Daily Archives: November 15, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Major forest companies cut BC production while expanding to US and offshore

November 15, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

All the major forest companies are cutting production in BC—due mostly to log supply concerns—while expanding operations in the US South. In other Business news: politicians Bob Simpson, John Rustad and Todd Doherty weigh in on BC’s curtailments; Canfor goes global with Swedish acquisition; the China/US trade war is hurting Rayonier; and a collective of timber import and distribution companies merge in the UK.

In climate and wildfire news: lots more on California’s crisis and who’s to blame; as well as how climate change is impacting forests nationally, and in Washington, Oregon and the UK.

Finally: the world’s only inland temperate rainforest is protected in BC; ENGO groups call for more caribou protection and Nova Scotia’s moose are facing imminent extinction

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Roofing Manufacturers File Suit Over U.S.-Canada Lumber Clash

Roofing Contractor
November 15, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

A trade group has taken its beef with new U.S. duties on Canadian cedar shakes and shingles to the next level and filed a lawsuit at the Court of International Trade. Duties went up as much as 18 percent earlier this year on shakes and shingles produced in Canada and exported to the U.S. Globeinvestor.com reported in June that Canadian makers of cedar shakes and shingles have been forced to scale back and even close mills as a result of the new tariffs. The newly formed Shake and Shingle Alliance trade group…had been trying to make the case that the products are thin enough to warrant tariff exemptions. The U.S. Commerce Dept. ruled in September that isn’t the case. The alliance took its argument to the Court of International Trade with the Nov. 8 filing of its lawsuit. Bloomberg Tax was the first to report on the suit and has posted a copy of the filing here.

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Rusted disappointed with sawmill curtailments, NDP’s vision on forestry sector

By Brendan Pawliw
My Prince George Now
November 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

John Rustad

Northern BC MLA John Rustad says it’s disturbing to see the recent sawmill reductions taking place in Quesnel and Fort Saint James. Conifex announced a 15% cut back on lumber production starting November 26th followed by another curtailment on Christmas while the West Fraser outlet will cut a shift impacting 75 workers during the first half of 2019. …BC’s forestry sector has been anything but a priority for John Horgan’s NDP government according to Rustad who teed off on the production reductions in the Nechako Valley and the Cariboo. He believes at the end of the day, it all comes down to cost. “British Columbia needs to take a solid look at our cost structure so that we’re competitive.” 

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How will the loss of a shift at West Fraser impact the city of Quesnel?

By George Henderson
My Cariboo Now
November 15, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bob Simpson

Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson, while acknowledging the impact on some of the employees at the West Fraser sawmill as a result of a lost shift, says there won’t be a big impact to the city. “There isn’t a net impact on the City’s revenues, because the mill will still be running … so from a financial perspective this does not create any harm to the city’s finances.” We asked Simpson if Quesnel has started making adjustments to the new forest industry. “We started to make the transition adjustments that we’ve needed over the last few years. Unfortunately the previous administrations chose not to do the longer term work… Simpson says West Fraser has indicated to the city that they will be making every effort to accommodate those workers within the West Fraser operations throughout BC

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More thought needed before new sawmill breaks ground in Port Alberni

Letter by Mike Wright
Alberni Valley News
November 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

It is apparently good news that a new sawmill is coming to Port Alberni. It is interesting to hear the new owners regard Port Alberni as the place “where it all started” insofar as sawmills, logging, and the forestry industry are concerned. That may be of some importance to those with a nostalgic historical bent for the machine age, however it has no resonance for many more, and certainly has no bearing on anything substantial. …It has been suggested that Port Alberni would be better off without courting such heavy industries. I’m not saying this project should not go ahead, it may be the best thing since sliced bread… I think a bit of consideration for the environment and public health is still warranted. Some widening of the discussion is always a good way to obtain the social contract that modern corporations seek before breaking ground.

