Daily Archives: April 12, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Despite NAFTA worries, Canadian forestry exports expected to grow 16% in 2018

April 12, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

According to EDC Canada, the value of Canadian forestry exports will grow 16 per cent this year despite uncertainty about trade protectionism and NAFTA. Meanwhile, Unifor released a video on the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs on Canada paper mills. 

In other news: Domtar plans to reduce emissions in Kamloops; Ontario provides an extension for forest management related to species at risk; Desmog Canada promotes their video on logging’s impact on Caribou; and fire funding changes passed by Congress are lauded in Oregon and Washington.

Finally, a Wisconsin fire chief lumps CLT in with “lightweight laminates“; and cob structures use six times less energy than regular wood-frame construction.

–Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Unifor fights to save five Canadian mills from Trump

By Unifor
Cision Newswire
April 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

TORONTO – Unifor has published a video with interviews of Canadians directly impacted by the new U.S. tariffs levied against paper mills in Newfoundland & Labrador, Québec, and British Columbia. “Right now Donald Trump is poised to do irreversible damage to five small communities across Canada,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The Canadian government needs to act, and it needs to act now to protect local economies and good jobs.” 

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NAFTA worries won’t hurt exports this year, Export Development Canada forecasts

By Naomi Powell
The National Post
April 12, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

TORONTO — The value of Canadian exports will grow by 6 per cent this year despite ongoing uncertainty about trade protectionism and the future of the NAFTA… In fact, in its twice-yearly outlook, Export Development Canada (EDC) predicts growth will be led by gains in three sectors — all the recent subjects of trade conflict with the US: ores and metals, aerospace, and forestry. …Lumber and forestry exports are expected to grow by 16 per cent to $39.4 billion in 2018, amid increased housing demand and rising prices south of the border — the result of the anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed in the softwood lumber dispute. Supply in the sector has also been constrained, the EDC says, due to record wildfires in British Columbia. The uptick for forestry could be temporary however, in light of significant new investment in lumber mills in the southern U.S. …“What’s getting affected here is investment,” he said. “Companies are parking investment on the side because of the uncertainty.

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Western Forest Products announces board of director changes

Western Forest Products
Nasdaq
April 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER — Western Forest Products announced today that Mr. Barrie Shineton will not be standing for re-election as a director at Western’s Annual and Special Meeting and that Ms. Suzanne Blanchet has been proposed as a nominee for election to the Company’s Board of Directors. …Until 2017, Ms. Blanchet was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development with Cascades Inc. Prior to that, Ms. Blanchet served as President and CEO of Cascades Tissue Group.

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Canfor’s First Nations Work Experience Program

By Amy Rose
Canfor Up Close Blog
March 28, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Canfor’s operations in Canada overlap with First Nations’ traditional territories, and we are committed to increasing the participation and advancement of First Nations employment and training.  Canfor recognizes the unique strengths and experiences that come from First Nations. To increase training and employment activities within Canfor, we have created a first-of-its-kind three-month Work Experience Program, which is currently underway in our Fort St. John, BC location.  The three-part program includes training in workforce readiness with the North Eastern Native Advancement Society (NENAS), a host of Canfor classroom training, and job shadowing with a variety of supervisors at our mills.

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Editorial: Your local news is under tax attack

By Editorial Board
Pierce County Herald
April 12, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

U.S. tariffs again made big headlines last week. What readers may not know is that tariffs could kill the writers of those headlines. We’re talking about community newspapers. While recent stories have focused on steel, soybeans and pork — and the potentially devastating effects a U.S.-China trade war would have in the Heartland — a similar battle is underway with our neighbors to the north over a simple, everyday commodity: paper. …Without Canadian paper, many presses will stop — either because they can’t afford paper or can’t get it. Those at the biggest risk, industry analysts warn, are the smallest papers — those without a growing, viable online presence. So why not go solely online? Some may try. The truth is community newspapers currently cannot support digital news products without a print version.

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Stora Enso re-opens classic planed line at Varkaus sawmill in Finland

Lesprom Network
April 10, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Stora Enso Wood Products division will in April re-open the classic planed line in Varkaus sawmill, Finland… The planing line was closed in January 2013 due to decreasing demand, but the combination of the new laminated veneer lumber production and the planing opens up new possibilities for product development and increased sales. …“The demand for classic planed is increasing globally. The US is for instance one of the markets we will supply from Varkaus in the coming years. …The capacity for the planed line is estimated to be around 10,000 cubic metres during the ramp-up phase.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Southern Pine at Expo in Costa Rica

Southern Forest Products Association
April 11, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Recently, Southern Pine Council partnered with APA – The Engineered Wood Association under the American Softwoods banner to exhibit at the Expo Construcción y Vivienda Trade Show in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Expo Construcción y Vivienda Trade Show is the only show in the construction and housing sector that is endorsed by the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction. The show hosted approximately 40,000 attendees during the five day event. “Attendees shared that seminars are a great opportunity for them to have a better understanding of SPC member products. Future seminar topics of interest are different applications for OSB in the construction sector, design of structural walls, different attributes of existing panels, lumber/panel treatments, connectors, and loads.,” stated Fernanda Vale, American Softwoods’ consultant based in Mexico.

