In the wake of the unprecedented 2017 wildfire season, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is providing additional guidance to professional foresters and licensees to support salvage-harvest planning.

The B.C. Wildlife Health Program is once again asking members of the public for help assessing the effects of winter ticks on the province’s moose population as part of its annual moose winter tick surveillance program.

Members of the public are being asked to carefully consider the risks of starting a winter feeding program for wild ungulates. Ungulates are hoofed mammals and include elk, moose, deer and sheep.

Proposed hunting, trapping, motor vehicle restriction and firearms restriction regulation changes for 2018 to 2020 are now online and available for public review and feedback.

Following a year impacted by wildfire, flooding and invasive species, farmers and ranchers around the province can recover some of their lost income with the Government of British Columbia’s new AgriStability Enhancement Program.

In a move to better align harvest practices with the intent of the chief forester’s allowable annual cut decisions, changes are being made to how timber partitions are enforced throughout British Columbia.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development has applied for a pesticide-use permit to aerial-spray 94 hectares near Courtenay.

First Nations, local governments and not-for-profit organizations are reminded to get their applications for the fourth intake of the BC Rural Dividend program submitted before the deadline on Dec. 15, 2017.

Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, has made the following statement regarding the grizzly bear hunt: