WFCA Rumour Mill RoundUpDate Volume 25, Issue 7

WFCA Conference 2025: How do we unlock confidence, investment, and scale for the kind of restoration work our landscapes need?

Figure from Hurteau et al. 2024, doi:10.1002/fee.2801 Prior to European settlement, frequent occurrence of fire maintained a more open surface fire-dominated system that had a stable aboveground carbon (C) stock. Fire exclusion practices led to infilling and build-up of surface fuels, both of which increased the aboveground C stock and the potential for high-severity wildfire.

Liminal might be the best word to describe the space the forestry and restoration sector finds itself in at this time. A liminal space is a threshold, a place or state between one point and the next, often experienced as unsettling and unfamiliar. The old paradigm of forest management and the forest industry has changed, leaving us in the uneasy position of trying to figure out what’s next. One promising path to what’s next would be the emergence of the so-called restoration economy and the market for forestry services that could create for our sector. Such an economy would restore forest and range ecosystem resilience and services, including clean and reliable water, biodiversity, recreation, carbon sequestration, natural disaster hazard reduction, stable timber supply and economic development for rural communities. Yet the effects of climate change continue to increase in pace and scale, outpacing our current funding structures. What will it take to build confidence, investment, and scale for the kind of restoration work our landscapes need? We will try to answer that and many other forestry policy and practice questions at next year’s 2026 WFCA conference.

The Western Forestry Contractors’ Association will hold its Annual 2026 Conference, Trade Show and AGM in Victoria, January 28-30, 2026. Over those three days, we will cover workplace safety, human resources, forest policy and practices with engaging presenters, panelists, and workshop leaders. We will also present a full day of Working Effectively With Indigenous Peoples training on Tuesday, the 27th. We will soon be announcing our full conference program. So, stay tuned. For more information and to register, click HERE .

Rising World Cup Skier Says Planting Trees Part of Her Success

Whitehorse’s Sonja Schmidt says her unusual off-season training regime as a tree planter has sparked her performances on the international competitive cross-country skiing circuit.

Since antiquity, only in the last few centuries has our dependency on human muscular effort declined in getting work done. Similarly, our reliance on draft animals has followed the same course. The Romans, as they did with so many things, began to standardize expectations around the average tractive effort expected from teams of beasts. Their Theodosian Code laid out these efficiencies so that a Roman general, for instance, could better estimate how many oxen it might take to move a siege tower to assault a fortress wall. Brutal as the latter application might have been in practice, improvements over the centuries in the design of harnesses and wagons led to greater efficiencies. Of course, not all this work was left to the bovine. Horses, asses, mules, and even camels—rated twice as strong as a horse—were ranked. At the same time, humans have taken up their share of the burden, for better or worse, alongside these animals. Those who have an interest in comparing these exertions concluded that the average horse, for example, would perform ten times as much work in a day as a human.

If we consider horsepower in terms of sustained effort, average humans are capable of .1 horsepower. More fit specimens, like professional athletes, come in between .2 to .3 horsepower. Kinesiology professor Dr. Delia Roberts’s original studies of tree planters and their work concluded their daily exertions were comparable to Olympic competitors. Labour market studies estimate the total number of these seasonal tree planting industrial athletes as between 5000 to 6000. That would mean the total collective available horsepower for the whole sector is around 1500 hp—the equivalent of a couple of dozen high-end dirt bikes. In terms of brute force, the reforestation sector would appear to be remarkably underpowered compared to what it accomplishes. That apparent contradiction speaks to the cumulative effects of individual agility, endurance, strength, and attitude that make up the collective human effort that is our reforestation sector.

It’s not a surprise then that young Yukon cross-country skier Sonjaa Schmidt credits planting trees with her growing success in international championship skiing. “I’m a tree planter. I’ve done it for two seasons now, and I believe it’s a lot of the reason I have had success with skiing,” she said in a recent interview. “I don’t think it’s been anything but good for me, because it’s got me to where I am now, and it’s something I really do love.” For the whole story, click HERE .

The Cache Will Pay for Authentic Forestry Work Photographs

The Walk In: Experienced photographers and field workers who have authentic images of forestry work can sell them to The Cache: Submissions need to be in by early next year 2026

The Cache is building a visual archive that reflects the real working life of British Columbia’s forestry sector—on the block, in camp, and everywhere in between. We’re looking for experienced photographers and field workers who have authentic images of forestry and silviculture work in BC to submit for potential use on the Cache website and related materials.

This is not stock photography. We are specifically looking for grounded, field-authentic images that reflect day-to-day life in our industry. Click here for more information.

Our Winner of the Annual Holiday Season Crop Circle Contest as Chosen by Our Readers

2025 was a relatively quiet year for the crop-circle makers. But this winner spun into view in Devon, England in June. Thanks for all your entries.