Daily Archives: February 5, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

Innovation in production, design and use of wood products

February 5, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

Innovation in the production, design and use of wood products dominate today’s headlines. Specifically, how the new ICC code enables tall wood buildings in the US, and the fire testing that supported the change; how innovation in wood technology is improving our sustainability factor and related innovation showcases in Vancouver, BC and Hanover Germany; and the 2019 nominees for BC’s 15th annual Wood Design awards.

In other news: Quebec and Canada support CelluForces’ cellulose nanocrystal facility; a  Mississippi mill manager is invited to Trump’s State of the Union Speech; and a PEW foundation feature on logging’s role in wildfire management.

Finally, the Frogs will be reporting live from the Association of BC Forest Professionals AGM in Kamloops. Looking forward to talking with some of you at the ice breaker!

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Mayor Cobb eagerly awaiting meeting with Premier on power plant

By Monica Lamb-Yorski
The Williams Lake Tribune
February 4, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mayor Walt Cobb hopes to meet with Premier John Horgan in Victoria to push for a long-term electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro for Atlantic Power Corporation’s energy plant in Williams Lake. The biomass energy plant’s present extended agreement expires on June 30, 2019. …Cobb said Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Willie Sellars and Paul French, United Steelworkers Union are willing to attend it. “We must convince government the importance of Atlantic Power to Williams Lake,” French said… “The power plant was built to burn wood waste and eliminate the pollution from the beehive burners.” It doesn’t make any sense to allow wood waste to be open burned when it can be burned basically emissions free at the plant, he added. “Plus it produces power.”

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Governments of Canada and Quebec Support Growth of CelluForce in Quebec’s Forest Industry

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
February 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

MONTREAL – Innovation in the forest industry has the power to advance the development of Canada’s renewable resource economy and create good jobs while combating climate change. …a combined $6.4-million investment to support CelluForce Inc.’s innovative cellulose nanocrystal facility becoming the world’s first full commercial demonstration-scale plant of its kind. The funding, which is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program and Government of Quebec by means of the MWFP’s Innovation Bois [wood innovation] program and the Ministère de l’Économie et Innovation’s Fonds du développement économique [economic development fund], will support the production of 300 tonnes of nanocrystals annually at the new, state-of-the-art facility. This remarkable new material, which can be used in everything from papers to paints, electronics to adhesives and cement to cosmetics, is produced from the cellulose in trees and made from wood that is abundant, renewable and biodegradable.

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After 50 years, Pictou Landing First Nation is getting its harbour back

By Angel Moore
APTN News
February 4, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Pictou Landing First Nation is counting down the days until Northern Pulp Mill can no longer dump toxins into Boat Harbour. That’s when the harbour will be re-named its original name – A’se’k – which means ‘the other room’,” said Chief Andrea Paul. The toxins released in the water by the Northern Pulp Mill killed fish and affected the culture and economy of the Nova Scotia community. … Tracey Denny said people had to move away. “Once Boat Harbour came into effect and the effluent started coming over they just lost everything, and community members left the reserve because they felt there was even nothing more to stay,” said Denny. Elders say they remember life before and after the harbour was polluted. Mary Nichols says her family lost their culture, their home, and they were displaced.

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Mississippi lumber mill manager among Trump speech guests

The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle
February 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

VICKSBURG, Miss. — The manager of a Mississippi lumber mill is among the guests that President Donald Trump has invited to his State of the Union speech Tuesday. A spokesman for the Trump administration said Roy James of Vicksburg Forest Products is scheduled to attend. The Trump administration says the Vicksburg lumber mill is an example of how opportunity zones created in the 2017 tax cut bill can induce businesses to invest through tax breaks. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson toured the mill in December. Investors bought what had been the Anderson-Tully mill in Vicksburg last year as that company unwound its operations. The new owners switched production from hardwood to southern pine lumber, with plans to hire 125 people. [END]

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Tech summit brings together the best of B.C.’s innovators

The Globe and Mail
January 28, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Darryl Fry

How do you create a better plastic? You make it out of trees. Advanced BioCarbon 3D (ABC3D), based in B.C.’s Kootenay region, has spent years engineering a way to manufacture bioplastics by extracting the resin from wood chips. The results are plastics that are durable and heat-resistant, and also non-toxic, biodegradable and carbon-negative. “We’re revolutionizing the plastics industry, making sustainable products that are not only extremely high performing, but cheaper than what’s available now,” says Darryl Fry, CEO of ABC3D. The next challenge is to scale up. That’s why ABC3D will be showcasing itself at the upcoming #BCTECHSummit, taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre from March 11-13. …Innovate BC helps companies like ABC3D access funding, launch their ideas and connect with the experts they need to grow. …helping ensure the development and benefits of a thriving tech sector are felt throughout the province.

