Daily Archives: June 12, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

Lumber curtailments starting to have an impact: Madison’s

June 12, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

The latest sawmill curtailments caused lumber futures prices to reverse, suggesting prices are likely to stop falling if not increase. In related news: BC braces for more closures; Norbord to indefinitely curtail its OSB plant in central BC; Steelworkers surprised by Canfor curtailments; Resolute to extend mill shutdown in Ontario; fear of higher lumber prices dent US home builder stocks; and global sawlog prices fall to the lowest level in two years.

In Forestry news: alarm bells are sounding on BC’s drought conditions; a Northern BC First Nations group pushes for a new conservation area; high DDT levels persist in New Brunswick’s lakes; and National Public Radio highlights concern over forest firefighter health in the Pacific Northwest.

Finally, AF&PA has a new CEO and the UK balcony fire draws a rare rebuke by timber groups.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Froggy Foibles

French president to send new tree to Trump after oak gift died

Reuters in the Montreal Gazette
June 11, 2019
Category: Froggy Foibles

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron downplayed the death of an oak tree he had offered U.S. President Donald Trump last year on Tuesday, saying people shouldn’t read symbols into everything and that he would send the American leader a new tree. …It was put in quarantine because of fears parasites on the tree could spread to others on the White House property. U.S. officials this weekend said it had died prompting a flurry of social media posts comparing its death to the difficult relationship the two leaders have had since that visit.

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Business & Politics

Fears of higher lumber prices dent US home builder stocks

Stock Muse
June 12, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Shares of US home builders and lumber distributors fell broadly on Tuesday on worries over the impact of higher lumber prices on their profits after Canada’s major lumber supplier Canfor moved to curtail operations. …Builders Century Communities, Beazer Homes, and Taylor Morrison Home and shares of distributors such as Builders FirstSource and BMC Stock were all lower between 1% and 2%. “If today’s price spike in the lumber futures causes cash lumber price trends to turn inflationary instead of deflationary, that could be a negative risk to our estimates because the price arbitrage would work against the distributors,” said Wedbush analyst Jay McCanless. Still, the analyst said a near-term move higher in lumber prices should not affect domestic affordable housing demand which is the primary catalyst for those builders.

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Softwood lumber supply and demand corrects on further sawmill curtailments

By Madison’s Lumber Reporter
Wood Business – Canadian Forest Industries
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The latest announcement of major sawmill curtailments Monday, this time with Canfor making production cuts at all its facilities, caused a complete reversal of lumber futures prices on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. …Madison’s Lumber Reporter print is Friday mornings; this week, prices are likely to at least stop falling if not to actually increase. …Traders of Western Spruce-Pine-Fir lumber in the U.S. described better market conditions this week, as many buyers sensed a change in the wind and dove in. Sales volumes were still comparatively small for the time of year but the total number of transactions day-to-day appeared to be increasing encouragingly. …A few important building markets in the U.S. had yet to rumble to life, but construction in many others was coming on strong just as demand from Canadian sources also improved.

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Delegates Gather for BC Community Forest Association’s 16th Annual Conference and AGM

BC Community Forest Association
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Mission, BC – Delegates are arriving at the Fraser River Valley community of Mission for the BC Community Forest Association’s (BCCFA) 16th Conference and AGM. …Preparing to welcome delegates from community forests representing nearly 90 BC First Nations and non-Indigenous, rural communities, BCCFA President, George Brcko said, “The BCCFA conference is where community organizers, government staff and elected officials, managers, and researchers gather to network, share stories and learn about government priorities and new initiatives. …Delegates look forward to hearing from Diane Nicholls, Chief Forester as she reports on the plans and process to improve forest practices in BC and to Chris Stagg, Assistant Deputy Minister of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, who will announce the 2019 Robin Hood Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Forestry.

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Norbord’s 100 Mile location announces indefinite curtailment – 160 employees will be affected

By Millar Hill
100 Mile Free Press
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Norbord Inc. will be indefinitely stopping all production at its oriented strand board (OSB) mill in 100 Mile House starting in August. The company’s 100 Mile House location has been under mounting wood supply pressure for the past decade as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. This challenge has been more recently exacerbated by the significant wildfires that the province of British Columbia experienced in the summers of both 2017 – 18. The resulting wood supply shortage and high wood prices have not been supporting the economic operation of the mill at this time. Mayor Mitch Campsall told the Free Press, this curtailment is going to “cripple” the community. “It’s a surprise,” said Campsall. “Especially when they’ve had record breaking profits in the last year and a quarter according to them. Again, throughout the Cariboo, we’re looking at curtailments. It’s going to be really harsh for us, small businesses are going to get hurt, really badly.”

