Daily Archives: February 7, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

BC foresters focus on climate change, species at risk and forest resilience

February 7, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

The Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) kicked off their annual conference yesterday with in-depth discussions on climate change and species at risk, prior to a plenary on the challenges and importance of planning for healthy and resilient forests. Today’s topics include: water woes, road liabilities, and the forest professional in the classroom—to name a few.

In other Forestry news: more on the threatened BC caribou, old growth protection efforts on Vancouver Island, the shortfall in meeting the US Northwest’s biodiversity goals, as well as logging controversies in Alaska and Indiana. In related news: climate modelling shows significant shifts in 21st century Pacific Northwest coastal forests.

Finally, Conifex is the latest company to take downtime due to falling prices.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Special Feature

Providing Healthy and Resilient Forests

By Kelly McCloskey
Tree Frog Editorial
February 7, 2019
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

In 2017 and 2018, 2.5 million hectares of BC’s landscape burned due to wildfires, while several beetle infestations soared to new heights. What will the summer of 2019 bring and how do we adapt our forest practices to ensure forest resilience? Cue Michael Bragg (ABCFP Host Committee Chair) to kick off the first plenary session, introducing Paul Rasmussen (FLNRORD) the panel moderator. Dr. Paul Hessburg (University of Washington) spoke first of his work on how historical forest and fire management on Inland Pacific landscapes has transformed the area’s successional and disturbance dynamics over time (e.g., species, density life form patterns, etc.) and how those forests should best be evolved going forward.

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Species at Risk: Developing a Successful Provincial Strategy

By Kelly McCloskey
Tree Frog News Editorial
February 7, 2019
Category: Special Feature
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) kicked off their annual conference yesterday with in-depth discussions on climate change and species at risk, prior to a plenary on the challenges and importance of planning for healthy and resilient forests. The three-day conference promises to be an outstanding event given the attendance of more than 550 delegates and high profile speakers such as Minister Doug Donaldson and Deputy Minister John Allan from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development still to come.

Moderator Archie MacDonald (COFI) introduced the first discussion on BC’s efforts to develop a Species at Risk Act. First up, Dr. Tara Martin (University of BC) spoke of BC’s significant challenge, with 214 at risk species, and the failure of the current “single species” approach, where decades of study and planning take place prior to action on a single species of import—often too little, too late.

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Business & Politics

Conifex curtailing sawmill operation for three weeks

By Aman Parhar
Caledonia Courier
February 6, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Volatile lumber prices have forced Fort St. James sawmill to curtail its operations. Conifex Timber Inc. announced Feb. 4 that it is temporarily curtailing sawmill operations at its Fort St. James sawmill for three weeks. Sandy Ferguson, vice-president of corporate affairs and business development for Conifex Timber Inc. said, “Market conditions continue to be challenging due to a combination of high structural log costs and volatile lumber prices. So we have made the difficult decision to temporarily curtail our Fort St. James operations for three weeks starting Feb. 4 and we will continue to monitor conditions on a weekly basis.” A total of 150 production employees have been impacted by the curtailment, she said, adding that 70 of them were part of the six month temporary reduction that was announced at the end of November.

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Northern Peninsula Loggers Association president questions why he was left off the guest list of forestry summit

By Stephen Roberts
The Western Star
February 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

RODDICKTON, N.L. — Trevor Fillier, the president of the Northern Peninsula Loggers Association, is feeling left out. He wonders why he didn’t get an invite to the province’s forestry summit in Corner Brook on Jan 28. Fillier says he didn’t even know the event was taking place until the day before. He felt it was important to be given the opportunity to attend, to meet and speak with some of the people in the forestry sector. “I’ve never met (Premier) Dwight Ball or (Natural Resources minister) Gerry Byrne. It would have been nice if I could have met them face-to-face and had a chat,” he said. “From my point of view, I probably would have gotten more of a story talking to them than anybody else.” Filler supects he was deliberately left off the invite list. He points out the vice president of the Northern Peninsula Loggers Association, Wally Gibbons, did receive an invite. Fillier wondered if it was a case of favouritism in choosing who would be invited.

