Category Archives: Forestry

Forestry

CIF-IFC Announces 2025 National Award Recipients in Recognition of Outstanding and Unique Accomplishments to Forestry in Canada

By Rachel Brown
Canadian Institute of Forestry
October 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Mattawa, ON – The Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC) is pleased to announce the 2025 CIF-IFC National Award recipients. “Each year, the CIF-IFC presents a number of Awards in recognition of outstanding and unique accomplishments to forestry in Canada,” mentioned Curtis Cook, CIF-IFC Executive Director. “Recipients have earned distinction through demonstration of exceptional achievements in the field of forestry.” The Awards were presented at the 2025 CIF-IFC Annual National Awards Ceremony and Banquet on October 6, 2025 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Institute would like to extend our congratulations to all the award recipients for 2025—your remarkable achievements truly deserve to be celebrated!

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Experts at Thunder Bay conference say Canada’s forests are drying out

By Rajpreet Sahota
CBC News
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Patrick James

As Canada faces longer, more intense wildfire seasons, forestry scientists meeting the Canadian Institute of Forestry’s 117th annual conference this week say the country’s forests are drying out faster than ever, and that could transform how we manage them in the decades to come. …Among the most urgent topics is how heat and drought are changing forest moisture and fuel levels, the materials that feed wildfires. “Modest increases in temperature result in very significant reductions in fuel moisture, which makes those fuels, these trees, these shrubs, these downed trees, this dead wood, all of it that much more flammable,” said Patrick James, associate professor at the University of Toronto researching forest disturbances and wildfires. …He took part in a panel which examined how shifting weather patterns could both challenge and, in some rare cases, benefit certain ecosystems.

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UBC’s Faculty of Forestry receives two awards from the Canadian Institute of Forestry

UBC Faculty of Forestry
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Stephanie Ewan, Hélène Marcoux & Ionut Aron

Jeff Sayer

UBC’s Faculty of Forestry is proud to announce its received two prestigious awards from the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF-IFC). Each year, CIF-IFC recognizes individuals and groups who have made “unique and outstanding achievements in the field of forestry” and this year the Faculty is well-represented. UBC Research Forests has received the Canadian Forest Management Group Achievement Award and Professor Jeff Sayer has received the International Forestry Achievement Award. The Canadian Forest Management Group Achievement Award recognizes the outstanding achievements by teams or groups of managers in the field of natural resource management in Canada. The 2025 CIF-IFC National Award Committee has recognized the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (MKRF), near Maple Ridge, and the Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF), near Williams Lake, for their pivotal role in advancing forest education, research, and management across British Columbia and beyond.

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Domtar Releases First Post-Integration Sustainability Report, Marking a Milestone Toward 2030 Goals

Domtar
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

FORT MILL, South Carolina — In a major stride towards its ambitious 2030 sustainability strategy, Domtar released its sustainability report. The report, entitled Building on Strong Legacies, is the first comprehensive release since the successful operational unification of Domtar’s three legacy companies last October under the Domtar brand. “This report delivers an initial view of our unified company’s performance across a comprehensive set of sustainability indicators,” said John D. Williams, Non-Executive Chairman. “It marks a pivotal milestone following the May 2025 release of our 2030 sustainability strategy.” …Qualitative content within the report is structured with reference to the three strategic pillars of Environmental Stewardship, Our People and Communities, and Responsible Business. …”We are consolidating our sustainability report and unifying our CDP submissions, ensuring everyone can evaluate our environmental performance holistically as an integrated company,” said Sabrina de Branco, global chief sustainability officer.

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Nation’s forestry leaders in the city to tackle complex challenges

By Nicky Shaw
The Thunder Bay News Watch
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

THUNDER BAY — In a time where the forestry sector is under threat, industry stakeholders from across the country are gathering in the city to connect, talk about issues and learn from each other. The Canadian Institute of Forestry’s national conference and 117th annual general meeting is taking place at the Thunder Bay Delta Hotels from Oct. 5-8. The theme of the conference, Finding Opportunity in Complexity, is extremely appropriate at this point in time in Canada in general, but also in the forestry industry, said Curtis Cook, the Canadian Institute of Forestry’s executive director. …With all of these great minds in one place for the week, he said, they’re going to come up with some solutions, some innovations and have some really good conversations going forward.

