With an estimated 7,000 people planting trees across Canada, the federal government has committed up to $30 million in emergency funding to help contractors cover the extra costs of COVID-19 protection.
The funds are aimed at keeping the Justin Trudeau governmentB次元官网网址檚 reforestation commitment to plant 600 million trees on schedule, covering costs such as sanitizing stations, additional accommodation and transportation space and personal protective equipment, Natural Resources Canada said in a statement.
B.C.B次元官网网址檚 annual program had more than 300 million of those seedlings scheduled to be planted in 10 weeks this summer, but the start was delayed to develop coronavirus pandemic plans. It got underway in May.
Measures ordered for industrial camps include spaced seating in trucks and buses, and physical spacing measures for camps.
B次元官网网址淔aced with the challenges of both maintaining the manufacturing of essential products and ensuring seedlings are planted on schedule amid COVID-19, federal, provincial and territorial governments, together with industry, work collaboratively to quickly put in place measures to protect workers and communities,B次元官网网址� the statement said. B次元官网网址淭he government intends to work with the provinces and territories to deliver this funding, which will preserve jobs for forest sector workers, including approximately 7,000 tree planters this year.B次元官网网址�
In April, B.C.B次元官网网址檚 chief forester requested that any tree planting in B.C. that hadnB次元官网网址檛 started be delayed until May. Contractors imposed two-week isolation for employees before they went out to work
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The B.C. government is carrying on its program through the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., including fire prevention by removing fire-killed trees for fuel pellet production. Among them is a $1.25 million grant to the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, to rehabilitate forest areas severely damaged by wildfires in 2018.
on the south side of Francois Lake between Grassy Plains, Ootsa and Cheslatta Lakes, 65 km south of Burns Lake.
B次元官网网址淭he wildfires of 2018 burned 75 per cent of the Cheslatta Community Forest and even more overall on the territory,B次元官网网址� said Ben Wilson, forestry coordinator for the Cheslatta Carrier Nation.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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