Category Archives: Woodlands

The Government of Saskatchewan is seeking input from people across the province to improve and modernize The Provincial Lands Act (1978).

The Act provides the authority to the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment to administer provincial Crown lands.

The Ministries of Agriculture and Environment will be holding consultation meetings throughout the province.  Consultations will help inform changes to the Act.  Crown land clients will receive notification letters of these meetings.

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The B.C. Forest Practices Board will examine the activities of the Terrace office of the BC Timber Sales Program during the week of June 10.

The audit will examine timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance, silviculture, fire prevention and associated planning activities carried out by BC Timber Sales and timber sale licence holders.

The BCTS operating areas to be audited are scattered throughout the Kalum, North Coast and Nass timber supply areas. These areas cover over 80,000 square kilometres and include the major centres of Terrace, Kitimat, Prince Rupert, New Aiyansh and Stewart. The area contains mountainous terrain and many fish streams.

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Audits of forest licences held by Cassiar Forest Corporation and Coast Mountain Hydro Corporation found that forest practices complied with B.C.’s forestry legislation.

“Cassiar followed the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act, though some minor soil disturbance was noted,” said B.C. Forest Practices Board chair Al Gorley.

“Coast Mountain Hydro met legislative requirements, but since the board’s mandate covered only the transmission line clearings, we did not audit their roads.” Gorley added.

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Since 2011, the board of the Little Prairie Community Forest has been looking for a suitor to salvage the areas within the 14,000 hectares of land north of Chetwynd and south of Moberly Lake in British Columbia, which had become infested with the mountain pine beetle in the years since 2005.

Last July, an agreement was reached with Chetwynd Forest Industries (a division of West Fraser Mills) to conduct the salvage harvest.

Chetwynd Forest Industries is currently finalizing its 5-year pine salvage harvesting plan.

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Lawyers for the Grassy Narrows First Nation have filed their appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada.

The appeal is concerning the recent Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision that the province has authority to issue logging permits on all public lands and forests in the province, including First Nations’ traditional lands.

“Grassy Narrows is determined to protect its treaty rights and to protect the integrity of our lands. (The lower court judge) made the right decision when she held the governments to the agreement they made with our people in 1873. We were gravely disappointed when the Court of Appeal disagreed. We hope that the Supreme Court of Canada will agree to hear our appeal and restore the trial judgment,” said Simon Fobister, the chief of Grassy Narrows.

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Nova Scotia has released a report that summarizes what Nova Scotians said are the best ways to use the 1.5-million acres of Crown land in the province’s western region to ensure sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits for communities.

The report summarizes comments received at nine open-house consultations in March and April, at stakeholder meetings, and through online submissions.

“The responses we’ve heard confirm that Nova Scotians are passionate about land use,” said Natural Resources Minister Charlie Parker. “Overall, Nova Scotians have told us that they want to be involved in managing their land, that long-term environmental, social and economic sustainability is vital, and that they recognize different land uses need to be balanced.”

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From ForestEthics:

On the third anniversary of the signing of the historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), environmental signatories are suspending further work with Resolute Forest Products. They remain committed to continuing their work with other signatory companies to plan for protection of critical Boreal woodland caribou habitat and sustainable forest management practices.

“We are very pleased with the groundbreaking solutions for conservation we have forged under the CBFA with companies such as Tembec, Alberta Pacific Forest Industries, and Millar Western Forest Products in northeastern Ontario and Alberta respectively,” said Janet Sumner of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

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Resolute Forest Products expressed the company’s disappointment that negotiations under the auspices of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) have broken down after three years of collaborative efforts.

Parties were unable to reach mutual agreement on a workable plan to jointly further conservation efforts while balancing environmental, social and economic considerations in the Canadian boreal forest.

The CBFA was signed by members of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), including Resolute, and a group of environmental organizations to establish a common framework to further support boreal conservation efforts while safeguarding the livelihood of thousands of citizens in communities that depend on healthy working forests.

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Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has reported that it is negotiating the sale of its 25% stake in Vancouver Island forest company Island Timberlands for $170 million.

The sale involves a change in the positions held by the timber company’s existing shareholders and is expected to close in the second half of 2013.

Read more:
Brookfield wants to sell its stake in Island Timberlands (Vancouver Sun)

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Grassy Narrows First Nation will be appealing the recent Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision that the province has authority to issue logging permits on all public lands and forests in the province, including First Nations’ traditional lands.

Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister said the band’s lawyer is in the process of submitting their appeal.  The details and grounds for the appeal will be publicly released in a day or two.

The appeal will be submitted to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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