The Northwest Territories is bracing for another hot wildfire season as a new report details last year’s record-breaking burns. “It’s grim,” Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger said. “This year could be as bad or worse than last year. “It’s hopefully not a precursor for the new normal.” According to the fire season report released Tuesday, about…

The municipality of Oliver Paipoonge could on the hook for a bill totalling more than $10,000 to fight Monday’s brush blaze in Stanley. Oliver Paipoonge Fire and Emergency Services chief Mike Horan last year submitted an article to the Oliver Paipoonge News outlining the costs of the Ministry of Natural Resources fire rangers to battle…

Since Thursday, 13 new fires have been confirmed in the region  says the MNR. Of these, four fires are still burning under control. Three are in the Sault Ste. Marie region, and one is in the Sudbury region. The Northeast Fire Region has confirmed and suppressed 22 fires totaling 71 hectares. The forest fire hazard…

Invasive earthworms are attacking the boreal forest, with new research predicting how quickly one species is spreading in northeastern Alberta. Dendrobaena octaedra, one of six species found in forests in northern Alberta, is projected to expand its territory from three per cent of suitable habitat in the boreal forest to 39 per cent by 2056….

Gov. Paul LePage on Monday reiterated that he will not authorize roughly $11.5 million in voter-approved conservation bonds unless the Legislature approves a new plan to cut more timber on public land and use the new revenue to pay for heating assistance programs. Details were limited, but in a memo sent to lawmakers on the Agriculture,…

If a moose falls in the forest, does anybody know? Based on a major five-year provincial study underway in the central Interior, biologists not only know but fly out on helicopters as soon as possible to determine cause of death. There are 175 moose fitted with radio-collars in five study areas, ranging from near Fort…

When you hear the word “boom” in the West, you usually think of the energy industry, but in the last 15 years, a timber boom has taken over. Thanks to the mountain pine beetle, a tiny ravenous bug that’s now chomped its way through over 40 million acres of forest in the U.S., forest managers…

A timber company has reached an 11th-hour, out-of-court settlement with a cattle rancher who claims that salvage logging of beetle-killed forests seriously altered the hydrology of his Chilcotin farmland. Randy Saugstad said Thursday that he considers the settlement with Tolko Industries a victory that should pressure the B.C. government to take closer control over logging…

In addition retired MNR forester Ron Waito’s comments on the decline of moose populations here in the Northwest (Moose Decline Follows That of Forest Industry — CJ, April 21), I would like to add a little more detail on the management of our forests over the last four decades. I am a retired MNR resource…

An audit system developed by the U.S. Forest Service can help urban forest programs benchmark their resources and program capacity, and provide direction for urban forest management programs and plans. Urban Forestry South, a science delivery center of the Forest Service Southern Research Station Integrating Human and Natural Systems unit, recently beta tested their new Urban Forest…