VANCOUVER — A federal government decision to reverse course on issuing an emergency order for the northern spotted owl has angered the BC First Nation that asked for the protection of the endangered species. Spuzzum First Nation Chief James Hobart said members of his community are “furious”. A letter issued this week by the Canadian Wildlife Service, said the federal government will not bring in an emergency order to prevent logging in two watersheds within Spuzzum Nation territory in B.C.’s lower Fraser River canyon. The logging was an activity that Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault had said posed “an imminent threat” to the survival of the species. …There has been no engagement with the nation since then, other than the second letter saying cabinet was instead endorsing “a collaborative approach” with the provincial government and Indigenous communities after considering factors such as socio-economic and legal impacts.
FireSmart BC has announced 
British Columbia’s chief forester has set a new allowable annual cut (AAC) level for the Lillooet Timber Supply Area (TSA). The new AAC for the Lillooet TSA is 375,000 m3. This is a 34% reduction from the previous AAC, while remaining 9% above 2016-2021 harvesting levels. The change brings the AAC in line with recent harvesting levels; supports old growth management areas, riparian areas, and wildlife habitat areas; and accounts for First Nations cultural heritage resources and practices. Within this AAC, there are two partitions: a maximum of 300,000 m3 from live trees; and a maximum of 180,000 m3 from live trees where the ground is sloped less than 40%. As well, to encourage the continued harvest of trees killed by the mountain pine beetle outbreak, the ongoing spruce bark beetle outbreak and by wildfire, the chief forester added 75,000 cubic metres from dead trees to the AAC.
The British Columbia government has announced new funding to strengthen wood-product manufacturing and to further support local First Nations economies around the province. According to a news release, the funding announced is part of the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF), which supports non-for-profit organizations to plan and launch high-value industrial and manufacturing projects. In the release, Brenda Bailey, minister of jobs, economic development and innovation, said the provincial government continues to work and support First Nations and manufacturing companies in order to achieve long-term growth in the industry. “By investing in innovation, we’re getting more value from the wood harvested in B.C., while creating and preserving high-quality jobs in the forestry sector,” she said. In addition to non-for-profit organizations, the BCMJF is also supporting three Indigenous-led planning projects, including Stuwix Resources, which is located in Merritt.
Ontario’s Natural Resources and Forestry minister says the government will spend an additional $20.5 million over three years to help fight wildfires. Graydon Smith, making an announcement in Timmins, Ont., says this recent fire season has been one of the most challenging in recent memory. The government says more than 700 wildfires have been reported so far in the 2023 season, burning more than 4,200 square kilometres across the province, which is nearly triple the 10-year average. Smith says the money will be used for new aerial fire suppression technologies such as drones, recruiting new fire ranger staff, supporting Indigenous wildland fire management and investing more in risk assessment. The government also says it is developing a psychological safety program to help protect the mental health of staff working in the wildland fire program. The province says it is also addressing barriers to fire ranger recruitment.
Funding is now available to assist with clearing Fiona-felled trees on essential forest access roads and on small woodlots that may pose a fire risk to nearby urban areas and infrastructure. The Hurricane Fiona Forestry Recovery Program is open to small forestry businesses and woodlot owners who were not eligible for assistance under previous programs. The program is supported by investments by $125,000 from the Government of Prince Edward Island and a $975,000 investment from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, through the Government of Canada’s Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund. Financial assistance is available for small woodlot owners (1 – 2.5 acres) where land is excluded from the Forest Enhancement Program, but where land intersects with urban and wildland areas and may pose a fire risk. Financial assistance is also available for land where the forestry road is deemed necessary for sustainable forest management and fire suppression…
HALIFAX, NS – Protecting and conserving habitat and species calls for transformative change and innovation across all sectors—it requires collaboration with Indigenous peoples, all governments, industry, and community stakeholders. To this end, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia are working together to protect and conserve biodiversity, habitat, and species at risk in Nova Scotia. …The Government of Canada will invest up to $28.5 million over three years to implement the Canada–Nova Scotia Nature Agreement to advance nature conservation and protection across the province. This will support the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia’s leadership in conservation, increase protection of sensitive habitats and recovery actions for species at risk and migratory birds, and protect and conserve new Crown and private land in Nova Scotia. With the support of this Agreement, Nova Scotia aims to increase the amount of protected and conserved areas within the province by 82,500 hectares by March 2026.
Time is one of humanity’s greatest blind spots. We experience it as days, months, or years. But nature functions on much grander scales, measured in centuries, millennia and even longer intervals often lumped together as “deep time.” …Indeed, most conservation efforts today, whether reintroducing extirpated species or setting protection priorities, generally consider timescales of a century or less, almost as if species somehow did not exist before Western scientists “discovered” them, and with no good idea if, at that moment, the ecosystem was at its peak. …For decades, forest management practices throughout the Sierra Nevada called for all-out suppression of even the mildest forest fires. …Until recently we ignored the forest management strategies Indigenous communities had successfully deployed for millennia. Fire, it turns out, has always been an integral ingredient in healthy forest ecosystems, spurring new growth by thinning the understory, enriching the soil and, for many tree species, aiding their reproduction. 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban and Community Forestry Program awarded a $300,000 grant to the City of Vancouver to increase tree planting capacity through a new workforce development project that provides paid job training for young adults. The grant-funded project will help improve the health of Vancouver’s urban natural systems, create green job opportunities, address climate change impacts and environmental justice, and enhance community health, safety and quality of life. Studies show that trees in communities are associated with improved physical and mental health, lower average temperatures during extreme heat, increased food security, and new economic opportunities. Over the next five years, the grant will fund the creation of seasonal urban forestry crews who are trained to plant and maintain new trees and native plants along streets, in parks and natural areas in underserved neighborhoods of Vancouver. 
SMILELY Creek, Idaho — The Ross Fork Fire burned 38,000 acres last summer in and around the Sawtooth Mountains. The fire burned hotter in more thickly forested areas, with less tree mortality in areas that had been “treated” with tree thinning of dead and diseased trees prior to the fire, according to a Forest Service report. Last week, Forest Service crews, tree planting contractors and about a dozen volunteers planted 24,000 Douglas fir trees on 120 acres in what had previously been a predominantly lodgepole pine forest. The goal was to restore the forest for public use and prepare for changes due to climate change. …Mills said despite the loss of trees and wildlife from the Ross Fork Fire, the lightening-caused blaze provided a natural test of the effectiveness of tree thinning that had previously been conducted to reduce the severity (results) and intensity (damaging characteristics) of wildfires.
Recent controversy around whether we should be planting trees to combat climate change is a distraction. No credible scientist or conservationist has ever claimed that we can solve the climate crisis with trees alone. But there is plenty of robust scientific evidence to show that we can’t get there without them. The science is clear, and repeated studies continue to tell us the same thing: the absolute priority must be to end our reliance on fossil fuels. However, the science is equally clear that we cannot meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement without the conservation and restoration of nature. Carbon capture technologies will be part of the solution in the long term but are still in their infancy, unproven… Nature-based solutions are a cost-effective, natural technology that is available to us right now and can provide a third of what is needed to limit climate change. 