For over 20 years, the BC Community Forest Association (BCCFA) has championed the community forest program, highlighting its ability to foster social, economic, ecological, and cultural resilience. …Community forests are long-term, area-based tenures managed by local communities to reflect local priorities and values. With 61 community forests currently operating across the province, and growing interest in local resource management, the program is gaining broad recognition and support. …According to the December BCCFA Newsletter, the city of Quesnel along with five First Nations, have come to an agreement on the establishment of the Three Rivers Community Forest (TRCF). …Farther south, the BCCFA provided Nakusp and Area Community Forest (NACFOR) with funding through the province’s Economic Recovery Initiative under the Crown Land Wildfire Risk Reduction program. …There were 14 other community forests across the province supported by this initiative.

A BC program that keeps an eye on threatened populations of coastal BC birds is getting another year of funding from the province. Marbled Murrelets are coastal birds that nest in old-growth forests, laying a single egg in the mossy branches of old trees. They can travel up to 100 kilometres per day to forage for food and bring it back to their nests. They are listed as threatened in BC because of ongoing habitat loss. The province has radar monitoring stations along the coastline to track population trends for the birds, with the hopes of learning more to help their numbers recover. Documents posted on BC Bid show the province has allocated $15,000 towards the program this year. [END]

…Although not record breaking, the more than 10,800 square kilometres burned in 1,688 fires during 2024 comes in as the fourth-largest wildfire season in B.C. More than 70 per cent of wildfires this past season were caused by lightning, while almost all others were attributed to human activity. A small percentage remains undetermined. …In 2024, about $621 million was spent fighting fires, down from $1.09 billion in 2023. While there were no mass evacuations such as there were in 2023 in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions, in 2024 there were 51 evacuation orders, which affected more than 4,100 properties. Another 112 evacuation alerts affected more than 11,600 properties. …New research published this week shows the public should expect an increasing number of more severe fire seasons in the future. …Researchers found the greatest drivers of change were dry fuels, including the moisture level of the upper level of the forest floor.