Tag Archives: Ministry of Forests

Forests

Long-awaited changes to BC’s private forests not coming, government confirms

 Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

Local governments on Vancouver Island are frustrated after finally receiving a long-awaited answer to when legislative changes are coming to the law governing how some forest lands are managed in BC.

The answer: with the trade war targeting BC lumber, the priority is protecting forestry jobs. In short, after years of fighting, change is not coming.

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Forests, Politics

BC won’t run anti-tariff ads, Eby says after emergency summit

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

BC Premier David Eby is putting his anti-tariff ads on ice after an emergency summit with federal ministers on Monday morning.

“We’ve committed to the federal government that when the time comes to be speaking directly to Americans, we’ll do it in partnership with them,” Eby told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver immediately after the emergency softwood lumber summit.

“We will not be running the ads by ourselves.” 

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Health, Indigenous Nations, Politics, Transportation

Area C Director’s Report: update on UBCM advocacy

Hello, 
The past week was a blur of learning, advocating, and networking as I was immersed for five and a half days at the annual Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention which this year took place in lovely Victoria BC.

Along with study sessions, learning workshops, discussion forums, and plenary sessions from early morning till late afternoon, UBCM provides an opportunity for regional districts and municipalities to advocate on their priority issues with provincial Ministers and to meet with provincial staff as well. This report shares an update on advocacy the SRD Board & I engaged in, representing regional and community concerns with the Province.

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Forests

BC’s Coastal Forestry Crisis Demands Immediate ActionCommunities Like Campbell River Can’t Wait

Open letter from Kermit Dahl, the Mayor of Campbell River, to Premier David Eby (reprinted as public information)

Dear Premier Eby,
When you reshuffled your cabinet on July 17, you pledged to “protect jobs and the economy” and to “grow a resilient economy.” Those words ring hollow for thousands of coastal forestry workers watching their industry collapse—not from market forces, but from policy paralysis and regulatory misfires.

Since 2019, harvest volumes on the coast have dropped by over 40%. More than 5,400 direct jobs have disappeared since 2022. Mills have closed. Communities have lost critical tax revenue. And the situation is
worsening.

Continue reading BC’s Coastal Forestry Crisis Demands Immediate ActionCommunities Like Campbell River Can’t Wait →
Forests

BC Auditor General flags flaws in forest carbon accounting

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia’s carbon-accounting process to help make forestry decisions isn’t consistent or transparent, a new report by the province’s auditor general indicates. 

The BC Forests Ministry uses carbon projections to help determine how management decisions could affect the amount of planet-warming carbon emissions the province’s forests store and release into the atmosphere. 

The audit focused on the ministry’s methods for carbon projections between April 2022 and December 2024 in three areas: the forest investments program, the ministry’s allowable annual cut and forest landscape planning.

The forest ministry failed to establish open and consistent methods to make carbon projections involving the province’s annual allowable cut (AAC) and the Forest Investment Program (FIP), the report found.  

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