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Canfor to Acquire Majority Interest in VIDA Group of Sweden

By Canfor Corporation
Cision Newswire
November 15, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER – Canfor Corporation announces that it has entered into an agreement to purchase 70% of the VIDA Group of Sweden for a purchase price of 3,990 million Swedish Krona (approximately CAD$580 million) on a cash and debt free basis, which includes CAD$125 million (70%) of normalized working capital. …”With the acquisition of VIDA, we are excited to become a truly international manufacturer and provider of wood product solutions for our global customers,” said Don Kayne, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor. “This transformational growth will allow Canfor to further diversify and secure a worldwide fibre supply to meet the growing demand of our customers for high quality wood products.” VIDA is Sweden’s largest privately owned sawmill company, operating nine sawmills with an annual production capacity of 1.1 billion board feet. All of the sawmills produce spruce and pine products, and are strategically located in high quality and sustainable fibre regions of Sweden.

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All major forest companies in B.C. cut production

By Nelson Bennett
The Prince George Citizen
November 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Hundreds of sawmill workers are being laid off in B.C., some of them permanently, despite recent record profits made by B.C. forestry companies, which continue to expand south of the border. The problem is not lumber prices or softwood lumber tariffs – although lumber prices have fallen in recent months – but rather high log prices and low supplies in British Columbia, a result of the Mountain pine beetle, which ate through roughly half of B.C.’s harvestable timber supply. All major forestry companies in B.C. have announced curtailments at their B.C. sawmill for the fourth quarter. In the case of West Fraser Timber, the curtailments are permanent. …Meanwhile, Tolko recently announced it is taking a 50% stake in a lumbermill in Mississippi, and Canfor announced November 9 that it is buying a sawmill in Soiuth Carolina for $110 million.

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Politicians Weigh In On Mill Curtailments

By Cheryl Jahn
CKPG News
November 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

NORTHERN BC – “We’re in for some trying times.” That’s how MP Todd Doherty described what the sawmilling communities around the region are looking at. …The companies are citing things like log supply due to two major wildfires, log costs, the protracted softwood lumber dispute and current market conditions. But the MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie has some less-than-kind comments for the lumber giants. “The forest companies need to be sympathetic to these communities, understand these communities; it’s not the bottom line for these communities, it’s their life. And for the forest companies to be backing the money that they’ve made over the last number of years, investing heavily into the southern United States with the profits they’ve made from British Columbia, I think they owe an explanation to the British Columbia communities that are being affected by this.”

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Government of Canada Supports Diversification and Jobs in Quebec’s Forest Industry

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
November 13, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

CHAPAIS, QC – Wood innovation has the power to advance the development of Canada’s renewable resource economy and create good jobs while combating climate change. Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a $15-million investment to help Granule 777 Inc. build the first fully integrated industrial wood pellet and sawmill complex in Canada. On behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), he also announced a repayable contribution of $5 million to enable the company to acquire strategic and innovative production equipment. Granule 777 Inc. received the funding as part of the Government’s commitment to advancing innovative technology in Canada’s forest industry. The funding is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program and CED’s Quebec Economic Development Program.

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Trade war with China impacting Rayonier Advanced Materials

By Mark Basch
The Jacksonville Daily Record
November 15, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Rayonier Advanced Materials says the trade war between the U.S. and China is having an impact on the company. …Rayonier AM Chief Executive Paul Boynton said the threat of tariffs on the company’s high-purity cellulose sales to China seems to be impacting its stock. “We are currently absorbing the 5 percent tariff, equating to about $2 million per quarter, and while we supply these products from our U.S. operations, we’re working with our customers to reposition production of these products outside the U.S. if necessary,” Boynton said. …Rayonier AM had not been in the lumber business since but it picked up seven sawmills in Canada as part of its acquisition of Montreal-based Tembec Inc. last year. …Although the decline in lumber prices may be hurting the stock as Boynton said, Rayonier AM said it expects prices to rebound.

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Merger creates timber business with revenues of close to £250m

Insider Media
November 14, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Shefield, UK — Arnold Laver & Co and The National Timber Group have merged to create a timber distribution business with combined revenue approaching £250m and 52 sites across the UK. The transaction is being supported by further investment from Cairngorm Capital Partners. The National Timber Group is a collective of timber distribution companies, which include Thornbridge Sawmills, North Yorkshire Timber and Rembrand. Together they serve customers including joiners, regional housebuilders, commercial companies and infrastructure projects. …Arnold Laver imports, distributes and manufactures a wide range of timber, panels, decorative surfaces and joinery products.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Mid-Rise Housing that Goes Beyond Code

By Think Wood
Architect Magazine
November 14, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Origine in Quebec City is the latest entry in a growing line of engineered wood and hybrid structures now in place across North America, says project architect Yvan Blouin of Quebec City-based Yvan Blouin Architecte. Blouin and André Huot, the representative for Origine’s mass timber wall and panel manufacturer, regard Origine as the latest chapter in a well-evolved, rapidly advancing mass timber story. “This type of building is about the future. It embraces a green vision. We’re building with materials that will help our children and children’s children enjoy a better tomorrow,” says architect Blouin. …Huot says “over 1,200 officials from Korea, China, Turkey, Japan, Canada, United States, and South America have toured Origine during and after construction.”

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Prefabrication: The Future of Multifamily and Commercial Construction

By Think Wood
Global Newswire
November 14, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Washington, DC — As the nationwide labor shortage intensifies and building material costs continue to inflate, Think Wood recognizes the need for building owners and developers to maintain the viability of projects. Prefabricated wood buildings—which are no longer limited to single-family housing and smaller temporary workspaces—offer an innovative solution with a multitude of benefits, including process efficiency, a controlled environment, greater return on investment, material efficiency and reduced waste. Collectively, these benefits can help meet the value and performance demands from owners, designers and developers. …Using prefabricated wood construction enabled the impressive framing time MOTO exhibited, which can equate to reduced labor dependency and overall construction costs when compared to other common worksite construction methods.

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Forestry

Canadian Christmas tree market a growing $77-million seasonal business

By Henry Stancu
The Star
November 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Whether it’s cut down on a festive excursion to a Christmas tree farm, bought from a big box retailer, or hauled home from our local neighbourhood tree lot, Canadians love the real thing. Growing, selling and buying … Christmas trees is a $77 million seasonal venture — with about half exported to the U.S. — that has been growing at a small but steady pace over the past few years. Growers say the costs of their supplies, labour and shipping have been going up about 10 per cent annually. “This year in Ontario the cost of employment — minimum wage — went up and that is going to play into it,” said Shirley Brennan, executive director of both the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association and the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario. …“It is beneficial to have a real tree, not only is it good for the environment, but also for creating memories,” said Brennan.

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McLeod Lake Mackenzie Community Forest receives good audit

BC Forest Practices Board
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – An audit of the McLeod Lake Mackenzie community forest in the Mackenzie Natural Resource District has found compliance with B.C.’s forestry legislation. The community forest is jointly managed by the District of Mackenzie and the McLeod Lake Indian Band. “We are pleased to see that the community forest carried out sound forest practices and fully met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act,” said Kevin Kriese, board chair. “Of note, the community forest has been proactive in adopting fire-management stocking standards for stands harvested in the wildland urban interface,” said Kriese. “These standards permit more deciduous trees and fewer coniferous trees when these stands regenerate and will assist in reducing the risk of wildfire to the community of Mackenzie. This is a best practice that deserves recognition.”

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Laird Creek residents still hoping for independent report on logging road

By Bill Metcalfe
Nelson Star
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Will the provincial government pay for an independent scientist to assess terrain stability in Laird Creek? The answer is not clear. In April, the Regional District of Central Kootenay board decided to write to forestry minister Doug Donaldson requesting an independent report on the terrain stability in the contentious logging area near Balfour. The request was prompted by logging company Cooper Creek Cedar’s plan to reopen an old logging road and use it to access a nearby cutblock. But the road has some history. The construction and location of the road is widely believed to have been the cause of a slide in 2011 that plugged a number of rural water systems below it. The company that built the road, BC Timber Sales, temporarily provided drinking water to about 100 homes after the slide.

