Daily Archives: August 29, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

US Housing market should improve in the fall: Freddie Mac

August 29, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

Despite fears of an economic slowdown, Freddie Mac forecasts improving US housing markets in the fall, while improved weather results in lower fibre costs for most North American pulpmills. Meanwhile; lessons learned from mill closures in Mackenzie and Prince George BC; Canfor and Norbord take more downtime while Weyerhaeuser bucks the trend; and Northern Ontario seeks to diversify its manufacturing.

In Forestry/Climate news: Brazil defends its record on Amazon wildfires as experts says it’s reached a ‘tipping point‘, and the ‘worst is still to come‘. Elsewhere: National Geographic on Amazon logging; and David Suzuki on the shortfalls of captive breeding programs.

Finally, per the Atlantic, the Amazon is important but it’s not the Earth’s lungs.

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Rustad, Thiessen respond to Canfor production cutbacks

By Brendan Pawliw
My Prince George Now
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Gerry Thiessen

John Rustad

Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen is disappointed but optimistic following the recent curtailment announced at Canfor’s Plateau Mill. The facility is going to a four-day workweek in September along with the company’s sawmill in Houston until the market and economic conditions improve. Thiessen believes they will come out of this heading into 2020. “We feel quite positive that it’s a strong commitment from Canfor to the Plateau mill and that we will continue to get through this time.” Thiessen is of the opinion the fortunes of the forestry sector will change in due time. …He adds the district will be working with the provincial government to bring ideas forward that is still being honoured in the softwood lumber agreement. However, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad took a much harder line on the issue, as the families of the affected workers aren’t the only ones who are suffering in places like Houston.

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Hall remains concerned about the forestry sector in Northern BC

By Brendan Pawliw
My Prince George Now
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Lyn Hall

Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall is keeping a close eye on the forestry sector yet again after Canfor announced curtailments at its local operations on Tuesday. The changes take place on September 3rd and are expected to run until the end of the year. This follows a production cut, which began last week at the Lakeland Mills sawmill, owned by the Sinclar Group. …Hall [said] a lot of questions still remain about the industry. “It’s a concern from an economic development perspective, it’s a concern for the workers, their families and for us, it’s about what’s next and what will happen as to where the industry is going and how it will look six months from now.” …What Hall is most concerned about is the potential of fewer people from Mackenzie and Fort St James coming to PG after shutdowns and curtailments from Canfor and Conifex.

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Lessons learned from Mackenzie Matters rally

By Bob Zimmer, MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies
Kamloops Matters
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bob Zimmer

I recently had the honour of attending the Mackenzie Matters Rally in support of our local forestry communities. …I challenged the B.C. Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson to remember that decisions that are made in Victoria and Ottawa have real and lasting effects on our rural communities like Mackenzie. …Over the past few months, approximately two dozen mills in our province have been closed or curtailed temporarily. …This has also led to heavy impacts to other industries that rely upon the forestry sector. For example, the Truck Logger’s Association has predicted that the industry will shrink by 25 per cent in the coming months. …In Ottawa, the Liberals have failed to make a new softwood lumber agreement a priority. British Columbia also continues to pay the price for Justin Trudeau’s mishandled NAFTA negotiations and his failure to defend our trade interests around the world.

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Canfor closing Houston mill for one week

By Rod Link
Houston Today
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Calling its B.C. mill operations “uneconomic,” Canfor is closing its mill here and at two other locations for four days following the Labour Day statutory holiday next Monday. And its shifting operations here to a four-day week thereafter, something that “will remain in effect until market and economic conditions support a return to a full operating schedule of five days per week,” the company announced. Next week’s closures will affect mills in Prince George, in Bear Lake north of Prince George and in Fort St. John. The four-day work week goes in effect at its Plateau mill outside of Vanderhoof in addition to Houston.

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Weyerhaeuser focused on sustainability through provincial crisis in forest sector

By Andrea Demeer
Kelowna Capital News
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

In an industry that is experiencing plant closures and uncertainty, Princeton’s Weyerhaeuser Mill is holding its own. “Like all Weyerhaeuser mills, our strategy at Princeton is to stay focused on what we can control,” said general manager Jeff Larsen. The mill has approximately 200 direct employees and works with about 200 contractors in forestlands. …“We’re focused on… high-return capital projects, and driving value, recovery and reliability improvements.” …“We are seeing a critical time in the B.C. forest sector,” said Mina Lauden, vice-president of public affairs for the B.C. Council of Forest Industries. “The circumstances that have led to this crisis are a perfect storm of conditions which have been building for many years.”

