Daily Archives: November 7, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Getting taller is about getting more attention for everyone!

November 7, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

It’s not about who gets tallest first, but about bringing attention to tall wood buildings that matters, said Dutch architect Do Janne Vermeulen, speaking at the Wood Solutions Conference in Vancouver; a new formaldehyde-free particleboard has been developed by EcoSynthetix in Ontario; and Japan’s wood culture is alive and thriving in a nearly completed Olympic venue. 

In forestry, part-two of the Wood Business contractor survey looks at BC’s Interior; First Nations are benefiting from engagement in resource management, according to a study by the Montreal Economic Institute; and 160 conservation officers are protecting BC’s natural resources says environment minister. 

Himalayan forests at risk from an abundance of dry pine needles may soon find relief as dry needles are converted into low-cost, eco-friendly briquettes.

Finally, as we approach Remembrance Day in Canada, Derek Nighbor shares the history of the Canadian Forestry Corps – nobody was more experienced or qualified to harvest the timber required on the Western Front than Canadians.

–Sandy McKellar, Tree Frog Editor

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Special Feature

Paying Tribute to the Canadian Forestry Corps

By Derek Nighbor, Forest Products Association of Canada
Prince Albert NOW
November 5, 2018
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada

On November 11th, Canadians will pay tribute to the men and women who have served our country during times of conflict and honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice – in order for all of us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. What many people may not be aware of is the story of the Canadian Forestry Corps, which made a significant contribution to Allied efforts during the First and Second World Wars – but one which is often overlooked. The Forestry Corps was created during the First World War when it was discovered that huge quantities of wood were needed on the Western Front. The forest products industry was a dominating economic force in Canada’s early history and the British Government quickly discovered there was nobody more experienced or qualified to harvest timber than Canadians. In 1916, British Colonial Secretary, Andrew Bonar Law, made a request of the Governor General of Canada to deploy Canadian lumbermen to aid in the cutting and processing of timber. Later that year, the Canadian Forestry Corps was created.

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Business & Politics

The First Entrepreneurs: Income of First Nations with resource deals exceed national averages

By Geoffrey Morgan
Finanacial Post
November 6, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

CALGARY — A dramatic change in First Nations’ approaches to natural resources development has led, in certain cases, to rising incomes in Indigenous communities where members now out-earn national averages. The Montreal Economic Institute found in a study released Tuesday that First Nations communities and members involved in resource development earn multiples of what both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people earn in other industries. The MEI report, titled The First Entrepreneurs, notes that there is no consensus among First Nations on an approach to resource development in their traditional territories, but there is a rising number of impact-benefits agreements across the country as more groups turn to resource extraction for economic opportunity. …“Many First Nations are getting more prosperous,” MEI researcher and the report’s author Germain Belzile said in an interview. “In some areas, First Nations will become more prosperous than non-First Nations communities.”

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‘Stop it at all costs’: The blockade of Northern Pulp Mill continues

By Alexander Quon
Global News
November 6, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The blockade of a pulp mill in Nova Scotia continued on Tuesday with fisherman from the surrounding area of Pictou, N.S., saying they’ll do whatever it takes to stop a controversial waste pipe.  For the second day in a row, fishermen have successfully rebuffed a survey ship from leaving Boat Harbour in an attempt to chart a route for the planned effluent pipe, which would carry waste away from the Northern Pulp mill into the Northumberland Strait. “We were hoping it wasn’t going to come to this, but apparently it is and we’re ready to do whatever we have to do,” said Darryl Bowen, 48, a fisherman from Caribou, N.S., taking part in the blockade. …“Our livelihoods are at stake here. If they destroy the ecosystem of the Northumberland Strait, we’re done for generations,” Bowen said.

 

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Irving pollution fine will not go to Irving non-profit

By Connell Smith
CBC News
November 5, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Lawyers for the Crown and defence have backed away from a controversial joint recommendation in a pollution case involving Irving Pulp and Paper. The revised deal accepted Monday by Judge David Walker will see $1.1 million in penalties directed to the Canadian Rivers Institute. Under the original proposal, the fine would have been paid to CAST, a non-profit company co-created and chaired by Jim Irving. Irving is co-CEO of Irving Pulp and Paper’s parent company, a fact that led to claims there would be at least a perception of conflict of interest if the fine, meant to be punitive, was directed to an organization controlled and funded by Irving. …Irving Pulp and Paper will also be added to the federal Environmental Offenders Registry.

