Daily Archives: October 12, 2017

Today’s Takeaway

NAFTA negotiations teeter as Trudeau and Trump meet in Washington

October 12, 2017
Category: Today's Takeaway

With round four of the NAFTA talks underway and deal-breakers such as the dispute-resolution panels on the agenda, Trudeau and Trump suggest failure is possible and that a separate two-country deal may need to be pursued. 

BC’s Chief Forester has reduced the AAC in Prince George (by 33%) after years of higher cuts to salvage beetle killed timber; killer wildfires continue to rage in California wine country; authorities say 95% of California’s fires are started by people; US researchers study climate influences on wildfire frequency; and 2017 is already shaping up to be the worst fire year in Brazil

Northwestern Ontario is learning how it can play a pivotal role in the emerging biomass industry from Finland where incentives are provided to encourage the switch from oil to wood. Meanwhile, opposition groups speak out against biomass in western Massachusetts

Finally, proof positive that you can’t keep a good story down, more on BC’s forestry jobs report and the world’s tallest wood building.

— Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

NAFTA negotiations teeter as Trump threatens to rip up pact

By Laura Stone and Adrian Morrow
The Globe and Mail
October 12, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Trudeau and Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to kill NAFTA in a face-to-face meeting with Justin Trudeau, saying “it will be fine” if the trade agreement died. Hours later, Mr. Trudeau acknowledged for the first time that the 23-year-old trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico that has fuelled massive export growth could fall apart. Mr. Trump raised the prospect on Wednesday of terminating the North American free-trade agreement… with the U.S. President also hinting he might pursue a separate deal with either Canada or Mexico if the talks implode. In this round of NAFTA talks, the United States is expected to hit Canada and Mexico with tough demands on so-called rules of origin for autos. …Time has also been blocked off for talks on trade remedies, which could include the Chapter 19 dispute-resolution panels Canada and Mexico are fighting to keep against U.S. attempts to scrap them.

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City To Conduct Forestry Survey

CKPG News
October 11, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The City of Prince George has embarked on an ambitious survey. We’ve always known forestry is a big economic driver in this community, but how much so? “Forestry really is what Prince George was built on and we want to be able to measure the impact that it consistently has in the city,” explains Melissa Barcellos, the Prince George’s Economic Development Officer. Prince George will survey several sectors: primary and secondary manufacturers, fibre supply companies, and silviculture companies. The goal is to, one, get a clear picture of the direct and indirect impacts of forestry and, two, attract more manufacturing companies to Prince George. “SPF lumber is the majority of what’s coming out of Prince George and its going to other places, where it’s then re-manufactured, creating value-added jobs and new businesses in other cities.”

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Forestry contributes 140,000 jobs in BC

By Haley Ritchie
The Squamish Chief
October 11, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Eric Andersen

In light of a recent report highlighting B.C.’s Forestry sector, industry representatives in Squamish want to call attention to the “green tech” industry that they say already exists in the community. …Eric Andersen, of the Squamish and District Forestry Association, said the report is a good reminder to locals who are disconnected from the community’s founding industry. “It’s always a challenge to explain an industry that fewer people are engaged in. Both on the provincial and the local level, the truth is there are fewer people in the population directly engaged in these industries.” …Andersen said while local manufacturing jobs have seen a decline – the closure of the Woodfibre mill in 2006 ended paper manufacturing jobs in the area – specialized technical jobs in the forestry industry have grown.

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B.C. forest industry resilient: West Fraser CEO

By Ted Seraphim
Caledonia Courier
October 11, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ted Seraphim, CEO

When some people think about British Columbia’s forest industry, they think about the trees that we cut rather than the trees that we grow. The truth is that we grow a lot of trees in British Columbia’s forests – for every tree we harvest we plant two or three more in its place. The forestry sector is one of the earths most sustainable and renewable natural resources industries and is vital to the B.C. economy. Our industry employs, directly and indirectly, approximately 145,000 people in British Columbia and we account for one-third (36 per cent) of B.C. exports. …Whether it was fighting fires with the local fire department, setting up sprinklers around our mills, creating fireguards or generously opening up their homes for evacuees, I am so very proud of our employees.

