Daily Archives: December 20, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Christmas comes early as US vote on Tall Wood is set to pass code council

December 20, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

Christmas comes early as the International Code Council vote on Tall Wood is set to pass, clearing the way for 18-storey buildings in 2021. In other Business news: Western Forest Products’ Don Demens corrects inaccuracies in ENGO op-ed; Northern Pulp’s discharge pipe has the community divided; EACOM says duties are hard to swallow with sagging lumber prices; and US sawmill production is up 4.3% in the first nine months of 2018.

In other news: Oregon’s Elliott State Forest may become a research forest; BC/WA/Oregon join forces on forests and climate change; and new research suggests forests, like humans, require a balanced diet.

Two TREEditions today: a 40 ft. Christmas tree order in the UK (thanks Sam Coggins) and reflections of the real Santa Clause (aka Bill Dumont).

Finally, an early Christmas greeting to all our readers and please note – tomorrow’s Tree Frog News is the last of 2018, barring any breaking news over the holiday.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Breaking News

2021 IBC To Include Wood Buildings Up To 18 Stories Tall

The Softwood Lumber Board
Global Newswire
December 19, 2018
Category: Breaking News
Region: United States

Washington, D.C. — Per preliminary voting results released by the International Code Council today, all 14 tall mass timber code change proposals have been approved, clearing the way for their inclusion in the 2021 International Building Code. Taken together, the 14 tall mass timber code change proposals create three new types of construction in the United States, setting fire safety requirements and allowable heights, areas, and number of stories for tall mass timber buildings up to 18 stories tall. …This outcome represents in part the efforts of the Softwood Lumber Board, alongside the American Wood Council and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. …The SLB’s Cees de Jager noted that “This is an exciting development for anyone interested in building design and construction in the United States and especially for those committed to integrating high-performance, low-carbon materials into the built environment. We are particularly excited for the softwood lumber industry, as this change could represent an additional 1.5 billion board feet of new market opportunity.”

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Special Feature

Reflections of the Real Santa Clause – Christmas 2018

By W.E.(Bill) Dumont, RPF
Letter to Tree Frog Editors
December 20, 2018
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

Santa Dumont

During my 40-year forestry career, I have been asked to play Santa Claus many times in a few former coastal logging camps like Jeune Landing and Sewell Inlet.  I have even dressed up my old dog Cruiser with real deer horns and a nice lipstick covered red nose to accompany Santa to represent Rudolph much to the delight of hundreds of kids in these isolated villages. In those days it was the tradition that Santa consumed a generous amount of rye and coke to overcome his stage fright and fears of a screaming kid on his knee. Mostly that worked as Santa does not recall all the happenings during those shouts of glee and “Santa, Santa”  from wide-eyed young kids as Santa handed out hundreds of presents and took pictures with the logger’s families. Since I made my final move to the Cowichan Valley 15 years ago I have volunteered at the BC Forest Discovery Centre as their main Santa for Christmas season.

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Here’s a forestry TREEdition from the UK

By Sam Coggins PhD, RPF
Letter to Tree Frog Editors
December 20, 2018
Category: Special Feature
Region: International

The build-up to Christmas in the United Kingdon is pretty hectic and can keep foresters on the private estates busy as staff split firewood to order, collect holly and ivy for wreaths, branches for decorations, and fulfill orders for Christmas trees. A couple of the private estates I worked on in the UK had Christmas tree plantations whereby folks ordered a tree and had them delivered to their house. One year we got an order for a 40ft tree that was due to go up in the local town. This required heading out of the usual Christmas tree plantations which had trees up to about 15 feet tall and into older plantations which had trees that were now part of a commercial plantation. We went out with the tractor and trailer and after walking through the plantation for around an hour the head forester found a decent tree.

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Business & Politics

U.S. sawmills produced 4.3% more softwood lumber in January-September 2018

By the Western Wood Products Association
Fordaq.com
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

U.S. sawmills produced 26.614 billion board ft. (bbf) of softwood lumber in the first nine months of 2018, a gain of 4.3% from 25.514 bbf in the same period a year earlier, according to the latest Lumber Track report by the Western Wood Products Assn. (WWPA) of Portland, Oregon. Western U.S. sawmills contributed 11.022 bbf to the nine-month total, up 5.4% % from last year’s 10.454 bbf, while output from Southern sawmills at 14.339 bbf was up 3.5% year-over-year from 13.852 bbf. …Apparent U.S. softwood lumber consumption in the first nine months was 36.814 bbf, an increase of 3.0% from 35.746 bbf in the same period last year. Apparent consumption in September was 3.823 bbf, down 2.4% from 3.917 bbf a year earlier and 13.9% lower than August’s volume of 4.442 bbf. [full story may require subscription]

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Forest sector continues to benefit B.C.