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Nature Conservancy of Canada buys Elk Valley logging lands

By Gillian Francis
The Free Press
October 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has purchased 37,000 hectares of land in the Elk Valley from Doman Building Materials Group Ltd., in one of the largest private land contributions in the country. The sale of the land closed on Sept. 29, in phase two of an acquisition for 45,000 hectares of land in the Elk Valley and surrounding area. “It’s a defining moment for nature in Canada, let alone in British Columbia,” said NCC Canadian Rockies program director Richard Klafki. …The project is the result of 20 years of effort to conserve ecologically important land in the region. …Doman, a North American building materials supplier with a Canadian office based out of Vancouver, owned the land for nine years for lumber harvesting operations before selling it to NCC. According to a news release, the company’s forestry management efforts saw 10 million new seedling planted on to the land. 

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‘Timber Titans’ Logger Boss Sig Kemmler on Why The Weather Channel’s Hit Resonates

By Scott Fishman
TV Insider
October 13, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Sig Kemmler

When watching Timber Titans, one thing is evident. Logging isn’t for the faint of heart. The series follows companies based in British Columbia as they battle the elements and merciless terrain in their efforts to harvest this most vital of resources. They may all share a deep rooted passion for one the region’s oldest professions, but each brings a different approach and backstories to the job. Sig Kemmler, co-owner and project manager of Integrated Operations Group, has been in the game for almost half a century. His company stands out in the industry with a proven track record built on sustainable logging and forest maintenance. This unique heli-logging operation works the western coast of Vancouver Island salvaging dead and downed timbers in the most remote locations. …Kemmler checked in from a boat anchored off Catalina Island to reflect on Season 2 and the popular series’ future. 

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Two Quesnel Indigenous students honoured for leadership in forestry

By Laísa Condé
Coast Mountain News
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Amy Oester

Grace Currie

Two Indigenous students from the Quesnel region were honoured for their interest in forest sector’s careers and strong commitment to their communities. Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) announced in a press release that both Amy Oester of Nazko First Nation and Grace Currie of the Métis Nation of British Columbia are this year’s recipients of the Skills Awards for Indigenous Youth. …Both Oester and Currie began their career in the forestry industry with West Fraser. Currently, Oester is a silviculture coordinator and through her work, she is bridging forestry and Indigenous knowledge, focusing on enhancing cultural inclusion and community connection. …Currie is a third-generation forestry worker and deeply committed to reconciliation and Indigenous inclusion in the industry.

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Wildwood Ecoforest gains nearly 9 hectares of ‘untouched’ land

By David Minkow
The Discourse
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Last week, the Wildwood Ecoforest, located in Yellow Point just north of Ladysmith, got considerably closer to its original size. A successful campaign to raise $850,000 has allowed the Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS) to purchase 8.5 hectares of land and reunite it with the famed demonstration ecoforest. The Wildwood Ecoforest, established by Merv Wilkinson in the 1940s, has long served as an educational counterexample to modern logging practices. Ecoforestry is a type of sustainable forestry where trees are selectively harvested in such a way that the forest’s ecological integrity is kept intact. The parcel being added to the forest features meadows, a stone escarpment and a section of rare old-growth coastal Douglas fir. It has been “kept untouched” by the previous owners of the parcel, according to the Ecoforestry Institute Society’s chair Kathy Code. 

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Mosaic Forest Management Clarifies Industrial Road Access Following Bamfield Worksite Disruption

Mosaic Forest Management
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

NANAIMO, B.C. – Mosaic Forest Management addressed community concerns about alternative road access following an incident on October 5th that halted safety work at the Bamfield Main Road worksite. The Ministry of Transportation and Transit has assumed control of the Bamfield Main Road repairs under Section 8 of the Transportation Act, with Mosaic providing technical support. The project is targeted for completion by month’s end. The Brenner Main/Museum Main corridor … remains restricted to limited Mosaic crews and one industrial user with pre-existing access. …“We understand people are frustrated seeing what appears to be a drivable road,” said D’Arcy Henderson, Senior Vice President, Timberlands and Chief Operating Officer. “But we’ve identified dangerous trees and boulders that could fall at any time. Making the Brenner corridor safe for public use would require the same weeks of intensive work currently underway on Bamfield Main. We cannot split our resources and double the timeline.”

