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What if investing $1 today could save $4 in catastrophic wildfire damage tomorrow? In this episode, Jason Fisher (Executive Director of FESBC) breaks down why active forest management isn’t just logging—it’s frontline wildfire defense. Can smarter management stop megafires before they start?

A man responsible for setting a massive wildfire that burned through northern Saskatchewan last year has been sentenced to six years in prison. Thirty-year-old Jason Halkett, originally from Brochet, Man., was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of arson causing damage to property for lighting the Ditch 2 wildfire. The fire burned more than 200,000 hectares of forest during Saskatchewan’s 2025 wildfire season. “This really sets a precedent for public prosecutions and that there was no prior wildfire sentencing case, per se. So it was a lot of work and detailed a lot of public prosecutions efforts to bring this to fruition,” Crown prosecutor Robyn Ermine told reporters after the sentencing. …The maximum penalty for the offence is 14 years in prison. …Taken into consideration was Halkett’s potential for rehabilitation, as he has been completing his high school education while in custody.

BC Timber Sales has extended the public input process until Oct. 15 for a proposed logging operation in the Mount Rose Swanson area in Spallumcheen. …BCTS website said, “BCTS has heard the concerns expressed by the public and Township of Spallumcheen and has completed a rigorous process to refine the Results and Strategies in the 2018 Forest Stewardship Plan…to better reflect the Sensitive Area Order and make it more clear to the public how these Results and Strategies guide timber harvest. (The) new set of Results and Strategies aims to create balance between the recreation available on the mountain and timber harvesting, aiming to maintain and where possible, enhance recreation opportunities for users.” The required 120-day referral period has been extended to Oct. 15. An online petition launched by community members opposing the plan has more than 1,300 signatures.

The Town of Lake Cowichan has acquired nearly 100 acres of land that will serve the community’s future needs, say officials. “What the acquisition provides is something Lake Cowichan has historically had very little of: strategically located municipal land and the flexibility to plan for the future,” said Mayor Tim McGonigle. “We’ve been working on this for over two years, and we certainly appreciate Mosaic’s help in helping us acquire these lands.” The $1.4 million transfer agreement between the town and Mosaic for two parcels of land … was signed on Sept. 17, with funds from the town’s existing municipal reserves. The properties … include approximately $400,000 in standing timber that will become a town asset, and Mosaic has the first right of refusal should the town sell the timber. …No final decisions have been made on the use of the two parcels … those decisions would be made by the new council voted in on Oct. 17.

The community of Smithers has been relatively untouched by wildfires… However, drought has significantly impacted the area and the threat of wildfire has become ever present… Our local community wildfire suppression group, the Woodmere Emergency Services Society … visited a recent BC Timber Sales block that was harvested and sold to Hampton Lumber in Burns Lake. …In the spring of 2026 we had a field visit with Hampton to look at the slash/fuel left behind on this block. While Hampton had no legal obligation to do any further clean up, we were impressed that the company recognized the issue and agreed to clean up the block. …at the end of September 2026, we saw that Hampton has gone above and beyond our expectations and has done an exceptional job at their own expense. …Companies like Hampton are what give forestry a good name in British Columbia.

Kristen Weiss

Premier David Eby wants British Columbians to build a firebreak to protect what makes B.C. special and matters most, keeping out an infection of “Trump-style politics.” …What makes B.C. special is what remains wild: ancient forests, salmon rivers, wolves, caribou, a living coast and biodiversity… British Columbians across the political spectrum consistently say they value wildlife and wild places and expect governments to protect them. Yet while the premier warns that Trump-style politics are crossing our border, his government has been fast-tracking resource projects… B.C. politicians across party lines have been doing this for years. Trump would approve. So the question this election is bigger than candidates standing up to Donald Trump. It is whether they will stand up to protect the forests, wildlife, oceans and ecosystems that make British Columbia special. And that exposes the problem with the firebreak metaphor. Because it’s already too late to build a firebreak. 