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Outreach sessions planned for government forestry renewal

BC Local News
June 12, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The government is planning public engagement sessions over the summer as part of its interior forestry revitalization initiative. Two representatives from the Ministry Forests… told the board of directors of the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) on June 6 that the engagement will be ambitious and targeted at several stakeholders. …In their presentation, Eamon O’Donoghue, ADM of North Area operations, and Jeff Recknell, Executive Director of FLNRORD for the Skeena region said one of the key aims of the revitalization program is bringing communities back into forest management. Facing the reality of less timber and declining Annual Allowable Cuts, the next step is working to maintain economic activity in the industry. …One of the first aspects of the public engagement will start with discussion papers on revitalization, and about a dozen of them will be amalgamated into one.

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New lumber supply agreement reduces costs and increases cash-flow

By Atlas Engineered Products Ltd.
Cision Newswire
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

NANAIMO, BC – Atlas Engineered Products (AEP) announces completion of a new, guaranteed lumber supply agreement for five of its operating facilities. …”This agreement, with an experienced private company with operations across Canada and the Western US, is part of AEP’s strategic plan to capitalize on the efficiencies of consolidating the engineered wood products industry,” said AEP CEO Dirk Maritz. “All of our current facilities in BC, Manitoba and Ontario will benefit from this supply certainty and cost savings.” …”The seasonality of the lumber business and construction industry has, in the past, resulted in supply and delivery challenges for all manufacturers of roof and floor trusses, wall panels, windows and doors,” explained Executive VP Hadi Abassi. “This comprehensive approach to lumber supply will ensure we receive full load deliveries throughout the busy summer building season, a competitive advantage for our clients.”

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John Horgan and NDP hurting forest industry as job losses increase: B.C. Liberals

By Rattan Mall
The Indo-Canadian Voice
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

John Rustad

The BC Liberals said on Tuesday that the latest round of shift curtailments by Canfor is having a devastating impact on hard-working families of workers from across BC …“John Horgan and the NDP have made us the last place a company would want to invest in, under their watch, as B.C. has become the jurisdiction with the highest production costs in North America,” said MLA John Rustad. “The fact that Canfor is not announcing similar reductions to any of its operations elsewhere in Canada or the U.S. just goes to show B.C. is no longer competitive under the NDP.” …“There are factors government has control over when the forest industry finds itself in trouble,” said Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett. …So far this year in B.C. there have been two permanent mill closures and 75 additional weeks of combined operational downtime. 

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USW 1-2017 taken by surprise on Canfor curtailments

By Brendan Pawliw
My Bulkley Lakes Now
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Poor lumber markets and the high cost of fibre is what’s being blamed on the 10 Canfor curtailments announced on Monday at its BC sawmills. The move came at a bit of a surprise according to United Steelworkers Union 1-2017 President, Brian O’Rourke. …He adds some locations may be able to find a way to soften the blow. “The impact may be lessened somewhat because they will be on four-day weeks for a time to make up for the curtailment but for some of them it’s going to take a month’s pay from the employee’s pockets.” O’Rourke senses it’s tense times right now for the sector, which has a ton of uncertainty surrounding it. “We’re not quite where the end is in sight but rumour has it stumpage is going to be changing on July 1st and not for the better.”

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British Columbia braces for more closures as forestry sector continues to struggle

By Richard Zussman
Global News
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Doug Donaldson

The B.C. government is struggling with a diminished wood supply, leading to job losses and mill closures across the province. Norbord Inc. announced on Tuesday its intention to indefinitely curtail production in 100 Mile House, British Columbia in August, 2019. …Donaldson said “We have community transition response teams that are on the way to those communities and have already started work.” …Norbord says the Cariboo region has been under mounting wood supply pressure… The industry is also struggling because of significant wildfires… in the summers of both 2017 and 2018. The two factors have to led to a wood supply shortage and high wood prices do not support the economic operation of the mill.“This is a difficult decision in response to extraordinary circumstances,” said Norbord’s president and CEO, Peter Wijnbergen.

