A plan to address the latest scourge on British Columbia’s forests — the spruce beetle — will include an extra $1 million in funding and the appointment of a spruce beetle project manager. Native to B.C. and a common forest pest that usually feeds on the inner bark of fallen or weakened trees, the spruce beetle…
It used to be to figure out what was going on in B.C.’s forests, foresters had the choice of walking into them and looking up from the ground, or hopping into a helicopter or airplane and looking down from high in the air. Enter unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones. Now foresters can get a…
The provincial government has committed $1 million for the coming fiscal year and has assigned a resource manager to develop a plan to battle an outbreak of the spruce beetle in the Omineca region. Overhead flight surveys have shown an increase in affected area to about 156,000 hectares today from 7,653 hectares in 2013, Lands…
A potentially “large-scale” outbreak of the spruce budworm is currently making its presence known in areas around New Liskeard, federal scientists say. “We’re at the start of an outbreak, and have a small infestation along the Ontario-Quebec border,” Canadian Forest Service scientist Chris MacQuarrie said this week from his Sault Ste. Marie office. The budworm,…
Canada’s international trade minister says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official visit to Washington helped secure a “real breakthrough” in the contentious softwood lumber negotiations. “We have now managed to get the Americans to the table, we have managed to raise attention to this issue at the very highest levels,” Chrystia Freeland said in an interview with Chris Hall…
The Canadian forest industry is on the verge of another watershed moment. The Softwood Lumber Agreement has lapsed, while efforts are underway to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, creating both opportunities to take advantage of new markets and growing fears about future trade actions from the United States, its largest trade partner. The weak Canadian dollar…
Trees in Newfoundland and Labrador may be doing a better job than anyone thought at pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Why this is the case, however, is not clear. A research scientist at Memorial University, who has been studying how trees in Newfoundland and Labrador’s boreal forest are becoming more efficient at removing carbon from the…
From lodges to libraries, airports to bridges, even transit stations to park pavilions, some of Western Canada’s most impressive wood construction projects were recognized Tuesday evening at the 2016 Prairie Wood Design Awards. Wood WORKS! Alberta and the Canadian Wood Council showcased the efforts of industry-leading architects, engineers and project teams at the ninth annual…
The pilot of a recreational drone that forced water-bombers from smoke-filled skies around Oliver last summer was never located, but future offenders who impede forest firefighters will face higher fines. Fines for 19 offences under the Wildfire Act, including interfering with wildfire protection efforts, are being increased to among the highest in Canada, Forests Minister…
Scouts Canada says it has “concerns” about a large clear cut proposed for Crown land bordering a camp used for generations in the St. Margaret’s Bay area outside Halifax. “It’s mostly aesthetics,” said Jeff Parks, a deputy commissioner with Scouts Canada Nova Scotia Council. “To have an ugly eye sore in there is not what anyone wants.”…