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BC Timber Sales braces for ‘big problems’ selling wood

By Greg Nesteroff
My Kootenay Now
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

CASTLEGAR, BC — A BC Timber Sales manager for the Kootenay-Boundary admits they may have a hard time selling wood in the coming months as local mills cope with additional U.S. tariffs. George Edney told Castlegar city council this week that his organization, which manages and auctions 20% of the timber on Crown land, will have sales opening next week in the Boundary. …Interfor has curtailed its Grand Forks operations indefinitely due to “persistently weak market conditions.” …Edney said if the wood they offer in the Boundary doesn’t sell at the upset price, they can drop the price and try again, or they can withdraw it altogether, although typically they want the wood in the market. …Edney said they sold 581,000 cubic meters that BC Timber Sales in the Kootenays in 2024-25. Their target volume for 2025-26 is 715,000 cubic metres.

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‘Happy place’: Revelstoke woman gifts ‘serene’ urban forest back to community

By Evert Lindquist
The Revelstoke Review
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

©Facebook

Walking through a slice of the CP Hill forest one April morning to the gentle rush of streams, Virginia Thompson described the noise as “the million-dollar sound.” Serenity Park, a one-hectare swath of cedar hemlock stands nestled at 711 and 789 Cedar St., has earned distinction this year as something new for Revelstoke: an urban forest. “I wanted to protect this land since I first walked it in 2005,” Thompson said of Serenity Park, which she endowed to the City of Revelstoke earlier in 2025 and will see celebrated later this fall with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Thompson, formerly a mental-health counsellor who spent her two decades in Revelstoke as an environmentalist, originally acquired the land ahead of her arrival to town 20 years ago…

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Forestry industry grandstanding

Letter by June MacNab
Campbell River Mirror
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Regarding the mayor’s grandstanding on the forest industry: Just a conservative bunch trying to make people believe it is the present NDP government that is causing the decline! Look up MLA Mike Morris of the former Liberal government from Prince George/McKenzie and see where he puts the blame! Along with others. The forest companies have cut all the wood in the nearby areas of the mills, and now it is too expensive to go so far to get the wood. They are also growing wood in Georgia, etc., where it is cheap to do so. (No unions there!). Also, the U.S.has had tariffs on our lumber for some time now, never mind the new ones. Now, we are pushing to cut all the old growth, too, and the government is dragging its heels on fully implementing the program to control that.

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BC Council of Forest Industries announces the 2025 Forestry Scholarship recipients

BC Council of Forest Industries
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Vancouver, B.C. – The BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2025 Forestry Scholarships. Since 2007, COFI has supported students pursuing professional, technical, and trades careers in the forest sector through its annual scholarship program. Each recipient will receive $2,000 to support their post-secondary studies at institutions across British Columbia. “These students represent the next generation of forestry professionals. They are helping shape an industry that’s more innovative, sustainable, and diverse than ever before,” said Kim Haakstad, President & CEO of COFI. …“COFI’s Forestry Scholarships reflect the commitment of our members to inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders across the province,” said Jim Costley, Manager of Forest Education at COFI. “Whether these students become forest professionals, engineers, or data analysts, their skills and passion will help shape BC’s forest sector and the communities it supports.” 

Related coverage in My Bulkley Lakes Now: Burns Lake student receives a $2,000 forestry scholarship

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Coastal Currents – Forestry Fibre Flow Forum

By Value-Added Accelerators
BC First Nations Forestry Council
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

October 17, 2025 | River Rock Casino Resort, Richmond | Join us at the Coastal Currents – Forestry Fibre Flow Forum to connect with local primary sawmillers and value-added manufacturers, dive into fibre flow realities, explore regional challenges, and discover new pathways to collaboration and partnership. Together, we will:

  • Get to know local sawmillers and manufacturers for future partnerships.
  • Understand fibre flow, constraints, and access opportunities.
  • Investigate regional challenges and strategies to support value-added manufacturers.
  • Promote First Nations involvement in the value-added space.
  • Explore fibre flow opportunities for Nations entering manufacturing or supply agreements.

An outcome of the Value-added Accelerators, this Forum focuses on advancing value-added manufacturing on British Columbia’s Coast. The Accelerators, launched in 2023, bring together the BC First Nations Forestry Council, BC Value-added Wood Coalition, BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), and the Ministry of Forests, including BC Timber Sales.

