Off a beaten path of Nanaimo’s Westwood Lake, behind a thick of bushes lies a secret place, only these children and their teachers know. “This is our forest classroom,” says Vanessa Pearson, who is the driving force behind Nanaimo Forest School. Like a treehouse and classroom in one that they’ve built with their own little hands, this…
A Vancouver Island First Nation is at odds with a proposed ban on logging old-growth forests. Huu-ay-aht Nation chief-councillor Robert Dennis says a resolution made by the Union of B.C. Municipalities to abolish old growth logging in the province was done without their consultation and therefore tramples on their land rights. “It’s interfering with our rights to manage our land and our territories in…
The Province is recognizing Bob and Dan Davidson for innovation and excellence in woodlot management, Mike Morris, MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, announced on behalf of Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson yesterday at the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations’ annual general meeting in Prince George. The Davidson brothers are being honoured…
The Alberta government says it’s moving ahead with the oil and gas industry to restore habitat for dwindling caribou herds. The province announced Saturday that work is beginning that will eventually see trees planted along thousands of kilometres of land that were cleared for seismic lines in the Little Smoky and A La Peche caribou…
A heavily logged mountainside in Port Alberni has watchdogs concerned the B.C. government failed to notice clear violations of provincial forestry practices. An investigation launched by B.C.’s Forest Practices Board found a scenic mountainside on the Port Alberni Inlet was over-logged — twice — according to provincial ‘visual quality’ standards, and the ministry of forests was warned of the violations, but…
West Fraser has commended the Alberta Government for its caribou preservative plan but there could be a fly in the ointment – the loss of timber supplies and jobs. West Fraser officials appeared before members of Yellowhead County Council on Sept. 27 to inform councillors of the possible consequences of the Little Smoky and A…
WorkSafeBC will be ramping up inspections of log trucks across the province in response to a spike in the number of fatal incidents so far this year. There have been five deaths involving the vehicles, the most recent occurring on Sept. 2 near Fernie, where a truck went off a logging road and down a…
Canadian softwood lumber executives will meet this week with America’s trade ambassador as they brace for the prospect of U.S. tariffs that they say could result in mill closures and layoffs. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will speak with the Canadian lumber industry in Toronto on Wednesday, days before U.S. producers could start petitioning Washington…
A Williams Lake forester is urging the business community and local politicians to lobby the provincial government, B.C. Hydro and the B.C. Utilities Commission to make it more affordable for companies to retrieve biomass fuel from the forest. Speaking to the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce at its regular lunch meeting Thursday, Tsi…
In response to UBCM Resolution C-27, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson re-affirmed government’s commitment to Vancouver Island’s old growth forests and stated there was no need to cease logging. The province’s old growth forests, including those on Vancouver Island, are managed for a multitude of resource values. There’s approximately 1.9 million…