British Columbia’s Forests Minister says the province can’t send personnel to neighbouring Alberta before dealing with its own fires spurred by unseasonably dry weather. “Alberta understands that,” Steve Thomson said Wednesday. He said officials have discussed the province’s needs with their counterparts dealing with a disastrous fire in Fort McMurray. “We are in the process…

In the early morning hours before daybreak on May 2 in the fire-impacted conifer forest near Seiad Valley in the Klamath River watershed, 27 people including Tribal youth, river advocates and forest activists blocked the road leading to the Klamath National Forest’s Westside salvage logging project. Demonstrators held banners that read ‘Karuk Land: Karuk Plan,’…

As their city burned, Shams Rehman, his wife and three kids, were among the 80,000 residents fleeing Fort McMurray when they ran out of fuel 200 kilometers into their southbound trek to safety. As traffic choked Highway 63, a stranger lent them a jerry can and they were able to get on their way. It…

The only highway leading south from fire-ravaged Fort McMurray was “organized confusion” Wednesday morning, with cars strung along ditches, police running jerry cans of gasoline and long bottlenecks at the few communities along the road. “There’s a lot of vehicles on the side of the road,” said RCMP Sgt. John Spaans of Boyle, a small…

Wildfires have led to evacuation notices for hundreds in Alberta, as crews continue to battle several blazes and experts say the dry temperatures could make for a long and brutal fire season. A wildfire raging in Fort McMurrayprompted mandatory evacuation orders for several communities in the area. While recent fires in B.C. also led to evacuation notices for a…

Before moving to government 10 years ago, Diane Nicholls, B.C.’s new chief forester, had a full career on the private-sector side of forest management. As she tackles the major decisions ahead, she will undoubtedly draw on that breadth of experience. Nicholls, who was named permanently to the post Feb. 26, is taking over as the province grapples with a shrinking…

It’s been feared that the many millions of dead trees left in the wake of pine beetles infestations would lead to more severe wildfires, but new research suggests that is not the case. A study that examined more than 80 fires over the last 25 years in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. concluded…

The B.C. government has established 6,482 old growth management areas (OGMAs) under the Oil and Gas Activities Act, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson has announced. The old growth management areas cover 186,198 hectares in 58 Landscape Units within the Sea to Sky Natural Resource District, the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District…

At 1,000 feet tall, it will only be overshadowed in London by The Shard. But unlike that tapering glass structure, this 80-story tower, if given the green light for construction, will be made of timber — making it London’s first wooden skyscraper and the tallest wooden structure in the world. Oakwood Tower is a proposed…

The B.C. government is pledging harsh punishment for people who fly drones over a wildfire, who are boating on a lake where an air tanker needs to fill up, or motorists or campers who go into restricted wildfire areas. “If you interfere with firefighting efforts you are going to be eligible for up to $100,000…