By Don Demens, CEO, Western Forest Products
The Vancouver Sun
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

In response to the recent opinion piece, I would like to correct some inaccuracies. …The opinion piece references Western’s investment in a misleading manner. …Over the last six years alone, we have invested over $350 million in modernizing our mills and advancing our timberlands operations through the adoption of state-of-the-art technology. …The opinion piece incorrectly referenced Western’s level of log exports. Despite being the largest tenure holder on the coast, we exported only three per cent of the logs we harvested in the last year. …It is a shame that the authors submitted this op-ed without fact-checking. I believe it is important that British Columbians have access to accurate information about forest management in their province. The scare tactics and false information quoted are a dis-service to Western, our partners and our employees. …Through managing forests sustainably and investing to add value through manufacturing — as Western has — the forest sector will continue to benefit coastal communities for generations to come.

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Canfor’s United Way Campaign Highlights Employee Generosity

By Don Kayne
Canfor CEO Blog
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Don Kayne

This fall, our Canadian operations participated in the long-time tradition of the Canfor United Way fundraising campaign. For two weeks, each operation held a variety of fundraising events to raise much-needed funds for United Way programs in each of our communities.  We are very proud to announce our fundraising efforts raised $331,000! …This total surpasses the totals raised in the past several years and is an incredible statement about our employees and their commitment to United Way and helping their communities. Once again, we held an internal competition to see which location raised the most amount per employee. Congratulations to our Canfor Administration Centre for winning this challenge.

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‘We’ve been pitted against each other’: How a proposed pulp-mill discharge pipe is tearing a Nova Scotia town apart

By Jessica Leeder
The Globe and Mail
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The pulp and paper mill in Pictou, N.S., wants to build an effluent pipeline that has galvanized the region’s fishermen in opposition. But as workers fear their jobs are in jeopardy, tensions are rising and the struggle has spilled over into the courts. …Signs in shouting-red all-caps are plastered in shops, in the windows of houses and nailed to trees: “NO PIPE! NO PULP WASTE IN OUR WATER!” The retorts, printed in black and white, snark back “YES PIPE!!!,” though mostly from a safe distance across Pictou Harbour, inside the confines of Northern Pulp. …The mill has always had opposition – the province has spent more than $100-million to support the mill and keep jobs secure despite environmental concerns – but discontent has never been so widespread. …Worries of those who fear for their pensions or defaulting on mortgages and truck loans are shared only among workers, some of whose children now come home from school anxious. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required to access this full story]

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U.S. softwood duties harder to ‘swallow’ for northern Ontario sawmills with sagging lumber prices

By Eric White
CBC News
December 20, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

December is the month for making predictions of what the coming year has in store. But those in northeastern Ontario’s forest industry are hesitant to do any forecasting about 2019, given the year that just went by. “We really will have to see, because nobody could have predicted the kind of pricing we saw in 2018,” says Christine Leduc, director of public affairs for Eacom Timber Corporation. …This was also the first full year for the softwood lumber duties the U.S. government brought in back in the spring of 2017, which Leduc says for Eacom is 20 per cent, meaning that more than $75 million is “being left at the border.” She says the longer the trade dispute goes on, the more northern Ontario jobs, especially those at older and less profitable mills, could be in danger.

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Mill granted injunction to end NS fishermen’s blockade, amidst tense protests

By Micheal Tutton
The Chronicle Journal
December 18, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX – A Nova Scotia judge has ordered fishermen to stop blocking survey vessels hired by a pulp mill, in a decision that came after protesters chanted their opposition to the firm’s plans to pump effluent into the Northumberland Strait. The temporary injunction, granted by Justice Denise Boudreau in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, was the latest round in an increasingly tense conflict over a proposal by Northern Pulp to dump over 62 million litres per day of treated waste into the rich fishing grounds. The company, a subsidiary of Paper Excellence, has said the effluent will meet federal regulations for emissions, but opponents counter there’s a lack of firm scientific evidence of how the waste will affect the long-term health of the lucrative lobster and crab fisheries. Northern Pulp plans to return to court Jan. 29 to seek a long-term injunction.

