Global commodity prices have tumbled to levels below the depths of the Great Recession, underscoring the widespread difficulties facing the global economy. While crude oil’s price collapse has been in the spotlight, a wide range of other commodities are suffering as well, including natural gas, coal, iron ore, copper, grain and pulp and paper. The…
At first blush, year-end financials and stock prices for B.C.’s largest forest companies would suggest the province’s forestry sector is well on the road to recovery after a decade-long slump. Interfor Corp. (TSX:IFP), for example, posted record sales of $1.4 billion in 2014 and record production of 2.2 billion board feet. Stock values and market…
The B.C. government has designated 567 old-growth management areas on the Upper and Lower Sunshine Coast. Announced last week by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, the protected areas cover 18,421 hectares, or about 13.6 per cent of Crown forest within five landscape units of the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District. The…
Much of B.C.’s environmental deregulation goes too far in handing over matters of public interest to those employed by industry, says a University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre study. The shift to so-called professional reliance in the past decade has put more decision making and responsibility into the hands of professionals such as consulting engineers,…
Nanaimo registered professional forester Morgan Kennah was chosen by her peers to sit on the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals council. She is one of two new members voted onto the council by the provincial body representing forestry professionals that chose a new council at the B.C. Forest Professionals’ 67th Annual Conference, which wrapped up…
Canadian National Railway and Unifor are set to resume contract talks Monday in the face of a threat by the company to lock out nearly 5,000 employees. Statements from both sides said there were high-level discussions on Sunday and the two sides have agreed to continue talking. The railway said Friday it intends to lock…
An increasing number of ships are crossing the Atlantic Ocean bearing millions of tons of fuel, all bound for some of Europe’s largest coal-fired power stations. They’re not carrying coal, though, but wood pellets, sourced from forests in the U.S. Southeast. A large volume of pellets are burned in North Yorkshire, in two recently converted…
As private landowners committed to responsible forest stewardship, we find Lynne Brookes’ letter to the editor (‘Log responsibly,’ The NEWS, Feb. 12) criticizing private land forest management practices curious. While we wholeheartedly agree that the protection of wetlands and riparian area function are important issues in our region, we take offense with her characterization of land…
Everyone has seen them, particularly if they’ve visited Kaatza Station Museum’s Wilmer Gold gallery. I’m referring to photos of old logging shows: loggers and steam engines and first-growth firs that reached so high as to block out the sun and the sky. Seldom, however, do you see photos of sawmill activity without which, of course,…
On behalf of the Township of Ignace, I am responding to the Feb. 4 column by Julee Boan of Environment North (Woodland Caribou In Decline, Future Uncertain). As one of 260 communities in Ontario dependent on the forest industry, for years we have followed processes regarding woodland caribou conservation and recovery strategies. We have watched…