Canada’s inflation rate eased in August, interest rate cut tomorrow is now all but certain. In other Business news: Steelworkers are frustrated with the forestry strike on Vancouver Island; Unifor is set to meet on future of Domtar’s Kénogami and Dolbeau plants; Arkansas State University recognized West Fraser’s workforce contributions; and CO280 initiated carbon removal project in Canada. Meanwhile: CWC and FPAC applaud the creation of the Build Canada Homes agency; Canada’s housing starts tumble 16%; and China’s weakened economy drives lower log imports.
In Forestry/Climate news: Sweden and Finland urge revision of EU’s forestry climate targets; the US agencies issue memorandum on wildfire response reforms; US forestry stakeholders promote biomass power; US Senators seek renewed funding of Women in Wildfire Boot Camp; BC Forest Minister Parmar visits the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest; and the BC Forest Practices Board to audit biodiversity practices in the Mackenzie District.
Finally, via Zoom tonight, BC Forest History Association Speaker Series presents Larry Pedersen, BC’s 14th Chief Forester.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Coulson Aircrane says the Saskatchewan government has agreed to pay more than twice what it should have for four firefighting aircraft — a decision the B.C.-based company says will cost Saskatchewan taxpayers an extra $100 million. Coulson, one of the leading companies in the world for retrofitting planes for firefighting, made the claim last month in an application to the Court of King’s Bench. “We are concerned the government of Saskatchewan has awarded a very large (over $187,000,000) contract for forest fire airplanes, without affording any reasonable opportunity to Coulson or any other competitor to bid on the contract,” says an affidavit filed by company president Britt Coulson. Coulson is asking the court to quash the sale and order a fair, transparent competition. …He says the government failed to hold a proper, competitive tendering process, resulting in Conair making “an immense profit.” …Conair has declined to comment, as the matter is before the courts.
The Canadian Wood Council (CWC) welcomes
Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) welcomes
ORONO, Maine — At the 
Dropping fire retardant solutions from planes is a crucial strategy in wildfire fighting, but some experts are concerned about their impact on the environment, including aquatic ecosystems. Once dropped, these retardants leave a rust-coloured or pinkish liquid coating on roads, roofs, and vegetation. This technique, commonly used since the mid 20th century, helps fire crews contain blazes by depriving flames of oxygen, explains Jen Baron, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Wildfire Coexistence. Since 2009, the B.C. Wildfire Service has relied on Phos-Chek LC-95A, a widely used retardant from Perimeter Solutions… Its main ingredient, ammonium polyphosphate, is a common fertilizer. Additives, like iron oxide, give the retardant its signature red colour, helping crews to see where it has been dropped. …Uldis Silins, a professor of forest hydrology at the University of Alberta says studying retardants like Phos-Chek remains crucial, especially because their specific chemical composition is proprietary and therefore unknown. 
A B.C. Supreme Court justice has ordered a group of people blocking a logging road in the Walbran Valley on southern Vancouver Island to stop. The decision to grant an injunction to Tsawak-qin Forestry Limited Partnership, a joint partnership between the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and Western Forest Products, alongside an enforcement order is expected to set the stage for the RCMP to remove people from the area. This fight over British Columbia’s old-growth forests comes four years after the start of the historic Fairy Creek protests, where more than 1,100 people were arrested. The Walbran Valley blockade began in late August and has prevented a logging company from working and accessing tools, equipment and vehicles on the other side of the blockade. Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones, who was at the forefront of the Fairy Creek protests, is one of the parties named in the court filing, and the only person to respond to the application. 
VANCOUVER — The B.C. Supreme Court is set to rule on an injunction to halt a blockade against old-growth logging in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island, but a lawyer for one of the blockaders says the law is evolving and in need of a “course correction.” The Pacheedaht First Nation has decried the blockade on its traditional territory near Port Renfrew, B.C., claiming it is undermining its authority and should disband. The First Nation said in a statement that forestry is a “cornerstone” of its economy, and is calling for the blockaders to “stand down and leave.” The statement came after Tsawak-qin Forestry Inc., a firm co-owned by the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and Western Forest Products Inc., filed a lawsuit last week in B.C. Supreme Court alleging that “a group of largely unknown individuals” began the blockade of a road on Aug. 25.
The Cariboo Wood Innovation Training Hub (CWITH) is inviting people to bring their ideas and opinions to an upcoming workshop on contemplative forestry. The workshop will be facilitated by Jason Brown, an affiliate forest professional with Forest Professionals British Columbia, on Saturday, Sept. 20. Participants will explore the concept of contemplative forestry, an approach which meets two extreme views on forestry in the middle. …Stephanie Huska, project lead with CWITH, said the workshop is a way to open the door to conversations which historically have not been included in natural resource management discussions based on western worldviews. …A contemplative approach to forest management values manual work as a form of spiritual practice, allows forests to ‘speak’ for themselves, admits there are some aspects of life we don’t have the language for and sees forestry as a mutually beneficial, place-based vocation.
As summer winds down, I’m pleased to welcome you to this special edition of the Forest Practices Board’s newsletter. This season marks a significant milestone for us—our 30th anniversary. For three decades, the Board has worked diligently to provide independent oversight of forest and range practices in British Columbia, helping to ensure that our natural resources are managed sustainably and in the public interest. …This issue highlights some of the conversations, initiatives, audits, investigations and special reports the Board is involved in as we embark on this anniversary year.
