federal government is looking for a hub to build modular homes for the Arctic. Prince George, with its forestry infrastructure, industrial base and transportation networks, is being considered as a possible site for that industry. Mayor Simon Yu [said] the city has everything it needs to create a new industry for the region. “We have to seize the moment,” said Yu. “For housing developments up in the Arctic, Prince George will be the centre of action. …This is a key to solve our lumber problem. We’ve got the wood, we’ve got the technology, we have a university here, we have a research program, we have CNC here, we have the workers and we will get this modular home factory going. We need to add value to wood products to create jobs right here and build houses for our overseas markets as well as for Canada.”
In this naturally:wood newsletter you’ll find the following stories:
STRATHCONA COUNTY, AB – Project Forest has partnered with Keyera and Strathcona County to establish the Keyera Legacy Forest. This forest restoration initiative is focused on restoring wildfire-impacted land and supporting community biodiversity in Alberta’s industrial Heartland. Located in Strathcona County, northeast of Fort Saskatchewan, the project will restore over 95 acres of ecologically degraded land. Strathcona County will use a Conservation Easement to ensure permanence and create a “green island” within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland. …The Keyera Legacy Forest is a unique example demonstrating how restoration and industry can coexist, delivering long-term community and ecological benefits. This is a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to responsibly restore designated industrial land. This project represents a voluntary commitment by Keyera to invest in long-term environmental stewardship, guided by values rather than obligation.
Government is postponing the introduction of proposed amendments to the Heritage Conservation Act that had originally been anticipated for spring 2026. This decision reflects the need to continue engagement to gather and incorporate additional feedback from industry, local governments and First Nations. Input received to date has confirmed the importance of streamlining the permitting for major projects on Crown land and private residential projects, ensuring quicker community rebuilds following a disaster, and better protecting heritage and significant First Nations cultural sites. The Ministry of Forests will continue to engage with industry, project proponents, First Nations, local governments and other interested parties. Specifically, the Province will be inviting industry partners to a cross-sector meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the permitting process, and will continue to welcome feedback as the work progresses.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC – Today, at the BC Natural Resources Forum (NRF), a broad coalition of forestry workers, community leaders, and industry representatives officially launched a new province-wide platform: “Forestry is a Solution”. The coalition is asking British Columbians to voice their support for the workers and families that depend on forestry – a sector that is vital to the province’s heritage and its future. 
“British Columbia has the forests, the workers, and the expertise to lead the world, yet the sector currently faces significant headwinds from global competition, challenging operating conditions, and damaging U.S. trade actions,” the coalition stated. “This campaign is about homegrown solutions that use our resources to solve our most urgent challenges—from building affordable housing to reducing wildfire risks in our backyard”. The initiative centers on a new digital hub, 
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.
In this Woodlots Weekly you’ll find:
