Daily Archives: December 19, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Anthony Thistleton says loud and clear: the more mass timber, the merrier!

December 19, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

Business news in Eastern Canada – will wood supply thwart the restart of the Fort Frances mill? And will fishermen stop Northern Pulp from finding a new effluent pipeline route?

In Wood news, a UBC student wants to plant gardens on bus shelters, and Anthony Thistleton’s new book Thinkwood says YES to using mass timber – the more the merrier! 

Canada is the chief steward of the world’s Boreal forests – it’s a big responsibility; NRCan is investing in two Indigenous forest sector projects in New Brunswick; and researchers at the University of Arizona say Southwest forests’ productivity will decline over 21st century due to climate change. 

Finally – with six days until Christmas, Tree Frog is reaching out again for your TREEdition Stories. Please tell us about your Christmas traditions and send us a picture – we’d love to share. 

Sandy McKellar, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Year in review: Resources

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s forestry industry started 2018 on a high note and ended on a low one. In the first two quarters of 2018, B.C. forestry companies were still profiting from high lumber prices in the U.S., some of them reaping record profits. But by the fourth quarter of 2018, all the major forestry companies in B.C. had either already made or announced production cuts. Major forest companies have seen market caps and share prices shrink by about one-third or more since June. “It’s been a very unusual year because we did see very significant price levels, which of course meant we had a couple of good quarters, but now of course with prices dropping down significantly on top of the trade tariffs, etc., we’ve had announcements of curtailments both temporary and permanent,” said Susan Yurkovich, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries.

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Wood supply will be key to Fort Frances mill restart

By Ian Ross
Northern Ontario Business
December 18, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Gaining access to Crown fibre will be a key issue for a potential buyer of the idled Fort Frances pulp and paper mill. Repap Resources Group notified Resolute Forest Products in mid-December of its intentions to enter into negotiations to acquire its northwestern Ontario mill. The private Canadian and U.S. investors group wants to restart the plant and introduce a new mix of products in 2019. “This is a sophisticated group of investors that includes folks with long histories in the forestry and paper industry, including a specific knowledge of this mill,” said Tannis Drysdale, the town’s economic development consultant. …To reopen the Fort Frances mill, a potential new operator would have to negotiate a wood supply agreement with the province. “Certainly, we’ll be looking to the provincial government to ensure that fibre can be accessed and is available, if the private sector partners can make a deal,” said Drysdale.

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Nova Scotia fisherman says blockaders are being used as ‘scapegoat’ in fight with Northern Pulp

The StarMetro Halifax
December 18, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX—A Pictou fisherman of 30 years says Northern Pulp Mill’s successful injunction against those who’ve blocked mill survey boats is a blame tactic to hide the company’s lack of proper waste plan. Nearly 100 people from various environmental groups, Pictou Landing First Nation, Pictou area residents and other supporters rallied outside the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax. Fishermen have been blocking the mill’s survey boats… leading to the mill’s move to file for a temporary injunction. That was granted by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Denise Boudreau on Tuesday, who said the fishermen have the right to “lawful protest,” but they don’t have the legal right to block the survey vessels from doing their work. Kathy Cloutier, a spokeswoman for Northern Pulp’s parent company, Paper Excellence Canada, said that they are satisfied with the ruling.

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Nova Scotia pulp mill due in court to ask for injunction against fishermen’s blockade

The Canadian Press in CTV News
December 18, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX — Lawyers for the Northern Pulp mill in northern Nova Scotia are seeking an injunction that would prevent fishermen from blocking survey boats hired to examine a route for a new effluent pipeline. About 80 people gathered outside Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday to protest the proposed pipeline. They carried signs that said, “No pipe in the Strait” and chanted “All I want for Christmas is no pipe.” Four members of a pipefitters union came to the protest to support Northern Pulp, carrying signs that read, “Support Northern Pulp Effluent Cleanup.” Kathy Cloutier, a spokeswoman for Northern Pulp’s parent company, Paper Excellence Canada, confirmed the mill is seeking an interim injunction to prevent blockades of the survey work in the Northumberland Strait.

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Forestry Shake-up as company penalised $35,000

By the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
Scoop Independent News
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

One of central North Island’s largest forestry silviculture companies has been penalised $35,000 at the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) for paying four former migrant employees less than the minimum wage for every hour they worked. Silviculture Solutions Ltd (SSL), an associated company of CNI Forest Management Limited and a supplier of Silviculture services to Timberlands, employs up to 250 staff in forest block growing and maintenance. SSL was determined by the ERA to have used an “illegal system of calculating pay,” and paid the workers only for “productive hours”. The outcome follows a Labour Inspectorate audit of 10 silviculture businesses in the region in 2016, with the Inspectorate raising minimum payment concerns with SSL as early as 2009.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Can Cross-Laminated Timber save the world?