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First Nation sawmill operation eyes expansion

By Ian Ross
Northern Ontario Business
October 12, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

A northwestern Ontario First Nation is exploring avenues on how to expand its thriving sawmill operation and delve into more value-added manufacturing. A small four-employee multi-dimensional lumber mill on the large reserve, north and west of Sioux Lookout, has been busy serving needs of the community, nearby Sioux Lookout, and many area tourism outfitter camps. “The rough sawn lumber is going out the door fast,” said Bert Hennessey, general manager of Obishikokaang Resources Corporation (ORC).  “It’s just the (operating) margins aren’t the best.” The corporation is shepherding along a plan to expand into a two-sawmill operation offering a wider array of forest product offerings. “People are excited about the facility,” said Hennessey, based on the volume of walk-in visitors asking for slabs and ordering products. “It’s small but to be really successful in the future it’s going to need funding to be more mechanized and efficient with new equipment.”

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Timber Products plant quieted by fire

By Greg Stiles
Mail Tribune
October 11, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Production lines at Timber Products’ Medford particle board plant are silent following a two-alarm fire Tuesday night. Timber Products Vice President David Smith, who was in Medford Wednesday to inspect the damage, wasn’t sure when the plant’s 96 employees would return to action. “It’s too early to tell right now when we’ll reopen,” Smith said. “We’re still evaluating the facility.” The company’s plywood and veneer mills, adjacent to the particle board facility at the northeast corner of Sage and West McAndrews roads, remained in operation.

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Domtar plant manager: Just say no to electronic forms

By Ken Elkins
Charlotte Business Journal
October 12, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Drake Roach

Drake Roach, the plant manager at Domtar’s Rock Hill paper converting facility, has a funny version of the “Just say no …” phrase. “Just say no to the electronic version,” he says. Roach is talking about those prompts you get from the credit card companies, utility companies and others encouraging customers to opt out of receiving printed statements mailed to them. “You’re impacting the plant in Rock Hill” when you say “yes” to electronic versions, Roach told a group of about 30 people during a plant tour Tuesday. …Roach is an advocate for the printed statement because that business means 55 jobs for the Rock Hill economy. The center is one of a declining number of plants that convert giant rolls of paper to computer paper, perforated forms and even paper for those monthly bills and statements. “We process the paper into a usable form that might go to the insurance industry, airlines or even colleges,” Roach says.

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Twin Creeks Timber Acquires 121,000 Acres of Timberland in the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest

By Silver Creek Capital Management
Business Wire
October 12, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

SEATTLE–Twin Creeks Timber LLC , a joint venture originally formed in 2015 in part by Silver Creek Capital Management, a $6.3 billion alternative investment manager, to enable institutions to directly invest in high quality timber assets alongside a timberland operator, today announced that it will add 121,000 acres of timberland to its portfolio. Twin Creeks will purchase 100,000 acres located in the Southern U.S. from Weyerhaeuser Company and receive a contribution of 21,000 acres located in the Pacific Northwest from Green Diamond Resource Company. Through the addition of these timber assets, Twin Creeks will increase its Southern portfolio to 360,000 acres and add the Pacific Northwest to its portfolio. The timberland transactions are expected to close by year end.

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Vision for turnaround of wood-fired plant in West Enfield takes a hit

By Tux Turkel
Portland Press Herald
October 11, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

A potential investor in a wood-fired power plant in West Enfield has withdrawn its request to have the state guarantee a $5 million loan amid allegations that the plant’s owner owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and taxes. The action is a setback for Stored Solar LLC, which has been trying to make its mostly idle plant profitable by locating a shrimp farm and greenhouses on the property, part of an innovative vision of how to revive Maine’s struggling forest-products industry. …In an email Wednesday to the Portland Press Herald, Kimberly Samaha, chief executive officer at Synthesis Venture Fund Partners, an entity allied with Stored Solar, acknowledged the challenges of turning around the biomass plants.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

New UBC student residence the world’s tallest wood building

By Peter Meiszner
urbanYVR
October 11, 2017
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

If you don’t spend much time out at UBC, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that the campus is now home to world’s tallest wood building. The 18-storey Brock Commons student residence was completed this summer, and is the world’s tallest contemporary wood building. Brock Commons, also known as Tallwood House, houses more than 400 students in 33 four-bedroom suites and 272 studio suites. The building was designed by Acton Ostry Architects Inc., in collaboration with structural engineers Fast + Epp, tall wood advisor Architekten Hermann Kaufmann of Austria, and Structurlam in Penticton, B.C.