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Ontario Superior Court upholds penalties levied on Sino-Forest executives

The Canadian Press in The Globe and Mail
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Ontario’s Superior Court has upheld millions of dollars in fines the provincial securities regulator imposed on several former executives at Sino-Forest Corp. following a major corporate fraud case. The court dismissed the appeal on the penalties that an Ontario Securities Commission panel imposed on former chief executive Allen Chan as well as Albert Ip, Alfred Hung and George Ho, who were found to have defrauded investors by overstating the now defunct company’s timber assets and revenue. OSC director of enforcement Jeff Kehoe says it was an important ruling that upheld the approach of the commission’s panel in one of the largest corporate frauds in Canadian history. The panel found the fraud resulted in $6-billion in cumulative loss in equity market capitalization. In July last year, the panel ordered Mr. Chan to pay a $5-million penalty, $2-million in costs, as well as disgorge $60.3-million to the commission.

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Domtar Dryden getting a new mill manager

Northern Ontario Business
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Marie Cyr

A new manager will be at the helm of Domtar’s pulp mill in Dryden. Effective Aug.1, Marie Cyr will succeed Jim Blight who is retiring. The 24-year Domtar employee arrives in northwestern Ontario from Windsor, Que. where she was the Windsor mill’s pulp mill manager and superintendent, responsible for that mill’s manufacturing operations and strategy development. She joined that operation back in 1995 as a maintenance engineer and project manager. Cyr is described in a June 11 news release as a “inspirational leader” with a growth mindset and a strong commitment to continuous improvement.

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Poor market conditions help extend shutdown at Ignace sawmill

Thunder Bay News Watch
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

IGNACE, Ont. —  A planned shutdown at the Resolute Forest Products sawmill at Ignace has been extended into July. The company blames deteriorating market conditions and an issue with the sawmill’s kilns. A Resolute spokesperson said it initially projected two months of downtime, starting around April 11, due to a shortage of logs that resulted from “very wet” weather in the fall, winter and spring. Under that plan, the mill would have reopened this week. However, in recent months the North American lumber market has taken a downturn, leading to lower prices and low sales volumes. The kilns at Ignace will be out of service until mid-September, but the mill shutdown is expected to end sometime next month.

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Norbord announces indefinite curtailment of 100 Mile OSB Mill in British Columbia

Norbord
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

TORONTO, ON  – Norbord Inc. today announced its intention to indefinitely curtail production at its oriented strand board (OSB) mill in 100 Mile House, British Columbia starting in August 2019. The Cariboo region in which the Company’s 100 Mile House mill is located has been under mounting wood supply pressure for the past decade as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.  This challenge has been more recently exacerbated by the significant wildfires that the province of British Columbia experienced in the summers of both 2017 and 2018.  The resulting wood supply shortage and high wood prices do not support the economic operation of the mill at this time. Norbord will continue to supply its current customers and meet expected future customer demand with production from its 11 other operating North American OSB mills, including High Level and Grande Prairie, Alberta.

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AF&PA Names Former Weyerhaeuser Exec New President and CEO

The American Forest & Paper Association
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Heidi Brock

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) announced that Heidi Brock, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association, will join AF&PA as its new president and CEO. Brock is succeeding Donna Harman, who announced her intention to retire earlier this year after 12 years serving as AF&PA’s President and CEO. …Brock will bring to AF&PA extensive experience, serving as the CEO of a prominent manufacturing association for almost eight years and having worked for nearly 20 years as a senior executive for one of the paper and wood products industry’s largest companies. …Before joining the Aluminum Association in 2011, Brock served as Vice President of Federal and International Affairs for Weyerhaeuser, where she was an active member on AF&PA committees.

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In 1Q 2019 Global Sawlog Price Index falls 1.8% to the lowest level since 2Q 2017

Lesprom Network
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The global flow of softwood logs from countries with a surplus of wood raw- material to regions with tight, or costly log supply, and higher consumption of forest products continued to expand for the third consecutive year in 2018, reported Wood Resources International in its Wood Resource Quarterly. According to report, the sawlog prices fell throughout the world in the 1Q 2019 due to either plentiful supply or reduced demand for lumber, depending on region. …In 2018, global trade of softwood lumber reached the second highest level ever recorded. The free fall of lumber prices in the US came to a halt in early 2019, and prices might have hit a low for this cycle in January. Softwood lumber exports from Canada were down 6% year-over year in 2018, with the biggest decline being in shipments to China. …Pellet exports from North America surged in the 4Q 2018 to reach an all-time-high.

