Forestry

Canada’s forests are being logged faster than they can regrow and that's adding billions of tonnes of CO2 into atmosphere.

The provincial NDP government doesn't make the grade on its most urgent and important commitments to protect at-risk ancient forests, a report card issued by environmental groups says.

The emerald ash borer is a green bug the size of a thumbnail. And it has killed tens of millions of trees in North America — and caused billions in damage — since it hitched a ride from Asia 20-odd years ago.

The group found an ample amount of rare lichen among the trees slated for logging, requiring enough buffer zones to make over half of the area protected.

Canada's forests are being logged faster than they are growing back, writes columnist Barry Saxifrage. That's pouring billions of tonnes of CO2 into our rapidly destabilizing climate.

Throughout the study, nine bird species declined at a rate of 30 per cent or more over the past 10 years, which meets the qualification for an animal to be considered “threatened” under the Canadian endangered species legislation.

The Ontario government has launched a five-year plan to bolster the province’s forestry industry by expanding biomass projects that turn waste wood into energy or useful products. 

Five big timber companies hold the future of nearly half of British Columbia’s at-risk old-growth forests in their hands, according to a new report.

As global warming enables destructive insects and diseases to move farther north into Canada’s forests, keeping the public informed about these pests is critical, says an expert in insects and forest dynamics.

In late January, a temporary halt was placed on logging in an area of Crown land in the Annapolis Valley after three types of lichen classified as “species at risk” were spotted and reported to the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.

A group of people camped out in the snowy Nova Scotia wilderness to save a patch of forest have received their first piece of positive news since they started in early December.

Although the majestic animals were once plentiful in Nova Scotia, the species’ numbers have dwindled due to forestry, poaching and disease.

The 80-year-old parcel is relatively small — 60 acres or about 45 football fields. However, it’s some of the last standing forest in the area, which has seen ample clear-cuts. The trees are important habitat for species in the area, such as the wood turtle and the pine marten.

Only five of 45 recommendations on how to improve forestry practices in the province have been implemented since the Lahey report came out in 2018.

As more old-growth trees topple and forest industry jobs plummet, an obscure government subsidy scheme fuels the collapse.