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…
The Board of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is launching an executive search for a new President and CEO. The current office-holder, David Lindsay, has announced his intention to move on by the end of 2015 to return to the Toronto area to be closer to his family. Lindsay has led FPAC since…
Experts are blaming El Nino for speeding up nature’s clock and forcing firefighters to deploy weeks ahead of normal to battle wildfires across rural Western Canada. They say the natural phenomenon that cycles every two to seven years has been activated early this year and is predicted to accelerate wildfire activity across the northwest. The…
Department says negotiations with RenTech still include Roddickton-based company The provincial government paid about $185,000 last year to help the struggling Holson Forest Products in Roddickton. In 2014-15, it offered up $65,000 for insurance costs on equipment at the company’s processing plant and another $120,000 for an engineering study and new business plan. It comes…
On Thursday morning, acting environment minister Mark Furey issued an order stating Northern Pulp is not allowed to restart operations until its new precipitator is up and running. On Thursday afternoon, Northern Pulp general manager Bruce Chapman said the Pictou County mill was never planning to restart until after the machinery that removes harmful particles…
A few months ago he had a plane ticket purchased and was contemplating leaving his home, family and friends behind. Now he’s just looking for a place to cut. Gilbert Ash, a Portland man who had been trying to work out a problem with a permit to cut crown timber that he says was made…
Having watched the forested slopes of Mount Elphinstone since 1930, having hiked through old growth, second growth and clear-cuts and having observed the operations from high lead and steam donkey to yarder and truck, may I comment on the letter “Clear cutting has no place” from your May 8 edition? The ridge of Mount Elphinstone…
Minister of Communities, Land and Environment Robert Mitchell says he’s pleased two Island firefighters will be helping to battle the wildfires in Alberta. The firefighters will join 20 colleagues from Nova Scotia to provide some relief and extra help as more than 50 fires burn. More than a dozen of the fires are out of…
Ben Parfit’s paper: Managing BC’s Forests For a Cooler Planet: Carbon Storage, Sustainable Jobs and Conservation will provide lots to think about regarding the greenhouse gas debate. This relatively recent (January 2010) article is supported by a research alliance led by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-BC) and the University of BC, along with some…