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Antidumping Rate Increased on Chinese Engineered Hardwood Flooring Imports

The Floor Daily
December 20, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Sterling, VA — The U.S. Department of Commerce has issued preliminary results of its 2016-2017 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China, reports the Decorative Hardwoods Association.  “The American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring, a domestic coalition of multilayered wood flooring producers, commended the Department of Commerce for the preliminary results: that imports of multilayered wood flooring from China were unfairly dumped in the U.S. market. “The Department of Commerce has increased the antidumping rate to 48.62% and also increased the China-wide entity rate from 25.62% to 96.51%.” [END]

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Unelected bureaucrats must follow the law, too

By Jeffrey McCloy
The Hill
December 19, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

One of the first things Americans learn in civics class is that Congress makes laws and the executive branch enforces those laws. Unfortunately, that key constitutional principle has been eroded, with regulatory agencies making their own laws through administrative regulations. …Last month, a unanimous Supreme Court issued a decision that could help restore the balance of power. In Weyerhaeuser v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the court held that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) does not have unfettered discretion when enforcing the Endangered Species Act (ESA). …For years, the FWS has sought to prevent courts from reviewing their decisions about critical habitat designations. …That’s why Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) followed up our victory in Weyerhaeuser with a new lawsuit in New Mexico

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Report verifies that Structurlam cross-laminated timber products are compliant with existing codes and standards

By Alejandra Diaz
ICC Evaluation Service and APA
December 18, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, United States

Brea, Calif. – The ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) and APA – The Engineered Wood Association (APA) released their first joint evaluation report for cross-laminated timber products. This program certifies CLT products for compliance with ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Cross-Laminated Timber Panels for Use as Components in Floor and Roof Decks and ANSI/APA PRG 320 Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber. The joint evaluation report was issued in September 2018 to Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation for its Structurlam CrossLam CLT panels. …”APA is pleased to collaborate with ICC-ES in offering CLT manufacturers with the high-quality joint evaluation reports that support the cross-laminated timber used in the demanding mass timber construction,” said Dr. BJ Yeh, P.E., director of the Technical Services Division at APA.

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Ottawa providing $4.9 million for downtown London affordable housing project

Global News
December 19, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

A six-storey affordable housing project in London’s downtown core is receiving a multi-million-dollar funding boost from the federal government. London North Centre Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos was on hand Wednesday for the announcement, alongside London Mayor Ed Holder and developer Yossi Lavie. Ottawa says it’s investing more than $4.9 million to the nearly-complete construction of the 69-unit building at 356 Dundas St through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s rental construction financing initiative. The initiative aims to support a stable supply of affordable rental housing in Canada for low and middle-class families, CMHC says. …It’s London’s first six-storey wood-frame building following changes to the building code in 2015 that paved the way for taller wood-frame structures.

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Wood Makes Comeback as Mass Timber Projects Thrive

By Lori Tobias
Construction Equipment Guide
December 18, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Despite a few setbacks, tall wood building construction is thriving in the United States and beyond. As of June 2018, more than 400 mass timber projects have been completed or are in the design stage, according to WoodWorks, which provides education and free project support for commercial and multi-family wood buildings. …In August, the state of Oregon became the first state to adopt code language providing for taller wood building construction in Oregon. The approval provides greater predictability for owners, developers, contractors and designers to have additional choices in construction, according to the State of Oregon Building Codes Structures Board. It also offers assurance that if state standards are met, local governments will recognize these taller buildings. National building code committees are not expected to recognize taller wood construction until 2021, however, the Oregon Building Code Division has been working … to ensure new provisions meet fire, life safety, and seismic standards.

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Housing Association seeks high-rise alternatives for offsite factory after combustibles ban

By Nathaniel Barker
Inside Housing UK
December 20, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Swan opened its 75,000 square foot housebuilding factory in Basildon last year, with plans to deliver 600 units annually for developments of up to nine storeys. The 11,000-home landlord manufactures cross-laminated timber (CLT) units at the factory and then transports them to be fully assembled on or near the development site. However, CLT is combustible and is therefore now banned for use in the external walls of buildings six storeys or higher following regulations brought forward by ministers last month as a response to the Grenfell Tower fire. A spokesperson for Swan told Inside Housing: “We are fully satisfied that CLT is an inherently safe product which responds very well under fire conditions. “Unfortunately, the blanket ban on combustible materials has had the (possibly unintended) consequence of banning a material that has been extensively tested and is used worldwide in high-rise construction.