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Rayonier Reports Fourth Quarter 2018 Results

By Rayonier Inc.
Business Wire
February 6, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

WILDLIGHT, Fla–Rayonier Inc. today reported fourth quarter net income attributable to Rayonier of $2.0 million, or $0.02 per share, on revenues of $166.1 million. This compares to net income attributable to Rayonier of $64.2 million, or $0.50 per share, on revenues of $239.7 million in the prior year quarter. The prior year fourth quarter results included income from a Large Disposition1 of $38.8 million. Excluding this item, pro forma net income2 was $25.4 million, or $0.20 per share, on pro forma revenues2 of $186.3 million in the prior year period. Fourth quarter operating income was $15.0 million versus $80.1 million in the prior year period. The prior year fourth quarter operating income included $38.8 million of income from a Large Disposition.

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MPs challenge lack of pine investment

By Michelle Slater
Latrobe Valley Express
February 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Local members of parliament say the state government has let the Latrobe Valley down by failing to deliver on its promised investment in timber plantations. Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath said it had been two years since Labor announced $100 million in the state budget to expand plantations in the Latrobe Valley but had done nothing in the meantime. Ms Bath said Latrobe Valley jobs relied on the timber industry and this investment should occur as quickly as possible. “We know that plantation expansion is critical for jobs in Latrobe Valley particularly for future resource supply at Australian paper,” Ms Bath said. “We welcomed the government’s budget announcement in 2017 to expand the plantation area but we have always been concerned about where Labor’s actual plantations would go.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Concrete manufacturers seek tougher rules after cladding fire

By Nick Toscano
Sydney Morning Herald
February 7, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Some of Australia’s biggest building materials companies are stepping up pressure for an “urgent” review of minimum construction standards in the wake of a blaze that ripped through a high-rise tower in Melbourne’s CBD this week. About 200 residents had to be evacuated after fast-moving flames raced up combustible cladding on the side of the 41-floor apartment complex on Spencer Street, Neo200, about 5.30am on Monday. The building was constructed with the same sort of cladding that ignited at London’s Grenfell Tower in 2017 and killed 72 people. This comes as Victoria’s Planning Minister Dick Wynne calls for a nationwide ban of combustible cladding. At the Building Minister’s Forum in Hobart on Friday, Mr Wynne will push for states, territories and the Federal government to join together to ban aluminium composite cladding.

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Waugh Thistleton takes on One Planet Living

By Lloyd Alter
Treehugger
February 5, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

“Squeezed middle” affordable co-housing, wood prefabricated construction, and Bioregional: How many buttons can one project push? There are many green building concepts and certification systems out there, but One Planet Living has always been one of the most interesting. It is not a checklist like LEED or a set of data points like Passivhaus, but a holistic look at how you live, showing that they are all connected. …And we are really just getting started, because all of this is designed by Waugh Thistleton Architects. Bioregional has always pushed the envelope with their architectural choices, starting with Bill Dunster at BedZed and going on to the late great Will Alsop for their big Quintain project. Waugh Thistleton are certainly cutting edge and are this writer’s favourite British architects, but they are also more restrained and these buildings are far more conservative, and the heating systems are more likely to work.

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Forestry

‘A map of the world as caribou see it’: Q&A with author David Moskowitz

By Sarah Cox
The Narwhal
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

In mid-January, B.C. government officials trucked the last survivors of an endangered mountain caribou herd into a pen near Revelstoke. The elaborate rescue operation, which included two helicopter rides for the tranquilized animals, marked the official disappearance of the South Selkirk caribou herd from the landscape it had inhabited since the end of the last Ice Age. David Moskowitz, a Washington-state based author and photographer, followed the demise of the transboundary herd. His new book, Caribou Rainforest: From Heartbreak to Hope, explores the rare and threatened rainforest that was home to the South Selkirk population and on which many imperilled caribou herds and a myriad other species depend. Moskowitz is on a tour to highlight this iconic animal and remarkable landscape, starting with an event in Victoria on February 9. The Narwhal asked him about his connection to caribou and his hopes for the future.

