Seventy per cent of B.C.'s caribou herds are in decline and identified as threatened

under the federal Species at Risk Act.

152,620 job openings are expected in the Vancouver Island/Coast region to 2020; about 23% of these (34,550) are expected to be newly created jobs.

A key part of the BC Jobs Plan is government's commitment to improving opportunities and resources for First Nations to participate in resource activity in their traditional territory.

Employment opportunities in the mining sector are expected to grow over the next decade, with more than 10,000 job openings expected by 2020. The industry will need skilled workers in several key occupations, including machinery and transportation equipment mechanics, primary production workers and vehicle drivers.

In 2011, the B.C. forest sector employed more than 53,000 workers. In addition to new jobs, as many as 25,000 job openings are expected across the sector over the next decade as existing workers retire.

With the release of 'Beyond the Beetle: A Mid-Term Timber Supply Action Plan', we have outlined a clear strategy to help our forests recover from the damage done by the mountain pine beetle infestation.

Several media reports in recent days have focused on temporary foreign workers hired to do work for Canada Dehua, a company that is undertaking coal exploration activities at two sites in northeastern British Columbia. The following facts have been absent from much of this reporting:

Ensuring a sustainable timber supply, with the right mix of tree species, is a top priority for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

This past week, B.C. celebrated an agreement with the Kaska Dena Council in northwestern B.C. that will provide greater certainty about how resource development can proceed in more than 10 per cent of the province.

March 22 is World Water Day, so it's a good time for all of us to think about conserving and protecting one of our most precious natural assets. World Water Day reminds us how valuable our water resources are and the responsibilities that come with being stewards of this resource.