The public is invited to attend a community open house and participate in a discussion about the 2018 gypsy moth aerial spray treatment program in Courtenay.

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.

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 soon will begin the second year of helicopter logging operations to minimize the spread of Douglas fir beetles on Crown land in the Williams Lake area.

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.