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The Global Forest Industry in the 1Q/2019

By Hakan Ekstrom
Wood Resources International LLC
June 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The global flow of softwood logs from countries with a surplus of wood raw material to regions with tight, or costly log supply, and higher consumption of forest products continued to expand for the third consecutive year in 2018. Sawlog prices fell throughout the world in the 1Q/19 due to either plentiful supply or reduced demand for lumber, depending on region. The Global Sawlog Price Index (GSPI) fell 1.8% to the lowest level noted since the 2Q/17. The Euro-denominated European Sawlog Price Index (ESPI) was €81.08/m3 in the 1Q/19, a 3.1% drop from the 4Q/18 – the lowest level seen since 2010.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

New Wood WORKS! BC Case Study on Wood in Commercial Buildings

naturally.wood
June 11, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Wood WORKS! BC recently released its latest case study on commercial buildings. This case study examines two wood buildings, both with primary retail commercial occupancies, but which employ different mass timber products to achieve very different effects. Askew’s Uptown Supermarket in Salmon Arm, BC, features an expansive nail-laminated timber (NLT) roof while the Whistler Community Services Society Building in Whistler, BC, uses a robust, utilitarian exposed glued-laminated timber (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure as befits the building’s industrial setting.  

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Bob Larocque of Forest Products group talks single-use plastics

The John Oakely Show
Apple Podcasts
June 12, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Bob Larocque, Senior VP, Forest Products Association of Canada. Ban on single-use plastics could be a boon for Ontario forestry industry.

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Seven Alternative Pallets for Greener Operations

By Sara Pearson Specter
Modern Materials Handling
June 11, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

As more companies take a closer look at improving their sustainability practices, pallet usage has come under increased scrutiny. While Virginia Tech researchers found that 95% of wooden pallets are recycled domestically, an estimated 50% of the annual U.S. hardwood harvest is dedicated to their production. Although reforestation efforts have achieved a ratio of two new trees planted for each one harvested, it still takes years for new plantings to reach maturity. Further, the ability to reuse plastic pallets hundreds of times over is frequently cited as a reason to invest in them. Yet they too have potential drawbacks, including cost, their hydrocarbon material source and the energy required to mold each pallet. To address these concerns, several manufacturers are responding with pallets made from alternative materials or hybrid combinations of typical materials. These unique pallets offer a variety of sustainability advantages—and other benefits—explored in this article.

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Barking building blaze raises questions over use of fire-retardants

The Timber Trade Federation and Wood Protection Association
The Timber Trades Journal
June 12, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

A Barking apartment development which suffered a serious fire should have had its wooden balconies and cladding treated with industrial fire retardants, a statement by timber groups has said. A number of flats, believed to be of masonry construction, suffered damage after the fire on June 9 at Riverside Barking, with investigations centred on the extensive timber use in balconies. The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and Wood Protection Association (WPA) released a statement saying the failure to specify an industrial fire retardant pre-treatment for the timber balconies and cladding across the front of the building was “completely inappropriate” in the circumstances. Meanwhile, the concrete industry has used the incident to go on the offensive against use of timber in construction.

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Tzannes and Lendlease reveals new engineered timber building for University of New South Wales

Architecture and Design Australia
June 12, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has lodged a new development application for the construction of a new timber building designed by Tzannes and Lendlease. …the new multi-purpose building will primarily be built with a mix of glulam for the beams, columns and bracing, and cross laminated timber (CLT) for the floors and core walls. “The building’s grid is derived from the spanning capacity of the timber structure. It spans 9m in the north-south direction and 6m in the east-west direction,” the application notes.  All external timber elements of the proposed structure will be made of recycled Australian hardwood for durability and resistance to weathering, while the internal timber structure is wrapped in a low iron double glazed, high performance glass curtain wall.  …this maximises the visibility of the timber structure, allowing the wood to be the hero of the design with its “simplicity, efficiency and clarify in expression”.

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Forestry

Community targets Visual Quality Objective rules amid fire safety concerns

BC Local News
June 12, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Frank Varga

Wildfire season is upon us in northern British Columbia, and some Burns Lake residents are taking action to minimize fire threats as summer approaches. The Lejac fire near Fraser Lake, which broke out on May 12 showed the need to keep on top of risks so that communities aren’t caught off guard. Frank Varga, general manager of the Burns Lake Community Forest, has spoken with the Burns Lake Chamber of Commerce about relaxing restrictions on Visual Quality Objective (VQO) areas so that risks can be reduced. Chamber vice president Lianne Olson and executive director Randi Amendt plan to co-write a letter to the provincial government expressing support for loosening those regulations. The issue with those areas is that they contain a lot of beetle-killed timber and slash which pose wildfire risks, but because of their VQO and Old Growth Management Area (OGMA) statuses, cutting is prohibited.

