Daily Archives: May 6, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

UN biodiversity report says nature is in worst shape in human history

May 6, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

A UN biodiversity report says nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, the first to say so under agreement by 50 participating governments. In other Forestry/Climate news: Canada’s position as a climate do-gooder is undercut by wildfire emissions; Alberta’s wildfire season is here; while BC is cautious and the US warns of another busy wildfire season. 

In Business news: NAFTA panel to hear appeal of US ruling that American producers are injured by Canadian softwood shipments; BC’s forestry revitalization has industry concerned, looks a lot like the opposite; BC tops-up its compensation fund for forestry providers; Pinnacle restarts its Williams Lake plant after a fire; and Quebec’s Les Products Gilbert mill to be upgraded.

Finally, last week’s Hoo-Hoo event story sent you to the wrong image gallery. Here’s who was at the Hoo-Hoo in Vancouver.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Canada to seek relief from U.S. duties on softwood at NAFTA panel amid industry downturn

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
May 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada will seek relief from softwood tariffs at a public hearing on Tuesday by challenging a U.S. ruling that American producers are being injured by Canadian lumber shipments. …In December, 2017, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in its final determination that Canada’s shipments of softwood lumber south of the border are injuring the U.S. forestry sector. Canada is counting on the binational panel to overturn the Washington-based ITC’s determination. …The Canadian government argues that when lumber prices were strong in 2014, U.S. producers thrived, even with softwood from Canada flowing across the border. …Under Chapter 19, each country appoints two panelists while the fifth member is chosen “by lot” – choosing by chance in the equivalent of a coin toss. Last November, five panelists were selected to review the long-running softwood dispute. …The NAFTA panel’s composition appears to favour Canada. [A subscription to the Globe and Mail is required to access this full story]

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Powell River Community Forest has year of windfall profits

By Paul Galinski
Powell River Peak
May 3, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

After a record-setting year in which more than $2.5 million was raised from forestry activities, nearly $1.8 million from the Powell River Community Forest reserve fund was approved by City of Powell River Council for 14 community projects. In announcing the 2019 spring grants at the council meeting on Thursday, May 2, Powell River Community Forest president Greg Hemphill said the independent corporation was depositing its dividend of $2,518,576, which goes to the community forest fund and gets invested back into the community in grants. Of that amount, the community forest had recommended the expenditure of $1,793,969 for the 2019 spring grants. “This is a record profit in 2018 and record-sized dividend,” said Hemphill. A very strong market and some sound strategic decisions had a lot to do with the magnitude of the proceeds from the 2018 harvest. The $2.5 million dividend brings the total amount of deposits to the fund over the years to more than $13 million.

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Fund that protects forestry service providers topped up

Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Government of British Columbia
May 3, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Forestry contractors and service providers affected by licensee insolvency will benefit from added financial protection now that the Province has contributed another $250,000 to the Forestry Service Providers Compensation Fund. This latest contribution brings the total available in the fund to more than $8.4 million. “We want to do everything we can to support people who work in the forest sector,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “Now, even more funding is available for them when companies they are dependent upon become insolvent.” Donaldson made the announcement at the 61st annual Interior Logging Association convention. In December 2016, the Forestry Services Providers Compensation Fund Regulation was amended to broaden the definition of “forest service provider” to include silviculture contractors and individuals who carry out activities for growing seedlings or carry out activities that are necessary for establishing free-growing stands.

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Pinnacle restarts operations after fire, awaits permit to modernize facility

By Angie Mindus
The Williams Lake Tribune
May 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. resumed operations at its Williams Lake plant Saturday following a fire Wednesday. Leroy Reitsma, president and chief operating officer of Pinnacle, confirmed no one was hurt in the incident and property damage was kept to a minimal. …When asked if fire was a concern at pellet plants, Reitsma said the company is “very much looking forward to” completing the proposed upgrade to the plant. “More recent advances in technology will better safeguard us from fires,” Reitsma said, noting the plant was built in 2004. He said Pinnacle has plans to make upgrades to both its Cariboo divisions, with the bulk of the $30 million investment aimed at modernizing the Williams Lake plant. …Currently about 38 people are employed at the Williams Lake plant.