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Quebec food stick plant conquers new markets

By Guillaume Roy
Wood Business – Canadian Forest Industries
October 11, 2017
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East
Do you remember the last time you ate a popsicle? There is a good chance that you were holding on to your icy treat with a wooden stick produced by Quebec company John Lewis Industries. John Lewis provides the vast majority of popsicle sticks to food companies throughout North America. …John Lewis Industries eventually reached its max growth in the popsicle market by supplying most of the big players. To grow, the company had to find new markets. Rémabec decided to bet on the batter-coated sausage market, also known under the generic name “Pogo”. In early 2015, Rémabec invested $2.3 million to construct a new building dedicated to the production of sausage sticks. For now, two processing lines have been installed in order to produce 650 million sticks.

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The companies making bicycles from wood

By Thessa Lageman
BBC News
October 12, 2017
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The forerunner of the bicycle – the laufmaschine or running machine – bears only a passing resemblance to the pedal-bikes we know today. Invented in 1817, it had no chain and was powered by the rider pushing his feet along the ground in a walking or running motion. Even more unusually, its frame was made from wood. Jump forward to 2017, and a crop of bike makers is turning back the clock – at least in terms of using wood as a core material. These firms make their bicycles in part, and occasionally wholly, from woods such as ash, oak and walnut. They are driven by a love of craft and design, the desire to use natural materials, and a passion for cycling itself. And they have attracted a small but growing base of enthusiastic customers, willing to pay high prices for their lovingly crafted creations.

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Timber trade gathers at Timber Expo

The Timber Trades Journal
October 12, 2017
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Timber construction seminars, new product launches, a woodworking awards shortlist announcement and a UK/Belarus timber trade event were just some of the highlights taking place this week at Timber Expo. The three-day show (October 10-12) at Birmingham NEC is the UK’s only exhibition dedicated to timber products and also featured the release of the Structural Timber Association’s annual survey results, which showed timber frame construction’s share of UK new housing starts increased to 28.4% (52,705 units) in 2016. Timber frame construction now accounts for 22.4% of new housing starts in England and 83% in Scotland. “The trend is upwards and could be significantly upwards,” said STA CEO Andrew Carpenter.

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Forestry

FSC-Certified Products Nudging Consumers Into Walking Their Sustainability Talk

Sponsored by Domtar
Sustainable Brands
October 10, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

As hundreds of business leaders and environmental advocates descend on Vancouver, Canada this week for the Forest Stewardship Council General Assembly, consumer-driven sustainability will be among the topics of discussion. …There they consider, debate and vote on strategies for ensuring the conservation of the world’s forests. For companies such as Domtar and Kimberly-Clark, consumers are crucial to mainstreaming sustainable practices. That is the reason both corporations are working to give shoppers better options, including FSC-certified products. FSC certification helps ensure that forests used to source a host of products are managed in a way that takes into account environmental, social and economic concerns.

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Board to audit Lakeside Pacific Forest Products Ltd.

BC Forest Practices Board
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will examine the activities of Lakeside Pacific Forest Products Ltd. (Lakeside) on forest licence A19207, near Harrison Lake, during the week of Oct. 16, 2017. Auditors will examine whether harvesting, roads, silviculture, fire protection and associated planning, carried out between October 2015 and October 2017, met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. Lakeside’s forestry operations are located on the east and west sides of Harrison Lake, about 25 kilometres north of Harrison Hot Springs, in the Chilliwack Resource District.

