Canada needs an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030 to address its housing shortage. Various governments are trying to increase supply, from cities adopting “missing middle” policies, B.C. legislating municipalities to increase density, or the federal government slating public lands for affordable housing. Trees, meanwhile, help cool the air, manage stormwater, sequester carbon, decrease air pollution, provide wildlife habitat and promote people’s mental and physical health. And when they grow in the same places people are trying to build that much-needed housing, sometimes a choice has to be made: keep the trees, or cut them down? This balance is something that municipalities across the country are grappling with as they try to address Canada’s housing and climate crises simultaneously. …Governments and industry are learning how create to desperately needed housing without sacrificing the tree canopy that keeps streets cool, absorbs floodwater and cleans the air.
Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and the Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group (OSEG) are proud to launch a new partnership today at TD Place Stadium, aimed at putting sustainable Canadian forestry and its role in delivering essential products front and center in Ottawa’s sports community. The year-long partnership between OSEG and FPAC’s Forestry For The Future program leverages in-stadium promotions and interactive game-day experiences to encourage Ottawa residents and national sports fans alike to think differently about responsible Canadian forestry, community engagement, and sustainable urban development. “While often out of the spotlight, Canadian forest products are always in the game – whether it’s the textiles in your favourite game-day jersey, the bioplastics in your most trusted sports gear, or the strong mass timber beams that make TD Place Stadium stand tall,” said FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor.
This year’s wildfire season is over. In the past several years, there has been a lot of talk about forest fires or wildfires and their causes. Forest fires have both natural and artificial causes. These are part of the natural cycle to replenish the forest. … The trouble is you now rarely hear the term “forest fire.” Now it’s about wildfires. Wildfires are forest fires that are more intense and give rise to fire tornadoes and an effect called crowning. That is when the fire jumps across the top of the trees and can move very quickly. It seems that there are more forest fires today than there have been in the past, but that is not accurate. The severity of these wildfires is becoming much more pronounced. By looking at wildfires and attempts to control them, we can learn a lot about the nature of risk.
Four watershed governance projects on Vancouver Island are sharing in nearly five-million dollars being distributed throughout the province from the Watershed Security Fund. The money will contribute to improving and rehabilitating communities’ resilience to climate change, regional food security, as helping safeguard fish, and local habitats. The Cowichan Watershed Board is receiving $400,000 to enhance its ability to support local leaders in decision-making for the health of the Cowichan and Koksilah Watersheds. The funding will help support the work of the watershed board, expert staff, technical working groups, and the community to solve problems using Quw’utsun and western knowledge and science.
Trees are a defining feature of the North Shore. They help to cool the surface temperature, and absorb water as it runs down slopes and off asphalt surfaces… But having too many trees in residential neighbourhoods can create wildfire risks, so the district should be careful when it adds more protections… While it’s hard to find anyone in the district who isn’t inspired by trees, Mayor Little expressed his “unpopular opinion” that too many green giants ought not to grow close to homes… “While I applaud the goal to retain trees throughout our community for all of the natural benefits that are self evident in there, I do think that the right place for most of them is on our public lands,” he added.
SEATTLE — Ty Abernathy tips his head back and judges where this big tree will fall as he starts cutting it with a chain saw. …For more than a century, this has been a way of doing business in Washington, cutting forests owned by the state and today managed by the Department of Natural Resources. But in an era of climate warming — and growing climate activism — there is a new war in the woods. …This fight is not over old growth, the trees sprouted before 1850 and never cut since settlers came here. The conflict now playing out across Washington is over the old-growth forests of tomorrow. These are second-growth forests originating before 1945 and never sprayed with herbicide or replanted to a dense monoculture of nursery-grown seedlings. …Suddenly, DNR timber sales that can fetch millions of dollars are being paused, canceled, litigated and protested, throwing the state’s timber business into disarray.
Restoring forest health is a major priority for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and our partners on the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team. Following the Angora Fire in 2007, TRPA helped bring fire and forest management agencies together to increase the pace of forest fuel reduction projects, streamline permit processes, and prioritize new funding sources. The Angora Fire was a wakeup call for the Tahoe Basin. Although it was relatively small by today’s standards, the 3,100-acre fire destroyed more than 250 homes along Angora Ridge on the South Shore… TRPA is also helping fire and emergency management agencies coordinating on emergency evacuation planning. The Tahoe Basin was awarded a $1.7-million federal PROTECT grant for regional evacuation planning and to address wildfire and extreme weather vulnerabilities in our transportation and communication infrastructure.
Forest Industries Ireland (FII) has called on the Government to reinvigorate new forest planting and promote more building with wood. The national representative body for the forestry and timber sectors within Ibec has launched its manifesto – ‘Forestry for our future: Delivering on the potential of Irish forestry’ – for the upcoming general election. Launching the manifesto, FII director Mark McAuley said that forestry activity is going in the wrong direction. “It is government policy to rapidly increase Ireland’s forest cover, but the afforestation rate is only 2,000 hectares per annum,” he said. “…we need to take a fresh look at what our farmers are being incentivised to do and tip the balance more towards tree planting.” …FII has called on the Government to reinvigorate new forest planting and promote more building with wood. …We can build houses faster and greener with wood, while reducing carbon emissions. Government should take the lead by insisting on green buildings.