What’s that crawling through the forests of Prince Edward Island? Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) scientists literally have their hands full as they search all corners of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) to learn more about the beetles crawling through its forests. Keywords: Forestry and insects Read more
What trees should I plant? (Urban Forest) Dendrologist Ken Farr takes us through a tour of the Arboretum of the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa to look at trees that you might find useful for planting in the urban forest in and around the place where you live. Keywords: Forestry and insects Watch now
The science — and art — of forecasting wildland fires On a beautiful spring day, it might be hard to imagine this is the calm before the storm. But wait. While Canada’s wildland fire season is off to a relatively quiet start, it could all change as early as June according to seasonal forecasts from Natural Resources Canada’s wildland fire research team. Keywords: Forestry and insects Natural hazards Read more
Digging Up Dirt on the Spruce Budworm The spruce budworm is an insect that eats the needles of fir and spruce, weakening the trees an putting them at risk for disease or even death. As if that wasn't enough, researchers are now looking at the potential impact that spruce budworm outbreaks could have on climate change. On today's episode: killer insects, scientific collaboration and elaborate cheese plates… Keywords: Forestry and insects Read more
Changing How We Fight Wildfires Today, we hear from someone who started his career by fighting fires on the ground. Now, he’s turned his sights to the sky. We’re about to find out how a satellite the size of a dishwasher could radically change the way we fight fires in Canada. Keywords: Forestry and insects Natural hazards Read more
A look at butternut defence mechanisms! Recent visitors to the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in Montreal have been amazed by twenty photographs resulting from Canadian scientific research. One brightly coloured image in particular is attracting attention — a microscopic image taken by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) scientists showing a white walnut or butternut tree defending itself against an exotic pathogenic fungus. Keywords: Forestry and insects Read more
Saving Our Ash Trees (Natural Elements) For the past two decades, ash trees have been under attack by a tiny, yet formidable foe – the emerald ash borer. This invasive pest has already killed tens of millions of ash trees and shows no signs of letting up. On this episode, we are speaking with an expert that is conserving ash seeds for future restoration activities. Keywords: Forestry and insects Read more
A mystery at the core of Canada’s western redcedar Canada has the world’s largest stock of standing western redcedar, but this once-dominant species is showing disturbing signs of distress. After a few years of very dry conditions, trees on lower-elevation sites in eastern Vancouver Island are slowly dying. Scientists at the Pacific Forestry Centre are trying to get to the root of the problem. Keywords: Forestry and insects Natural hazards Read more
Incorporating Artificial Intelligence (Ask NRcan) Like many organizations, the Government of Canada is exploring ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into our work to make us more efficient and effective. On this episode, we’ll learn what artificial intelligence is, and we’ll see how it can be used to solve problems that the natural resource sectors are facing. Keywords: Energy Forestry and insects Geosciences Maps Mining Natural hazards Read more
Slowing Down the Spruce Budworm (Ask NRCan) The spruce budworm is a notorious forest pest that has been causing havoc in recent years in Eastern Canada. It feeds on new foliage from spruce and fir trees, often killing them in the process. Rob Johns from the Canadian Forest Service joins us to talk about the measures taken to slow down the spruce budworm outbreak. Keywords: Forestry and insects Read more