MLA Bill Bennett was invited to the Elkford Lamplighter Pub on Wednesday, June 17 to discuss several issues, including Jemi Fibre’s cutting near Josephine Falls. The meeting, hosted by the Elkford Chamber of Commerce, invited locals, councillors and District of Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher to bring forward their concerns, many of which were addressed by…
Members of The Land Conservancy blocked a move that some say could have paved the way for the sale of Wildwood Ecoforest in Cedar to private interests. The conservancy, a non-profit land trust, is dealing with an $8-million debt and is attempting to fulfill legal requirements to creditors through a B.C. Supreme Court-approved plan. It…
The Oregon Spotted Frog used to be common in the wetlands around the Fraser Valley but as their habitat turned into farmland, or urban development, the amphibian population declined. Now the frogs are the most endangered amphibian in Canada. “The frogs across Canada are declining to the extent that at least three per cent of our known…
It was scorched and blackened by fire, but thanks in part to the quick action of B.C. fire crews, one of Canada’s oldest living things will live to see another day. The Elaho Giant, estimated to be the third thickest Douglas fir on record, was caught in the middle of a 700-hectare fire that swept…
The BC Wildfire Management Branch has sent 31 firefighters to the Yukon to help crews battling a massive wildfire there. This latest deployment comes on the heels of the 77 firefighters sent to Alberta to help crews battle a large blaze. Another 21 personnel have been deployed to Alaska to assist crews there. Considering the…
This year, for the first time, the prestigious Schweighofer Innovation Prize included participation of a North American forest products company. Canfor Corp. sponsored 10 researchers from universities across North America to attend the prize ceremony and present as part of the wood innovation workshop in Vienna, Austria on June 15 and 16, 2015. Canfor, one…
New research from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences shows that pine beetle attacks not only lead to the death of adult trees, but can also leave the next generation of pine vulnerable to future insect attack. “The next pine forest is at risk,” said Justine Karst, an assistant professor…
Earlier this year, I had a chance to visit the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation. The Centre, located in Penticton, is part of the South Okanagan and Similkameen campus of Okanagan College. Thank you to Jim Hamilton, President of Okanagan College, and Donna Lomas, Regional Dean, for…
Fewer logs are leaving West Coast docks this year, as Asian demand shifts toward other regions because of the stronger U.S. dollar. That could mean fewer hours for longshoremen and logging contractors as timberland owners clamp down on harvests as a result. “The export market really has been declining for some time. It wasn’t too…
Nowhere are the extreme drought conditions affecting the east coast of Vancouver Island more evident than in little streams like Hart Creek, not far south of Courtenay. On the heels of the driest May in the weather record and a June that’s on track for another record rainless spell, Hart Creek has already run completely…