GATINEAU, QC – The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the work that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are doing to protect and recover species at risk in Canada. Efforts to conserve nature, reduce threats to species, and foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing are central to Canada’s plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve a full recovery for nature by 2050. Supporting Indigenous leadership in conservation is essential to achieving these targets. Environment and Climate Change Canada announced up to $6 million in funding over the next three years through the Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk to support 49 conservation projects across Canada. These projects are led by Indigenous nations and organizations, reflecting their unique values, interests, and knowledge in taking action to recover species at risk.
In this newsletter:
British Columbia’s chief forester has set the new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for the North Island Timber Supply Area (TSA). The new AAC for the North Island TSA is 1,096,000 cubic metres. This is a 12.2% reduction from the previous AAC, while remaining above the average harvest level in recent years. To promote the harvest of red alder trees, maintain sustainable forestry, manage old growth and protect against over harvesting within the Sayward Timber Supply Block, the new determination includes four partitions. …The AAC determination reflects additional wildlife habitat protections, land removals following First Nation agreements, and the removal of some helicopter-access areas with consistently low harvest levels. The North Island TSA comprises approximately 1.7 million hectares in the North of Vancouver Island. The TSA overlaps the territory of 26 First Nations, all of which were consulted during the timber supply review process, and feedback considered. 
What are the effects of forest fires on lakes? One way of fighting fires is to use large quantities of water, often drawn from lakes and transported by air tankers. Although effective, this method can disrupt the physical structure of the lakes (water level, disturbance of deep-seated sediments). …Yet few, if any, scientific studies have documented the effect of this phenomenon on lakes themselves. …Smoke plumes ring large quantities of nutrients, metals and minerals that can be deposited on the surface of lakes and can also capture a large proportion of the sun’s rays, which disturbs aquatic organisms that photosynthesize. …Every square metre of burned land will be drained by an aquatic ecosystem, often a lake. Quantifying the fate of terrestrial carbon in lakes following forest fires will provide a better understanding of the extent to which lakes amplify or mitigate a possible feedback loop between forest fires and climate change.
The 2024 wildfire season is off to a destructive start. Nearly 20,000 wildfires have burned more than 2 million acres across the United States so far this year, and in New Mexico, thousands of residents fled under evacuation orders while their homes and businesses were destroyed by wildfires.The recent wet and mild winter in the West produced more grass and vegetation. Recent heat waves baked the region, drying out the new vegetation and creating the perfect fuel for a fire. And the prevalence and the power of the most extreme wildfires are growing. A new report finds that extreme wildfires appear to have doubled in the past 20 years, both in frequency and magnitude. It is those “energetically extreme” wildfires, associated with widespread damage to the environment and economy, that have been increasing. …But for climate scientists, the answer is to address the underlying cause: climate change.
…Advocates say there’s currently no national policy to protect mature and old-growth forests on public lands, but a new proposed nationwide forest plan amendment from the U.S. Forest Service would change that. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) was 
We have had a bumpy relationship with trees. Our landscapes were largely treeless at the beginning of the 20th century, with just 1 per cent of Ireland’s land covered by forest. …Forests have increased from 1 per cent to over 11 per cent over the past 120 years, with most of the increase due to plantations of non-native conifer species. One single conifer species from the west coast of North America, Sitka Spruce, occupies 45 per cent of Ireland’s forest area. …We need to plant at least 8,000 hectares of forest per year to achieve 18 per cent of our land area covered by forest by 2050. Our new forests will be around for decades, and they must deliver for climate, nature, wood, people, and economic and rural development. This will require investment in the public and private forestry sectors to encourage and speed up the planting of diverse multifunctional and mosaic forests.