Latest news with #logging
CTV News
6 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
B.C. forestry watchdog urges province work with logging companies on wildfire mitigation
The little-known agency tasked with overseeing B.C.'s forestry industry is urging the provincial government to update regulations and consider compensating logging companies to help minimize wildfire risk near communities. (CTV News) The little-known agency tasked with overseeing B.C.'s forestry industry is urging the provincial government to update regulations and consider compensating logging companies to help minimize wildfire risk near communities. In a special investigation titled, 'Help or Hinder? Aligning Forestry Practices with Wildfire Risk Reduction,' the Forest Practices Board found that 'outdated standards, poor implementation, and regulatory gaps' are impacting companies' ability to help reduce wildfire risk near 'interface' zones near homes. 'It affects everybody in B.C., this kind of risk that we have,' explained board chair Keith Atkinson, in a one-on-one interview with CTV News. Of particular focus is a catch-22 identified in the two-year analysis: Many logging companies are doing a good job of gathering branches and other wood waste in piles for burning, which eliminates wildfire fuel near communities. However, they're only allowed to burn that debris – the most cost-effective way of eliminating it – when conditions are right to avoid sending smoke toward the nearby communities. Some of those piles, the report's authors found, can sit for multiple wildfire seasons and add to the risk, rather than reduce it. 'We need the public to support this kind of good burning and getting rid of that material,' said Atkinson. 'We know that industry operating in the (interface) zone is one of the best ways to reduce the hazard around the community.' A troubled industry The association representing the industry is still analyzing the findings, which were made public Thursday morning, but there is support for the idea in principle. 'It's a public safety matter, so industry is keen to be part of the solution,' said Kim Haakstad, president and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries. 'But at the same time, we can't do it in a way that endangers companies' financial health.' Logging companies and wood product producers are facing considerable headwinds at the moment, in large part due to incoming softwood lumber duties in the U.S., as well as American scrutiny of Canadian wood and pulp products. Shifting regulatory considerations are adding to their problems, says Haakstad, and the added expense of managing wildfire fuels for the province means the companies would likely need to be compensated to take new steps. 'We think that we can do things in a way that is taking care of the environment, that is balancing social objectives, that includes First Nation reconciliation, and has forest fire management, and is economic, and that allows the forest industry to continue to provide high paying jobs,' she added. The ministry responds The minister of forests was unavailable for an interview, but his staff responded that they would take some time to 'carefully review' the report and its suggested course of action. The five recommendations are to set proactive fire management goals, clarify legal definitions and improve transparency, increase public accessibility of wildfire risk reduction plans, reduce abatement timelines, and update guidelines. 'Reducing the risk of wildfires is a priority for the ministry, we take this work seriously,' reads an email statement from the Forests Ministry. 'Based on a preliminary review of the recommendations, we believe a number of initiatives underway across the ministry address the recommendations.'
CTV News
12 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
B.C. Forest Practices Board says forestry changes could reduce wildfire risk
A helicopter works on the Dryden Creek wildfire north of Squamish, B.C., on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin British Columbia's Forest Practices Board says a two-year investigation has found 'outdated rules and unclear responsibility' are stopping forestry from becoming a wildfire prevention tool. The board — an independent body that audits B.C. forest practices — says it examined forestry operations between 2019 and 2022 in areas where communities and forests meet, including the Sea to Sky, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Peace districts. It says fire hazard assessments are a 'cornerstone of wildfire risk reduction,' and while the industry assessments met 70 per cent of the requirements, fewer than one-quarter were completed on time. The board says municipalities are excluded from the definition of legal interface, a term used for fires burning close to homes, which means logging debris can remain for up to 30 months, even in high-risk areas. The report makes five recommendations to the province that it says would help support 'faster fuel cleanup, better co-ordination and more consistent protection for people and communities throughout B.C.' The suggestions include encouraging forest operators to actively reduce fire risk, improve co-ordination between government and industry, update legal definitions to add municipalities in the interface, modernize hazard assessment guidelines and incentivize faster logging cleanup. Board chair Keith Atkinson says more than a million B.C. residents live in areas with high or extreme wildfire risk. 'Foresters are already active in these spaces. With better rules and incentives, their efforts can become part of the wildfire solution,' he says in the release. 'This is an opportunity to improve our policies and processes toward proactive, risk-reducing forestry. It starts with better policy and ends with safer, more fire-resilient communities.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025. The Canadian Press
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
B.C. Forest Practices Board says forestry changes could reduce wildfire risk