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New Annual Allowable Cut Levels Set

CKPG News Prince George
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Diane Nicholls

BC’s Chief Forester, Diane Nicholls, has released new Annual Allowable Cut levels for the Prince George Timber Supply area (TSA) and, not surprisingly, the limits will decrease. …In recent years, the AAC was increased to accommodate salvage of wood destroyed by the Mountain Pine Beetle. That has now come to an end. The reductions represent a 33% reduction in the Prince George TSA and that should not be surprising to anyone. “Now we’ve got a situation where the AAC’s have to drop to a recovery level so it gives our forests a chance to recover. And that drop is going to last for a full 50 to 70 years, says Marleen Morris of the Community Development Institute at UNBC.

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Conservation group protects Cape Breton wetlands, mature forest

The Chronicle Herald
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

A national conservation group has protected 274 hectares of wetlands, forest and gypsum landscapes in Cape Breton. Preserving these three “extraodinary habitats” is the first step in its long-term plan for central Cape Breton, the Nature Conservancy of Canada said in a news release Wednesday. …The project will also protect 69 hectares of mainly Acadian forest near Marble Mountain at Bras d’Or Lake. Only five per cent of the Martime provinces’ original Acadian forest remains as the result of hundreds of years of harvesting. The wetlands component includes 43 hectares at West Lake Ainslie, near the Black River Bog Nature Reserve, which is managed by the province. This area provided habitat for one of the most significant groups of rare plants in Nova Scotia. The forest and wetlands areas were purchased by the conservancy.

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Nearby greenery may help Canadians live longer, new study suggests

By Kevin Bissett
The Chronicle Journal
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

FREDERICTON – A new study suggests having daily exposure to trees and other greenery can extend your life. Dan Crouse of the University of New Brunswick, along with other researchers …studied 1.3 million Canadians in 30 cities over an 11-year period. “We found that those who have more trees and vegetation around where they lived had an eight to 12 per cent reduced risk of dying compared to those who didn’t,” Crouse said Wednesday. …Researchers found the protective effects of exposure to green space weren’t the same for everyone, however. “One thing that was kind of striking is that we found that those who were in the highest income bracket and those who had the highest levels of education were benefiting more from the exposure to greenness,” he said.

 

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Wildfires: How They Form, And Why They’re So Dangerous

By Austa Somvichian-Clausen
National Geographic
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

As deadly wildfires continue to rage across Northern California’s wine country, with winds picking up speed overnight and worsening conditions to now include a combined 54,000 acres of torched land, it now seems more important than ever to understand how wildfires work, and their lasting implications on our health and the environment.Though the exact source of Sonoma County’s wildfires is unclear, authorities have pointed to the fact that 95 percent of fires in the state of California are started by people, according to CNN. Meteorologists aren’t yet able to forecast wildfire outbreaks, but there are three conditions that must be present in order for a wildfire to burn. Firefighters refer to it as the fire triangle: fuel, oxygen, and a heat source. 

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Thinning forests for Flagstaff watershed protection reason to celebrate

By the Editorial Board
Arizona Daily Sun
October 12, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

As wildfires rage across California and the death toll mounts, it’s an appropriate time to assess the fire risks facing the Flagstaff region, too. Two decades ago, the answer to the question, “What is the single biggest threat facing Flagstaff,” the answer would likely have been, “Catastrophic wildfire.” The Radio Fire of 1977 had already denuded much of Mount Elden, and by the late 1990s, the city was still ringed by massive swaths of overgrown ponderosa pine forest that during dry years threatened to go up like Roman torches. The Pumpkin, Hochderffer and Horseshoe fires northwest of the city showed off the power of crown fires, and smaller ones closer to town such as the Woody Fire revealed just how precarious the margin of safety was.

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Killer wildfires continue to rage in California’s wine country, with 23 dead and hundreds missing

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Kristine Phillips, Joel Achenbach and Herman Wong
The Washington Post
October 12, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

ANTA ROSA, Calif. — The wind known as the Diablo has picked up again, the air is dry, there is no rain in sight and the killer wildfires ravaging Northern California’s wine country remained almost completely uncontained Thursday morning. Officials warned that some of the big fires could merge, even as new blazes erupted, and thousands of people have been told to prepare to leave their homes — if they haven’t already. Evacuations continue, including one order covering the entire city of Calistoga in Napa County. …“These destructive winds, along with millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter storms, all contributed to some trees, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the North Bay,” she said. …Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said they have yet to determine the cause of the fires.

