This week’s landmark agreement to preserve a huge tract of the B.C. coastal forest had its beginnings in words scratched on a tablecloth in a San Francisco restaurant some 20 years ago. “We were sitting around at dinner one night in a cheap Italian restaurant with a bottle of great wine,” wrote activist Tzeporah Berman…
First Nations governments and the BC government, with the support of ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC and five forestry companies, have announced the fulfilment of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. Eighty-five percent (3.1 million hectares) of the remote wilderness region’s coastal temperate rainforests are now permanently off-limits to industrial logging. The remaining 15 percent…
An Ojibway community on the north shore of Lake Superior is carving out a path to prosperity in forestry. Biigtigong Nishnaabeg (formerly Pic River First Nation) has taken possession of new European-made harvesting equipment to launch a forestry company to start harvesting off its traditional land this winter. Coupled with that is the news of…
TimberWest salutes the Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order passing into law. This historic legal order is the result of more than 15 years of discussions between First Nations, Government, forest companies and environmental groups working together to find sustainable environmental, social and economic solutions within the Great Bear Rainforest. The Order sets forth new…
Forestry sector representatives met with the federal and provincial governments today to discuss skilled-labour initiatives and human-resource planning, as part of a series of roundtables being held over coming months with sectors highlighted in the BC Jobs Plan. The roundtables, co-hosted with industry associations and employers, aim to stimulate discussion and create awareness about how…
A new study says there’s enough forest in Northwestern Ontario for Resolute to share but the company says the organization that released it is misleading the public. Wildlands League, a chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, says Resolute Forest Products is holding around two million hectares of forest in Northwestern Ontario that it…
The weaker Canadian dollar has made this country’s lumber products more competitive globally, which has helped not only large producers but also smaller operations like private woodlots. This was one positive to emerge from the Boundary Woodlot Association (BWA) annual winter meeting held in Midway on Jan. 9. President George Delisle welcomed over thirty association…
Sudbury is joining a program that aims to see millions of trees planted over the next decade. Conservation Sudbury spokesperson Carl Jorgensen said the group has signed up with Trees Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program, and will provide white pine seedlings. What needs to happen now is for people with more than 1 hectare of…
An old and obscure Germanic tradition has made a comeback in Montreal. The city hosted the first pan-American tree toss competition on Saturday in Old Montreal, challenging locals and visitors alike to fling the farthest fir. The competition was presented by Igloofest and Sapin MTL, a company that delivers and recycles Christmas trees. Participants paid $10…
Wood products producers are encouraged by the Trudeau government’s decision to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the first step to ratifying a sweeping agreement with Japan, Australia and other Asian countries. International Trade Minister Christia Freeland said this week she will take the next “technical step,” allowing the TPP to be debated in the House of…