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B.C. must spend more to prevent rising wildfire costs, watershed damage, find reports

By Stefan Labbé
Business in Vancouver
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Decades of industrial logging and fire suppression are pushing British Columbia’s forests past a tipping point, increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and undermining the recovery of wild salmon, a new report has found. Released Tuesday by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, the research assessed almost 90 individual studies, reports and government documents, concluding that the current crisis of more frequent and severe wildfires is due to the cumulative effects of a century of fire suppression, changes in forest structure from clear-cut logging, and a warming, drying climate. …The Raincoast report comes less than a week after Robert Gray and Robin Gregory published a paper in the journal Science that argued spending billions of dollars to fight catastrophic wildfires in British Columbia is an ineffective strategy, with long-term spending likely to balloon out of control unless measures to prevent them aren’t put in place. 

Press Release by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation: Increases in high-severity wildfire have implications for water and fish: report

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Wildfire experts converge at Thompson Rivers University for national conference

Castanet
October 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will soon host the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada’s (WRCC) first Building Foundational Knowledge gathering. Running Oct. 7 to 9, the program is packed with lightning talks, workshops and networking designed to deepen knowledge and build connections. Recipients of Natural Resources Canada’s Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge program will headline the sessions. The federal initiative recently provided $45.7 million to 30 projects across Canada, supporting research to strengthen risk assessments and mitigation and helping Indigenous communities lead on fire stewardship. “The Building Foundational Knowledge gathering is intentionally designed to prioritize interaction and co‑creation,” says Garnet Mierau, executive director of the WRCC. “We’ve structured the program around speed sessions that spark discussion and facilitated workshops where everyone has a voice. Our goal is for people to leave not only informed but connected and energized to continue collaborating on wildfire resilience.”

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Logging, fire mitigation underway on private forest above Nelson’s Rail Trail

By Bill Metcalfe
The Nelson Star
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Anderson Creek Timber is currently hauling logs from its property located just south of Nelson above the Rail Trail at Mountain Station. The work will continue for another three-to-four weeks, said Doug Thorburn, a forester with Monticola Forest Ltd. that manages Anderson Creek’s forest properties. … The 600-hectare Anderson Creek Timber property is private land and is therefore governed by B.C.’s Private Managed Forest Land Act, which provides much less regulation than the Forest Act in areas such as biodiversity, watershed protection, wildlife protection and harvest guidelines. …Anderson Creek Timber and Kalesnikoff, which has a public Crown land tenure over much of the Anderson Creek watershed, are working on a watershed assessment for the area… The reason the company has not done public information sessions about its logging plans … is that on privately owned land, compared with public land, there is less obligation to do so.

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Canadian Wildfire Conference continues growth in Kelowna

Wings Magazine
October 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

More than 300 people attended the 6th annual Canadian Wildfire Conference which, for the first time, ran for two days from October 1 to 2 at the KF Centre for Excellence in Kelowna, B.C. The conference is designed to bring together the primary stakeholders of wildfire suppression, including air operators, fire departments, technology and service suppliers, and government agencies. …The two-day conference featured 57 exhibitors, a dozen educational sessions, and a static display of firefighting equipment, including wildfire trucks, helicopters from Yellowhead Helicopters and Coldstream Helicopters, and a Hercules C130 converted for aerial firefighting needs by Coulson Aviation. …Award-winning author John Vaillant kicked off the Canadian Wildfire Conference with a morning keynote called The New World Order of Weather. Vaillant’s 2023 book Fire Weather details the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires from the front lines and tackles the impact of climate change.

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Forest Enhancement Society of BC is accepting expressions of interest for projects

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
October 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) is accepting expressions of interest (EOI) for projects to assist the Province of British Columbia in advancing the environmental and resource stewardship of British Columbia’s forests. These projects must occur on provincial crown land and support one or more of the core purposes of the Society, which include:

  • Preventing and mitigating the impact of wildfires;
  • Improving damaged or low value forests;
  • Improving habitat for wildlife;
  • Supporting the use of fibre from damaged and low value forests; and
  • Treating forests to improve the management of greenhouse gases.

“We are asking for Expressions of Interest from proponents with ideas for innovative investments in B.C.s’ forests. We want to work with proponents to help strengthen these proposals, secure approvals from government, identify opportunities to collaborate with like minded organizations and ensure longer-term impact.” -Jason Fisher, Registered Professional Forester and Executive Director of FESBC.