Zoom Presentation, September 16th, 7:00 pm. The BC Forest History Association is honoured to host Larry Pedersen as the first speaker for the 2025 Speaker Series. Larry Pedersen was BC Provincial Chief Forester from 1994 to 2004. A graduate from UBC with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry in 1975, he became a registered Professional Forester in 1977. During his career, he advanced through a number of positions in the Forest Service and he also worked in the private sector. In his presentation titled Reflections from British Columbia’s 14th Chief Forester, Larry will discuss some important historical events that helped shape forestry in the province, explain how he ended up in the job, discuss some of the challenges that he faced, and will tell some stories about things that were said and done during his tenure. The presentation is intended to highlight just a few of the many important events that have shaped forestry in the province. To register for this Zoom presentation use this 
…Paul George, co-founder of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee …hit on popularizing the fight to protect old growth with a poster depicting a young woman gazing up the towering trunk of a massive, moss-covered Sitka spruce tree [in the] Carmanah Valley. The poster’s tag line — “Big Trees Not Big Stumps” — was a model of economy. …like five wasp stings to the hide of MacMillan Bloedel, the company that wanted to cut that tree and every other one like it down. Today we’d say it went viral. But not in the sense of a social media post that explodes with millions of views today only to be forgotten tomorrow … it would prove to have the lasting power of long COVID. …The poster came to mind [when a] small group of protesters planted themselves on a logging road leading into… the upper Walbran Valley, which borders the Carmanah on Vancouver Island’s southwest coast.
The existing Category 1 campfire prohibition for the Cariboo Fire Centre and Tsilhqot’in (Xeni Gwet’in) Declared Title area will be extended. It will go in effect at noon tomorrow (September 11) and will remain in effect until September 30 or until the order is rescinded. A Category 1 campfire is defined as any fire smaller than 0.5 metres high by 0.5 metres wide. The Cariboo Fire Centre said this prohibition applies to all areas in the Fire Centre that are outside of municipal boundaries. In addition, it also applies to these land types within municipal boundaries: Parks, conservancies and recreation areas; Recreation sites, recreation trails, interpretive forest sites and trail-based recreation areas; Ecological reserves; and Wildlife management areas and private managed forest land.
As Nova Scotia grapples with one of its most severe wildfire seasons, a controversial decision by the provincial government has flown under the radar: the approval of aerial glyphosate spraying on 3,577 acres of drought-stricken, fire-prone forest. This move not only risks human health and ecosystems but also exacerbates the very wildfires it claims to mitigate. …Glyphosate-based herbicides are used in forestry to kill deciduous plants and shrubs that compete with commercial softwood species. However, this practice replaces diverse, resilient forests with flammable monocultures. By inhibiting plant growth and causing vegetation to wilt and die, glyphosate leaves behind dry, combustible biomass — effectively turning forests into tinderboxes. In a province already parched by drought and under travel bans due to fire risks, adding fuel to the fire is nothing short of reckless.
President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture has moved to rescind the “roadless rule” that protects portions of national forests from development — including 4.4 million acres in California — and members of the public can still submit comments about the change to the federal government. Every national forest in California would be affected. Commenters can weigh in through the online form on regulations.gov through Sept. 19; the docket is FS-2025-0001-0001. Since 2001, the roadless rule has protected designated areas from development and logging, limiting or barring the construction or reconstruction of roads. About 21% of California’s national forestlands are protected. Throughout the U.S., the 2001 rule covers 59 million acres. The administration has said the move to end the rule would open up these forests to more logging and has said that more roads would help with wildfire prevention. As NPR reported, the U.S. Forest Service has previously found that roads appeared to do nothing to mitigate wildfires.
Planet-warming emissions from a group of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers have significantly ramped up the intensity of heat waves, a new study suggests, one of the first peer-reviewed papers to link dozens of climate-fuelled weather events to specific companies. The study led by a group of Swiss-based climate scientists says about one-quarter of the 213 recent heat waves they studied, including the 2021 B.C. heat dome, would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. It says emissions from some individual companies, including relatively smaller ones and some of Canada’s oil-and-gas producers, would have been enough to make otherwise impossible heat waves statistically possible. …The researchers linked emissions from the group of cement and fossil-fuel producers to about half the increase in heat wave intensity connected to human-caused climate change.
Provincial investigators looking into the cause of this spring’s wildfire near Lynn Lake, Man., allege it started at the nearby Alamos Gold Inc. mining site and that the company was negligent because it didn’t use water to extinguish its burn piles, according to search warrant documents obtained by CBC News. Manitoba Conservation investigators allege the fire, which eventually grew to over 85,000 hectares, started on May 7 after a burn pile reignited at the Toronto-based gold producer’s MacLellan mine site, about 7.5 kilometres northeast of Lynn Lake. By late May, the fire had come within five kilometres of Lynn Lake and forced the evacuation of the nearly 600 residents of the town… Dozens of properties in the area were destroyed. …The investigators asked Alamos Gold staff how they ensured the burn piles were extinguished. The workers said they stirred the piles and installed a fire guard around them, according to the documents.