Monika Patel
In this edition you’ll find an inspiring New Year’s message from the CEO of FSC Canada, reflecting on last year’s progress and outlining bold plans to strengthen climate action, deepen Indigenous leadership, and grow market trust in responsible forestry across the country. Plus:
- Technical Working Group invitation – apply by January 16
- Closing January 16: Last call to participate in consultation for Indigenous Cultural Landscapes
- Coming this February: FSC Forests as a Climate Solution podcast series
- Upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC
- Reminder: Trademark changes for FSC licence and certificate holders
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:
Students and instructors at North Island College (NIC) say they’re disappointed following the institution’s recommendation to suspend 15 programs from its three main campuses on mid and north Vancouver Island. The recommendations were made as part of the college’s expedited program impact assessment that began last fall, and will go to the board of governors for approval on Feb. 5. …The suspensions are not permanent cuts, but create “opportunities to re-imagine how and what programs are delivered.” …NIC faculty president Jen Wrye says many of the programs have strong enrollment and offer good job opportunities for students at the Comox Valley, Campbell River and Port Alberni campuses — regions without other college-based post-secondary opportunities. The programs facing suspension include:
Nearly 1,060 hectares is being added to West Twin Protected Area to increase protection of important wildlife habitat across the Robson Valley. …West Twin Protected Area was established in 2001, and together with adjacent West Twin Park, covers more than 30,000 hectares to form the only protected wildlife corridor across the Robson Valley. The area spans from the Cariboo Mountains in the south, through the main Robson Valley trench and up to the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The additional land improves habitat connection for caribou, moose, elk, deer, grizzly bears and many other species. The Crown land was originally identified for protection through the Robson Valley Land and Resource Management Plan, but the land had two historical mineral claims that have now been forfeited. The land also contains old-growth priority deferral areas and an existing old-growth management area.
NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay – Superior North) and MPP Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk – James Bay) released the following joint statement following reports of the indefinite shutdown of the Ignace sawmill, leaving another group of forestry workers without jobs, and further eroding the fabric of our Northern Ontario communities. “Communities like Ear Falls, and now Ignace, deserve better than uncertainty and silence.” said Vaugeois. “The government must work directly with the company, and the company must work in good faith with the government and the union, to find solutions that protect workers, families, and good forestry jobs. Mills across the province are shrinking or shutting down; workers are being laid off at alarming rates, and infrastructure isn’t being replaced. Neglect is not a plan, and New Democrats urge collaboration between the government and the company as a responsible path forward for Ignace and northern Ontario.”
In late August 2025, FREED (Field Research in Ecology and Evolution Diversified) at their University of Toronto (UofT) chapter hosted their fourth annual weeklong event in Algonquin Park. FREED, created in 2020, was founded to provide accessible, barrier-free outdoor and fieldwork opportunities for Indigenous, Black, and/or Racialized (BIPOC) undergraduates. Experiencing the outdoors and nature can be formative in building a connection to the land and pursuing a career in a related field but these experiences are often inaccessible to underrepresented communities due to financial, societal, cultural, or other potential barriers. …At the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station (AWRS), we welcomed a wonderful group of fifteen BIPOC undergraduate students bringing bright, inquisitive energy, teeming with excitement for the week to begin. The 7-day program was filled with activities to help students build skills and confidence in the outdoors and field work, as well as to build community and relationships amongst their peers and with the Land.
A recent federal court ruling tossing out a streamlined environmental review for three Oregon timber projects will point the way for conservation groups to challenge the Trump administration’s nationwide logging agenda, natural resources attorneys say. Judge Michael McShane of the US District Court for the District of Oregon in his Jan. 13 ruling set aside a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act called “CE-6.” The 1992 exclusion allowed for quick approval of logging projects designed to thin forests to reduce wildfire hazards. Fast-tracking an expansion of logging on federal land is among President Donald Trump’s top priorities in order to cut lumber imports and grow domestic timber industry jobs. The administration is loosening public notice and environmental review requirements for logging and other projects under NEPA, and it’s rolling back protections for roadless areas in national forests in order to open them to possible logging projects.
A major logging project has been proposed on the southern border of Glacier National Park, prompting concern from conservationists… “This is the heart of some of our wildest, most intact landscapes left in the U.S., anywhere south of Alaska,” said Peter Metcalf, the executive director of the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, a conservation organization in East Glacier Park, Montana. “We are really concerned that this kind of logging proposal would be slated for this landscape.” U.S. Forest Service district ranger Robert Davies said he plans to use the emergency authority authorized by an April 2025 executive order to expedite the project. The order calls for increasing timber production and reducing wildfire risk in areas of national forest considered to have very high or high wildfire risk. Roughly half the proposed project qualifies, but the entire project is subject to the streamlined timeline, which cuts out the majority of opportunities for public participation.
In 1980, Washington State’s Mount St Helens erupted…causing an ecological nightmare as the volcano spewed lava, ash, and debris over the surrounding landscape that was followed by mudflows and pyroclastic flows, leaving the vegetation covered in mud and detritus as far as 27 kilometers from the volcano. …But one team of scientists had an unconventional idea to help jumpstart the process: send a few gophers on a one-day mission to the mountain. “Gophers are known as ‘hole diggers’,” says a 2024 paper assessing the long-term effects of the rodents at Mount St Helens, adding, “a single gopher can move 227 kg [500 pounds] of soil per month”. Digging is a useful quality in restoring an area devastated by volcanic eruption. Plant life was struggling to return… But while the top layers of soil were destroyed by the eruption and lava flows, the soil underneath could still have been rich in bacteria and fungi.