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Was the public consulted?

By Colin Dacre
Castanet
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Penticton, BC — Questions are being raised about the extent of B.C. Timber Sales consultation with the public on logging planned for a recreational site just outside Penticton. More than 1,400 people have signed a petition against the plan to log a network of biking and cross-country skiing trails about four kilometres up the Carmi Forest Service Road. Those opposed to the plan say they were informed of the project by forestry flagging tape hanging in the recreational area, not by BCTS’s required outreach. …Neda Joss, the organizer of the group against the work, called the BCTS outreach effort “the bare minimum,” suggesting they should have got in touch with more than just SOTA, or even erected a sign near the site’s parking area with information on the plans.

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Governments of Canada and British Columbia invest to conserve world’s only inland temperate rainforest

By Environment and Climate Change Canada
Cision Newswire
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA – Canadians know that protecting our natural heritage is essential to our environment, our economy, and our communities. That’s why the Government of Canada has committed to doubling the amount of nature protected in Canada, from coast to coast to coast. Today, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, joined by British Columbia’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, George Heyman, announced that the governments of Canada and British Columbia are partnering to protect one of Canada’s natural treasures and the world’s only inland temperate rainforest, the Darkwoods Conservation Area. They will carry out this important work by investing $7 million and $7.65 million respectively toward expanding the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Darkwoods Conservation Area. This investment will help …protecting Canada’s nature and the wildlife that depend on it and allowing even large mammals to roam freely through their natural environment of old-growth forests.

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Nova Scotia’s species at risk: Mainland moose battle ticks, ATVs and clear cuts

CBC News
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

The largest land mammal in the province is facing imminent extinction. In recent years, the number of mainland moose hovered around 1,000, and while the Department of Lands and Forestry hasn’t released its latest count, it says it’s well below that now. “… it’s a death by a thousands means,” said Clifford Paul, moose management co-ordinator for the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources in Cape Breton. Only a few pockets of moose still live on the mainland, including in the southwest, Guysborough and Antigonish counties and the Cobequid region. Meanwhile, the population in Cape Breton is abundant, with an estimated 5,000 moose. Loss of habitat due to clear cutting and human development is a major culprit, said Paul. So are ticks. Global warming and human activity has forced more deer into the province, which carry bloody-sucking insects that can climb onto moose.

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Environmental groups call on feds to protect caribou on provincial land

By Nicole Thompson
The Canadian Press in CTV News
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

TORONTO — Three environmental groups are calling on the federal government to protect boreal caribou in northern Ontario, saying a decade of mismanagement by the province has put the animals increasingly at risk. The David Suzuki Foundation, Ontario Nature and the Wildlands League issued a petition to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna this week, requesting that she recommend federal cabinet issue what’s known as a “safety net order” under the Species at Risk Act for two boreal caribou populations about 120 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. …”Caribou is an indicator of a healthy boreal forest,” said Anna Baggio, director of conservation planning for Wildlands League. …A spokeswoman for McKenna said the federal government… would take a “close look” at the petition’s recommendations.

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BC Rural Dividend grant supports Quesnel

By Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Government of British Columbia
November 13, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

QUESNEL – The City of Quesnel will be able to co-ordinate forest management and landscape level planning, and develop business cases to build upon the manufacturing sector in the region, thanks to a $367,000 grant from the Province. “The special circumstances provision of the Rural Dividend was specifically designed to assist communities undergoing economic hardship, such as those impacted by wildfire,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “This project is a good example of a community coming together to plan locally for economic and ecological resilience into the future.” The funds will be used to implement the recommendations of the Quesnel Future of Forestry Think Tank, which was held in Quesnel in March 2018, to investigate new opportunities for forest management and forest products manufacturing.

