OTTAWA – The 2026 wildfire season has been manageable so far, largely because of significant amounts of rain across Western Canada, but federal officials cautioned Thursday the summer forecast is hotter and drier than normal in much of the country. … The southern Prairies and eastern Quebec have had more rain than usual this year, and it’s expected that above-average precipitation will continue in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Forecasts for July and August are calling for higher than usual temperatures for Ontario, Quebec, northern parts of the Prairies and the territories. …The latest information from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre shows there have been 3,100 fires across the country so far this season, compared to around 2,900 at this time last year. …But the total area burned this year is less than last year, at around 12,000 square kilometres, down from 46,000 square kilometres.
Open letter to Premier David Eby, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, spoke in Revelstoke about his hopes for sawmills, old- growth and caribou protection (recently). It is evident Parmar is misinformed about the issues critical to the Revelstoke community and other British Columbia residents, and is failing to act on your government’s commitments to climate action, environmental protection, and sustainability. When asked about protecting old-growth within the Revelstoke region, such as the Rainbow-Jordan Wilderness (RJW), Parmar stated: “What I wouldn’t support is just saving land for the sake of saving land and seeing mills close down.” That response demonstrated a lack of understanding of community priorities. …The minister’s comments also show a lack of understanding of the Old Growth Strategic Review, which your government commissioned and committed to implementing. Rather than perpetuating the volume-based resource extraction model, a shift to a value-added sustainable forestry is needed for the provincial economy and long-term employment opportunities.
Mayor Scott Gillingham announced today he will bring forward a proposal to City Council next week to maintain full funding for tree planting in the 2026 Urban Forest Renewal Program. The move follows public feedback about a proposed budget amendment that would have reduced 2026 tree planting work by $1.236 million to offset a provincial government change to the City’s Strategic Infrastructure Basket funding allocation. “Winnipeggers care deeply about our urban forest, and I’ve heard that clearly,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. “The public wants this tree planting funding protected. I agree, and I’ll be bringing forward a plan to Council next week to do exactly that.” City Council adopted Winnipeg’s first Urban Forest Strategy in 2023, setting a long-term plan to protect, preserve, and grow the city’s tree canopy.
ALBERTA — Harvesting plans for forestry companies operating in the High Prairie and Slave Lake regions were presented June 17 at a joint open house in High Prairie. Plans were displayed by West Fraser Timber that operates High Prairie Forest Products, Tolko Industries, and by Millar Western Forest Products that bought the Slave Lake Pulp Mill from West Fraser and became the owner in April 2024. No representative was present from West Fraser. Companies hosted the event to allow citizens to comment on the proposed plans. Tolko plans to have operations in the Sweathouse area south of Snipe Lake, Salt Prairie and Whitemud, says woodlands supervisor Callie Skellett. …Millar Western plans to harvest trees in three areas, forestry superintendent Stuart Adkins says.
The average Metro Vancouver tree has a lifespan of less than eight years. That makes it even more important to preserve as many trees as possible. The startling statistic, from Brian Minter, a prominent B.C. horticulturist, serves as a deadly warning: Metro Vancouver’s unusually early and severe watering restrictions are a threat to the region’s trees. Given that so many young trees in Metro Vancouver do not reach their tween years — mostly for lack of watering — Minter has come to think of the metropolis’s relatively few older trees as rare and precious “gold.” …Because of lack of time, knowledge or concern, Bill Manning, retired director of horticulture for Vancouver parks said, many homeowners, tenants and strata councils don’t recognize that, though they’re not allowed to use sprinklers on trees, they are permitted to water trees by hand using a hose with a spring-loaded shut-off nozzle, a watering can, or drip irrigation.
KAMLOOPS – Effective at 12 p.m. (noon) on Friday, July 10, 2026 Category 1 campfires will be prohibited throughout the Kamloops Fire Centre to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. This campfire prohibition will remain in effect until October 9, 2026 at 12 p.m. (noon), or until the orders are rescinded. As of Friday, July 10, category 1, 2 and 3 fires are prohibited in the Kamloops Fire Centre: A campfire is defined as: Any fire no larger than 0.5 metres high by 0.5 metres wide (a fire larger than this is considered a Category 2 fire), Used by any person for recreational purposes or by a First Nation for a ceremonial purpose.
Starting July 9, the municipality of North Cowichan will be closing forestry gates and restricting vehicle access to Mount Prevost, Mount Sicker and Grace Road, to help reduce wildfire risks in the area. The municipality notes that access roads to Mount Prevost will remain open for firefighting efforts, as a 
…The 2021 floods in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley cost an estimated 
The Province is working with First Nations and other partners on conservation-planning projects in Qat’muk (west of Invermere), Skagit Headwaters (in the Manning Park area) and Raush Valley (in the Robson Valley south of McBride). This work will address watersheds, ecosystems and wildlife over a combined 127,000 hectares. Feedback collected from the public during fall 2026 engagement opportunities will shape conservation recommendations. The proposed conservation measures would support the B.C. government’s goal of protecting 30% of land and inland waters in B.C. by 2030 (the “30×30” goal).
REGINA, SK — Today, the Honourable Nathalie Provost, Secretary of State (Nature), highlighted eight tree-planting projects across Saskatchewan. These projects represent a $24.5 million investment to plant over five million trees, helping to protect nature and biodiversity in Canada by restoring critical habitats for species at risk and advancing Indigenous-led forest planting and restoration efforts. Announced in March 2026, the $3.8 billion A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature is based on three pillars for action to harmonize nature protection and economic growth… Federal programs have made historic progress in restoring forests and building greener communities across the country as we work toward to our goals of protecting 30% of lands, waters, and oceans in Canada by 2030. Indigenous leadership is at the heart of protecting nature. Anchored in traditional knowledge and stewardship, it is critical to achieving our national and international commitments on nature.
