Alberta is trying different ways to capture value from stands impacted by mountain pine beetle in particular small stem lodgepole stands with over 50 percent mortality. These stands have been avoided by forest companies because of their low commercial value but it left untreated they could have significant impact on the health and production of…

Dutch elm disease will claim more than 6,000 trees in Winnipeg this year, up significantly from the number of trees that were lost to the disease last year. “We’re all concerned,” said City of Winnipeg forester Martha Barwinsky. “That’s a lot of trees. We haven’t seen the 6,000 mark for about 10 or 12 years.”…

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is celebrating the international recognition for the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) at the World Forest Congress now going on in Durban, South Africa. An interactive side event called From Conflict to Collaboration featured a huge 8 by 11-metre floor map of Canada’s boreal forest detailing everything from…

The B.C. government is calling for stiffer penalties for the illegal use of drones after unmanned aerial vehicles flew dangerously close to wildfires this summer. Mike Morris, parliamentary secretary to the minister of forests, said the provincial government is looking for ways to stop the use of drones near wildfires. Fighting forest fires is already…

Campfire bans have been lifted for most of B.C. heading into the Labour Day weekend, and rain in most areas of the province has helped crews make progress on most of the 176 fires burning in B.C. as of Monday afternoon. Campfire bans are lifted in the Kamloops and Southeast fire centres, although restrictions continue…

Firefighters have descended on a blaze in Green Timbers Urban Forest this morning. On Thursday morning, fire crews trucked water deep into the forest to douse a smoldering fire, which was about 60 by 120 metres in size. Water needed to be trucked into the area of the fire, which is about 250 metres south…

If the Quebec government further restricts logging activities in order to protect caribou, 2,931 jobs and $367 million of economic activity are threatened, according to an Economic Note published today by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI). The new boreal caribou recovery plan, which is set to come into effect in 2018, aims to increase and…

Planting trees is back-breaking, repetitive work — but if two University of Victoria students have their way, robots will assist tree planters in the future. Third-year electrical engineering students Nick Birch and Tyler Rhodes have developed a prototype robot that is able to plant tree seedlings. “We’d really like it as something that can supplement…

The deaths of three firefighters in Washington State are a reminder of how much these brave people are putting on the line, on both sides of the border. Last Wednesday, three U.S. Forest Service firefighters died after their vehicle crashed and was likely caught by flames as they battled the Okanogan complex of fires near…

As Alberta conducts annual aerial surveys of its forests, the province’s forest expert says she expects they’ll start to see the signs of drought — including more mountain pine beetles. This year’s surveys, which started on Aug. 15 and run until Sept. 15, come after extremely dry weather hit the province throughout the summer. “Drought has a variety of effects on the forests and…