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Regional mining and forestry could expand into the defence sector

By Stu Campaigne
My North Bay Now
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

While it seems as though the economic development team in Timmins, Ontario, may have jumped the gun in its excitement to announce the project, the other four major Northern Ontario cities, including North Bay, are said to be on board. Ross MacDonald, a business development specialist… said it is unlikely military ships or helicopters will be built in Northern Ontario any time soon but that doesn’t mean the region cannot supply components for them. The five major northern cities are working together to get fabrication businesses that supply mining and forestry in on also supplying the defence sector. …“So there could be opportunities for companies that maybe fabricate specialized products for the mining sector, forestry sector to modify their processes to supply these smaller components and services to go into the larger project.”

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Norbord Announces Reduced Production Schedule for Line 1 At Cordele, Georgia OSB Mill

By Norbord Inc.
Cision Newswire
August 29, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

TORONTO – Norbord announced that effective September 5th, Line 1 of its two-line oriented strand board mill in Cordele, Georgia will operate on a reduced 10/4 schedule until further notice due to continued poor market conditions. US homebuilding activity has been pulling back since the fall of last year, resulting in lower-than-anticipated OSB demand to-date. The reduced production schedule at Cordele Line 1 will ensure Norbord continues to only produce what the company can sell as the market approaches the seasonally slower winter months. …The reduced production schedule on Line 1 will impact approximately 12% of the mill’s available capacity.

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Weyerhaeuser Distribution adds cedar expert in Texas

The LBM Journal
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

SEATTLE — Weyerhaeuser Distribution, a North American distributor of building materials including Western Red Cedar, has added Chad Kracht as product sales representative in the Texas market. Kracht, an expert in Western Red Cedar, brings more than 15 years experience in the distribution channel. “We are thrilled,”… said Mike Pollok, area general manager for Weyerhaeuser Distribution in South Texas. “Chad is extremely well-respected by his customers and the Canadian suppliers for his vast knowledge of Western Red Cedar.” Prior to joining Weyerhaeuser Distribution, Kracht was territory manager for BlueLinx in San Antonio.

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Brazil looks to neighbors for Amazon support, defends record

By Lisandra Paraguassu and Rodrigo Viga Gaier
Reuters in the Chronicle Herald
August 28, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Jair Bolsonaro

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday he would meet with other South American countries to set common policy for defending the Amazon rain forest, while his foreign minister told Reuters the nation should be seen as an environmental hero. In an indication that Bolsonaro is forging closer ties with neighboring countries, he accepted Chile’s offer of four aircraft to help fight the fires sweeping through the world’s largest rain forest. Speaking after a meeting with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in Brasilia, Bolsonaro said a meeting with regional neighbors except Venezuela to discuss the Amazon would be held on Sept. 6 in Leticia, Colombia….Bolsonaro waded back into a spat with France, saying Brazil’s sovereignty had “no price, not even $20 trillion,” a reference to an offer of $20 million aid announced by French President Emmanuel Macron.

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Finance & Economics

North American Wood Fiber Review

By Hakan Ekstrom
Wood Resources International
August 29, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Lower prices for pulp, improved weather for logging and healthy production levels at many sawmills in the US were all factors which resulted in lower wood fiber costs in most regions throughout Canada and the US in the 2Q/19, reports the North American Wood Fiber Review. In the US South, however, hardwood fiber prices continued their long-term upward trend to reach an all-time high.

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US Housing Market Should Improve Heading into the Fall

Freddie Mac
August 28, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

According to Freddie Mac’s August Forecast mortgage originations will reach $2 trillion in 2019 driven by a surge of  homeowners refinancing into a lower mortgage rate along with strong homebuyer demand. …“Despite fears of an economic slowdown… strong labor market, along with mortgage rates at three-year lows and consumer confidence holding strong, will set the stage for continued improvement in the housing market heading into the fall.”