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Province, ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation reach milestone in forest stewardship agreement

By Ministry of Forests
Government of British Columbia
October 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation and the Province are one step closer to a joint decision-making agreement that will support predictable harvesting, job creation and sustainable forestry operations on the north Island. “The best way to move fibre is by working together and that is what we are accomplishing with the ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “I am optimistic that this draft agreement will create good-paying jobs and help us in our efforts to provide stability and certainty for our coastal forestry sector, as we deal with Donald Trump’s attack on our forestry sector.” ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation and the Province have developed a first-of-its-kind draft Section 7 joint decision-making agreement for the forestry sector under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act) and Forest Range and Practices Act. 

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Down a Forgotten River

By Larry Lynn
The Tyee
October 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Chemainus River reveals its secrets in strange and unexpected ways. For years, I have wandered the forests near my North Cowichan home in search of the last few ancient trees, finding a few nice specimens here and there. In the heavily logged, 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve — popularly known as the Six Mountains, an hour north of Victoria — they are as elusive as the last rhinos of Sumatra. With a bit of luck, I hope my persistence may yet pay off. I don’t know it at the time, but my quest will launch me on a journey from the river’s headwaters to its mouth in pursuit of questions fundamental to the Chemainus and its future. How have human activities like industrial logging shaped the river, its watershed, and its salmon? …In my search for answers, I will discover modern challenges that bedevil other B.C. coastal rivers.

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Hikers can be citizen scientists in photo project documenting forest regrowth in Jasper

By Maggie Kirk
CBC News
October 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

©GeoReach

As visitors at Old Fort Point look out at the mosaic of burnt patches of forest from the Jasper wildfire, they see a vastly different landscape than they would have before July 2024. But that same barren view looks strikingly similar to photos taken in the early 1900s. Now, as the Jasper landscape begins to regenerate in the wake of last year’s massive wildfire, hikers can participate in a citizen science project to help document the area’s rebirth. …Parks Canada and the University of Waterloo have teamed up to crowdsource photos from three locations on the hike …they installed three cellphone stands, each with a cradle for the camera, along the popular 3.8-kilometre hike, which starts just east of the Jasper townsite. Visitors will take a photo, then scan the QR code to directly upload a photo, or visit the GeoReach website to share their photo with researchers

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Community members want land protected amid concerns over clearcutting

By Michael Gorman
CBC News
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

NOVA SCOTIA — Mike Lancaster, executive director of the St. Margarets Bay Stewardship Association, has been working to get provincial protection for the proposed Ingram River wilderness area, about 11,000 hectares of Crown land that once belonged to Bowater. Lancaster says part of the proposed area is seeing applications for high-production forestry activity, such as clearcutting. …Lancaster said the proposed wilderness area would include “one of the most, if not the most, ecologically valuable parts of Nova Scotia.” …A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Department said about 4,000 hectares of land in the Ingram River area has been protected as part of the Island Lake Wilderness Area, where no forestry activity is permitted. …“Harvests in this area have gone through the proper reviews and any areas with old-growth forest or species at risk were removed from the harvest plans before we approved them,” Adele Poirier said.

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Wildfire investigation answers aren’t coming fast enough, opposition MLAs say

By Savannah Awde
CBC News
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

The New Brunswick government says it’s now planning for the next wildfire season, but some opposition MLAs are questioning why more information hasn’t been shared about the cause of this year’s fires. Appearing at a legislative committee on Wednesday, the deputy minister of the Department of Natural Resources, Cade Libby, said the department is still investigating what caused one such major blaze, outside Moncton, that put about 900 structures and 1,500 people at risk. Speaking with reporters at the legislature, Progressive Conservative MLA Kris Austin questioned why the public hasn’t gotten answers about what happened. …The Department of Natural Resources referred follow-up questions about the investigation to the Department of Justice and Public Safety, which did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Roger Collett, the province’s wildfire co-ordinator, has said another large fire outside Miramichi, known as the Oldfield Road fire, was likely human-caused.