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First permitted cob structure in Berkeley could pave way for more green building

By Natalie Orenstein
Berkeleyside
April 11, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Berkeley native Jessica Tong was not used to the scorching heat she encountered in Hopland, California. …The experience inspired Tong, who studied environmental design, to spend more time working with natural materials, like cob — a mixture of clay, sand and straw that is a lot like adobe, but is not formed into bricks. Now, the 27-year-old is nearly done constructing the first cob structure to receive a building permit in Berkeley. …Cob is not only appealing to builders like Tong for its temperature-controlling capacities, but because it’s much cheaper than conventional materials, and more sustainable. Building with cob uses six times less energy than regular wood-frame construction, and a quarter of the lumber, according to the Cob Research Institute in Berkeley.

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Committee working on fire safety codes for Holmen and towns of Onalaska, Holland

By Pat McNight
Coulee Courier
April 11, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Paul Menches

A special committee has been meeting … to both align and modernize the fire safety building codes for the towns of Holland and Onalaska and village of Holmen. …The municipalities will need to update their commercial building ordinances to comply with new state codes that will go into effect May 1. One new state regulation allowing the use of cross-laminated timber in construction could prove problematic for firefighters. “Laminated timber is fine if there is no fire,” said Holmen Area Fire Department Chief Paul Menches. “The problem is that it quickly loses structural integrity, breaks down and causes collapse much quicker than heavy timber. This causes firefighters to fall through flooring and get trapped in lower levels.” Menches, supported by La Crosse Fire Department Chief Ken Gilliam, have advised the Holmen Area Fire District Association Board that construction materials are burning hotter and quicker.

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Guitar makers hit hard by new regulations on prized rosewood

By Michael Casey
Associated Press in The Herald Sun
April 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

An international crackdown on illegal logging in tropical forests has ensnared the makers of some guitars and other musical instruments, whose top-end products require small amounts of rosewood, a material prized for its rich, multicolored grain and resonant sound. Since new trade rules took effect in 2017, guitar makers have complained about long delays in getting permits to import rosewood and export finished instruments that contain it. Warehouses have filled with unsold instruments, and a bagpipe maker in New Hampshire went so far as to ask the governor to intervene after a permit application was lost. “I’m so annoyed. I’m so distraught by this,” said Chris Martin, chairman and CEO of C.F. Martin and Co., which uses rosewood in 200 models of acoustic guitar… The company’s logistics staff estimates it spends 40 percent of its time dealing with the new regulations.

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Timber is the new concrete. It’s time to get over our fear of building with it

By Amanda Geard
The Irish Times
April 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

…In Ireland we are just a little bit scared of timber in our homes. Golden log cabins are dotted ever-so-sparingly across the countryside; tiny squares of cedar creep apologetically into our cityscapes; timber-framed houses are quickly covered up with render to conform to the norm. We have thrown timber to the wind. And yet in this material lies a quick and economically competitive construction alternative to our blockwork and plaster world. …But now Europe’s urban areas are giving timber a new place to hang out. Across the continent, hundreds of detached homes, apartment blocks and high-rises are being built out of cross-laminated timber (CLT). …“One of the most obvious reasons to start using timber rather than concrete is that it’s commonly grown, and therefore an exceptionally renewable building material that we have available to us,” says de Rijke.

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The rise of wooden skyscrapers

By Karin Jäger
DW Made for Minds
April 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Forget steel and concrete — wood is the latest go-to material for building skyscrapers. The renewable resource has high potential.  “The world’s tallest wooden house!” reads a huge poster on the side of a building under construction in the Norwegian municipality of Brummundal. The house doesn’t have any scaffolding; cranes and an outdoor elevator are used to transport the building material to where it’s needed. The wood is sourced from Norwegian forests. …But despite the declaration on the poster, this is not actually the world’s tallest wooden house after all. Vienna is currently working on an 84-meter-tall wooden building 24 stories tall (with a staircase made out of cement). The building in Vienna will also combine apartments with offices, shops and a spa. Ask the Austrians and they will tell you they’re the ones who came up with the concept of using wood as an industrial product. Austria is the world’s largest producer of cross-laminated timber.