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Forest industry revitalization looks like the opposite

By Tom Fletcher
The Interior News
May 5, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Old-timers remember the last time an NDP government tried to impose its vision of state control on the B.C. forest industry. …As the latest version is pushed through the B.C. legislature… Sawmills are announcing further temporary shutdowns, and forest companies are preparing for more job losses. Last year the government announced the creation of the Office of Professional Reliance and Oversight, a new bureaucracy to supervise professional foresters, engineers and biologists who develop resource projects of all kinds. …Next came the NDP government’s deal with Ottawa to put vast wilderness areas off limits… to protect dwindling caribou herds. …The latest NDP bill requires ministry permission for companies to swap Crown forest licences, weakening their value as a business asset. …The industry’s “worst case” analysis for the B.C. Interior is a 40-per-cent drop in timber cut, in what may be a futile effort to save caribou herds that are ravaged by predators, notably wolves.

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B.C. forest industry concerned about proposed changes to timber harvesting rights

By Glenda Luymes
Victoria Times Colonist
May 3, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. forestry companies say proposed legislation that would give government a veto over the transfer of timber cutting rights has put the entire forest industry “on pause.” As Bill 22 wends its way through the legislature, several forestry companies have written the government to make the case that what is bad for them is also bad for the B.C. economy and thousands of people who rely on it for their livelihood, said Liberal MLA and forestry critic John Rustad. “The government is basically ripping up the (tenure) contracts,” he told Postmedia on Friday.  Bill 22, which passed second reading Thursday and will now proceed to committee stage, will require forest companies to obtain approval from the forestry minister before transferring tenure agreements to another party. As a result, the minister will be able to refuse the new arrangement, or put conditions on it, if it is not in the public interest.

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Canada invests in another sawmill – this time $4 million in Gilbert

By Robert Dalheim
Woodworking Network
May 3, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

QUEBEC – The governments of Canada and Quebec have invested in yet another Canadian sawmill – this time nearly $4 million in Les Produits Gilbert to help it modernize its facilities. The $3.9 million investment features a $1.3 million repayable contribution and a $1.3 million loan to purchase equipment from the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions and Quebec Economic Development Program, along with a $1.3 million loan from Investissement Quebec, reports Wood Business Canada. “We want to remain competitive, particularly by offering our clients products that exceed industry standards, and that is why innovation is key to our company’s philosophy. We are growing rapidly and the support of the governments of Canada and Quebec is very important in allowing us to carry out our development projects,” said Lydia Gaudreault, director general of Les Produits Gilbert, in a government news release.

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Cascades presents the Femmes de Papier Exhibition

Cascades
May 3, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

KINGSEY FALLS, QC – Cascades… is pleased to welcome the Femmes de papier exhibition to Kingsey Falls. Produced by the Boréalis centre, which presents the history of the paper industry, this touching interactive exhibition offers a female point of view in a traditionally male-dominated industry. …visitors are invited to discover the day-to-day lives of women from different pulp and paper environments: housewives, cooks in logging camps, plant secretaries, and women who defied convention by working in production, and even management. Their stories serve to break down any preconceived notions that visitors might have. From the paper maker’s daughter to the female plant manager, these women of paper remind us of how much progress has been made over the last fifty years. Mario Plourde , President and CEO of Cascades, said “Throughout the company’s history, women have played, and continue to play, an important part in Cascades’ success.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

B.C. artist carves out niche business making unique hat blocks

By Evan Hagerdorn
Vancouver Sun
May 3, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

In his workshop looking out over the Georgia Straight, Roger Friesen picks up the first hat block he ever made. It’s a simple, dome-block design with a dark-aged finish, the shape resembling a bald head. The plain-looking mold was first made for his wife’s millinery work and was the beginning of his hat blocking career and business, For Your Head. If you own a handmade hat, odds are, it was made using a hat block. Much like a last, the form used to make a shoe, hat blocks are wooden molds carved to configure wet fabric, such as wool or felt, into the shape of a hat. Once a prospering industry, it has since seen a decline as fewer and fewer people choose to wear structured hats. …The Sunshine Coast-based woodworker is one of the last hat-block carvers working in Canada — and the only known professional carver of this kind in B.C. Perhaps, he muses, it’s too technical a craft.

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UMaine, U.S. Department of Energy launch $20M wood-fiber research initiative

Maine Biz
May 3, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

The University of Maine and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced Thursday a new research collaboration to advance efforts to use wood fiber in 3D printer manufacturing. …Under the partnership, the Oak Ridge and UMaine research team will work with the forest products industry to produce new bio-based materials that will be conducive to 3D printing… U.S. Sens. Susan Collins said, “The development of sustainable, inexpensive wood-based materials for large-scale 3D printing has the potential to invigorate Maine’s forest products industry.” …[The] scientists … will conduct fundamental research in several key technical areas, including cellulose nanofiber production, drying, functionalization, and compounding with thermoplastics, multiscale modeling and sustainability life-cycle analysis. By placing cellulose nanofiber into plastics, those scientists say strong, stiff and recyclable bio-derived material systems can be developed that may be 3D printed at rates of hundreds of pounds per hour and comprising up to 50% cellulose fiber. 