VICTORIA — British Columbia's Forest Practices Board says a two-year investigation has found "outdated rules and unclear responsibility" are stopping forestry from becoming a wildfire prevention tool. The board — an independent body that audits B.C. forest practices — says it examined forestry operations between 2019 and 2022 in areas where communities and forests meet, including the Sea to Sky, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Peace districts. It says fire hazard assessments are a "cornerstone of wildfire risk reduction," and while the industry assessments met 70 per cent of the requirements, fewer than one-quarter were completed on time. The board says municipalities are excluded from the definition of legal interface, a term used for fires burning close to homes, which means logging debris can remain for up to 30 months, even in high-risk areas. The report makes five recommendations to the province that it says would help support "faster fuel cleanup, better co-ordination and more consistent protection for people and communities throughout B.C." The suggestions include encouraging forest operators to actively reduce fire risk, improve co-ordination between government and industry, update legal definitions to add municipalities in the interface, modernize hazard assessment guidelines and incentivize faster logging cleanup. Board chair Keith Atkinson says more than a million B.C. residents live in areas with high or extreme wildfire risk. "Foresters are already active in these spaces. With better rules and incentives, their efforts can become part of the wildfire solution," he says in the release. "This is an opportunity to improve our policies and processes toward proactive, risk-reducing forestry. It starts with better policy and ends with safer, more fire-resilient communities." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025. The Canadian Press
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Logging company using 'zombie' permit from 1977 to log endangered possum habitat
A Victorian timber company is using what has been dubbed a "zombie" license from 1977 to log critically endangered mountain ash forest, including the habitat of the Leadbeater's possum, which was once thought extinct. Conservationists said the activation of such an old licence was a loophole allowing the loggers to avoid the application of more recent laws designed to protect endangered plants and animals, and which require consultation with the public prior to logging. In 1977, the landholder received a permit to log a forest on their private land near Warburton, two hours outside of Melbourne. That pre-dates the international listing of mountain ash forest as critically endangered — an ecosystem scientists say is now collapsing — and the rediscovery of the Leadbeater's possum, thought to be extinct at that time. Timber company Fennings Investments Pty Ltd, purchased the property in 2022 and successfully applied for a permit from Yarra Ranges Council to activate the 1977 license, and selectively log 16 hectares of forest. The council approved the application, leaving environmentalists and some scientists furious. Environment group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) has sought to have the permit revoked at the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal (VCAT), arguing the council failed to consider the state's threatened species laws. "Since that time [1977], all sorts of things have changed. The conservation status of Leadbeater's possums has changed. The [federal environment] Act didn't even exist in 1977," said WOTCH volunteer Steve Meacher. Critically endangered Leadbeater's possums have been observed on the perimeter of the property and in the state forest that neighbours the property. While 16 hectares is a relatively small area, scientists told the ABC this was "death by a thousand cuts". "Elvis Presley was still alive back then," said Australia National University (ANU) forest ecologist Chris Taylor. "The world's a very different place now and ecological and environmental knowledge has come in leaps and bounds." The 1977 permit is one sentence long and has no expiration date or conditions, but was accepted by Yarra Ranges Council to allow the logging of native forest on private land owned by Fennings. WOTCH, represented by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), argue Yarra Ranges Council ignored the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, which requires councils to consider the impact of developments on threatened species. "It's really important to properly consider those documents when public authorities are performing these functions and making these decisions, because they essentially are the recovery roadmaps for threatened species in Victoria," said EJA lawyer Natalie Hogan. When a planning permit is submitted to Yarra Ranges Council, the application for that permit is advertised on the council's website. In this case, because the application was relying on a decades-old permit, it was not advertised, which EJA believes risks undermining public trust. EJA hoped the court case would close that loophole. In a statement to the ABC, Yarra Ranges Council said it had sought specialist advice from the Victorian government on the state's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act and said it "applies the strictest biodiversity safeguards available to the property". After decades of controversy around Victoria's native logging industry, the commercial logging of public state forests was banned from January 1, 2024. Since then, local councils have received several applications to log on private land, prompting concerns councils are not equipped to adequately assess these applications. "They don't have the deep expertise in terms of forest ecology and management, or the ability to assess particular areas for their conservation value," said Professor David Lindenmayer from the ANU. Yarra Ranges Council said it employed qualified environmental officers and regularly consulted with state agencies, researchers and independent experts as needed. WOTCH has filmed a Leadbeater's possum on the perimeter of the property and the possums have been recorded in the state forest that neighbours it. Leadbeater's possums are the faunal emblem of Victoria and call the state's mountain ash forests home. Professor Lindenmayer said the logging of 16 hectares of mountain ash forest on this property could fragment Leadbeater's possum populations. "We can often see 'death by a thousand cuts' where you lose a little piece one year and then another piece for another year and another piece a year after that… you have severe cumulative or incremental impacts." According to Fennings website, its timber has been certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). PEFC has been heavily criticised by conservation groups and scientists for its proximity to industry. "Areas of high conservation value have been awarded certification [by PEFC], but we know that those areas of high conservation value are being logged," Professor Lindenmayer said. Landholders have a responsibility to the community to protect the species on their land, Dr Taylor said. "If you live in suburban Melbourne, your neighbour can't build a ten storey apartment block next door to you because that has an impact on broader public interest. And that's how we've got to see species protection." Upon learning of Leadbeater's possums sightings on the property, Yarra Ranges Council said it notified the landowner and has "recommended" further ecological surveys and "encouraged" additional habitat protections to be applied. Fennings has been approached for comment.