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Rooted in Strength: Forestry Technician program in Pembroke enters 58th year

By Jodi Bucholtz
The Pembroke Observer
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

Since 1967, Algonquin College Pembroke Campus’s Forestry Technician program has stood as a pillar of applied education in the natural resources sector. Over nearly six decades, it has shaped countless graduates who walk into the woods, the mills, conservation agencies, and government environmental departments at all levels. In doing so, the program has strengthened our region and the broader stewardship of Canada’s forests. This fall, as students return to campus, the program is thriving, evolving, and more relevant than ever. …What makes the program robust today is its adaptability. The curriculum integrates both traditional forestry foundations and modern tools such as GIS mapping, remote sensing, and forest health assessment. Our proximity to Algonquin Park and partnerships with organizations such as the Petawawa Research Forest and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories ensure that students encounter diverse and real-world conditions. 

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Lakehead University celebrating 77 years in forestry, with one more tree

By Nicky Shaw
The Thunder Bay News Watch
October 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

THUNDER BAY — A decades-long legacy in forestry was celebrated over the weekend with the planting of a commemorative tree. The ceremony was part of Lakehead University’s 60th anniversary celebrations, but the forestry and mining program actually predates the founding of the university by 17 years. The event kicked-off the Canadian Institute of Forestry’s annual conference, which is being held in Thunder Bay this week. The newly planted red pine now grows in the university’s Agora Circle, where a number of dignitaries spoke about the importance of forestry to the region at Saturday’s event. …Brigitte Leblon, dean of Natural Resources Management, explained that the forestry program was one of the founding programs in the university. The first forestry diplomas in Forest and Mining Technology were offered in 1948, two years after the founding of the Lakehead Technical Institute, and the program evolved into a Bachelor of Science in Forestry program in 1965

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Drax maps carbon stocks of North American forests used for UK biomass power

Drax Group Inc.
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

Drax has launched a partnership with NGIS, a geospatial technology company, to model and monitor carbon stocks in US and Canadian forests that supply biomass pellets to the UK’s largest renewable power station, which generated over 5% of the country’s electricity using North American biomass in 2024, according to Drax. The collaboration supports Drax’s target to provide verified carbon stock data for all major sourcing regions by the end of 2026. Through NGIS’s satellite-based geospatial tools, the project will track forest regrowth, tree cover, and other indicators of forest health using Earth Observation data enhanced by Google AI and machine-learning tools. A digital platform will present Drax with historical and current imagery of sourcing sites, enabling visual verification of harvesting and reforestation cycles. …The monitoring initiative aligns with Drax’s broader Sustainability Framework, which includes commitments to prevent deforestation, degradation, and conversion in biomass sourcing. 

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National Loggers Day: Honoring the Backbone of the Wood Supply Chain

By Jeff Jenkins
The Forest Resources Association
October 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

As we prepare to celebrate National Loggers Day on October 12, it’s a perfect time to recognize and thank the hardworking men and women who harvest and deliver the timber that keeps our forests, communities, and economy moving. Logging is one of the nation’s oldest industries, but today’s loggers are far more than tree cutters. They are highly trained professionals who operate sophisticated, high-tech equipment, follow strict safety standards, work closely with landowners to ensure that the timber harvest meets their expectations, and promote forest regeneration for future generations. …Today’s logging blends time-honored skills with modern techniques, focusing on responsible forest management and sustainability. …National Loggers Day is a time not only to celebrate the work they do, but also to honor those who have been injured or lost their lives in the woods. …logging touches our daily lives in ways many of us don’t realize.

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US groups urge Brussels not to bow to Washington on deforestation law

By Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro
EURACTIV
October 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

US civil society groups are urging the European Commission to resist Washington’s pressure to delay the EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR) or tweak the rules to grant the country preferential treatment, according to a letter seen by Euractiv. The missive, sent this morning to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Commissioners responsible for green rules, the economy and trade, warns against any backtracking. “We are particularly concerned by the Commission’s apparent willingness to offer the U.S. special treatment under the EUDR as part of ongoing EU-U.S. trade negotiations,” the letter reads. The organisations refer to the joint statement issued by Brussels and Washington in September, which labels the US as posing “negligible risk to global deforestation.” Rick Jacobsen, senior manager for commodities policy at the US NGO Environmental Investigation Agency, told Euractiv that US interests have “ramped up the pressure campaign” to weaken the law before it even comes into force.