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Stakeholders tour northern Ontario sawmill to better understand lumber supply chain

By Don Procter
The Daily Commercial News
August 29, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Building with wood – especially mass timber products such as cross-laminated timber – “is taking off” in Ontario and it is a reason a group of southern Ontario architects, engineers and building union leaders toured forestry and mill operations in Timmins recently. “We’re starting to see architects, engineers and governments at all levels around the world recognizing the benefits of building with wood,” says Scott Jackson, of Forests Ontario, which helped organize the tour that included a visit to EACOM, which at 100 years of age is the region’s oldest and sawmill. …Jackson says the forest and mill operations tour in Timmins was part of the Forests Ontario’s It Takes a Forest awareness initiative.

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New Land adds height to timber apartment tower proposal for downtown Milwaukee

By Sean Ryan
Milwaukee Business Journal
August 28, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

New Land Enterprises is adding height to its timber-framed Ascent tower in Milwaukee to create more parking and apartments, and expects it could be the second-tallest wood-framed building in the world. The Milwaukee developer is using mass timber columns and beams instead of concrete or steel for the 23-story structure… It is a new approach to the Milwaukee market, but mass timber is gaining momentum globally as a more sustainable building material. …The Ascent could become North America’s tallest mass timber building, and is drawing international attention. …New Land hosted a delegation of Taiwanese government, academic and architectural representatives. The group was visiting the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison and asked to hear more about the Ascent …Joining [the team’s] general contractor, Catalyst Construction, is Swinerton, a national builder with a Portland division specializing in mass timber. Swinerton is helping to vet potential timber beam and column suppliers from Canada and Europe, he said. 

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Forestry

British Columbia’s ‘irreplaceable’ forest could disappear after decades of clear-cut logging

By Daniel Mesec, photojournalist
Crosscut
August 29, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

An ancient rain forest, nestled at the northern edge of the Rocky Mountains, has flourished for thousands of years. But this isn’t just any forest. Towering with western red cedars, western hemlock, spruce and subalpine fir, British Columbia’s inland temperate rain forest has all the hallmarks of a coastal rain forest, yet it is nearly 1,000 km (621 miles) inland. It’s one of the rarest ecosystems on the planet. …Only 9% of BC’s inland rain forest has been designated as protected areas or parks by the provincial government, leaving more than three-quarters of the remaining land open to clear-cut logging, which has removed more than a quarter of all the old-growth cedar and hemlock over the past half century. There is no end in sight.

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Sask. activists raise concerns about 20-year plan to clear cut boreal forest

By Kendall Latimer
CBC News
August 29, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Advocates in the Prince Albert area say there isn’t enough public awareness and hasn’t been enough consultation for a 20-year logging plan for the nearby boreal forest. “When are we going to start paying attention to what we’re leaving for the next generations?” said Bryan Lee, president of the Fish Lake Métis. Sakâw Askiy Management Inc., a corporation responsible for 3.3 million hectares of boreal forest north of Prince Albert, has created a 20-year forest management plan for the area. Sakâw Askiy is comprised of several shareholders who harvest wood for product. …A month ago, Lee asked the provincial government for a meeting in Prince Albert to discuss his concerns. …Chris Brown, who is with the Ministry of Environment’s forestry department, told reporters that the loggers plan to emulate natural disturbances. 

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Captive breeding fails when we destroy natural habitat

By David Suzuki
Comox Valley Record
August 29, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a captive breeding program to protect spotted owls. With an estimated six of the owls left in the wild in Canada, all in B.C., that seems like good news. But while the program includes some habitat protection, the province is also approving logging in habitat the owl needs to survive. It’s a major flaw in government-led conservation efforts. …Conservation would work better if land-use management regimes focused on maintaining habitat wildlife needs to survive before it’s too late. Instead, we wait until tipping points have been passed and then scramble to capture animals for breeding. …The main issue is the risk of releasing captive-bred wildlife into degraded habitat that couldn’t support it in the first place. 

