Ontario may be a healthy distance away from regions with the highest density of wildfires but that does not exclude it completely from being at-risk. In fact, according to a recent report by the insurance organization My Choice Financial, several Ontario cities fall into Canada’s top 20 municipalities in danger of wildfire impact. …To measure cities at potential risk, My Choice utilized data supplied by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. …According to data from the study, the areas with the highest risk for wildfire impact were cities in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. As for the top Canadian cities on the pathway of potential wildfire damage, Kamloops, Regina and Regina take the podium respectively. Even though they are at the bottom of the list, Ontario locations were not excluded from being at-risk of wildfire impact completely. Ontario municipalities that made the list include: Timmins, Kenora, Sault Ste Marie, Barrie, Sudbury, and Gravenhurst.
A rise in zombie fires in Canada is having knock-on effects for the wildfire season. Researchers and fire services are racing to find ways to put out perennial fires. Even at -40C, smoke kept billowing from under the snow. …When the snow melted in early May, these smouldering fires, often called “zombie” fires, came to life again and began to feed on dry trees and brush. The plumes of smoke north of Fort Nelson became a conflagration of 700 sq km. The town is now caught in a horseshoe of fire: to the east, another zombie fire has burned an even larger area, while to the west, a new wildfire has encroached to within 2.5km of the community, damaging properties. … In western Canada, many of these fires went underground and smouldered until this spring, which fire services refer to as “overwintering” or “holdover” fires.
Plants dropping most of their seeds together in one year, then taking years almost or completely off from seed production, is called “seed masting.” Drop enough seeds at once and some will survive the predators’ feast. Ecologists call this the “predator satiation hypothesis,” …Researchers in Canada published a 
Mercer International released its 2023 Sustainability Report. The report, titled “
B.C.’s forestry practices came under international scrutiny after a BBC documentary highlighted wood pellets being burned for power in the U.K. The documentary focuses on alleged environmental problems with the wood pellet industry in B.C.’s Interior. The practices examined in the documentary were said to breach Canadian environmental regulations 189 times. “The forest policies at play here in BC, Alberta and across Canada, are a huge point of contention in the UK,” Tegan Hansen said, Stand.earth’s senior forest campaigner. …The documentary was not broadcast in Canada. Hansen said the reason B.C.’s wood pellet industry is a focus is the Drax Power Station in England. …While Drax says its primary feedstock is residue from sawmills, Hansen said she’s seen whole logs at their facilities. …B.C. Forests Minister Bruce Ralston told Global News that “our old growth forests are not being turned into pellets and… Drax has been working to raise standards on the plants they’ve acquired in B.C.
Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais isn’t going to rehash what everyone in the Central Okanagan already knows about wildfires when he opens the three-day 
The president and chief operations officer of the world’s “largest aerial firefighting company” has said not a single one of its aircraft is being contracted out in its home province of BC. Britt Coulson sat down with NowMedia this week to discuss 
WEST VANCOUVER, BC — The District of West Vancouver and the B.C. Parks Foundation announced the creation of one of the biggest municipal parks of its kind. The 7.8 square kilometres of land donated by West Vancouver makes the park almost twice the size of Stanley Park. …Mayor Mark Sager called it a monumental day during a ceremony at Cypress Pop-Up Village. “This area will help preserve sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, and store carbon to fight climate change,” Sager said. “It will also ensure that old-growth trees will continue to stand in our stunning municipality, which we know is very important to our residents and people across the globe. …Together the new park, West Vancouver’s existing parks, the surrounding Capilano and Seymour watersheds, the Old Growth Conservancy and Cypress Provincial Park form a protected area for wildlife and mature trees covering more than 320 square kilometres.
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc forestry company has lost the majority of an appeal after it was fined $12,000 over a load of unmarked timber discovered during an investigation into an illegal firewood operation. According to a May 6 Forests Appeal Commission decision, the case dates back to 2019 when the province was investigating an illegal firewood operation in Knutsford, outside Kamloops. The investigation led officers to search a lumber yard at LeBeau Bros. Logging where they found eight decks of unmarked and unscaled timber being stored. The decision says at the time LeBeau Bros was the sole contractor for Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc owned Tk’emlupsemc Forest Development Corporation, and the law makes Tk’emlupsemc responsible if a contractor breaks the rules. …The Tk’emlupsemc Forest Development Corporation argued it had done its due diligence in making sure that all timber followed the correct procedure. 
The Province and Kwiakah First Nation have created a new Special Forest Management Area supporting regenerative forestry and conservation in the southern Great Bear Rainforest. …Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests said, “This partnership with Kwiakah represents a continuation of our joint work to ensure the Great Bear Rainforest will continue to provide sustainable jobs and healthy forests for our children and grandchildren.”Chief Steven Dick of Kwiakah First Nation, said: “By creating the M̓ac̓inuxʷ Special Forest Management Area, we are asserting our inherent responsibilities and creating an Indigenous-led conservation economy that will steward, heal and mend our territory while allowing our people to thrive.” …The M̓ac̓inuxʷ Special Forest Management Area covers 7,865 hectares of forested land within the Great Bear Rainforest. …Any lost harvesting revenue is intended to be counteracted through the generation of carbon credits and regenerative forestry jobs.
WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore excoriating the Biden administration for its forest management policies in the Black Hills National Forest that are reducing the amount of trees available to harvest forcing saw mills to close and timber workers to lose their jobs. The senators request the Biden administration to open more of the Black Hills National Forest for timber harvesting and toss a lifeline to the Wyoming and South Dakota saw mills and workers who have seen their livelihoods threatened by the radical policies coming out of Washington. …While the timber industry faces its own unique market pressures, the recent layoffs are a direct result of reductions to the U.S. Forest Service’s timber sale program,” wrote the senators.
Another frivolous lawsuit from environmentalists. A Vermont activist group is suing the White Mountain USFS over logging projects. New Hampshire has a very long history of logging, and it brings numerous jobs to the region. The USFS has done a very fine job managing the forest and logging for many decades without issue. … Their suit mentions an endangered bat. Years back, I held a seat on a local school board, any town that adjoins the National Forest receives money from the logging operations. One year, I was told by the Forest Service supervisor that there was not going to be any money because of an environmental group’s lawsuit. He told me that they were investigating the charge that deceased endangered bats were brought in from Vermont and planted in the White Mountain National Forest. …Let’s hope the bats that claim this time are New Hampshire bats. The forest service goes to great lengths to protect the forest and ensure that loggers play by the rules. 
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