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Letter demanding old-growth forest protection signed by 20,000 BC residents

By Jon Hernandez
CBC News
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A letter signed by more than 20,000 British Columbians demanding protection for old-growth forests was delivered to MLA constituency offices across the province Wednesday. Activists rallied outside B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman’s Vancouver office, hand-delivering the petition to staff. The effort was spearheaded by Sierra Club B.C. and LeadNow. The letter was also delivered to the office of Premier John Horgan. “The letter is calling for immediate steps and for an old-growth protection act, or a similar solution to make sure we protect the remaining intact old-growth areas and endangered ecosystems,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club B.C.’s senior campaigner. Wieting was among the dozens of protesters outside Heyman’s office calling for immediate restrictions on active logging on old-growth sites on Vancouver Island — similar to rules governing parts of the Great Bear Rainforest. He said the forests are essential in B.C.’s fight against wildfires and climate change.

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Haida Gwaii 2019 Tour – Land of the People

By Bill Dumont
Dumont Events and Tours
February 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Our weeklong Haida Gwaii tour starts with your arrival in Sandspit on Moresby Island on Monday on the Air Canada flight from Vancouver. After introductions, a briefing at the airport, and check-in at the community-owned Sandspit Inn, we tour the area and local sights in a comfortable van. The optional West Coast Sightseeing Flight will be in the afternoon. We make new friends at our Welcome Reception followed by supper and an engaging local history presentation. Haida Gwaii – Land of the People – is Canada’s most westerly point and includes more than 150 islands in the North Pacific Ocean west of Prince Rupert and 700 km north of Vancouver. Over 13,000 years the Haida people have inhabited more than 100 village sites. Named the Queen Charlotte Islands after colonial arrivals in the 1700s this beautiful archipelago was rightly named Haida Gwaii again in the past decade. Known as the Misty Islands they are on many personal travel bucket lists.

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Valley residents take a stand on old-growth logging

BC Local News
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A group of around 25 people gathered in front of MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard’s office with signs emblazoned with phrases like “Save Old-Growth Forests.” Many had letters they were hoping to hand deliver to the MLA, expressing their concerns about the destruction of old-growth forests and asking for an immediate moratorium on the logging practice. The group of concerned citizens came together as part of a province-wide initiative by Sierra Club BC, a provincial environmental advocacy group. Galen Armstrong with Sierra Club BC helped organize the letter delivery and spoke about the need for change. “The old-growth forests are an unrenewable resource and the government fully recognizes that and yet they’ve been completely dragging their feet,” said Armstrong. “We know that it’s not going to be much longer that we can have this debate and argument.”

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Protesters rally against logging of old-growth rainforests on Vancouver Island

By Karly Blats
Parksville Qualicum Beach News
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Parksville Qualicum Beach residents gathered in front of MLA Michelle Stilwell’s office on Wednesday (Feb. 6) to send their message against the logging of old-growth rainforests on Vancouver Island. Many of the approximately two-dozen protesters were from local environmental groups, including Arrowsmith Parks and Land Use Council, Friends of French Creek, Broombusters and Arrowsmith Naturalists. All were passionate about sending their message to the provincial government that the Island’s old-growth rainforests are in crisis. “Why on earth are we allowing anyone to cut these old-growth forests down? They’re never going to grow back,” said Joanne Sales, Broombusters director during the protest. Similar protests took place all across B.C. on Feb. 6., many organized by members of Sierra Club BC Forest Team.

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Time to pause and consider forests’ futures

Letter by Where Do We Stand
Cowichan Valley Citizen
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

It’s decision time for our municipal forests; the future on our six mountains is about to be set by the 2019 North Cowichan municipal budget. Citizens who want to pause the clearcutting to allow time for public consultation must please show up at the special council meeting on Friday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m. This may be your last chance to be heard before it is too late. Many people in North Cowichan are only now realizing that the forests on the six mountains belong to the public. Concerned for their future, hundreds of people attended a recent council meeting to speak to forest planning and management, and hundreds of comments have been submitted to council. This has become a major community priority.

