Environment

Saanich Inlet Protection Society based in Central Saanich is concerned that two resource projects on the Malahat side of the inlet threaten the ecology of the inlet, home to a wide variety of marine animals including octopus. (Brent Cooke/Submitted)

Concerns about a pair of resource projects span across Saanich Inlet

Saanich Inlet Protection Society is calling for an environmental assessment for Bamberton proposals

Saanich Inlet Protection Society based in Central Saanich is concerned that two resource projects on the Malahat side of the inlet threaten the ecology of the inlet, home to a wide variety of marine animals including octopus. (Brent Cooke/Submitted)
The Timber Licence in question was located up Loughborough Inlet. Photo courtesy Google Maps

Fine for illegal cedar harvesting in Great Bear Rainforest increased more than tenfold

Penalty increased to $131,000 to act as deterrent, prevent profit from proceeds of a crime

The Timber Licence in question was located up Loughborough Inlet. Photo courtesy Google Maps
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault is seen during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Guilbeault says Canada’s promised emissions cap on the oil and gas sector won’t be finalized for another year.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Environment minister says emissions cap on oil and gas expected by end of 2023

Feds originally promised cap for 2021

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault is seen during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Guilbeault says Canada’s promised emissions cap on the oil and gas sector won’t be finalized for another year.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The Vancouver Port Authority is hosting open houses on Vancouver Island to discuss its plans to deal with anchored freighters in the Strait of Georgia. (News Bulletin file photo)

Vancouver Port Authority to host public meeting in Ladysmith on anchored freighters

Port looking for input on proposed new management program

The Vancouver Port Authority is hosting open houses on Vancouver Island to discuss its plans to deal with anchored freighters in the Strait of Georgia. (News Bulletin file photo)
An adult Piping Plover runs along a beach as waves lap on the shore in the background, in the Quonochontaug Conservation Area, in Westerly, R.I., July 12, 2007. An environmental law group is taking the federal government to court over new rules to protect piping plover habitat. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Steven Senne

Environmental group takes federal government to court over piping plover habitat

Group claims feds’ amended version of protection strategy leaves birds more vulnerable

An adult Piping Plover runs along a beach as waves lap on the shore in the background, in the Quonochontaug Conservation Area, in Westerly, R.I., July 12, 2007. An environmental law group is taking the federal government to court over new rules to protect piping plover habitat. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Steven Senne
Members of an environmental group called Stop Fracking Around threw maple syrup on an Emily Carr painting at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Nov. 12. (Twitter/@StopFrackingA/Screenshot)

Activists throw maple syrup at Emily Carr painting at Vancouver art gallery protest

Protesters demanding end to Coastal Gaslink Pipeline

Members of an environmental group called Stop Fracking Around threw maple syrup on an Emily Carr painting at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Nov. 12. (Twitter/@StopFrackingA/Screenshot)
The Chemainus River water levels remained low into late October, but that can change very quickly with a few days of heavy rains. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Flood mitigation work underway for lower Chemainus River

Gravel and sediment removal one of the steps being undertaken

  • Nov 12, 2022
The Chemainus River water levels remained low into late October, but that can change very quickly with a few days of heavy rains. (Photo by Don Bodger)
Sprinklers water the fairways at Lakeview Golf Course in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Golf’s origins date back hundreds of years to rural Scotland where the natural features of the land near Edinburgh created the hazards that golfers had to play around and sheep kept the grass well manicured. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Climate Changed: Canadian golf courses working to reduce ecological impact

Some courses looking to capture carbon, better conserve water

Sprinklers water the fairways at Lakeview Golf Course in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Golf’s origins date back hundreds of years to rural Scotland where the natural features of the land near Edinburgh created the hazards that golfers had to play around and sheep kept the grass well manicured. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The Canadian Coast Guard ship John P. Tully has been used to bring scientists to explore a large seamount region off Vancouver Island. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)

West Coast First Nations, feds reach tentative understanding on vast offshore region

Leadership mulls deal for proposed Marine Protected Area off Vancouver Island

The Canadian Coast Guard ship John P. Tully has been used to bring scientists to explore a large seamount region off Vancouver Island. (Devon Bidal/News Staff)
FILE - Lobster fishermen work at sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 8, 2022, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. Scientists, lawyers and government officials are gathered in Jamaica the week of Nov. 1, 2022 to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Hunt for deep sea minerals draws scrutiny amid green push

UN’s International Seabed Authority is global custodian for deep ocean waters outside any country

FILE - Lobster fishermen work at sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 8, 2022, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. Scientists, lawyers and government officials are gathered in Jamaica the week of Nov. 1, 2022 to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
A solar farm is pictured in Wasserleben near Wernigerode at the ‘Harz’ mountains, Germany, Thursday, July 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

VIDEO: Climate questions: What are the solutions?

