Daily Archives: March 14, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

US imposes preliminary anti-dumping duties of 22% on Canadian newsprint

March 14, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

The US Dept. of Commerce imposed anti-dumping duties averaging 22.16 per cent against most Canadian newsprint producers, adding to the 6.53 per cent in countervailing duties levied earlier. The Canadian government and FPAC responded with disappointment and determination. In other trade news: Trump’s firing of Rex Tillerson is said to be “bad for NAFTA“; and some homebuilders say “tariffs are Trump’s war new housing“.

In Forestry news: the WWF says half the world’s forests are at risk to climate change; the Oregon logging conference celebrates 80 years; a New York Times headline reads “turning back the clock on protecting Alaska’s wild lands“; and a Wisconsin stewardship agreement brings “tree-huggers and lumberjacks together“.

Finally, wood is making a comeback in housebuilding in the UK, and congratulations to Dave Lehane [previously of West Fraser fame], the newly appointed Chair of the BC Forest Safety Council.

–Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Special Feature

Pacific Forestry Centre assists Province and industry in assessing efficacy of breeding programs in southern Vancouver Island seed orchards

By David Dunn, Robert Kowbel, and Annette van Niejenhuis
Natural Resources Canada
March 14, 2018
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Natural Resources Canada, Pacific Forestry Centre (PFC), Analytical Chemistry Lab is performing DNA microsatellite marker analysis of select foliage and seed to assess self-pollination rates in Western redcedar (Thuja plicata) and external pollen contamination rates in Coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) in southern Vancouver Island seed orchards.  Approximately 5,000 individual tests of Western redcedar and Douglas-fir are being conducted at the PFC lab to help orchardists ensure sufficient seed of high genetic value is produced through tree breeding, seed-orchard production, and related activities to meet reforestation objectives and enhance timber supply and quality. 

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Business & Politics

Statement by Canada on U.S. anti-dumping duties on imports of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper

Global Affairs Canada
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Jim Carr, Minister of Natural Resources, today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination in its anti-dumping investigation on imports of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper. “We are disappointed with today’s preliminary anti-dumping determination, which follows preliminary countervailing-duty rates previously announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce on January 9. “Any duties will have a direct and negative impact on ‎U.S. newspapers, especially those in small cities and towns, ‎and result in job losses in the American printing sector‎. “Our government is committed to helping our forest industry enhance existing trade relationships and diversify trade with new international markets. “…We will continue to work with our forest industry, provinces and territories, and communities across Canada to defend this vital sector against unfair and unwarranted U.S. trade measures and practices.”

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FPAC statement on uncoated groundwood and newsprint duties

Forest Products Association of Canada
March 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Last night, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties up to 22.16% on imported Canadian uncoated groundwood paper (newsprint). On behalf of the workers in our sector, Forest Products Association of Canada is disappointed in this outcome and strongly believes that these duties are completely unjustified and represent a costly and losing proposition for workers and paper customers on both sides of the border. …In addition …FPAC is calling on …government to: Continue efforts to support industry’s efforts to aggressively diversify export markets; partner with FPAC … to further enable the transformation of our sector into new and innovative product areas; activate employment support programs for any Canadian workers who might be impacted in the event of reduced shifts or job losses.

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Trump loses two free trade advocates in one week

By Patrick Gillespie
CNN Money
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Two top free trade advocates have left the Trump administration in one week — just as fear of a trade war ramps up. The departures of Gary Cohn as chief economic adviser and Rex Tillerson as secretary of state come as the president prepares to impose sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum next week. …Tillerson was a moderate voice on NAFTA, the trade pact with Canada and Mexico that has been under renegotiation since August. NAFTA talks are at a critical point: Trump says if progress isn’t made, he will withdraw from NAFTA or extend the tariffs to Mexico and Canada, which have so far been excluded.

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U.S. hits most Canadian newsprint producers with hefty anti-dumping duties

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties averaging 22.16 per cent against most Canadian newsprint producers that ship into the United States. The latest tariff is in addition to the average of 6.53 per cent in preliminary countervailing duties levied in January, raising the combined rate to 28.69 per cent against most Canadian producers of uncoated groundwood paper such as newsprint. In a statement late on Tuesday, the Commerce Department said it “will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of uncoated groundwood paper from Canada based on these preliminary rates. …Resolute Forest Products and Catalyst Paper are the two mandatory respondents… Connecticut-based White Birch Paper, which has three Quebec paper mills through its Canadian unit, is the voluntary respondent.

