In 2022, Canada hosted a pivotal UN nature summit in Montreal, where the Liberal government led a diplomatic push for a global deal on protecting ecosystems. Countries agreed to conserve 30 per cent of the world’s lands and oceans. Canada pledged to reach that target by 2030 with a plan to more than double the current amount of protected spaces. Three years later, the landscape is very different. Steven Guilbeault, the former environmental minister … has quit cabinet over new moves to expand oil and gas resource development. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget barely mentions nature and his government is focused instead on major resource projects. Now, environmental groups and others are concerned that the apparent pivot from the Carney government will reverse years of progress made on nature conservation. Among the initiatives now facing uncertainty: new national parks and protected areas, as well as federal support for the “win-win” Indigenous guardians program…
A BC judge has quashed a decision from the province to transfer a major forestry licence to an Indigenous-owned forestry company, after the government was found to have failed to uphold the “honour of the Crown” with a neighbouring nation. The Jan. 8 ruling centred on the BC Ministry of Forest’s decision to approve the transfer of a forest licence to the Kitsumkalum First Nation. The transfer, which occurred after the previous holder Skeena Sawmills entered into bankruptcy proceedings in 2023, was opposed by eight Gitanyow hereditary chiefs. … In his decision, the judge found the government oversimplified the impacts of the transfer, and relied on “hope and optimism” that the two First Nations could reach an agreement. …The Gitanyow had called on the court to quash the transfer of the forestry licence. Instead, the judge forced the province to reconsider the licence transfer while properly consulting with the Gitanyow.
North Cowichan will hire a wildfire specialist to support wildfire-protection planning in the municipality. At its meeting on Dec. 3, council voted to allocate $95,000 in North Cowichan’s budget for 2026 for the position from the Climate Action and Energy Plan’s reserve funds, and funding for the wildfire specialist will come from general taxation in following years. As well, council decided to allocate $115,000 in the 2026 budget for the creation of a Strategic North Cowichan Wildfire Plan, with the funding also coming from CAEP reserve funds. Council adopted a resolution establishing wildfire preparedness as a strategic priority in September, and the key actions identified and recommended by staff since then include strengthening the fire department’s wildfire-response capabilities, vegetation management, FireSmart education, evacuation planning, infrastructure standards, and community volunteer initiatives.
Three pieces of logging equipment owned by Fraser Valley Timber were torched overnight Jan. 1 into the morning of Jan. 2, putting multiple employees immediately out of work and potentially costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in replacement costs. …While a company spokesperson suggested to television media that the fire may be linked to nearby anti-logging protests, members of the Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek blockade denied any involvement. RCMP said investigators have not made any connection between the fire and the protest. Blockade members posted on Facebook that to assign blame to them before the facts are known “serves to vilify old-growth forest protectors without grounds.” …the Office of the Fire Commissioner brought an accelerant detection dog to the scene as part of the investigation. “…the Office of the Fire Commissioner is assisting in determining the circumstances, origin, and cause of the fires,” according to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
A group protesting old-growth logging on Vancouver Island is hitting out at an “insinuation” they were involved in the suspected arson of logging equipment last week. Sgt. Kevin Mack with Lake Cowichan RCMP says officers responded to the scene of the suspected arson at a site operated by Fraser Valley Timber on Jan. 2, and they are keeping an “open eye to all possibilities.” Two grapple yarders and a log loader reportedly sustained more than $530,000 in damage in the fires… The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but media reports quoted a spokesman suggesting that the proximity of the protest camp wasn’t a coincidence. But the Walbran Valley Blockade protest camp says its code “explicitly prohibits violence and the damage or destruction of property.” It says it supports a full and transparent investigation and that “assigning blame before the facts are known serves to vilify forest protectors.”
…council was about to vote to log our protected community forest. At the last moment, a chief saved the day. But we are now forewarned — our forest isn’t protected. …a new council could throw down the gauntlet. So, once again we’re asking ourselves, as a community how do we protect the Six Mountains? Now that we know our North Cowichan council can ignore our public consultation, and our vote for conservation, what can we legally do? In the next election, vote in a pro-conservation council? This is our intention, but there are no guarantees. …an extraordinary solution [exists to] protect ecosystems from human destruction. It’s called the Rights of Nature movement (RoN). …founded on indigenous ancestral reverence for nature, as sacred and sacrosanct, beyond human control and ownership… it’s the perfect solution for our Valley where we, N. Cowichan and Quw’utsun, “own” the legal right to protect the ecosystem surrounding our home.
