As summer forestry work ramps up across British Columbia, workers face a range of hazards both on the road and in the field. Two risks this time of year are wildlife encounters at worksites and wildlife collisions while driving. So, whether you’re heading out to the worksite or working in remote areas, being prepared can help prevent serious incidents. Stay Alert Behind the Wheel: Wildlife collisions remain a significant risk for drivers in BC, with thousands of animal-related crashes reported every year. These incidents can lead to serious injuries, fatalities and costly damage to vehicles. …Working in Bear Country: Bears are coming out of hibernation in the spring and becoming more active across many parts of the province. Forestry workers often operate in high‑risk areas, making it important to understand how to avoid and respond to bear encounters. The best approach is prevention. Most bears will avoid people if they are aware of your presence.
OTTAWA — The Canadian Truck Dealers Association says it needs Ottawa to quickly fix a paperwork problem that will prevent dealers from importing new models from the United States next year, warning it will cause further economic pain if the issue isn’t solved. “If Canada faces a shortage of heavy trucks, the impact will extend far beyond our industry,” said Kevin Disher, the head of the association, at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday. “This issue affects every major sector of the Canadian economy. Shipping, infrastructure, construction, forestry, mining, agricultural. If trucks become more difficult or more expensive to access, those costs move throughout the supply chain and ultimately impact Canadian businesses and households.” The truck dealers said manufacturers have been flagging the issue to the federal government for a year, with little progress. Disher said the problem arose after the United States changed how it certifies emissions standards for trucks built there. 
The Supreme Court of Canada has decided it will hear BC’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that upended the Mineral Tenure Act and potentially gives the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act the force of law. No hearing date has been set by the Supreme Court of Canada. BC Premier David Eby has said the BC Court of Appeal’s 2-1 ruling in December, which found the Mineral Tenure Act “inconsistent” with DRIPA, could put too much power in the hands of judges regarding how reconciliation with First Nations should take place. The Act was intended to gradually bring provincial laws into alignment with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But Eby has warned the decision brings it into place all at once. “It is absolutely crucial that it is British Columbians, through their elected representatives, that remain in control of this process, not the courts,” Eby said.
The global trade landscape is shifting rapidly, which has created uncertainty and challenges for workers, industries and communities across Canada. …Workers whose jobs have been directly or indirectly impacted by global tariffs will receive support to help them adapt, retrain and succeed, as a result of a partnership agreement announced today by Wayne Long, Secretary of State, alongside Jean-Claude D’Amours, New Brunswick’s Minister of Training and Labour. …Specifically, $13.8 million over three years will be invested through the new Canada–New Brunswick Workforce Tariff Response to support workers in the softwood lumber, mining, construction and transportation sectors, as well as other directly and indirectly tariff-affected industries. This new funding will help over 1,500 workers in New Brunswick build new skills and seize emerging opportunities.
Canada Wood Japan has helped secure an important market-access outcome for Canadian Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber in Japan. In collaboration with the National Lumber Grades Authority and the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board, Canada Wood Japan worked with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to obtain recognition of the revised standard design values for Hem-Fir (N) dimension lumber graded under NLGA standards. For builders, designers and structural engineers in Japan, design values are essential. They provide the basis for structural calculations and help determine where and how lumber can be used in code-compliant buildings. When grading rules or design values are revised in Canada, those changes must also be properly understood and accepted by Japanese regulatory authorities to ensure continued market access. …Canada Wood Japan demonstrated that the revised Hem-Fir (N) design values would continue to meet Japan’s structural safety requirements and would not compromise the performance of conventional wooden buildings. 
TORONTO – Since 2023, communities across Canada and around the world have been experiencing record-breaking wildfires and working to help restore forested landscapes in their aftermath – but the best practices behind forest recovery in the wake of extreme wildfires are evolving. To better understand the decisions and approaches for post-wildfire forest restoration in Canada, Forests Canada surveyed and interviewed forest managers and tree planting practitioners and is presenting the findings in a report titled Forest Restoration After Wildfire: Knowledge Gaps and Future Needs Analysis. “The aim of the report is to identify how decision-making processes for post-fire recovery are changing in the wake of the increasing intensity and severity of wildfires,” Jess Kaknevicius, CEO, Forests Canada, says. “How are practices changing to maximize the successful establishment of forests…? We know the vast majority of Canadians believe that forests are a vital part of our national identity, so these questions are very important.”
