Francois Dufresne
At the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow – the world saw 100 countries sign the “Declaration on Forests and Land Use” to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting inclusive rural transformation. [This agreement] reinforced the importance of our world’s forests and we must now work together to make this commitment a reality… Three years ago, we officially launched our new National Forest Management Standard and the National Controlled Wood Risk Assessment. This was a historic moment for us and, in 2022, we will continue to focus our efforts on their successful implementations. …The solid wood sector, particularly in Western Canada, will be a focus going forward. Clearly, FSC brings a unique value proposition in responsible sourcing in key market segments such as Mass Timber. Our goal is to continue to build partnership across this value chain and to expand our impact.
The federal government has a new partner in its goal to plant two billion trees by 2030 — the Department of National Defence. In an email to Canada’s National Observer, Defence department media relations confirmed the Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA) will participate in the program and has tree-planting plans for most of its locations across Canada over the next seven years. CFHA runs the department’s residential housing program and delivers other housing support to Canadian Armed Forces members and their families across Canada. Details about the partnership will be available by the end of March when the ink has dried on a memorandum of understanding between Natural Resources Canada and DND. The Liberals’ major 2019 campaign promise to plant two billion trees by 2030 to help get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 hinges on cost-sharing with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous communities and businesses.
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Logging will be temporarily deferred in approximately 2,500 hectares of old-growth forest following an agreement between four Vancouver Island First Nations and a forestry company. The Nanwakolas Council, which represents four First Nations, and Western Forest Products have agreed to defer old-growth logging in a section of forest north of Campbell River, for two years. …Nanwakolas Council president Dallas Smith used a pop-culture reference to summarize his reaction to the agreement. “If you’re a Star Wars person, I feel like Luke Skywalker in the newer movies.” …First Nations waited for years to ensure their cultural values were incorporated to discussions about forests and all that they hold, Smith said, adding that came together with the agreement. …Tegan Hansen, at Stand.earth, says all deferrals recommended by the old-growth advisory panel should happen now. “I’m really not hopeful if the province tries to piecemeal small deferrals over a very long period of time”
I don’t recall when I first learned about culturally modified trees (CMTs), though it was quite early in my university career. I remember my initial opinions of the subject were dismissive, the typical hubris of a wet-behind-the ears aspiring archaeologist. … Here, I would like to focus on how archaeologists approach the study of CMTs. Like any other profession, on-the-job training is an important factor in archaeology. … Working with CMTs is different. Though the discipline has become increasingly mainstream since the 1980s, there is still precious little useful background taught at university…. despite many fruitless hours embroiled in deep discussions about CMT identification with colleagues, they all have a dream; someone, somewhere, someday, will create a simple flowchart or checklist that will allow them to easily categorize the features of a CMT and definitively allow them to make a confident determination of its cultural or natural origin.
More than 70 days since the B.C. government confirmed its commitment to stop logging in newly mapped at-risk old growth forests, logging continues in areas at risk of irreversible biodiversity loss as provincial decision-makers delay concrete action. … Stand.earth applauds the work of the old growth technical advisory panel, which lays a vital roadmap for priority action to protect at-risk old growth forests and a paradigm-shift for forest management in B.C. But the risk remains, and more needs to be done. … Stand.earth is calling for the immediate implementation of logging deferrals across all priority areas identified by the old growth technical advisory panel, including areas where forest defenders continue to risk their safety at blockades, as well as concrete funding for the promised paradigm-shift for forestry that maintains and restores vital ecological values, fully upholds Indigenous sovereignty and rights, and supports forest communities.
A Terrace church group is calling on the provincial government to rethink its forestry practices and “radical policies” and invest in sustainable options. The Social Justice Working Group, an extension of the Knox United Church in Terrace is concerned about the province issuing permits to clear-cut primary forests to produce wood pellets for export. In a letter … the group has cited the province’s actions to be far from its commitment to renewable green economy. “Given the speed, extent and acceleration of climate-generated destruction, stopping pellet production from primary, intact forests is another example of radical policy shift we need to make regarding acceptable use of our public forests.” The group is calling on the province to implement full legal protection for all remaining primary and old growth forests, particularly the productive accessible forests that are currently being targeted by industry.
PRINCE GEORGE – The 19th annual BC Natural Resources Forum kicked off once again, albeit virtually. The theme to Day One looked at some of the challenges facing future investment and some of the biggest challenges facing all of the sectors. …The CEO of the Council of Forest Industries echoed that sentiment, saying that uncertainty around permitting is driving investment out of the province, as is the sudden change in policy. “What would really help is having a balanced approach to forest policy modernization that’s underway here,” says Susan Yurkovich. “We need a fact-based approach and it’s only going to be informed with good science and traditional knowledge and making sure we have an inclusive process. Which means having everyone at the table.” Another challenge facing all facets of the resource sector is labour. 
Climate change threatens the social, ecological, and economic benefits enjoyed by forest-dependent communities worldwide. Climate-adaptive forest management strategies such as genomics-based assisted migration (AM) may help protect many of these threatened benefits. However, such novel technological interventions in complex social–ecological systems will generate new risks, benefits, and uncertainties that interact with diverse forest values and preexisting risks. Using focus group data from BC, we show that different stakeholders… emphasize different kinds of risks and uncertainties in judging the appropriateness of AM. We show the difficulty of climate-adaptive decisions in complex social–ecological systems…. These results are further evidence of the inherent risk in privileging natural science above other forms of knowledge at the science–policy interface. When decisions are framed as technical, the normative and ethical considerations that define our fundamental goals are made invisible.