The in-creek infrastructure for the Peachland water treatment plant is at risk of a landslide in the aftermath of the summer’s Munro Lake wildfire. The 
The intense 2025 wildfire season in B.C. means firefighters will face challenges in 2026 because of overwintering wildfires, also called holdover or zombie fires, that smoulder deep underground through the colder season. As they spread below the forest floor in the dried-out peat, the fires can ignite in spring, sparking new life into last season’s devastating blazes. Canada’s 2025 wildfire season was the second-worst on record after 2023, with more than 6,000 fires burning more than 83,000 square kilometres across Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. In B.C., the season started early because of several zombie fires in the northeast region of the province, where fire officials say overwintering fires and underlying drought combined to create challenging conditions in April and May. …Scientists say climate change is making B.C.’s wildfire season longer and more intense as drought dries out the forest floor and heat waves become stronger.
If we’ve reached the point where we’re fretting over barnacles being knocked off by drift logs, perhaps we’ve run out of real crises. A recent University of Victoria study warns that wandering logs — nature’s most passive travellers — are scraping B.C.’s intertidal ecosystems into oblivion. …I mean no disrespect to my academic descendants at UVic — my alma mater — but I can’t help recalling a time when a scientist would distinguish between data and drama. Anyone raised on this coast knows those “thundering” drift logs are as much a fixture of our marine landscape as kelp, rockweed, and yes, barnacles themselves. …Here lies the problem with this kind of “drive-by ecology.” A barnacle count taken on a single day, at a single beach, photographed from orbit, becomes a sweeping “coast-wide phenomenon.” Probability alone tells us that the fraction of shoreline simultaneously blanketed and agitated by free logs — especially those resting on sand — is marginal.
In 2025, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) worked tirelessly with people and communities to fight wildfires and build community resilience throughout the province. “We’re coming off our second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “From technology to equipment and training, all to protect people and communities, the BC Wildfire Service has shown us that they are a global leader in wildfire work. Thanks to the dedicated members working tirelessly to fight the threat of wildfire. In 2026, we will raise the bar even higher. …Since April 1, 2025, more than 1,350 wildfires burned an estimated 886,360 hectares of land in B.C. The 2025 season compared to the past five years:
VICTORIA — The BC government says cutting red tape has allowed provincial pulp mills to more than double their use of timber salvaged from forest fires. The Ministry of Forests says in a statement that mills processed more than one million cubic metres of wildfire chips in 2024-25, up from 500,000 cubic metres in 2023, and representing about seven per cent of all processed wood. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says that BC can’t let anything go to waste, including logs that have been burned in wildfires.” The statement says pulp mills rarely accepted burned timber before 2022, but both government and industry recognized the opportunity of turning wildfire-affected fibre into wood chips. It says that faster permitting and stronger partnerships between government and industry made it even easier to use that type of timber and the work will continue in 2026.
The BC Conservative leader fostered fear and falsehoods in his 
My grandfather, Gordon Gibson Jr., taught me to speak up when I see injustice in the world, and I am seeing it now. I am absolutely furious regarding Premier Eby’s plans to destroy old-growth and primary forests. They are the lungs of our atmosphere, and cutting them down is not only an attack on our future, it’s anti-Canadian. The only possible benefit to the logging would be to make a few people richer, most of whom are not Canadian, and those people do not care about the longevity of our species. We are facing a major extinction event, at the end of which the planet will not be able to support human life. I ask the province to listen to the science, and to care about the people who you are tasked with caring for. Care about our futures, and our dreams. …Stop the deforestation of old growth, and save the lungs of our planet.
QUEBEC — A rare old-growth forest in Quebec’s Mauricie region is at the centre of a growing conflict between conservation advocates and the provincial government, after forestry roadwork was authorized in an area currently under review for protected status. The forest, known as the Grandbois Lakes forest, is located near Sainte-Thècle, in the Mékinac Regional County Municipality, northeast of Shawinigan. Composed largely of red spruce trees, the ecosystem is considered one of the last intact forests of its kind in southern Quebec. Despite its ecological value, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests has approved the construction of a winter road through part of the forest — a step that could lead to logging in the coming months. The roadwork is slated to be carried out by the forestry company Forex Langlois. …Environmental groups and local residents gathered to oppose what they say is a threat to an irreplaceable ecosystem.