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Missoula urban forest getting noticed

By Jill Valley
KPAX.com
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

MISSOULA – It’s one of Missoula’s largest urban forests you may not have noticed before — 100,000 hybrid poplar trees located on a 180-acre site just off Mullan Road near the wastewater treatment plant. …In a few years, they’ll be harvested and sold as sawlogs and then replanted. It’s a peaceful place that’s doing more than just providing habitat and a future source of income for the city. The trees are also helping to save the Clark Fork River by using what’s called effluent water to grow the trees. “We do this primarily to take nutrients: phosphorous and nitrogen out of the river and land apply it and grow trees. We’re taking 20-to-25 percent of our discharge to the river and putting it on our trees in the summer…when the algae season is and want to keep algae out of the Clark Fork River,” said wastewater plane supervisor Starr Sullivan.

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Gianforte votes with House GOP to revamp law on national monuments

By Matthew Daly
Helena Independent Record
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are moving to restrict the president’s ability to protect millions of acres of federal land considered historic, geographically significant or culturally important. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said presidents of both parties have misused the 1906 Antiquities Act to create oversized monuments that hinder energy development, grazing and other uses. Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, introduced a bill that would prevent presidents from designating monuments larger than 85,000 acres and grant veto power to states and local officials for monuments larger than 10,000 acres. The GOP-controlled resources panel approved the bill Wednesday, 23-17, sending it to the House floor.

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Record Amazon fires stun scientists; sign of sick, degraded forests

By Sue Branford and Maurício Torres
Mongabay
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Figures from the Brazilian government’s INPE (National Institute of Space Research) show that 2017 is shaping up to be the worst year on record for forest fires: 208,278 were detected by 5 October. …While there is a high level of drought this year, it is clear that something other than dry conditions is driving the record number of wildfires. …INPE, which has a sophisticated system for monitoring fires, has built up an impressive archive of satellite images of the damage done by the fires. …The fact that there has been a record number of fires this year doesn’t necessarily mean that there has been an increase in the area deforested. Instead, fires are often the result of a different phenomenon: forest degradation, which occurs when loggers move in to extract hard timber.

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Hitachi uses IoT technology for SMART Forests

Deccan Chronicle
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Hitachi India, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., and Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST), an institute under Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India have collaborated to implement a SMART Forest initiative. Hitachi India has undertaken this project as a CSR activity and is deploying IoT technology towards e-protection and conservation of high value forest species like sandalwood and rosewood. The project entails a feasibility study to develop a solution for timely detection and prevention of unauthorized axing/ chopping-off of valuable trees, which would indirectly monitor the health and growth of these trees, thereby contributing to the social goal of conserving forests and protecting flora and fauna and providing a sustainable solution to meet this objective.

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Logging halt at Barrabup old growth

By Karen Hunt
The West Australian
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The State Government says it will protect old growth forest found at Barrabup near Nannup but conservationists say it needs to do more to deliver on its election promises. A Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions report on Friday found the 530ha Barrabup block contained 43ha of minimally disturbed old-growth jarrah. Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said the old-growth area would be protected but expressed disappointment that 1.2ha had been disturbed by roadworks. He called on the department to “ensure stricter compliance” with logging protocols. Forestry Minister Dave Kelly said he asked the Forest Products Commission to explain why old growth was not identified sooner. “FPC will also be re-evaluating the harvest strategy for the Barrabup coupe and harvesting will not commence until this is complete,” he said.