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Tahltan, province sign ‘milestone’ land-use plan for Sacred Headwaters

By Quinn Bender
Terrace Standard
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Tahltan Nation has signed a “milestone” land-use plan with the provincial government aimed at preserving the Klappan Valley’s cultural and environmental assets, and guiding resource development. Among its directives, the Klappan Plan defines where resource management activities can occur and protects the Sacred Headwaters — the headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers — from industrial development for a minimum of 20 years. …A significant part of the agreement is a decision-making and management board comprised of three members of the Tahltan Nation and three representatives of the province. That collaboration, which went out of favour with the previous Liberal government, Donaldson says, is something the NDP government will delve into more with other B.C. First Nations to avoid scenarios where major projects are delayed or cancelled after significant investment due to poor planning and inadequate consultation.

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Dust control applied to Morice road

BC Local News
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Canfor has taken steps to control dust on the portions of the Morice River Forest Service Road for which it is responsible… said Canfor official Michelle Ward last week. The company is also applying water during dry conditions to aid in grading work as well as dust control. Dust control measures follow comments about dusty conditions from local residents. “Canfor completed the calcium application on the portion of roads that we are regular users of. Canfor has covered the cost of the work,” said Ward. …Industrial use of the road has increased this year due to activity relating to preparations underway to support the start of construction next year of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline.

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Terrace Community Forest Seeks to Enhance Timber Supply and Wildlife Habitat

Forest Enhancement Society of BC
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

TERRACE, BC—A Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. (FESBC) funded project to commercially thin trees within the Terrace Community Forest (TCF) tenure is currently in the planning and development phase… The project is rehabilitating low value forests, enhancing wildlife habitat, and increasing the opportunity to recover wood fibre for other uses, such as making wood pellets. …“We’ve employed purpose-driven silviculture, harvesting, and spacing plans to affect change on the forest landscape within the TCF,” said Kim Haworth, General Manager of TCF. “Our Community Forest has, within its operating areas, a large contingent of unmanaged, high density second growth forest. As a result of this overcrowding, growth rates of all trees are negatively impacted and understory development of small shrubs and vegetation is non-existent, leading to poor biodiversity values necessary for wildlife sustainability. The work we’re doing, thanks to FESBC-funding, is changing that.”

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Eco search engine sees surge in downloads as Amazon burns

Associated Press in The Times and Democrat
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

NEW YORK — Can you save the rainforest from your desk? A spike in downloads for a search engine that’s contributing profits to planting trees shows people are looking for ways to help as fires rage across the BrazilianAmazon. …Ecosia, a search engine founded in 2009, works with about 20 tree-planting organizations around the world in hopes of planting a billion trees by 2020. The Berlin-based company has pledged to plant an additional 2 million trees in Brazil in response to the fires. …The company estimates it can plant one tree for every 45 searches that people do. …Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University, said switching to Ecosia requires little effort and “might make a difference,” but the best way to respond is to give directly to a charity that specializes in a cause and spends donations wisely. …A nonprofit called B Lab has certified Ecosia as a for-profit company with a social mission. 

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Oregon State University takes heat for forest practices

By James Day
The Corvallis Gazette-Times
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Oregon State University forestry officials received an earful from the public Wednesday on its May cut of old-growth trees in the university-owned McDonald Forest. “Your speech was wonderful,” one audience member said to interim College of Forestry Dean Anthony Davis at the Benton County Clubhouse in Adair Village. “I hope you give that speech to everyone who works under you. But trust has been broken, and we really really need that trust to be rebuilt.” “You didn’t think we were paying attention,” another participant said. “It’s going to take more than one meeting. We are all wary and ready to go. You have kicked the dog.” …It was the first public forum the university has held on the old-growth cut, which was described in a July 21 Gazette-Times story.

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Commission ducks ban on herbicide spraying

By Lily Haight
The Port Townsend Leader
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

The Board Of County Commissioners is sending a letter to Pope Resources and state agencies to ask for the end of aerial spraying of known carcinogens, such as glyphosate, on harvested timberlands. But is a letter enough? For members of the public, who claim they were sprayed by a helicopter herbicide spray rig at a clearcut above Discovery Bay, a letter won’t stop whatever follows that kind of exposure to the herbicide more commonly known as Roundup, which University of Washington researchers have concluded is a carcinogen. …“We implore you… to find solutions that balance the well-being of our residents with the viability of the timber industry.” Passing a resolution to ban aerial spraying altogether is out of the county’s jurisdiction, said commissioner David Sullivan.

