Conifex Timber Inc. announced today that it has completed a timber harvesting cooperation agreement with Dunkley Lumber Ltd. (“Dunkley”) to conduct coordinated joint timber harvesting operations on certain portions of Conifex’s harvesting areas in the Mackenzie Timber Supply Area. Conifex believes that the coordinated harvesting operations will enhance fibre optimization between the two companies, improve…
The Ministry of Natural Resource’s 2016 Forest Fire program officially launched on April 1 and preparations for the upcoming season are now underway at the Northwest Region Fire Management Centre in Dryden. Fire information officer Jonathan Scott confirmed fire crew leaders are on site undergoing mandatory training and readying equipment ranging from hose packs, pumps,…
The implementation of a more restrictive plan to protect the boreal caribou could cost thousands of jobs in affected regions, reminds the MEI. On Tuesday, the Quebec government promised to put in place an action plan—without providing any details—to favour better habitat protection for the boreal caribou, a species that is said to be directly…
The pruning ban is in effect and the warnings are out as Saskatoon prepares to keep the elm bark beetle out of the urban forest this summer. The tree killing beetle brought the first confirmed case of Dutch elm disease to the city last year. “The case that we had last summer may be an…
Quebec announced on Tuesday a series of measures aimed at protecting woodland caribou, a species that has been designated as vulnerable in the province since 2005. Under the action plan, the government will maintain 90 per cent of intact forests, create protected areas in the Broadback Valley and in the Montagnes Blanches and preserve the habitat…
Dramatically increased fines for a variety of wildfire-related violations went into effect Friday across B.C. The penalty for ignoring a fire restriction is now more than triple what it was a year ago, up to $1,100 from $345. Failing to properly put out a burning substance, such as a cigarette, has jumped to $575. The fines apply to a total of…
Białowieza Forest is the kind of place you imagine from the Grimm fairy tales. Huge firs, oaks and ashes tower over you, woodpeckers and other birds call all around you and the guides who work there know the intimate history, and names, of many individual trees. For anyone, it is a magical place – and,…
Hidden behind a wall of trees, the feller buncher — a type of harvester used in logging — cuts the bottoms off several pine trees, bundles them together and throws them on to a pile. Its operator makes quick work, bringing down a stand of trees in minutes. The skidder, another heavy logging vehicle, pulls the cut trees out of the downed forest. “While the…
An outbreak of the spruce beetle in the Omineca region north of Prince George could be a harbinger of things to come if the conditions that brought it to the fore remain in place in the coming years, according to a University of Northern British Columbia professor. Like its cousin, the pine beetle, deep cold…
The mountain pine beetle continues to attack pine trees at an exponential rate in Jasper National Park and has the potential to overrun the park’s forests within the next few years. According to Parks Canada, just over 21,500 hectares of the park’s pine forests have now been colonized by the beetle, more than three times…