By Lloyd Alter
Tree Hugger
December 18, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

A year ago, after listening to Anthony Thistleton of Waugh Thistleton Architects speak, I wondered what’s the best way to build in wood? Should we be using mass timber when alternatives are more efficient in their use of material? Now, Anthony Thistleton answers loud and clear: essentially, Yes, and the more, the merrier. He has just published a new book, 100 Projects UK CLT, which show the phenomenal growth in the use of wood, demonstrated in “100 hundred ground-breaking CLT projects, demonstrating the UK’s leading position in the use of cutting edge technology.” There are some who are not yet convinced that wood will save the planet; read Paula Melton. I have been skeptical in the past, but the authors do a good job of addressing the concerns. …The book is available as a free download at Thinkwood.

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UBC student hopes to grow support for her ‘green roof’ bus shelter

By Kathryn Tindale
Vancouver Courier
December 18, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A University of British Columbia urban forestry student is crowdfunding to build a prototype “green roof” bus shelter at UBC and further research of the design. Tabinda Shah, who’s in her final year at UBC, is working with other students and faculty to launch the Tree Canopy project on campus to introduce a bus shelter with potential environmental benefits. She says a remaining $25,000 is needed to build the prototype shelter, which will be made with treated wood to withstand the elements and a green roof. …Shah says herproject also incorporates the concept of forest architecture, as seen in projects such as Italy’s Bosco Verticale, which uses layers of greenery to simulate layers of the forest. …Building the prototype will take two weeks with treated wood provided by Structurlam.

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Course looks to train the next generation of mass timber builders

By Don Procter
Daily Commercial News
December 19, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

David Moses

As architects and engineers get up to speed on designing buildings in the fledgling mass timber industry in Ontario, many contractors remain on the sidelines hesitant about the new building type they are hearing more about. “Right now, really the need is that we have trained people who know how to build,” said David Moses, principal with Moses Structural Engineers. Working with Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Carpenters’ Local 27 and the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades (CCAT), Moses is developing several mass timber modules that can be built and disassembled by apprentices and carpenters. The full-scale modules will be at the heart of a four-week training course starting up next March at the CCAT in Vaughan. One of the modules is a tilt-up balloon frame cross-laminated timber (CLT) stair shaft.

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Wood Adhesives Manufacturers Focus their Growth Strategy on Furniture, Building and Construction Industries

By Frost & Sullivan
Cision Newswire
December 18, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

SANTA CLARA — Growth opportunities in the global wood adhesives market look promising over the next six years. Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Global Wood Adhesives Market, Forecast to 2024, reveals that the market is expected to witness significant growth rates due to rising volume demand for wood adhesive applications in the furniture and building and construction industries, particularly in high-growth economies such as China, India, and Southeast Asia. The market is forecast to reach $33.68 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% between 2017 and 2024. “While regulatory requirements are pushing high demand for resin chemistries, there is a growing need for adhesive technologies with niche applications,” said Ganesh Dabholkar, Senior Research Analyst, Visionary Science at Frost & Sullivan. “Manufacturers who focus on developing zero and ultra-low formaldehyde- and volatile organic compounds (VOC)-emitting resin chemistries will secure preferential customer purchase and lucrative revenue prospects.”

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Forestry

Government of Canada signs environmental cooperation agreement with the United States and Mexico

By Environment and Climate Change Canada
Government of Canada
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

OTTAWA – Canadians expect their government to work with international partners to build a cleaner future. As the Government of Canada builds strong trade relationships, it is firmly committed to the principle that trade and environmental protection go hand in hand. Free-trade agreements that include commitments to protect the environment ensure a sustainable economy for the next generation of Canadians and the one after that. Today, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, signed the new Agreement on Environmental Cooperation among the Governments of Canada, the United States of America, and the United Mexican States. This environmental cooperation agreement complements the ambitious environment chapter of the recently signed Agreement between Canada, the United States of America, and the United Mexican States and strengthens environmental cooperation between the three trade partners. 

