Tree planting is a job so demanding that when the BBC sent three young Brits to B.C. to give it a try, two didn’t even make it through the first week. “It really is the hardest job in the world,” said Dirk Brinkman, whose company, the Brinkman Group, hosted the three woefully unprepared twentysomethings at…

The Lytton First Nations Band has issued an evacuation order for 10 homes and an alert for another 65 properties because of a fast-growing wildfire south of Lytton, B.C. The B.C. Wildfire Management Branch says strong winds gusting up to 80 km/h are driving the 1,300-hectare blaze, which is burning up a steep hillside on the west side of the Fraser river, roughly…

It’s the end of May and already the ponderosa pine forest around Peter Dooling’s Naramata residence, which he has named Castle Rock, is tinder dry.  Dooling, a retired professor of natural resource conservation at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry, is one of thousands of people living in what is called the wildland-urban…

A number of fires burning along in Saskatchewan have left the sky over Winnipeg hazy. According to Environment Canada, a west wind is pushing smoke from fires burning in Saskatchewan into Manitoba. A number of smaller fires are burning near the border between Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but bigger forest fires are burning in central Saskatchewan. A…

A British Columbia forest company’s plan to log centuries-old cedar trees in southern Vancouver Island’s Walbran Valley cuts into the heart of one of Canada’s most ecologically sensitive forests, says an environmental group. Wilderness Committee spokesman Torrance Coste said that forest company Teal Jones is courting conflict with environmental groups in its bid to harvest…

A First Nation in northern Saskatchewan evacuated 101 people Saturday due to smoke from forest fires. According to Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson on social media, those with health concerns were taken to Prince Albert as a precaution. Evacuees are from the communities of Clam Lake Bridge and Sikichew Lake. Staff from…

Pine beetles that killed large swaths of Okanagan forest five years ago may be down, but they’re not out. The pest has infested hundreds of trees made vulnerable by the Trepanier Creek fire near Peachland in 2012. Crews felled about 400 pines along the four-kilometre greenway this spring.“The fire essentially brought the beetle in, and…

The Little Bobtail Lake forest fire has been completely contained and its is now perimeter completely extinguished, but smoke  from the fire will remain visible for the rest of the summer, the province’s wildfire management branch said Wednesday. “Starting next week crews will no longer remain on scene daily but will return to the fire…

The most destructive pest to North America’s mature pine forests, the mountain pine beetle, is threatening the next generation. A study conducted by a University of Alberta researcher shows that the pine beetle not only kills adult trees, but can also leave the next generation of pine vulnerable. “The next pine forest is at risk,”…

May was a record month for wildfires in Yukon, says Yukon Wildland Fire Management Information officer George Maratos. “We had 17 new starts since Friday with three yesterday,” says Maratos. “That brings our total to a historic high of 93 fires in May which is unusual. I mean, we definitely have busy seasons but to have that many fires…