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United States hits Canadian forestry industry with more duties

The Canadian Press in the National Post
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

WASHINGTON — The American government hit the Canadian forestry industry with more duties late Tuesday as it upheld counterveiling duties on Canadian newsprint. The US Department of Commerce said in a statement that a preliminary investigation found Canadian exporters underpriced uncoated groundwood paper by between 0 and 22.16 per cent. Uncoated groundwood paper includes newsprint, as well as book publishing, printing and writing papers. …The department said it determined Canadian exporters have sold newsprint in the U.S. at as much as 22.16 per cent less than fair value and it will collect cash corresponding to those rates. It noted that the maximum margin of 22.16 per cent is lower than the up to 54.97 per cent rate alleged by Washington-based North Pacific Paper Company. …The final determination in the investigation will be made in August.

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Pinnacle to convert particle board facility to wood pellet plant

By Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc.
Biomass Magazine
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. has announced approval to commence the redevelopment by Smithers Pellet Limited Partnership of an existing particle board facility in Smithers, British Columbia, to a wood pellet production facility. SPLP is a limited partnership in which West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has a 30 percent and Pinnacle has 70 percent interest. The facility, which is connected via direct rail link to Pinnacle’s Westview Port Terminal, will have an annual production capacity of 125,000 metric tons. Initial wood pellet production at the Facility is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2018. Wood fiber supply for the facility and customer off-take agreements for the facility’s annual production have been secured under long-term contracts.

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Dave Lehane appointed BC Forest Safety Council Chair

By Pam Agnew
BC Forest Safety Council
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Nanaimo — The Board of Directors of the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC) is pleased to announce that Dave Lehane has been appointed Chair of the BCFSC, effective March 22, 2018. Dave takes over from Ken Higginbotham, who retired at the end of 2017. Dave is a retired forest industry executive with more than 35 years of diverse experience. From the woods to the mill floor and the boardroom, Dave’s experience includes reforestation, harvesting, mill management, fibre supply, government and community relations. He has held a number senior executive positions including Vice-President of Woodlands for West Fraser and Vice-President of Alberta Operations for Weldwood of Canada. Earlier in his career, he held senior management positions including Woodlands Manager, General Manager and Operations Manager. He has worked in British Columbia, Alberta and the south-east United States.

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Re-opened Ontario sawmill achieves production goals with equipment upgrade

Sennebogen
Wood Business – Canadian Forest Industries
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Frank Dottori

The re-opening of the sawmill in White River, Ont., was one of the lumber industry’s rare “good news” stories of 2013. Shuttered six years earlier, the town’s population had dwindled to nearly half its size from the 1990s. Then numbering about 600 residents, the Township of White River and the nearby Pic Mobert First Nation joined forces to create White River Forest Products. Led by CEO Frank Dottori, the renowned founder of Canadian forestry giant Tembec, the new venture invested heavily in restoring the site and creating a new model of efficiency in Ontario’s north. …The return of the mill has led to a rapid resurgence of the town. …The town’s population has risen again to more than 1,000, and its most pressing problem these days is housing its new residents.

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The Trump Administration’s War on New Housing

By Nolan Gray
The Atlantic City Lab
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

As the nationwide housing affordability crisis deepens, the Trump administration is moving to adopt steel and aluminum tariffs that will make it worse, particularly in dense urban cities. This move follows new tariffs on Canadian lumber late last year and harsher enforcement on the migrant workers from Mexico and Central America who are essential to the industry. The combined effect could mean higher rents and more expensive housing in the years to come. …At the same time that the new tariffs are raising the cost of construction materials, the administration is also cracking down on the labor that puts it all together. …The White House may be trying to help the small number of workers in the steel and wood products industries, but this kind of protectionism could instead end up hurting them—and a great many others.