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So Far, Northwest Forest Plan Falling Short Of Biodiversity Goals

By Jes Burns
Oregon Public Broadcasting
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Northwest Forest Plan was a groundbreaking policy to ensure wildlife habitat would not be lost to intensive logging in the western parts of Oregon, Washington and California. Now 25 years in, a new study shows it’s still a good ways off from achieving those goals. The research out of Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service examined long-term data on bird species that use different forest types, like old growth and less mature, open-canopy areas referred to as “early seral” forests. Bird populations are closely tied to these specific habitats and can be used by scientists to gauge biodiversity. Unhealthy bird populations often mean overall biodiversity is suffering as well. With the Northwest Forest Plan’s (NWFP) focus on preserving and increasing the acreage of mature forests, researchers expected the birds that use these habitats to increase accordingly. But the data showed bird populations are still declining.

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Walden: Better forest management can fight climate change

KTVZ.COM
February 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Greg Walden

WASHINGTON – Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., called for realistic solutions to address climate change during a hearing Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Republicans are focused on solutions that prioritize adaptation, innovation, and conservation,” said Walden. “Just as America led the world in energy development that has reduced carbon emissions, we want America’s innovators to develop the next technologies that will improve the environment and create jobs here at home.” Walden also stressed the need to improve forest management to reduce the catastrophic wildfires that devastate Oregon every summer and pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and particulate matter. Wildfires devastated more than 800,000 acres in Oregon in 2018, and Walden has met with people on the ground who describe how recent wildfire seasons have impacted their lives, a news release from his office said.

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Opinion: Roadless Rule and the Tongass should remain intact

Letter by Elizabeth Brandt
Juneau Empire
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

These days I have to drive to hike, but as a young adult I lived in Sitka where I had the joy of exploring the Tongass National Forest at my doorstep. What a place! Unspoiled for more than a hundred years, this is what a true forest looks like. The lack of clear cuts in Sitka was a revelation to me. It was much harder to find intact forest in the Washington state of my youth. …Sitka, like many other parts of Southeast Alaska, is a place people dream of visiting — and for good reason. …I endured it by imagining the older visitors were great aunties and uncles and with the realization that those visitors are also the economic backbone of the region. Twenty-six percent of jobs in Southeast are in tourism. What do tourists come to see? Our majestic forest. No one wants to visit a clear cut or other devastated area.

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The cutting controversy of logging in Indiana state forests

By Mac Aubrey
The Horizon, Indiana University
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The management practices in Indiana state forests adhere to national and international sustainability criteria, but controversy regarding logging regulations of public forestland remains intact. Southern Indiana is home to some of the largest public woodlands in the state, including Clark State Forest, Harrison-Crawford State Forest, Ferdinand State Forest, and Pike State Forest. A recent report by Indiana Forest Alliance (IFA) questions the reasoning for logging Indiana state forests and the economy that surrounds it. The majority of the logging in Indiana is done in the southern part of the state, according to Rae Schnapp, Ph.D., IFA Conservation Director and the study’s main author. According to the IFA, most of the logging done is on private woodland, but approximately three percent is done on public woodland. Controversy has surrounded the issue for years because of the difference of opinion amongst the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry (DOF) and environmentalists.

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Logging, money battles delay wildfire prevention work

By Sophie Quinton
The Pew Charitable Trusts
February 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

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. With the number of devastating fires expected to increase as the climate grows warmer and drier, experts and states want to see more federal investment in projects that could avert massive blazes. 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.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Climate modeling shows significant shifts in 21st century Pacific Northwest coastal forests

By Chris Branam
Phys.org
February 6, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

A changing climate in the 21st century will significantly alter the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, according to modeling by Oregon State University researchers. Vegetation is projected to change from predominantly conifer to predominantly mixed conifer and hardwood forests, according to modeling results in a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Much of the current forests can be expected to eventually be replaced by trees better adapted to future conditions, according to the MC2 Dynamic Global Vegetation Model focusing on the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascade crest. Widespread maladaptation could lead to plant mortality, which would reduce timber available for harvest. An increase in hardwoods could result in a decline of mature evergreen trees for harvest, according to the study authors. Projected impacts on forests could affect fresh water supplies, wildlife habitat quality, and recreation.

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