The BC Wildfire Service, in conjunction with BC Timber Sales and the Kaslo and District Community Forest Society, is planning to conduct two prescribed burns in the Kootenay Lake Fire Zone. Burning will take place between Thursday through Saturday (October 8-10, 2015) weather conditions permitting. The BC Wildfire Service, in a prepared media statement, said…
Scientists are warning that intense wildfires in the northernmost areas of North America are changing the composition of the tundra ecosystem, degrading permafrost and contributing to a northward migration of trees, all of which have serious implications for the future of the climate. Warming air masses resulting from climate change create the conditions for intense…
Yellowhead candidates in the upcoming federal election agree on the severity of the mountain pine beetle infestation in Jasper National Park, but representatives from two of the major parties have varying opinions on why more hasn’t been done to this point. Liberal Party candidate Ryan Maguhn took aim at the Conservative Party during a Sept….
The provincial government has promised to help deal with deer in response to pleas from municipal leaders around B.C. Responding to recommendations made by the Union of BC Municipalities, the province promised to create a Provincial Urban Deer Advisory Committee and provide up to $100,000 for future urban deer management operations. “The creation of an…
One of the busiest wildfire seasons in Saskatchewan history is officially over. The Wildfire Management branch of the Ministry of Environment put out the last two remaining fires with little fanfare roughly two weeks ago. It was a quiet end to a year that showed signs of trouble right from the start. “We got an…
During a Union of B.C. Muncipalities conference Friday afternoon, Premier Christy Clark announced an investment of $10 million toward preventing wildfires in the province. The announcement came side-by-side with several other funding boosts, including $5 million toward crime prevention and investments into rural communities. The $10 million will be a top-up to the $78 million…
To University of B.C. forestry professor Stephen Sheppard, the freak windstorm that hit Metro Vancouver in August, downing thousands of trees and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people, is a stark reminder of the increasing challenges facing managers of urban green spaces. With that in mind, UBC’s faculty of forestry is launching…
A big, hairy mystery is unfolding in a remote community off the coast of northern Vancouver Island. Alert Bay residents have been reporting strange screams and howls coming from a forest that surrounds the town – and some think they could be coming from a sasquatch. Mackenzie Mountain said he recently recorded the unusual sounds…
Communities in Alberta will have access to $800,000 in funding this fiscal year for wildfire protection projects through the FireSmart Community Grant Program, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry announced last week. Municipalities, municipal districts, counties, Métis Settlements and registered non-profit societies located within the Forest Protection Area of Alberta are eligible to apply for FireSmart grants to a…
A Surrey-based company has been given the go-ahead to start logging a previously untouched piece of Vancouver Island old-growth forest. The move could spark protests and even a blockade as environmentalists say they’re ready to defend one of the battlegrounds of B.C.’s War in the Woods. “People are willing to occupy the forest,” said Gwen…