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California Redwood Association charts a new course

By Brian J. Mandrier, California Redwood Association
Building-Products
March 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

The California Redwood Association is one of the oldest trade associations in the United States. For over 100 years it has provided lumber suppliers, landscape architects, contractors and homeowners with information on the grades, uses and application of redwood lumber. They specialize in design ideas, project plans and technical specifications. Last year, CRA began an exciting transition to set the course for the next several years. It appointed Hauck & Associates, Inc. to provide full association management services to the organization. Brian Mandrier, senior vice president of Hauck & Associates, will serve as CRA’s executive director. . …CRA has just announced new memberships are available for 2018 with new membership categories, revamped by-laws, and a new board of directors slated to begin work in second quarter 2018.

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Boise Cascade acquires Nashville distributor

Hardware + Building Supply Dealer
March 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

Boise Cascade Company is acquiring Lumberman`s Wholesale Distributors, a Nashville, Tenn.-based distributor of engineered wood products, commodity lumber items, and specialty building materials. The acquisition is expected to be complete in the coming weeks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.“We are very pleased to welcome the Lumberman`s associates to Boise Cascade. They have been an excellent distributor for nearly 50 years,” said Nick Stokes, executive VP of Boise Cascade Building Materials Division. …Last month Boise Cascade reported fourth quarter 2017 net sales of just over $1 billion, up 19% from fourth quarter 2016 net sales of $919 million. For the full year, the engineered wood products and building products supplier reported sales of $4.43 billion, a 13% increase from sales of $3.91 billion in 2016.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

What is smart and agile manufacturing and why should you care?

FPInnovations Blog
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

Remaining competitive requires intensified efforts to improve manufacturing efficiency and to extract higher-margin products from the forest resource. Over the past few years, the lumber industry has been confronted with chip production above and beyond the demand, resulting in the creation of big surpluses. This situation may well get worse  in the coming years, as pulp and paper mills—which used to be large consumers of this resource—buy less and less chips or if there is a substantial increase in production. Through its SM2 Initiative, FPInnovations is addressing these challenges and unleashing an impact on the forest sector worldwide by revolutionizing the way small logs are processed!

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‘Bad policy’: Commodity producers push back against calls for Ottawa to intervene in grain backlog

By Jesse Snyder
Financial Post
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

OTTAWA — A coalition of business associations are urging Ottawa not to intervene in a months-long backlog of grain shipments, saying the move would only cause widespread delays for other commodity shippers on Canada’s highly integrated rail system. …“A singular emphasis on grain has the unintended but inevitable consequence of exacerbating rail service issues for other commodity sectors, skewing the railways’ allocation of scarce capacity resources towards the movement of grain,” the coalition said in a Mar. 9 letter to Garneau. …Alongside the mining association, the coalition includes the Western Canadian Shippers’ Coalition (WCSC), Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC)…

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Celebrating wood’s Rich Heritage in the Prairies

Wood WORKS!
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Edmonton – Wood WORKS! Alberta recognized a prestigious group of leading architects, engineers and project teams at the 10th annual Prairie Wood Design Awards gala. Award recipients were presented with a customized wood trophy acknowledging their ability to push the boundaries of wood in construction. The Prairie Wood Design Awards program recognizes projects and organizations that advance the use of wood in construction through design excellence, advocacy, and innovation.  The winning projects were Peter Busby, C. Keith Boswell and Duane Palibroda. For the 10th anniversary we also introduced a Special Industry Award which has been sponsored and selected by the Alberta Forest Products Association.

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2018 BC Wood Design Awards a Great Success!

Coast Forest Products Association
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Another year, another amazing display of innovative wood design! Wood WORKS! BC celebrated the 14th year of the BC Wood Design Awards with an impressive lineup of beautiful wood designs and wood construction from across the province. An animated crowd of guests including architects and engineers, industry, government and media joined nominees at the Vancouver Convention Centre, itself a beautiful example of wood design. Lynn Embury-Williams, Executive Director for Wood WORKS! BC enlightened the audience on the amazing technological advances revolutionizing the way we build with wood, applauding the mastery that the architects, designers, and engineers have demonstrated using the sustainable material. …Over the years, Coast Forest has had the express pleasure of sponsoring the Wood Design Awards. Once again, we are honoured to extend sincere congratulations to all the nominees and winners.