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New technique strengthens building structures using wood waste

Tech Explorist
April 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Wood waste from furniture processing plants makes up a tremendous segment of waste produced in Singapore. …Rather than burning or arranging them in landfills, wood waste can be reused to make biochar, a permeable, carbon-rich material that assimilates and holds water well. Scientists from the National University of Singapore have discovered a creative and ecological cordial system to improve building structures. The new strategy, which consolidates biochar reused from saw tidy into bond, enhances the quality and water snugness of mortar and cement, and offers an elective use to the vast volume of wood waste delivered. …The utilization of the biochar innovation in solid development is subsequently a novel and creative approach to store carbon in structures while advancing reusing of wood waste and reinforcing building structures.

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Forestry

‘Last Stand’ Film Documents B.C.’s Role In Accelerating Demise of Mountain Caribou

By Judith Lavoie
DeSmog Canada
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Film producer, biologist and wildlife photographer David Moskowitz was shocked to find that old-growth logging is continuing in B.C.’s interior temperate rainforest, despite clear evidence that it threatens fragile herds of endangered mountain caribou and, as he worked on his latest film, he tried to figure out how caribou and ancient trees could be saved, while protecting the local economy. There is no simple solution, said Moskowitz, but he is hoping his film, “Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest,” which will be playing at the ELEMENTS film festival at Science World in Vancouver this weekend, will make people aware of what is at stake.

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Ontario Woodlot Association holds conference & tours in Shakespeare Ontario

By Eric Thompson, RPF, Executive Director
Ontario Woodlot Association
April 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

The Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) is hosting its annual conference in Shakespeare, Ontario. … The Thursday evening banquet, being held at the Optimist Hall in Shakespeare, “gives woodlot owners a chance to share their forest stories”, says Eric Thompson,Executive Director of the OWA. “Owners have so many difficulties with invasive species and dealings with the effects of climate change.” Andrew Peregrine, a clinical parasitologist at the University of Guelph will speak on the troubles with ticks – a huge health issue facing those who like to be in their woods. On Friday, April 13, the conference is set with speakers to speak on the importance of: trees on the landscape; carbon sequestration; downed woody debris; invasive species; endangered and threatened forest species; windbreaks; shelterbelts, and riparian areas.

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Ontario Government Provides Window of Opportunity to Get Species at Risk Policy Right

By Ontario Forest Industries Association
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

An Alliance of First Nation and non-First Nation leaders were pleased to see Premier Wynne and the Ontario Government have clearly listened to their concerns and are moving forward with a two-year extension to the current regulation for forest management under the provincial Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, the Alliance is now calling onOntario’s cabinet ministers to ask Federal Natural Resource and Environment Ministers for more time in developing the right strategy for Ontario. …Along with the final ESA decision, The Alliance continues to look forward to MNRF announcing the establishment of an independent panel designed to conserve species at risk, while also providing an opportunity for First Nations consultation and accommodation. Chief Edward Wawia of Red Rock Indian Band said, “We look forward to the Ontario Government including First Nations in the development of ESA policy moving forward.

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Annapolis County puts shoulder to the wheel on sustainable forestry practices

By Lawrence Powell
The Chronicle Herald
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL — Members of Annapolis County’s municipal council have been working hard to influence the province to shift directions in managing Nova Scotia’s forests, says the warden — but there’s plenty more work to be done. …Councillor Gregory Heming chairs the forestry committee with councillors Mike Gunn, Burt McNeil, and John MacDonald exploring particular avenues such as Mi’kmaq bands and their perspectives, mapping, and trying to get a better sense exactly where and to what extent clear cutting has been deployed through Annapolis County. …The warden hopes the county’s concerns won’t be lost on the province that is currently studying the state of forestry in Nova Scotia.

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Rejuvenating the forest

The Saratoga Sun
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

In July 2017, the USFS began planning for the Landscape and Vegetation Analysis project in response to the mountain pine beetle and spruce bark beetle epidemics that plagued the Medicine Bow National Forest (MBNF) for nearly 20 years. The regeneration of the MBNF may be taking its natural course, but the LaVA project is aimed at helping accelerate that process. “We’re really looking at the restoration aspect of this and resiliency piece,” said Frank Romero, district ranger for both the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. …“Most of the mature lodgepole has already been taken by the beetle,” Romero said.

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In Our View: Wildfire Funding Wise

By The Editorial Board
The Columbian
April 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

After years of pressure from Western lawmakers, Congress finally has taken steps to improve funding for wildfire prevention and suppression. The action should bring a much-needed end to the practice of “fire borrowing” that has exacerbated wildfires, particularly in this part of the country. A $1.3 trillion spending bill approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump last month includes the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act — money dedicated to battling blazes that have been increasing in frequency and intensity. The act creates an emergency fund of about $2 billion that can be accessed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management when the agencies’ wildfire budgets have been exhausted. In the process, the action rightly treats wildfires as natural disasters, providing funding similar to that for hurricanes and floods. That is preferable to the previous form of funding for fire suppression.

