People throughout western Washington are all about spending time outdoors for recreation, but what about taking education outside? Forest schools are doing just that: breaking down the walls of the classroom and teaching kids outdoors. The concept is challenging traditional educations. Kids are taught self-esteem, teamwork and the value of nature while they play in…
Crews started work this week on a prescribed fire in the Dormer River Valley in Banff National Park to restore the grasslands in the area. On Thursday, about 30 firefighters from Parks Canada and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development went into the back country to burn in a 6,800-hectare area. Staple/Parks Canada / For the Calgary Herald They will burn again in…
A large fire raging in British Columbia’s Central Interior has grown dramatically over a 24-hour period, reversing some of the progress achieved by crews struggling to contain the aggressive blaze. The Little Bobtail Lake fire southwest of Prince George has ballooned more than 40 per cent since Saturday, from 170 square kilometres to 240 square…
A massive wildfire in northern B.C. shows that the province’s forests are increasingly primed for such blazes because of climate change and the El Nino weather pattern, an expert says. The 240-square-kilometre fire, first reported late Friday on May 8 near Little Bobtail Lake southwest of Prince George, is only 15-per-cent contained, according to a…
Resource development in B.C. isn’t stalled, as many appear to fear, but rather is proceeding at a historic pace, according to a new report from Resource Works, a business funded, Vancouver-based think-tank that focuses on economic and environmental issues. And, far from impeding development, First Nations are playing increasingly important roles in moving it forward,…
Investors in lumber stocks are feeling dismayed at the sector’s recent price performance. Confounding bullish expectations, prices are well off their recent highs. Investors must feel like the parents of a super-star high school student who inexplicably is at risk of not graduating. Analysts are saying that the much-promised prospect of a “lumber supercycle” now…
A coroner’s inquest has ruled the deaths of two men at the Lakeland Mills explosion in Prince George, B.C, as accidental. Thursday’s ruling includes 33 recommendations aimed at improving workplace safety and improving the investigation of workplace death. In April 2012, Glenn Roche and Allan Little died as a result of injuries suffered when the Lakeland Mills exploded. Another 24 were…
Napa Valley vintner David Duncan has been known to stick his head in an American white oak barrel to get a full hit of the vanilla-laden, fresh-baked cookie smell the emanates from the wood. In fact, his Silver Oak winery — which produces classic cabernet sauvignon from the Napa Valley and Alexander Valley — is…
While it may seem like contrary to its primary function, Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Forestry Department has announced it’s going paperless. An article in the VIU newsletter said that in September first-year students enrolled in VIU’s Forest Resources Technology program will be required to purchase iPads instead of textbooks for use in both indoor and…
Canadian pulp and paper mills have been reinventing themselves in recent years in response to increased international competition and reduced global demand for forest products such as newsprint. As a result, many mills have started integrating biomass conversion processes and equipment into their operations to produce a wide range of biobased, non-traditional products. Dubbed “forest…