Hundreds of potential solutions being explored

A solar farm is pictured in Wasserleben near Wernigerode at the ‘Harz’ mountains, Germany, Thursday, July 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Pohue Bay on Hawaii’s Big Island is pictured April 11, 2022. (Trust for Public Land via AP)

Hawaii’s Big Island gets warning as huge volcano rumbles

Eruption not considered imminent for Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984

Pohue Bay on Hawaii’s Big Island is pictured April 11, 2022. (Trust for Public Land via AP)
Deemed as an historic milestone for conservation, it was the result fo a partnership between the provincial Spotted Owl Breeding and Release Program and Spuzzum First Nation. (BC Gov News)

Wild B.C. population of critically endangered spotted owl jumps from 1 to 4

Conservation made possible due to partnership between Spuzzum First Nation and provincial government

Deemed as an historic milestone for conservation, it was the result fo a partnership between the provincial Spotted Owl Breeding and Release Program and Spuzzum First Nation. (BC Gov News)
A new study says the population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales continued its downward trend this year, partly because only 15 calves were born in 2022. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

Population of North Atlantic right whales continues decline

Decline of North Atlantic whale has slowed, but it continues

A new study says the population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales continued its downward trend this year, partly because only 15 calves were born in 2022. (Photo by The Canadian Press)
Environmental activist David Suzuki speaks during a rally in Vancouver, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Suzuki says he will retire next spring from his long-running post as host of CBC’s “The Nature of Things.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Eco-activist David Suzuki to retire from CBC’s ‘The Nature of Things’ in the spring

Suzuki’s final episode is set to air in the spring

Environmental activist David Suzuki speaks during a rally in Vancouver, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Suzuki says he will retire next spring from his long-running post as host of CBC’s “The Nature of Things.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Container ship MV Kingston is being escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo. (Photo: Transport Canada)

MV Zim Kingston showed West Coast it’s not prepared to handle marine cargo spills

Parliamentary committee wants response gap plugged in wake of 2021 fire and spill off Victoria

Container ship MV Kingston is being escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo. (Photo: Transport Canada)
A white sturgeon is seen in B.C. waters after being captured during sampling by the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society in an undated handout photo. Three British Columbia First Nations want the provincial and federal governments to live up to nine-month old court decision that said there is “overwhelming” evidence a dam on the Nechako River is killing endangered sturgeon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

B.C. First Nations seek action on sturgeon deaths, after court blamed declines on dam

First Nations claim mismanagement say quick action needed to protect their rights and the sturgeon

A white sturgeon is seen in B.C. waters after being captured during sampling by the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society in an undated handout photo. Three British Columbia First Nations want the provincial and federal governments to live up to nine-month old court decision that said there is “overwhelming” evidence a dam on the Nechako River is killing endangered sturgeon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
People enjoy the outdoors in very dry conditions in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Large numbers of trees in the park are dead or dying, due to drought conditions and an ongoing outbreak of western hemlock looper moths. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Drought and moths push the trees of Vancouver’s Stanley Park to the brink

Large numbers of browning trees appear dead or dying in Vancouver’s signature park

People enjoy the outdoors in very dry conditions in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Large numbers of trees in the park are dead or dying, due to drought conditions and an ongoing outbreak of western hemlock looper moths. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Cod fill a box on a trawler off the coast of Hampton Beach, N.H., in an April 23, 2016 file photo. A new audit of Canada’s efforts to protect aquatic species at risk of going extinct says the federal government is biased against listing commercially valuable fish as needing protection. THE CANADIAN PRESS /AP/Robert F. Bukaty

VIDEO: Environment commissioner warns Canada failing to protect commercially valuable fish

Fisheries and Oceans Canada extremely slow to act on recommendations, commissioner says

Cod fill a box on a trawler off the coast of Hampton Beach, N.H., in an April 23, 2016 file photo. A new audit of Canada’s efforts to protect aquatic species at risk of going extinct says the federal government is biased against listing commercially valuable fish as needing protection. THE CANADIAN PRESS /AP/Robert F. Bukaty
A bull kelp forest is seen underwater near Victoria in a May 13, 2015, in this handout image. Kelp forests, which can grow 20 to 30 metres tall from the ocean floor, provide food and shelter for thousands of marine species while absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Liam Coleman, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Scientists have developed a technique to restore kelp forests for future generations

Climate change and other factors are chopping away at the undersea forests

A bull kelp forest is seen underwater near Victoria in a May 13, 2015, in this handout image. Kelp forests, which can grow 20 to 30 metres tall from the ocean floor, provide food and shelter for thousands of marine species while absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Liam Coleman, *MANDATORY CREDIT*