Member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) have agreed to follow an innovative approach to sustainable forest management that takes its cue from nature. The approach, known as Natural Range of Variation (NRV), is aimed at recreating natural landscapes by harvesting in patterns that are similar to the impact of wind, fire,…
A major step to increase the similarity between natural and managed forest landscapes has been agreed after collaborative discussions between a group of Canadian forest products companies and leading environmental organizations. Forestry companies belonging to the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) have committed to using a management approach that comes closer to recreating natural…
The Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition (CCBAC) board is planning a new strategic direction, focusing on support for economic development in the region. “CCBAC is turning a page,” said Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson who is chair of the board in a press release. “First and foremost, the board wants to work with communities to identify…
If timing is everything, then there’s definitely a worse time to be in the lumber business. Just ask Frank Dottori. When the veteran forestry executive was working on resurrecting White River’s idle lumber mill about three years ago, few would have predicted just how far the formerly robust Canadian dollar would fall. As the loonie…
There is a meme floating around Canadian policy circles that if the job losses that are currently occurring in the oil and gas industry were happening anywhere else in Canada, we would see a bailout. Like many memes, it is difficult to precisely identify its origins. The most likely origin appears to be comments made by Saskatchewan…
When he retired in the late 1960s, pioneering Montana forester John B. Taylor recorded a memoir on tapes. Taylor’s engaging narrative was transcribed by journalist and editor John C. Frohlicher, a contemporary of Taylor’s who claimed that his hardest task was overcoming Taylor’s “incredible modesty.” The result is “A Job with Room & Board,” recently…
The Pacific Northwest had many fires last year. For some, forest fires conjure images of trees completely vaporized by fire. But crown fires often move through a forest fairly rapidly, consuming tree needles and fine branches and leaving charred snags. Chopping into those trees often reveals sound wood. Salvage sales can be set up in…
With the Canadian dollar hovering below $0.70 U.S., Canada’s forestry industry is getting some much needed help, but storm clouds could be on the way. The Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement, which kept trade peace between the two countries, expired last October, and U.S. timber producers have already been fighting against its renewal. Industry analyst Naomi…
In September 2008, when thousands of riled-up Republicans filed into the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., for the party’s national convention, the upcoming election wasn’t the only thing on their minds. Oil had soared to US$145 a barrel just months earlier, and though crude had begun to fall fast—a harbinger of the Great…
Avatar, the future-fantasy blockbuster that beat Titanic as all-time Hollywood box office champ, has finally been unseated by the latest Star Wars space opera. I watched Avatar on TV over the holidays for the first time since its 2009 release, and was able to see past the bombastic special effects to examine it for what it is, an anti-capitalist propaganda film….