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Feature Articles
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2012 Conference
Feb 1, 2012 - Conference Agenda www.wsca.ca/Media/Multimedia/Agenda%20-%202012%20WSCA%20Conference%20-%20Kamloops.pdf
Conference Registration Package www.wsca.ca/Media/Multimedia/WSCA%202012%20Conference%20Registration%20Package.pdf
Trade Show Registration Package www.wsca.ca/Media/Multimedia/WSCA%202012%20Tradeshow%20Booking%20Package.pdf
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WSCA 2012 Conference Promises Content and Controversy
Dec 23, 2011 - The WSCA Annual Conference and Trade Show set for Kamloops 1, 2, 3 February 2012 will look at benchmarking silviculture costs and rates for the industry; hear from workers on whether they should form a union; propose establishing a registered silviculture contractor certification as a prerequisite to competing in the industry; find out from Minister Pat Bell how the province's Job Strategy will benefit the silviculture sector; understand what's with China; get an update on the Forest Practices Board's special report on the NSR; listen to Adrian Dix Leader of the Loyal Opposition tell what they would do with the province's forests if elected: plus all the other content and controversy we can manage to fit into three days. Read More
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Licensee and Contractor Fined in Contractor Worker Death
Dec 23, 2011 - A Williams Lake beetle trap tree falling contractor and the licensee that
contracted him both received fines after the death of a faller on the job
this year. WorkSafeBC cited both the contractor and the owner for failing to
properly instruct, train or supervise the worker employed by the contractor.
The contractor received $2,500 fine for his failings; the licensee $75,000
for theirs. The pair of fines reflect the due diligence that licensees need
to exercise around the training and supervision of workers directed by firms
they contract work to. Read More
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Workers Need More Work and Expect Higher Wages in 2012
Oct 3, 2011 - The WSCA has released a set of preliminary results from its recent survey of silviculture workers in B.C. and Alberta. The volunteer, confidential study conducted in August and September shows that 70 per cent of the workers asked say they want more work. As a whole workers expect to see their earnings increase by as much as 25 per cent in 2012. One fifth of the workforce polled says it will not return next year. Read More
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Silviculture Report Cites Increasing Planting, Decreasing Workforce
Aug 15, 2011 - The WSCA 2011 Report on the State of the BC Silviculture Industry has identified retaining and recruiting competent workers as a challenge for the sector as it heads into 2012 when planting and stand tending activities will increase. A decade of stagnate or declining bid prices has taken its toll on the silvliculture sector affecting the workforce and the viability of contractors. Forecasts predict up to 40-million more seedlings will be planted next year. The market has to ensure the increase in volume is accompanied by corresponding improvements in margins and wages for the industry according to the report based on two recent contractor summit meetings. Read More
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Statistical Appendix for State of Silviculture Report Available
Aug 14, 2011 - This report includes the public data that was used to compile the WSCA Report on the State of the BC Silviculture Sector August 2011 including planting and sowing figures, safety statistics and Statistics Canada numbers. Read More
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BC Forest Safety Ombudsman Report: Review of Failures Leading to Khaira Situation - July 2011
Jul 27, 2011 - Please see the associated article under "Rumour Mill", and download the pdf document for the Ombudsman's full report. Read More
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WSCA Rumour Mill
Request for Expressions of Interest: Members for Silviculture Sector Human Resources Strategy Advisory Committee
Jan 9, 2012 - The WSCA is looking for expressions of interest from employers and employees in BC's silviculture industry to sit as members of a proposed silviculture sector human resources strategy advisory committee. The volunteer committee would function as a working group to oversee and direct a program funded by the federal and provincial governments' Labour Market Partnership Program. This proposed program, currently under negotiation with the WSCA, would develop and implement projects to conduct research, develop curricula and educate the forestry industry around human resource (HR) and workforce issues in the BC silviculture sector. Read More
WSCA and Ministry FS704 Planting Inspection Review Underway
Dec 21, 2011 - The WSCA and the Ministry of Forests, Range and Natural Resource Operations are reviewing the inspection methods used by the ministry to assess planting quality and payment with the goal of implementing the changes in 2012. It has been more than two decades since the FS704 Planting Inspection criteria has been reviewed. This undertaking came as a result of WSCA concerns that the inspection did not always reflect current silviculture best practices and contained statistical deficiencies that in some cases created bias against contractors' efforts. Read More
Forest Watchdog to Look at BC's NSR
Oct 3, 2011 - The BC Forest Practices Board has announced it will undertake a special report to sort out the differences and significance of conflicting estimates of how many hectares of British Columbia forests are not growing trees. The report "Clarifying the status and implications of not satisfactorily re-stocked (NSR) forest in B.C." will look at what is meant by NSR and what is known or unknown about the current amount in B.C. The Board stated it will provide an opinion on strategic issues arising from the clarification. Read More
Employment Standards Branch Sets Zero Tolerance Policy for Payroll Violations
Sep 14, 2011 - After receiving complaints from employees and the WSCA, the Employment Standards Branch has a set a zero tolerance policy for employers who do not pay their workers on at least a semi-monthly basis as required by the Employment Standards Act. Read More
2012 Planting Increase Breakdown by Area
Aug 16, 2011 - As part of the WSCA's efforts to provide information that will have a positive effect on bids and negotiations for next year's planting season here are a series of graphs showing 2012's estimated 40-million seedling increase—bringing next year's estimate to approximately 240-million up from this year's 200 million. The summaries are broken down by the three areas now used by the Ministry of Forests, Range and Natural Resource Operations. Read More
Resources
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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Forest Service plans attack on Colo., Wyo. beetles
Sep 13, 2010 - The U.S. Forest Service plans to cut about 14,000 acres of trees near communities and in more than 350 recreation sites as it deals with damage from an insect epidemic that has killed millions of acres of pines in Colorado and Wyoming. Read More
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Conferences