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Spinnova’s pilot factory line completed successfully

Innovation in Textiles
December 19, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The sustainable fibre company Spinnova has successfully completed building its new pilot factory line in Jyväskylä, Finland. The pilot is an important step on Spinnova’s journey towards large volume commercial production. …Ramping up the line will take the first quarter of 2019. The maximum capacity of the pilot line is 100-400 tons per annum. …The technology now piloted is suitable not only for the wood-based fibre production, but also to the other potential bio-based raw materials Spinnova is considering. Spinnova’s raw material commitment is to only use FSC-certified wood or waste streams, processed with 0% harmful chemicals. Spinnova is a Finnish wood fibre company that develops ecological technology for manufacturing pulp-based textile fibre. Spinnova’s patented technology is said to save water, energy and chemicals, making wood-based textile fibre significantly more ecological than cotton or the current man-made fibres.

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Book your tickets for Wood and Wellness!

Timber Trades Journal
December 19, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Tickets for TTJ’s Wood and Wellness conference are on sale with members of timber industry organisations able to qualify for a discount. Wood and Wellness, being held at the Hilton London Tower Bridge on February 13, will share latest research and case studies on the positive role wood can have on health and well-being in the built environment. It is aimed to educate and inform the timber sector and architectural, specifier, interior design and construction sector audiences. Wood and Wellness speakers will include Dr. Ed Suttie, BRE Research Director; Oliver Heath, of Oliver Heath Design; David Borque, director of development for the National Forest; Oliver Jones, director of research at Ryder Architecture; and Meredith Bowles, of Mole Architects.

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Forestry

Houston already preparing for next wildfire season

Houston Today
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Although the next wildfire season is still months away, the District of Houston is already taking steps to ensure the municipality is best prepared. Council has recently authorized district staff to move ahead with applications for $1.1 million in funding for fuel mitigation and treatment in the area between Buck Flats Road and the Morice River. With the assistance of Pro-Tech Forest Resources, district staff have prepared an application for the Forest Enhancement Society’s wildfire risk reduction/mitigation program, which would see $1 million in treatment to be done over a one-km-wide area in Houston. A decision on this application is expected to be made in early 2019. A second application has been submitted to the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ community resilience investment fund, which would fund a FireSmart program for residents in Houston’s rural service area.

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County supports beetle battle

By Richard Froese
South Peace News
December 18, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Big Lakes County supports the forest industry to fight the destructive mountain pine beetle. At its meeting Dec. 12, council approved a request to seek federal money to contain the bug. Reeve Richard Simard states concerns in a letter to Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi. “We are asking you to meet the Government of Alberta’s request for $95 million in federal funding over the next five years,” Simard writes. “High Prairie is very concerned about the spread of the mountain pine beetle.” The beetle has the potential to increase fire risk, degrade natural environment and drinking water, and lead to job cuts in forestry and tourism. “Decisive action is needed immediately to mitigate the beetle’s spread throughout Alberta and the rest of Canada,” Simard writes.

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Mountain pine beetle invades Rocky area

By Lana Michelin
The Red Deer Advocate
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

For the first time ever, tree-killing mountain pine beetles have been found in forests just outside Rocky Mountain House. “They are like an invading army, waiting at our borders,” said Gary Lewis, landcare supervisor for Clearwater County. Only the voracious beetles, which have decimated B.C. forests before attacking those around Jasper, are not just skirting remote edges of the West Country anymore. …West Fraser’s Sundre operation has been rushing to cut down dead trees before they completely rot, so the company can at least get a reduced price for the stained lumber, said Tom Daniels. …Daniels said the insects are now working their way into Northern Alberta’s jack pine forests, which, to his knowledge, have never had a pine beetle infestation before.

 

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Old-growth forest with 400-year-old tree proposed for clearcut in error

By Frances Willick
CBC News
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

A parcel of land west of Halifax with old-growth forest that’s home to at least one 400-year-old tree was listed for a proposed clearcut in error, the province says. The 32-hectare piece of Crown land, which is about 10 kilometres inland from Hubbards, N.S., as the crow flies, was recently proposed for harvest by licence-holder Westfor, a consortium of forestry companies and mills. The proposed harvest was listed on the province’s harvest plans map and opened to the public for comments as part of the Department of Lands and Forestry’s process for making decisions on proposals. But department spokesperson Bruce Nunn said it should not have been posted. “I don’t know why, but it was wrongly done,” he said. “It shouldn’t have happened that way.” A departmental policy prevents old-growth forests from being harvested, and the proposal “will not proceed for consideration,” Nunn said.

