Ottawa, ON–The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) welcomes a major investment of $4.7M from Environment Climate Change Canada’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund to advance Climate Smart Forestry in forest management across Canada. The overarching goal of the project is to identify, develop, and implement climate smart practices and strategies to make our forests more resilient. “Climate change represents a profound threat to the health and well-being of all Canadians, our forests, and our communities. That’s why SFI introduced new and progressive objectives related to climate smart forestry and fire resilience and awareness in the SFI Forest Management Standard. This is a game-changing opportunity for us to make a real contribution at a national scale by working with our diverse network of SFI-certified organizations across millions of hectares,” said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI.
With the growing scale of wildfires, many First Nations are demanding a stronger role in wildfire response. Disproportionate impacts on Indigenous communities in Canada are motivating these demands: although approximately 5 % of the population identifies as Indigenous, about 42 % of wildfire evacuation events occur communities that are more than half Indigenous. In BC, new pathways for cooperative wildfire response between First Nations and provincial agencies are emerging. …Our research highlights the diverse existing capacities, priority opportunities, and processes required to enhance cooperative pathways. Within First Nations communities, existing capacities include local knowledge, firefighting experience, equipment, funding, relationships, and leadership – an overlooked but fundamental capacity. Priority opportunities include ways to build capacity within and beyond wildfire response, such as fully equipped response crews, full-time year-round wildfire management crews, Emergency Management Coordinators, First Nations Liaisons, and cross-trained wildland and structural crews. 
The Truck Loggers Association of BC celebrates 80 years in January at their annual convention. Early bird pricing ends tomorrow! This year’s event offers TLA members and non-members an all-inclusive registration pass, granting access to all sessions and events throughout the convention. Tickets to Suppliers Night and Lunch on the Trade Show Floor can be purchased on an individual basis.
Across the far reaches of northwestern Ontario and over the provincial border into southeastern Manitoba lies the enormous swath of forested, lake-speckled land that is Treaty 3 territory. At more than 142,000 square kilometres, it is larger than the entire country of Greece and home to 28 First Nations communities with a total population of about 25,000 – an indication of just how rich in natural resources this area is. These natural resources have long been a source of contention between the settlers looking to profit from them and the Indigenous Peoples caring for and protecting the land, but much has changed in the last 15 years. …Across Canada, the forestry industry is working to build more meaningful, equitable partnerships with Indigenous Peoples. Miitigoog Limited Partnership (LP), a joint venture between Weyerhaeuser, eight Treaty 3 First Nations and other industry stakeholders, offers a compelling blueprint.
The Government of Canada announced an additional $2.4 million in funding to the Bruce Trail Conservancy through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. This is part of the Government of Canada’s largest conservation campaign in the country to meet its emissions reduction targets and protect 30 percent of land and water in Canada by 2030. This funding is in addition to a $5 million investment through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, awarded to the Bruce Trail Conservancy in 2022. The funding will be used to help advance conservation goals with urgent Niagara Escarpment land securement. This additional funding advances conservation of over 300 hectares of important habitat and contributes to capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions by securing carbon-rich forest, wetland, and grassland ecosystems within the Niagara Escarpment. …It will also improve the connectivity of the iconic Bruce Trail and expand recreational opportunities across all seasons for activities such as nature appreciation, hiking, birdwatching, snowshoeing, and more.
People risk their lives battling forest fires, but Ontario’s government is treating them unfairly. That’s the message Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois and others brought to a news conference Wednesday at Queen’s Park. Wildland firefighters are not getting the “supports and respect” they deserve, said Vaugeois, who is the New Democrat critic for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). In particular, firefighter Noah Freedman said, recent legislation regarding WSIB coverage for workplace-related cancer “came with a glaring condition” requiring wildland firefighters to serve for 30 years before they could qualify. The law requires 15 years of service, but each annual fire season counts as only half a year, so a person battling forest blazes does not qualify until 30 fire seasons. Freedman, vice-president of OPSEU Local 703, said he and his colleagues are “risking our lives not only in the moment but forever” when they fight fires, because of airborne carcinogens.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service has committed over $265 million to conserve nearly 335,000 acres of important forestlands across 17 states. This investment, supported by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is part of the Forest Legacy Program and aims to protect working forests that contribute to rural economies. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack emphasized that these forests provide clean water, habitats, recreation, and jobs, but face threats from development. “This investment is key to keeping the economic, social, and ecological benefits these forests provide,” Vilsack said. Since 2021, the USDA has invested $758 million in conserving more than 500,000 acres. Major projects include the Pee Dee Basin Initiative in South Carolina, the largest land conservation project in state history, and Washington’s Stimson Timberland Legacy Project, which conserves nearly 88,000 acres.
The last decade’s economic, social, and environmental changes have affected the production, consumption, prices, and trade of forest products. 
Forests are being cut and degraded at an alarming rate, especially in the tropics, with the expansion of agricultural land causing almost 90% of forest reduction, according to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A first-of-its-kind law called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), was designed to take steps to counter this. …The legislation was heralded by proponents as a breakthrough in the global battle against forest loss, it came into force in June 2023 and was due to be implemented at the end of this year. But since it was passed, several agriculture ministries — including those of Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden — have called for implementation to be postponed. …in 2023, the world lost some 37,000 square kilometers of tropical forest… A 12-month delay would mean additional global forest loss of about 2,300 square kilometers, according to EU studies.
More than a year and a half after coming to power on a promise to create a Great Koala National Park in the state’s north, new analysis suggests the NSW government’s own logging arm is trashing the forest inside the proposed park. It comes as the Minns government is quietly progressing a proposal to the federal government to earn carbon credits from its forests that could pave the way to end native forest logging across the state. …Logging inside the Great Koala National Park assessment area is four times more intense when measured by area than in nearby state forests outside the park, and environmentalists say the targeted areas are wreaking maximal environmental damage. …Debus, the state’s longest-serving environment minister and now chair of Wilderness Australia, said there was clear evidence that the state forestry corporation was “seriously attacking the ecological integrity” of the proposed national park.