The manager of a wood pellet plant on the Northern Peninsula says a 2014 government loan was necessary even though the plant didn’t operate. Holson Forest Products owns the Roddickton plant, which was built in 2011 and was supposed to provide jobs for residents of the area. Holson Forest Products owns the wood pellet plant in Roddickton, on Newfoundland’s Northern…
May was a record month for wildfires in Yukon, says Yukon Wildland Fire Management Information officer George Maratos. “We had 17 new starts since Friday with three yesterday,” says Maratos. “That brings our total to a historic high of 93 fires in May which is unusual. I mean, we definitely have busy seasons but to have that many fires…
There won’t be a new land-use plan or a moratorium on logging on Mount Macpherson, says Steve Thomson, the Minister of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations. I spoke to Thomson Monday morning after reading his response to a request by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District asking for more public consultation on logging Macpherson. (You…
Ever heard of a battery made of wood pulp? Here is one, developed by researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and Stanford University, US. Using nanocellulose broken down from tree fibres, the researchers produced an elastic, foam-like battery material that can withstand shock and stress. “It is possible to make incredible materials from…
Company says not locked into anything, still chasing full pellet production While the political storm continued around them this week, Todd May, general manager responsible for the pellet division at Holson Forest Products in Roddickton, said the company is still working toward getting pellet production running full steam. “One of the comments that we’ve seen…
The Northern Pulp Mill in Pictou County, N.S. is about to shutdown temporarily for changes aimed at bringing it in-line with pollution standards, but opposition groups say the timing still stinks. Starting Saturday, the mill at Abercrombie Point will undergo a “maintenance shutdown” as crews install a precipitator. The company says the ten-storey piece of…
The tallest redwood tree in Muir Woods — a giant that was assumed to have sprouted up to 1,500 years ago in the Middle Ages — is a measly 777 years old, a puerile sprig in the hallowed halls of old growth, an analysis of tree-ring data has revealed. The study, by a Humboldt State…
The prescribed burn in Jasper National Park went ahead as planned and the burn so far accomplished all objectives. Jasper National Park Fire Communication Office Kim Weir said that the fire happenedon May 23. It was located 20 km north of the Town of Jasper and 44 km south west of Hinton. The total area…
Creeping along the base of a cliff in his small open boat John Buchanan is metres from the rock face, peering at a narrow band of bladderwrack kelp just revealed by low tide. “You have to get really close,” says Mr. Buchanan, a train car mechanic and former pulp mill worker who over the past…
The Prince George Fire Centre is dealing with a number of forest fires in the Fort Nelson area. The Fire Centre has responded to eight new fire starts in the past 48 hours, two of which have reached over 200 hectares in size. All but one of the fires were started by lightning, and the…