Jump to Navigation

SFM in British Columbia

British Columbia: Mid-Term Timber Supply Project

Government of British Columbia | 11 years 11 months ago

In response to concerns expressed by local communities, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations staff have been analyzing potential opportunities to increase timber supply. A draft summary of detailed technical analyses for the Lakes, Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake...

B.C. plan would open Interior’s protected woods for logging

The Globe and Mail | 11 years 11 months ago

Old-growth forests, wildlife corridors and other long-protected timber zones in the British Columbia Interior could be opened up to logging in order to keep mills operating, according to a cabinet document detailing a proposal under consideration by the provincial government. The document, stamped...

Power Grab Eyed by Clark Gov't to Set Logging Levels

The Tyee | 11 years 11 months ago

A leaked provincial cabinet document indicates that the provincial government is contemplating "suspending" the powers of one of its most powerful public servants in order to expedite a controversial logging program that has raised alarm bells in the professional forestry community.

Thousands of forestry jobs on the line in central British Columbia

Forest Talk | 11 years 11 months ago

A confidential report was leaked this week indicating the British Columbia government is expecting north-central B.C. to lose 32% – 67% of its timber supply due to the mountain pine beetle epidemic without a mitigation plan.

A Shocking Glimpse of BC's New Forest Plan

The Tyee | 11 years 11 months ago

For more than a quarter century, logging companies at the government's blessing have been on a tear through British Columbia's expansive interior forests. In the name of "salvaging" economic value from forests attacked by mountain pine beetles, beginning with a smaller outbreak centered in the...

Opposition mounts to government talks on opening forest reserves to loggers

Vancouver Sun | 11 years 11 months ago

The B.C. government is holding talks with the forest industry over ways to supply more timber to beetle-hit Interior sawmills, including the option of opening forest reserves that have until now been out of bounds to loggers.

Confidential report warns pine beetle set to destroy B.C. forestry jobs

The Globe and Mail | 11 years 11 months ago

The full, devastating impact of the pine-beetle epidemic that has swept across British Columbia will be felt in the next few years when up to half the forest-industry jobs in the province’s interior will vanish, according to a government report meant to be confidential. The document, a briefing...

British Columbia releases new Forest Sector Strategy

Forest Talk | 11 years 11 months ago

British Columbia released its Forest Sector Strategy today. Titled “Our Natural Advantage, Forest Sector Strategy for British Columbia”, the strategy aims to build upon the report of the Working Roundtable on Forestry to support a more vibrant sector that supports employment in every part of the...

Logging in forest reserve areas within MPB epidemic area

W.W. (Bill) Bourgeois PhD, RPF | 11 years 11 months ago

Honorable Steve Thomson Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations PO Box 9071 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC, V8W 9E9 Honorable Pat Bell Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation P.O. Box 9049, Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2  

Panic in the government should not descend into head-over-heels panic

Prof. Fred Brunnell | 11 years 11 months ago

Minister Bell Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Dear Minister Bell, There are many reasons why what the Globe and Mail terms “panic in the government” should not descend into head-over-heels panic. Logging long-protected forest areas will certainly appear as panic and a government that...

Politics trumps reason as B.C. eyes bid to raid protected forests

The Globe and the Mail | 11 years 11 months ago

The fire that destroyed the lumber mill in Burns Lake this winter was sudden and catastrophic, sending a small town into shock. Overnight, 250 jobs vanished. Imagine a blow that severe landing on a dozen different communities and you have a sense of what is coming in central and northern British...

Transforming forest management in B.C

Vancouver Sun | 11 years 11 months ago

The recent auditor-general's report on government mismanagement of our forests should serve as a wake-up call to the people of British Columbia to demand transformation of forest governance and management. Healthy forests provide us with clean water and clean air. They store three-quarters of the...

A crisis of neglect in the province’s forests

Salmon Arm Observer | 11 years 11 months ago

In 1985, the rapidly growing amount of not-satisfactorily-restocked (NSR) land in B.C. forests became a crisis. This resulted in a joint provincial and federal $300-million funding plan, the Forest Resource Development Agreement (FRDA) that restocked many thousands of hectares.

Timber inventory a guessing game, critics charge

The Globe and the Mail | 12 years 1 month ago

The B.C. government is not adequately keeping track of its inventory of timber lands, according to NDP Leader Adrian Dix. And that means the province is putting off some tough decisions, he says, on managing what’s left of pine-beetle-ravaged forests. While the mountain pine beetle has been...

B.C. risks becoming a silvicultural slum

Vancouver Sun | 12 years 1 month ago

Re: B.C.'s resources need support, Column, Feb. 17, Province fails to protect, restore beetle-ravaged area: report, Feb. 17 Both Stephen Hume and Auditor-General John Doyle have pointed out in spades the neglected state of B.C.'s forests. Without corrective action - and yes, that means money and...

Foresters join warning cry over risk to forest sustainability

Vancouver Sun | 12 years 1 month ago

B.C. forest inventories are so far out of date that the foresters' professional association is questioning whether provincial forestlands can still be managed sustainably. A report by the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals released Monday says that at a time when wildfire and insect pests...

Auditor General report on forestry - A trust betrayed

Opinion 250 | 12 years 1 month ago

The Auditor General of British Columbia has released a report that is sharply critical of the BC Government and Ministry of Forests’ management of BC forests.  Indeed, it would be hard to find a government report that is more withering in its criticism.  

B.C.'s efforts not enough to halt forestry declines

Times Colonist | 12 years 1 month ago

B.C. auditor general John Doyle said in a report released Thursday that the province is ill-prepared to manage the province's beetle-ravaged forests, which are heading toward a long-term decline in both value and diversity. "We are already facing the fact that the value of the forest is going to be...

BC Government Killing Forest Industry: Auditor General

The Tyee | 12 years 1 month ago

Worse, the government lacks reliable information on the state of the forest and has no plan for what to do about it, he said. Various observers said Doyle's report confirmed what critics have said for years, but the minister responsible insisted the province has a plan and is doing the necessary...

Aging Forests Ministry in poor health

Times Colonist | 12 years 1 month ago

The ravages of age usually affect people more than institutions. But successive reports on two of the oldest government functions in B.C. have found they are in failing health. A searching look last week at the justice system - a ministry since 1871 - portrayed it as floundering badly. And this...

Pages



by Dr. Radut