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Forest Stewardship Council US Announces Revised Forest Stewardship Standard Approved

By Forest Stewardship Council – US
EIN Presswire
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

ATLANTA — Forest Stewardship Council US announced the approval of the revised Forest Stewardship Standard 2.0. “The revision aligns the U.S. standard with FSC International’s updated Principles & Criteria (V5) and International Generic Indicators (IGIs), while also addressing key stakeholder priorities,” says Amy Clark Eagle, FSC US Director of Science and Certification. Key updates under the new FSC US Forest Stewardship Standard include: At least 10% of every FSC-certified forest will need to be in a conservation area – this means more than 3.61 million acres being managed with a focus on conserving environmental or cultural values. …January 1, 2026 will be the official publication date for Version 2.0 of the FSC US Forest Stewardship Standard and the revised standard will become effective April 2, 2026. This will be followed by an 18-month transition period in which both the current (Version 1.1) and revised standards (Version 2.0) will be valid.

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Proclamation: Fire Prevention Week, 2025

The White House
October 7, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

During Fire Prevention Week, we call on every household and community to prioritize fire prevention by taking steps that reduce risks and strengthen safety.  Americans honor the steadfast courage and dedication of firefighters and first responders across our Nation who protect our lives, property, and natural resources from the devastation of fire. …In recent years, our Nation has seen the staggering costs of poor fire prevention and disaster preparedness.  When wildfires erupted in California earlier this year, sparked by arson and exacerbated by the Green New Scam agenda and disastrous forest management, State and local leaders were left totally unprepared to safeguard our fellow citizens. …This week, we offer our sincere thanks to all the dedicated firefighters and first responders who do not flinch in times of crisis.  …That is why, earlier this year, I was proud to sign a bill into law for permanent pay increases for Federal wildland firefighters.  

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Forest Service falls behind on wildfire prevention

Center for Western Priorities
October 6, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Despite the Trump administration’s pledge to aggressively clear overgrowth from national forests, the U.S. Forest Service is falling significantly short on wildfire mitigation work. By mid-September, the agency had only treated about 2.2 million acres through thinning and prescribed burns. That’s far short of the over 4 million acres treated during the last year of the Biden administration, and it’s also behind the agency’s annual average over the past decade. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz blamed “operational challenges” and said agency resources were diverted to help battle blazes in Canada. However, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is blaming the slowdown in fuel treatments on the Trump administration firing thousands of Forest Service employees earlier this year. …the government shutdown has stopped wildfire prevention efforts across the country’s entire 193 million acres of national forest land [at] the ideal time for the agency to conduct safe prescribed burns across the West.

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‘All the trees are dead’: An ancient California forest has been wiped out

By Julie Johnson
The San Francisco Chronicle
October 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Roughly 500 years ago in California’s High Sierra, pine cones dropped to the ground and a cycle began. …Half a millennia later, US Forest Service scientists began testing strategies to save these now ancient and massive trees in the little-known area east of Fresno called the Teakettle Experimental Forest. They had plans to light a huge prescribed burn to clear overgrowth next year.  But then the Garnet Fire ignited and scorched all 3,000 federally protected acres on its path through the Sierra National Forest. …Scott Scherbinski, a biologist at the Climate & Wildfire Institute, said “It will be a start-over event for this forest.” …Malcolm North, a Forest Service ecologist said…fires with less intensity can be beneficial in California’s fire-adapted landscapes, but the Garnet Fire, when it burned through in September, may have killed most trees and sterilized the ground — making it unlikely the forest can rebound without intervention. [to access the full story a San Francisco Chronicle subscription is required]

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Oregon’s Douglas fir trees in crisis with widespread, ‘unprecedented’ dieback

By Zach Urness
The Register-Guard
October 4, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US West

Drought and insects have killed an unprecedented number of Oregon’s Douglas fir trees during the last decade, costing billions in timber value, damaging infrastructure and ramping up wildfire danger. Beginning in 2015 and accelerating with the 2021 heat dome, roughly 635,000 acres of forest have been impacted by what’s known as Douglas fir “dieback” in southwest Oregon and the Willamette Valley. “It’s hitting trees of all sizes, but it’s hitting larger and older trees the hardest,” Max Bennett, a retired forest researcher with Oregon State University, told members of the Oregon Legislature on Sept. 30. “What we’re seeing now is unprecedented.” The dieback has led to $1.1 billion in lost timber value, $500 million in potential road hazard costs and created a tinderbox of forest fuel capable of spawning the West’s most destructive wildfires, a group of foresters and researchers told the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water.