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2019 nominees announced for 15th annual Wood Design Awards in BC

Wood WORKS! BC
February 4, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER – Wood WORKS! BC is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2019 Wood Design Awards in BC. There are 103 nominations in 14 categories, all of which recognize excellence in contemporary design and building with wood. The winners will be announced at the 15th annual Wood Design Awards evening, to be held on Monday, March 4th at the Vancouver Convention Centre (West), where they will be recognized for their leadership and innovation in wood use. More than 400 design and building professionals, including architects, structural engineers and project teams along with industry sponsors will be attending the highly anticipated evening event. Submissions this year are from many locations in BC as well as the US and Asia, with international projects in China, Korea and Tajikistan. A diversity of projects of all types and sizes demonstrating outstanding architectural and structural achievement using wood are amongst the nominees, which include a research laboratory, an energy facility, a winery, First Nations structures and mid-rise projects.

See all nominations here.

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Wood Technology Showcase: How Will Innovation in Wood Stir the Sustainability Drink?

By Rick LeBlanc
Pallet Enterprise
February 4, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

When it comes to innovation in wood products, the wave of recent research and development continues to prove far-ranging and inspiring. …Here are some other recent developments in wood products that are worth watching. …Take the case of the suddenly contentious plastic drinking straw. …University of Maryland researchers have found a way to make solid wood more than 10 times stronger and tougher. Through their wood densification process. …One technology that has made its way out of the lab and into the slab—actually the parking lot—is wood-infused concrete. …Scientists from the Singapore University of Technology and Design have developed a process for printing objects using cellulose. …Textiles from trees. …Bonding of wood without adhesives through linear vibration welding.

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“Tall Wood” Now Code Approved

By Paula Melton
Building Green
February 4, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

It’s about to get a lot easier to build high with mass timber. It all started when the American Wood Council (AWC) …wanted some scientific rigor brought to the issue that’s often assumed to be wood’s Achilles’ heel: fire. …Stephen DiGiovanni, P.E., fire department protection engineer at the Clark County (Nevada) Department of Building and Fire Prevention… serves as chair of the tall wood committee. …Laboratory tests carried out using ASTM standards have often shown that mass timber materials like CLT char instead of burning, contributing to their safety, but fears remained about how such materials might respond to a real-world fire. …The results? “No collapses, no structural failures, and the fire was contained within compartments,” said DiGiovanni. Delamination was “minor” and deemed “not an issue,” he added.

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Council Moves to Widen Use of Cross-Laminated Timber

Pallet Enterprise
February 4, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

The International Code Council is clearing the way to expand the use of mass timber building products in the US… and allow its use in taller buildings. The move is viewed as a boon to the budding industry that manufactures CLT, now limited to a small handful of producers in the U.S. and Canada. Implementation of new building codes that incorporate mass timber construction likely are only a few short years away. …Robert Glowinski, AWC president & CEO… “There has been a lot of interest from the states to accelerate the tall wood provisions,” he said. “We expect that there will be more states acting ahead of the normal updating process to enable the construction of tall mass timber buildings.” …The number of companies manufacturing CLT has doubled in the past two years “and we know there are others in the pipeline,” said Glowinski.

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Cross-laminated timber comes to warehouse development in Tacoma

By Debbie Cockrell
The News Tribune
February 4, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

The use of cross-laminated timber has come to warehouse design in Tacoma. A new 10,000-square-foot warehouse, 1530 Center St. in the Nalley Valley, features CLT for its walls. The product was manufactured by Structurlam Mass Timber Corp., based in BC. The site, for sale at $2.9 million or lease at $15,000 per month, is being marketed by Brandon Gates at Kidder Mathews. …Gates, Kidder Mathews vice president, told The News Tribune that his client “wanted to try something new, other than the typical metal siding and/or concrete tilt construction.” Mechem said a wholesale/retail-type company “would be well-suited for the property.

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Green building expert joins healthy homes tech start-up

By Tether
New Zealand Scoop
February 5, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Rochelle Payne

Leading New Zealand green buildings expert Rochelle Payne (Ade) has taken an equity share in healthy homes technology start-up Tether because she is excited by the technology’s ability to completely transform how green buildings are constructed. Payne, an accredited professional in LEED, BREEAM, Green Star NZ and Homestar, as well as being a Passive House Consultant, says Tether has the potential to completely transform how homes are built because it goes beyond design to measure in real-time what happens when humans occupy a space. The Tether EnviroQ is a battery (or mains) powered indoor environmental quality monitoring system for housing, schools and work environments that is designed to ensure quality living, learning and working conditions all year round.