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Lowe’s Store Closings A Wise Move

By Jason Tillberg
Seeking Alpha
November 5, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Lowe’s announced they are closing 51 underperforming stores in the US and Canada. While mainly speaking for the 20 stores being closed in the US, there are signs of a coming decline in private domestic residential investment. I’m bearish on the home improvement sector as we are in the beginning of a slowdown in the sector I believe. Lowe’s is wise to be closing underperforming stores as a preemptive move against what will be a challenging environment. Last week, I bought some pine boards to build a porch skirt around my house at the local lumber yard store. Upon talking with a salesman in the yard, I mentioned the large price drop of lumber since around. He replied, “all-time high price, it wasn’t moving.” (The lumber, that is.)

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Boise Cascade Company Reports 2018 Third Quarter Net Income of $13.8 Million on Sales of $1.3 Billion

Globe Newswire in Nasdaq
November 6, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

BOISE, Idaho – Boise Cascade Company (“Boise Cascade,” the “Company,” “we,” or “our”)  today reported net income of $13.8 million, or $0.35 per share, on sales of $1.3 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018. Third quarter results include $21.7 million of pre-tax losses, or $0.41 per share after-tax, from a non-cash pension settlement charge and a non-cash impairment loss on assets held for sale in Northeast Oregon. These charges also negatively impacted reported EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. …In the third quarter 2018, total U.S. housing starts increased 4% compared to the same period last year. Single-family starts, which are the primary demand driver of our sales, increased 2% and multi-family starts increased 6% in the third quarter 2018.

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Rayonier Advanced Materials Reports Third Quarter 2018 Results

By Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.
Business Wire
November 6, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. (the “Company”)  today reported third quarter 2018 net income of $38 million, or $0.60 per diluted common share, compared to $16 million, or $0.28 per diluted common share in the third quarter of 2017. Year-to-date 2018 net income was $116 million, or $1.82 per diluted common share, compared to $30 million, or $0.46 per diluted common share for the first nine months of 2017. Earnings for both the third quarter and year-to-date 2018 periods increased due to the November 2017 acquisition of Tembec Inc. (“Tembec”).

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Tall timber skyscrapers beacon for a future friendlier to climate, Vancouver conference hears

By Derrick Penner
Vancouver Sun
November 6, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Do Janne Vermeulen

While the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes more dire warnings about the speed of change, building experts offer mass-timber options to reduce carbon emissions in construction. For Dutch architect Do Janne Vermeulen, the “space race” to build the world’s tallest timber-based building is no longer a matter of pride, but more of a sustainable imperative. “I don’t think it matters who gets the highest first,” Vermeulen said following her presentation to a sustainable-building conference in Vancouver. “What’s interesting to see is that it helps to get attention for tall wood buildings,” which is the important part “because if you get one, you might get two, if you get 10 you might get 20 and with 20, you might get 100.” Vermeulen’s Amsterdam-based firm, Team V Architecture, is in that race with its design for Haut, a 73-metre (240-feet-tall) hybrid mass-timber residential building in a new, sustainability focused residential district of that city.

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SWISS KRONO launches NAF particleboard using EcoSynthetix’ DuraBind

By EcoSynthetix Inc.
Cision Newswire
November 6, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

BURLINGTON, ON – EcoSynthetix Inc., a renewable chemicals company that produces a portfolio of commercially proven bio-based products, today announced that the SWISS KRONO GROUP has launched a new No-Added Formaldehyde particleboard using EcoSynthetix’ DuraBind™ binder. The SWISS KRONO GROUP is one of the world’s leading wood-based panel manufacturers. The launch is SWISS KRONO’s latest innovation in the particleboard sector, known as NAF Solution, a new certified panel without adding formaldehyde. The certification meets the highest quality and ecological standards for wood-based materials and is further proof of the attention that SWISS KRONO addresses to sustainability and respect for the environment. “This is an exciting step in our commercialization strategy for DuraBind. SWISS KRONO is one of the world’s largest and most innovative manufacturers of wood-based panels, and an industry leader in its approach toward sustainability,” said Jeff MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer of EcoSynthetix. 

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Raising the roof on 2020 Tokyo Olympics gymnastics venue

By Stephen Wade 
Associated Press in the Washington Post
November 7, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

TOKYO — Attention Simone Biles: They’re building a venue in Tokyo where you can add to the four Olympic gold medals you won in Rio de Janeiro. The 2020 Olympic gymnastics venue is halfway completed and should be finished by this time next year. On Wednesday, engineers raised a massive timber roof section, one of five curved sections that will top out the 20.5 billion yen ($180 million) building, which designers describe as being shaped like a wooden bowl. “Japan’s wood culture will be communicated through the venue,” architect Hidemichi Takahashi said through an interpreter. Wood has been traditionally used in Japanese housing, and religious shrines and temples. Each of the five wooden sections weighs 200 metric tons, or 200,000 kilograms (440,000 pounds). Officials said the wood used in the roof is larch, a conifer in the pine family.