SBS Australia
4 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Inside the fight to save ancient Australian forests from Asia's paper mills
The Styx Valley is a stronghold of Tasmania's ancient forests and a hotspot for protests against logging. Source: Getty / Chris Putnam/Future Publishing Tasmania, known to its First Peoples as lutruwita, has long been a flash point in Australia's environmental struggles — from logging and mining to water protection. Now, a new generation of palawa Aboriginal leaders is stepping up, continuing an ancient legacy of defending Country in the face of environmental destruction. In Tasmania, logging is a billion-dollar industry that supports over thousands of jobs and exports millions of tonnes of timber, woodchips and pulp overseas, primarily to feed paper mills in China and Japan. But as vital carbon sinks and biodiversity havens shrink, Traditional Owners argue that the long-term environmental and cultural costs are far greater than the economic gains. Blanden told NITV's The Point that she was raised with an understanding of both Aboriginal lore and "settler" systems and is training to be a lawyer to challenge colonial structures from within. "Education is power for our mob," Blanden said. "Our old people were on the front line defending Country and that legacy continues today. They were protesting for their inherent rights to be Aboriginal people and to be on Country and yet they were being persecuted for it. "Becoming a lawyer was my part in that, breaking down those systems and really bringing us home to that key message . " It's a message that echoes across places like the Styx Valley, a stronghold of Tasmania's ancient forests and a hotspot for protests against logging. Every day vital carbon sinks and biodiversity havens shrink as forests are reduced to woodchips that are shipped offshore to become paper and fill the trays of the world's photocopiers. It's an industry that supports over 5,500 jobs and contributes $1.2 billion to the economy, but Traditional Owners argue that the long-term environmental and cultural costs are far greater. Ruth Langford, a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman born in lutruwita, is one of the cultural caretakers fighting back. "It's not actually a forest, it's a plantation. It's a single species tree," she said, gesturing to rows of identical trees. "This is very sick country. "The concern that we have is these types of plantings create potentially catastrophic bushfires, as well as it's sucking all the water up." The state government's Sustainable Timber Tasmania, formerly Forestry Tasmania, manages approximately 812,000 hectares of public production forest and promises a sustainable approach that is socially, economically and environmentally responsible. Some 1.2 million hectares of the state's forest is classified as old growth, of which eight per cent faces potential logging within the 'Permanent Timber Production Zone'. Every three years, the government releases a forestry plan that designates large areas for logging that include a patchwork of plantations and old-growth forests and there are fears that more protected areas could be opened up to potential logging. Langford says contractors often have little say in the areas they are harvesting, and many taxpayers are asking why they are continuing to foot the bill for an unsustainable approach. "It doesn't make economic sense," she said. "The government is subsidising all the roads, all the departments, and loses all of our carbon, loses all of the biodiversity, all of the water catchment and loses the very potential of what this could be both for timber production and also for future generations." Palawa woman Carleeta is part of a protest camp in Styx Valley and believes balance is possible and immediate change essential. "We're not saying completely stop the whole logging industry," she said. "We need to go more towards different plantations and alternatives to logging these beautiful old-growth forests that have seen, not only our old fellows, but will see our future generations be able to come and sit under these same trees that their ancestors sat under." At the heart of the movement is a deep reverence for inter-generational responsibility. For Blanden, elders like Uncle Jim Everett (Puralia Meenamatta), who still physically defends forested areas, represent that legacy. "He always says it's not about land rights — it's about the land's right. The right to be cared for. That's what we carry on our shoulders," she said. As climate change accelerates and biodiversity collapses, Blanden sees Aboriginal leadership as vital. "They need us. Country needs us and it is our time to answer that call and come and protect Country." Share this with family and friends
