The New Brunswick-based firm issued a press release Jan. 11 to say they will be making 8,600 hires for all of their operations across Canada and the U.S. The total number of projected hires is down by about 1,600 from the previous three-year period. From 2014 to 2016 JDI hired 10,233 across their operations; 4043…
A new study has found that trees worldwide develop thicker bark when they live in fire-prone areas. The findings suggest that bark thickness could help predict which forests and savannas will survive a warmer climate in which wildfires are expected to increase in frequency. Trees in regions where fire is common, such as savannas and…
The B.C. Liberals put up a brave front last week when the Americans issued a preliminary finding of guilt against Canadian lumber imports for harming U.S. producers. “These are allegations that, time after time, have been proven false,” declared the statement Friday from Forests Minister Steve Thomson in response to the unfavourable ruling from the…
Changing climates and climate-induced insect outbreaks are on the rise and they can lead to drought and forest destruction. This threatens both forests and the communities that depend on the forest industry. Genome BC is supporting a $5.7 million research project co-lead by the University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Dr. Yousry El-Kassaby that aims to…
It’s déjà vu all over again in Middle Musquodoboit as former wood pellet plant operator Scotia Atlantic Biomass Company’s assets go up for grabs. The Vancouver-based Viridis Energy subsidiary is in receivership. “There are booms and busts and sometimes the weak don’t survive,” Sean MacNeil, a senior manager with Halifax-based receiver Grant Thornton, said in…
A judge has handed down significant fines and bans for destructive logging on Haida Gwaii earlier this decade. Gwaii Wood Products Ltd., Howe Sound Forest Products Ltd., and I. Crosby Contracting Ltd. were taken to court by the federal government over allegations of environmentally destructive logging practices over a four month period in 2010. A…
On a country back road near Penobsquis, an experiment is underway that its supporters hope will point the way to a market-driven, low-carbon economic boom for New Brunswick. A non-profit organization called Community Forests International bought more than 285 hectares of forest from a private landowner and is now harvesting it using low-impact, sustainable methods….
The lily leaf beetle, with its shiny scarlet back, “is a cute little beetle,” admits Barry Hicks, who established the Applied Entomology Lab at the College of the North Atlantic (CNA) in 2008. But it’s a ravenous bugger, too. If your garden is full of lilies, “they will eat them right down to the ground,”…
Designed by Vancouver-based Michael Green Architecture (MGA) in conjunction with architect-of-record DLR Group, the seven storey office building in Minneapolis’ North Loop neighbourhood is the largest mass timber building in the United States. When developer Hines approached MGA with the project, they envisioned T3 as a unique model of new-office building; an opportunity to offer…
The Ontario forest industry is hoping to find a middle ground as their exemption from Ontario’s Endangered Species Act nears expiration in mid-2018. Planning forester Scott McPherson said even though the industry is exempt from ESA, the sector adheres to unique regulations for managing and caring for species at risk. At Nipissing Forest Resource Management…