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One crazy idea for developing better projects in Minneapolis: build smaller

By Peter Callaghan
The MinnPost
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

In a room full of people who make a living in the development business, it might have been the most provocative thing Portland architect-developer Kevin Cavenaugh said. In 25 years, he predicted, people will look at five-over-one apartment buildings the same way we look at strip malls today: not very kindly. For those not immersed in the particulars of commercial real estate, five-over-one is the ubiquitous form of construction that has been filling lots across the Twin Cities for the last decade. It consists of five stories of wood stick-frame construction over one story of concrete, and is designed to maximize lots with the most-affordable construction method permitted by building codes. …Cavenaugh doesn’t build a lot of five-over-one apartment buildings. Actually he doesn’t build any. What he is known for — and what he came to Minneapolis to talk about — is building smaller.

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Why wood is making a comeback in housebuilding

By Rohan Banerjee
The New Statesman
March 13, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

If the 17th century was the age of stone, the 18th was the peak of brick building, and the 20th was built on concrete, then the 21st century, according to Alex de Rijke, should mark “the time for timber”. The director of London-based architecture firm dRMM, which has been working with the material for over a decade, believes that products such as cross-laminated timber… are on course to disrupt the building industry forever. “Timber,” de Rijke told Dezeen, “has significant advantages over steel, concrete or masonry construction in terms of its environmental credentials, speed, weight, and structure.” …He credits a historical reconstruction project as one of the main reasons for wood making its comeback on the building scene. 

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Forestry

Mill addresses public concerns on wood harvest; fails to satisfy critics

By Lois Ann Dort
Guysborough Journal
March 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Port Hawkesbury Paper (PHP) reacted to recent concerns about forest management in a news release on March 10. The release stated that the forest cut in the Loon Lake area had not been designated as old-growth by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as has been claimed by some members of the public in recent media accounts including in an interview with Scott Cook in this paper last month. Last week DNR regional resource manager Mark Pulsifer told The Journal that the Loon Lake area had not been classified as old-growth forest but due to the concerns raised by local residents, department staff would be on the ground re-assessing the area. The PHP statement also said that the selective harvest practice used in the Loon Lake area was specifically geared to create a suitable environment for the regeneration of yellow birch.

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Northern politicians criticize U.S. environmental group

TB Newswatch
March 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Some northern Ontario political leaders are fighting back against an American lobby group that says it works to safeguard Earth’s people, plants and animals. The heads of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, and the Red Rock Indian Band issued a statement after recent criticism of the province’s forest management practices by the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). …Shuniah Township Mayor Wendy Landry, the president of NOMA, questioned why NRDC is “attempting to frustrate consultation and accommodation with First Nations communities and impacted municipalities. …Ontario Forest Industries Association CEO Jamie Lim said the U.S. group has “no business working against an independent process designed to provide for species at risk while minimizing the social and economic impacts.”

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Tenakee logger supports Tongass plan

KCAW
March 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Gordon Chew

Doing good business means thinking ahead. My name is Gordon Chew, and my son Sterling and I run the Tenakee Logging Company. We are loggers. We make our living in this forest. Our business model has depended upon sustainable, selective old growth logging. This means no more than one out of every three trees in a unit is marked for harvest, leaving a viable, intact stand. We are forest users too. …The group of local stakeholders that created the Tongass Land Management Plan was thinking ahead when they agreed upon core areas that need protection and set aside other areas for logging and future development. Sterling and I recognize that old growth clear-cutting and exportation in the round is unsustainable and unnecessary.

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Turning Back the Clock on Protecting Alaska’s Wild Lands

By Mike Dombeck
The New York Times
March 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Efforts to dismantle longstanding protections for Alaska’s wild landscapes continue. The latest, by Alaska’s senior Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, would deprive nearly 15 million acres of mostly pristine national forest lands of coverage by a 2001 rule that prohibits road construction and commercial logging on those tracts. Should she fail, Alaska is seeking to erect a backstop to accomplish her goal administratively. The state recently asked the Department of Agriculture, which runs the United States Forest Service, the agency I once oversaw, to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 regulation, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This is bad not only for Alaska’s forests but for the state’s economy and American taxpayers, who will end up subsidizing, through road building, the exploitation of these landscapes.