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Forestry

2018 Contractor Survey: Regional View – BC Interior

By Maria Church
Wood Business – Canadian Forest Industries
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Higher rates: yes. Larger annual revenues: yes. But add to that higher costs and lower profits and you’ve got unhappy loggers in the B.C. Interior. While there are some positive initial signs in the B.C. Interior, digging through the 2018 CFI Contractor Survey results reveals significant discontent among loggers there. Rates may have increased, but so have operational costs, which has led to lower profits and unhappy contractors. …Despite some rate increases and relatively high volumes and annual revenue, lower than average profit due to high expenses is likely the source of discontent among Interior contractors that led 96 per cent of survey respondents there to rate logging as an important challenge to address over the next three years. The cost of machinery and ability to attract and retain employees are not far behind at 78 per cent of respondents.

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New conservation officers settle into postings

By Ministry of Environment and Climate
Government of British Columbia
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

George Heyman

The 20 conservation officers sworn in last spring are now at work in various locations throughout the province. The new faces mark the largest influx of recruits the B.C. Conservation Officer Service has had in 10 years. They will fill existing vacancies and newly-funded positions in locations with the highest need and areas where retirements are imminent. “We have some communities that haven’t seen a new conservation officer for a very long time so these new recruits will significantly improve services,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “Our government recognizes how important it is to put more boots on the ground to help protect our natural resources and wildlife, and lessen human-wildlife conflicts.” The 160 conservation officers throughout B.C. are located in 45 communities and work on a zone-coverage basis, where they respond to complaints and concerns anywhere in the zone.

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First Nations helping to drive natural resource development

Northern Ontario Business
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Contrary to mainstream media reports, numerous First Nation communities have embraced natural resources development in mining, forestry and energy projects to improve their quality of life, according to a report by a Quebec public policy think tank. While there’s been First Nation opposition on projects like pipeline expansion, a new research paper by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) indicates many others wish to take advantage of the resulting wealth and jobs. “First Nations are far from being unanimously opposed to development,” said Germain Bezile, author of a research paper entitled The First Entrepreneurs – Natural Resource Development and First Nations. “Things have changed a lot in the past 25 years.”

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Racial and ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to wildfires

The Conversation US
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Over the last decade, the U.S. has seen an average of 70,512 wildland fires every year, annually burning about 6.8 million acres. With climate change, scientists expect fires to become more frequent and more severe. However, some people are more affected by these events than others. Our work, published on Nov. 2, shows that racial and ethnic minorities are significantly more vulnerable to the effects of these natural disasters. …Our analysis revealed that wildfire vulnerability is spread unequally across race and ethnicity. Although affluent white Americans are more likely to live in fire-prone areas, non-white communities in fire-prone areas appear less able to adapt to a wildfire event. Communities that are majority black, Hispanic or Native American are over 50 percent more vulnerable to wildfire compared to other communities. Native Americans in particular are six times more likely than other groups to live in the most vulnerable communities.

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Sustainable Furnishings Council key goals: Responsible sourcing and reducing chemicals

By Anne Flynn Wear
Furniture Today
November 5, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

As executive director of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, the daily mission for Susan Inglis is to help companies reduce their environmental footprint and consumers find healthy furnishings. To that end, she is passionate that all companies have a responsible wood sourcing policy. “Having such a policy indicates that the company is not inadvertently contributing to deforestation,” said Inglis. “This is important because our supply chains are extremely complex and fragmented, and it is truly difficult for many companies to know where their wood is coming from. A good wood sourcing policy helps, however, as it includes a public declaration to avoid illegal or controversial wood, by — for instance — preferring recycled or reclaimed wood. …SFC research also shows that consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly home furnishings and that they often look for symbols of assurance, like SFC membership.

