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A Kamloops Fire Centre spokesperson told Sicamous council that local forests are still quite dry despite a burst of fresh green growth brought on by recent wet weather. At the June 24 District of Sicamous committee of the whole meeting, Kamloops Fire Centre manager Jeff Dunne gave council an overview of BC Wildfire Service’s regional operations and a look at what to expect in the coming months. Dunne said a dry start to the spring compounded on drought conditions experienced over the winter. “As everyone is aware, our spring this year looked a little bit challenging,” Dunne said. “Over-winter snows in some parts of the region were way below average.” …Dunne said typically, the Kamloops Fire Centre will be the busiest in the middle of July, but this year BCWS has already seen significant fire behaviour and growth across the region. 

Woodlots BC has been invited to Victoria to work collaboratively with representatives from the BC Community Forest Association, the First Nations Forestry Council, and government officials in a solutions-focused dialogue to: explore a principled pricing framework that promotes greater equity across woodlots, community forest agreements, and First Nations woodland licences, to address inconsistencies among tenure types that have resulted in inequities within the current system; and understand, articulate, and assess the implications and implementation considerations of various policy options on Woodlot holders. The Province has committed to advancing this work through its Intentions Paper: Modernizing Forest Policy Initiative, with the goal of establishing a more consistent and equitable pricing framework for woodlots, community forest agreements, and First Nations woodland licences. Broader engagement with the woodlot community is tentatively planned for this fall. Woodlots BC are advocating for no changes to tabular rates and continue the 1 CP process on woodlots. 
 

B.C.’s forestry collapse is devastating communities across the province, with provincial policy failures identified as the primary cause. But the dysfunction is causing more than economic losses. It is also destroying two things which are arguably priceless: old growth forests, and a free, fair, and open market.  Old growth logging continues under licences the government has legal authority to restrict. Yet reportedly, less than half of the 2.6 million hectares identified by its own technical advisory panel as most at risk have actually been deferred. Forest protection advocates point to Canfor and West Fraser as the top two private companies logging old growth. What they omit is that Canfor’s tenures were transferred to two bands in 2024, months after West Fraser’s tenures were combined with a different band’s months earlier—tenures the province subsequently increased by more than 2,000 per cent in 2025. In the same timeframe, the mills these companies used to operate have closed at a steady clip.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality is calling on the province to release an investigation by the Natural Resource Officers Service into the 2024 Parker Lake wildfire. Mayor Rob Fraser says more than 3,000 people were forced to evacuate for 17 days because of the wildfire and alleges the province is holding back due to a clerical error. … Fraser claims the Natural Resource Officers Service is refusing to release an investigative report due to a clerical error that temporarily left his community out of the Wildfire Act. According to Fraser, his community was listed as the “Town of Fort Nelson” under the provincial Wildfire Act, when they should have been the “Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.” Looking at the governance, the Town of Fort Nelson was amalgamated with the Northern Rockies Regional District in 2009 to become the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.

The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) is highlighting the growing impact of community forestry across the province, recognizing projects that reduce wildfire risk, improve wildlife habitat and strengthen local economies. At the BC Community Forest Association’s 2026 Conference, FESBC presented its inaugural Community Forest Project of the Year Award to the Kaslo & District Community Forest Society for its “Jimi Crack Corn” project. The latest FESBC newsletter also features updates on fuel reduction work with Nazko First Nation, new federal funding aimed at reducing wood waste and supporting forest resilience, and a safety message from the BC Forest Safety Council encouraging supervisors to recognize early warning signs before serious incidents occur. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar notes that more than 60 new FESBC-supported projects will build on last year’s wildfire mitigation and fibre utilization efforts, helping create safer, healthier forests and supporting jobs in rural British Columbia.

Osoyoos Indian Band is working to revitalize forests in its territories that have been ravaged by wildfires — turning them into fire-resistent zones full of biodiversity, wildlife and medicinal plants for its members. The band-owned Nk’Mip Forestry is planning to revive two woodlands located above the First Nation’s reservation in the highlands between Oliver and Mount Baldy — making up just over 40 hectares combined. The forest tenure where the project is located is approximately 50,000 hectares in size, and is co-managed between the Osoyoos Indian Band and Gorman Bros. The two forests — a drier douglas fir ecosystem with ponderosa pine, and a montane spruce ecosystem dominated by dense lodgepole pile further up the hill — were both impacted by the 2021 Nk’Mip Creek Wildfire, which is estimated to have burned just over 20,000 hectares.

The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) recently highlighted the Indigenous-led efforts of the Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR) at the Palmer Lake forest fire site. Through an article and video, WPAC described CCR’s work and how it treats fire-affected stands by removing dead and damaged material, reducing fuel loading, and spacing young lodgepole pine to support forest recovery. It is also demonstrated how the CCR uses recovered fibre to be put to productive use rather than leaving it at the site. “It’s such a good news story,” wrote Gord Murray, WPAC executive director. “CCR is turning what might otherwise be seen as waste into jobs, economic development, community pride, and contributions to the biomass industry.”

The Syilx Okanagan Nation is petitioning the federal government to act swiftly to protect a prized and threatened caribou species that continues to fall off the map near Revelstoke and Nakusp. On May 28, the Nation announced it had filed for an emergency order under Section 80 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act to press Environment and Climate Change Canada to conserve federally threatened southern mountain caribou. The Nation says continued logging of critical old-growth habitat falls out of line with its forestry principles and standards, and jeopardizes the future of the three caribou herds that remain on Syilx territory. The Frisby-Boulder herd west of Revelstoke is already functionally extinct with just eight caribou, while the Central Selkirk herd … sits at around 27 caribou. The Columbia North herd, roughly 185 caribou strong in the Monashee Mountains north of Revelstoke, has the greatest likelihood of survival, though the Nation says long-term forest habitat recovery remains a challenge.

Local forest advocates gathered in Nelson on Monday to call on Premier David Eby’s government to increase protections for old-growth forests. Eby was in the region this week, visiting and touring local facilities. More than 140 people attended a demonstration outside Kootenay Central MLA Brittny Anderson’s office… Organizer Rita Corcoran said protesters relocated to Taghum Hall after learning Eby was expected to attend an event there. …“We were hoping to talk to him directly and give him that same message directly in person about what we want and that we feel disappointed in the leadership,” said Corcoran. “But he didn’t arrive.” …“I’ve seen the premier meet with protesters across the province, and I know he would have been happy to meet with them here in Nelson as well,” Anderson said. “The RCMP made a security assessment, and we have to respect the decision that they made.”