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Wqwhington’s stream buffer rule: Big economic impact, little environmental evidence

By Jacob Vail, Hampton Family Forests
The Cascadia Daily News
October 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Jacob Vail

I work for a local forest products company and in this line of work, it can feel like we live and breathe forest policy. …Unfortunately, major changes to forest policy have recently been proposed without adequate analysis or justification. The state Forest Practices Board is currently grappling with an ongoing debate surrounding the regulation of non-fish perennial streams, essentially streams without fish that flow year-round. The Washington Department of Ecology is proposing a new rule that would create additional tree buffers on these streams, taking another 200,000 acres of private forestland out of timber production. If passed, this rule would reduce harvests on private lands by 4–8%. …Washington’s private forestlands are already sustaining salmon habitat and clean water, and there’s no evidence current temperatures are harming fish or that the new rule will improve fish recovery. The Forest Practices Board should restart the adaptive management process to determine the best path forward.

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To fight rising wildfire danger, New Jersey turns to tree thinning in the Pinelands

By Jeff Pillets
The Jersey Vindicator
October 5, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: US East

Last April, a pair of teenage boys … set fire to wooden pallets someone had dumped in the woods. Within a few hours it became one of the fastest-moving and most destructive wildfires on record in the New Jersey Pinelands. By the time it was brought under control three weeks later, about 15,000 acres of preserved forest were destroyed, and thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and businesses. Most official accounts of what became known as the Jones Road Fire attribute its ferocious power to the intensifying cycles of drought and heat linked to climate change that continue to affect coastal areas. But forestry experts in New Jersey point to another cause. …On Sept. 18, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission took a big step toward more aggressive management of the state’s Pinelands National Preserve voting to thin out a 12,000-acre stretch of pine and oak woodland adjacent to the wildfire site.

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27th annual wildfire academy begins next week at Camp Swift

Texas A&M Forest Service – Texas A&M University
October 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The 27th annual Capital Area Interagency Wildfire and Incident Management Academy begins at the Camp Swift National Guard Facility in Bastrop, Texas, next week. The academy will take place Oct. 7-20, 2025. Each year, federal, state, local and private firefighters travel from across the state and nation to attend the academy to continue their education and earn National Wildfire Coordinating Group training qualifications. This academy is one of two Texas Interagency Wildfire and Incident Management Academies, which aim to enhance wildland firefighters’ knowledge, utilizing National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards, while promoting safe and cost-effective operations. …Academy partners include the Texas Army National Guard, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Department of Emergency Management, Federal Bureau of Prisons and Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System.

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Istanbul Forest Innovation Week to bring together foresters from around the world

By Mehmet Can Toptas & Mucahithan Avcioglu
Anadolu Ajansı
October 14, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Istanbul Forest Innovation Week (IFIW) 2025, which will be held from Oct. 20-25, will bring together forestry experts from around the world, offering a unique opportunity to influence the future of global forestry. The event will be organized by the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry’s General Directorate of Forestry at the Pullman Istanbul Hotel & Convention Center. It will host panels, side events, exhibitions and field trips aimed at shaping the future of the forestry sector with innovation. Anadolu will serve as the global communication partner of Istanbul Forest Innovation Week 2025. General Director of Forestry Bekir Karacabey said Monday that they have sent invitations to 193 countries for the event so far and that 75 of the countries will participate. “We have also received responses from 30 international organizations. It has been reported that a total of 336 expert scientists, practitioners, firefighting experts and government and ministry officials will participate.

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Nestle, others warn EU law delays are endangering forests worldwide

By Virginia Furness
Reuters in Trading View
October 3, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Major agri-food companies including Nestle, Ferrero and Olam Agri have warned that European Union delays to its anti-deforestation law are endangering forests worldwide. The EU last month proposed delaying the launch of its anti-deforestation law for a second time, citing concerns about the readiness of information-technology systems needed to support the law. The delay could postpone the ban on imports of commodities such as palm oil linked to forest destruction for another year. The law faces major opposition from industry and EU trade partners such as the United States and Brazil. EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall said last week the delay was not linked to U.S. concerns about the policy. …Contrary to the EU’s aim of simplifying rules for business, any changes at this stage would introduce uncertainty, annoy shareholders and risk the rules being watered down further, the companies said. The EU deforestation law was due to take effect on December 30.

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