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Notre Dame: time to call in the French builders with medieval skills

By Kim Willsher
The Guardian
May 6, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

In a clearing in a forest in northern Burgundy, the stonemasons and carpenters of Guédelon are awaiting a call. If anyone can rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral as it was – if that is what is required – they can. Remaking medieval history is what they have been doing at Guédelon for the past 22 years, as a team of workers and volunteers construct a 13th-century château using the tools and techniques of the epoch and, as far as possible, locally sourced basic materials like stone and wood. …As the fire roared through Notre Dame’s “forest” – its oak-beamed roof – sending flames far into the sky over Paris, many feared something irreplaceable had been lost. …Guédelon’s co-founder, Maryline Martin, said if anything good is to come out of the burning of Notre Dame, it is that the traditional trades practised here will finally be recognised as worthwhile.

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Forestry

Take a North Island eco-tour, help protect ancient forests!

The Comox Valley Record
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

If you’ve had the experiences of viewing wildlife in its natural environment, or walking among giant West Coast trees, you’ll know it can totally change your view of why it’s important to protect such things. …But protecting wild areas and its inhabitants takes a concentrated effort, notes Stephen Gabrysh, co-owner of Campbell River Whale Watching Adventure Tours. They recently embarked upon a program whereby people taking their tours not only help the company to become carbon neutral and better, they’re doing their small part to preserve wild habitat for future generations. …The North Island partnership sees at least $1 for every tour guest go toward purchasing carbon offsets, which come in the form of Wilderness International purchasing and protecting old growth forest land.

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U.S. warns of another busy wildfire season, but B.C. cautious to sound alarm

By Sean Boynton
Global News
May 3, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

After two record-breaking wildfire seasons, officials in B.C. say 2019 could be another busy year but are cautious to say whether it will measure up. That’s despite warnings from U.S. counterparts that last year’s deadly fires that decimated the West Coast could be repeated. Kyla Fraser with the B.C. Wildfire Service said Friday while its predictive model is estimating some higher-than-normal temperatures and a busy fire season, she added that should be taken with a grain of salt. “It’s important to recognize that 2017 and 2018 were vastly beyond what we would consider a normal fire season,” she said. “So that prediction doesn’t necessarily mean we will see conditions worse than the last two years.” …Concerns are growing as forecasters on both sides of the border are seeing moderate drought in some areas of the West Coast due to a below-average snowpack. 

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Why save mountain caribou?

Letter by Virginia Thompson
The Revelstoke Review
May 5, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

I feel it necessary to respond to Mike Copperthwaite’s letter of April 29. …Should protection of habitat affect workers, I strongly suggest that funds for transition to other work be provided in the new Section 11 Agreement between the province and Canada. …Interestingly, the Union of BC Municipalities has called for the protection of all old growth forest as they consider it to be worth more (to tourism) standing up than lying down. …The future economically is in protecting our old growth forest. …Mountain caribou are the canary in the mine for this ecosystem. …If the caribou go extinct, the default plan of the forest industry will kick in. That plan is to log all the natural forest.

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Citizens voice concerns over Private Logging at Wildsight meeting

The Nelson Daily
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

More than 40 people from various communities in the Kootenays took to the Nelson Rod and Gun Club last week for a Town Hall Meeting to express their concerns over logging on private lands. The meeting was organized by Wildsight, an organization based in Kimberley that work to protect biodiversity. …“Local governments… have taken a leadership role by purchasing a portion of the Cottonwood to Apex… “However, in order to protect all our communities’ interests, the Private Managed Forest Land Act must be amended.” Ogden said BC’s Private Managed Forest Act gives land owners a tax break for registering their land, but only includes a few regulations to protect our environment and communities. However, there is no requirement that logging be sustainable over the long-term, meaning owners can clear-cut as much as they want in a short time, Odgen added.

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Alberta’s wildfire season is here and some communities are already on red alert

By Hamdi Issawi
The Star Edmonton
May 5, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

EDMONTON, ALBERTA—Wildfire season is here. Just how Alberta will fare this year is still in up the air, but that isn’t stopping some from looking ahead to buffer themselves from a burn. …Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) said even though the season isn’t in full-swing, it’s not too early to be on guard. But it is too early for a forecast of Alberta’s 2019 season explained Edward Johnson, a biological sciences professor at the University of Calgary. Before wildfire season proper, he said, there’s a transitional period that runs from late-April until about the end of May — a spring window between the snow melt and the rain that leaves the southern edge of the boreal forest dry and susceptible to sparks.

