Waiting for a new government in BC is “putting pressure on resource-dependent communities” says Bob Simpson, Mayor of Quesnel, as the chief forester can’t issue annual cut determinations until there is a new forest minister.
Andrew Weaver (leader of the BC Green Party) attended the First Nations Summit last week in Vancouver where he sounded very certain about his commitment to a “bottoms-up” approach to resource development consultation that “engages First Nations at the get-go“.
The Nevada Division of Forestry has selected an acting state forester – congratulations to Kacey KC, the first woman to hold this position!
A cooperage company in Kentucky is working to ensure the sustainability of white oak by undertaking planting and thinning projects. Scientists have noted that while the overall volume of the species has increased, there is a decline in the regeneration of high quality trees so Independent Stave is urging other companies to also “implement good forestry practices” to avoid a shortage of this species in the future.
— Heidi Walsh, Tree Frog Editor
VANCOUVER, B.C. — There’s no question the Trump administration made some waves during its first 100 days in office, and imposing up to 24% duties on subsidized Canadian softwood lumber was one ripple that hit Canada’s shores, making some in the industry uneasy. “We are very concerned about the potential for the effects of these duties flowing down the supply chain to the logging contractors in British Columbia,” said David Elstone, executive director of B.C.’s Truck Loggers Association. “Over 90% of the timber harvested in this province is done by independent timber harvesting contractors. The duties are unjust and we expect our industry will vigorously defend against them.” Elstone said he was waiting for the next shoe to drop on the softwood lumber dispute, with a preliminary determination on anti-dumping duties expected to be announced June 23.
WASHINGTON – A delegation of Canadian members of the United Steelworkers (USW) from the wood products industry are telling U.S. politicians today that workers on both sides of the border will benefit from a negotiated settlement on lumber and the termination of unfair countervailing and anti-dumping duties imposed by the United States. “The only way forward is together,” said Bob Matters, USW Canadian Wood Council Chair and leader of the delegation of nine Canadian forestry sector workers. “Canadians and Americans have a long history of working together and we are here this week to advocate for a fair deal that will benefit both Americans and Canadians.” USW members are meeting with several members of Congress and Senators who work on trade issues. 
Paper and wood fibre producer Domtar Inc., pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000 in court after a worker suffered a permanent injury caused by a machine.The incident took place at Domtar’s paper mill in Espanola on July 18, 2015. On that day, a worker was cutting a section of dryer felt on a paper machine while performing a repair. The paper machine was mechanically and electrically locked out, as required by Domtar’s policies. Upon cutting the dryer felt, elastic stretch in the paper machine was released. As a result, a chain and sprocket mechanism moved, and the worker received injuries that included loss of dexterity. The court was told that employees failed to block the chain to prevent movement in the course of repair work.
ARKADELPHIA – Hardwood pulp prices should remain strong, pulp pinewood may be brighter in the coming decades, but pine saw timber will likely remain static for the foreseeable future, according to predictions for Arkansas’ $6.3 billion forest industry. Matt Pelkki, economist and associate director of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and George H. Clippert Endowed Chair of Forestry at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, was among the presenters during a day of education and training for registered foresters. … “Hardwood pulp prices are higher because we have four large paper mills — Domtar, Evergreen, Georgia Pacific-Crossett and Clearwater — that all use large amounts of hardwood in their paper making processes,” Pelkki said. “Only Green Bay in Morrilton does not use hardwoods for making its products.
What happens when a trapper and a tree hugger meet in the woods? A shared vision and common ground found in Kananaskis Country’s Highwood River Valley. K-Country is common ground for many Albertans. It is 4,600 square-kilometres of high mountains, deep forested valleys, rolling foothills and rivers we love. It’s where we play, where we get our water, and where people earn good livings for their families from tourism. Plans to log a significant portion of the hillsides and valley bottom around Highwood Junction, where highways 40 and 940 meet, puts that common ground at risk. The future of endangered westslope cutthroat trout, grizzlies, wolves and cougars, as well as our ability to hike, camp, hunt and trap in the region are under threat. British Columbia-based Balcaen Consolidated plans to clearcut nearly 800 acres of timber in the region. Meanwhile, Cochrane-based Spray Lake Sawmills plans to log the forested eastern slope of Kananaskis between Willow and Sullivan creeks. Together, these plans create a significant challenge for land that deserves better management.
The Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resources are heading up the charge against a local infestation of Douglas fir bark beetle at two prominent recreation areas within the city. The work started several months ago in and around the Pidherny Recreation Site, to slow help slow spread of the beetle. The Douglas Fir beetle is known attack fallen fir trees over green trees. And is also less aggressive than the mountain pine beetle. Ministry of Forest is monitoring the progress of the beetle over the next few months and will take necessary steps to slow the movement of the beetle. (END OF STORY)
Andrew Weaver, Leader of the British Columbia Green Party, says he is committed to a “bottom-up” approach to resource development, where communities are consulted ahead of projects proceeding – a plan he detailed on Thursday in a meeting with First Nations leaders. For too long, Mr. Weaver said, resource developers have sought government approval before seeking support from communities. “That’s top down and guaranteed to fail. It divides communities,” Mr. Weaver, sitting beside fellow Green MLA Adam Olsen, told the summit. The First Nations Summit, a political organization representing 60 per cent of the First Nations population in B.C., is holding meetings at a Musqueam community centre in Vancouver over two days. 
Some property owners are seething after finding hundreds of plastic Irving seedling trays dumped in the woods. More than 200 of the emptied, hard plastic trays, with the letters ‘JDI’ and the ‘Irving’ emblem stamped into the plastic, were found in the forest near Claudie Road, just outside the city limits of Fredericton. “I’m pretty upset,” said Mark McCann, the owner of the property the planters were strewn over. “It’s so frustrating.” …McCann posted photos of his discovery of the trash on social media. The next day he says he was contacted by a representative from JDI. “They said that they could relate with how upset I am, that it was dumped on private property,” said McCann. … JDI says they don’t know how their material ended up as trash in the forest, but told CBC that they will clean it up. 
Automation was never a bad word in the logging industry. It represented a more efficient, safer way to harvest timber. But it has changed the face of the industry. Now, the demand for workers highly skilled in electronics is on the rise. At the same time, those technical advances mean that fewer workers are needed in the field. Retired forester Len Lindstrand said the shift in technology was gradual, but persistent. High-tech equipment has increased not only the efficiency of timber harvesting, but also the skill level required to work in the forest industry. “At the logging end, it requires a bit of training,” Lindstrand said. “There is the computer assisted equipment in addition to being able to show up at the crack of dawn with your gloves and lunch to go to work.” Today’s logger is expected to do more than ever before. 
Despite the expected intensity of this year’s fire season, it’s an exciting time for Kacey KC, as she is the first female to be declared acting state forester within the Nevada Division of Forestry. Before KC, there were seven state foresters in Nevada. Her promotion as interim ensued when former state forester, Joe Freeland, resigned in October 2016 following the Little Valley Fire. She became acting as of April. She served as deputy administrator for a year before she was selected to the new role. “I feel excited for the opportunities ahead of this team,” she said. “We have time to grow from past experiences and perfect what we do. It’s an exacting time to move forward.” This past week has been a busy one for KC with the recent wildfires near Brunswick Canyon, Topaz Lake, and Truckee. KC said she’s worried about this year’s fire season, as the area’s wet winter produced a large amount of cheatgrass.
A new lawsuit contends that the U.S. Forest Service erred when it excluded a 13,500-acre Elkhorn Mountains project for further environmental analysis. Native Ecosystems Council and Montana Ecosystem Defense Council filed the lawsuit in federal court in Missoula over the Johnny Crow Habitat Improvement Project located about 10 miles from Townsend. Intended to mirror historic wildfires, the project includes prescribed burning along with noncommercial cutting and slash burning of small trees. The project also aims to reduce encroachment of conifers into traditional grasslands, increasing tree-age diversity and promoting forage for wildlife, according to Forest Service documents.
