While northern Saskatchewan forest fires rage, SaskPower is struggling to keep up with the damage being done to its infrastructure. Last week, employees worked to restore 42 poles on the line to Pinehouse, Sask., that had been burned by fast-moving fires. The power company said Monday it was cutting the power in the Stanley Mission, Grandmother’s Bay, Missinippi,…
Forest fires raging in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are taxing assets in those provinces and requiring firefighters, planes and equipment from across the country to head west in significant numbers. Fire agency managers in those provinces – and to a lesser extent in Manitoba – plus the Yukon and Northwest territories are under strain…
A Northern Engineered Wood Products (NEWPRO) particleboard facility is filing a permit amendment to become a wood pellet manufacturing plant. Particleboard production has been halted at the Smithers, BC, plant since January 2014. Although not typically required when reducing emissions, a full consultation report will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment Aug. 3, said…
A trend whereby B.C. forestry companies have been snapping up sawmills south of the border while shuttering plants here is likely to continue. That prediction, from a new Conference Board report, is part of a good news/bad news story about a sector contributing $12 billion annually to the province’s economy, along with 146,000 jobs. The…
Anyone who knows Northern Ontario knows that forestry is king. We supply enormous amounts of wood, pulp, paper and a growing array of other products to the world made from the trees that comprise the vast boreal forest. Forestry took a big hit in the last recession and forestry companies that survived had to be…
The Quebec government and James Bay Cree representatives have signed a partnership and co-operation agreement aimed at resolving a forestry dispute about territory that stretches from Lac St. Jean to James Bay. The agreement between the Quebec government and the Grand Council of the Crees was signed in the National Assembly on Monday by Premier Philippe Couillard and Grand Chief Matthew…
A Quebec boreal forest will see about 1.3 million acres – more than a third of its land – protected from logging, the provincial government and the Grand Council of the Crees announced Monday. The Broadback Forest, located about 800 kilometres north of Montreal, is part of Canada’s boreal region and is crucial for the…
From Vancouver, where the hazy orange air smelled like a campfire last week, to smoke-clouded Saskatchewan, wildfires are adding even more scorch to a hot summer. The fire season in Western Canada started early this year and with a vengeance. Lightning set off tinder-dry remote northern forests, augmented in the south by human stupidity ranging…
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) welcomes the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) performance report that underscores the impressive strides being made by the revitalized Canadian forest sector as it becomes more innovative and transformative. The report was released yesterday by the Minister of Natural Resources, Greg Rickford, at the National Forest Innovation…
The federal government has been fulfilling its commitment to mountain pine beetle-affected communities, according to a local member of Parliament. Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer said nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars have gone to B.C. forestry projects over the past number of years. “I understand the concerns if you only look at that…