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Old growth trees cut in violation of 4FRI mission

By Scott Buffon
Arizona Daily Sun
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Four Forest Restoration Initiative has been spent years strengthening and supporting the public’s faith in their mission to cut down trees across northern Arizona, or what they call their “social license.” But the United States Forest Service made a decision out at the West Escudilla Project to cut down over 1,300 trees that were more than 150 years old, fearing an infestation of an invasive dwarf mistletoe. In response to the action, the 4FRI stakeholders released a letter, calling the treatment “inconsistent” with their current practices. “Members of the 4FRI [stakeholders group] have spent nearly two decades building the social license that made landscape-scale restoration a reality on Arizona national forests,” according to the stakeholder letter. “There is broad stakeholder consensus and science support for retraining old-growth trees, including wildlife habitat, increased genetic diversity, and potential increased fire and climate resiliency.”

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Humboldt State University to acquire 884-acre forest for research purposes

The Times-Standard
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Humboldt State University is on the verge of receiving an 884-acre forest near campus, which will be used for research and field experiences. The effort is possible due to a generous donation from R.H. Emmerson & Son LLC, as well as major grants from state and federal agencies. …The area includes extensive stands of second-growth Redwoods as well as old-growth Cedar. It is important habitat for a variety of species including northern spotted owl, bald eagle, Pacific fisher, and red-legged frog, and it is important for the health of downstream species including coho salmon and chinook. Once HSUreceives the property, it will be permanently protected from conversion to any non-forestry uses.

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Explainer: Blame climate, but crowded forests also fuel California fires

By Nichola Groom
Reuters
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

With a tweet blaming California’s wildfires on “gross mismanagement of the forests,” President Donald Trump dismissed the role of climate change in the worsening blazes across the U.S. West – generating widespread derision in the Golden State. Viewed on the surface as the latest shot by Republican Trump at a Democratic state …the tweet nevertheless shone a spotlight on California’s overgrown forests and their role in devastating fires. In fact, few disagree that California’s increasingly dry and overgrown forests are, effectively, large-scale tinderboxes. “California’s forests are reaching a breaking point,” the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency, wrote in a report earlier this year. …Yet the Little Hoover Commission report found poor management policies for the last century have left forests vulnerable to fires. “The costs of long neglecting and mismanaging forests have become an unsustainable burden in California,” the report said.

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The California Fire That Killed 48 People Is the Deadliest U.S. Wildfire in a Century

By Gina Martinez
Time Magazine
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Camp Fire in Northern California is the deadliest wildfire in the United States in a century, according to wildfire historians. The death toll for the blaze, which is still burning through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains outside Sacramento, increased to 48 Tuesday night as crews searched for bodies in communities that were caught in the fast-moving flames. The Camp Fire already became the deadliest fire in California history earlier this week – surpassing the 1933 Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles, which killed 29. …Not since the Cloquet Fire in 1918 has a wildfire killed so many people in the United States. An estimated 450 died in the wildfire in Minnesota. The deadliest fire in U.S. history was the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in 1871. At least 1,200 people died.

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Analysis Reveals Northwest Communities Most Threatened By Wildfire

By Tony Schick
Oregon Public Broadcasting
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A small number of Northwest communities have an outsized level of exposure to wildfire, according to data released by the Forest Service. The analysis, done by Montana-based firm Pyrologix and the Forest Service, identified 100 communities in Oregon and Washington with the highest cumulative risk of wildfire, based on the probability of burning and the number of housing units exposed to fire. Those 100 communities account for only about 15 percent of all the housing analyzed, but nearly 75 percent of housing exposed to wildfire, the analysis found. …These top-100 communities face a greater threat of significant home losses from wildfire, but also offer the most potential for reducing risk. The concentration of wildfire exposure in a small number of communities offers a clearer picture of where state, local and federal officials can target mega-fire prevention. Those efforts typically include prescribed burning, homeowner education and fire resilient development and building codes.

