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Feature Articles
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2013 Western Wildfire Conference Presentations Available
May 14, 2013 - Presentations for the 2013 Western Wildfire Conference are now available following a very informative and interesting program. The presentations include narratives of the effects of fire on communities in both North America and Australia as well as practical and scientific reports on strategies to manage, mitigate and better understand wild fire fire behaviour. To see the presentations go to the 2013 Western Wildfire Conference website at:
http://www.wildfire-conference.ca/index.php/program/speakers/
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BC Needs New Forest Inventory and New Purpose For It
May 8, 2013 - British Columbia's forest inventory needs to be updated and revised. But before we do that strategists should think to what purposes this next inventory will be applied in order to make sure we're measuring the right things. Nature has provided a major landscape paradigm shift in the wake of the MPB. Our next generation inventory should reflect a similar change in course in the overarching purpose of managing forests in the province. Read More
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Preventing Silviculture MSI Injuries Guides Available
Mar 13, 2013 - A joint working group comprising WorkSafeBC, WSCA and Licensees has produced a series of guides aimed at reducing musculoskeletal injuries in silviculture workers. Three guides are available for workers, supervisors and licensees laying out strategies to make workers and workplaces less injury prone. Repetitive strains, overwork and related slips, trips and falls cost the silviculture industry millions of dollars annually in lost productivity, earnings and claim costs. For more information visit:
http://www2.worksafebc.com/Portals/Forestry/SilvicultureTreePlanting.asp/
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Pre-season Wrist Training Will Reduce Injuries
Mar 12, 2013 - Sports mechanic and fitness expert Dr. Delia Roberts has worked with the BC SAFE Silviculture Program to produce a quick guide to training up your wrists and forearms for this year's planting season. The pamphlet also includes tactics for keeping yourself fit during the season and how to recover quickly from repetitive strain symptoms. Wrist and forearms are the principal and vulnerable pivot points for planting and silviculture saw work. They can better resist the onslaught of hard work through increasing strength and flexibility. They can be brought back into use quicker through proper massage and the use of heat and cold. Read More
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Town Hall Meeting in March Features Forestry Questions for Politicians
Feb 21, 2013 - This being election season, foresters and forestry contractors want to know where politicians stand on forestry funding and policy heading into the vote. Two of the province's Silviculture Committees and the Canadian Institute of Forestry are asking stakeholders to submit their questions so they can be raised in a public town hall forum in Kamloops at the Thompson River University campus 6 March 2013. Read More
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Labour Committee Surveys Silviculture Workers in Annual Poll
Sep 14, 2012 - As concerns grow over the capacity of the province's vital seasonal forestry workforce the B.C. Silviculture Human Resource Working Group is polling workers in an annual on-line survey. The short volunteer poll, similar to last year's survey, will track the number of silviculture workers, including tree planters, brushers and spacers and wildfire fighters who plan to return next year. The workers will also be asked their level of satisfaction with wages and work conditions this season and their expectations for next year. This year the survey includes a special section for owners in order to gain an insight into the attitudes and disposition of employers regarding their business expectations. To view the 2013 survey and see the results of last year's poll visit:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D2T7M5J
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WSCA and WorkSafeBC Undertake Unique Study on Silviculture MSI Injuries
Jun 22, 2012 - The WSCA in collaboration with the human factors team at WorkSafeBC and workplace sociologists based in the U.S. are conducting preliminary research into musculoskeletal injuries in the tree planting profession. The pilot study involves the unique approach of participatory action research (PAR) which involves gathering qualitative date in the form of narratives and insights from multiple perspectives within the sector.
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WSCA Rumour Mill
Should Tree Planters be Losing Sleep over Losing Sleep?
May 8, 2013 - Sleep scientists say as a society we owe ourselves more sleep. Sleep debt is seen as a major threat to health and welfare. What effect is fatigue likely to have then in the workplace when silviculture planters work long days at an intense pace? Are workers getting enough sleep and does lack of a good night's rest put us in jeopardy? Professional athletes are learning to manage sleep. Should workers do the same? Read More
Protecting BC Communities From Wildfire Could Create Thousands of Jobs
Mar 15, 2013 - Protecting communities from burning forests and climate change could provide hundreds of year-round jobs for B.C. forestry workers. The costs of creating those jobs would not have to all come from the provincial treasury if leaders can create an economy around re-habilitating the province’s beleaguered forests. Just how that might happen will be covered in the April 10-13, 2013 Western Wildfire Conference. Read More
Are we at the limits of piece-work?
Jan 23, 2013 - Repetition, strains, fatigue and overwork along with attendant slips, trips and falls cost the silviculture sector almost a million dollars in claims each year. Is it possible that industry has reached its peak capacity for production and is now paying the costs in injuries and lost productivity? This is one consideration new strategies to reduce musculoskeletal injuries will have to consider. Read More
WSCA Conference Focuses on Defining Restoration
Jan 14, 2013 - Forest restoration is a term gaining currency. But what does it actually mean as a policy and a practice in this post-mountain-pine-beetle time? Which raises the question of what is meant by post-mountain-pine-beetle? Is the beetle and its impacts actually over? And what might all this mean for the silviculture industry? These are just some of the topics the WSCA restoration panel of senior policy-makers and politicians will be asked to discuss at the WSCA annual conference. Read More
Is it Time to Quit Fining Silviculture Contractors?
Oct 19, 2012 - In this fall's Canadian Silviculture Magazine, WSCA Executive Director John Betts argues that payment based on quality for silvliculture contracting has outlived its utility and may actually contribute to poor quality work. He says it's time to end penalties for less than near perfect work on planting, spacing and brushing contracts. To read more go to:
http://www.silviculturemagazine.com/
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News & Media
Biomass Availability in B.C. - Canadian Biomass Magazine
Apr 20, 2012 - There is a significant volume of biomass on the landscape in British Columbia that needs to be removed in order to improve ecosystem resilience, sustainability and reduce the threat from wildfires facing rural communities. Standing in the way of dramatically increasing extraction are significant market impediments and constraints on access to feedstock. Read More
Are Dead Trees More Combustible Than Live Ones?
Oct 25, 2011 - As Justin Gillis explained at length in an Oct. 1 article, huge tracts of forest are dying across the West and around the world as a result of infestations and other phenomena that many link to climate change. A big question for those who manage forests is how these millions of acres of dead trees will respond to wildfire. Read More
Tree Planting Record Broken In Philippines
Mar 1, 2011 - Speedy tree planting may be the answer to the world's dwindling forest problem. This past Thursday, over 64,000 trees were planted in 15 minutes, breaking the world record for the most trees planted simultaneously. Read More
Silviculture Work: How Far We've Come, So Far Left to Go
Feb 14, 2011 - In the spring of 1985, I made my way to Horsefly, B.C., to embark on my first tree-planting contract and hopefully a new career. With a group of strangers from across the country, we started our five-mile walk in — our gear and supplies following in a tractor. Read More
Inadequate Reforestation Goes From Bad to Worse
Feb 3, 2011 - British Columbia is blessed by nature with a vast, ecologically rich forest estate that also has been a source of sustained economic wealth for more than a century. But today there are troubling signs that the most important of natural assets is facing challenges never before seen.
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