It was a relatively quiet year for forest fires in Ontario, with 666 fires recorded across the province between April 1 and Oct. 31, 2015. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) said in total, forest fires consumed 39,312 hectares of Ontario’s forests. That’s half the number of forest fires and a third the area that…
Teachers at Stanley Humphrey Secondary School (SHSS) have launched a club to introduce students to jobs in forestry. Members of the Kootenay Forest Connections Club were at the Armoury in Trail on Friday, learning to rough-cut wood with the help of the 44th Field Engineer Squadron and Atco Wood Products. Trent Coombs, SHSS social studies…
Drones flying above wildfires in British Columbia last summer hampered aerial efforts to control the blazes. But around the same time, the province was also using the unmanned aerial vehicles to determine if drones could be used to help fight wildfires. The B.C. Wildfire Service contracted two commercial drone companies in July and August to…
A recent layover in Montreal was an opportunity for tea with friends, now in their 80s, who grumbled that the city was back in the hands of developers just as it was during the pre-Olympics boom of the 1970s. A couple of days later, back in Vancouver, the neighbouring table at a west side café…
Almost five years into his tenure as chairman of Nawiinginokiima Forest Management Corporation (NFMC), Daryl Skworchinski still maintains it’s the right concept to manage the flow of Crown fibre on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Skworchinski, who also serves as CAO for the Town of Marathon, estimates the economic impact to the participating communities…
Canfor Corp. has closed on its US$93.5 million acquisition of El Dorado, Arkansas-based Anthony Forest Products Co. AFP operates five facilities across Arkansas and Georgia, including a sawmill, two laminating plants and two chip plants. It also runs a Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., joist plant through a joint venture. “We are pleased to welcome Anthony…
It’s a steep learning curve for Ontario’s construction and design community to adapt to building wood mid-rises. Despite changes to the Ontario Building Code last January allowing six-storey wood buildings, up from the previous limit of four, there’s been no surge of building activity as architects, contractors and clients are still warming to the idea…
Event: 2015 Toronto Wood Solutions Fair Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 (7:30 am to 4:30 pm) Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, 800 Level 222 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto, ON Registration: $50 +HST (registration deadline is November 17, 2015) Website: www.wood-works.ca/ontario/wsf
Resolute Forest Products CEO Richard Garneau is optimistic about the company’s future. In releasing the company’s latest report on Wednesday, Garneau said the company “is executing our strategy toward the Resolute of the future; building on the integration of two sawmills (in Ignace and Sapawe near Atikokan) this year. We’re focused on completing the Calhoun…
The July opening of Tigercat’s latest manufacturing plant – a massive 12,000-square-metre facility on Consolidated Drive in Paris – has led to new jobs, increased production and a shuffle of manufacturing work around southern Ontario. The firm has moved work to the new $12-million facility, freeing up capacity in other plants, particularly Woodstock and Cambridge….