The Forest Practices Board will examine activities of the B.C. Timber Sales program and timber sale licence holders in the Okanagan-Shuswap Resource District during the week of June 6. Auditors will examine all operational planning, harvesting, road, silviculture and wildfire protection practices for compliance with the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act….
With northern Alberta still reeling from the wildfire that forced evacuation of Fort McMurray and area, the federal environment commissioner this week released a report that Canada is not adequately prepared for severe weather. This as extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and intense due to climate change. Aside from heartbreaking personal…
When the name Resolute was chosen in 2011, after the merger of Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated, the Canadian company, a global leader in the forest products industry and the largest producer of newsprint in the world, likely didn’t know what a harbinger it was. Today, it stands alone, set in purpose, with firmness and determination. Displaying…
It is touted as a renewable energy source, but there are still challenges facing Bio-Energy. In the Northern Interior of BC, the major challenge is access to fibre. In the wake of the Mountain Pine Beetle, all who depend on forestry are pressed to have access to the resource. As was witnessed just a week…
Greg Baker has seen the future of concrete block and it’s light — half the weight with double the bang for the buck over traditional block. The Kitchener, Ont.-area former renovation contractor turned entrepreneur has been steadily building a new business plan over the last two years around a cellular concrete mix to make dry-stack…
“Which tree would you like to be?” That is the question being asked by Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, who have created a coffin allowing people to be buried in egg-shaped capsules attached to the roots of trees. Citelli and Bretzel, see the new coffin as an alternative to most typical burials, which…
Jagdev Dhaliwal of Williams Lake has emerged B.C.’s top lumber grader for 2016 in the 48th annual B.C. lumber grading championship held in Kelowna on May 28. Dhaliwal works at Tolko’s Lakeview division. Coming in a close second was Kamaldip Sandhu of Tolko’s Soda Cr. Division, also in Williams Lake. Each year top lumber graders…
It stands at a little more than 70 metres high, 14 metres taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Experts believe it may have been around even longer than the world-famous Italian landmark, which began to take shape nearly 850 years ago. Big Lonely Doug looms over a clearcut hillside in the Gordon River Valley, surrounded…
A forester with expertise in wildfire and fuel management says Nelson sits between seven and 10 onthe provincial government’s 10-point scale that measures wildfire threat to communities. “Nelson is a fairly high risk area,” says Bruce Blackwell, who is working for a local governmentpartnership on a new wildfire management plan for the Nelson area. “Fort…
The Fort McMurray wildfire was most likely man-made, says Chad Morrison, senior manager of Alberta wildfire investigations. The exact reason it ignited is still under investigation, with the final report due in one month, Morrison says. No doubt the larger debate about origins of the fire will rage much longer. As soon as the wildfire burned…