Confidential report warns pine beetle set to destroy B.C. forestry jobs
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.
Opposition mounts to government talks on opening forest reserves to loggers
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.
There is a new joint council, called the Haida Gwaii Management Council, that has been established between the Haida and the British Columbia government to govern the forest management of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands).
Wood pellet exports from the US and Canada to Europe reached a record high
Wood pellet exports from the US and Canada to Europe reached arecord high in the 4Q/11 thanks to increased demand in the United Kingdom, reports the North American Wood FiberReview
Politics trumps reason as B.C. eyes bid to raid protected forests
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.
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.
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.
