Earth’s boreal forests circle our planet’s far northern reaches, just south of the Arctic’s treeless tundra. …Because boreal forests and soils face subzero winters and short summers, these forests and the animals that live in them are shifting northward as temperatures rise. …Satellite measurements show that plant growth widely increased along the cold northern margins of the boreal forest in recent decades, but it often decreased along the warm southern margins − potential early indicators that the boreal forest is beginning to migrate northward. …Our combined research shows that boreal forests are, in fact, responding to rising temperatures. But rapid rates of climatic change mean that trees likely can’t move northward at a pace that keeps up with their loss in the south. …Will trees in the far north ever catch up with climate and prevent forest contraction? At this point, scientists simply don’t know.
The longer I do this work, the more I’m convinced its green public image is undeserved. I began tree planting seven years ago when I was 24. …Five seasons later, I can say with some confidence that I know what it is I’m doing out there, on the block. Like the loggers employed by Conifex or Canfor, like the labourers working on the Site C dam or Teck Coal miners, I, too, am making a living off the exploitation of the land. Speaking about our complicity in resource extraction, a planter friend once remarked to me: “If I had to choose, I’d rather be planting trees than cutting them down.” I’m not sure there is much good in differentiating these acts; the way I see it, planting and logging are two sides of the same coin.
UBC Forestry is introducing exciting changes to its undergraduate programs by introducing a new ‘Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resources’ starting in fall 2024. Five of the Faculty of Forestry’s current degree programs are being unified into one degree, with students choosing from six majors, each providing a well-rounded education in unique fields of Natural Resource studies. Students will all take a common first year, with some course selection freedom to obtain prerequisites for potential majors, and then have the opportunity to select a major in second year in bioeconomy sciences and technology, conservation, forest management, forest operations, forest sciences, or wood products. Two new first year courses will introduce students to some of the most wicked environmental problems facing humanity such as climate change, catastrophic fires and floods, resource over-exploitation, food insecurity and poverty, and will show how these sorts of challenges, are interdisciplinary needing innovative ecological, social and entrepreneurial solutions.
In the October edition, you’ll find:
The BC government is proposing major changes to the way the province’s forests are managed. Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said B.C.’s rules and practices need to be updated in the face of climate change and the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Proposed amendments to B.C.’s Forest Act, Forest and Range Practices Act and Wildfire Act will change how road-building and logging permits are issued, while giving prescribed burns a “legal standing.” …The province is pledging to work more closely with First Nations to increase the use of the technique Indigenous communities have used for centuries, tool to reduce wildfire risk. …Other proposed changes to the act include stiffening penalties for individuals and organizations that break forest regulation rules, as well as giving decision-makers discretion when giving out cutting and road-building permits.
The Province is making changes to enable safer, more effective stewardship of the landscape, including forests, and the revitalization of cultural and prescribed fire and new compliance and enforcement measures. …If passed, amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act, the Forest Act, and the Wildfire Act will help address public and First Nations’ interests in how forests are managed, giving government new tools to manage Crown land timber harvesting. …Changes to the FRPA will provide new tools to the Ministry of Forests’ compliance and enforcement team to better enforce natural resource laws in the province. The changes will strengthen the protection of First Nations values and interests and allow for a greater range of contravention penalties, ensuring there are appropriate consequences for non-compliance. …Amendments to the Wildfire Act will give prescribed fire legal standing in B.C.’s forest management tool kit … and allow for advancement in prescribed burns as a wildfire-mitigation practice.
New state building codes in Washington state aim to protect properties on the edge between urban and wooded areas – a fast growing type of space known as the wildland urban interface – from wildfire. But the code changes have sparked backlash from builders, cities and environmentalists who say the rules are confusing, will drive up housing costs and could result in an excessive number of trees getting cut down. The 
JAKARTA – Some 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantations found in areas designated as forests in Indonesia are expected to be returned to the state to be converted back into forests, a government official said. Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer and exporter, issued rules in 2020 to sort out the legality of plantations operating in areas that are supposed to be forests, aimed at fixing governance in the sector. Officials said the measures were necessary as some companies have already been tending the land for years, although green groups have attacked the government for forgiving past forest encroachment. Companies have to submit paperwork and pay fines to obtain cultivating rights on their plantation by Nov. 2, 2023, according to the rules. Indonesia’s chief security minister Mahfud MD has threatened to pursue legal action against palm oil companies that use land illegally after the Thursday deadline passes.