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Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments endorses Fernie logging resolution

BC Local News
May 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Fernie’s plea for tighter restrictions on private land logging has been heard by local governments across the Kootenay and Boundary region.  At the 2019 Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments (AKBLG) Convention in Castlegar from April 26-28, the AKBLG membership endorsed the City of Fernie’s resolution after splitting it into two resolutions for clarity. It was co-sponsored by the City of Nelson, where clearcutting on privately-owned land is also a concern. The first resolution asks that the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) call upon the Province to bring regulations and standards for private land logging in line with those on Crown forest land. The second requires private landowners to undertake annual consultations with local governments to provide information regarding long-term disposition or development intentions for land adjacent to local government boundaries if intended for commercial purposes.

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Port Renfrew chamber decries logging plan

By Lindsay Kines
Victoria Times Colonist
May 4, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce has joined a growing outcry against B.C. government plans to log old-growth forests near Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. President Dan Hager said Friday that clearcutting the ancient trees will hurt tourism and damage a regional economy already hard hit by chinook fishing restrictions. “Right now, we tell everybody that Port Renfrew is Canada’s tall tree capital,” he said in an interview. “It’s on our website. It works. “I’m in the accommodation business in Renfrew. People ask about it. I’m the one that responds to all the inquiries that come in off the chamber email and people are asking about the trees.” Hager said that will be put in jeopardy if B.C. Timber Sales proceeds with plans to sell off 109 hectares of the region’s old-growth forest in seven cutblocks — including two that come within 50 metres of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.

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Simulators give students a taste of logging at event in Campbell River

By David Gordon Koch
Campbell River Mirror
May 3, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Trevor Joyce & Nicholas Joyce

At an event in Spirit Square on Monday, forestry students and children as young as 11 had a chance to test out heavy logging equipment… virtually. Vancouver Island University (VIU) brought the trailer full of simulators to Campbell River for Forestry Proud Day, an event promoting the forestry sector. Kevin Levins, an instructor in the heavy equipment operator program at VIU’s Nanaimo campus, said the simulators help students learn the basics before starting work in the bush. “Once you have that mental ability to know what the controls do, it saves us about a week in industry… when you get into the real machines,” Levins said. A dozen students from VIU’s fundamentals of forestry program in Woss travelled to Campbell River to try out the simulators and take part in Forestry Proud Day activities, said Kellie Spence, program assistant for trades and applied technology.

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What is happening with the North Cowichan forest review?

Letter by Icel Dobell
Cowichan Valley Citizen
May 3, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

What is happening with the North Cowichan forest review? 2019 was supposed to be the year that North Cowichan scaled back their logging and reviewed their forestry operations. This was in reaction to a groundswell of interest beginning in December with packed council meetings, petitions, letters to the editor and public meetings. What has happened since? In this year of pause and consultation, it turns out that we are increasing our logging activities 50 per cent over 2017. …A terms of reference for a municipal forest review was adopted by council emphasizing the best and highest use of the forest, but there has been no indication as yet that the forest review is being conducted in an organized, methodical and meaningful manner: specifically, there appears to be no one managing the process.

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Ontario tree nursery to destroy millions of trees due to provincial cutbacks

By Victoria Ahearn
The Toronto Star
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

One of the main nurseries for an Ontario tree planting program that’s being scrapped by the province said it will likely have to destroy about three million trees because of the cancellation. Ed Patchell, CEO of Ferguson Tree Nursery in Kemptville, Ont., said he can’t afford to pay for staff, supplies and operating expenses to run the nursery and maintain all the trees that are in various stages of growth. …Last month the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced it would cancel the 50 Million Tree Program. …He doesn’t plan on destroying the trees immediately, but said he can’t carry them all summer. Patchell plans to decide over the next month exactly how many trees need to be destroyed.

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Logging imperils Humboldt marten

Letter by Sara Moriarty-Graves
The Times Standard
May 5, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A Humboldt marten denning in a large tree hole is awakened by the sound of logging trucks approaching. Her habitat is being removed and she is forced to relocate to a brand new unfamiliar place. This cat-sized mammal lives an elusive life tucked away in parts of northern California and is threatened by industrial logging practices. …The Humboldt marten’s low population numbers necessitate more protection. …One of the biggest threats to the marten’s growth is logging. …Green Diamond owns over 373,000 acres of land in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, approximately 11% of the total area. The company plans to log in marten habitat in Del Norte County. …However, the listing of Humboldt martens as endangered rather than threatened will further protect them from the destruction of their habitat from logging.