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It’s Up to Canadians to Save the Boreal Forest — and We’re Doing a Lousy Job

By Crawford Kilian
The Tyee
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Early in November, a report in the scientific journal Nature made some disturbing observations — especially for Canadians, because the news may have come too late for us to do anything about it….The Nature authors tell us that just five countries now contain over 70 per cent of the world’s wilderness: Russia, Canada, Australia, the U.S. and Brazil. Russia, the U.S., and Canada happen to be northern nations, and our wilderness is the vast boreal forest that spans continents….It’s discouraging because Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Donald Trump’s America couldn’t care less about it. …Canada is effectively the chief steward of the world’s boreal forests. That gives us a very heavy responsibility that we show no sign of recognizing. …Perhaps another explosive wildfire season in 2019 will focus the politicians’ minds on the longer term.

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Heli-logging operations help manage Douglas-fir beetles

By Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Government of British Columbia
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

WILLIAMS LAKE – A third year of helicopter logging operations in the Williams Lake area is expected to start this week to help minimize the spread of Douglas-fir beetles on Crown land. These natural forest pests normally attack small groups of trees. A significant infestation can weaken and eventually kill a tree over a period of about one year. However, helicopter logging (to selectively remove infested trees and protect other trees nearby) and related containment treatments have helped slow the spread of the beetles in the Williams Lake area over the past two years. …Monitoring of Douglas-fir beetle infestations within previous treatment areas has identified fewer trees currently under attack, so the helicopter logging project is being expanded to new sites.

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Province protects more wildlife habitat

By Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Government of British Columbia
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A unique wetland habitat and rare Garry Oak ecosystem in the Cowichan Valley make up B.C.’s newest wildlife management area. The Somenos wetlands, just north of Duncan, are a prime wildlife viewing site. Over 200 bird species have been observed, including the second-largest population of over-wintering trumpeter swans on Vancouver Island and year-round habitat for great blue herons. The area is internationally recognized for its significant fish and wildlife habitat. “Wildlife management areas help to meet government’s mandate to sustainably manage B.C.’s ecosystems, rivers and lakes, as well as improving wildlife management and habitat conservation,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “We want to protect these kinds of areas for generations to come.” The S’amunu wildlife management area (WMA) contains about 155 hectares of highly productive lake, seasonally flooded wetlands and riparian habitat, as well as significant cultural features.

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Eco-group files complaint over old-growth cuts

By Richard Watts
The Times Colonist
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An environmental group has filed a complaint over logging in the Nahmint Valley, alleging trees were cut, including one of Canada’s biggest, without regard to values such as conservation or recreation. The Ancient Forest Alliance objects to the B.C. government decision to auction 300 hectares in various-sized cutblocks in the Nahmint Valley, southwest of Port Alberni. Some of the resulting cutblocks logged last spring were 30 hectares. One contained a Douglas fir whose measurements, three metres in diameter, would have placed it ninth on the B.C. Big Tree Registry, a list maintained by the forest faculty at the University of British Columbia. “Elsewhere in the valley, we found cedar stumps over 10 feet in diameter,” said TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner in an interview. “There are a fair number of trees there that we feel should still be standing.”

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The present and future of Squamish forestry

By Pat Johnson
The Squamish Chief
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Eric Andersen

One of B.C.’s leading forestry companies has announced a temporary reduction in lumber production across the province’s Interior due to challenging markets and high costs, as well as log shortages. But a leading figure in the industry says the problems in the Interior do not reflect the situation on the coast. Quite the contrary. …But Eric Andersen, a forest industry consultant with 30 years’ experience, said the challenge for the Interior is practically the opposite of the challenges facing the sector on the coast. …”We have an under-harvest… a significant under-harvest,” said Andersen. …Andersen hears complaints about B.C. selling raw logs to China and other overseas manufacturers. “We absolutely must be able to sell raw logs to China, or we’ll all be shut down. The Chinese market is taking our low-quality hemlock that we are all desperate to sell to keep going.”

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DP World’s Fairview Terminal in Prince Rupert Reaches 1 Million Container Milestone

By Prince Rupert Port Authority
Cision Newswire
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

PRINCE RUPERT, BC – The Port of Prince Rupert and DP World celebrated a historic milestone as Fairview Container Terminal handled its millionth container for the first time in a calendar year. On December 18th, the millionth TEU was loaded onto the COSCO Africa with ILWU members and supply chain partners on hand to celebrate. The 40-foot container was loaded with dimensional lumber from Canfor’s Plateau mill at CN’s Prince George Transload Facility before arriving in Prince Rupert by rail. … “Asia is an important and growing market for Canfor. The Port of Prince Rupert has been integral in our ability to get our products to Asia quickly and reliably and will continue to be a critical infrastructure hub for our products destined for offshore markets,” shared Mark Feldinger, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain for Canfor and Canfor Pulp.