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‘Alarm bells:’ It’s spring, but B.C. already sounding drought warnings

By Susan Lazaruk
The Vancouver Sun
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Drought conditions caused by warm temperatures and a lack of rain could result in the suspension of water withdrawals in B.C.’s oilpatch as early as this week.  …“This is one of the driest springs we’ve seen,” said Lapp. …the lack of water “may have an impact on industry” and their ability to keep production going.  And a provincial forecaster said it could get worse this, which could also jeopardize the province’s fishing and forestry industries. …Drought level warnings for Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and B.C.’s northeast have already increased to the voluntary water-restrictions stage, and Dave Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre. …“Dry conditions and other effects of climate change are an ongoing worry for our forest industry,” said the Council of Forest Industry CEO Susan Yurkovich.

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First Nations push for massive conservation area in northern British Columbia

The Canadian Press in Burnaby Now
June 12, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

LOWER POST, B.C. — First Nations in northern BC are calling on the provincial government to endorse an ambitious proposal for a 40,000-square-kilometre conservation area to protect major watersheds and sensitive species. The proposal would cover the ancestral areas of three Kaska Dena First Nations and would be larger than Vancouver Island, taking up a massive section of north-central B.C.  Premier John Horgan’s government hasn’t said whether it supports or opposes the idea after seven months, say the project’s proponents. …The First Nations have applied for $4 million in federal government funding for the project… and now fear it won’t receive funding because B.C. hasn’t signed on. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has been supportive, said Crampton. …The Kaska controls logging in the forests surrounding the conservation area and there isn’t any opportunity for forestry inside it, Crampton said.

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Turned down – Forestry minister Rankin rejects Annapolis County bid to preserve old forest

By Lawrence Powell
The Chronicle Herald
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Debbie Stultz-Giffin

HALIFAX, N.S. — A bid to save an aging forest south of Bridgetown, by turning it over to Annapolis County to manage as a climate forest and new economic model, was turned down by Department of Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin June 11. Annapolis County wanted the province to hand over a swath of Crown forest so the municipality could develop and manage the climate forest and demonstrate that a new economic model based on ecological forestry management could increase local jobs, community recreation, and tourism. …“We certainly have no intention of abandoning the overall project of a climate forest,” Habinski said after the meeting with Rankin. “We intend to pursue that. It’s clearly what our constituents want.

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Logging firm says concern for birds must be balanced against industry needs

Canadian Press in the Toronto Star
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX—Calls to stop logging in a Nova Scotia forest during nesting seasons of migratory birds must be balanced with the industry’s practice of harvesting through the year, says the firm with cutting rights. “If we’re going to have a sustainable forest industry … that does involve harvesting trees in a significant portion of the year,” said Marcus Zwicker, general manager of WestFor Management Inc., in an interview Tuesday. The company has approval to resume cutting on 76 hectares of Crown-owned woods located between two pristine Annapolis County lakes. Naturalists say they have spotted more than a dozen neotropical songbirds and filmed video of one endangered species in the mixed forest. …Zwicker said that if endangered species are spotted, there are procedures in place to avoid destruction of bird habitat. For example, there are specific buffer zones around the nests of birds of prey, depending on the time of year, he said.

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Lakehead University gets another $2.25 million for research

Thunder Bay News Watch
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

THUNDER BAY — A research team at Lakehead University will use a federal grant to study a method of mitigating the impact of climate changes in the boreal forest. It’s one of more than 30 LU research projects funded this year by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, with grants totalling more than $2.25 million. Dr. Han Chen, a professor in Natural Resources Management, is receiving $275,000 over five years to examine how various tree species might help offset the negative impacts of reduced water availability in the northern forest. The study will rely on a water-alteration experiment in natural boreal forests, but details were not provided in a university news release Tuesday.

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‘Cautionary tale:’ High DDT levels in New Brunswick lakes decades after ban

By Bob Weber
The Canadian Press in the National Post
June 12, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

Josh Kurek

Several remote New Brunswick lakes still have high levels of a pesticide banned 46 years ago — findings with significant implications for today, says the scientist behind a study on DDT. …“At the time, we applied these synthetic chemicals thinking they’d have tremendous benefits. And look, 50 years later we’re still dealing with the fallout.” New Brunswick, heavily dependent on the forest industry, was one of the heaviest users of DDT in North America. Between 1952 and 1968, at least 5.7 million kilograms of DDT were applied to the province’s forests to control spruce budworm. Canada banned DDT in 1972. Kurek wondered what happened to all that poison. …He found, as expected, large concentrations of DDT in sediment that dated from the spraying era. …“The surprise is that there is no recovery.”