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New legislation introduced in Congress aims to strengthen Roadless Rule

By Elizabeth Jenkins
KTOO Public Media
May 2, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

A few states are in the process of challenging a federal rule that makes it difficult to build new roads through national lands, called the Roadless Rule. In Alaska, the debate centers on the Tongass National Forest, where Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski says more access is needed to timber, energy and mining opportunities. But on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., introduced legislation which could eliminate the possibility of an Alaska-specific exemption to the Roadless Rule. Under the Roadless Area Conservation Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wouldn’t have the authority to grant that exemption. Right now, the agency is on track to release a draft environmental impact statement this summer, including various options for road-building in the Tongass. An official decision is expected by 2020.

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Groups Seeking to Conserve Indiana Forests Make New Push

The Associated Press in US News
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

LAGRO, INDIANA — Groups seeking to conserve two of Indiana’s state forests are making a new push in their efforts to curb logging. The groups Friends of Salamonie Forest and the Indiana Forest Alliance are seeking to have Salamonie River State Forest in Wabash and Huntington counties and Frances Slocum State Forest in Miami County designated state parks. They’ve delivered petitions to the state proposing the change. Indiana officials have developed plans to log mature trees at the forests. Residents last year organized to try to stop the planned logging . The issue could come up later this month, when the Indiana Department of Natural Resources meets in Indianapolis. In February, the state announced efforts to expand tree harvesting and attract new wood processing facilities as part of the Indiana Hardwood Strategy. [END]

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Nature in unprecedented decline around the globe, landmark study says

By Ivan Semeniuk
The Globe and Mail
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Around the world, nature and the benefits it provides are in unprecedented decline — a trend that can be reversed, but only with a co-ordinated international effort and “transformative change” to the way humans draw food, water, energy and resources from the planet, a sweeping new report has found. The report encompasses the first global assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. …Assembled by 145 authors from 50 countries, the report is based on a review of approximately 15,000 scientific and government publications. …While it is hardly the first report to document the accelerating pace at which nature is vanishing from the Earth, it is the first to do so under agreement by participating governments. …Yet, despite political sensitivities the summary included a clear recognition that the world will need to… move toward a more sustainable global economic system in order to have a hope of addressing the biodiversity crisis. [A subscription to the Globe and Mail is required to access this full story]

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UN report says nature is in worst shape in human history

By Seth Borenstein
The Missoulian
May 6, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday in the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity. It’s all because of humans, but it’s not too late to fix the problem, the report said. Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. …”Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity’s own future,” said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research. …Conservation scientists from around the world convened in Paris to issue the report, which exceeded 1,000 pages. 

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

B.C.’s carbon storage is sinking

By Monique Keiran
The Times-Colonist
May 5, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The past two summers saw B.C.’s worst wildfire seasons on record. …Then the mountain pine beetle struck. The epidemic, which affected more than 14 million hectares of pine forest in B.C., cut the legs out from under the province’s — and Canada’s — position as a climate do-gooder. …That renewed calls for B.C. to include wildfire emissions in its greenhouse-gas inventory… Without those… the inventory suggests the forests are soaking up more carbon than they are releasing. …Werner Kurz, a researcher with Natural Resources Canada in Victoria… says good reasons exist for monitoring and measuring emissions from natural disturbances separately from those from human-caused forest emissions. …In a recent paper, Kurz and his team proposed a way to separate the two forest-emissions sources. …The study’s results… include estimates of the delayed release of greenhouse-gas emissions from wood used to build, for example, houses, furniture or shipping pallets.

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Health & Safety

Workplace health and safety conference aims to alleviate substance abuse issues

By Michael Charlebois
The Thunder Bay News Watch
May 5, 2019
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada East

Elisha Malette

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO — In 2017, the Ministry of Labour asked sawmill and forestry workers what issues posed the greatest risk in the workplace. The answer: substance abuse. …It’s what sparked the Workplace Safety North and Public Services Health and Safety Association to dedicate a day to the issue at the inaugural Health and Safety Conference. On Thursday, workers from the industry including Fort William First Nation’s Resolute Forest Products were on hand to learn about the harms of potential substances, and what services are available to them. …The WSN’s main recommendations include procedure of how to address substance use in the workplace, and having specific criteria that senior staff can implements, and workers understand.

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