Elijah Washington pushes through branches left by logging, crossing the mossy forest floor on Haida Gwaii. He kneels beside a massive western red cedar stump. …The retrofitted stump is one of seven the Council of the Haida Nation had modified this summer to provide winter shelter for the coastal black bear, known in the Haida language as taan. Found nowhere else in the world, this subspecies of black bear is among the largest in North America. Coastal black bears in BC rely heavily on large old-growth trees and the hollow logs and stumps they leave behind. Decades of logging have removed many of those shelters, however — and the younger trees growing in their place have yet to develop hollows large enough for bears, said Helen Davis, a wildlife biologist working with the Haida Nation to identify and restore bear dens. …Now, the first-of-its kind program could set a model for bear conservation worldwide. [A subscription to the National Observer is required for full story access]

One of the territory’s largest tree planting projects on public lands is now finished, restoring wildfire-affected forests near Sambaa Deh Falls. This work was completed under the 2 Billion Trees Program, which is part of a six-year, $36 million funding agreement with Natural Resources Canada. In July 2026, crews working with Jean Marie River First Nation and Windfirm Resources Inc. planted 1,504,030 plugs, leading to a total yield of 3,365,613 native trees and shrubs across 403 hectares. Combined with the 2025 Kakisa project, 3.77 million trees have been planted, reaching about 47 per cent of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment to plant 8 million trees by 2031. Valued at about $3.9 million, the project supported local employment, with Jean Marie River First Nation providing project management, equipment and camp support services, creating 18 direct jobs for its members, while nearly 100 tree planters were employed overall. 

©Mosaic Forest Management

By late summer, the Koksilah is running low again. The watershed sits in the Cowichan Valley on southern Vancouver Island where farms, rural homes, fish habitat, aquifers, and managed forest all depend on the same water. In three of the past seven years, agricultural water licences have been curtailed; in August 2023, an order restricted about 108 licence holders from irrigating. …Above the farms stand second- and third-rotation Douglas-fir forests… In our view, the water moving through that ground — or failing to — now belongs to the same conversation as the timber growing on it. Today, in a world of climate change, that means managing timber and water as one connected challenge. …Koksilah watershed is one place where that work is being tested on the ground. In a survey commissioned by Mosaic Forest Management …69 per cent of respondents said they want forests managed for multiple environmental benefits, while 79 per cent want them maintained as working timber land.

Icel Dobell suffered serious injuries in an altercation with a black bear in North Cowichan in August says she is undeterred in her quest to protect the animals and the wild spaces where they live. The attack occurred at Stoney Hill Regional Park, in a region she has pushed to protect ever since … 2018. …Somehow, Dobell was able to walk away, despite multiple injuries. …Stoney Hill, along with Mount Prevost, Mount Tzouhalem, Mount Richards, Maple Mountain and Mount Sicker, is part of a 5,400-hectare reserve of municipally owned forest lands that encompass what are known as the “six mountains.” …Dobell was one of the founders of a local forest conservation group called Where Do We Stand, which hosted an event in March of 2019 to discuss the future of the municipal forests, which they wanted to protect. …Given the stakes, Dobell said her interaction with the bear has only galvanized her resolve to protect the forest.

Neal McLoughlin

Neal McLoughlin, superintendent of predictive services with the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS), is trying to get one of B.C.’s most challenging fires, the Bald Range wildfire, to behave in his modelling software the way it did on the ground in the Okanagan Valley on Aug. 7. On his computer, he’s turning up the dials for extreme fire behaviour, replacing the forest fuels with more flammable types, programming a stronger wind from the west and swapping local topography of a downward sloping hill with a flat landscape. Only with those interventions do his simulations get close to what actually happened on the ground that night in Summerland, when more than 12,000 people were forced to flee as flames rushed toward the town in mere hours. It’s partly because the data that informs these models was collected at least 30 years ago, when extreme fire behaviour, driven by events like prolonged drought — a feature of climate change — was less common.

