In Business news, Deere announces leadership changes; PotlatchDeltic and CatchMarkets form integrated timber REIT; and fire extinguished at Nova Scotia paper mill site.
In the forest – Oregon gets new legislation that makes the Private Forest Accord the law but some argue it complicates forest management; the economic cost of wildfire in California and who pays the bill; and new satellite data differentiates types of forest loss in the Amazon.
Get the latest updates from the BC Community Forest Association and the BC Forest Safety Council in their Spring newsletters.
And finally, new research from the European Chemicals Agency concludes that glyphosate does not cause cancer in humans.
Sandy McKellar, Tree Frog Editor
After a couple of quiet years, the 2021 wildfire season in the Cariboo was another challenging one. The BC Wildfire Service has released a summary that shows that there were 305 wildfires between April 1st, 2021 and March 28th, 2022. That was up from just 48 in 2020 and 51 in 2019. 129,537 hectares were burned, which was also up significantly from just 57 and 189 hectares the previous two years. Of course, last year’s numbers pale in comparison to 2017, which was the worst wildfire season in BC’s history. …Most the wildfires of note were located in the South Cariboo region. …Province-wide, 60 percent of the wildfires were natural caused, 35 percent were human caused and 5 percent were undetermined.
ELKINS — A new program is now available for landowners with a minimum of 30 acres of wooded land, to improve forest health on their property. The program, the Family Forest Carbon Program, is a carbon program designed to help forest owners find resources and adopt long-term sustainable forest practices that will improve the health of their forest over time. Interested landowners can log on to familyforestcarbon.org to learn more and see if their property and goals are a fit. Enrollees receive annual payments to implement improved forest practices, as well as expert consultation from a local forester who can help identify tree species, provide advice on invasives and will help write a forest management plan customized for their property. Enrollment is for 20 years, and annual payments are determined by property size and forest conditions.
Driving around parts of southern El Dorado County, you can’t miss the trucks. Everywhere near the areas ravaged by the 2021 Caldor fire that leveled the community of Grizzly Flats, you see semis hauling trees and Ford F-150s with their company logos. Residents could understandably wonder: Who is paying for all this work? And who is profiting from it? It’s mostly the federal government and insurance companies writing the checks, meaning taxpayers and insurance customers are footing the bill. …The economic costs of a disaster to state and local governments are much discussed, but less explored are the economic benefits to governments and contractors. …Take logging, for example. Logging in federal and state parks is prohibited, and it is cost-prohibitive on residential property. …When a wildfire sweeps through an area, however, the burned trees that remain present many hazards. … As part of the debris removal process, these hazardous trees are removed.
OREGON Gov. Kate Brown has signed legislation that makes the Private Forest Accord . …We understand why many segments of the timber industry have embraced the forest management framework spelled out in the accord. Only time will tell whether it will provide the regulatory certainty that it promises. …The legislation is expected to set the stage for a federal Habitat Conservation Plan for the state’s private forests, which would shield landowners from liability under the Endangered Species Act when harvesting trees. That would be a huge benefit to private timber owners. Support for the deal is not unanimous in the timber industry — critics argue that it complicates forest management. …But several forest product companies and the Oregon Small Woodlands Association signed onto the Private Forest Accord with the understanding that it would provide more regulatory certainty and reduce the likelihood of disruptive lawsuits.
A new analysis of satellite data of the Amazon published in late May provides the most detailed analysis yet of year-to-year deforestation in the region, revealing exactly where and why the rainforest is being cleared across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. The 
AUSTRALIA– About 220,000 hectares of previously logged West Australian (WA) forest could still be subject to tree removal beyond a 2024 native timber logging ban “for environmental health” as trees compete for water in a drying climate. The figure is about 11 per cent of the forests currently available for harvest in the government’s existing forest management plan, which expires when the ban begins. WA’s remaining native timber businesses, which employ about 500 people, are concerned despite government reassurances that the thinning will not provide enough material for firewood, furniture and charcoal for products such as silicon, a material needed in solar panels. They say without formalizing the plans for “thinning”, people will have to accept that all hardwood timber would need to be imported. For their part, forest protection groups are also concerned that too much land is being made available for thinning.
Richmond, B.C. — As large numbers of young people begin entering the workforce for summer jobs, WorkSafeBC cautions that young and new workers are vulnerable to injury at work. In 2021, WorkSafeBC accepted 7,125 claims related to injuries from young workers. Injuries were most likely to occur in service-sector jobs (2,801 claims), followed by retail and wholesale (1,335 claims), and construction (1,258 claims). In the last five years, 16 young workers have died in workplace incidents “More than half of all serious injuries occur during the first six months of employment,” says Jacqueline Holmes, Manager of Prevention Field Services at WorkSafeBC. ”Injuries can result from inadequate training, orientation, and supervision, inexperience, or a reluctance to speak up, ask questions, and raise health and safety concerns.” 
