There’s a tiny new weapon being used in the fight against the destructive emerald ash borer in Ontario. The federal government recently approved the introduction of a foreign breed of parasitic, non-stinging wasp that destroys ash borer eggs from within. Scientists are now starting to release them into the National Capital Region. In their native…

The B.C. Government is seeking the public’s input on the future of one of the province’s most important wilderness areas, the Great Bear Rainforest. Spanning 6.4 million hectares on B.C.’s north and central coast, The Great Bear Rainforest contains one of the largest remaining areas of unspoiled temperate rainforest in the world. Now the Ministry…

Fierce winds that blew through the Harrison Lake area overnight have caused a wildfire there to explode to six times its previous size. The human-caused Wood Lake fire is now estimated at 600 hectares, up from 100 on Sunday afternoon, and firefighters have been unable to make any progress on containing it. “It experienced significant…

Significant progress has been made containing the Elaho and Boulder Creek wildfires, due to the hard work of BC Wildfire Service crews who have taken advantage of reduced fire behaviour in recent days. The Elaho wildfire is now 45% contained. It’s located about 67 kilometres west of Pemberton and covers 12,523 hectares. Despite the difficult…

Kara McCurdy has 23 years of firefighting under her belt. And her lengthy experience is perhaps why she’s still smiling after some scary experiences during two weeks in Alberta’s wildfire region. The Department of Natural Resources fire prevention officer led a crew of 20 firefighters from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Their task: putting out hot spots around the only…

Tom Harbour of the U.S. Forest Service readily admits he doesn’t know all that much about climate change. But the folksy and plain-spoken Harbour knows plenty about fighting wildfires. And since he first joined the service in 1970, Harbour, the agency’s national director for fire and aviation management, has witnessed “longer seasons” and “bigger fires.”…

Premier Brad Wall has put a price tag on fighting this season’s wildfires: $100 million — so far. Speaking after Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to the Saskatchewan legislative building on Friday, Wall said the province will apply to the federal government for monetary assistance to offset that cost. Wall also took Harper’s visit as…

In what could be one of the worst wildfire seasons in history, scientists at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria are trying to find a way to forecast forest fires. Researchers are developing a model that they hope will predict where forest fires will occur up to two weeks before they happen. “We know the conditions…

Two are in Sudbury, two in Chapleau, and one is in Timmins  As of the early afternoon Saturday, five new fires have been confirmed in the Northeast region in the last 24 hours, says a news release from the Ministry of Natural Resources.  “Two of these are in Chapleau, two are in Sudbury and the…

Dan Thompson has been tramping through burned out forest throughout the Northwest Territories this summer, looking for clues into the ecological impact of the fires that burned nearly 34,000 square kilometres last summer. “We have good numbers about the area, from last year, and now we’re trying to put together what we call a map of severity,”…