Vancouver Island, BC — The Coastal Fire Centre reports a shift from warm, dry conditions to cooler, wetter weather over the first week and a half of July. However, previous weather conditions point towards a drier summer season for Vancouver Island. “Looking at the next seven days from a typical standpoint, we’re not elevating dryness specifically. But we’re also not bringing in much precipitation either. So, we’re essentially just keeping conditions generally steady,” said Ken Dosanjh, meteorologist with Environmental and Climate Change Canada, on July 2. In early July the Fire Danger Rating measure … shows much of Vancouver Island at the ‘low’ level, which entails easy fire start and quick spread but with minimal involvement of deeper fuel layers or larger fuels. Port Alberni, Nanaimo and the Victoria area have a ‘moderate’ fire danger rating, with forest fuels drying and an increased risk of surface fire starting. 
BC’s chief forester has set the new allowable annual cut (AAC), the maximum amount of timber that can be harvested each year, for the Kispiox timber supply area (TSA) in the Skeena region. The new AAC is 496,000 cubic metres, a nearly 50% reduction from the previous AAC. Although the AAC has decreased, it is approximately 39% higher than the average annual harvest between 2019 and 2023, which was 356,378 cubic metres. …The TSA overlaps the territory of the Gitxsan Nation, Gitanyow Nation, Lake Babine Nation, Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, Kitselas First Nation, Wet’suwet’en Nation, and Witset First Nation. …The Kispiox TSA also partially overlaps with the Nass Wildlife Area and the Nass Area, as defined in the Nisga’a Treaty. The determination aligns with legislation defined in the Nisga’a Treaty and considers interests identified by First Nations, including the management of cedar, old forests, wildlife habitat and wildlife tree retention.
CALIFORNIA — A bipartisan bill intended to protect people and forests from wildfires in the Shasta-Trinity and other national forests is dividing lawmakers and conservationists in Northern California and nationwide. Supporters of the Fix Our Forests Act say it speeds up the bureaucratic process for approving projects that reduce wildfire risk in national forests. These include control burn and vegetation removal projects. A chorus of conservationists opposed to the bill say they worry about uncontrolled logging in some of the country’s pristine forestlands. …According to the bill’s wording, it would limit how much environmental protection oversight projects that reduce vegetation would have to surmount before they’re approved. It also would limit legal challenges to those projects from community and environmental groups. The latter has been dividing lawmakers across both parties for more than a year.
Officials at the U.S. Forest Service are proposing new management plans for eastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains that include potentially tripling the amount of logging across 5.5 million acres in the next decade. The Forest Service published a draft of proposed changes to the 35-year-old Blue Mountain Forest Plan last week. It would allow more logging, mining and grazing across four national forests spread across eastern Oregon, as well as parts of southeast Washington: the Malheur, Ochoco, Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla National Forests. The public has until Sept. 30 to submit comments on the 350-page draft proposal. The draft plan … predicts everything from habitat conservation to forest carbon storage would improve over the long term if more logging is allowed because strategically logging and grazing parts of the forest would prevent wildfire, which officials characterize as the biggest threat to habitat and forest loss. Environmental advocates disagree with the framing.
OREGON — The federal government has released its long-awaited proposal to triple logging across three national forests in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. But critics say the Trump administration’s effort to boost a flagging timber industry in the Blue Mountains could ultimately harm another key pillar of the local economy: Elk hunting. It could also push elk out of forests onto private land, where the animals could damage crops and other property, according to a regional manager with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The federal government’s plans for the Blue Mountains, which were released in draft form Thursday, could shape logging, recreation and environmental protections across 4.9 million acres spanning the Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman national forests for the next 15 years. …And more roads are likely to mean fewer elk. …People can weigh in on the 
To Caleb Chaplin, it’s clear what sets a patch of old forest on his family’s land in Naples apart from the woods around it. …Some of the trees are up to 200 years old. Foresters call these woods “late successional and old growth.” They’re also some of the rarest features on Maine’s landscape, trap lots of greenhouse gas and provide critical habitat for unique species. Chaplin said his family was planning to harvest the stand this year. …Then they learned the New England Forestry Foundation would pay them to delay harvesting. Chaplin said it was a tough decision at a time when these big trees are drawing some of the highest prices in the timber market. Ultimately, the family agreed to leave the stand alone for 10 years, and work with the foundation to develop a permanent conservation plan.
AUSTRALIA — One of the country’s most senior forest scientists has warned Tasmanians that locking up native forests would not end the demand for timber, only shift that demand onto someone else, met by imports that carry higher environmental and emissions costs. That is 
BURLINGTON — Across Northeastern forests, natural causes now account for more tree deaths than harvesting, including in Vermont, according to a recent study from the University of Vermont. But these natural causes are still cause for concern. Insects, disease and extreme weather are now to blame for the majority of tree deaths in the region, a significant shift from just 15 years ago, the study found. This shift comes at a time when Vermont’s warming climate is already posing dangers to the health of the forest, including worsening the threat of introducing an invasive species. Now, forest health experts are determining what strategies they can use to preserve Vermont’s woods. “Our forests are really resilient,” said Savannah Ferreira, a forest health specialist with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation. “We’re doing a lot of great forest management that really helps increase the health and vigor of our trees.”