Between the attention on forests at COP30, emerging regulations, and many corporate pledges, 2025 was slated to be the year that companies eliminate the practice within their supply chains of clearing forests and natural landscapes for production. As the calendar has turned to 2026, the truth is that we now know that dozens of the most at-risk companies have not reached that goal – but a few market leaders are proving that cleaning up supply chains is possible. Let’s be clear: Protecting forests makes economic sense. Industries depend on the benefits that natural ecosystems provide to grow food, transport goods, and manufacture products. Harming nature poses compounding financial risks to companies and their investors. …Growing awareness of the risks of biodiversity decline and the advantages of acting quickly have spurred private sector action in recent years, and we saw more positive developments unfold last year.
USDA on Monday published a notice in the Federal Register looking to update the reporting requirement for foreign land ownership under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA). …The proposed changes come as Congress and state lawmakers have demanded more updates and better reporting on foreign ownership from USDA, spurred mainly by Chinese ownership of agricultural land. …USDA’s latest report on foreign agricultural land holdings shows people from outside the country own nearly 45 million acres of land, as of the end of 2023. That takes up about 3.5% of all privately-held agricultural land. Foreign holdings also increased by more than 1.5 million acres from 2022. Nearly half of foreign land holdings, 48%, are forest land, with 29% being cropland and 21% pastures. Canadian investors make up about one-third of all foreign holdings, or 15.3 million acres, followed by the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.
OREGON– The Bureau of Land Management’s state office in Oregon increased its timber sales in 2025, leading to one of its largest years for sales by board-feet and dollars in decades. The increase coincides with a provision of the tax and spending bill approved by Congress in July, that requires BLM to increase the timber it makes available for harvest by 20 million board-feet each year through 2034. BLM data show that the timber sales through the office totalled 290.6 million board-feet this year, an increase of 66.8 million from the previous year. …2025 was the third-highest year for BLM timber sales through the Oregon office by both board-feet and sale price, topped only by 2019 and 2021. Sales this year brought in $63.7 million.
DENVER — Vast swaths of the ponderosa pine forests that blanket Colorado’s Front Range mountains could turn rust-colored and die over the next five years as pine beetles begin to spread aggressively, new federal forecasts show. Aerial surveys conducted by the U.S. Forest Service over the last year found evidence of rapidly spreading beetle infestations along the mountains and foothills that stretch from southern Larimer County to southern El Paso County, including the western flank of metro Denver. Already, pockets of dead trees are visible from Interstate 70 and U.S. 285. The rapid uptick in beetle-killed trees near the state’s largest cities and major highways prompted state leaders to form a task force this month to grapple with the outbreak. Gov. Jared Polis 
STARKVILLE, Mississippi — For all the major investments and structural changes in 2025, marked by significant sawmill expansions, shifting market dynamics and continued pressure in the pulp and paper sector, Mississippi’s timber industry observed limited monetary change. The state’s total timber value for 2025 is estimated to be $1.47 billion, which is down 1% from last year. This year’s harvest amounted to 36.4 million tons of timber products, which is down slightly from last year based on timber severance tax receipts. The value of standing timber paid to landowners as stumpage was $660 million, a 9% decline from 2024. The harvest and trucking industries, however, added $807 million to timber’s value in 2025, which was 7% more than last year. Eric McConnell, associate professor of forest business, said the industry experienced a sizable increase in the small pine sawtimber. …The forestry industry also faced pulp and paper headwinds. 
FLORIDA – Florida state officials warned of heightened wildfire risks across the state as dry conditions were expected to continue into 2026. “I’ve been with the agency a long time, and this is the driest winter that I can remember in quite a while,” Florida Forest Service Director Rick Dolan said during a Friday press conference. The number of wildfires had increased significantly, with more than 3,000 reported in 2025 compared to approximately 2,000 in 2024. This surge came months before Florida’s typical peak wildfire season, which usually occurs between April and June. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson emphasized that human activity was a major concern. “The majority of those fires are started by backyard fires, arson, things of that nature,” Simpson said. “We need everyone to be diligent as we come into the new year with the drier conditions.”
The intense green of spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest. Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. …The loss has sparked a reckoning with the modern forestry methods pioneered by Germany that often rely on expanses of monoculture plantations. The ferocity of the beetle outbreak means there is no going back to the old way of doing things: replacing the dead spruce with saplings from the same species would probably guarantee catastrophe once again. Instead, foresters have been experimenting with a different approach: pockets of beech, firs and sycamore have been planted around the surviving spruce to make sure the returning forest is more biodiverse. 
Australia’s trees must contend with many lethal factors, from intense megafires to introduced diseases and invasive species. But beyond these specific pressures, new research indicates the underlying natural death rate of trees in major forests across the country is rising. This increase in tree deaths is due to higher average temperatures from climate change, according to a study