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Conservation Camp Celebrates Sustainable Forestry

By Domtar
MarketScreener
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

…Conservation Camp is led by Domtar’s Dryden Mill in partnership with Dryden High School and other Dryden community partners, including Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Dryden Forest Management, the Dryden Trappers Council, Brinkman Reforestation and Raleigh Falls Timber. The three-day camp gives high school students an opportunity to broaden their understanding of resource management and conservation concepts. Now in its 63rd year, Conservation Camp offers hands-on experiences in sustainable forestry, silviculture (the science of tree growth and cultivation) and harvesting, with a focus on wildlife, aquatics, soils, fire management and forest technology. This year, 48 ninth-grade students and more than 20 adult leaders participated in the camp, which took place at the end of May. …On the last day, the students applied what they learned to prepare a mock forest management plan that replicated the real-life process in Ontario.

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‘If we don’t burn it, nature will’: Georgia blazes old fears, leads nation in prescribed fire

By Samantha Max and Maya Miller
Macon Telegraph
June 11, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Mark Melvin lit a match and dropped it to the forest floor. He then lit another and another, blazing a circle of flames around a towering pine tree. …Lighting fires is like playing a game of chess, Melvin said. You always have to be one step ahead. …Melvin is no arsonist. He’s a forest manager, responsible for about 18,000 acres of woods at the Joseph W. Jones Center at Ichauway Plantation in southwest Georgia. …For him, fire is not just destructive — it’s an agent of change. …Forests need fire. Without them, plants die, animals leave, and mounds of flammable undergrowth pile high. Rather than wait for a lightning strike or cigarette butt to spark an uncontrollable wave of flames, Melvin conducts controlled burns, also known as prescribed fire. “Just like a doctor prescribes medication to keep their patient healthy, we prescribe fire to keep the forest healthy,” Melvin said.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Canada’s most important bioeconomy conference announces 2020 dates

Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition
June 10, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Sandy Ferguson

Canada’s largest and longest-running conference on the bioeconomy will be the place for industry, government, communities, and researchers to meet and discuss some of the greatest challenges facing the nation: climate change, energy security, and truly sustainable economic development. The Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition will take place in Prince George, B.C. June 10-12, 2020. “Since the first conference in 2004, the Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition has developed a reputation for being one of Canada’s leading conferences on the topic, providing a venue for community leaders, industry members, and policy makers from across Canada and around the world,” said Rob van Adrichem, Chair of the CBCE Board of Directors. …“Our conference will feature speakers and exhibitors that will showcase the companies and communities that are at the forefront of a global market for bio-based products,” said van Adrichem.

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Europe Criticized for Not Doing Enough to Slow Deforestation

By Aine Quinn
Bloomberg
June 10, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

European companies aren’t doing enough to slow deforestation as they’re buying too much of commodities such as soybeans and palm oil from unsustainable sources, according to sustainable trade initiative IDH. As forests shrink to produce timber and make space for crops like soy, cocoa and palm oil, that’s leaving fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. While European business has made some progress in tackling deforestation, it’s behind on targets for purchasing sustainably grown commodities, Netherlands-based IDH said in a report. …The European Union wants to lead the battle against global warming, and has pushed for restrictions on the use of palm oil on concerns its production caused deforestation and aggravated climate change. But producing nations say the claims are misleading and detrimental to countries that depend on the industry.

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Health & Safety

More Wildfires Bring Focus On How All That Smoke May Harm Firefighters Facebook Twitter Flipboard Email

By Jessica Burns
NPR – National Public Radio
June 12, 2019
Category: Health & Safety
Region: United States, US West

When Timothy Ingalsbee thinks back on his days in the 1980s and ’90s fighting wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, he remembers the adventure. …But Ingalsbee, who went on to found the Eugene-based Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, doesn’t like to remember all that smoke. …As wildfires have grown more frequent and intense in recent years, communities have complained about the health impact of all that smoke. …But residents can seek relief by staying indoors and using air filters or masks. These aren’t options for the wildland firefighters fighting those blazes, or managing prescribed burns aimed at preventing them. …The hazards have long been known for those who fight fires in buildings. …But wildland firefighters have largely been left out of the research. …Only recently have federal fire agencies started considering the long-term health effects of chronic smoke exposure for wildland firefighters.

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