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LIGNA to serve as the hotspot for unveiling innovations

Wood & Panel Europe
February 5, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Journalists from all over the world attended the curtain-raiser of LIGNA at the Preview press conference held in Hannover to get a sneak peek …LIGNA. 30 exhibitors were present at the Preview to give exciting insights to the journalists. …“From 27 to 31 May 2019, exhibitors from over 50 countries will gather here at the Hannover Exhibition Center to showcase state-of-the-art processing solutions, applications and concepts for the entire forestry & wood industry. The presence of all the world’s leading technology providers will make Hannover the global hotspot for the wood-based industries during those five days. No other fair compares in terms of international appeal”, asserted Dr. Andreas Gruchow, Managing Board member at Deutsche Messe, during the LIGNA Preview press conference. …LIGNA 2019 has three focus themes: “Integrated Woodworking – Customized Solutions”, “Smart Surface Technology# and “Access to Resources and Technology”. The latter is also the keynote theme of the Wood Industry Summit.

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Forestry

Texas A&M Transportation Institute and FPInnovations will work together on transportation research

FPInnovations
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

Montreal – Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and FPInnovations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on January 13, at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The MOU will support the establishment of a framework for information exchange and collaboration to advance research opportunities. The MOU was signed by Greg Winfree, TTI Agency Director, and Glen Légère, FPInnovations Senior Manager, Roads and Infrastructure. The parties have common research interests in the areas of commercial, on-and-off-road transportation, as well as roads and infrastructure. Specifically, areas of possible collaboration include: emissions and fuel consumption reduction, freight performance measurement and fleet efficiency, road safety, low-volume roads and infrastructure, data analysis, as well as developing and testing electric, automated, and autonomous vehicle technologies. TTI and FPInnovations’ transportation research specialists PIT Group, will benefit from knowledge sharing and cooperative research for the promotion of science and technology.

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Carbon, climate, and North America’s oldest boreal trees

By Matt Miles
Phys.org
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

In an age of unprecedented high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, the question of whether or not plants and trees can utilize excess carbon through photosynthesis is one of paramount importance. Researchers have observed what has been called the CO2 fertilization effect… although this is thought to be dependent on various other factors such as temperature, moisture, nutrient availability, etc. A group of researchers from Quebec sought to better understand how the oldest boreal trees in North America—Thuja occidentalis L, white cedar—have responded to higher levels of atmospheric CO2 (ca) in terms of these trees’ intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE). …Our results thus suggest that even in favorable conditions for growth, not all trees can take advantage of elevated levels of ca and iWUE. These mechanisms are not typically taken into account by ecophysiological models and …may lead to overestimating any positive effects…

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Keeping up the pressure on caribou recovery planning

By Bob Zimmer, Member of Parliament for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies
Alaska Highway News
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bob Zimmer

On February 2, I held a Southern Mountain Caribou Closures Town Hall in Fort St. John to allow our local representatives, stakeholders, and residents an opportunity to come together as a community to discuss possible closures in our region, and what it could mean to our economy and our outdoor recreational way of life. …I wanted to have this town hall because so many of you have come to me to voice your concerns about the lack of transparency behind these caribou recovery plans. …It’s clear from this town hall that residents are very much concerned about the lack of information available surrounding possible caribou closures. What we want are answers, to have a seat at the table, and to be a part of the conversation when these decisions are made. …We need a recovery plan that is crafted by those of us who live in the area rather than by lawyers in Victoria and Ottawa.

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Council of Forest Industries Forestry Scholarships

Council of Forest Industries
February 5, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

COFI established its Forestry Scholarship in 2007 with the goal to encourage young people in BC to choose a professional, technical or trades career in the forest sector. COFI provides ten $1,500 entrance scholarships to students enrolling at a post-secondary institution in a program leading to a career in the forest industry. The scholarships are funded through proceeds from COFI’s annual convention. The Forestry Scholarship is provided to students planning to attend an accredited post-secondary institution in a program listed under ‘Fields of Study’. All applications must be received by May 31, 2019.

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Marketing Campaign Reaches Forest Products Industry, Promotes Jobs & Products

By Tim Cox
Pallet Enterprise
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Will Novy-Hildesley

Forest Proud, a marketing and communications campaign for a coalition of the forest products industry, had a successful 2018. It created content for members that is being shared to promote healthy forests and the industry that makes them possible. The campaign is a product of the North American Forest Partnership, a coalition of more than 100 organizations, government agencies, and businesses. Members include forest products businesses in both the hardwood and softwood industries, the U.S. Forest Service, state forestry agencies, trade associations, and recreational interests. “We are the most diverse coalition of interests that are being brought together to tell the story of the forest sector,” said Will Novy-Hildesley, executive director of Forest Proud.