Hundreds gathered on the steps of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria on Sunday, calling for a “paradigm shift” in how the province approaches forestry and old-growth logging. The event, organized by Elders for Ancient Trees, was the flagship event in a series of rallies planned to take place over the weekend and coming weeks. …organizers say approximately 400 people attended the rally. According to Jackie Larkin, one of the event organizers, the date was selected to coincide with the return of MLAs to the legislature — but says with an election now imminent, the timing couldn’t have been better. “We’re extremely distressed about the state of old-growth in this province and the fact that it keeps getting logged, despite the promises from the government to stop logging and to defer and to protect the ancient trees,” said Larkin. Elders for Ancient Trees … advocates to defer old-growth logging, stop clear-cutting, and stop exporting raw logs.

Additional coverage in the Castanet by Sarah Crookall: Penticton protesters rally for protection of B.C. old-growth forests

A new approach to how forest lands are accessed on Vancouver Island is being piloted starting Oct 2, 2026. Following pushback from the public Mosaic Forestry will open three gates on a weekend basis, giving the public access to nearly two-thousand kilometers of logging roads near Sooke, B.C.

David Gonella

The City of Salmon Arm is planning to partner with Indigenous nations on the creation of a new community forest tenure in order to manage local forests and help protect the city from future wildfires. At the Sept. 28 council meeting, Coun. David Gonella introduced a motion to have staff begin the work necessary for the development of a community forest tenure under the province’s Community Forest Agreement Act. Under the act, communities are given the rights to harvest timber and manage a fixed section of forest for a period of time between 25 and 99 years. Gonella suggested that staff reach out to the Neskonlith Indian Band, Adams Lake Indian Band and other local First Nations to explore partnership opportunities. He also suggested gathering input from local forestry professionals to support a future tenure application. …He said he had already been considering the idea but became even more inspired after visiting the community forest in Revelstoke.

Mosaic Forest Management will open three previously closed gates in the Sooke area to weekend public recreation beginning October 3, a pilot the company will run through the end of December. The gates will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and holiday Mondays, allowing cycling, walk-in and licensed highway vehicle access to roughly 42,000 hectares of Mosaic land and 2,000 kilometres of roads north of Sooke. Off-road vehicles, including ATVs and dirt bikes, are permitted only through Sooke and Cowichan Valley ATV clubs, which manage access for their members. Gates may close on short notice for wildfire risk, operations, or other safety or environmental reasons. These are working forests, and the closures keep the public clear of hazards. The pilot follows a 2025 public survey on recreation and access that drew more than 7,600 responses, in which gates and access ranked as the top concern. 

Pacheedaht elder and longtime Fairy Creek forest defender Bill Jones will join Nelson residents on Sunday, Oct. 4, as communities across B.C. come together for a province-wide fall rally calling for an end to old-growth logging and a new approach to forest protection. The Nelson rally, Hands Off Old Growth, is a grassroots action coordinated with events in Victoria and other communities across the province, coinciding with NDP Premier David Eby’s recent announcement of a snap election this Oct. 24. Organizers of the rally are calling for the promised paradigm shift in forestry, Indigenous-led conservation, climate stability and an economy that values biodiversity. Keenan Dennehy of 4theloveofbc.ca — an advocate for sustainable forest management and biodiversity protection in British Columbia — said the bill has come due for the forestry industry. …The rally comes as the province advances its proposed Working Forest model, while questions remain about how much old growth and primary forest will receive lasting protection.

In 2012, on a damp Sunday night, two rain-soaked women knocked on the door of a Pacheedaht man in Port Renfrew. They asked him to come see the Walbran. He was in his seventies, unwell, and by his own account a “last-class underdog.” Elder Bill Jones’s story, told with writer Karen Moe over 161 recorded conversations, isn’t what you might expect from a protest book. In Listening Once Again to Our Great Mother, available now at Dundurn Press, he goes back to his grandfather Charlie, who began telling him the stories of their ancestors when he was fourteen and home from the Port Alberni Indian Residential School. …The book isn’t flawless. …But what it gets right matters far more. Elizabeth May calls it “the essential teaching for our time,” and Suzanne Simard says it belongs in every Canadian school. They’re right. Old growth isn’t a resource.