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Blame placing or solution seeking?

By Peter Aleshire
Payson Roundup
August 27, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Syliva Allen

Alas, the political debate about how to save the forest and the people in it reflects all the anger, blame placing and bafflement of our times. The recent forest health conference in Payson underscored that sad truth. The conference called together lawmakers, local officials, loggers, state officials, Forest Service officials and a host of experts. While they agreed on the urgency of the problem, often it seems like they talked past one another when it came down to the nuts and bolts of finding a solution. …In the end, everyone agreed on the goal – even if they sometimes clashed on the methods. …“Maybe if we get the federal government to work for us, we can get past the logjam of the numerous regulations — and keep our forest healthy,” said Sen. Allen.

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Logging professionals deserve respect

By Wendy Farrand, forest industry consultant
Greenfield Recorder
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Wendy Farrand

My heart breaks for loggers who risk their lives to manage our forests. Professionals who sign on the dotted line for expensive equipment, certification and insurance in order to keep your forests working to suck up carbon, to clean the air we breathe, mitigate climate change and wildfires. Imagine, you are running a business with thin profit margins. Someone comes along and chains the doors so customers cannot come in. There’s rent to pay, large loans, unpaid utilities and you want to open your shop to work, but can’t. Your employees count on you to feed their kids and pay bills. …It’s unbelievable that we’re still in the days of protesters trying to stop logging. In light of new research that shows young managed forests suck up more carbon than old growth. Where unmanaged forests can lead to rampant wildfires. We cannot live without the professionals who keep our forest working. 

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Logging truck insurance hot topic at annual Louisiana Forestry Meeting

By Hannah Treece
KPLC 7
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

Jean Pierre Fontenot

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Hundreds of people from across the state convened at the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles this week for the 72nd annual Louisiana Forestry Meeting. One of the hot topics at the convention was insurance for logging trucks in the state. …Transportation jobs in the industry are currently facing challenges. “Mining, ranching, agriculture, farming, fisheries, even crabbing, have all increased their safety ability, not only to protect their own employees, but also not to cause property damage, injuries and fatalities of other people,” said Jean Pierre Fontenot. “There’s only one exception in that natural resource industry, that’s logging.” Fontenot is the Program Director for the North American Timber Program and the senior Vice President of Paragon Insurance Holdings. He said the dangers posed by logging trucks in Louisiana is just one of the reasons why it’s becoming harder, and more expensive, to find insurance as a logging truck driver.

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The Amazon is not the Earth’s Lungs

By Peter Brannen
The Atlantic
August 27, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Amazon is a vast, ineffable, vital, living wonder. It does not, however, supply the planet with 20 percent of its oxygen. As the biochemist Nick Lane wrote in his 2003 book Oxygen, “Even the most foolhardy destruction of world forests could hardly dint our oxygen supply, though in other respects such short-sighted idiocy is an unspeakable tragedy.” The Amazon produces about 6 percent of the oxygen currently being made by photosynthetic organisms alive on the planet today. But surprisingly, this is not where most of our oxygen comes from. In fact, from a broader Earth-system perspective, in which the biosphere not only creates but also consumes free oxygen, the Amazon’s contribution to our planet’s unusual abundance of the stuff is more or less zero. This is not a pedantic detail.

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Inside the faltering fight against illegal Amazon logging

By Felipe Fittipaldi
National Geographic
August 29, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

…For the past 30 years, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Natural Renewable Resources, known by its acronym IBAMA, has stood at the forefront of the uphill fight against Amazon destruction. Its agents have chased criminal loggers and gold prospectors out of indigenous territories. Its inspectors have uncovered elaborate fraud schemes. …But as the pace of rain forest destruction quickens this year… IBAMA is facing more than the wrath of its traditional foes. It’s also struggling under a new president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has called the satellite data “a lie”—and who makes no secret of his plans to roll back environment protections and open the Amazon to logging, mining, ranching. …Despite the heated rhetoric, top IBAMA officials say there have been no substantive changes to the way agents conduct operations in the field. …But many of his field agents are more sceptical.