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Canada Invests in New Brunswick’s Indigenous Forestry Initiative

Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

T.J. Harvey

TOBIQUE FIRST NATION, NB – …Member of Parliament for Tobique–Mactaquac, T.J. Harvey, on behalf of Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today announced $295,000 in funding for two Indigenous forest sector projects in New Brunswick that will create jobs and boost the local economy. The first project is a multi-year investment of $255,000 to the Tobique First Nation that will establish a forest-based community business to create long-term employment opportunities and increase revenues in the community. …The second investment of $40,000 will help Mi’gmawe’I Tplu’taqnn Incorporated launch a sustainable forestry strategy for its nine member communities. The strategies will assess and identify manufacturing options and opportunities in the local forest sector.

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Oregon Moves On Plan To Repurpose The Elliott State Forest For Research

By Jes Burns and Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Public Broadcasting
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

After years of struggling to figure out what to do with the Elliott State Forest, Oregon officials now have a proposal they like. Members of the State Land Board voted Tuesday to start work on a plan to transfer the 80,000-acre forest near Coos Bay to Oregon State University. The university’s idea is to create the “Elliott State Research Forest.” OSU President Ed Ray told Land Board members that the university’s “unmatched” experts would be available to assist with the Elliott regardless of who was tapped to own the forest. “The question is, Do you want to stop there, or do you want to go further?” Ray added. “Do you want or do you aspire for Oregon, the nation and the world to have a leading research capability that helps all of us understand around this globe how to manage forest resources going forward?”

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Southwest forest trees will grow much slower in the 21st century

University of Arizona
Phys.org
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Southwest forests may decline in productivity on average as much as 75 percent over the 21st century as climate warms, according to a University of Arizona-led research report published in Nature Communications on Dec. 17. …The finding is based on a treasure trove of about 20,000 unanalyzed tree cores discovered in a Utah laboratory about a decade ago. …The new tree-core samples are more representative of the forest as a whole than many of those collected and analyzed earlier, said first author Stefan Klesse, who conducted the analysis while a postdoctoral researcher at the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. …”The Joe Schmoe trees will experience a 75 percent reduction in growth and the trees on the edge—according to our analysis—are pretty much doomed,” said Evans, an assistant professor in the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

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Idaho, USDA sign logging and forest restoration agreement

By Steve Bertel
KIVI-TV Boise
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

BOISE — Idaho has signed an agreement with federal authorities to increase logging and restoration work on millions of acres of U.S. Forest Service lands that experts say are increasingly plagued with insect infestations and destructive wildfires. Idaho Governor “Butch” Otter, Gov.-elect Brad Little and U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Hubbard signed the Shared Stewardship Agreement on Tuesday — that officials say could serve as a template for other Western states. The agreement calls for ramping up a federal-state partnership of the federally approved Good Neighbor Authority that allows state workers to assist on timber sales and restoration work on Forest Service land. Officials say landscape-scale projects are needed to treat 6.1 million acres of national forests in Idaho that have a high risk for disease and wildfire.

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The Cost of Christmas

By Bill Hudson
The Pagosa Daily Post
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

…I wondered, as I awoke this morning, whether the cardboard and paper used to package our Christmas boxes this year will contribute to the destruction of the environment. …I have the impression that forests play a major role in the cleansing and recycling of our global atmosphere. But are we cutting down the world’s forests to wrap Christmas presents? And if so, what does that mean, in terms of earth’s future? North America did a pretty good job of cutting down our old growth forests between 1620 and 1920. We can safely assume most of this lumber went into building construction, rather than into the manufacture of cardboard boxes. The wetlands and forests have made a partial comeback since 1920, although none of the “new” forests in the US can be classified as “old growth.” 

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Logging of old-growth forests should stop, Victorian environment department says

By Lisa Cox
The Guardian
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Logging in old-growth forests in Victoria should cease, according to testimony from the Victorian environment department in a court battle over logging in East Gippsland. The Fauna and Flora Research Collective is pursuing VicForests and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in the supreme court. The not-for-profit research collective claims the department and VicForests have not protected the minimum area of old-growth forest required by law in East Gippsland. Under cross-examination on Monday, the department’s deputy secretary for forest, fire and regions, Lee Miezis, admitted the department’s position was that old-growth logging in the state should cease. A document was presented to the court that outlined a policy to protect all remaining old-growth forests in Victoria by June 2018, a plan that has not eventuated.

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