PORTLAND, Ore. — In a win for conservation groups, a federal judge 
Western Washington forests are vital to the identity, economy, and quality of life vital to the region. From the Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula and Columbia Gorge, healthy forests provide clean air and water, sustain fish and wildlife habitat, store carbon, and support local jobs in forestry, recreation, and tourism. …The Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan is the result of an holistic and collaborative effort by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to bring partners representing all lands and stakeholder groups together to identify priorities and strategies for how to steward and manage western Washington forests at a landscape scale. This plan builds on lessons learned from the development and implementation of the 
PUEBLO, Colo. — The Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands began a 10-year partnership and $7.3 million investment to implement forest health treatments as part of the War Department’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program. The partners will use $3 million in REPI funds, along with $4.3 million in partner contributions, to treat 2,000 acres of National Forest System land and nonfederal lands near the U.S. Air Force Academy and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. The REPI program preserves military missions by avoiding land use conflicts near military installations, addressing environmental restrictions that limit military activities and increasing military installation resilience. 
SEATTLE — Twenty-five years ago, I stood in a snowy National Arboretum in Washington, DC, shaking hands with President Bill Clinton at the signing ceremony for the most important forest conservation mandate in our country’s history. But now that landmark law, which went into effect on Jan. 12, 2001, is hanging by a thread, marked for repeal by the Trump administration — even though 99% of citizen input opposes the idea. The “Roadless Rule” was adopted to curtail harmful logging and industrial roadbuilding across 58 million undeveloped acres of our national forests. More than 2 million acres of those wild lands are in Washington, helping keep this the Evergreen State. …Trump officials claim that opening these areas to bulldozers and chain saws will protect communities from wildfire. But that’s a story that just doesn’t wash. [to access the full story a Seattle Times subscription is required]
President Donald Trump’s administration has set in motion efforts to repeal the Roadless Rule, a 2001 administrative mandate that put 45 million acres of the least developed forest land under protection from logging and construction of roads. As the nation observes the rule’s 25th anniversary, Virginia’s federal lawmakers and advocates are calling for its preservation and say hundreds of thousands of acres of forests could be at stake if it is axed. The federal government has framed the proposed repeal as necessary for forest management against wildfires. …Environmental advocates have said since last summer that repealing the rule will lead to land degradation, sediment pollution, and create risks to clean water sources. It would also open up large swaths of the 400,000 acres of the protected forestland in Virginia to logging and potential new roads.
Canopy and Finance Earth outline strategic pathways for brands and investors to reduce virgin wood exposure and strengthen supply chain resilience. A new research brief released during the World Economic Forum warns that global wood-dependent supply chains face mounting commercial and ecological risk as rising demand, climate impacts, and regulatory pressure push forests toward ecological limits. The brief, produced by environmental non-profit Canopy with Finance Earth, argues that business-as-usual sourcing of virgin wood exposes brands and investors to higher costs, supply volatility, and growing reputational and legal risk over the decade ahead.The analysis comes as Canopy works with more than 1,000 consumer brands representing over $1.2 trillion in combined annual revenue to reduce deforestation and accelerate the adoption of circular and low-impact alternatives across sectors where wood is a primary input, including textiles and packaging.
Scots Pines once dominated the landscape of Scotland, part of the vast Caledonian Forest which began to spread some 10,000 years ago after the end of the last ice age. Now only one per cent of the original forest remains in more than 80 pockets scattered mainly across the Highlands. Conservationists say there is an urgent need to improve the protection of these forests as climate change and threats from disease intensify. A new study from the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen has revealed the environmental importance of preserving native woodlands. The research suggests the Scots pine alone supports nearly 1,600 separate species, including 227 that rely on it entirely. “Very few other tree species will support that range of biodiversity,” said Dr Ruth Mitchell, who led the study. “Species that use Scots pine include birds, mosses, lichens, fungi and invertebrates.”
Young tropical forests play a crucial role in slowing climate change. …But, according to a new study, CO2 absorption may be slowed down by the lack of a crucial element that trees need to grow: nitrogen. Published in Nature Communications … the study estimates that if 
The world is losing forests to fire at an unsustainable rate, experts have warned. …in recent decades [wildfire] scale, frequency and intensity in carbon-rich forests have surged. Research from the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that fires now destroy more than twice as much tree cover as they did two decades ago. In 2024 alone, 135,000km² of forest burned – the most extreme wildfire year on record. Yet fires in other landscapes have not risen in the same way, according to research from the University of Tasmania. While the total area burned globally has fallen for decades as farms have expanded across Africa and slowed the spread of blazes – forests have become a new hotspot. …Four of the five worst years on record have occurred since 2020. Research from the WRI shows that 2024 was the first time that major fires raged across tropical, hot and humid forests such as the Amazon, and boreal forests, such as those spanning Canada’s vast coniferous regions.