Dutch elm disease will claim more than 6,000 trees in Winnipeg this year, up significantly from the number of trees that were lost to the disease last year. “We’re all concerned,” said City of Winnipeg forester Martha Barwinsky. “That’s a lot of trees. We haven’t seen the 6,000 mark for about 10 or 12 years.”…
Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released Senior Fellow Elizabeth Nickson’s paper “The Failures of Forest Certification and the Implications for the Public Wealth of the Canadian North“. In this paper, Nickson posits that the forest certification movement not only had a devastating effect on the value of the forest industry, there is evidence it…
The Nova Scotia government has released information about the $700 million taxpayers invested in or have earmarked for 78 companies through the defunct Nova Scotia Jobs Fund. But confidentiality clauses or rules, agreed to by previous governments, makes it hard to determine which of those investments are paying off and which are not. Case in point:…
The chasm separating British Columbia’s political and aboriginal leaders could not have been defined more clearly as the second annual all-chiefs meeting got underway in Vancouver Wednesday. B.C.’s Minister for Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, John Rustad, opened the two day gathering by calling advances over the past decade “remarkable.” “You’re seeing our government’s response to…
Canfor Corp. announced Wednesday (September 9) that is is permanently closing its Canal Flats sawmill, laying off 65 workers and nine staff members. The mill’s last day is to be November 9. It’s the second time in less than a year that the small village of Canal Flats has been hit with layoffs. Canfor cut…
Powell River Community Forest made a profit of close to $750,000 from logging city-owned property this year. At the Tuesday, August 18, City of Powell River committee of the whole meeting, Greg Hemphill, president of community forest board of directors, and Chris Laing, manager of forest operations, spoke regarding the management strategy for the community…
The Canada-United States Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) will likely expire next month and enter a one-year standstill period, said British Columbia’s Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Operations. Steve Thomson made the comments while visiting staff at the ministry’s office in Dawson Creek. “Our current position is consistent with the industry position, which is…
Firefighter Stephanie Preheim had only just arrived at the storage facility she was assigned to protect from a massive wildfire near the tourist town of Chelan, Washington, when the winds shifted, pushing the blaze back her way. Told to stand down, the suddenly sidelined Preheim did what any idled 19-year-old would do; she got out…
New tools designed to help WorkSafeBC crack down on regulation and Workers Compensation Act violators are coming into effect Sept. 18. Instead of issuing an order, WorkSafeBC will be able to enter into a compliance agreement with an employer. Under that agreement, the employer will voluntarily agree to correct occupational health and safety violations, and…
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is celebrating the international recognition for the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) at the World Forest Congress now going on in Durban, South Africa. An interactive side event called From Conflict to Collaboration featured a huge 8 by 11-metre floor map of Canada’s boreal forest detailing everything from…