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Oregon Logging Conference Celebrates 80th Anniversary

Construction Equipment Guide
March 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

OLC Officers

State-of-the-art logging equipment; a successful high school forestry career day; informational seminars and workshops; and social networking opportunities were just a few of the highlights at the recently concluded 80th Annual Oregon Logging Conference. …The first Future Forestry Workers Career Day, sponsored by the Oregon Logging Conference Foundation, was a huge success on Feb. 23. More than 400 students from approximately 20 high schools attended the career day, learning about current and future job opportunities in the logging industry and the skills required for each job. …Keynote speaker Kathy Abusow, president and CEO of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, spoke of the hard work that goes into logger training which is recognized by SFI Implementation Committees.

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Stewardship Agreement Brings Together Tree-Huggers And Lumberjacks

By Glen Moberg
Wisconsin Public Radio
March 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Matt Dallman, Ryan Grefe & Clint Wallgren

Matt Dallman guided his four-wheel drive truck up a narrow, snow-covered road in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Forest County. Dallman, the director of conservation for the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin, pointed to a cluster or stand of red pines, which would soon be converted into two-by-four boards as part a program he’s spearheading. “The Nature Conservancy is managing 380 acres here,” Dallman said. “We’re going to be harvesting just short of 2 million board feet, and that will equate to about $370,000 of revenue.” It’s a new role for the Nature Conservancy, which Dallman said is often stereotyped as a “tree-hugging organization.” The Conservancy now finds itself in the lumberjack business. “I’m not here to say that we need every tree cut. I think we need old places and we need places that are being managed,” Dallman said.

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Police shut down month-long forest blockade

By Jasmine Minhas
Coolum News
March 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

A MONTH-LONG blockade at Gladstone State Forest near Bellingen has been dismantled after multiple police wagons arrived on the scene Tuesday morning. The blockade, located at the Sunny Corner road access, had prevented large logging machinery gaining access to the forest for almost five weeks. Forestry Corporation of NSW commenced a logging operation on the site on February 12. NSW Greens MP Dawn Walker criticised Forestry Corporation of NSW’s decision to bring in police in State Parliament yesterday. “This was a peaceful community response to an outdated and destructive Government approach to managing our precious forests” said Dawn Walker MP. “The fact that vital koala habitat can be lawfully logged in this day and age is as stupid as it is outrageous.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

World’s great forests could lose half of all wildlife as planet warms

World Wildlife Report
The Guardian
March 13, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The world’s greatest forests could lose more than half of their plant species by the end of the century unless nations ramp up efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new report on the impacts of global warming on biodiversity hotspots. Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds are also likely to disappear on a catastrophic scale in the Amazon and other naturally rich ecosysterms in Africa, Asia, North America and Australia if temperatures rise by more than 1.5C, concludes the study by WWF, the University of East Anglia and the James Cook University. The research in the journal Climate Change examined the impact of three different levels of warming… on nearly 80,000 plant and animal species in 35 of the world’s most biodiverse regions.

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Health & Safety

Person found dead at Kamloops pulp mill was missing wildfire evacuee

By Jessica Klymchuk
Kamloops BC Now
March 13, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Jeff

Kamloops RCMP have confirmed the identity of the body that was found in a settling pond at Domtar pulp mill on March 7. Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said the body has been identified as David Michael Jeff, 67, who was among the residents that were evacuated from Williams Lake in July 2017 during the B.C. wildfires. Jeff’s body was found by Domtar employees on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 7. An autopsy was completed on Monday, March 12. …“At this time the investigative and forensic findings indicate that his death is non-suspicious in nature,” Shelkie said in a media release.

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Take part in the Forest Safety in 2018 symposium

FPInnovations Blog
February 20, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

All activities in the forest—whether harvesting, transportation or sylviculture—carry their share of risk. A variety of maneuvers and situations may cause accidents and have consequences on workers’ health. Given the importance of this matter, a number of stakeholders are involved in prevention. The research and development sector is also active in this regard, on the lookout for new and safer work methods as well as new technologies that will help increase safety in forest operations. The La sécurité en forêt en 2018 : où en sommes-nous? (Forest safety in 2018: where are we now?”) symposium, which will be held in Quebec City this coming April 28, is providing an opportunity to hear from a number of stakeholders supporting the forest industry in this respect

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