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Gardner, Bennet seek more funding for wildfire suppression

By Emily Martin
The Journal
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner requested more funding to modernize firefighting technology for the U.S. Forest Service in letters sent to Senate committees Nov. 2, citing the devastating wildfires in Colorado this past year. The two senators joined the bipartisan effort led by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, that said there is a need for a modern, large air-tanker and water-scooper fleet, a technology they called in a statement “one of the most effective immediate responses to limit the expansion of wildfires.” The call for funding was included in letters to the Senate Committee on Appropriations leadership and the U.S. Forest Service. “The intensity and duration of the past successive fire seasons confirm the reality that the wildfire suppression workload has grown in severity and complexity due to hotter, longer burning seasons and the expanding wildland-urban interface,” the senators wrote in the letters.

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Crews work to restore Montana land damaged by wildfire

By Chet Layman
KPAX-TV
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

PHILIPSBURG – We’ve spent lots of news time the past two summers showing you the work of fire crews battling forest fires but as it turns out, that is only the first part of the rehab work that needs to be done after a fire. The Meyers fire scorched thousands of acres of Southwest Montana two years ago including areas in the Pintler Scenic Wilderness Area. There are some challenges to doing the work in a wilderness area including that crews have to hike in and chainsaws can’t be used to get any of the work done on the trails. “The challenges with that is that it’s going to take more time. But the benefits are that one, we’re keeping with the character of the wilderness and then also these folks that are getting to be out here are learning those skills,” said Sara Rouse with the Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest.

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No, a Discover Pass doesn’t permit chopping down big trees

By Caleb Hutton
Everett Herald-Net
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

GRANITE FALLS — Timber poachers were caught cutting 18 trees on state forest land off the Mountain Loop Highway, according to new felony charges against an Everett man. The defendant, 30, is accused of trying to steal $12,000 worth of live Douglas fir and Western hemlock earlier this year east of Granite Falls. Another man, 40, hasn’t been charged. His excuse? He thought his Discover Pass let him chop down firewood, he reportedly told a state Department of National Resources officer. The pass doesn’t give people the right to break into gated forests and cut down living trees, the officer told him. …The investigation began last December, when DNR officer Greg Erwin noticed someone had been sneaking onto the land about 8 miles east of Granite Falls. Signs at the gate warn no motorized vehicles are allowed. A wildlife camera was set up to watch the road.

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Nonprofits Use Forest-Resilience Bond to Tackle Wildfire-Related Erosion

Storm Water Solutions
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The nonprofits World Resources Institute and Blue Forest Conservation have teamed up to develop the first forest-resilience bond. The two groups have gathered nearly $4 million from private investors to fund forest resiliency efforts that will potentially ease the risk of drought and reduce wildfire risks, such as erosion, mudslides and flooding. Beginning this spring, teams in the Tahoe National Forest in California will cut down small trees and burn off undergrowth across 5,000 acres, seeking to minimize fire risk and, ultimately, erosion. The project marks the first of its kind to seek private investors for forest resiliency projects with the goal of turning a profit. The long-term bond requires private investors to fund the forest-thinning work upfront, but be replayed over time with interest by public agencies or other entities that support the work but cannot afford to pay for it all at once, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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The ongoing trade in conflict timber

By Arthur Blundell and Jade Saunders
Mongabay.com
November 6, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Last year, the 28 Member States of the European Union imported €260 million-worth of timber from countries that the World Bank considers to be fragile and conflict-affected, according to those countries’ own statistics. That’s an increase of almost 20 percent in reported trade since 2014. While there is no doubt that countries in these desperate states are in need of income and investment, there is also an extremely high risk that the revenues associated with the sale and export of natural resources, including timber, are used to finance and exacerbate conflict. In an attempt to take responsibility for the role of European companies in the cycle of conflict in many forest countries, the European Commission has recently published a Guidance Document for importers that is designed to ensure that companies are mitigating the risk of buying illegal timber in conflict situations and of exacerbating conflict in their day-to-day business.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Now, pine needles to be used as fuel, thanks to IIT-Mandi

By Dipender Manta
The Tribune
November 7, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

IIT-Mandi is planning to make eco-friendly use of pine needle for social benefits. The pine needles are non-biodegradable and highly inflammable in nature. The IIT- Mandi has developed a technique for eco-friendly utilisation of these needles which is a low-cost procedure. Doctor Arti Kashyap, Principal Project Investigator, Centre for Uplifting Himalayan Livelihood at IIT-Mandi, said due to non-bio-degradable and highly-inflammable nature, pine needles pose a major threat to the environment, forest biodiversity and local economy in the entire Himalayan region. She said the Centre for Innovative Technology for the Himalayan Region at IIT-Mandi is working to save forests from forest fire caused by dry pine needles for the last three years. Now it has successfully prepared briquettes and pellets from pure pine needles mixing these with other biomasses.

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