The next step in the years-long effort to develop a revised management plan for the Flathead National Forest, originally expected this month, won’t be rolled out until late August at the earliest. Joe Krueger is leading the team to develop the 2.4 million-acre forest’s first management plan overhaul in the last 30 years. He said Friday the expected June release of the final environmental impact statement has been pushed back two months due to a combination of factors, including the need to coordinate extensively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service. “The time-frames take longer when you’re dealing with 33,000 comments, and we’re trying to keep it as accurate as possible,” Krueger said, adding that he’s also been diverted by several broad public-records requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.
As you drive north and west from the Merrimack Valley and the Seacoast, people quickly notice New Hampshire’s long stretches of green forest landscape. What you probably don’t see is that these forests are experiencing a mid-life crisis of sorts. Jack Savage of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests recently wrote on this exact crisis. He touches on a recent report from the American Forest Foundation. It found the forests of the Northeast are mostly one age, with not enough young trees, or older, more mature trees. This has resulted in pressure on our wildlife, especially those that depend on habitat variety. To bring our forests back into balance and ensure we have them in the future, they need active stewardship. How do we do this? He recommends we turn to an unexpected group — New Hampshire’s family woodland owners. Jack’s view is spot on. Small family and individual woodland owners stewarding our forests could significantly improve New Hampshire’s forests.
There is no doubt the evacuation of Fort McMurray during a devastating wildfire came too late, but no one is to blame, fire Chief Jody Butz said Friday. Nobody could have predicted the “unprecedented” inferno that destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the entire city to evacuate, Butz said, speaking about a pair of government reports that describe a chaotic, disorganized emergency response. The fire grew so forcefully, any community would have struggled to cope, he said. “Obviously, in reflection, we can all agree [the response] wasn’t soon enough,” Butz said in a news conference from Fort McMurray. “But in understanding the size and the scale of how this wildfire had blown up, for all intents and purposes, I think the work done from that point forward was incredible.” 
The provincial government’s announcement eight months ago to no longer provide room and board to specialized firefighters based in Salmon Arm had nothing to do with saving money, according to documents released by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO). Last October, the government estimated it could save taxpayers $119,000 a year by cutting out the services for members of the Salmon Arm Rapattack base. Internal background documents and emails obtained under the Access to Information Act spell out a different reason for the controversial cutbacks. …An information note prepared for a FLNRO assistant deputy minister on July 25, 2016 reads “elitism and special treatments have combined to create a barrier between Rappel crews and other firefighting crews and staff around the province.”
Water bombers and ground crews are on the scene of a forest fire near homes in Bunyan’s Cove, south of Terra Nova National Park, Friday evening. The fire was reported at 4:02 p.m. and there is a lot of smoke in the area, according to Dan Lavigne, provincial forest fire duty officer with the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources. Lavigne said the fire is close to three homes, so RCMP officers are keeping a close eye on things to determine if evacuations are needed. Two water bombers were dispatched from Gander and St. John’s and “are making good progress,” he told CBC News around 6:30 p.m. There are also eight ground crew working on the fire.
The U.S. Forest Service is working to manage a host of wildfires throughout the state, although in most cases firefighters are managing the fires rather than trying to put them out. A relatively mild May has given firefighters a break, allowing them to contain the fires within a larger area in hopes the relatively low-intensity fires will thin the forest and consume woody debris on the forest floor. Crews are working to establish buffer zones between the fires and subdivisions and keep the fires contained within natural firebreaks, like the cleared corridors of roads and power lines and the areas cleared by previous fires. All week long, smoke from these fires atop the Rim drifted through Rim Country, alarming some residents.