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Tensions over a sustainable timber industry amid claims koala habitats getting smashed

By Dom Vukovic
ABC News Australia
October 11, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Dean Kearney

…As senior manager at the Forestry Corporation, Mr Dean Kearney manages logging and timber harvesting for native forests and eucalyptus plantations across New South Wales. The organisation has come under criticism from former Labor environment minister Bob Debus and environmental groups who say it’s destroying koala habitats and leaving forests “smashed to the ground.” “Koala populations have plummeted by 50 per cent on the north coast in the past 20 years due to under-regulated logging,” Susie North from the North Coast Environment Council said. Mr Kearney strongly disagrees. “We’ve got the balance right between protecting koalas and harvesting timber,” he said.

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Budget 2018: Allocations for forestry, organics and more

By Sylvester Phelan
Agriland
October 12, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Budget 2018 has brought about continued major investment in forestry, Bord na gCon (Irish Greyhound Board), commercial horticulture and the organic sector. An allocation of €106 million (including a capital carryover) has been set aside for forestry development during 2018, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Welcoming the budget announcement, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle, said: “This allocation is evidence of the government’s commitment to ensuring a successful afforestation programme and supporting the further development of the sector in line with the Forestry Programme 2014-2020. “This allocation will allow for the planting of over 6,600 new hectares of forests next year and is in fact an increase in the budget over what was spent in the last three years.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Switching oil for wood in heating: Finnish government incentives fuel ‘revolution’ in thinking

CBC News
October 12, 2017
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Kai Mykkanen

It’s time to think outside the wooden box if countries like Canada want to cut down on the use of fossil fuels as a energy and heat source, says Kai Mykkanen, the minister of foreign trade and development in Finland, who was speaking Wednesday in Thunder Bay, Ont., at the Biomass North conference. “We never found oil and that’s why we were forced to concentrate and focus more on how we can actually increase the value-added,” he said. In Canada, trees tend to be used for one purpose only, be it as lumber or in pulp and paper manufacturing. But in Finland, the wood is used in both those areas as well as in energy production, and as a fuel source.

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Northwest buys into biomass

By Brent Linton
The Chronicle Journal
October 12, 2017
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Dawn Lambe

Northwestern Ontario is poised to play a pivotal role in the emerging biomass economy according to Dawn Lambe the executive director of Biomass North Development. Biomass North Forum, a two-day conference in Thunder Bay, started Wednesday with a large delegation from Finland taking part. “In the north, our forestry industry has been in transformation. It has been a period of incredible confusion, rebirth and regrowth,” Lambe told The Chronicle-Journal. “The north, I think, is in a unique position to define what’s going to happen with their forest in the future,” she said. Small municipalities and First Nations communities are driving the new bio-economy by taking jurisdiction over forest resources and allocating biomass forest byproducts to their own interests, said Lambe.

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Team researching how climate influences wildfire frequency

Phys.Org
October 11, 2017
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

A team of researchers from the University of Missouri … and United States Forest Service are continuing an effort to research how climate influences wildfire frequency. The group…developed the Physical Chemical Fire Frequency Model (PC2FM) just a few years ago. The model focuses on two variables – temperature and precipitation – to understand how climate drives wildfire across the world. “Development of this model began as a conversation about what is controlling wildfire frequency across the entire United States,” said Stambaugh, an associate research professor in forestry. …While wildfires can’t be fully prevented, the model can be used understand climate’s influence on wildfire probability and where and why it changes across different regions.

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Forest group opposes Mohawk Trail partnership on biomass concerns

By M.J. Tidwell
Daily Hampshire Gazette
October 11, 2017
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Stephen Kulik

BOSTON — Opponents of a bill to establish the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership Fund say it is a “classic Trojan horse” to expand biomass energy production in western Massachusetts under the guise of sustainable forestry. But Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, who proposed the legislation, says wood energy is not a focus of the bill and economic development comes second to forest conservation. “I can say flatly and honestly that this is a very straightforward utilization of forest resources,” Kulik said. “These charges are completely false and misleading, and are, unfortunately, being spread by a small group who are deliberately mischaracterizing this bill.” . …“It takes us in the opposite direction from what is needed to pave the way to a clean energy future,” stated a press release from the Concerned Citizens of Franklin County & MTWP Advisory Committee, Restore the North Woods and Mass Forest Rescue Campaign.

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