Effective immediately, BC’s chief forester Diane Nicholls has set new allowable annual cut (AAC) levels for the Tree Farm License (TFL) 43, located near Powell River. According to a media release from the provincial minister of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development, the new AAC for the TFL is 18,540 cubic metres. This new level is a decrease of two per cent, down from the previous level of 18,957 cubic metres. The release stated this new AAC takes into consideration biodiversity, old-growth forest management and wildlife habitat protection, as well as social, cultural heritage and economic factors in the region. TFL 43 is held by Homalco Forestry Limited Partnership. … [It] was established in 2011 to provide forest management and timber harvesting services within Homalco First Nation territory. … TFL 43 covers an area of 5,405 hectares, of which 1,846 hectares are suitable for timber harvesting.

Alberta’s grizzly bear population is on the rise. Grizzly bears have been listed as “threatened” in Alberta since 2010. At that time, the provincial population estimate was between 700 and 800 bears. The provincial estimate is now between 865 and 973. …“I am pleased to see grizzly bears are thriving in Alberta,” said Alberta Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon. For the first time, Alberta has science-based population estimates for all provincial bear management units. The province says no other jurisdiction in the world has undertaken or achieved grizzly bear population inventory work at this scale. Two recent grizzly bear population surveys by fRI Research, with support from Alberta Environment and Parks and the Alberta Forest Products Association, has found that the grizzly population has doubled in the Foothills area east of Banff National Park.

A new survey suggests grizzly bear numbers in Alberta’s central Rocky Mountains have doubled since 2005. The survey says there are about 88 grizzlies in 7,300 square kilometres of summits and foothills between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 11. “That population has doubled,” said Gordon Stenhouse, the biologist who led the survey done between 2005 and 2018. …The results follow an earlier survey in another region that saw bear populations double. …Stenhouse credits two main factors: “Not as many bears being killed and food resources are plentiful.” Alberta ended its grizzly hunt in 2006. …Logging has also created a younger, more open forest favourable to bears, Stenhouse said. “When you have more young forest, you have more young whitetail deer and moose and species that are associated with younger forest stands. Those are prey items for grizzly bears.”

Effective immediately, British Columbia’s chief forester Diane Nicholls has set new allowable annual cut (AAC) levels for the Tree Farm License (TFL) 43, located near Powell River. The new AAC for the TFL is 18,540 cubic metres. This new level is a decrease of 2%, down from the previous level of 18,957 cubic metres. This new AAC takes into consideration biodiversity, old-growth forest management and wildlife habitat protection, as well as social, cultural heritage and economic factors in the region. TFL 43 is held by Homalco Forestry Limited Partnership.  It was established in 2011 to provide forest management and timber harvesting services within Homalco First Nation territory. Located within the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District near the Homathko River, TFL 43 covers an area of 5,405 hectares, of which 1,846 hectares are suitable for timber harvesting.

The BC Council of Forest Industries is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for the 2021 Forestry Scholarship. The outfit is awarding 13 $2,000 scholarships, including three Indigenous Forestry Scholarships in partnership with the New Relationship Trust Foundation. “We are pleased to support the next generation of students as they seek to advance their education goals and learn about the forest industry of the future,” said Susan Yurkovich, President and CEO of COFI. “We are also excited to be partnering with the New Relationship Trust Foundation to support Indigenous students interested in pursuing future employment in forestry and as we look to further increase the participation of Indigenous people and communities in our sector.”