The West has seen some really big forest fires recently. …The U.S. Senate is negotiating over the Build Back Better bill, which currently contains nearly $20 billion in logging subsidies for “hazardous fuel reduction” in forests. …Logging interests stand poised to profit, as they tell the public and Congress that our forests are overgrown from years of neglect. Chainsaws and bulldozers are their remedy. Among these interests are agencies like the U.S. Forest Service that financially benefits from selling public timber to private logging companies. …Many of the nation’s top climate scientists and ecologists recently urged Congress to 
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a 10-year, multibillion-dollar plan to reduce the fire risk on up to 50 million acres that border vulnerable communities. The federal Agriculture Department said that it would take measures to reduce the danger of catastrophic fires in dozens of spots in 11 Western states by thinning overgrown trees and using controlled burns to get rid of dead vegetation. 
With another extreme wildfire season looming, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself in the same position as other employers – hiring workers in a tight job market.”How do you recruit to get people into the entry-level position?” U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said … Moore is hiring for one of the toughest jobs around – wildland firefighter. Shortages of federal firefighters hampered the battle against massive California wildfires last summer. “One thing I appreciate about the Forest Service firefighters is it’s a lifestyle you bought off on … But over time, everything changes. You have a new generation of firefighters coming in that may not be willing to live that same lifestyle. How should the agency change to be more attractive?” With another tough fire season looming, the Forest Service is filling firefighter positions now. It’s doing what any other business might do: offer recruits and current employees a better deal
The Biden administration plans to significantly expand efforts to stave off catastrophic wildfires that have torched areas of the U.S. West by more aggressively thinning forests around areas called “hotspots” where nature and neighborhoods collide. As climate change heats up and dries out the West, administration officials said they have crafted a $50 billion plan to more than double the use of controlled fires and logging to reduce trees and other vegetation that serves as tinder in the most at-risk areas. They said work will begin this year and the plan will focus on regions where out-of-control blazes have wiped out neighborhoods and sometimes entire communities — including California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the east side of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and portions of Arizona, Oregon and Washington state. Homes keep getting built in fire-prone areas, even as conditions that stoke blazes get worse.
What does a “resilient” forest look like in California’s Sierra Nevada? A lot fewer trees than we’re used to, according to a study of frequent-fire forests from the University of California, Davis. More than a century ago, Sierra Nevada forests faced almost no competition from neighboring trees for resources. … Because of fire suppression, trees in current forests live alongside six to seven times as many trees as their ancestors did—competing for less water amid drier and hotter conditions … The study indicates that forests with very low tree densities can be more resilient to compounded threats of fire, drought and other climate stressors while maintaining healthy water quality, wildlife habitat and other natural benefits. Forests burned by high-severity fires or killed by drought lose such ecosystem services. … For fire-adapted forests in the Sierra, managing for resilience requires drastically reducing densities—as much as 80% of trees, in some cases.
A non-fungible token project is aiming to reinvigorate the forests of Colorado through a novel approach towards redevelopment and community-building within the state. Founded by Colorado natives Nick Brait and Jacob Fox, the Ent Foundation has been instrumental since its inception in the push for redevelopment within the stricken forests of Colorado. Its landmark project – Ent NFT – was established as a vehicle for change in Colorado and a “bridge between the real and digital worlds” via the ENT Foundation – which has committed to planting 65 trees with every purchase of an NFT. …The trees planted will be viewable via satellite imagery – allowing holders to know exactly where they’re making a difference in the Colorado forests and bringing a “little bit more of the digital aspect to that real-world charitable activity”.
If you’re wondering how you can take action to contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals why not start with a university degree? …Here are four universities offering master’s degrees in the management of environment and natural resources:
A team of Mexican scientists are developing a successful experiment that allows for the recovery and maintenance of endemic trees in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve that provide a habitat for monarch butterflies every winter. The team is employing a mix of natural restoration, soil conservation and active reforestation that has so far achieved a survival rate of 83 to 84 percent, at least three times more successful than some government reforestation programs. According to Dr. Cuauhtémoc Sáenz-Romero, one of the researchers of the project, forests where monarch butterfly colonies are located are becoming more susceptible to climate events through unusual foliage loss and increased woodland mortality. Researchers have started to implement the “assisted migration” of oyamel firs (Abies religiosa) to higher altitudes in the reserve, where they can best resist changing climatic conditions.
The acceleration of global warming due to human activities has made the pace of tree evolution and adaptation a core concern of researchers and foresters. Researchers from INRAE, the ONF, the CEA and the universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Zhejiang (China) studied the evolution of oak trees in three French forests over the last three centuries, from the cold period of the Little Ice Age to the warming caused by human activities. Their results, published on 6 January in Evolution Letters, show that oaks evolve rapidly and can adapt to climatic changes in just a few generations. According to these findings, forest managers should shorten generations and promote natural forest regeneration to facilitate rapid stand evolution.
FSC’s commitment to promoting restoration through social and environmental remedy is demonstrated by the new FSC One Remedy Framework. This framework is a set of rules and requirements in the form of standardized criteria against which the remediation and restorative activities of non-conforming companies will be assessed. The FSC One Remedy Framework merges the provisions of FSC’s Conversion Remedy Procedure and Policy for Association Remediation Framework, while ensuring alignment with other relevant policies and procedures of the FSC certification system, especially FSC’s Policy to Address Conversion and Policy for Association. FSC is the only responsible forest management and forest product certification system requiring non-conforming companies to remedy past conversion and address other environmental and social harms, in a fair and proportionate manner.