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Diseased, dying forests pose huge wildfire risk in Washington

By Kara Kostanich
KOMO News
November 14, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SEATTLE – Millions of acres of forestland across the state of Washington is extremely susceptible to wildfire. The culprit: poor forest health. “What we are seeing in California is an absolute wake up call for the people of this state,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. “What’s happening there is very possible on our landscape even though it’s different, we are seeing hotter and drier weather.” The sheer destruction and loss of life in California is reminder to Washingtonians the 2018 wildfire season sparked nearly the largest number of wildfires in state history. …Franz said the DNR is fighting fires with the same resources they did 10 years ago, adding with more fire, more staff and treatment is needed.

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Australian version of world’s strongest forestry standard launched

Architecture and Design Australia
November 15, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Australia’s Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has launched an Australian certification standard for responsible forestry, achieving a ground-breaking first in the protection and management of the nation’s forest wealth. FSC Australia CEO, Sara Gipton described the Forest Stewardship Council label as the global gold standard, recognised by consumers worldwide as guaranteeing that timber and paper products are produced sustainably, in a way that protects forests and supports workers and communities. Gipton says, “The new FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard gives consumers confidence the Australian wood products they buy are from forests managed to the world’s highest standard.” …Welcoming the new Australian Standard, New Forests CEO, David Brand said they will support the Australian forest sector in demonstrating responsible forest management.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Part of the Answer to Climate Change May Be America’s Trees and Dirt, Scientists Say

By Brad Plumer
New York Times
November 14, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

WASHINGTON — When people think of potential solutions to global warming, they tend to visualize technologies like solar panels or electric cars. A new study published on Wednesday, however, found that better management of forests, grasslands and soils in the United States could offset as much as 21 percent of the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. At the high end of the projections, that would be roughly equivalent to taking every single car and truck in the country off the road. The paper, published in the journal Science Advances, identified a number of promising strategies, like replanting trees on degraded lands, changing logging practices to better protect existing forests and sequestering more carbon in farmland soils through new agricultural techniques.

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What climate change will do to the forests

By Ryan Cooper
The Week Magazine
November 15, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

At the beginning of October, California’s fire season was already threatening to be the worst on record. …The total from the first nine months of 2018 alone was considerably more than the 506,000 acres that had burned on state land in all of 2017, which was itself more than twice as much as burned in 2016. …One slim hope for the rest of the year was that fall rains might keep California’s trees and vegetation relatively moist. But the rains did not come. …Climate change will have two contradictory effects on forests, William Anderegg, a climate scientist at the University of Utah who specializes in tree biology, told The Week. On the one hand, some of its effects will stimulate forest growth. …But on the other hand, a warmer world would also harm forests because it means more drought, more fires, and more insect infestations.

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Tree planting in UK ‘must double to tackle climate change’

By Damian Carrington
The Guardian
November 15, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Tree planting must double by 2020 as part of radical changes to land use in the UK, according to the government’s advisers on climate change. New forests would lock up carbon but also help to limit the more frequent floods expected with global warming. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said land currently used to produce food would need to be converted to woodland, growing crops to produce energy and for new homes to accommodate the growing population. Up to 17% of cropland and 30% of grassland could be converted, the report says. Protecting and restoring peatland, a huge store of carbon, is also vital, as is ensuring no food waste went to landfill by 2025, but is instead used to generate energy, it adds.

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Health & Safety

With workplace fatalities up, BOCES buckles down on safety with ‘model’ forestry program

By Colleen Wilson
The Journal News
November 14, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US East

The first thing John Madden shows his urban forestry students is how to properly adjust a hard hat and how to identify a worn one that could get a worker hurt. “There’s so few highly-skilled young people coming out to get into the industry and these industries are so dangerous, so without any skills it’s very easy to get seriously injured,” he said. Madden oversees the Urban Forestry and Arboriculture Career and Technical Education program offered at Putnam/Northern Westchester (PNW) BOCES. The program has been around for 50 years but is getting new notice. Last month, a state agency recognized the program as a statewide model for other technical education programs.

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