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Idaho, US sign logging and forest restoration agreement

By Keith Ridler
Associated Press in The State
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

State and federal officials signed an agreement Tuesday they said will help protect Idaho’s national forest lands, which they said are at risk of insect infestations and destructive wildfires. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter… and other state and federal officials signed the Shared Stewardship Agreement, which they said could be a template for other Western states. “We need these kinds of agreements, and they need to be with the kind of scale and commitment that a state brings to the table,” Hubbard said. It’s the first such agreement the Agriculture Department has signed with a state, he said. The agreement calls for ramping up a federal-state partnership of with the Good Neighbor Authority, which allows Idaho workers to assist on timber sales and restoration work like prescribed burns on U.S. Forest Service land.

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How Thick Forests Can Reduce Snowpack

By Erin Ross
Oregon Public Broadcasting
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Much of the Willamette Valley’s water arrives in the winter as snow in the forested Cascade mountains. New research shows that the ways we manage those forests can influence how much water flows into rivers during the spring and summer melt. Anne Nolin, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, is part of a group of researchers modeling the Willamette Valley’s watershed. …Nolin said, land managers and policymakers should focus on maintaining healthy forests. The thick, dense stands of replanted Douglas fir trees in second-growth forests aren’t always healthy, and melt a lot of snow. “If you thinned in that area, we found that you would accumulate more snow and retain it longer, and the forest might be a little bit less moisture stressed,” Nolin said. 

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Oregon State wants Elliott State Forest for research

By Jessica Burns and Dirk Vanderhart
The Idaho Statesman
December 19, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SALEM, ORE. — 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.” …The plan would include a mix of uses on the forest including, Ray said, “active management.” Other uses would reflect public values identified by the Land Board, like recreation, public access and conservation. “We envision this being the source of critical information that we use to inform conservation management now and as we work through the ongoing changes driven by our climate,” OSU Interim Forestry Dean Anthony Davis told the board.

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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 …claims the department and VicForests have not protected the minimum area of old-growth forest required by law in East Gippsland. Under cross-examination, the department’s …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. …The environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said: “We’ll continue to work with industry and conservation groups to protect our environment, and support the timber industry and the jobs and the towns that rely on it.”

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Washington, California, and British Columbia Join Forces on Forest Health and Climate Change

The Monroe Monitor & Valley News
December 19, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, United States

California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and British Columbia Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson today pledged to share information and work jointly to improve forest resilience and better understand how forests are responding to climatic changes. A Memorandum of Understanding signed today builds on initial steps taken by California and Washington during the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in September. With the addition of British Columbia, the stage is set for the three jurisdictions to collaborate on shared challenges including a changing climate, tree mortality, severe wildfire risk and drought. … A key goal of the MOU is to explore ways to expand the market for forest products and promote investments in natural and working lands that increase carbon sequestration and enhance forest resilience.

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Changing climate, longer growing seasons complicate outlook for coniferous forests

By University of Colorado at Boulder
Phys.Org
December 19, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

For decades, ecologists have differed over a longstanding mystery: Will a longer, climate-induced growing season ultimately help coniferous forests to grow or hurt them? A new University of Colorado Boulder study may help researchers find a more definitive answer. As climate warming has lengthened growing seasons, two scenarios seem plausible: If forest growth increases as a result of milder temperatures during more of the year, the additional tree cover could help remove carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere at a faster rate. Conversely, if growth decreases as a result of decreased moisture or increased heat-related stress, carbon absorption would decline and climate warming could accelerate even beyond current levels. Despite a large number of studies on the topic, no standard for measuring the beginning, middle and end of a growing season has emerged, leading to diverging—and at times, wildly opposite—conclusions.

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New research suggests forests, like humans, require a balanced diet

By West Virginia University
Phys.Org
December 19, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Brenden McNeil

The world’s forests are on a fast food diet of carbon dioxide, which is currently causing them to grow faster. But Brenden McNeil, a researcher at West Virginia University, … finds evidence suggesting that forest growth may soon peak as the trees deplete nitrogen in the soil over longer growing seasons. West Virginia’s wildlands are a “canary in the coal mine for climate change” because of the forests’ biodiversity … make them among the strongest forests globally… The state’s forests have been resilient to … logging and acid rain … but are now exhibiting symptoms of declining health because of climate change. Trees, like humans, need to have more than one thing in their diets … and the proliferation of carbon dioxide is force-feeding them the one thing they use most. McNeil said the challenge is to restore a balanced diet for forests by severely cutting back or ending altogether the use of fossil fuels.

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