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Africa is the ‘fire continent’ but blazes different from Amazon

By Carley Petesch
The Associated Press in the Toronto Star
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

DAKAR, Senegal – As the world has watched … the fires burning in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, satellite images show a far greater number of blazes on the African continent. NASA [says Africa has] at least 70% of the 10,000 fires burning worldwide on an average August day…experts say the situation there is different [from the Amazon] and not yet a growing problem — though it could become a threat in future. …Globally, the amount of area burned declined by about 25% over the past two decades, largely because of savannas and grasslands being converted to agriculture, said James Randerson, an earth systems scientist at the University at California, Irvine. Randerson said the tropical forests of Africa have yet to see widespread deforestation driven by industrial-scale agriculture that is transforming parts of the Amazon. But, he said, global economic forces could potentially change this as countries in east Asia, particularly China, seek to expand trade relations with African nations.

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Amazon fires at ‘tipping point’ for health of rainforest, expert says

Agence France-Presse in the Japan Times
August 28, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

YOKOHAMA – The fires tearing through the Amazon represent a “tipping point” for the health of the rainforest, the head of a top global forestry management body said Wednesday, urging the world to do more to save the trees. The situation in the Amazon is “very urgent,” stressed Gerhard Dieterle, executive director of the International Tropical Timber Organization, an intergovernmental agency group that promotes sustainable forestry use. “This is something that might affect the integrity of the Amazon as a whole, because if the forest fires spread, the grasslands become more prone to forest fires,” Dieterle said on the sidelines of a conference on African development in Yokohama. “Many experts fear it may be a tipping point” for the rainforest, as the latest figures show a total of more than 82,000 fires blazing in Brazil, even as military aircraft and troops help battle them.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Using Every Twig; USDA Sustainable Logging Study to Spur Renewable Energy

By Robbie Harris
Radio WVTF Viriginia
August 28, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Chad Bolding

The world is watching as parts of  the largest rain forest on the planet burns in South America. …In the U.S., leftovers from logging operations are instead, being used to create renewable energy.  A new, 3-year, east coast wide study will explore environmental and economic best practices. Chad Bolding will lead the Virginia Tech portion of the study, which will examine forest residue collection in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. …He says, at this point, one of the biggest challenges appears to be balancing the high value of cut timber with the costs to reclaim the residues left behind.  “Residues are the lowest value product in the forest, so we can’t let the ‘tail wag the dog’.  We have to minimize the impact on the round wood production, while also gaining the residues at minimal cost and efficiency.”

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Health & Safety

Nakusp mayor says logging truck fire shows need to review rules

By John Boivin
Arrow Lakes News
August 28, 2019
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

The mayor of Nakusp is calling for better co-operation between government departments after a logging truck caught fire on the highway north of the village last Thursday, sparking a forest fire that burned for days. Tom Zeleznik says the fire got progressively worse while several groups of responders figured out who could tackle it. “It’s very frustrating,” he says. “Here you have local resources able to tackle a fire like this, they have the training, but because of jurisdiction and liability, they can’t. Their hands are tied.” Zeleznik, who’s also a member of the local volunteer fire department, was one of the first people on the scene of the fire, near the Halfway River. A logging truck’s load started smouldering as it pulled onto the highway. After trying to douse the logs with an extinguisher, the driver called in to his head office. …Zeleznik hopes fire officials from various departments will review this incident to see how it could have been handled more effectively.

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Forest Fires

‘Worst of wildfires still to come’ despite Brazil claiming crisis is under control

By Tom Phillips
The Guardian
August 28, 2019
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

The fires raging in the Brazilian Amazon are likely to intensify over the coming weeks, a leading environmental expert has warned, despite government claims the situation had been controlled. …“The worst of the fire is still to come,” wrote Tasso Azevedo, a forest engineer and environmentalist who coordinates the deforestation monitoring group MapBiomas. Azevedo said many of the areas currently being consumed by flames were stretches of Amazon rainforest that had been torn down in the months of April, May and June. But areas deforested in July and August – when government monitoring systems detected a major surge in destruction – had yet to be torched. …Bolsonaro confirmed …he would attend a meeting …to draw up a plan to protect the Amazon rainforest, which straddles Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname. On Wednesday 18 global fashion brands … were reported to have suspended leather purchases from Brazil over the crisis.

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