HAZELTON – The Forest Practices Board will audit the forest planning and practices of BC Timber Sales (BCTS) and timber sale licence holders in the Kispiox Timber Supply Area (TSA) portion of the Skeena Business Area, starting Monday, June 1, 2026. The audit will examine harvesting, roads, silviculture, protection activities and associated planning. These activities will be assessed for compliance under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. BCTS operates throughout the Kispiox TSA, within the Skeena Stikine Natural Resource District. Activities in the audit area are administered from the Hazelton Field Office. The audit area overlaps the territories of the Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow, Nisga’a, Lake Babine Nation, Kitselas, and Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha First Nations. …The area includes mountainous terrain, rivers and lakes that support recreation, wildlife habitat and important fish populations, including several salmon species, bull trout, Dolly Varden and lake trout.
Local residents are being invited to help shape the next decade of local forestry management at an upcoming public open house in Coldstream. The provincial government, in partnership with local First Nations groups, are hosting a joint engagement session on Monday, June 8, to gather community feedback on the development of the tmíxʷ naqscn Forest Landscape Plan (FLP). …The new FLP framework is a legal mechanism designed to replace older Forest Stewardship Plans. Once established by the chief forester, the 10-year plan will govern all timber harvesting, road layout and silviculture activities for BC Timber Sales and local forest licensees across the region’s watersheds. …The finalized FLP will shift the focus toward long-term ecosystem health, addressing critical modern challenges such as wildfire risk reduction, climate change adaptation, old-growth protection, and biodiversity, while maintaining a predictable and sustainable timber supply
A province-wide public tour this June will bring a citizen-led proposal for forest management reform to communities across BC, with stops in Campbell River on June 11, Quadra Island on June 13 and Courtenay on June 15. Jennifer Houghton, campaign director of the New Forest Act Proposal, will lead a series of public presentations called the 2026 New Forest Act Roadshow on the future of B.C.’s forests, watersheds and forest-dependent communities. …“Right now, B.C.’s forest laws are built around maximizing timber extraction,” Houghton said. “The New Forest Act is a proposal to shift forestry toward ecological limits, stable communities, and long-term ecological function instead of short-term liquidation. …Spearheaded by the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society, the proposal has been developed with contributions from forest ecologists, including forester Herb Hammond. …More information the full 
The Nova Scotia government has issued a tender to convert five public buildings to wood heat systems — a move one member of the forestry sector says will have widespread benefits. The tender targets heating infrastructure at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Kingstec campus, Roseway Hospital in Shelburne, Digby General Hospital, Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, and St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish. …Successful bidders will also be responsible for procuring the wood fuel. The province stated in the tender documents that it “expects the focus of wood procurement to be from small private woodlots,” stipulating that 100 per cent of the lower-grade primary wood fuel must be harvested within Nova Scotia. …Marcus Zwicker, Forest Nova Scotia, added that requiring boilers to be fed with Nova Scotia product opens up new markets for local forestry contractors and woodlot owners while ensuring cheaper wood cannot be brought in from outside jurisdictions.
NEW BRUNSWICK — NB Power says it has green lit a plan to buy 300,000 tonnes of wood pellets this year in efforts to convert its largest power plant in northern New Brunswick from coal to biomass. The Crown utility says it’s now in procurement talks with five potential suppliers, all within Eastern Canada, to supply the Belledune Generating Station. That’s as the Holt government has quietly issued a Crown timber sub-licence to one of those five, a partnership between Eel River Bar First Nation, Pabineau First Nation, and Arbec Forest Products. The trio, together behind what’s being called the Belledune Biocoal Joint Venture Group, has also recently filed an environmental impact assessment with the Department of Environment and Local Government to build a torrefied wood pellet production facility at the Port of Belledune in support of NB Power’s transition away from coal burning power generation.
In this latest installment of his memoirs from the seed collection camps of northern BC, veteran cone collector Don Pigott recounts an unforgettable 1984 expedition through the Dease Lake and Cassiar region in search of lodgepole pine cones destined for Sweden’s forestry program. What begins as a straightforward collection job quickly becomes a vivid portrait of life in the north — from remote campsites, mining towns and ghost settlements to colourful characters, First Nations communities, and the ingenious habits of squirrels whose cone caches supplied much of the harvest.