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Logging, Money Battles Delay Wildfire Prevention Work

By Sophie Quinton
The Pew Charitable Trusts
February 5, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

President Donald Trump wants the federal government to do more this year to prevent wildfires on public lands, including about 20 percent more logging on national forests.  But environmentalists argue that expanding logging could do more harm than good. And forestry experts say the president’s push in a December executive order for more “active management” of public lands — a concept most agree is a good idea — won’t get far unless Congress pays for it. …Most forestry experts, including many environmentalists, say protecting communities from fire requires land managers to cut down problem trees, brush and saplings, and set prescribed burns that restore fire’s natural role in forest ecology. Due to the rising costs of fighting fires, however, the U.S. Forest Service lacks money and staff necessary for projects that could make future fires less severe.

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Government shutdown could have long-lasting impact on Central Oregon forests

By Stephen Hamway
The Bend Bulletin
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

While the longest government shutdown in American history came to an end more than a week ago, the effects may linger for months and years in Central Oregon’s forests. The 35-day shutdown cost forest managers and other U.S. Forest Service employees more than a month of work on long-term forest restoration projects, while cutting into the window for them to plan and carry out controlled burns ahead of the region’s wildfire season. …Employees from the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests emphasized that the forests will be ready for fire season, but acknowledged that the shutdown eats into their time to train employees and plan controlled burns. In addition, long-running forest restoration projects… may be extended or delayed.

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Northwest Forest Plan 25 years later: Wildfire losses up, bird populations down

By Oregon State University
EurekAlert
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Twenty-five years into a 100-year federal strategy to protect older forests in the Pacific Northwest, forest losses to wildfire are up and declines in bird populations have not been reversed… The findings…underscore the importance of continuing to prioritize the safeguarding of older forests, the scientists say – forests characterized by a complex structure that includes multiple canopy layers, large trees, downed wood and snags. The researchers stress it’s vital to remember … [the] plan was conceived as a century-long plan, and was not expected to show significant positive impacts on biodiversity for 50 years. …”It was anticipated …that species declines might take decades to arrest,” he said. “[we leanred] that species associated with older forests continued to decline much faster than those in early seral. We argue that… because fires are going to become more frequent in most forest types, forest plans should continue to emphasize conservation of old-growth habitats.”

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Flathead National Forest releases signed Record of Decision

Associated Press in Idaho Statesman
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The federal government has released a signed Record of Decision for the new Flathead National Forest plan. The Missoulian reports more than half of the forest will be managed as wilderness, 13 percent will be managed for research and recreation, and 28 percent will be managed as “General Forest” with some degree of vegetation management. The U.S. Forest Service plan also includes plans for managing endangered and threatened species. The plan, announced in a release Friday, ends a four-year effort to craft a new management plan for the Flathead National Forest in northwest Montana, and whose previous management plan dated to 1986. [end]

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President’s reforestation plan aims to restore cacao and coffee production

Yucatán Expat Life
February 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Fruit and timber trees will be planted on nearly 1.5 million acres in Mexico’s south. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ambitious forestry program, announced Friday, also includes cacao and coffee crops, starting in Veracruz. If successful, the plan will reverse Mexico’s position as a net importer of cacao, the basis of chocolate. Other countries far outstrip Mexico’s cacao production, despite the fact that Mexicans were among the earliest to grow the crop. …The program, “Planting Life,” will focus first on planting mahogany, cedar and coffee plants, and will expand to coffee bushes and fruit trees. The program also hopes to help Mexico’s beleaguered coffee growers, who have been hit by plant disease and a lack of government support. As with many of Lopez Obrador’s projects, the army will play a role, running the tree nurseries. Technicians and interns will also aid farmers.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Machine converts forest debris into biochar

By George Plaven
The Capital Press
February 4, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

LEBANON, Ore. — A blast of intense heat escapes the Carbonator 500 as Anders Ragnarsson opens the combustion chamber, revealing leftover tree limbs, branches and woody debris from a recent timber harvest engulfed in bright orange flames. Normally, loggers burn this type of unprofitable forest waste in large slash piles, but the Carbonator 500 is designed to convert the material into biochar, a valuable substance with serious potential for improving soil. …Because it can drive directly to the site, Ragnarsson said it eliminates additional transportation costs of hauling woody debris from the forest. …As the material burns, it breaks up and falls beneath a grate into a chamber where it is quenched in water to stop combustion. Auger conveyors remove the finished biochar from the vehicle, where it can be cooled and collected.

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