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Wyden, Oregon succeed with long overdue wildfire fix: Editorial

By The Editorial Board
The Oregonian
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

For five years, Sen. Ron Wyden has pushed Congress to address how U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management leaders often must divert money from other programs, including fire prevention and forest management budgets, to cover the increasingly high cost of fighting massive wildfires. …Finally, Congress listened and Oregon is likely to benefit. Eventually. …Unfortunately, a few more fire seasons will pass before the change takes effect in 2020. And, while the new law should stop the budget drain, no additional money has been set aside to recoup the dollars lost from needed fire prevention and habitat recovery programs. …It shouldn’t have taken five years for this logical fix to move forward. Yet this positive, bipartisan work should be lauded by Oregonians who stand to benefit from the improved health and safety of the federal forest that blanket so much of our state.

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Gray Harbor College forestry program

The Daily World
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Seven Grays Harbor College students have been awarded a combined $26,000 in funding toward their bachelor’s degrees in the college’s Forest Resource Management program. Every student in the two-year program will have their tuition paid, and enough funding is available to cover tuition for all students enrolled in the program for the next two years. …funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation assisted the colleges with startup resources for the bachelor programs last year. ..The grants also cover student fees and tuition for the two-year bachelor’s degree programs in forestry. 

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Efforts increase to stop insect that threatens Adirondack hemlock forests

By Paul Post
The Saratogian
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Officials are declaring all-out war on an invasive insect that threatens to destroy one of upstate New York’s most important natural resources—the Eastern hemlock. A tiny bug called the hemlock woolly adelgid has already decimated southern Appalachian forests in places such as Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks. The pest, which is headed north, was detected last year at Thacher State Park in the Helderbergs and on Prospect Mountain in Lake George, and efforts are being stepped up to prevent its spread in the Adirondacks. …But Cornell opened a lab in November where beetles, imported from the Pacific Northwest, are being raised that prey on the woolly adelgid. Plans call for releasing them in large numbers at select sites this fall. It’s hoped that early detection, combined with pesticides, will slow the woolly adeldig until helpful beetles produce a more long-term solution.

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Oklahoma Forestry Services brace for extreme fire danger in Western Oklahoma

Dylan Brown
KFOR Oklahoma
April 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Officials with Oklahoma Forestry Services (OFS) are preparing for potentially extreme fire danger in western Oklahoma Thursday and Friday. Current fire weather forecast is also calling for elevated fire danger across the remainder of Oklahoma, except for southeastern Oklahoma. “Very strong burning conditions are expected with warm temperatures and extremely low relative humidity Thursday through Friday,” said Drew Daily, fire staff officer for OFS. …Firefighting resources have been propositioned in Woodward and Weatherford in advance of the predicted fire weather. This includes OFS wildland task forces and US Forest Service aviation resources. 

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Health & Safety

Domtar to spend millions on dust, smoke mitigation

by Jessica Wallace
Kamloops This Week
April 11, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Domtar is spending $3.5 million on equipment to reduce dust and smoke and eliminate hazardous chemicals. The mill’s environment manager, Kristin Dangelmaier… detailing two projects slated for May. …“This spring, I’m very happy to announce we are investing an additional $1 million on our chemical recovery boiler electro-static precipitator to achieve additional improvements above and beyond what would be required by our permit,” she said. …The second expenditure— at a cost of $2.5 million — is a scrubber to treat air emissions from the bleach plant area. The replacement scrubber, which will be bigger and better than the current one, will treat more emissions and eliminate the use of sulphur dioxide on site, which Dangelmaier called the “most hazardous chemical” at the mill. The material was previously “consumed in the process,” she said.

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Dealing with workplace psychological stress now a bigger priority for WorkplaceNL, CEO tells Corner Brook conference

By Gary Kean
The Western Star
April 11, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

Dennis Hogan

When it comes to workplace health and safety, especially in an industrial setting, it’s usually the physical injuries that are the most concerning. While that is justified, given the nature of physical work often involving machinery, there is a growing trend to start giving more consideration to mental stresses in the workplace. …Dennis Hogan, CEO of Workplace NL, addressed the seventh annual Forestry Health and Safety Conference in Corner Brook Wednesday. His presentation to delegates from across Newfoundland and Labrador’s forestry sector focused on emerging trends in occupational health and safety, including how those relate to the forestry industry. …Hogan said it’s a little early to say how the new priority being given to psychological health and safety will apply to the forestry sector.

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Spring dump of snow causing chaos on Peace Region roads

By Chris Newton
Energetic City
April 11, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, US West

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A mid-spring dump of snow is causing minor chaos on Peace Region highways this morning. Some time before 6:30 this morning, a logging truck and a pickup truck collided at the intersection of Highway 97 and the East Bypass Road. The RCMP say that no one was injured in the crash, which has closed one northbound lane of the road at the intersection. There’s no word on what caused that crash.

 

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